March started off with an Ed Sheeran at the MCG which was pretty special. It was the biggest concert in Australian history!
The following day me and Rich headed off on our big adventure. We had opted to do the 'Great Ocean Road' a road trip along the Victoria coast line, famous for it's spectacular views and rock formations. Despite my tiredness, we had an amazing couple of days stopping off at various beaches and towns, walking through rainforests and looking at lots and lots of rocks. If anyone is interested in itinerary, here it is:
Friday
•Melbourne- car pick up
•Bell's beach- nice beach
•Torquay- a nice seaside town and a lunch stop where we had Bahn mi, my fave
•Anglesea- another nice seaside town
•Split point- aka the Lighthouse from 'Round The Twist'*
•GOR sign- with a bit about the history of the road, mainly built by ex-soldier
•Lorne- Erskine falls and Teddy's lookout
•Apollo bay- a seaside town and our overnight
Saturday
•Apollo Bay- breakfast
•Great Otway National park- Maits rainforest walk, which was beautiful!
•Cape Otway Lightstation- A museum and decommissioned light house tour. On the drive in, you drive through a valley of dead trees.
•Gibson steps- a beach with the first glimpses of the 12 apostles and a good lunch spot.
•12 apostles- spectacular rock formations poking out of the sea
•Loch Ard Gorge- more rocks
The Grotto- even more rocks
•London Bridge- rocks that look like a bridge
•Port Campbell- no rocks here but a nice seaside town
Sunday
•Port Campbell beach
•Back to Melbourne on motorway
We had good weather the whole weekend and had some great food too. I was still figuring out my shift sleeping pattern/catching up on sleep, so was in bed by 9pm both evenings. My highlight was probably the Round the Twist lighthouse (haha!) and the rainforest walk. There was also thousands of butterflies everywhere, which made the former Countryfile/Farming Today worker in me was very excited! Three nights might've made for less of a rush, but we ticked off everything on the list.
More nightshifts the following week while Rich went off to the Goldcoast.
On Friday we went to our friend Meli's leaving BBQ at Albert Park (whereas they do the F1). What's nice about Australia and NZ is that they have communal BBQ's everywhere in parks etc that are free to use and great for a party. The following day, we hired a car (through uber car share this time, aren't we tech savvy!) and headed to Phillip Island. Not before a quick stop off to Pin Oak court aka Ramsey Street. Myself and Kate were incredibly excited, Rich pretended not to be, but I knew his was secretly.
Philip Island is about 100km southwest of the city. We stopped off for lunch/swim/icecream in one of the beach side towns before heading to the far end of the island, the real reason for us going there. Every day at sunset, thousands of little penguins come ashore to their burrows. It's pretty much guaranteed, so a huge conservation site and tourist attraction has been built around it, with hundreds of people sitting on tiered seating on the beach. Our tickets said 7pm, so we thought we would arrive for 6pm and get a good spot. When we arrived, we discovered it was doors at 7pm, penguins at gone 8pm. This is important info as we had originally planned at eating after. By the time the penguins did appear, we were cold (having been sat for 90mins), super hungry and, in my night shifted state, very tired. It definitely was spectacular, but the penguins mainly avoided the audience that night. Afterwards, you can walk around the reserve and see them up close and in their burrows etc. which was amazing, but the hanger was ruining the moment a bit.
The following day me and Rich chilled out and I got back on the early bed bandwagon.
The week played out much as the previous one- nightshifts while Rich went to Sydney.
We mainly chilled out in Melbourne on Friday, just visiting the Botanical gardens and going for pizza on westgarth highstreet. It was still warm enough to eat outside too.
Rich flew home on the Saturday.
On Sunday morning, I cycled along the nicest bike path to a nearby park to play football for the first time since leaving the UK. Joe and his friend Alex had found a friendly kick around group through the app meet up. They had several games going on, so I played some 7 a side before joining the boys on the 11s pitch. This game was more like 15 a side, so much more like a rugby scrum. I'm quite used to playing with just men, but do have to sound it out to see if it's being played in a safe and friendly manner and players aren't going to charge at me full pelt. (Side note on that, with my mixed team in Bristol, I had only been taken out once in 4 years). This didn't feel very safe, Joe and Alex didn't find it much fun either. I think I'll stick to the 7s which was lovely.
The following week, my improv classes had their last sessions. I'll be sad not to have improv, but glad to be able to control my sleep a bit more. Me and Kate had a day out on the Wednesday- getting a boat along the river and out to Williamstown.
On Saturday I flew back to Sydney. Two of my best friends, Scott and Ros, were over there for the weekend wrapping up their honeymoon in the southern hemisphere. Scott and Ros in my comedy group, and I miss them loads. We usually rehearse/hang out at least a couple of times a week when at home in Bristol, so it's been weird not being with them all.
I grabbed dinner with my friend Peter on Sat eve (he's moved over from Auckland!), some delicious dumplings and headed to my hostel for an early night. I had forgotten that other humans don't like to be in bed by 9pm in a Saturday, but just about persuaded my roomates at 10pm to turn the light out. Which was obviously a popular decision. Not. I cursed myself for not just sucking it up and getting a hotel room and was greatful that at least this wasn't every night. I then had a terrible night's sleep due to someone using a cpat machine in my room. And I thought I had seen it all in hostels!
The next day, I went and met my friend Katie's best friend Grace for a cuppa. It was so nice to finally meet her and to chat about Katie. Afterwards, I checked out the theatre where they performed a lot at. Speaking of which, the charity made in Katie's honour has recently been made official. The Katie Lees Foundation supports young women in the creation of new theatre work. Any donations would be most welcome.
Fed up and sleep deprived, I decided I didn't care what the cost was to move to a hotel that night, so I managed to book a last minute 'capsule room' at a nearby space themed capsule hotel. It was only $10 more than my current hostel, which allowed me to check out early with a refund, wahoo. A capsule hotel is essentially a hostel, but you get a little pod to sleep in and can shut out the outside world. Bliss. Plus, it's cheaper than a hotel room. Result.
Anyway, I skipped off to meet Scros at Bondi. We were joined by Chantal, a friend of Ros' from home, who had also flown in from Melbourne. We had a great day swimming in the sea, walking some of the coastal walk followed by dinner and drinks at the Opera house bar and cocktails nearby. And lots of laughing.
I was so excited to test out my space capsule when I got back. Naturally, I didn't know that they auto locked on closure, leading to a frantic minute pressing buttons then banging on the door until my Korean room mate calmly told me to press the big button to unlock. Lol. Although outside noise was largely blocked out, every pod had loud fans, so it sounded like being on an actual spaceship with a constant, annoying hum of other people's fans. Mine did nothing to make it colder. So much for silence and darkness. It was still an improvement on sleeping next to darth vadar*, even if it was like being aboard the Death Star. I would definitely go back again, but if I really did want to sleep, a private room would be better.
On Sunday morning, I met with Mia, my Korean friend for a coffee. It was so nice to catch up and hear what she's been up to in Sydney.
Then I met the gang by the Rocks for lunch. The rocks is an area near harbour bridge that has old ish stuff and history things from when Sydney was being built. We then did the harbour bridge museum which included going up one of the towers. At the top, we bumped into someone we knew from Bristol! After a mooch around the Botanical gardens, it was time to go our separate ways- W
we all agreed that we had had a lovely honeymoon.
Myself and Chantal were booked sequencial jetstar flights back to Melbourne. They leave several times an hour from Sydney and it's now the busiest flying route in the world as there is no sensible train option (current train takes 12 hours!).
*a bizarre Australian children's TV programme that was randomly shown in the UK and therefore etched into the memory of most millennials
Ed Sheeran at the MCG
