Blogs from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Oceania - page 372

Melbourne! Finally I am here. I passed through Melbourne on my way from Sydney to Adelaide with Korhan, 3 months ago. For several reasons, we didn't stay even one day, and I was hoping to have the time to come back, even if it was going to be in the winter. So on a nice sunny day I left Noosa, took the bus to Brisbane airport, and prepared myself to freeze in Melbourne. Instead, I had a beautiful week, not even one day of rain and relatively warm weather (around 18 degrees). In my first days in the city I didn't do much. I had to rest after the "hard days" in Fraser Island... so I had some more drinks (unfortunately they don't have the XXXX Bitter in Melbourne, their beer really sucks), and I even ... read more

The Story of Sempi Villagers Presentation by Salai KTH When I was between 5 to10-year-old my grand father talked to me about wonderful stories. I never forget that stories because my grand father had talked to me several times. So I want to share you one of the story from them. Sempi is one of the villages in Chin state, Myanmar. It is in the east of my village and close to the Mitha River. There are about 100 houses in Sempi. The villagers were strong, big and tall. They loved each other as friendly. They stayed together in a good community. I think this village was one of the most foolish villages in Myanmar. But they have got a lot of amazing stories, genius persons and religious persons now. Half of the village was destroyed ... read more

Our whistle-stop tour of Australia has thankfully slowed in pace a little and we're currently chilling out in Melbourne. Here's an update since the last blog: After the magical sailing in the Whitsundays we were meant to be getting an overnight bus to Hervey Bay, but the thought of getting on a bus after 2 nights on a boat, with no shower and covered in salt from all the snorkelling was too much, and we postponed our bus trip to the next day and found accommodation in Airlie Beach for one last night. This also meant that we were able to join the rest of our group from the boat for a few drinks that evening, before everyone went their separate ways. The next morning Graeme, Jamie and I caught a bus to Hervey Bay for ... read more

Hello Pilgrims! I have touched down down under, having passed through Singapore but more on that in another journal entry ...for now - I shall go into the 2nd half of my SA trip. I finished off a week and a half in South Africa experiencing some more cool places. First stop after Coffee Bay, was Cintsa- a gorgeous bay area (see 1st photo). This was a short visit as I headed for 2 nights in the place they call the Hogsback - said to have inspired many a great book story and in particular (well ok, the only one), JR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Yea. I'd not heard of it either. But seriously, it's a beautiful place that does indeed resemble middle earth in places - small paths through dense forest tracks, with many ... read more

Hi guys. Hope you all had a great 4th of July. I must say it was a bit weird having no celebrations on the 4th, but I still managed to get out and have a little bit of fun. I went with a friend to the Hard Rock Café in Melbourne for some American themed food. It was actually quite busy with a lot of ex-pats. I also traveled down to Torquay about an hour south of the City. Torquay is famous for its surfing beaches, and is the home to both Quicksilver, and Billabong surf companies. Torquay is also where Bell’s Beach is located, one of most famous surfing beaches in the world. Anyway we ended up going to Jan Juc Beach, which was absolutely beautiful. One of the great things I noticed about the ... read more