Melbourne, Australia

Dates: May 20 - May 22
Only a short taste, but honestly, it was enough, not because I didn't like it, but rather because it's a city you need to experience rather than visit. In fact, one of the people I met here used to work for Arthur Blank's (owner of the Atlanta Falcons... come on, you know that) ranch in Montana, and she came to Melbourne to live for a few months to get a better taste of it after being there for a few days previously. Maybe that's my future: work for the Arthur Blank (preferably the Falcons and not his ranch...) and move to Melbourne for a while!

Accommodation: United Backpackers Melbourne
This hostel was better and worse than the one in Sydney. Worse in terms of room, but much better in terms of company. The hostel had a bunch of events going on, so it was pretty easy to meet people and hang out with them.

Itinerary:
Day 1

• Arrive

Day 2

• Hostel-hosted walking tour of Melbourne, which included:
• Federation Square - public outdoor space designed created in the 2000s, that has free Wi-Fi, huge TVs (that were playing Friends when we were there), etc.
• Chinatown
• Royal Arcade - apparently this is what an arcade is, architecturally.
• Street Art, including Hosier Lane and ACDC Lane - didn't know this, but Melbourne is actually a huge place for street art, influenced by NYC artists
• Walk along Yarra River, including:
• Docklands - relatively new area with lots of stuff, e.g., bars, condos, sports stadium
• Flinders Street Railway Station - Melbourne's main train station with pretty old architecture
• Southbank - another area with bars, restaurants, etc. Also has a casino, where I was lucky enough to win some $

Selected pics:

A couple examples of the awesome street art found at a couple different places in the city.

The clocks at Flinders Street Station.

Webb Bridge, which connects Southbank to the Docklands across the Yarra River.

Day 3

• Trip to St. Kilda - nearby beach town. Houses Luna Park, which was built after the park in Coney Island
• Walk around University of Melbourne
• Queen Victoria Market - huge market with lots of shops to buy anything you want. Reminded me of a farmers market, except one that sold everything.

Selected pics:

Seen at Queen Victoria Market: Actual backpacks that look like those backpacks in cartoons.

A building in Melbourne continuing to show off its character.

The Royal Arcade - not as cool as what I was hoping for after hearing the name of it.

Random tidbits:

• Melbourne actually reminded me a lot of Seattle. Definitely recommend checking the other out if you've only been to one of the two. Big things (e.g., type of people, vibe of the city) and small things (e.g., they are very particular about their coffee, street art).
• Melbourne is apparently huge on AFL. I think someone mentioned half the AFL teams play in the city. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go to a game, as there was one on Saturday, but I had already left on Friday.
• This is more of an Australia thing than a Melbourne thing, but iced coffee is actually more of a desert than a drink like it is here in the US. They take cold coffee, throw some ice cream in it, and add whipped cream on top.
• I'm considering studying abroad in Australia. UT Austin has an MBA study abroad program that partners with schools in both Sydney and Melbourne, so it's seriously worth considering, especially given the note I mentioned earlier about needing to be there for an extended amount of time to really experience it. I could also use the rest of this trip as a tour for a bunch of study abroad locations. Let's see what happens.
• Along the same lines, walking around the city was really, really cool. Anywhere you turned could be something random and unique, such as a narrow alleyway that was actually a restaurant or an arcade (such as the ones mentioned earlier).
• Apparently, I walked over 80 miles in Australia... Had no idea that was possible in about a week's time.

Sydney, Australia

You know that place that you've wanted to go to for so long, that you don't even remember why it was on your list to begin with? Yeah, for me, that was Sydney, and to a large extent, Australia in general.

Dates: May 15 - May 20

Since this was one of the top places on my list, I figured I should spend the most amount of time there. Actually, this is just how the flights worked out, but I like to thing it was fate that I was in Sydney for the longest amount of time of any city.

Accommodation: Hostel - Bounce Sydney

To be honest, it's been a long time since I stayed in a hostel, so I can't really tell you how it was compared to others I've stayed at. What I can say is that it was pretty cool that they had lockers with chargers inside of them, so you could charge your stuff while it was locked away. The staff was nice, they had events every night, but I don't know, I just wasn't feeling it.

Itinerary (I say itinerary like it was planned, but it's more like "how things ended up working out"):

I'm still figuring out the format of this, so let me know what you think.

Day 1

• Circular Quay (pronounced "key") - This is probably the main area of Sydney. All the ferries take off from here, all the cruise ships dock here, and many of the iconic Sydney architecture pieces are right here, too.
• The Rocks - Oldest area of Sydney.
• Manly Beach - Supposedly named so because the Aboriginals that lived here were more manly than those the British had encountered elsewhere. Hung out with my sister's second friend (like second cousin) all day here.
• Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) - Museum that houses contemporary art (shocking, I know).
• Marquee - Popular club in Sydney, owned by the same folks as Marquee in Vegas.

Selected pics:

Day 2

• Darling Harbour - One harbour away from the Sydney Harbour, lots of cool stuff here like restaurants, a park, etc. Most of the business in Sydney are located between Sydney and Darling Harbours.
• Queen Victoria Building - Huge shopping mall with, according to Wikipedia, "Romanesque revival" architecture.
• Chinatown - Yeah, Chinatown.
• Sydney Opera House - Most perfect building I've ever seen.
• The Ivy - 5 story club owned by a really rich dude whose dad got rich by being in the mafia, and was sent to jail. Kid decided to legitimize the family money and build a really popular club that has a pool area (where people can get in), a changing room area (with a dance floor that plays hip hop), and a courtyard (that plays EDM). Hung out with Sisco, an old friend from study abroad, here.

Selected pics:

Day 3

• Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach Coastal Walk - Really scenic walk along the eastern coast of Australia.
• Centennial Park - Token large park in the city.
• AFL Stadium - Just walked by this, but pretty self explanatory. 

Selected pics:

Day 4

• Art Gallery of New South Wales - An art gallery in New South Wales (the state Sydney is located in). Australians are really creative with their naming system.
• Mrs Macquarie's Point/Chair - Scenic point where you can catch the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge in one frame. Named after an old governor's wife.
• Hyde Park - Park dedicated to ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps).
• St. Mary's Cathedral - Big(gest?) cathedral in Sydney.

Selected pics:

Day 5

• Blue Mountains - Scenic mountains outside of the city. Lots of cool hikes and aboriginal history here.
• Featherdale Wildlife Park - Basically a zoo where you can see animals and play with koalas and kangaroos.

Selected pics:

Day 6

• Sydney Harbour BridgeClimb - Really unique experience where you can walk along the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Did this with Navs!
• Dr. Seuss Art Museum - Art museum where you can buy pieces of Dr. Seuss' work.

Selected pics:

Random tidbits:

• Australians are huge on coffee. And brekky (that's breakfast).
• Free WiFi is pretty hard to find in Sydney. Didn't realize they were still in the 18th century here. That's all I've got to say about this.
• If I had to pick the 3 most picturesque places I've been, they would be (in alphabetical order):
• Dubrovnik, Croatia
• O'ahu, Hawaii
• Sydney, Australia
• There are way more British tourists here than I expected, and not nearly as many Americans.
• There are these random signs that say "VIP Lounge" everywhere (literally 2-3 per block) in Sydney CBD (central business district). Apparently, they're bars that also have some casino aspect to them. That took me a really long time to figure out.
• Australian Football is actually pretty cool to watch. The best thing about it is that it's a lot more free flowing than American football. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch a game while I was here.
• Missing the Hawks beat the Wizards to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time ever sucks. It's hard finding a bar that is open with the 14 hour time difference, and I can't find WiFi to stream it on. I know, #firstworldproblems.
• Asian food in Sydney is awesome, probably due to its proximity to the homeland. I had Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Japanese food while I was here, all of which were incredible.
• There are a bunch of people who move here for months/years at a time on what's called a "Work and Holiday Visa". Details here. It makes sense, because it's so far away that to explore appropriately (and cost-effectively), it's the easiest thing to do. Something to think about in the future, but it's only good until the the age of 30 (I can't believe that I'm at the point where that's a caveat...).
• Public transportation is interesting (aka confusing) here. They have a bunch of different ways you can get places, e.g., passes by # of days/$ amount, different zones (distances), different types of transportation (bus, train, ferry) and various combinations of all of those. The simplest way to get around is using an Opal card, which is completely $ based and works on all transportation methods. Here's the cool part about the Opal card: There's a maximum amount you can spend per day, so if you travel more than the maximum amount, the rest of your transportation for the day is free. And the limit is pretty low; it can range from something like $3-4 on Sundays to something like $15 on weekdays.
• Sydney did a really good job of having free exhibits at every museum or art gallery I went to. They had some paid exhibits as well, but it's nice to see free stuff for those who want just a taste.

More lessons learned:

• I'm actually really, really sad about something from this trip. There's a yearly festival called Vivid Sydney (http://www.vividsydney.com) that starts on 5/22 this year, which happens to be the day I leave Australia. Unfortunately, there's not a lot I could do about this (having found out about it upon arriving in Sydney), but it's just something I'll have to plan to come back to in the future. Basically, they install a bunch of interactive art around the entire city in the form of lights, music, etc. If you're too lazy to check out the link, here are some photos from Google images. It seriously looks incredible.

Next up: Melbourne, Australia