Victoria - Melbourne

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10/29-11/1

We hopped on a quick flight from Sydney to Melbourne, where we would spend our last few days of travel. Melbourne is a great city with an upbeat vibe, lots of culture and art and an interesting history. Unfortunately, since it was our last stop we only had a few days left to explore so we didn't have the opportunity to view the rest of Victoria.

Andrew and I had the pleasure of spending a little time with my Australian relatives in Melbourne. They showed us local cuisine and gave us insight into everything from my family tree to world history to local trends. I especially enjoyed meeting Fela, who is my grandma's sister-in-law, and at the age of 90 just finished writing her first book. It was inspiring to talk to her.

We spent our days visiting some incredible museums and taking in great art. The city boasts it's shopping district and we did pick up some end of the season sales (they wanted to get rid of anything for winter and we were heading to a frosty start of winter- which worked out perfectly). They have an enormous park/botanical gardens where you could get lost for hours and Andrew and I enjoyed some of our last weekdays in the sun. We spent a night at a great jazz club and chated with some people there about their dream of playing in NY one day. One of our favorite sights was an exhibit on environmental issues. I know it may sound boring but it had fantastically presented material and we were impressed by the focus of the citizens to try and change the current state. The website doesn't do it justice but if anyone is interested...there are interesting facts under the sustainabilty section. http://www.earthfromabove.com.au/gallery.html

The city itself is extremely easy to navigate with free circle-line tram and bus rides and an extensive outer city tram system. We were able to make use of it one evening to go and view penguins native to southern Australia. We took a tour boat out to a rock ledge at sunset and witnessed quite a few little guys coming up out of the water and taking shelter in the rocks for their slumber. It was a unique sight as these tiny penguins only exist in Australia (and maybe Antarctica if memory serves).

Sadly, our time traveling had come to an end but it was nice that it did so on a high note. Australia was an absolute mystery before visiting and we came out of it with fond memories. Although the US had a funny way of welcoming us home. On our flight to LA, they inspected and dissected every item we possessed, practically strip searched us, then made me throw away my beloved bottle of Purel (it served me well in our foreign germ lands).

We have very few regrets about any places we visited or things we encountered. This trip was way more than a vacation, it was a journey and we thank all those who supported us, especially our avid blog readers...staying in touch with our friends and family made everything much easier and more enjoyable.

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Photos

Scenes of Melbourne
Federation Plaza Art Center

Scenes of Melbourne
Museum

Julia, Leny and Bernard
Relatives we met up with

On a walking bridge
Appears to be the only picture that we had of the both of us in Melbourne

Sunset
...just before the penguins appeared

Not a great shot
...but you get the idea