Here’s a look at my final days in Sydney and a brief stop in Melbourne to visit my friends from college, Cole and Georgia! Sydney Monday was pretty relaxed, I didn’t do a whole lot. I went into the city proper to take a stroll around the Museum of Contemporary Art. It’s free to get in and definitely worth a perusal. The visiting exhibit when I was there was on young Australian artists, all from different parts of the country. Their pieces drew on their personal experiences within the country and it was intriguing to see very different interpretations of the same country. Australia is a big place, so this makes sense but seeing it visually is powerful. The museum also has an extensive permanent gallery, which was fairly sized. My favorite piece was a collection of typed words and phrases from different Australian and Korean political speeches. Each word or phrase was typed twice, once in ink and once in its carbon copy. The ink will last forever, but eventually the carbon copy will fade to nothing. This interpretation of influential words I found incredibly intriguing. On Tuesday, my final day in Sydney, I finally used the Harbour Bridge Pylon Lookout ticket that I received as a part of my ticket on the Bridge Climb. It gives a great view of the Bridge and Opera House and you can bring your own personal camera, which you can’t do on the Bridge Climb. I played around with my wide angle lense on that trip; it was a fun time. But a little rainy. While I was walking around for the last little bit, taking in the whole city, I caught the tail end of the Melbourne Cup, which is Australia's most prestigious Thoroughbred horse race for horses three year old or older. It is titled “The Race that Stops the Nation” which, I can tell you, is decently close to accurate. Everyone gets all dressed up and work finishes in time for the 3pm race. And little hats are a thing. All the ladies have them. Let’s just say that I felt extremely underdressed while walking about that day. Anyway, what was cool about the race this year is that, for the first time in the history of the race, a female jockey won. And not only did she win, she did it in serious style. The odds on her horse were close to 100:1. That’s near impossible odds, especially in a field as large as the one at Melbourne Cup. A neat thing to experience while in the country. After the race I walked up into Pitt Street Mall to avoid the rain. Ended up ducking into a Forever 21 and found a coat that would have originally been $120 on sale for $20. I really couldn’t pass that up. I called my mom in an attempt for her to talk me out of it, but she agreed that I should get it. So I did. And so far, no regrets. It has a super comfy fluffy hood. And I live in Minnesota. So many reasons for vindication. Melbourne I really enjoyed my time in Sydney, but I was super excited to head on to Melbourne to see my friends from Macalester. Seriously, we’re everywhere. I took to train because, even though the trip is an incredibly long 11 hours, my ticket was the equivalent of about $50, including bags and everything. They had a promotion price until the end of November; very convenient for me. Plus I love traveling by train. Although I will say that this train ride wasn’t particularly scenic; trains in Europe are much better in that context, but if you have plenty of time it’s really not a bad option because you invariably end up at the most central station of your destination and can get almost anywhere from there. The trip took up my whole day on Wednesday and I finally got to their house around 8:30pm. Cole wasn’t supposed to work until the afternoon on Thursday, so we headed into Melbourne city proper to wander around. He was a great tour guide and it was super nice to catch up and hear about his life since I’d last seen him, which was the end of May. We started by walking through some of the larger shopping malls in Melbourne city. I thought the Mall of America was huge (it is, don’t get me wrong) but this was also huge with tons of floors, seriously a maze. We also walked in what was the largest H&M that I have ever witnessed. Overwhelming stimulus in that store; hence why I shop online. From there we walked down to Queen Victoria Market (nicknamed Vic Market), the largest open air market in the southern hemisphere. It reminded me of the markets in Hong Kong. There were so many cool and interesting stalls, including one devoted entirely to belt buckles and some that were all leather, from bags to pants. Next on the list was Federation Square, also known as Fed Square. Cole thought he might have to head to work, so this was convenient as Flinders Street train station was right there. But then the heavens decided to open and it poured in sheets for about 30 minutes, during which his coaching job was cancelled. And he was stuck with me (heehee). Because of the rain we went into the National Gallery of Victoria. This art museum is the oldest public art museum in Australia and has a very extensive collection. Highlights for me was definitely the modern/contemporary wing, specifically the Pablo Picasso from his series titled The Weeping Woman. Interesting story behind this painting: It was stolen from the National Gallery of Victoria on August 2nd, 1986 after having been bought the previous year for $1.6 million, the highest price paid for any one piece of art in the Gallery at the time. Demands were made by the thieves to the Victorian Minister for the Arts to increase funding for the arts or else the painting would be destroyed. A few weeks later, on August 19th 1986, police found the painting undamaged in a locker at train station in Melbourne following an anonymous tip-off. It still remains unsolved, but the painting is back where it belongs and hasn’t gone on any vacations since. After it dried out a little, we walked along the Yarra River to the Docklands, which houses the Ethihad Stadium. Melbourne hosts quite a large sports scene and this stadium hosts everything from cricket to rugby to soccer. Including the male counterpart team to Georgia’s professional team. At this point we were getting tired from all the walking and took the tram back to the house. We relaxed outside on the front porch with a cup of tea with one of their housemates while discussing Star Wars, specifically the theory about Jar Jar Binks being in cahoots with Palpatine. If you’re intrigued, you can read it here because it’s so long I’m not getting into it. Be warned, this is extensive. And will blow your mind a little. Neither Georgia nor Cole had work on Friday, so I got to spend the day with both of them. We went into Fitzroy, another suburb of Melbourne to wander around. There are a lot of neat stores in the area, including some secondhand and vintage clothing stores. After spending some time roaming around there, we took an Uber to Abbotsford Convent because the largest Lentil as Anything is there. Lentil as Anything is a series of not for profit vegetarian restaurants in Melbourne and Sydney which are pay what you can. The food there was so good; it’s sourced from local organic food suppliers and is prepared on site. Such a cool idea. We walked back along the Yarra River to get back to their house, and it was so nice to feel the calm of being in the country even though the city is right there. It’s a nice escape. For dinner we went into Chinatown to go to one of their favorite restaurants for dumplings. It was so cheap and is BYO (bring your own) drinks, so we stopped off for some beers on the way. I, of course, was asked for ID and then was told that I have to bring my passport because they aren’t supposed to sell to international IDs. I’ve never had a problem with my driver’s license in any other place in any other country. Super weird. But he let me have it anyway, so I guess it didn’t matter. After dinner we went for a drink at a rooftop bar on the way to the Crown Melbourne Casino. This was a cool experience with some great people watching. Especially watching this group of people trying to move horses on a screen. Lots of intense/strange facial expressions. Eventually we ended up at a roulette table with a very nice dealer (if that’s what you call the person who runs a roulette table) and she was telling us all about her job and some interesting facts, like that she isn’t allowed to accept tips and that in order to have a five star rating a casino has to have craps tables, but since it’s easier for the player to beat the house at craps then other games they are usually hidden or at least aren’t on the main floor. Which was interesting because that was exactly the case at the Crown Melbourne. While all this casual talking was going on, Georgia was up to $50 from her original $20 bet, which rarely happens in roulette. Usually roulette is where you go to lose your money. She decided to call it quits. We bought ice cream on the way home with her earnings :) Brisbane I was on a plane the next day (Saturday) and got to Brisbane in the afternoon! Trisha and Sam were at the airport when I arrived and I’ve had a relaxing 24 hours since then. Which was nice because en route my large suitcase broke a wheel. Apparently nothing wants to work for me on this trip. Anyway, check in next time to hear more about Brisbane!
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Meet AnyaHi, Hola, Bonjour, Ciao!
I’m Anya Phillips, a data analyst and travel enthusiast who is always on the lookout for the next adventure! Categories
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