Saturday I went Halloween shopping around Melb for our upcoming Sydney Halloween trip with a group of friends and then went to Lygon Street for lunch. I'd heard great things about this street and heard it was a must do in Melbourne and my expectations were met! Want to talk about Italian paradise...which as many of you know I live breathe and die for carbs so Italian food was basically made for my belly. We at at Papa Gino's and it was delicious! I had garlic bread, cheese/garlic/herb pizza, and we all shared some pasta. It was very very good and actually very cheap for Australia. A win win! We then ventured up and down the street. I will surely come back to Lygon street and try another Italian place soon :)
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Melbourne Museum/ Lygon Street
After a long stressful week, I decided to venture to the Melbourne Museum, because well it was free. I had no idea what to expect but much to my surprise it was wonderful! This is probably because I am lucky enough to be in Melbourne while they have a HUGE interactive psychology exhibit. It was called Mind and Body. Basically it had psychologists I have learned about since I was a junior in high school and showed there experiments and had interactive activities within each different section. They even had some of the tools used from the actual experiments on display and being the psych nerd I am i absolutely loved it! My favorite was probably the display from Zimbardo's prison study. For those of you who don't know anything about this study-- basically he had participants take the role of either a prisoner or prison guard and prisoners became extremely depressed and stressed, while prison guards became very sadistic and these results show the effect of norms and roles on society and well as the effects of social expectations. (http://www.prisonexp.org) You can go to this website to learn more..honestly one of my favorite experiments of all time. Anyways back to the museum, after the Mind and Body exhibit we went to the Human Body exhibit and learned some interesting things about different body parts. Then we went to an exhibit on human evolution, and a room FULL of preserved animals that were pretty cool to see. My least favorite exhibit was the spider/insect room which of course gave me the chilly willy's considering I've decided things like this only exisit to ensure you everything in Australia can kill you! Sadly we had to leave after this exhibit due to closing time, however in my remaining weeks here I surely will return and update you on what else I see and add some pictures because this blog doesn't do it justice! Hands down one of the best museums I've been to!
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Random Australian things to remember :)
Thought I'd make a list of some of the things I've learned in the past 3.5 months :)
1. Australia's weather
Ohhh you think down under is full of sunshine sunshine shineshine? hahahha lolz bahah JOKES. sadly this is a huge misconception, especially for Americans...and sadly myself (the girl who lives and breathes for sun). It rains a lot here...more in Southern Aussie (where I am) than other places but everywhere has a wet and dry season. While winters are much more mild..it still gets cold and no you can't go to the beach every day
2. Australia's English
While yes it is still the English language...it totally isn't American english! Some things you will learn real fast --> cheers= thank you, I can't be bothered= I didn't feel like it, singlet=tank top, trackies=sweat pants, tea= lunch and dinner, thongs=flip flops, toilet=restrooms, car park= parking lot, I reckon=I think---- I could go on and on!
3. Australia is Expensive
Now were not talking a dollar more....we are talking 5 plus dollars more for almost everything! Crazy right? Everyday things like a bottle of water is around 4 dollars, a bag of chips 3 dollars, coffee around 5 dollars...I could go on and on in amazement. Alcohol is even worse...around 30 dollars for a 6 pack of beer or 35-40 for liquor. Same with clothes/shoes/makeup. And if you go out to eat don't expect to spend less than 20 dollars...and thats still a relatively cheap dinner at a most likely cheap place. Add a drink or two on there or maybe a dessert and you surely will spend 35 dollars per meal without blinking. However, Australians do make 20 plus dollars per hour MINIMUM even as teenagers so I guess it sort of evens out but for a college student with no job it is money sucking island.
4. Australian cities are far apart
While Australia may look small in comparison to most of the continents, all of the major cities are extremely spread out. Melbourne looks like it would be a 4 hour trip maximum to Sydney, however it is a 12 hour plus drive (which I will be experiencing next weekend ahhh). Therefore, if you are traveling throughout Aussie land I would highly suggest flying because luckily it is pretty affordable (unlike most other things here!).
5. Some random sidetones
You don't have to tip in Australia. They drive on the other side of the road and on the other side of the car...and after experiencing this for the past 4 months lord help me when I get in a car back home. You can't really tell if the toilets flush backwards because they are powerflushed. Lots and lots of people smoke. Melbourne, along with other big cities, are very cultured with lots of immigrants, especially of Asian decent. Australia has a Prime Minister. If you take American appliances and use a converter it will still blow up here (RIP hairdryer). School is much more laid back here along with the people. And finally the people are extremely nice regardless of where you are at.
1. Australia's weather
Ohhh you think down under is full of sunshine sunshine shineshine? hahahha lolz bahah JOKES. sadly this is a huge misconception, especially for Americans...and sadly myself (the girl who lives and breathes for sun). It rains a lot here...more in Southern Aussie (where I am) than other places but everywhere has a wet and dry season. While winters are much more mild..it still gets cold and no you can't go to the beach every day
2. Australia's English
While yes it is still the English language...it totally isn't American english! Some things you will learn real fast --> cheers= thank you, I can't be bothered= I didn't feel like it, singlet=tank top, trackies=sweat pants, tea= lunch and dinner, thongs=flip flops, toilet=restrooms, car park= parking lot, I reckon=I think---- I could go on and on!
3. Australia is Expensive
Now were not talking a dollar more....we are talking 5 plus dollars more for almost everything! Crazy right? Everyday things like a bottle of water is around 4 dollars, a bag of chips 3 dollars, coffee around 5 dollars...I could go on and on in amazement. Alcohol is even worse...around 30 dollars for a 6 pack of beer or 35-40 for liquor. Same with clothes/shoes/makeup. And if you go out to eat don't expect to spend less than 20 dollars...and thats still a relatively cheap dinner at a most likely cheap place. Add a drink or two on there or maybe a dessert and you surely will spend 35 dollars per meal without blinking. However, Australians do make 20 plus dollars per hour MINIMUM even as teenagers so I guess it sort of evens out but for a college student with no job it is money sucking island.
4. Australian cities are far apart
While Australia may look small in comparison to most of the continents, all of the major cities are extremely spread out. Melbourne looks like it would be a 4 hour trip maximum to Sydney, however it is a 12 hour plus drive (which I will be experiencing next weekend ahhh). Therefore, if you are traveling throughout Aussie land I would highly suggest flying because luckily it is pretty affordable (unlike most other things here!).
5. Some random sidetones
You don't have to tip in Australia. They drive on the other side of the road and on the other side of the car...and after experiencing this for the past 4 months lord help me when I get in a car back home. You can't really tell if the toilets flush backwards because they are powerflushed. Lots and lots of people smoke. Melbourne, along with other big cities, are very cultured with lots of immigrants, especially of Asian decent. Australia has a Prime Minister. If you take American appliances and use a converter it will still blow up here (RIP hairdryer). School is much more laid back here along with the people. And finally the people are extremely nice regardless of where you are at.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Hiking & D-Day
Ello!
Last weekend was a lot of fun. Friday night I went to the city and had a relaxing movie night with one of my girl friends here. Saturday morning Julie and I went for an adventure to Mt. Dandenog. We had been there once before and climbed the 1000 steps and looked at the city outlook of Melbourne, but this time we went to hike some trials and enjoy a beautiful sunny day. We had to take two buses and a train to get there but luckily they were enjoyable rides. On our first bus we actually met a guy who was on the Australian X-Factor and he was extraordinary. He originally was a Siamese twin who was going to die, but an Australian woman adopted him and his brother and Australian doctors were successfully able to separate them. Although his limbs are now extremely disformed, he has not let that stop it from being an outstanding person, a great singer (he was actually a finalist on X-factor) and soon will be going overseas to fulfill a music contract. People like that surely put your life in perspective. When we got to the mountains we hiked a couple of trails and went to a waterfall that sadly was not much of a waterfall which blew my mind considering it rains here all the dang time! Either way it was good exercise and I saw another wild kangaroo so I can't complain. We then went back to the city and went to this chocolate factory place called Max Brenner's and had chocolate fondue. Sooo yummy :) And then we went to dinner at a burger place called Grill'd (yes we ate dessert before dinner hehe) and it was delicious as well.
Sunday was D-Day at Glenn aka everyone is required to get up at 5 am (yes 5 am) and start drinking. I could barely keep my eyes open. The day was then full of drinking, a bouncy house, live music, and free pizza. I gladly passed out around 230 pm and didn't function until Monday. Never again will I get up that early and drink...Glenn was trying to kill my soul clearly.
This week so far has been full of finishing up my last assignment of the semester (hip hip hooray!), last full week of class, cleaning and catching up on some t.v shows. Can't believe my time is almost over in Australia!
Xx cheers
Makenzie
Last weekend was a lot of fun. Friday night I went to the city and had a relaxing movie night with one of my girl friends here. Saturday morning Julie and I went for an adventure to Mt. Dandenog. We had been there once before and climbed the 1000 steps and looked at the city outlook of Melbourne, but this time we went to hike some trials and enjoy a beautiful sunny day. We had to take two buses and a train to get there but luckily they were enjoyable rides. On our first bus we actually met a guy who was on the Australian X-Factor and he was extraordinary. He originally was a Siamese twin who was going to die, but an Australian woman adopted him and his brother and Australian doctors were successfully able to separate them. Although his limbs are now extremely disformed, he has not let that stop it from being an outstanding person, a great singer (he was actually a finalist on X-factor) and soon will be going overseas to fulfill a music contract. People like that surely put your life in perspective. When we got to the mountains we hiked a couple of trails and went to a waterfall that sadly was not much of a waterfall which blew my mind considering it rains here all the dang time! Either way it was good exercise and I saw another wild kangaroo so I can't complain. We then went back to the city and went to this chocolate factory place called Max Brenner's and had chocolate fondue. Sooo yummy :) And then we went to dinner at a burger place called Grill'd (yes we ate dessert before dinner hehe) and it was delicious as well.
Sunday was D-Day at Glenn aka everyone is required to get up at 5 am (yes 5 am) and start drinking. I could barely keep my eyes open. The day was then full of drinking, a bouncy house, live music, and free pizza. I gladly passed out around 230 pm and didn't function until Monday. Never again will I get up that early and drink...Glenn was trying to kill my soul clearly.
This week so far has been full of finishing up my last assignment of the semester (hip hip hooray!), last full week of class, cleaning and catching up on some t.v shows. Can't believe my time is almost over in Australia!
Xx cheers
Makenzie
Thursday, October 10, 2013
An amazing spring break!
Wow spring break was freaking wonderful! By far the highlight of my trip was going scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef but overall each day was great and full of exciting experiences.
Day 1: Took a flight to Mackay early in the morning and then had to take a 2 hour shuttle to Airlie beach. We finally got to the beach and laid out for a while then had dinner at bar like place thing and went to bed early because we had an early wake up call the next day
Day 2: Great Barrier Reef day! We sailed on a very large boat for about two hours out to the reef. The boat gave us a good breakfast and it felt great to be cruising on the sun. On the way I was asked if I wanted to scuba dive so naturally my adventurous self couldn't say no. I had to go to a meeting that talked about the correct ways to scuba dive and learned some important hand signals. Then when we got to the reef we went snorkeling first which was amazing. I have never seen such blue water in my life and the reef was full of fish and animals so it was beautiful to capture. It was then my turn to scuba dive so I got on all my equipment (that stuff weighs a freakin ton!) and did a little practice in a small pool like area but I didn't have much time to be nervous because before i knew it they were pushing me into the ocean! You have to continue to equalize your ears and at first my ears were not happy about what I was doing but eventually they accepted we were going down unda and stopped giving me a pounding headache! It is truly a different world under the sea. I got to pet a hugeeeeee fish (and I had an underwater camera so when I get the pictures I will post it on here) and my dive master showed me some awesome stuff. I would love to be certified some day and do other dives. After my dive I met back up with my friends, we enjoyed a great buffet lunch and then snorkeled some more and enjoyed a waterslide that went into the ocean. That night we went to a mexican restauraunt for dinner (rare find in Australia) but per usual no queso dip found. Why dont Australians eat queso dip dammit! We then went to this club like place called Africa, which was decked in animal print and was awesome, where we received 5 free drinks a piece which in Aussie land equals at least 55-60 dollars so you didn't see me complaining.
Day 3: Sailing trip!! This day was magical. I saw even bluer water in an area called the Whitsunday straight. First we snorkled and then were given a yummy bbq lunch and free alcohol the rest of the trip so needless to say we had some fun. We then got to go to one of the most treasured beaches in Australia called Whitehaven beach. Whitest sand you could ever picture (photo below) Overall it was a fun day of beaching and sailing. We then had the worst dinner of the trip at some shit restaurant but good thing I was too drunk to care right?
Day 4: Long Island Resort. We sailed to Long Island in the Whitsundays for a day of relaxation. The resort we were dropped at gave us free leis so that made me feel like I was in Hawaii or something haha. We did some hiking on some hiking trails and found a dead turtle. Sad day and he stunk....but yes we still took a picture with him and yes I did wash my hands you nasties. That night we had dinner at a nice restaurant but got shafted and waited for over an hour and the inner manager Kelly came out in me and I had to give them a piece of my mind because people literally sat down ate and left before we even were served.
Day 5: Off to Brisbane! After a long day of travel we made it to a fellow American friends apartment and found ourselves exhausted without much energy so it was an early night.
Day 6: We kayaked the Brisbane river. Pretty awesome minus the river is full of bullsharks. I also learned i SUCK at kayaking. Imagine my two friends in front of me at least half a mile....then theres me paddling as fast and hard as I could and going no where. My athletic abilities clearly do not carry into a kayak...or my method is flawed. Either way don't expect me to save your life in a kayak. We then went to this pool that is surrounded in sand to look like a beach. pretty cool! Overall, Brisbane was a lot like Melbourne.
Day 7: Off to the Gold Coast--SURFERS PARADISE. We took a two hour train...gotta a little lost...but eventually found our way. This was more or less the Panama City of Australia with less alcohol on the beach (because its a dry beach unlike PCB), but a heck of a lot more surfers. The water was still so blue and clear! Crazy! And the waves were literally huge. That night we went to dinner and met up with a friend from Uni for icecream yummmm.
Day 8: Laid at the beach all damn day like a champion followed by a three hour nap followed by dinner and a night at the top ranked club in Australia called Vanity and it was wild!
Day 9: Off to Byron Bay! Went to surfers paradise beach one more time then took a bus to Byron Bay. I love love loved Byron Bay...it was a small yet happy beach town. We were told it was very hippy and to not be surprised if we were offered drugs but luckily that did not happen because that would have been terrifying. But the place definitely had plenty of scooby-doo hippy vans and some narley surfers.
Day 10: Woke up for the sunrise because it is suppose to be on of the best places in the world to see it! But we couldn't find the light house...sad realization at 5 am ugh. Spent the whole day at the beach again at Byron! We also went rock climbing on some rocks that stand as the most eastern point in Australia. Pretty freakin cool minus the poisonous baby jello fish we saw floating in some puddles and god knows what other deadly australian animals. Either way we survived. Then two Aussie guys asked us if we wanted to swim in the water there and I was like uh Im going to do these waves are way to big..this was no gulf coast of mexico waves we are talking like swells but fear not they taught me how to dive under a wave and it was a lot of fun and yes I was careful Mom and no I didn't really think I was going to die and fear not the guys were actually lifeguards so I was safe and sound and I probably won't swim in waves that big again so I just had to do it. YOLO.
Day 11: Attempt 2 of finding the lighthouse for sunrise was a success! And wow it really was beautiful! Spent the morning at the beach then had to ride back to Brisbane for our flight home....or so we thought. Our flight was cancelled......real cool tiger airlines real cool. So we then had to buy a new flight that is suppose to be refunded within the next fews weeks...and it better be considering I don't have 300 dollars to throw around. Or only other option was to stay in the airport until Wednesday night...no thank you!
All in All it was a great trip and I am so lucky to have experienced the whole east coast of Australia!!
Day 1: Took a flight to Mackay early in the morning and then had to take a 2 hour shuttle to Airlie beach. We finally got to the beach and laid out for a while then had dinner at bar like place thing and went to bed early because we had an early wake up call the next day
Day 2: Great Barrier Reef day! We sailed on a very large boat for about two hours out to the reef. The boat gave us a good breakfast and it felt great to be cruising on the sun. On the way I was asked if I wanted to scuba dive so naturally my adventurous self couldn't say no. I had to go to a meeting that talked about the correct ways to scuba dive and learned some important hand signals. Then when we got to the reef we went snorkeling first which was amazing. I have never seen such blue water in my life and the reef was full of fish and animals so it was beautiful to capture. It was then my turn to scuba dive so I got on all my equipment (that stuff weighs a freakin ton!) and did a little practice in a small pool like area but I didn't have much time to be nervous because before i knew it they were pushing me into the ocean! You have to continue to equalize your ears and at first my ears were not happy about what I was doing but eventually they accepted we were going down unda and stopped giving me a pounding headache! It is truly a different world under the sea. I got to pet a hugeeeeee fish (and I had an underwater camera so when I get the pictures I will post it on here) and my dive master showed me some awesome stuff. I would love to be certified some day and do other dives. After my dive I met back up with my friends, we enjoyed a great buffet lunch and then snorkeled some more and enjoyed a waterslide that went into the ocean. That night we went to a mexican restauraunt for dinner (rare find in Australia) but per usual no queso dip found. Why dont Australians eat queso dip dammit! We then went to this club like place called Africa, which was decked in animal print and was awesome, where we received 5 free drinks a piece which in Aussie land equals at least 55-60 dollars so you didn't see me complaining.
Day 3: Sailing trip!! This day was magical. I saw even bluer water in an area called the Whitsunday straight. First we snorkled and then were given a yummy bbq lunch and free alcohol the rest of the trip so needless to say we had some fun. We then got to go to one of the most treasured beaches in Australia called Whitehaven beach. Whitest sand you could ever picture (photo below) Overall it was a fun day of beaching and sailing. We then had the worst dinner of the trip at some shit restaurant but good thing I was too drunk to care right?
Day 4: Long Island Resort. We sailed to Long Island in the Whitsundays for a day of relaxation. The resort we were dropped at gave us free leis so that made me feel like I was in Hawaii or something haha. We did some hiking on some hiking trails and found a dead turtle. Sad day and he stunk....but yes we still took a picture with him and yes I did wash my hands you nasties. That night we had dinner at a nice restaurant but got shafted and waited for over an hour and the inner manager Kelly came out in me and I had to give them a piece of my mind because people literally sat down ate and left before we even were served.
Day 5: Off to Brisbane! After a long day of travel we made it to a fellow American friends apartment and found ourselves exhausted without much energy so it was an early night.
Day 6: We kayaked the Brisbane river. Pretty awesome minus the river is full of bullsharks. I also learned i SUCK at kayaking. Imagine my two friends in front of me at least half a mile....then theres me paddling as fast and hard as I could and going no where. My athletic abilities clearly do not carry into a kayak...or my method is flawed. Either way don't expect me to save your life in a kayak. We then went to this pool that is surrounded in sand to look like a beach. pretty cool! Overall, Brisbane was a lot like Melbourne.
Day 7: Off to the Gold Coast--SURFERS PARADISE. We took a two hour train...gotta a little lost...but eventually found our way. This was more or less the Panama City of Australia with less alcohol on the beach (because its a dry beach unlike PCB), but a heck of a lot more surfers. The water was still so blue and clear! Crazy! And the waves were literally huge. That night we went to dinner and met up with a friend from Uni for icecream yummmm.
Day 8: Laid at the beach all damn day like a champion followed by a three hour nap followed by dinner and a night at the top ranked club in Australia called Vanity and it was wild!
Day 9: Off to Byron Bay! Went to surfers paradise beach one more time then took a bus to Byron Bay. I love love loved Byron Bay...it was a small yet happy beach town. We were told it was very hippy and to not be surprised if we were offered drugs but luckily that did not happen because that would have been terrifying. But the place definitely had plenty of scooby-doo hippy vans and some narley surfers.
Day 10: Woke up for the sunrise because it is suppose to be on of the best places in the world to see it! But we couldn't find the light house...sad realization at 5 am ugh. Spent the whole day at the beach again at Byron! We also went rock climbing on some rocks that stand as the most eastern point in Australia. Pretty freakin cool minus the poisonous baby jello fish we saw floating in some puddles and god knows what other deadly australian animals. Either way we survived. Then two Aussie guys asked us if we wanted to swim in the water there and I was like uh Im going to do these waves are way to big..this was no gulf coast of mexico waves we are talking like swells but fear not they taught me how to dive under a wave and it was a lot of fun and yes I was careful Mom and no I didn't really think I was going to die and fear not the guys were actually lifeguards so I was safe and sound and I probably won't swim in waves that big again so I just had to do it. YOLO.
Day 11: Attempt 2 of finding the lighthouse for sunrise was a success! And wow it really was beautiful! Spent the morning at the beach then had to ride back to Brisbane for our flight home....or so we thought. Our flight was cancelled......real cool tiger airlines real cool. So we then had to buy a new flight that is suppose to be refunded within the next fews weeks...and it better be considering I don't have 300 dollars to throw around. Or only other option was to stay in the airport until Wednesday night...no thank you!
All in All it was a great trip and I am so lucky to have experienced the whole east coast of Australia!!
Snorkeling Great Barrier Reef
Sailing day!
Forever a gymnast at heart :) Whitehaven Beach
Whitehaven Beach
Long Island Resort
Dead turtle frand :(
Whitsundays!
Surfers Paradise
Sunrise Day 1
Sunrise day 2!
Lighthouse at Byron Bay
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