Reflections on the South of Down Under

Tonight is my last "full" night in Melbourne, as this time tomorrow night I'll be sitting in the airport waiting to board the plane to Qatar at 11:35 PM and get to Italy just after 6 AM on Monday morning.

The day after my previous blog, I found out over breakfast that everyone from camp who was in or around Christchurch was all accounted for and safe, and so with a lighter heart I set out to explore some of Melbourne. Having accomplished nothing but a blog the day before, I chose to ride the free tourist bus around part of the city, which was uneventful and only mildly informative before I got off in Federation Square, where Oprah held her memorable outdoor show while she was in Australia (and attended by GV's own Michael Johnston, who was also featured on TV during the Melbourne Open). I ended up going to the ACMI (Australian Centre of the Moving Image), which is currently having an installation on Disney fairy tale stories, starting with Merry Melodies through Tangled. It was really nice to have that little dose of home so far away, and it gave me a chance to realize that I'm so much more of a Belle than an Ariel, although I did get major chills every time the screen showing parts of The Little Mermaid switched to Kiss the Girl and when Ariel trades her voice for legs. It was also really interesting how the exhibit not only tracked Walt Disney's interest in fairy tales (stemming from a trip to Europe and buying tons of fairy tale books) but also the technological innovations introduced by Disney and Disney animators over the past 80 years.

After viewing the Disney installation I poked around the main area, which tracked the development of the moving image from flip books and still images to the growth of television and the internet and the technology of movies like The Matrix (much of which was done in Australia no less). Near the back of the room were movie props from Australian films and Australian actors, most notably the Crocodile Dundee hat and knife, Nicole Kidman's red Moulin Rouge dress, Cate Blanchett's elf ear molds and Queen Elizabeth costume, and Geoffry Rush's POTC memorabilia. Beyond this was a room devoted entirely to different forms of technology and innovative animation, one of which was a display that combined animated images with silhouetted puppets of different machines in the story of a steampunk handyman.

After the moving image museum I wandered over to Target, which is barely anything like the Target of the US, except its main logo and the general feel of the store. Most of the clothes were geared towards working women and felt more like a mix of a Target and Bed Bath and Beyond.

The next morning Jacob Lake (GV Farm '10) came up to Melbourne to pick me up from the hostel (wearing exactly what he wore all summer no less, with the exception of his knife due to weapon laws in Melbourne), at which point we wandered around part of Victoria Market looking for a certain fruit before giving up and going to the pet shop (he refused to let me buy pink and purple herringbone collars for this summer's goat kids). After the market we got lunch before going to the Melbourne Aquarium, which wasn't as good as the Sydney one but heaps better than the one in Manly. The highlight by far was the penguins, as well as watching the divers feed the giant manta rays. After the aquarium we took the train to the town where his sister Lucy works (in a shop that sells tie dye and batik clothes!) and caught a ride back to Jack River with his mom. I also got to meet Jacob's friend and roommate Rob, who also wears lots of navy blue tank tops (but also other shirts). The first full day at Jacob's, he and I drove out to Yarram (all of five minutes away) to get meat pies for lunch (I'm an addict) and then head out to Wilson's Promontory, also known as one of the first three national parks and the southernmost point of mainland Australia. I finally got to put my feet in the water, although it was rather short lived due to the large number of jellyfish (nonpoisonous but very ticklish). After poking around in the tide pools, we headed back to the car, when Jacob purposely stepped out in front of a rather muscular, big man on a motorcycle. After a brief moment of panicking for Jacob's life and the fact that I'd quickly have to get good at driving on the left side, it turned out that the motorcyclist was a former boyfriend of one of Jacob's sisters. He invited us to come hang out at his campsite, promising that there would be another American there for me to hang out with. And that's how I found my first (former) Floridian of the trip! Nicole, originally from upstate NY, married an Aussie journalist, who was eventually transferred to Jacksonville during the height of the Tebow era at UF. Never in my life did I imagine discussing Tim Tebow's epicness in a national park in Australia. Jacob and I ended up helping them set up part of their campsite, including a queensized air mattress for the Aussie-American couple's tent (which was later fitted out with sheets, some quilts, and four pillows...posh camping indeed). We left once we realized other campsites were beginning to make dinner, so we started to head out of the park, at which point we passed a herd of at least twenty emu, and the highlight of my trip to Australia...a wombat! It was an older one and slightly smaller than other wombats, but completely adorable, and I want one, destructive habits be damned.

The next day was much more relaxed, spent mostly watching movies and heading into town to pick up provisions for that night's BBQ. While there were no "shrimp on the barbie," I did lobby successfully for kangaroo. It was nice to hang out with a group of Jacob's friends, especially once we began to discuss cultural icons of our childhoods. I also found out that the navy blue tank top is pretty much iconic of Australian country life, not just Jacob in particular.

The next two days were really cold, so we pretty much just barricaded ourselves indoor with the fireplace heater and more movies and old episodes of How I Met Your Mother; as a result, I'm now completely relaxes after the stressful quick pace of Sydney two weeks ago. Had it not been for Jacob's sheep, llama, chickens, and Gobbles the turkey, I would have successfully slept in every day, but Gobbles, the roosters, and the sheep can be loud at random hours (like 5 AM and 9 AM).

I returned to Melbourne on the morning of March 2, and after wading through nearly a week's worth of missed e-mails, received news that rivals the wombat in the level of awesome things that have happened in Australia: I found out that I have been accepted at the University of South Carolina law school! Jacob had gone to work one day and mentioned that my mom had sent him a message asking where I was, and he told her to call his house if she was worried. Apparently, she just really wanted to tell me about USC and was getting fed up that I wasn't online. To celebrate, I splurged on an $11 chicken burger/sandwich then splurged further by signing up for a tour of the Great Ocean Road the for the following day. I honestly don't remember what I did the rest of the day, apart from making plans to meet up with Michael Johnston again, this time in Melbourne, and go to bed early as the Great Ocean Road tour departed at 6:55 AM.

After an early morning start and a long wait for two people who never showed up, the Great Ocean Road tour started off on a rather cold, windy day with breakfast tea at Bells Beach, where Rip Curl holds their major surfing competition every year, and for good reason too, as the surf there is absolutely massive. During the tour I befriended Tim from Germany, who was also staying at the YHA and one of the several Germans on the tour (the rest were made up of five Italians, a British couple, some Danish and Dutch girls, and an Asian couple). And contrary to all the travel advice I'd been given, two of the three non-married Italians were wearing Converse. And jeans! The tour also included a stop to see the last remaining toll gate, which had been burned down, destroyed, and rebuilt four times; a stop to see wild parrots and a wild koala; a stop for lunch in Apollo Bay; a walk through the temperate rainforest at Maits Rest; a wonderful stop at the Twelve Apostles (in reality, there's only eight); another wonderful stop at Loch Ard Gorge, named after the fateful British ship that sank near there and from which only an 18-year-old Australian sailor and an 18-year-old Irish girl survived, spent the night naked in a cave together, and then got rescued and never married, despite public pressure and the sailor's own desires; and a final stop at London Bridge, part of which collapsed in the past 10 years and exposed an extramarital affair after a couple was stranded on the remaining portion after the collapse and rescued by a local news helicopter.

This morning I met back up with Michael Johnston, who already holds the record for the most sightings on my trip, and if this past summer is included, I've now seen him in three different countries over the past eight months, and I'll be seeing him again once I get to Scotland (as he left this evening to go back home after several months in Australia before his NZ trip). Going around Melbourne with a tourist-turned-resident was a welcome change, especially with Michael's knowledge of public transport and Melbourne at large (lost British tourists kept asking him for directions). After heading down to St. Kilda (the local beach) it began to rain, so we hopped back on the trolley to dry off in the casino over a few rounds of computer roulette (Michael won $15, I lost $5, so he gave me $5), and once dry we got lunch at the Docklands. After getting stuffed on seafood (the shrimp here actually are rather large...), we headed over to Richmond to see Michael's old house before going back to Flinders St. to indulge in some touristy souvenir gift shopping, as his sister implied that she wanted a gift, and I hadn't bought any postcards (which will likely be sent from Italy at this point) or any trinkets for myself.  At this point Michael had to head back to his hostel to get picked up to go the airport, so we went to The Nunnery (which looks very much like The Original Backpackers on the inside, except there's random murals of cartoon nuns). After Michael got picked up (and I promised to come visit him and his parents' new puppy), I wandered around in front of the Exhibition Center and through the park in front of it before heading down to Woolsworth to buy a grocery bag for my mom and 3 packs of TimTams for $5 (saved over $4, supposedly). At this point I walked up towards the Italian district for a bit, which was surprisingly very Asian where I was, before having to walk away after passing a gelato shop (only 2 more days until I can eat actual gelato and Italian food and Bacio...I digress).

At this point I returned back to the hostel, packed up a box of things to ship home (gifts for the nephews, things I haven't used, etc.) and packed my bags for Italy. Somehow I've managed to free up a ton of space in my backpack, which bodes well for souvenir shopping over the next seven weeks in Europe and finding the perfect birthday present for my mom's birthday (this upcoming Monday, and my first day in Italy...and no, she doesn't want to join me there because it'll be cold). I booked my hostel in Sorrento, and will end up booking my hostel in Rome when I arrive. I also shared a fun moment with the adorable little German toddler boy who has been following me around the hostel since before I left for Jacob's: I went over into the computer area to try and call the Rome hostel, when he wandered over behind me and began to spin the chair next to me. His mom tracked us down and put him in the chair and spun him, which is naturally much more fun than spinning an empty chair, especially when you're 17 months old. I hope he'll be eating breakfast the same time I am tomorrow before I check out so I can give him a proper Germlish good bye. Well, I'll probably head up to bed soon, so I can stay up until my flight tomorrow night.

And so, (with the exception of whatever I do tomorrow...botanic gardens, Cook's house, and maybe Chinatown?) good-bye to Australia, and good-bye to the Southern Hemisphere, and bon giorno to Italia and slightly colder weather. Ciao!