"So long and thanks for all the fish!"

Once again the time came for me to say "farewell Canada," and depart on my newest adventure. And this time around my travels have brought me to the land of Oz ("I've always wanted to see the Emerald city!" *spoiler alert: turns out, not that Oz).

Downtown Melbourne and the Yarra River

Unlike the whirlwind travel style of Dorothy, I started my journey in Vancouver in the afternoon of October 20, 2014, hopping 13hr flight to Guangzhou, China, where after a 4hr layover proceeded my last flight of 10hr flight to Melbourne. I arrived in Australia on the morning of October 22, 2014 jet lagged and sleep deprived. I managed to get through long lines of customs and continued with my first day in the country with non-exciting events of checking into my hostel, opening a bank account, setting up my Australian phone and picking up a few groceries.

I had previously booked a few nights in Nomads located in downtown Melbourne. This allowed me to be closer to the action, as well as give me a few days to potentially find a place to stay. After a decent first night's rest, I opted to make up for the previously lost day and explore the city. At breakfast I met two Swiss girls the same age as I and upon our conversation learned of a free walking tour of the city. Having quickly learned how expensive Australia really is, I relished in the idea of free.

After a morning of site seeing I joined the girls on the tour and was shown many of the highlights to the downtown core had to offer. Our first location was Melbourne's first jail (historically spelled Gaol) where for 20$AUD you could be given a 20min tour in which a constable greets you, yells at you for a while, processes you, then puts you in the slammer for a while. Apparently it's a hit with the tourists. Our guide continued to to tell us a bit of Melbourne's history and how a son of a convict named John Batman made a settlement along the north side of the Yarra River calling it Batmania. This was changed later on by the officials in Sydney and thus the Sydney-Melbourne feud began. The history of Melbourne also contained the story of infamous Australian, Ned Kelly. If you don't know the story I suggest reading up on it as it is an interesting story. However if you are more the "wait for the Hollywood blockbuster version", you can watch Ned Kelly starring Heath Ledger, Orlando Bloom, Bill Nighy and Naomi Watts. It's actually a fairly decent movie, at least entertaining to watch.

Graffiti stencil art of Ned Kelly

We continued our journey to some local iconic buildings including Parliament, the Princess theatre, the State Library and the Royal Exhibition. All of which were original buildings from the late 1800s-early 1900s and displayed amazing architecture design. Much of the core of Melbourne is endless shopping from chain malls to small, high-end boutiques. However the gem of Melbourne is its alley ways. Normally one would think that an alley way in the city is something to avoid, however the people of Melbourne relish in their alleys. Containing hip cafes and coffee shops, hidden pubs and bars, and cool Ma&Pa type shops. Another hidden treasure of the alley ways were the amazing graffiti art displays. Once consider vandalism has now been welcomed into the community as the art work of the city. The mayor of Melbourne has stated his endorsement for the graffiti alley ways as they are a place for developing youth artists within the city.

After the tour ended myself and the girls returned back to the hostel for dinner and chill evening. Due to jet lag setting in heavily by 9pm, I could not bring myself to socialize even though it was my last night in the hostel. The next day, Friday, I spent the day site seeing again (I remind you of my love for free activities). After checking out the Queen Victoria market and telling myself over and over again that I didn't need to buy the endless amount of trinkets and delicious looking food, I utilized the bike share to venture out of the downtown core. Bike share is an amazing tool of the city and I think more cities should adopt this program. For 3$ you can use a bike for the entire day, no charge. Well as long as you return the bike within 30min, you would receive no extra charge and could take out another bike for free after waiting 5min. I took advantage of the many maps of the city and was able to plot my day based of the sites and their proximity to a station. Basically I would ride from station A to station B, site see allowing my 5min wait to expiry before moving on to the next site.

St. Kilda from the Pier

The first site on my list was a shrine dedicated to the soldiers of WW1 and WWll. It was quite incredible to see. Unfortunately some of it, like the gallery, was currently under construction however the gardens, crypt and lookout still were great to explore. Even without those, the building itself was a sit to see. I then walked to the Royal Botanical Gardens just across the street from the shrine. I didn't spend much time there as I was on a bit of a time constraint and wanted to get farther out of the city. Next I biked towards St. Kilda, a beach community outside of the city core. On the way I biked my way through a park beside a fresh water lake. It was a beautiful sunny day and there were many families out along the beach as well as rowing teams practicing on the lake. I parked the bike once in St. Kilda and made my way to the beach. I walked around looking at the different shops and restaurants before walking out onto the pier. There was a restored shop at the end of the pier where you could enjoy a meal while over looking the ocean. I stopped for a rest and got to see a small blue penguin make his way on shore and hide himself amongst the rocks. I was unable to get a picture as a swarm of people needlessly crowded around the little bird's nest. I felt bad for the little guy and I decided to leave him alone. I returned back to the city to pack my bags and check out from the hostel. Steve, an Aussie firefighter I did my rookie training with, had put me in touch with a friend of his who was kind enough to offer me a place to stay. I met up with Meg at the train station where she took me to her place in Westonia, another community in Melbourne.

Shrine of Remembrance

That night Meg hosted a party for some of her friends. In the spirt of their Halloween party they had the previous year, they decided to do their 90s/Fairy themed party again. During this time I had my first Whiz Fiz and Fairy Bread, and managed to miss my first tastes of vegemite. Whiz Fiz is a powder candy upon consumption foams in your mouth. Fairy Bread is bread with butter, sprinkled with, well, sprinkles. At first I thought it was just a random creation for the fairy themed party. Turns out it is apparently a common children's breakfast treat in Australia. Still fighting with jet lag in the evening, I was in bed by 9pm and managed to sleep through party that went into the wee hours of the night.

I spent Saturday, you guessed it, site seeing some more. There were a few more things in the city I wanted to explore. Walking around a neighbourhood I had yet to explore I came upon a massive Catholic cathedral. I walked around the building and the gardens for some time taking some beautiful pictures of the architecture of the old church. I then explored the State Library of Melbourne for most of the afternoon. The library was the first state library in Melbourne and had much history in the development of the city and state. I finished off the day exploring a gallery dedicated to the play "Les Miserables" which is currently playing in the city. Being one of my favourite plays I was intrigued by what the gallery had to offer. The first portion of the gallery (sadly the portion with no photography allowed), contained a viewing of old pictures of the author Victor Hugo and his homes in France. There were stories of his childhood growing up with a dysfunctional family, marrying his childhood sweetheart, and of his mistress who helped edit Les Miserables (she was responsible for the final name change for Jean Valjean). The stories and artwork led to his involvement in the Napoleon revolution and his opposition to the coup. His banishment helped to inspire one of his greatest creations. There were also original french recordings of the songs from the play and costumes from the 2012 film (may have had a fan girl moment seeing Russell Crowe's and Helena Bonham Carter's costumes). The second room was full of props, costumes and original posters from the stage productions in London. There was a section to try on the costumes as well as sit and watch the 25th anniversary concert of Les Miserables. My day was rounded out with getting lost in the city while trying to find my train back to Westonia. It was dark by the time I made it back and was ready for bed.

Today, Sunday, Meg and her mother took me out for a drive into the country side. We first stopped off at Kangaroo Point for great views of the landscape. We then continued on to a winery for some wine tasting and homemade pizza. Good wine, not the cheap goon you've all probably heard of. That is for later on in the adventure. They showed me a local chocolate factory and pointed out many other wineries in the area. We stopped off a dairy farm and enjoyed more wine as well as indulged in some cheese tasting. On the way home we went in search of my first Kangaroo sighting (well, first live sighting. Had the pleasure of seeing one on the side of the road right outside the airport). Unfortunately it wasn't a successful search, however I was grateful for the attempt made by my amazing hosts and guides.

Tonight is my last night in Melbourne. Tomorrow someone from the base will be picking me up and taking me to Heyfield, where I will be working out of it for the next few months. I am excited and nervous to be starting work, however I'm positive in the end it will be a great experience. I'm very lucky and grateful to have been given such an amazing opportunity and I hope that I will get to learn many things while I am here. Also to my cousins Ethan, Jacob and Caleb, no Cane Toads yet to report. But I will get back to you as soon as I find one.

Miss you all back at home, and wishing you all the best.
Brit