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Published: November 26th 2008
Australian grub
The worm, not Vic.…and you better read it… from cover to cover!
Days 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 72, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, and 84 -
Perth, Melbourne, Cairns, Sydney…and all around!
Australia. The land down under! This has been a nice change in the itinerary. Beaches are on hold (sort of) and we get to hang out in an English speaking island, country, and continent. It is springtime in Australia, so everyone is pleased with the nicer weather. For us, however, it is very “fresh” (Aussie for cold or cool). We arrived in Perth late evening and made a decision to make the four hour trek south to our first destination, Margaret River wine country. We were excited to visit a wine district, something of interest after our many trips to Napa Valley. Plus the fact this was a good excuse to finally get some quality wine since there has not been many choices since Paris (yes, remember Day 3 and 4?).
The drive went fast and we made it into Margaret River before midnight. Although wine country is very touristy and there were plenty of hotels, we learned something about smaller towns in
Australia. Apparently the staffs of the hotels do not stay around late and the front desk will close early…maybe even 8 PM. We had reservations but the folks of the hotel we selected (it was slightly different then Kristen and Adam’s choice…which looked like lots of fun) forgot to leave us keys. Our first night sleeping in the rental car! It all worked out, as we got a few quality sleep hours and were able to get a room when reception arrived the 6:00 AM the next morning (also at no cost - that helps the budget…we should do this more often). Before we knew it, we were off our booked wine tour. With mostly visitors from other areas of Australia, it was a great group to get to know while drinking Australian wine. This is a beautiful area, with a lot of interesting history, great vineyards, and nice wine. A highlight of the trip was our lunch, which featured seasoned kangaroo, bush tomato (pronounced tomahto) and some sort of grub (as in the kind of grub that lives in the earth). Vic ate the grub. Tasted like chicken…or the Toledo Lounge half priced burger. This was a very nice
Wine tour van
Wine tour in Australia! day (and our only Kangaroo viewing) as we did more of the same the next day before venturing off to Freemantle just outside of Perth.
Freemantle is a great summer resort that also hosts a U of Notre Dame international program that our friend Kristin attended. It was a little quiet this time of year, so we did some fish and chips, went to a brewery, and had a nice evening working on the Bali blog (Tim drank all the wine from Margaret Valley while watching and falling in love with Australian Rules Football while Vic did the blog). This allowed for an early start on Day 70. This was November 4th, of course a huge day... the day Australia stops for a horse race! No, not the US election (its still November 3rd for those in the USA), but the Melbourne Cup. This is one of the greatest horse racing days in the world. Unfortunately we were not in Melbourne. Fortunately, we were able to take advantage of some travel credits and we got a free room at the Perth Intercontinental, which was attached to the…wait for it…Perth casino! This place was amazing, it was packed, everyone was
dressed up, the drinks were flowing, and people were having a good time on a Tuesday afternoon all to watch the "race that stops the nation". Tim’s kind of place!
The next day we had an early flight to Melbourne, but it turned out to be earlier then we realized. The flight had been moved up an hour. Doh! We got there at 5:45 (a.m mind you) to realize the flight had been moved to 6:15! (and we still had to return the rental car). Thankfully Virgin Blue (Aussie’s Jet Blue) is really chill and Perth airport is really small, so they still got us on the flight with no problem.
Pause. We have all of Australia to write about, so I have to stop writing about all these small details.
And we’re back. Now we’re in Melbourne. From one of our new friends on our wine tour, we had a suggestion to stay in a boutique hotel in St. Kilda in Melbourne, the beach part of Melbourne. We arrive, check in, blah, blah, head out and get attacked!! Tiny flies are everywhere and sticking to us! We keep swatting them away and they’re still coming at
us, in our eyes, on our clothes, up our noses (well, not really). We have met the Australian sticky fly. And until we get out of Melbourne, (sorry Barbara—they are not in the rest of Australia, we did not get them in Cairns or Sydney) we will be doing the “aussie wave” a move with your hands to get these darn flies off me!!
We liked Melbourne, very cosmopolitan, great public transportation, a cool vibrant downtown, and a big city with small city feel in general. Of course, I’m forgetting, when we first arrived, it was November 5th. A very important day in Melbourne, the Melbourne Frog Races! Just kidding of course - the US election was going on. Since our flight left early, and we got in early, we were able to watch the results when we checked in. All looked in favor of Obama, but we realized we couldn’t spend the day watching the results. Of course who could not spend the day watching the CNN folks moving the big map around? So we left the room, and the exciting election behind, with Vic beaming knowing Obama was going to win, and Tim pouting because not only
Rose bush
They plant rose bushes because they are more susceptible to diseases, so if a disease hits, they know before it hits the vines. was greed and evil gone on wall street, but so were the men that made it. We headed into downtown (on their great public transportation trams), once there, on their large big screen in the main square, Obama was giving his acceptance speech. We tried to watch but got bombarded by sticky flies, so we bolted and went for a walk around the main tourist attractions of Melbourne. That night we went to Melbourne’s Adams Morgan, Brunswick Street. We had our first Aussie steak. It was good!
The next day, since we had so much fun watching the Melbourne Cup in Perth, we decided to go to the horse races. Keep in mind, it was still the Melbourne Cup Carnival, so each day that week was another big race. We went on the Crown Oaks day, or “ladies day.” Good for Tim. Traditionally on ladies day, all the ladies in Melbourne get dressed up to the tee and go together to the races. Tim, in his shorts and t-shirt, didn’t quite fit in. It was a scene, all the ladies wearing prom dresses and little hats or feathers in their hair, and all the guys in suits. But everybody
partied like they were at Preakness. Good times.
The next day we woke up to rain. After a late lunch, the Victoria market, and some wandering around downtown, we headed in our rental car to drive to Maryborough to visit Vic’s Aunt Barbara. Aunt Barb lives about 2 hours north of Melbourne, and besides the GPS system not knowing where we were (probably due to the big rain clouds) we got there.
Since Vic’s aunts live in Australia and New Zealand, we don’t get to see them often, so this was a great opportunity to see Barbara and Cousin Lizzie. Maryborough is a small town that was built up during the Australian gold rush. The history is pretty interesting, as you can still tell that is was a big gold mining area, with mounds of dirt still piled around lots of the countryside. It’s really a beautiful area, with large pastures, gum trees on the horizons, really interesting colors, and cool history; it was a nice part of Australia to experience. And spending time with Barbara and Lizzie was great as well- Lizzie is determined to be an actress or singer—and she knows her Rihanna songs (which was good
for Vic as she’s also a big fan.)
Time flies though, and after a great weekend with family we were on our way back to Melbourne as we had one more day - a one-day trip to the Great Ocean Road- and then we were off to Cairnes. The bus came way too early in the morning as Vic was off trying to order some coffee, but not knowing the Australian name for it (“flat white” if you ever visit). On the way to the Great Ocean Road, we stopped by Torquey, the origin of Quicksilver and Rip Curl, by two guys who made surfing wetsuits, deciding they wanted a wetsuit more flexible then the scuba diving wetsuits they currently were using. After that, we headed off to the Great Ocean Road, a scenic, historic and beautiful drive. On the way we got the pleasure of seeing koalas in the trees, feeding parrots, visiting rain forests and seeing the amazing rock formations in the ocean. We heard a great story about a rock formation called the London Bridge, but its too long to put in here. If you remember, ask us when we get home.
We got home
Woo hoo!!
How cool is watching Obama's acceptance speech in a Melbourne square on a big screen? Everyone was pleased! around 10 pm and crashed. The next morning we got on a plane to Cairns. When we arrived, Cairns was cloudy and rainy and we couldn’t find a place to eat lunch. Finally, after sitting down for lunch, construction started next door to the restaurant. Cairns stinks! Not really, just an example of how the weather and other first impressions can really “cloud” your judgment. We went to a tourist office and booked trips the next two days on the Great Barrier Reef. This was not a difficult choice, as other options were to visit another port city or go to a rain forest. The next morning was the first day on the Reef— we headed out on a larger boat as it was taking us to the outer edges. Most boats only go to inner reefs. The Reef is actually caused by a continental divide. Of course neither of us knows what that really means, but it sounds very cool. We did three snorkel tours that day. We actually wore wet suits as the jellyfish season was starting to pick up. The Reef was incredible, there was tremendous coral, fish, and other things we’re not sure what they were.
We also saw some fish the size of Vic’s cousin Lizzie! The second day was much of the same. Not as exciting because the inner reefs seemed to be darker and did not have as exciting fish, but still great nevertheless. Vic actually saw some shark on the second day. We tried to compare to Thailand, but they are two different types of coral (in formation, color, size, etc.) and fish. Both were great, and we certainly recommend any visit to Australia includes a trip to the Reef (thanks Kristen, again, and Ed Lopez for the suggestions).
Now we have our big trip to Sydney. The first day in the city we explored neighborhoods and were able to get in some Friday night happy hours (Sydney Opera House bar was our favorite - imagine being outside this incredible structure with hundreds of your known and not so known associates enjoying friday happy hour). This was a great introduction as we were instantly pleased and debating ‘where it will fit within our top big cities of the trip discussion”. A nice dinner down on one of the many wharfs, we planned for Day 81. All plans ended up to be
contingent, however, as the weather was cloudy and ‘fresh’. The next day started with a nice brunch at the Rocks, the oldest part of Sydney which was established by former criminals (well, actually the whole country was established by former criminals…reminds us of many things in America). We moved on to a Sydney bus and headed to famous Bondi, the home of surfboarding patrols and a great public beach. We did a nice five kilometer cliff walk passing several other beaches and along the ocean. Since the weekend was the time for public markets, in the late afternoon we jumped back on the awesome Sydney public transportation (this system is great - buses, ferries, light rail, sky rail, and trains…not to mention road and water taxis) and hit one of the more popular weekend markets. Unfortunately our shopping has got so picky, we did not get anything (sorry Dad Attfield…the Didgeridoo was not of your high level quality so we passed on it…plus we did not know how to ship it…no t-shirts for the Meyer clan either…Doh!). We then hit another wharf for happy hour before heading back via a ferry (great public transportation) for a great steak dinner (kangaroo!)
in Downtown Sydney.
The next day again was planned around when we woke up and how the weather looked (this is every day in Sydney…life was growing so difficult that we now wait to the ‘day of’ to make those tough tourist decisions). We started the day by going to the Sydney fish market. This was a Sunday, and it was surprisingly sunny, so this place was crowded. A lot of people were there either buying some very fresh fish (a lot of crab, salmon, shrimp, and much more) or just getting lunch as there was a huge fresh sea food court. We decided to have lunch before heading over to the Glebe Road festival. We were able to walk by a Greyhound track (wow - you can gamble on every corner in Australia…this country is out of control - the odds stink, though…so save your money!) towards the street fair.. This made up for missing Adam’s Morgan fest. The same thing, except bigger! We visited many vendors and saw another interesting neighborhood in Sydney. The day was still young, so we jumped on a bus (…again…great public transportation) back downtown and we did a tour of the Sydney
Opera House. This provided a history of the building along with some of the inner workings of the various theaters. Once again, this is amazing structure which is just as remarkable in person as it has been in pictures.
After the tour we walked through the royal botanical gardens. We rushed a bit, as we had drinks planned with Kate Fleming that evening. Kate played on the John Cho legendary kickball team SMASH back in the glory years. In the park, however, a strange film crew was setting up and doing scenes in German. What was this about? It looked like some cheesy commercial or something of the like. We moved on. Next thing we heard people talking about Ben Stiller. Apparently he had just walked passed us. Crazy? Was Ben doing a commercial? Nope, Ben was in town with Chris Rock for the Australian premier of Madagascar III. This premier was a day after the Daniel Craig premier of the new Bond film. More importantly, it was one day before the premier of the Nicole Kidman premier of Australia. The star search had begun! About that filming crew, well two braided pigtailed twins in backpacks ran by us
as a film crew chased them—we were watching the Amazing Race!! We figured it was the German television version. Certainly a strange day in the park! Fortunately we were still able to meet up with Kate (after we went to the wrong meeting location…Kate is smart, and was able to figure out where we had gone although she was surprised to see Vic’s short hair). She is doing well, had talked to Porsha that day, and says hello to everyone (especially Klasner and Brandhagen - her favorites). That was not all for the day. We jumped a cab after some drinks with Kate and headed to Sydney stadium for the Australian Rules Football World Cup semi-final match between Sydney and Fiji. Remember when Tim fell in love with this sport back in Freemantle? Another great night for Tim! It was fresh that evening, but that did not stop Tim from trying to scalp some quality seats to this huge event. No cheap seats to be found, we purchased tickets the old fashioned way and got two in a warmer part of the stadium. We made it just in time for the pregame, and unfortunately that was the most exciting part
of the game. The Kangaroos went on to blow out Fiji fifty something to nothing. Needless to say, we left just after half time and headed to the Sydney casino. Did we say earlier the odds were bad and you should save your money? Well this was the lesson we learned at this casino. We were pretty even in Australia until this visit. It was time to call it a day.
We were exhausted from the previous long day in Sydney. We had no idea we would hit all of those events. So the next day we decided to take it easy and enjoy the finer things in life. That would be Redskins football. Yes, it was Monday afternoon and the Skins played Sunday night. Finally a beneficial time difference! We spent the afternoon crawling around to various establishments, hoping for better luck at a new place. Unfortunately the Skins lost. Tim was in shock. But Vic encouraged him the trip most go on! So we did some shopping and got ready to visit some new neighborhoods in the evening. We walked through the park and gardens again, going through a rain forest area that was full of bats.
Tim was frightened, but Vic loved it. What? Yes, Vic likes bats. These are the same flying, creepy, scary bats that most people do not like. Go figure. No camera, though, so we knew we would need to come back. We moved on and visited some neat Sydney neighborhoods, stumbling on a great small pizza joint. This was the real thing, with an old cranky Italian dude making the pies, and the best pizza we had on the trip.
On day 84 the weather was better than expected. We took advantage of the great ferry system and headed to Manly Beach. This is yet another great neighborhood of Sydney which is home of Manly Beach. We spent a good amount of time on Manly Beach and had a nice lunch. We took a late ferry back to Sydney and had spectacular views of the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House. These would be our last great views and our last day in Sydney. Getting back to the port, we moved quickly to the park to get some pictures of Vic’s favorite bats. Needless to say Tim stayed behind on the normal path. With this being the premier day for
Lizzie and Cockatoo
They look the same! the new movie Australia, and a little rainy on our last full day, we decided to do some real star chasing and go hang out at the theater that was hosting the premier. We hung out there for a few hours. Fortunately we found a second floor bar above the theater. Unfortunately, we missed the stars as we were on the wrong side of the red carpet. We closed the evening with some food and drinks at a high rise restaurant (47th floor) in downtown Sydney (spectacular views). We were exhausted, ready to move on to our campervan in New Zealand. A great view, and a few cocktails, our day and time in Australia was complete. Now it was time to sadly move on.
We are now in New Zealand, in a camper van (what happened to the nice hotels?), and ready to hit one of the most incredible and beautiful areas of the world. All is well, despite the delay in the blog. There probably will not be another update until after New Zealand, the second week of December. Enjoy your Thanksgiving, we will be thinking of the great turkey, pie, and good times with great friends and
Group photo
In Barbara's great backyard family. We miss you and hope all is very well for you also!
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Gary O
non-member comment
Nice
Looks awesome guys - nothng new here, we're just all broke and ready for Obama to take office! When the hell is this trip over??