I was about halfway through my adventures down under when I got into Sydney, and just in time for my friend Marco's 30th birthday. It was so wild showing up and seeing him again for the third time on my trip. The first time was wayyy back in early December when Alex and I were traveling through Italy and we visited Torino, the city that I studied abroad at over 4 years ago. We mainly went there so that I could revisit the city and show Alex around, but also to meet up with Marco. It was a lot of fun, and while I was there Marco invited me to come back to Torino for the holidays and spend Christmas and New Year's with him and his family. I didn't have anything else planned for the holidays so I was more than happy to accept the invitation, and about 2 weeks later after traveling through Italy and Budapest, I was back in Torino for the holidays. It was an amazing time that I documented in a separate blog post way back when, and when Marco told me that he was getting a working holiday visa to work in Australia for a year, I knew I would have to pay him a visit if I made it that far in my trip.
Well, it turns out that I did make it this far and it was time to pay him a visit. So for the third time I got to hang out with Marco on my trip and we couldn't believe that we were seeing each other again, in Australia of all places!
Because Marco and his family were so kind to host me during the holidays, I really wanted to make it out to Sydney for his birthday and it just worked out perfectly. We were more or less freaking out when we first met up, and couldn't believe that things had worked out like this. But it was great to see him again and we went out a bit to celebrate.
Marco had just gotten back from doing some farm work up in Queensland but was living in Sydney for the first four months of the year, so he knew the general area and the places that I should see in the city. So each day basically consisted of us meeting up and him taking me around the city to see all of the main sites and cool places that Sydney had to offer. Sydney is a pretty cool city. It's HUGE and super diverse, too. For some reason, it actually reminds me a lot of San Francisco, and I almost forgot I was in Australia after walking around for awhile.
Highlights from Sydney obviously consisted of the opera house, which is really impressive in person, a really cool hike we did outside of Manly, a beautiful part in northeast Sydney, and some hilarious photos we got when we went up the Sydney Tower, which provides you with really good 360 degree views of the city (but not great views of the opera house). But there was one surprise we weren't quite expecting... KING KONG KOALA!!!!!!
We gave a friendly wave to the king kong koala and kept a straight face. I think this gave him the impression that we wanted peace, but were ready to fight if he disagreed, so he let us go. All in all we survived, and Sydney was a really good time. The pleasure of reuniting with old friends continued during my visit.
I decided to keep going south and make my way to Melbourne, the last stop of my short visit to Australia. I had another friend reach out to me in Melbourne that invited me to stay at their place, so it was another good trip to make.
Alex and I met Summer in the Sahara desert during our time in Morocco and we became friends pretty quickly. Summer is great to hang out with and it was a no-brainer when she invited me to crash at her house with her roommates. Everyone was really nice and I had a really good time walking around the city and enjoying the atmosphere of Melbourne.
Highlights of Melbourne included going to my first ever Australian football game. Australian football is nothing like American football or even soccer. I don't know how to explain it other than just googling it to see it for yourself. Anyways, it's a big deal in Melbourne because it all started in this area, so everyone is a huge fan. I was told by multiple people to check out a game when I got there so I wanted to make sure that I had the chance to see one. It just so happened that there was a game going on at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) which is a massive stadium in the city.
I had no idea what was going on during the game but after a few beers it didn't really matter. It was really entertaining and really funny to watch all of the die hard fans get so into it. Everyone was dressed up in their team's colors, chanting and yelling at every play. At one point a man who had definitely been drinking earlier approached me and asked me "What do ya reckon?" I responded, "well, I'm from America and this is my first AFL game I've ever seen so I don't really know what's going on." He smiled and nodded and welcomed me and we had a brief conversation. He told me his grandfather used to play for one of the teams which may or may not have been true, but I made sure to follow him in all the chants and cheers whenever something good happened for his team. We were all rooting for the home team and I had a blast.
It was a really cool cultural experience and I'm really happy that I decided to check out a game. Australian football actually seems like a really well-rounded sport with a lot of intensity and physical contact. I would definitely recommend to anyone traveling in Victoria or Melbourne to check out a game if they get a chance.
My plan after Melbourne was to fly over to New Zealand. I knew that I wanted to explore the south island of New Zealand more than the north (there's more beautiful landscapes and outdoor things to do in the south island), so I found a relatively cheap direct flight from Melbourne to Queenstown.
After a slight delay (more on that later) I spent a total of one week in Melbourne and would be on my way to New Zealand. I couldn't believe I'd come this far on the trip, and the one year mark was quickly approaching. I would continue to be in awe of how far I've come when I arrived to Queenstown.
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| What's a blog post about Sydney without a picture with the Opera House? |
Because Marco and his family were so kind to host me during the holidays, I really wanted to make it out to Sydney for his birthday and it just worked out perfectly. We were more or less freaking out when we first met up, and couldn't believe that things had worked out like this. But it was great to see him again and we went out a bit to celebrate.
Marco had just gotten back from doing some farm work up in Queensland but was living in Sydney for the first four months of the year, so he knew the general area and the places that I should see in the city. So each day basically consisted of us meeting up and him taking me around the city to see all of the main sites and cool places that Sydney had to offer. Sydney is a pretty cool city. It's HUGE and super diverse, too. For some reason, it actually reminds me a lot of San Francisco, and I almost forgot I was in Australia after walking around for awhile.
Highlights from Sydney obviously consisted of the opera house, which is really impressive in person, a really cool hike we did outside of Manly, a beautiful part in northeast Sydney, and some hilarious photos we got when we went up the Sydney Tower, which provides you with really good 360 degree views of the city (but not great views of the opera house). But there was one surprise we weren't quite expecting... KING KONG KOALA!!!!!!
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| We were standing in front of a green screen and were told to look up and wave when they took the picture. Marco and I agreed not to smile for added effect, and when we saw the finished product we couldn't stop laughing. KING KONG KOALA! |
I decided to keep going south and make my way to Melbourne, the last stop of my short visit to Australia. I had another friend reach out to me in Melbourne that invited me to stay at their place, so it was another good trip to make.
Alex and I met Summer in the Sahara desert during our time in Morocco and we became friends pretty quickly. Summer is great to hang out with and it was a no-brainer when she invited me to crash at her house with her roommates. Everyone was really nice and I had a really good time walking around the city and enjoying the atmosphere of Melbourne.
Highlights of Melbourne included going to my first ever Australian football game. Australian football is nothing like American football or even soccer. I don't know how to explain it other than just googling it to see it for yourself. Anyways, it's a big deal in Melbourne because it all started in this area, so everyone is a huge fan. I was told by multiple people to check out a game when I got there so I wanted to make sure that I had the chance to see one. It just so happened that there was a game going on at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) which is a massive stadium in the city.
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| Inside the massive MCG with no idea of what's going on. |
It was a really cool cultural experience and I'm really happy that I decided to check out a game. Australian football actually seems like a really well-rounded sport with a lot of intensity and physical contact. I would definitely recommend to anyone traveling in Victoria or Melbourne to check out a game if they get a chance.
My plan after Melbourne was to fly over to New Zealand. I knew that I wanted to explore the south island of New Zealand more than the north (there's more beautiful landscapes and outdoor things to do in the south island), so I found a relatively cheap direct flight from Melbourne to Queenstown.
After a slight delay (more on that later) I spent a total of one week in Melbourne and would be on my way to New Zealand. I couldn't believe I'd come this far on the trip, and the one year mark was quickly approaching. I would continue to be in awe of how far I've come when I arrived to Queenstown.
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