Good-bye 2012 – G’Day
2013!!
G’Day! 2012 is almost over and over the course of three
weeks a lot of activities and events occurred to send 2012 off with a bang and
a great way to welcome the new year of 2013!
As my uncle Mike from Alaska left back to the US I had a week of rest
and an apartment move before my parents arrived from Seattle for their two week
holiday.
With two weeks off from work I took it upon myself to be
that good son and provide a great OZ tour.
Some of the planned activities were repeats for me, but most were new
and was a great opportunity to see new places of this great country. Upon the conclusion of this two week
extravaganza, I can really say and conclude that OZ’s really know how to party
and celebrate!
Apartment Move
Prior to my parent’s arriving I had requested an apartment
change as my current setup had too many issues that would not make for a
continued stay…ie. Mold and a funky smell.
Luckily I was able to move to a building right next door. The new view is great; however, there is no
longer a nice city skyline to see, but rather a bay view. This unit also has much better stocked utensils
and appliance….a great way to live it up in my last month here in OZ.
Parent’s Arrival -
Ballarat
With my parents here, we began our OZ tour with a road trip
to Ballarat. The state of Victoria and
the city of Melbourne were all founded due to the discovery of gold in the
land. Thousands upon thousands of
immigrants from around the world ventured to Australia for their chance of
finding gold. Some of the world’s
largest gold nuggets were found in this region and the town of Ballarat was the
center of it all. Gold built this region
and the mining galis frames dominated the skyline, probably more so than the
city of Butte Montana where copper was king.
J
A quick 1 ½ hour drive from Melbourne we reached
Ballarat. Now a sleepy town as gold
mining has ceased, it now attracts tourists to their living history museum of
Sovereign Hill, their Gold Museum, and of course wild life park. We began the visit with the wildlife park to
experience the feeding of the kangaroos, wallabies, emus and to see the fauna
of Australia.
The next stop was Sovereign Hill, a living history museum
that takes place in the 1840s. The
museum was an awesome experience.
Getting to see how a gold mining town may have looked and functioned in
the 1800s was fascinating. The actors
there recreate everything from gold pouring $150,000 worth of gold, making
boiled sweets, bakery goods, stage coach rides, metal working and of course mining. It was a hit with the parents and
myself! The working mine was remnants of
an existing gold mine and to this day still functions in order to extract the
gold from the quartz to fill the creek for the tourists to pan for real flakes
of gold! Cheesey…..yes but a fun historical experience!
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| Whether or not they really did use 150,000 dollars worth of molten gold is of question but it was neat to see it done! |
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| Downtown Ballarat |
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| The Train Station of Ballarat |
After the living history museum we toured the Gold Museum across the street which provided history and insight to the different stages of mining in the region. So – so experience and glad it was saved for last.
Great Ocean Road
Yes, for a third time, but worth it! This third visit along the Great Ocean road
proved just as amazing as my first two visits!
The famous Bell’s Beach where Surfing is legend, Cape Otway Koalas in
the trees, Gibson’s Stairs down to the beach, the 12 Apostles, Loch Ard gorge,
and all the other many scenic lookouts along the great coast. Truly spectacular and truly a geological
masterpiece!
Beyond the 12 Apostles and Great Ocean road, our trip
ventured to Warrnambool a small city along the coast. We stayed at a small motor inn called the
Raglan Motor Inn, a staple from the 1960s.
Here in Warrnambool we used this town as a base camp to help split up
our journey. The next day we ventured
further west to a town called Port Fairy.
On our way to Port Fairy, we stopped at one of Victoria’s oldest state
parks, Tower Hill Reserve. This oldest
park has one of the most recent volcanoes in Australia, which erupted some
12,000 years ago. Perfect for
bushwalking and seeing wildlife we easily spent more than half a day here
seeing the wild emu’s, koalas, birds and spectacular view points on top of the
various volcanic cones.
Beyond Tower Hill Reserve, is a small fishing village of
Port Fairy. This town is now a summer
tourist haven for balmy summer nights; however, we were there just for the
afternoon and were able to see most of this town and its surroundings easily,
despite the invasion of flies….and lots of them. We walked from the city center to the docks
of the fishing vessels to the little island that housed the light house, wild
black wallabies, and saw lots of nesting birds, seagulls….maybe…?
Our second night in Warrnambool was pleasant and on our
journey home, we took the inland route and got to see the countryside of wheat
and cows. One lane roads lined with
Eucalyptus trees and numerous water pumps were seen. Nothing like the Outback, but definitely something
only seen in Australia, plus the milk was terrific in this region, especially
when they provide you with a free pint of milk upon check-in at the motel. J
Our road trip back to Melbourne was half a day’s worth of
driving and we were able to conclude our Great Ocean Road journey with a feast
and evening at Queen Victoria Market’s Night Market. J
Sydney
With the first week filled with exploring the state of
Victoria, it was time to venture to a new state and see one of the most
recognizable cities in the world, Sydney.
We took a quick plane trip from Melbourne to Sydney and arrived safely
in Sydney. Our first evening took us to
the Rocks, an area of Sydney where the first convicts arrived and settled. Now a highly touristy and filled with
restaurants galore it was hard to imagine that this neighborhood was so
dangerous and filled with convicts. Our
free tour of the area concluded with a great view of the bridge and surrounding
neighborhood. It was a neat and
informative tour.
After our tour we ate on the fly and went through the bazaar
which was concluding that evening and for the year. It was filled with great food, arts and
crafts and live music. A great find for
sure. We passed through and boarded an
evening ferry to Manly, an outlying beach town 45 minutes away. We passed the Sydney Opera House and Sydney
Bridge and of course all the other amazing landmarks of this city. We returned on the same ferry with the same
spectacular Sydney Skyline and were able to conclude a great first day in
Sydney.
Our full day of Sydney began with walking through Hyde Park,
think Central Park in New York City, not as big, but very close. Beautifully kept and lots of neat old trees
and monuments. Through the park, we
walked through the Royal Botanical Gardens, visited the Opera House Steps,
walked through the central shopping district, visited the Circular Quay where
all the ferry terminals were and took a bus to Bondi (Bond-Eye) Beach. Along the coast about a 20 minute bus ride
from the central part of the city, is Bondi, a beach where the locals go for
some surf and swimming. In addition to
Bondi, there’s a spectacular coastal walk that is along the coast and takes you
along multiple beaches and amazing coastal views. Worth every penny to do this and we were
lucky to have great weather.
Our second and last evening in Sydney concluded little did
we know, with one of the country’s largest Christmas Events, Carols in the
Domain. A free event and set up near the
Royal Botanical Gardens, OZ’s from the city and surrounding suburbs converged
beginning at 4pm to hear and listen in this annual event to Christmas Carols
sung by national and local celebrities.
From 4pm till 10.30pm carols were sung.
We did not stay for the main performance but were unlucky pass through
the thousands of concert goers.
Our last meal in Sydney was at a great little local pizzeria
in little Italy. It was perfect and we
were able to bring our own bottle of wine to go with our personal sized
pizzas!
We were short on time in Sydney; however, with our good
planning we were able to see the main sights of this OZ city.
To say which city is better.....comes with bias. For me, I like Melbourne. What Melbourne does not have...such as the bay, Opera House, and Bridge, Melbourne makes it up with good food and being the cultural center for Australia....flip flops and shorts is not what the OZ's want the world think of them. :)
Christmas Eve
With Christmas a day away we returned to Melbourne from
Sydney and were again doused with Carols.
On the eve of Christmas Eve, the local neighborhood, Docklands, hosted a
Carol extravaganza with local artists and celebrities, we only witnessed a few
songs and then proceeded to the center of town for a great laser and light show
of town hall. The old town hall building
in Melbourne is lit up with colorful animations and lights and draws a great
crowd for Christmas cheer.
For Christmas Eve I had reserved a great spot for some OZ
steak. Rockpool, located at Crown
Casino, which is one of Melbourne’s largest entertainment complexes provided us
with a great dining experience with great food.
It was a nice Christmas Eve dinner with the parents. We then were able to view Melbourne’s great
Carol event at Federation Square. Here
on the large television screen they broadcasted the caroling event to those, “us”,
who could not afford the highly priced event at the Sid-Myer Bowl Amphitheatre
near the Royal Botanical Gardens.
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| 36 month aged wagyu beef! |
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| Passion Fruit Pavlova! The staple Christmas dessert! |
Christmas
Christmas in OZ wouldn’t be complete without going to the
Beach! Picnics are common here in OZ for
Christmas. For us, we made a picnic and
drove to the local beach town of Brighton.
About a 30 minute drive we arrived took a nice pre-lunch stroll along
the beach and then picnicked along the shore with the Melbourne city skyline
and the beach huts of Brighton Beach in the distance.
Boxing Day
Boxing Day in OZ is another
public holiday, but is Australia’s busiest shopping day! In addition to one of the busiest days for
starting holiday travel! For us, we took
to the peninsula, the Mornington Peninsula that is. A good 1 ½ hour drive to our South East along
the perimeter of Phillip Bay is the Mornington Peninsula.
Filled with vineyards, beaches and horse stud
raising the Peninsula is perfect for those city day trips. We stumbled upon Arthur’s Seat State Park
which was a great find! Here we picnicked and had time to bushwalk the local
flora. Great vantage points of the bay
and coasts were here too.
After our leisurely tour of the peninsula, we ventured to
Phillip Island in order to let my parents see those Little Penguin that come in
at night. They of course were
thrillingly pleased with the little creatures and was a great way to conclude
the holiday trip.
Post-Christmas
With Christmas over, so were the decorations and
carols. Everything in the city was
cleaned up and all the Christmas décor taken away and up came the New Year’s
decorations. With the last couple of
days left for my parents, we did the few remaining activities that they needed
to see. We went to the Royal Botanical
Gardens, Immigration Museum, Melbourne Museum and the National Gallery of
Victoria International.
The two fully packed weeks flew by and was full of
everything that I believe could be done in a manner that wasn’t rushed. With my parent’s safely back in the US, its
back to normal for me as I prepare for the last few weeks here in Australia.
For New Year’s Eve, I will be celebrating with co-workers at
a roof top bar in downtown Melbourne along the Yarra River. It will be a fun experience as I will be the
first here to experience 2013! Melbourne
knows how to party and celebrate! With
over 22 firework shows of which 3 main shows are at three main parks the city
knows how to bring in the new year!
2012 brought lots of opportunities and learning experiences
for me and there’s nothing to regrettable!
Australia has been a great learning experience and has brought great opportunities
that makes saying good bye to 2012 easy!
2013 will bring much more and as always I am optimistic! What will be next? Nothing but becoming a stronger
and better person filled with new experiences!
With that! Happy New Year and Happy Holidays!
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