G'day Mate!!! We made it to Australia

We decided to add two weeks onto our trip to go to the "land down under" to visit my family who lives there. Since Australia is so close to South East Asia, we felt we had to take advantage of the cheap air fare and go for a short visit. Obviously we knew that in two weeks we wouldn't be able to see a lot of the country. So we decided to just see Melbourne city and Upwey, where my family lives.

We had a great stay in Australia, my family made us feel really welcome and showed us around the city. We now can say first hand that Australia is more than just a place with funny named animals and spiders that can kill. Hopefully some time in the future we will return and see more of the country.

Sizzling in Melbourne:

We were warned by my family that Melbourne was having a heat wave and it was unusually hot for the spring season of November. Since we have been chasing summer for the better part of this year, we felt that the 40C weather was perfect for us. In fact, Melbourne lacks humidity so the temperature didn't feel hot to us at all... it was a relief from the oppressive heat of South East Asia. Only two days after we arrived the heat wave broke and it when back to a typical spring temperature of around 18C and rainy. This temperature felt extremely cold to us... and since our bodies were use to the hotter climate we had a hard time adjusting. We slept with four blankets every night, and wondered "how will we cope with the sub-zero temperature back home in Toronto?"

Allergies from H*ll!

In our entire time away, neither Andrew or I have had such extreme allergies! Upwey, where my family lives is basically located in the country side. Since it is their spring, there are a lot of new leaves etc... we both suffered from extreme allergies there. As soon as we landed in our next stop of Bali... miraculously the allergies were gone!!!!

Melbourne

Our first impressions of Melbourne city was that it reminded us of a smaller greener version of Toronto. It was a strange feeling being in a modern city, and out of the tropical environment that we had grown accustomed to. Of course within a few days, we were completely adjusted to our new environment and we adjusted quickly to having all the comforts of home that we had been without for so long. It has been "ages" since either me or Andrew have lifted a finger to do anything domestic like dishes, cooking, doing our own laundry, folding our laundry, making our bed or even cleaning after ourselves. So along with our new found comforts, came doing the occasional chore... a dose of "real life." For the first time in months Andrew and I stayed put in one place for two weeks. We started to feel less of a backpacker/transient traveller and more like we were on vacation.

My family lives about 1 hr east of Melbourne city in a suburb called Upwey. It is located up in the hills, in a quaint picturesque part of Victoria. It is a cute area that is located on the tourist trail, so every weekend bus loads of tourist pile off buses to look at the area. From Upwey to Melbourne city it is about a 1hr train ride, and Andrew and I took the train a few times to visit the city. We did the typical touristy things like visiting the Old Melbourne Gaol (Jail), taking a tram around the city and seeing the Queen Victoria Market.

Catching up with some friends

Along our travels we have been fortunate to meet some really great people from all over the world. In Mancora, Peru we met a couple named Jessica and Chris from Australia and we ended up spending a few days hanging out together. We really got along well, and when we decided to add Australia to our trip we contacted them to see where they were living. Coincidentally, they had relocated to an area just outside Melbourne city, about 2hrs by train from my family's house.

We spent a weekend at their home... hanging out and catching up. It was a really great weekend, and they were amazing hosts that took us out and showed us around their area. Definitely a highlight of our time in Australia.

Day tour to Phillip Island & Zoo

We took a day tour to Phillip Island to see the Penguin Parade. Every night after sunset, the world's smallest penguins (1 ft) leave the ocean to walk to their nest on the main land. They set up bleachers so tourist can watch them. It was a great tour... the penguins were so cute and tiny!

The zoo was a great experience too... we got to hand feed kangaroos and Wallaby's. Very Cute!

~Nicola

Click on Album to view in Picasa

Melbourne, Australia