Time to Fly South

As after any week-long trip, it was difficult to adjust back to “normal” life…even when that life is here in Australia.  Rough, right?  The week after New Zealand was spent catching up on a variety of things like sleep, other friends’ travel, and last but not least (drumroll please): uni work.  Yes, I am actually studying on my study abroad, despite all the adventures and travels.  UQ decided to bombard its students with assignments and mid-semester exams right after the break, so many people spent hours in the library playing catch-up— and I was one of those people.  It all paid off because I completed my exams fairly smoothly and they are now behind me!

Amongst all that chaos, my three roommates and I decided to go where we never had before and undertake a task that could either be an epic success or epic failure.  I will tell you now that it was an epic success.  Any guesses?  We hosted our first dinner party! 

Throughout the semester I have promised many people American dinners so along with the help of my roommates I decided to follow through on these promises and cook for my Austrian friends (yes Austrian, not Australian).  For those of you who know me, you know I love to cook and bake and have developed a motherly instinct from years of babysitting, so I suited up in the kitchen.  Armed with meat, cheese, peanut butter, chocolate, and sugar I set out to cook my first dinner for non-Americans (come on, what else do you need in life besides those ingredients?!).  In all the excitement, I forgot to take a before picture of the homemade burgers, green beans, and baked potatoes, but the after picture says it all.  Success.

I was shocked to hear that my other American roommates had never had buckeyes before, or even heard of them, so of course I had to whip up some of those for dessert.  I guess buckeyes are one of life’s simple pleasures that didn’t make it far out of Ohio.  Needless to say they didn’t last very long.

 

If you don’t know what buckeyes are, you are missing out.  Check it out and even make some if you are feeling adventurous.  It is really quite simple.  While I cannot reveal my top-secret recipe, this one isn’t too far off:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/buckeye-balls-ii/

It was then time to start preparing for my next adventure down south to Melbourne!  I had been hearing great things about Melbourne from friends who travelled there, so I was very excited to finally be able to check out the city.  And I absolutely loved it!  Melbourne is one of Australia’s most cultural cities and has a very trendy and European vibe.  There are heaps of cafes and shops on every street and the alleys are full of even more shops and cafes.  Fun fact- Melbourne is home to the world’s oldest China town outside of China! 

We arrived on Friday and spent the day exploring the city.  It is completely different from the relaxed atmosphere of Brisbane, partly because at four million people it has twice the population of Brisbane.  We were lucky to be there for the last weekend of Melbourne’s comedy festival, so Friday night we went to see Wil Anderson who is absolutely hilarious.  I’m pretty sure I shed a few tears I was laughing so hard.  I have come to realize that Australians at comedy shows can pick out foreigners quite easily because we are the ones who don’t laugh at the jokes that reference local culture.  Basically you are the one looking frantically at the people around you trying desperately to have some sort of epiphany and understand the joke, all while trying to hide your ignorance and muster up your most realistic laugh.  Despite your efforts it is usually a fail, so you just have to hope the comedian doesn’t realize this, pick you out of the crowd, and peg you as the tourist.  No, this fortunately did not happen to me…but it did happen to a friend.  It’s funny when it isn’t you!  If you are interested look him up on YouTube or check out his website: http://www.wilanderson.com.au/index.html

Saturday was an early morning as we rolled out of bed and boarded the bus that would take us down Melbourne’s iconic Great Ocean Road.  As its name suggests, it is a road right on the ocean and it is pretty great!  Short history lesson here, but I’ll keep it brief.  This road was built by soldiers returning from World War I who could not find work.  It has been redone a couple times since the project was first completed in 1932 and now spans 243 km (150 miles for all your Americans reading this) across the southern coast of Victoria.   So we spent the day on this road, taking in the beautiful views of the ocean, and stopping at towns and attractions along the way.  I think the builders of the road were trying to mess with everyone who would drive the road in the future because it is one of the windiest roads I have been on in Australia, sometimes unnecessarily so.  Luckily no one got sick but I think there may have been some close calls.

First views of the ocean from the Great Ocean Road

 

We did not drive the entire road, but luckily were able to drive along the most scenic part until we reached our destination—The Twelve Apostles.  It was beautiful and once again pictures don’t do it justice:

Time for another short history lesson!  The Twelve Apostles are giant rock pillars that were formed from years of erosion as water pummeled the rock along the coastline.  This resulted in arches which after more erosion collapsed and formed two standing pillars.  As you might guess from the name, there were originally 12 pillars, but only seven or so are still standing today.  So we stopped for a while to take everything in, snap a million pictures, and get some fresh air to combat any lingering car sickness.  All in all, it was beautiful and definitely worth the trip!

That night we had dinner at a trendy restaurant/bar, which was delicious, and went to a variety show that was part of Melbourne’s comedy festival.  Once again, we saw some great comedians and performers that had us close to tears.  What you should take from this is that if you ever come to Australia, be sure to see come comedy shows!

In a city as trendy as Melbourne, we had to fit in some shopping before heading back to Brisbane so we spent the morning checking out the shops along Chapel Street.  Though we could have shopped all day, we made our way to the Melbourne Cricket Grounds to attend our first Aussie Rules football game (also known as the Australian Football League, or AFL).  Australians love their footy and there are three major football codes in Australia: rugby league, rugby union, and AFL.  Rugby is most popular in Queensland (where Brisbane is located) and New South Whales (where Sydney is located), while AFL is most popular in all other states, especially Victoria (where Melbourne is located).  Soccer is a distant fourth of the football codes, but is starting to become a bit more popular.  It is somewhat confusing to understand, but I think I am finally getting the hang of it.  Anyway, being in Melbourne I knew I had to see an AFL game.  We watched the Melbourne Demons take on the Greater Western Sydney Giants.  As if wearing completely neutral and non-sporty clothes wasn’t enough, we made our way to our seats carrying shopping bags and proceeded to get our rules sheet out to try to figure out what was going on in the game.  All I can say is that if I was a fan at that game I would have made fun of us.  In our defense, we did catch on and by the end were able to cheer for the Demons without relying on the other fans around us.  Despite several lead changes throughout the match, we were able to witness a victory for the home team.  Go Demons!

After the game we booked it to the airport to head back to Brisbane and attempt to recover from the weekend’s activities.  A bonus for us is the fact that this Thursday, April 25^th is ANZAC Day which is a public holiday in Australia and New Zealand.  Bear with me because here is one more history lesson.  ANZAC Day (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) marks the anniversary of the first military battle fought by Australian and New Zealand forces in World War I.  Unfortunately, this battle at Gallipoli, which was an attempt to take over Constantinople, was an epic failure in a military sense.  Despite this, it has been remembered ever since as ANZAC day because the soldiers that fought in the battle were referred to as ANZACs.  All over Australia ceremonies called Dawn Services are held in the morning to commemorate the exact time ANZACs landed at Gallipoli.  After the Dawn Service many people throw parties and drink beer (it is similar to Memorial Day in the United States).  There are even ANZAC biscuits which most all Australians have come to love.  Yes, I have tried them and they are quite tasty!

Of course, we are taking advantage of the extra long weekend and travelling to an iconic city up north.  Check back later to find out where we are going!  Cheers!