Outdoor activities and Melbourne (part 1)

I´m so behind in writing my blog. But I promise to do my best in updating it this week! It means less time for studying, though...

I just got back from a very nice holiday :) First Juulia (from LUT, who is on exchange in Perth this year) came to visit me in Sydney for some days. Even though I had to work and do uni stuff I hung out with her when ever I was free. The weather was really nice over the weekend and we spent a lot of time outside. On Saturday we took part in this food festival, which was a part of an international in-fusion week organized at the UTS. It was held at the Gumal roof top. There was a cooking competition (meaning we got to taste heaps of different dishes from all over the world!) and some performances. The coolest performers were these Spanish dancers, who were really skilled! We also walked around the Royal Botanical Gardens and the Rocks, and had drinks at this nice bar called Bar 333 on George Street. On Sunday we took the train & bus to Bondi Beach and did a 5km-long walk along the shore to Cogee Beach. It was a lot warmer than I had thought and I was feeling too hot in my black T-shirt. Fortunately I was wearing a blue bra that looked a lot like a bikini top, so I ended up walking the whole day in by bras lol. We had lunch in Darling Harbour, where they had a Malesian food festival. There´s a really cool exchibition there, too. It´s a set of big photograph stands, taken all over the world of pristine landscapes and characteristic/cultural views of a particular country. There´s one photograph from Finland: A lighted indoor building to grow plants, in the middle of snowy fields. The theme of the exchibition, in my opinion, is the diversity of the world and the importance of protecting it against pollution/climate change/any harmfull actions. Besides the photographs the exchibition included lots of information and interesting facts.

Spanish dancers at In-Fusion Festival

Shoreline along Bondi-Cogee walk

On Wednesday morning Juulia and I left for a vacation in Melbourne. We had an early flight, and even though it took almost an hour to take the airport shuttle bus from Avalon Airport to the city centre we had plenty of time to start explorering the city. Our hostel was centrally located so we could walk pretty much everywhere within the city centre. It was one of the best backpackers I´ve been to so far: tidy and warm rooms, good showers and big common areas including a roof top. They served free breakfast every day, and additional food (big breakfast, pasta and pancakes) on certain days. They also organized activities such as shopping trips, pub crowls and AFL-games.

After dropping off our luggage at the hostel it was time for lunch. We walked just a few blocks from the hostel to find these two narrow walk-only streets full of small cute cafes and lunch places! Most of them were missing their front walls and some of their tables were placed outside. They were all furnished and decorated nicely. We walked around just enjoying the athmosphere and trying to decide where to eat. I ended up having a huge bowl of chicken soup at this small place, whose workers were really helpful and friendly. At first I ordered some Greec soup that tasted too sour for me, but they exchanged it to the chicken soup for free. Then, because their EFTPOS machine didn´t work, they trusted me to run to the closest ATM to withdraw cash before coming back to pay. The area as a whole became my personal favorite part of Melbourne!

Cafes & lunch places in Melbourne

We crossed the road to the modern Federation Square and headed straight to the info centre to collect some maps and brochures. Then we walked along Yarra River, which seems to be a popular area among runners, and crossed a bridge to Botanical Gardens. (Every single Australian city/town/village seems to have Botanical Gardens. They´re really cool in the bigger cities, but nothing special in the smaller ones.) We spent quite a while walking around there looking at different sections; including Chinese and Californian plants, roses, herbs... And had a coffee/coke break sitting by a small pond, listening to someone playing the harp and admiring the black swans swimming there. At that point my new Scetcher-shoes had started to hurt my right heel really badly :( I kept limping the whole day, and the foot was all swollen and bruised by the end of the day.

Federation Square

Botanical Gardens

We saw the Parliament House from distance and would´ve wanted to go there, but after walking around it found out you can only access it with a guided tour. We went to see the Shrine of Remembrance instead, which is a memorial for Victorians killed in WW1. (Australians have a good number of war memorials considering they´ve only fought wars as allies of other countries.) This memorial was massive with impressive Ancient style architechture. It provided a really good view over Melbourne from its balcony! Then we went on to walk along the river and saw a bunch of rowing clubs, restaurants and a shopping centre. We found a really nice looking Japanese restaurant in the shopping centre and decided to come back to eat there. We kept walking till we came to Crown Casino, which is the biggest casino in Australia. They had heaps of gampling tables and machines, a hotel with posh looking halls and some restaurants there. It was big but obviously nothing compared to casinos in Las Vegas.

Yarra river

It was time to walk back to our hostel to get ready to go to watch the musical The Phantom of the Opera. I´m glad we dressed up since all the other people at the theatre were wearing pretty formal clothes, too. (Unlike when I went to see a musical at the Sydney Opera House, where some people were wearing jeans and thongs. But I hear that in general people dress more nicely in Melbourne.) After discovering free city trams don´t run after 6pm we ended up walking to the Princess Theathe. It´s a rather old, beautiful building and a perfect venue for the musical. Unfortunately taking pictures isn´t allowed inside. After picking up our tickets we went to eat pizza to a nearby restaurant, and then it was time to enjoy the musical, which was amazing! When I first found out they´re performing The Phantom of the Opera in Melbourne I decided I just have to see it, which was definately the right choice. Everything - the music, signing, acting, dancing (ballet), props, costumes - was great and I just sat there in amazement :) I don´t think I can emphasize enough how much I enjoyed the performance. The coolest props were this huge crystal crown hung from the ceiling and swung up and down, where the phantom was standing, and also a boat sailing, surrounded by fog and candles raising from the floor. We wanted to have a nice ending for the evening, so after the musical we went to a nearby cocktail bar and ordered some proper cocktails. They were made of real fruit and berries and were really delicious, however rather expensive.

The Princess Theatre

Juulia and I drinking cocktails