From Canceled Flights to Football Games

We are now in a new country and ready for a new adventure. From Indonesia to Australia, it's our second and our last country of this trip with three stops down under. We have a lot planned in all three places and are excited to explore new cities and see even more gorgeous scenery along the way. So without further ado...

(Day 6: Travel Day)The flight from Bali to Melbourne was uh, interesting. It was bizarre for a lot of reasons and I don’t know what the reasoning is for a lot of the things that happened, but they were weird. After having to redistribute the stuff in my suitcase to my carry-ons (again), J and I got through security pretty quickly. As I said in my previous post, we had a lot of time to kill so we found a seat in their dining area and did some research on more things to do in Melbourne and sat around. We then decided we would go and find the gate which was easy enough, but after sitting there for like a half hour, security asked everyone to exit the area, only to invite everyone in after checking their bags again. Not only did all our belongings go through security when entering the airport, we also went through the usual security, so this third step seemed quite unnecessary. Not to mention they wouldn’t allow any liquids (including the water bottles we just bought) back into the gate waiting area. They had to be emptied, yet there was no water option in the gate area. I have zero clue why they wouldn’t allow it and I will get to why it was ruder and more weird in a minute. 

We waited in that gate area (and near the gate at that) when they started boarding. Even though our boarding passes had what group we were, everyone just started making one line and it was basically a free-for-all to get on the plane. There were no announcements and no order to get on board. Once there, we got settled in our seats and were checking the TV screen to see what kind of movies and TV shows they had for us since this was a five-hour flight. Although there was a bit of a variety, you had to pay to access it. This is definitely not common these days on airplanes and seems strange. Luckily I had downloaded the the second part of the new season of Stranger Things so J and I watched that on my computer. I wasn’t hungry when we were waiting around at the airport so didn’t get anything to eat and when we got on the plane realized not only were we not getting a meal because it wasn’t a long enough flight (which that’s my bad for not realizing), but any food or beverage on the flight also had to be purchased. If you wanted a pop, you had to buy it. Strange. And even more strange since they made everyone dump out their beverages before entering the gate. So you’re going to make us all get rid of our liquids and then charge everyone to buy some. Fucking weird. Maybe this is common here, but this is not something we are used to. (They did come around with tiny cuts offering water, but SMH, still odd.) We will now be more prepared for our next two flights on this airline. 

Finally, the one thing that was the most weird, was the amount of people that got out of their seats during the flight. It was insane how many people were up and walking around, and grabbing stuff from the overheads, and sitting back down, only to do it again like 15 (no exaggeration) more times during the flight. Neither J nor I had ever seen something like that. If this had happened on a flight in America, people would’ve been yelling at each other and complaining. It was too much. 

We eventually landed in Melbourne at 10:15 pm local time. We lost another two hours from Bali on this flight which made us 15 hours ahead of Chicago at this point. Even with this giant time change (and the 13 hours from Bali), J and I managed to escape jet lag. We were really careful with timing our sleep on the way here to avoid it and it looks like we were successful. Phew. Hopefully, these additional two hours won’t hurt us either. We shall see. So with that being said, we were ready to attack Melbourne the next morning. 

Day 7 Melbourne: Although we got into Melbourne late the night before, today was our first full day exploring the city. I started the morning falling right out of bed when my alarm went off. We had two twin beds in this hotel room and I have not slept in a twin bed for as long as I can remember and I was quickly reminded that there is not much space to move around. My alarm went off, I turned around to grab it to turn it off, and thud, rolled directly onto the hotel room floor. Ridic. 

Even though we didn’t get to bed around 1 am due to our late arrival, we wanted to get out and explore the city nice and early before the crowds. We had the alarm set for 6 am and when we got outside it was still very dark. The sun wasn’t set to rise until about 7:15, but we felt safe walking around. We were also reminded that it was indeed winter here. The temp was a brisk 46 degrees when we left the hotel, but we were okay. It honestly feels more like fall here than winter, which was a pleasant surprise. 

Melbourne is known for their street art and their coffee shops and we wanted to get to see some of the street art before it was crowded with people. Luckily a lot of the small streets (lanes) where the graffiti and art are are just blocks from our hotel. But first, what caught our attention was the clock tower on the Flinders Street Train Station. It was absolutely stunning, all lit up in the dark and we wanted to snap some pictures of it. From there, we wandered a bit more around and saw St. Paul’s Cathedral and then found the streets with all the art. Hosier Lane and ACDC Lane were two big ones we wanted to hit and they did not disappoint. Hosier Lane was easy to find, but ACDC was a little more tricky, but we did indeed find it. There were two awesome Melbourne murals in there that we wanted our pictures with and we nailed it. 

After that, the sun was starting to rise and it was a gorgeous sunrise. We followed a bridge over the trainyard (with great views of part of the skyline) and made our way to what we thought was the tennis center where the Australian Open is played, but it turned out to be the Melbourne Cricket Grounds (MCG). It was massive and seemed like such a cool stadium. Then we noticed that Rod Laver Stadium was across the way and that is where the open is played. Pretty iconic. We had learned that cricket is a summer sport here so there was no chance to see a game while here. 

J and I had a walking tour at 10 am with a private guide so we headed back to the hotel for breakfast and shower before meeting up with our guide. We had informed her what we saw in the morning and she was really impressed. Since that was going to be part of the tour, she asked us what else we wanted to see and we listed off some places we had done research on. Again, she was so impressed we knew exactly what we wanted to see, so having a guide who knew the town was super helpful in being extra efficient with covering more ground. We went a different way with her than we had gone in the morning and started by passing Treasury Gardens which was a beautiful green space. Then we walked past the Federal Reserve, which has a lot of history. Apparently Australia had a larger gold rush than California and needed a place to store all their gold. And they left all that in the hands of a very trusted nineteen year old, who not only designed the building, but helped protect it. We then walked past the Parliament Building, which is a place where people are allowed to protest, and there were a couple of people there, but who even knew what they were protesting. Up next was the Royal Expedition Building and Gardens. This was another gorgeous old building, but wasn’t open to the public that day so we couldn’t go inside. Then we passed the Old Melbourne Gaol (Jail), which is no longer an operating jail and belongs to the university. However, there are still remnants of the jail there that give you a good idea of what it may have looked like. From there it was to the Library of Victoria that was supposed to have an absolutely incredible ceiling. The building used to be a natural history museum and it was very obvious based on how it was set-up. When we got to the center of the library and looked up, we were stunned by its beauty. The library itself is gorgeous, but the ceiling sure was something else. 

Queen Victoria Market was the next stop and I was blown away by this market. It had everything from meats (including kangaroo sausage and lamb balls) to cheeses to dips to produce to sandwiches (I had the best grilled cheese or toastie as they call it here, of my life here) to donuts to all kinds of clothing and jewelry and gifts. It was spectacular and all I could think about was how much my dad and brother would have been in heaven here. They are such big foodies and truly enjoy places like this, and this one would’ve blown their socks off. Our guide had told us there was a donut place there called the American Donut Food truck that has some of the best donuts in town and based on the line of locals waiting, we knew she was probably right. I am not a big sweets person at all, but knew I had to try these and they were delicious. 

After exploring and eating at the market, we got on the free (!!) tram to another part of town near the Eureka Skydeck. The tram is free in most parts of the downtown area and they do inform you when it exits that free zone so you can get off or at least be aware you will need to pay. We got to walk along the Yarra River in the Southbank area, which reminded me a ton of London. Melbourne in general had some NYC vibes, some NOLA vibes, some Washington DC vibes, and as I just said London vibes. We parted with our guide at the skydeck as our time was up and we really enjoyed our time with her. She was knowledgeable, nice, and had a great dry sense of humor that we really appreciated. 

J and I were able to buy our Skydeck tickets from our phones at a discounted rate. Fun fact about Melbourne, there is pretty much free wi-fi everywhere in the city. Since neither one of us have kept our service on while gone, we have heavily relied on wi-fi for looking up directions, texting, and obviously our IG postings. OBVIOUSLY. 

Anyway, this high rise is 88 floors high and gives a 360 panoramic view of the city. I am a huge sucker for a skyhigh view so I am willing to pay to get up there to see it. For someone who is not a fan of heights, I sure do enjoy a view from the top. We enjoyed our time up there, snapped some pictures, and then decided we would head back to the hotel to rest for a bit since we had gotten a lot of steps so far since we started so early. On the way back to the hotel we stopped by one more site on our list, Federation Square. It’s kind of like an outdoor gathering space and they were preparing for an event the following day when the Manchester United team was coming for a meet and greet in the square. They were in town for a game and the city was actually abuzz about it. Lots of people were out and about in their jerseys and scarves drinking and getting ready for the game. It actually would’ve been really cool to go to that game, but we had no idea it was happening.

We relaxed at the hotel for a bit and did some research on what to have for dinner. We both were craving a burger for dinner and found a place near us called B.east that had great reviews and ended up being delicious. It totally hit the spot as we were craving some American-type food. After dinner we walked around a bit, passed the Chinatown gates, and walked around a bit and took the tram again before calling it a night. We really saw a ton today and really checked everything off our list. 

Day 8 Melbourne: Today was a full day excursion along Great Ocean Road. We were picked up around 7:30 in the morning and knew tour would last into the evening. It was about a 1.5 hour drive west to the town that essentially started our stops throughout the day, Anglesea. We had a rest stop there to use the bathroom and get a snack if need be and then continued along the coast to the city of Lorne, the actual starting point of this scenic drive. At this point it was really cloudy and it had started raining. That was the forecast in Melbourne that day, but it was kind of unclear if it would be like that so far away. (At this point we were two hours west.) Our driver told us to be on the lookout for kangaroos and koalas and whales along the way and our eyes were peeled. We ended up seeing some kangaroos a couple of times, but from a distance. The towns along Great Ocean Road are ones where people often come to holiday in the summer. They can surf, swim, hike, etc.. and kind of give the vibe of a place where people rent homes or have second homes they come to to get out of the city. There were some really magnificent multi-million dollar modern-glass windowed homes off cliffs with the ocean/sea views.

Along the way we made numerous stops at different lookout points (including Teddy Point which sounds more like Titty Point in an Australian accent. At first J and I thought that was the actual name) and each one was prettier than the next. The views of the sea (it was sooooo blue) and the cliffs and the greenery all together was just gorgeous. We stopped in the town of Apollo Bay for lunch and had a delicious Greek meal and then continued on to the Twelve Apostles. This is an incredible rock formation off the cliffs. There are only actually 8 formations and over time, there will be less and less due to the erosion from the water. It kind of reminded me of the rocks on the Oregon beach in the movie Goonies.

Our final stop was probably the most gorgeous, or should I say gorge-ous (hardee har har) since it was called Loch Ard Gorge. It is called that as well as Shipwreck Beach because a lot of ships used to get shipwrecked there; pretty self-explanatory.  From above, this beach looked like it was plucked right out of the Italian Coast with the formation of the cliffs and the crystal blue water and sand below. I could’ve stared at it all day. When we went down to the beach, there were also many stalagmites formed on the sides of the cliffs that were essentially like mineral icicles. Had it been warmer (and I had a towel to wipe the sand off), I definitely would’ve stuck my feet in the water. 

Day 9 Melbourne: Today was supposed to be a morning in Melbourne and then a travel day to Cairns, but ended up being a full day in Melbourne. I woke up and went for a run, which started horribly as I totally ate shit about less than a half mile in. I was running across the bridge staring up at the sky and the skyline and admiring how pretty it was, and boom, my foot got caught on some plastic tie thing and I hit the pavement hard. I used my hands to brace my fall and cut up my left hand pretty bad and my right elbow even worse. Both were bleeding a decent amount and the sheer shock of what happened hit me too. I scraped both of my knees mildly, but was just lucky that nothing worse happened. I didn’t break anything. I didn’t hit my head or do any more damage to my knee or foot, so I would have to live with a bloody elbow and hands. I didn’t want to go back to the hotel so I walked it off and kept moving, honestly not realizing how much my elbow was bleeding. I made my way to the tennis center, then passed the MCG again and then down the hill a different way than the first time. I found myself running along a pretty path along the Yarra River as the sun was coming out. It was actually supposed to be pouring in the morning and I had even researched some spin classes to possibly take if that happened, but when it wasn’t raining when I got up, I took the gamble and went for the run. 

Anyway, I made my way along the river and back up by Federation Square then went back over to and through Treasury Gardens and up Spring Street. I wanted to see St. Pat’s Cathedral that I saw from a distance the first day and then kind of just weaved around some streets before heading back to the hotel. I covered a little over five miles and felt good despite my scrapes and cuts. Running in this weather is actually a bit of relief from the hot and humid Chicago heat (and what I ran in while in Bali). I got some alcohol wipes and band-aids from the front desk to clean up my cuts and got showered, ate breakfast and then headed to K-mart to buy some larger band-aids for the days to come. 

When I got back to the hotel, I checked my email and much to my surprise there was an email stating that our flight from Melbourne to Cairns was canceled due to engineering issues. Of course, I went into full panic mode about what we could do. I quickly found a flight for the next morning at 7:15 am, but now had to deal with rescheduling our car services to the airport  for the flight and then and from the Cairns aiport to the new resort when we land. That was taken care of relatively easily, but we also had to contact our hotel in Cairns to inform them that we wouldn’t be staying there the first night and get a room here in Melbourne for the night. I contacted our travel agent and she gave me the info for the company here who could help us out and they were able to waive our fee at our Cairns hotel and get a discounted rate at our current hotel for the extra night. I’m not going to lie, it was a lot of stress to figure out. This is also the reason we have travel insurance and someone we are working with. We are also very lucky that our first day in Cairns had no excursions or tours planned and it was a day to ourselves so we weren’t missing anything terribly important or expensive. 

Once everything was figured out, J and I decided that we would do something that we had wanted to do, but didn’t have time to do while hee: go to an Australian Football game. While I was figuring out the flight and transportation, she was looking into our hotel stay and football games. She was able to get us tickets to a game less than ten minute walk from our hotel right at the MCG. We were so pumped to be able to do this and make the best of our extra time in Melbourne. The Hawthorn Hawks were the home team and were playing the West Coast Eagles. We had no clue either way and only realized Hawthorn was the local team because we saw so many people wearing their yellow and brown Hawks gear (the scarves are big here) while walking to the game. 

Not knowing a single rule about Australian Football, or footy as they call it, we were still very excited to be
at the game. We got very into it and ended up befriending the guy next to us as he was there solo. He was very patient explaining the rules to us and answering our questions about the game. We picked up the rules and the strategy fairly quickly, but man is this a physical sport despite the players not wearing pads or helmets. It was definitely a fascinating learning experience and I was happy to combine my love of sports with my love of travel and really felt like a local while there. We had a couple beers at the game and stayed for the entirety of the it (four quarters of a 30-minute running clock). The running clock helps time go by quickly unlike the stopping of the clock at almost every whistle in an NFL game. Here four minutes on the clock is actually four minutes, whereas in American Football, four minutes could take a half hour.

After the game, we went to a local bar for another drink and then I grabbed myself some Australian McDonald’s which I had been wanting to get since we landed. I love going into McDonald's in other countries and trying something that we don’t have in America. This time I got mozzarella sticks and a creme brulee pie. Both were great as usual with most things at Mickey D’s. It just never fails. And since J and I had to get up really early the next day for our ride to the airport, we went back to the hotel to just lay around and call it a night.

All in all, Melbourne is a pretty great city. Lots to do, seems very active, good public transportation, friendly people, etc.. I felt like I was in just another big city in America (minus the cars on the opposite side of the street). It’s definitely a city I could see myself living in on the other side of the world, although it still doesn’t go in my top three (London, Barcelona, and NYC). 

Next up, we are heading up North to Cairns. Since it is closer to the equator we are heading to warmer weather for the winter. It’s kind of the equivalent of us Chicago or NY people heading down south the Florida in the winter. New climate and more to do. See ya then!