My Future Home: Melbourne

Not really sure why I have been putting off blogging about Melbourne, especially since I adored the city! I've just been busy I suppose.

We left last Thursday at 9PM. We arrived in Avalon, about 45 minutes from the city, at 11:30PM. We just took a cab to our bed & breakfast. The driver drops us off in the pitch black darkness. There was one light guiding the way. We have no idea where to go. We were told by the people that we were in room number 1 and the key would be in the door. We start to approach what we assumed to be the main area of the place. PITCH BLACK. Al opened the door and we realized that we had to find our room in the dark. We all got out our little handy cell phones to light the way. They did jack shit! It was seriously like a horror movie. I thought we were going to die within 5 minutes of our trip starting. We found a room, which we assumed to be ours. Al opens it, realizes there is stuff on the floor, realizes there is someone in bed, and shuts the door. I feel very sorry for that person. I hope they didn't realize what was going on!

We continued to walk around the perimeter for about 5 minutes. We had no idea where to go. This B&B was seriously out in the middle of nowhere. If I didn't know better, I would have thought I was in hickville or Millstadt, for a closer reference to home. We finally found our correct room. Then there were bugs in the bed, crazy lights and cars driving by complete with weird noises outside. It was an adventure, that's for sure.

On Friday morning, we picked up our rental car from the airport and started our drive to The Great Ocean Road. The nice man at Thrifty even gave us an upgrade to a pretty sweet car! Only problem: I had to drive the whole way. *shhhhhh, this didn't happen*

The Great Ocean Road was basically the Headlands of San Francisco on steroids! IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! I couldn't get over the natural beauty! It's amazing how blue the ocean looks when the sun is shining too. We drove all the way to Port Campbell, about 4 hours from Melbourne. We got to see the famous Twelve Apostles, London Bridge, and Loch Ard Gorge. Basically, giant rock formations rising out of the ocean that were created millions of years ago! They are phenomenal. No idea how they are still standing! Port Campbell National Park really was like heaven on earth.

We made plans to sleep in the car on Friday night. WORST IDEA EVER. It would have honestly been fine if it wasn't sooooooo cold! We found a little parking lot in Port Campbell to stay in. We played some card games, walked around a bit, random things to make the time pass. We finally got in the car around 9:30 because we were exhausted. Well, sleeping was another story. I barely slept- maybe 3 hours that whole night. I even journaled at 5AM. I would fall asleep and wake up freezing, so my body wouldn't allow me to sleep anymore. Needless to say, we didn't sleep much. We got back on the road around 6:30AM.

We saw the sunrise and our first wild kangaroo ran in front of our car! It fascinates me that kangaroos are just like deer for Aussies. Cray cray! We made it to Melbourne in record time which meant that we had quite a few hours to mosey around before we could even check in to our hostel. We stopped near this lake and it was the spitting image of Chicago. We all felt it. We also walked through a zombie parade that was going on! I've always wanted to experience one and now I have.

That night we headed to Phillip Island to see the Little Penguins come home! Basically, you pay to see penguins come back from a day of swimming in the ocean and come home for the night. IT WAS AWESOME! Who knew penguins could be so entertaining?! The side of the beach that we were on had an epic battle between the penguins and the seagulls. The penguins would get scared and waddle back in to the ocean. It took this group about an hour to get back! Poor penguins! We got to "hear" some penguin hanky panky. The night sky was simply phenomenal out there as well. I didn't see any shooting stars, but then again I never catch them! They also warn you to check under your car for penguins when you leave. Sadly, we didn't have any. On Phillip Island, we also saw about 4 more wild kangaroos. Success!

Saturday night was the best night sleep in the history of night's sleep since we were all exhausted. We spent Sunday just roaming around Melbourne. I LOVE THE CITY. Part of me wishes I would have studied there. Although, I do like Sydney Uni campus more than Melbourne Uni. The city just has more personality and it suits my personality more too. The architecture is random- some modern, some historical. It's gorgeous! It is easier to walk and I just felt more at home there. I'm not going to tell you what we all saw this day because it was a lot. I enjoyed everything about it though!

Our plan for Sunday night was to stay in the city until late and then head to the airport because our flight was at 6AM. We ended up seeing Iron Man 2, which came out a week earlier here, and that made the time pass rather quickly. Thank goodness! We drove to the airport, only to find that the gates were closed until 3AM. Well, back to a parking lot to hang out for a few hours. I was so sick of that car by the end of the trip. But all in all, everything worked out. I had a bunch of fun, found my future home, and saw lots of wildlife & wonders of nature.

I've had quite the eventful week, but I will blog about that another time. Maybe tomorrow?