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Published: February 12th 2014
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Hi All!
I've had a lovely last couple of weeks in Melbourne. I was going to stay until the end of March but decided to cut my trip short and head off to New Zealand. I was trying my best to get back into running while I was in Melbourne, but found it hard to improve my time when I had no one there to challenge me. I decided to advertise for a running partner on a 'New to Melbourne' site and met the lovely Laura from New Zealand. We met at Albert Park a couple times a week and our sessions were always hard going! I'm glad I found Laura as she was slightly better than me at running so she could push me, especially when it came to our sprinting sessions. I went to a couple of Park Runs at Albert Park while I was here and my 5K time improved by a whole minute! I really love Albert Park. I love to run around the lake and watch school children rowing, avoiding the black swans that populate the lake. The park is surrounded by palm trees so it makes a lovely day out.
Sophie took me
to a great restaurant a couple of weeks ago. It's called Vegie Bar and it has a range of vegetarian, and raw vegan food. I had never tried raw vegan food before and I was not disappointed! We shared a lentil burger and a spinach quiche (without egg). The quiche was so yummy, I particularly loved the cashew nut pastry. We then had a flourless chocolate cake, again I had never tasted a flourless cake before. Verdict: better than the real deal!! They use almond meal instead of flour, which makes it slightly better for you. Think I'm going to have to try some flourless recipes when I get home! Vegie Bar is found on Brunswick street and there is really cool graffiti here. Makes me want to have a bit of 'good' graffiti on the side of my house!
I've had to resort to wearing glasses for a while as I got a viral infection in my eye. No idea how I got through the whole of Asia without catching anything! Thereore, I had to buy some prescription sunglasses, which are slightly a different prescription from my glasses so they made me feel a bit sick for a
few days! Walking back from the optitions, we came across a wall with water trickling down it. People had stuck leaves on the wall so me and Soph decided to write a message- Sop + Em. I think people were a bit confused to what Sop meant haha.
A few days later, the gorgeous Stu arrived! He had a week off work so decided to take the 27.5 hour flight to Oz! So good to see him and we had a fab few days. He did well fighting the jet lag!
All four of us went away for the weekend and drove down the Great Ocean Road. The view was spectacular! Turquoise sea, waves battering against orange coloured cliffs and bright blue, cloudless skies! We stopped for a couple of hours at a beach (I forget its name) and played a bit of tennis. Soph and Martin bought us some small raquets and we used a tennis ball we had found on another beach a few weeks previous. The tennis ball was a bit heavy for the raquets but we had great fun! We then set off towards the famous Twelve Apostles- rock formations that rise up from
the sea. There are actually only eight left now due to the erosion of the sea. They are really beautiful sight but, because it was so hot, there were many flies that seem to love annoying people. Stuart had only been in Australia for a couple of days and hadn't encountered these magnificent creatures yet! Was funny to watch how cross he was getting with them and trying to hit at them in the air. Poor thing!
We spent the night in a house in the middle of nowhere that Soph had organised. She got such a bargain, there were enough beds for 10 people! They even had a large keyboard that me and Stu had a play around with, dancing around like we were at a concert haha.
The next day, we drove back towards Melbourne. On the way back, we decided to go the same beach as the previous day. As the waves were so good the day before, we hired some body boards. We caught some great waves, I felt like I was a light as air, drifting on top of the sea! We all had a fab time!
Back in Melbourne, feeling very
tired from the busy weekend, Stu and I walked to Brighton beach which is about 6-7km from my sisters house. On the beach there are brightly coloured huts that really liven up the surrounding area. That night, Stuart took us all out for a posh meal to Nobu, an amazing Japenese restaurant. I tried eel for the first time and have decided it is now my favourite fish! Myself and Stu went to the casino afterwards and won a few dollars!
It was horrible to say bye to Stu again for a couple more months but excited to see him for a bit longer next time!
A couple days later, Sophie took me to the Tree Top Adventure course near the Dandenongs. Was soooo much fun! They were 4 different difficulty levels and me and Soph decided to go for the two hardest! The first part of the course always started with a cargo net. The first course was hard but the second course (black level) was even harder. The net gradually got shorter and started to incline. My muscles and back were sore after that. Took me ages to just complete that part and it was only
the beginning! The courses were made up of a variety of obstacles and zip wires (or as the Australians call it- flying foxes). My hands were sore and blistered afterwards but was so worth it! We couldn't stop talking about it all day!
My last day was spent packing and squashing everything back in my backpack-plus extras :S I just about got the bag zipped! We took a walk through St Kilda for the last time, where there was a music festival going on. We didn't stay for long as Soph had said she would give me a massage before I left...the most amazing massage I have ever had! Think she has a great talent and I felt really relaxed before my flight to New Zealand.
Has been great to see Sophie and finally meet Martin. They were really kind to look after me and let me stay for so lon. Next stop - Auckland, New Zealand. A little bit nervous to be travelling by myself but an adventure all the same. I will stay for a couple of days in Auckland then will fly down to Christchurch to start my South Island trip. I am taking a
bus called Stray and they will drop me off at different destinations and apparantly stop at places along the way to absorb the sites. I will upload some photos when I eventually find an up-to-date computer with a slot for my memory card. May be a while!!
Lots of love, emma
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