I haven’t spent all that much time in cities, so me saying this may not mean all that much, but Melbourne is unlike any city I’ve experienced before. All you have to do is take one look at it to see the difference. It is filled with skyscrapers like other cities, but these are colorful and creative. There are buildings that look like blocks haphazardly stacked on top of each other, apartment complexes streaked with bright, bold colors and hospitals with rainbow shades on the windows. Another hospital glows neon purple at night! The fact that I can’t find a good picture of that just goes to show how fantastic the architecture is here, because there would be so many photos of that if it was somewhere else. The picture below doesn’t show that off, instead it focuses on something else I think is cool about Melbourne. My residential college is at the top edge of the University of Melbourne and just about every side of us that isn’t

View from Royal Park

connected to the Uni (in the form of other residential colleges) is parks. To the northeast we have Princess Park where people go to run laps, play cricket and do whatever other recreation appeals to them. The photo however is taken in Royal park, which is just west. Five minutes into this park you already feel like you’ve left the city. You see almost no one, but you hear all sorts of birds and can enjoy the vast open space.  But then you catch a view like this. Looking at the park maps there doesn’t seem to be anything in all of that grassland – not even walking paths. Space seems to be one thing Australia has plenty of and they use it really well. City parks are important, but often they are too small to accommodate everyone. Melbourne doesn’t have that problem and I love that in a suburb like Parkville I can go on a walk to feel like I’m in the bush only be reminded how close the city still is.  Melbourne truly has it all.

Speaking of which, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention at least one of the events I’ve enjoyed in Melbourne so far; in part because they are a big part of my experience here and, it seems, life in Melbourne, but also because they just go to prove how cool Melbourne is. This past

Neon Laneway at White Night Melbourne

weekend was the annual White Night Melbourne. It lasted just 12 hours. From 7 pm to 7 am the center of the city was blocked off for light shows, concerts, food stands, street performers (buskers), and art exhibitions. While there I wandered down a laneway decorated with black light paint, watched a laser light show on the river, stood next to a hot air balloon as it was inflated, tried delicious new food and more. Armed with only a map containing vague names for the venues, it was certainly an adventure. But that was part of the fun. I plan to keep going to the events that Melbourne and the surrounding cities put on. There are many music, food and shopping festivals coming up and I hope that I’ll still be able to attend even once classes have started. Which next time I write, they will have! So stay tuned for details on that.

Over and out,

Miranda

Creations of bubbler crabs. Found on the beaches in Daintree National Rainforest

So I’ve now been in Australia for a week and what do I have to show for it? Well a crazy amount actually. Spending this week traveling around with my sister has been a whirlwind, we basically went to a new place every couple of days. We explored the Taranga Zoo in Sydney, sunbathed at the famous Bondi Beach (where we also saw people get rescued from riptides), scuba dived in the Great Barrier Reef, white-water rafted through the rainforest, went to a Rugby 7s tournament and so much more.

Knowing that I can’t do justice to this amazing week of traveling and because this blog is supposed to be about more than just the tourist sites I’m seeing, I’m going to focus on something else instead. It may sound simple, but I’m blown away by the airports and airlines in Australia so far. Going to college on one coast and living on the other has led to lots of regular flying. I’ve gotten such a routine down that I didn’t put a whole lot of thought into the fact that Australia might not do things the same way. So I came here with my toiletries dutifully packed in up in quantities less than 3.3 oz and contained within a clear bag, despite the fact that Australia’s airline security has no such restriction.

View of Cairns from the plane

Oh no, it seems that I can take as much liquid on to the plane as I want. And when it’s time to go through security, rules about liquids aren’t the only things different. At the Cairns airport (I’m qualifying because I don’t want to generalize to all of Australia based on two experiences), we went through security without having had anyone look at our IDs or boarding passes, with our shoes on and only being instructed to take laptops, aerosols, and umbrellas out of our bags. It wasn’t until the gate agent mentioned expecting Asian-looking people (when she instead got two people who appear quite white) that I realized that at no point had anyone looked at our photo IDs—not the woman who checked our bags, not the women directing people at security and not these people who were making the very valid point that we don’t really seem to be who we’re saying we are. We were of course and she made no indication that she didn’t believe us, but it does make it seem quite possible to get on the plane in someone else’s place.

The difference is security isn’t the only thing that blew me away however. In the US, I regularly have 5-6 hour flights and they usually do nothing more than give us soft drinks, and sometimes a small bag of peanuts or pretzels as well.  So I was quite taken aback when on my 2.5 hour flight to Sydney the flight attendant appeared with our personal, vegetarian meals steaming hot and labelled with our names and seat numbers. But it didn’t end there, soon they were back with drinks, a bag of chips, a Lindor truffle for everyone and finally….ice cream. In case anyone has any doubts, we booked the cheapest flight and we were in coach. This just seems to legitimately be the service that Qantas provides their customers.  I can’t say I disapprove, it definitely made the flight feel faster. Soon I’ll be flying to Melbourne and while it is obviously being in the city that I’m most excited for, I do look forward to flying again. We’ll see if all Qantas flights are like this or if this was some kind of fluke.

Bondi Beach

Until next time,

Miranda