Australia

Great Ocean Road

In 2011, I went on a one-month backpacking trip around Western Europe with my roommate from college. We went to Ireland, France, Spain, and Italy. In Paris we stayed in a really shitty hostel that actually smelled like piss. The silver lining was that we met Tom and Liv, two Aussies from Melbourne. In Paris, Tom ate his first crêpe and we all went to the Centre Pompidou together on a super grey day. Fast forward to 2013 and then 2015 when Tom was traveling the globe again and came to stay with me in New York. The offer to visit Australia always stood, the circumstances just had to align—I happened to have a bit of time off because I recently quit my job, so my friend Kay-Lin and I booked a trip.

Captured in Fitzroy, Melbourne

Here’s how it all went down:

Sydney Opera House

Monday, February 5–Tuesday, February 6
Our Qantas flight from JFK departed at 6:00 p.m. We had a layover at LAX and were in transit for about 24 hours. On the LAX to MEL leg (15.5 hours), the band Unwritten Law sits in the row in front of us en route to their Australia tour (note: we were in the back of coach in a row in the 60s). I watched Dunkirk, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, The Seven Year Itch, The Sound of Music, and Bladerunner: 2049. Tangent: I forgot how damn good The Sound of Music is.

Inside NGV

Wednesday, February 7
We arrive at the Melbourne airport where Tom picks us up. (Victoria and New South Wales are 16-hours ahead of New York). We get settled at his house in the suburbs of Ivanhoe. We meet the pups Bosco and Yoda, Tom goes into work, and after a proper shower get lunch at a place called Caffe Strada (note, things we quickly learned: the Aussies love their avocado aka “avo” toast, their abbreviations, and you have to go up to the counter to pay the check, even at more upscale restaurants). For dinner, we met up with Tom, Liv, Tom’s gf Lisa at a place called Ha Long Bay in Little Vietnam (there’s no shortage of good Asia cuisine in Oz).

State Library of Victoria

Thursday, February 8
We wake up pretty early to explore downtown Melbourne. First, we visited the NGA (National Gallery of Victoria) at their contemporary/international location to see their Triennial, which was quite good. After the museum, we got lunch and saw the State Library of Victoria, which is a wonderful building. Then we tried to go to the Queen Victoria Market, but it closed at 2:00 p.m. so we walked through the empty stalls. Next, we went to the domestic/indigenous portion of NGA before visiting Hosier Lane to see street art and Degraves Street for little shops and such. After, we headed to Fitzroy (the Brooklyn of Melbourne) for a bit of wandering and dinner at a Greek place called Alpha Guzeri. Our waiter was very friendly and gave us written directions back to Ivanhoe. Aussies are really the friendliest.

Twelve Apostles, Great Ocean Road

Friday, February 9
After getting breakfast at a Tulip Coffee on Degraves Street (and talking to one of the workers who was an American from Colorado by way of West Virginia), we met up with some of out tour group for the Great Ocean Road tour outside of the Immigration Museum. We met a bloke named Rasmus from outside of Stockholm who was in construction and on holiday indefinitely. Our guide’s name was Peter and there were 23 people total on the tour (from New Zealand, Germany, South Africa, India, and the UK). The tour started with tea at Urquhart Bluff and then we stopped at the Memorial Arch for photos. We passed through Lorne, stopped to see koalas at Kennett River, had lunch at the Iluka Restaurant in Apollo Bay, walked through Maits Rest Rainforest, and then Port Campbell Park to see the 12 Apostles. We took a walk on the beach at Loch Arch gorge and saw the fallen London Bridge. We didn’t get back to Melbourne until 9:30 p.m. and we grabbed a quick dinner on Degraves again at a great burger chain called Grill’d.

Brighton Beach

Saturday, February 10
Tom, Lisa, Kay-Lin and I had brunch at an amazing placed called Friends of Mine. We then went to Brighton Beach to see the beach boxes (after quickly stopping by Tom’s office). After that we went back to Tom’s place and Kay-Lin and I went into town to do some shopping (but to our dismay, basically everything closes at around 2:00 p.m. on Saturday). For dinner, we went to the Moroccan Soup Bar, an incredible family-style place in Fitzroy North. Then we went to St. Kilda’s to see the penguins at sunset.

Street art in Fitzroy

Sunday, February 11 While Lisa and Kay-Lin went to yoga, Tom and I ran 10 miles with Bosco (he’s a Kelpie, possibly dingo mix) on the Yarra River Trail. It started to rain at the end, but it was warm and the trail was great—we saw horses and got to run alongside the river (albeit the river is this sort of mossy green color). We all had lunch at a great vegetarian place called Trippy Taco (yes, in Fitzroy). Kay-Lin and I went on to check out the St. Kilda Festival (“Australis’s largest, free festival!”) on the beach and saw the set of an Australian, Tkay Maidza on the main stage. It was gorgeous weather. Dinner was at Thornbury—a little food truck park with a bar. I had a burger from a truck called Mr. Burger and after dinner got ice cream from Fairy Hills near Tom’s.

Along the Great Ocean Road

Monday, February 12 We (sadly) departed Melbourne for Proserpine (a tiny airport outside of Airlie Beach). We stayed here one night before our sailing trip and went to the local beach and had dinner at a place called D’Viet House. The food in Airlie Beach left a lot to be desired, especially after being spoiled in Melbourne.

Aboard the Waltzing Matilda

Tuesday, February 13
We had to be at the dock at 8:00 a.m. to board the Waltzing Matilda—our sailboat. The crew was Captain Paul, an Aussie who used to be in construction, and Noel (Noelle) from California. Our first stop was Hook Island/inlet. After an intro and welcome tea, we went to False Nara for snorkeling (we had to wear stinger suits on account of the jelly fish that reside in the waters). After that we snorkeled in Saba where we was a turtle. Then we had lunch and we had our last snorkel of the day at Hook Passage. Then we had dinner and watched the stars—the sky was so clear. We docked for the night at Hook Passage. Our shipmates included a Chinese family of five, two Swiss girls, a German girl, a German man and girl traveling together, and a couple from the UK/Netherlands.

Whitehaven Beach

Wednesday, February 14
We woke up at around 6:00 a.m. to the sound of the engine. We ate a bit of breakfast and headed for Tongue Bay (Captain Paul called it ‘Shit Beach’) for a tiny bit of hiking and a visit to Whitehaven Beach (one of the top 10 beaches in the world). We had to wear the stinger suits for the beach as well. We spent about two hours in the beach and sailed back to Airlie Beach. After a nap we had a very mediocre (Valentine’s) pizza dinner at The Deck across from our hostel. The hostel (Magnum’s) was under construction and was an indoor/outdoor situation with heavy backpacker vibes.

Haters will say it’s Photoshopped

Thursday, February 15 Another bright and early wake up for a 6:00 a.m. SKY DIVING call time at Airlie Beach sky diving over the Whitsundays. It’s a pretty surreal bucket list thing and after it happens, watching the video you feel like you’re witnessing someone else’s experience. In the late afternoon, we took a yoga class at Yartamana Yoga. For lunch, we had snacks from Woolworth’s and for dinner we had fish & chips from Whitsunday Seafood. We tried to venture to check out the nightlife scene and walked to a nightclub called Boom, but weren’t really feeling it.

Sydney Harbor

Friday, February 16
We flew from Proserpine to Sydney and checked into our hostel Wake Up! Sydney, centrally located near the main train station. We met up with our (American) from Tom for dinner in Chinatown (it was the first night of Chinese New Year) and ate at Emperor’s Garden where a lion dancer came and collected lucky money. We had Cantonese fried rice, vegetables, and fried beef. After dinner, we walked around the harbor, which was decorated for Chinese New Year—the city invited artists to depict all 12 Chinese Zodiac signs. It was my first time seeing the opera house in person and pictures don’t prepare you for what a marvel that building actually is. We got bubble tea from Gong Cha before parting ways and heading to back to our hostel.

Katarina Grosse at Carrigeworks

Saturday, February 17 In the morning, I went for a 6 mile run to the harbor, which had amazing views of the opera house. The city is so incredibly hilly. We met Tom for brunch at The Gardens and then we went to The Museum of Contemporary Art to see Pipilotti Rist, Sip My Ocean, which was previously on view at The New Museum in New York (it was ok). Then we went to Carriageworks (an industrial event space with a bar inside that had Pioneer Works vibes) to see Katharina Grosse. After that we explored Newtown and had a bite to eat at Milk Bar (no Momofuku affiliation). We went home for what was supposed to be a nap before going out, but it ended up being the end of the night so we just stopped at Woolworth’s for a snack and hit up Gong Cha again for some bubble tea.

Bondi Beach cliff walk

Sunday, February 18 In the morning, we headed to North Bondi to meet Tom and had brunch at this amazing Israeli place called Shuk. After brunch, we went to the beach and walked along the cliff walk from Bondi to Tamarama to Bronte, where we settled for a nap. We rode the bus back to the train station (stopped for a bubble tea at Teascoo) and headed to our hostel. We then met Tom for dinner in Spice Alley and had Singaporean food from Alex Lee. We attempted to go out to redeem ourselves, but a lot of bars are closed on Sundays. We had a few beers at Side Bar (attached to our hostel) and called it a night.

Darwin the koala

Monday, February 19
We grabbed a quick breakfast at Ray’s Cafe (in our hostel) and met Tom to go to the Taronga Zoo. I fault myself for forgetting how sad zoos can be (and why I never go to them), but we rode the ferry there and got to experience the koala encounter where we got to get close to (but not touch) a koala named Darwin. Apparently it’s only legal to hold a koala in Queensland. The zoo is massive (and hilly) and the chimps were super sad. After getting back, we took pictures of the opera house, walked around Chinatown and had dinner at Tim Ho Wan.

Blue Mountains

Tuesday, February 20 On our last day, we went on a tour through the Blue Mountains (we booked through Loka). Our tour guide’s name was Cameron and he was wonderful. First we stopped in Euroka to see Eastern Grey Kangaroos (tour guide Cameron told us that there are 5 million people in Sydney, 25 million people in Australia and 26 million kangaroos). Next we stopped for brekkie in a town called Glenbrook, then we hiked for 1.5 hours to Wentworth Falls and had lunch, after we walked the Prince Henry Cliff walk to see the Three Sisters and we ended at Lincoln’s Rock for views. After we got back, we had dinner in Spice Alley again, got Gong Cha and checked out a bar called the Soda Factory (you have to literally go through a ‘Coca Cola’ machine to get in). It was a cute, albeit kitschy place.

Sydney Opera House

Wednesday, February 21
We trekked to the airport for our flight home (with another layover in LAX). On the first leg, I watched Young Victoria, The Queen, The Zookeepers Wife, and Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami. And so, I return to Brooklyn with a renewed travel itch. Next time I visit Oz, I’ll have to see Tasmania, the West Coast, and Northern and Southern Australia.