April in Australia

The Other Girls Blog Addresses

2008-10-13T16:59:00.002+11:00

So maybe if I leave you wanting more after reading this or you want to see our adventures through someone else's eyes or because I am horrible at updating this....you might want to check out Shayna and Noreen's blogs as well....here are their addresses:

Shayna: http://shayna.travellerspoint.com

Noreen: http://noreenaroundtheworld.travellerspoint.com

2008-10-06T13:39:00.001+11:00

One more thing:

Does anyone know how to add pictures on this website? I was trying to upload a lot on a different website but the connection was too slow so I figured I could just upload a few on here for now but cant figure it out. Fill me in if you know.

Ok thats all.

2008-10-06T13:30:00.000+11:00

So it’s a fact- I am horrible at keeping up my blog. This may be due to the fact that we aren’t sitting around all day, every day on our computers longing for home, because I don’t really have internet access or maybe because I just always kind of forget. I promise I will be better. I suppose it is better for me to be having fun, going out and forgetting to update it verses being in our place sad and homesick, right?

We have officially been here for two weeks now; two crazy, fast-paced, fun-filled, hedonistic weeks. Since moving into our townhouse, we have filled our days with exploring, indulging ourselves at various cafes, sending too much money, going out at night, drinking too much of their infamous coffee (which is COMPLETELY different than at home) and enjoying ourselves to the fullest. Lauren and Kelley find out today about a place they applied to right down the street from us so send them some good karma thoughts that they get approved. Besides for Noreen, none of us have made any real attempts to find jobs or check back into reality. It has just been too much fun ignoring our depleting bank accounts and eating more calories in one meal than the average man should consume in a full day. I have a feeling that we are going to be getting a vicious wake up call soon…

This past week started off with some more unpacking and getting settled. We walked around Chapel street, explored the back alleys and markets of Prahan, window shopped at all the designer stores, and enjoyed having a place to call home...a place where we could take showers without flip-flops on, sleep in sheets and not a cocoon, and hear ourselves think. Don’t get me wrong, staying in hostels is fun, but not when you have 15 bags and a smelly German boy in your room. Noreen has coined the term “bratpackers” for us….although I would have to say we pretty flexible for 5 girls who like nice things. J

After many days of not leaving South Yarra (the suburb we live in), Noreen and I decided it was time to get out so we trammed it down to Carlton- where the University is and all those young, immature college students live. J In addition to being the center of University life, Carlton is also known as the Italian district and more famously as the place where Brad romped around when he spent his time here. Upon a life altering suggestion from my Lonely Planet: Melbourne book, which I then stupidly forgot on the tram, Noreen and I decided to grab lunch at a quaint cafe called Tiamo-- as a celebration for joining a gym (we are huge). It was hands down, the best decision we had made since our arrival. The food and wine was absolutely divine…..everything was perfect and I could have sat there and ate all day long. To top it all off, we ended up making friends with everyone who works there and have since been back twice with the rest of the girls…one time as their treat (which is nice since it is not cheap)!

The next day we went and walked around Saint Kilda, the beachy area of Melbourne. It is quite different from South Yarra which is pretty yuppy…it has much more of a counter-culture feel to it. Think Venice Beach with a little more bohemian grunge. It, like the rest of the city, is cluttered with cafes, pastry shops, bars and stores. In addition to the usual findings, there is also an amusement park on the beach with a huge creepy clown face as the entrance. I definitely wouldn’t want to be around there at night-- not only because of the creepy clown but also because apparently it’s a hang out for all the local prostitutes and drug dealers. Sounds like a good place, eh? We were actually thinking of living down there before we left but upon arriving in Australia and talking to the locals we decided against it and thank God we did.

On Friday, we were invited to “an American keg party” by one of our friends, Nelson. Seeing as though we are American, they thought we would feel right at home…and they were right. Flip cup, beer pong, and all…I thought I was back in San Luis. The Aussies were amazed when we told them that back in the states, you can get a keg for $49….they paid $250. Suckers. We met a lot of really fun Australians that night in addition to a few Canadians and Americans. Slowly but surely we are getting out there and making friends.

Saturday was race day. A friend from home got Shayna in touch with her boyfriend’s best friend, Sam, who lives in Melbourne, before we left. After chatting it up on Facebook, Shayna made friends with him and Sam and the boys have really taken us under their wings and befriended us. They are a group of 27-29 year old professionals…most of which work at accounting firms in the city (and all of whom dress impeccably!). If you think American boys are immature, come to Australia…I swear these guys don’t act any older than we do. Anyways, a long story short, Sam was able to get us complimentary “members only” tickets for the horse races at Flemington. I have never been to horse races before but it was similar to what I would imagine the Kentucky Derby would be like. Women in big hats, incredible fashion everywhere, people flaunting their money and lots of champagne. We entertained the thought of betting $0.50 on a horse but since we had no idea what was going on, we saved our pennies….you never know when that might come in handy. After a long day at the races, we retreated to that amazing (free) dinner at Tiamo I briefly mentioned before and then came home….too much champagne to go out.

On a different note, they say that when in Melbourne, you need to be prepared for 4 seasons in one day. They weren’t lying. I don’t know what it was before we left, but we didn’t really believe anything anyone told us (for example that it’s cold and rainy here right now, how expensive everything is, and how horrible vegemite really tastes). Needless to say, it’s a weird day here when it isn’t sunny one moment and pouring the next. The weather is finicky and unpredictable although it never lasts long enough to get annoying…if you’re all about constant change, Melbourne is the place for you. As we are coming out of their winter, people have been telling us that the nicer summer weather is just around the corner with temperatures very similar to what we experience back in California. I am definitely looking forward to putting my umbrella away and enjoying my second summer this year!

I hope from this you can all tell what an amazing and wonderful experience we have been having so far. Although it is quite different from my experience in Europe, Australia is an amazing place and the people here are all so kind. I am so excited to get out of Melbourne and see more of this massive country. We all feel blessed to have this opportunity and I can’t wait to see what it brings to all of us. I hope you are all doing well and enjoying life! Keep my updated!!

Oh yeah! I got an Australian cell phone….you should call me…or text me. To do so you would dial:

0011 61 4 347 79 137

I know it’s a mouthful, but try it out. I also heard about some communication company you can go through by using land lines and its like $0.01/minute…I will get more information and then post it.

Ciao!

April

Ps…I also still love getting letters and postcards and packages

Pss….GO ANGELS!

Our Address!

2008-09-29T12:51:00.000+10:00

I forgot! Here is our address........

90 B Surrey Road North

South Yarra VIC 3141

Australia

Send me some mail!!! :)

So now for my first real update!!!

2008-09-29T09:20:00.000+10:00

Hi all! So this is really the first time that I have been able to sit down and write in any significant detail about our experiences here in Australia so far! I guess I should start from the top.

The first leg of my flight from LAX to Sydney was perfect. I was seated in an emergency exit with lots of extra room, took a Lunesta and slept for 9 of the 14 hours. From there, things got a little rough. My flight landed in Sydney at 6:15 a.m. (Monday morning) with my continuation to Melbourne leaving at 8 a.m. Not being sleepy in the least bit, I walked around, got a coffee and accidentally went to the bathroom in the men’s restroom. Oops. After our connection flight being slightly delayed, we boarded around 8:30 only to sit there for 30 minutes before they told us our flight was canceled due to an imperfection in the planes windshield. Another 20 minutes later (still sitting on the plane) we were informed that we were all scheduled on a Qantas flight later that afternoon but that we would have to gather our luggage, go through customs and immigration and re-check in. Well that process took a few stressful hours. Once we got to our new flight, they informed us that it was delayed as well. Ugh….at this point I wanted to just come home; I was exhausted and dreading getting to the hostel with my 130 lbs of luggage on my own. Once we finally landed, it was pouring (I was in a tank top and flip flops); I managed to pick up my ridiculously full suitcases and make my way to the bus which dropped me off about two city blocks from the hostel. From there, I trudged my way down the street (still pouring and still in flip flops and a tank top) to my hostel, only to be greeted by my friends handing me a bottle of wine. It was definitely what the doctor ordered. After all was said and done, I was in transit for somewhere a little over 24 hours.

Our first order of business was to find a place….we all hated living in our hostel. If you could imagine, put 5 American girls with about 150 pounds of luggage each (two big rolling suitcases and a backpack) in a small, shared room with one very nice yet smelly German boy). Our first night we looked at a place in South Yarra, got some food and went to bed by 8:30. The next few days were spent much like our first one: waking up around 6:30 due to our screwed up internal clocks, running from one property showing to another, setting up bank accounts, going to orientations, running around to more property showings, getting lost, getting frustrated, spending too much money, and going to bed by 8:30 p.m. Eventually, on Thursday, we had been approved for both apartments and Friday we moved in.

So now we have officially been here a week and have successfully gotten ourselves out of the hostel and into a small townhouse in the suburb of South Yarra. It’s a two bedroom, two bathroom place….a bit on the smaller side but nice. Noreen has her own room and then Shayna and I are sharing. Since Kelley and Lauren are still looking for a place to live, they are staying with us too. It was quite a struggle to get approved for an apartment; since we don’t have jobs, any Australian references or rental history, and want a 6 month lease; people were not too stoked to rent to us. Apparently we batted our eyes enough and eventually fooled them into it. ☺ The place we did not accept was significantly older, had an odd musty Indian/curry smell to it, was a bit dirty, and in an area that was mainly business offices. Needless to say, we are much happier at the place we are at now.

South Yarra is apparently the place to be these days (which reflects on how much we are paying in rent…ouch!); as Lonely Planet calls it, “a hedonists’ paradise.” The two main streets near us are Chapel Street and Toorak Road…they are quite trendy and full of designer boutiques, cafes, restaurants and bars; the job opportunities around here are endless. We are about a 2 minute walk from a tram station and about a 5 minute walk from the intersection of Toorak Rd. and Chapel St…we really are in a prime location. It reminds me of a bigger and trendier downtown SLO.

Overall, Melbourne is a beautiful city. Its clean, the people are friendly, the transportation system is incredibly efficient and the architecture is beautiful. I think I said this before but it has a very European feel to it although the people are MUCH nicer; as Lauren said the other day “these nice people are just so nice!” We met a friend of a friend of Shayna’s the other day along with a bunch of his “mates.” They were quite charming and invited us to a BBQ this past weekend for the Aussie Football League final (think Super Bowl without the halftime show). It was all lots of fun and in the end I think we are starting to make friends! It’s weird to be in a huge country where you only know 4 other people…there is definitely a sense of excitement but it’s kind of lonely too... we just need to get jobs and meet people and make them love us. That’s the next order of business: jobs! We have to get jobs, we are going broke. This city is ridiculously expensive. Everything is significantly more expensive here than at home….Ikea, Kmart, food, public transportation, alcohol (it’s insanely expensive!!!), clothes, makeup, EVERYTHING!!!

Anyways, overall life is good here. I am excited to see what adventures come our way and to start planning trips around Australia and its neighboring countries. While I was in Spain, I spent more weekends out of Barcelona than I did in- that’s not what I want to do here. I want to live here and work here and really be immersed in the culture and the city, although I do want to spend a month or so in New Zealand as well as travel around the South East Asian countries and other parts of Australia. Shayna and I are thinking of planning a trip up to the Whitsunday Islands off the northeastern coast for Christmas (its looking like it might just be the two of us around) and I think we are all going to go to Tasmania around Thanksgiving on an outdoorsy, 4 or 5 day tour.

I miss all of you so much. I was telling my parents the other day, a year sure seems like a long time at this point, so please keep me updated on your lives, I don’t want to miss out too much on what’s going on at home. Also, you should travel to Australia! We would LOVE to have visitors. Anywhere you want to go- I’ll come meet you there. Until then, email me, Skype me, call me (I still need to get an Australian number, but my American phone works here) and keep checking the blog…I promise I will be better and update it every few days. Also, I will be posting pictures soon so be prepared for those. I will put up the information on how and where to find them soon. Ok that’s all for now. All my love…

Cheers!
April

Safe and Sound in OZ!!

2008-09-24T06:50:00.000+10:00

Hi Everyone!!! I just wanted to write a brief message to let you know that we all arrived safely! Despite being in transit for nearly 24 hours after facing many many delays and a canceled flight, I was able to make my way to the hostel with all my luggage, in a tank top and flip flops...in the rain. Oh well....could have been worse. Melbourne is a beautiful city with that quaint European charm, although the people are significantly nicer and more helpful. We have been filling our days getting lost on trams, searching for apartments online, looking at apartments, and going to bed by 9. To say the least, it has been an exciting yet exhausting experience so far. I promise to write more when I am a little more settled. So far, so good though! I love you all and miss you....I will post some pictures soon too! :)

Cheers!
April