Off Season Adventures: New Zealand Pt. I

After Sydney I flew to New Zealand to spend 15 days on the South Island, so I’m breaking up this leg of travel into a two-partner. Since I was roaming New Zealand solo, I didn’t want to rent a camper and drive by myself so I did some research and found that most lone travelers opt for a bus tour option. I don’t like to over-plan when I travel, as it removes the excitement and spontaneous-ness that the flexibility of solo travel is so great for, so I was nervous about being trapped on a bus where every moment was scheduled. However, I found a bunch of bus companies that were backpacker mentality friendly, where you buy a loop path and then you can jump on and off the bus in any of the cities along the way and stay in those cities for as long as you want, then just hop back on. While you’re on the bus, they help you identify and book activities and hostels at the next city stop. This seemingly great concept was just what I was looking for, so I booked myself on the Southern Pass of the Kiwi Experience. We’ll circle back to this, but just wanted to set the stage for a later discovery.

I mean, is this not the greenest bus you've seen?!

I flew directly into Christchurch and grabbed a cab to Jailhouse Accommodation, an actual prison from 1874-1999 that has since been converted into a hostel. It was definitely a unique experience but not without its flaws. I recommend it for a night and preferably in the summer months. The rooms are old prison cells, so the heating is minimal in the winter and the wifi signal does not travel through the thick concrete walls. However, the people there were super nice and helpful.

My own personal cold, cold cell/room

After getting settled I started walking toward downtown through South Hagley Park, which is pretty well sized with lots of bike paths and sports fields. Once you make it through the southern portion, it leads into the Christchurch Botanical Gardens, which were my favorite gardens of the trip.

My mom would be so proud of all these flower photos

They know what kind of plants will flourish in the climate and in the autumn a lot of the sub-gardens featured plants that pop with beautiful fall colors.

So this is what autumn looks like outside of SF....

Next gardens is the Canterbury Museum, which is free so I took a quick walk around those exhibits. There’s also the Peacock Fountain, which is fun for taking pictures.

Free activities are good activities

After that, I went to the urban downtown area which was possibly one of the most eerie metropolis areas I’ve ever been in. An earthquake that was 6.3 on the Richter scale decimated the city, killing 185 people. While they’re working on rebuilding, the after-effects are still everywhere, as a lot of the crumbled buildings have not been removed. They’ve come up with clever ideas, like if the front façade of a building is still mostly intact they’ll build up shipping containers that the doors and windows open up to.

There's also a shit ton of awesome street graffiti

There’s also a whole mall area on Cashel Street made completely out of shipping containers that they’ve made into cute boutique shops and cafes.

I'd take this over Mall of America any day!

I was also there on the Queen’s birthday so everyone had the day off and the area was empty. I walked to the 185 chairs memorial, which was beautiful and sad. For each person that died in the earthquake, their loved ones picked out a white chair to represent the individual.

One of the most thoughtful memorials I've ever seen

It’s near the church with cardboard rafters, which was closed so I didn’t get a good look. I walked back to the hostel area for dinner and went to Pedal Pusher, which had good food, TVs, trivia, and wifi.

The next morning I boarded the gigantic lime green Kiwi Experience bus at 7am.

Where's my bus?? Oh wait, it's the giant green one.

There was a quick breakfast stop, saw some seals, and then we made our way to the main city stop, Kaikoura. Kaikoura is a quaint coastal town that is big for marine wildlife due to sea trenches deep under the water, which mix regional currents that cause food sources to rise for seals, whales, and other animals that stay more toward the top.

Town view from above - at least it's sunny today!

We went and saw some seals and I signed up for a dolphin swim which was supposed to be with hundreds of dolphins.

Fat but dangerous

Unfortunately there was a stormy wind so dolphins got cancelled so I went on a whale watching tour instead, which was a pretty awesome backup. They put a sonar sensor in the water off the edge of the boat and listen for whale sounds. As soon as they sense one the boat takes off and tracks them down, as whales only stay on top of the water breathing anywhere from two to ten minutes typically.

Just hanging out

The tour usually sees about 2-3 whales but it was the height of the season so we saw four! You watch the whales (all sperm whales in the region) breath water out their blowholes. The whale guides could tell when the whale was preparing to go back under so they’d yell to get your cameras ready so you could get the perfect tail shot before they disappeared back under.

Whale tail. Ha.

That evening we stayed in the Lazy Shag Backpacker, a cute and affordable hostel run by this really great woman.

Cute and cozy redefined!

I walked the stretch of road the hostel was on and found this cool black rock beach to catch the sunset on.

Gratuitous sunset photo

Seafood is obviously the popular protein choice in this area, so I found a simple yet legit place to get fish and chips. It came wrapped in paper like street food in England and even though the fish was fried you could tell it was super fresh. To-date it’s the best I’ve had, but I had to eat it while burrowed in bed wearing multiple layers of fleece. New Zealand winters are no joke.

The next morning we departed from Kaikoura fairly early and made a quick stop at the Oahu stream walk to see the baby seal colony.

The cuteness is palpable

There are adorable seal pups all over the place that are super playful and splashing around. At the top of the stream there’s a pool under a waterfall that was completely filled with the little guys. 

Everything that looks like a rock is actually a frolicking seal pup!

After that we headed to the ferry stop at the tip of the South Island to pick up bus travelers coming from the North Island. 

Big ass ferry in the bay

This is where I learned that the Kiwi Experience is known as the “college fuck bus” and 18 year olds make up about 80% of the passenger load. The other 20% are mostly in their younger to mid-twenties, so ignore that part of the Kiwi Experience site that says most of their riders are between 20 to 35 and be prepared to hear a lot of screaming, drama, Jason Derulo, and hungover pukers. In talking to other travelers a couple of the hostel stops, anyone in their 30s should look to book Stray. So after accepting that this would be my fate for the next week and a half, we made our way to a river bridge that is in one of the scenes from "The Hobbit" movie. I haven't seen it, but it was a nice river.

Does this look familiar to any LOTR fans?

We got to the town of Kateriteri after dark and stayed at the Kateriteri Lodge, which was nice but felt much more like a hostel than the last place. They did put on a trivia night at the pub next door which was pretty fun.

Kateriteri might be a fun stop in the summer since it’s right on the water, but in the winter there’s not much to do so we left right away in the morning. We drove to Nelson Lake to have a picnic lunch. This is where there’s a scenic pier that lots of people take pictures jumping off of. Unfortunately we were there on a super foggy and cold day, so there wasn’t too much to see. A couple of riders braved the water for the jump photo but they said it was freezing and there were eels.

Just like San Francisco, feels like home!

After a windy, long, but scenic drive we rolled into the town of Westport. Even though it’s a town with a rough population of four thousand, it still felt like more of a city than the last few stops we made.

Real buildings!

We stayed at Bazil’s Surf Hostel, which they said was the top rated Kiwi Experience hostel of the trip. It was funky and had a cool outdoor area that is probably awesome during the summer. Unfortunately in the winter it just smells of mildew and the guy working was super standoffish.

Can't you see this being way better with some sun?!

I went running down the main strip of town and found some good Indian food for dinner. The other upside to the hostel was it does allow lodgers to hang out and drink in the public areas until 9:30ish, so at least it was a little more social than some of the other places.

The next morning we stopped at a nearby seal colony that’s usually pretty populous but it was cold and rainy so most of us stayed in the bus. We started out drive down “The Coast Road,” which is New Zealand’s version of the Great Ocean Road.

By no means ugly! I'm just saying compared to Great Ocean Road...

While it includes some cool limestone cliffs, I would say it didn’t compare much. The best stop was the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes, which are named that way because the stacks look like pancake layers of limestone stacked up.

This doesn't make me crave IHOP though

There’s a quick 15-20 minute walking loop you can do that has a couple good vantage points. 

\

The Coast Road ends in Greymouth, which is the largest city on the West Coast (Queenstown is more inland) but even our driver acknowledged that it was one of the uglier cities. Apparently there was going to be a costume party and contest at the hostel that night, so we went to a local store to get supplies. Since it was still rainy, our activity for the day was going on a tour of Monteith’s Brewery. I am not a beer drinker so I passed on the tour, but I sat by the fireplace and drank their cider which was incredibly clear and delicious. It was so good I’m looking into where I can find it in the US. After that, we went to the Lake Mahinapua Hostel, which is pretty remote and only had cabin options, so I braved my first bunk bed experience in many years.

Looks odd but the cute cabins are behind it.

The owners and staff there were super friendly and excited to have us. They run a fully operational bar on-site since the location is so remote.

Plenty of fun activities to be had

They served us a giant family style dinner and then we hung out in the bar area all night for the costume party. The local police showed up but it didn’t seem to faze anyone, as apparently that’s a pretty normal occurrence since it tends to get a bit rowdy. Again, this is a great hostel experience for someone a bit younger.

The next morning they also served us family style breakfast and then we went into town to watch the rugby match of the two little boys who lived at the hostel and had been helping us out. 

Not the town, just a photo out of the bus window that finally worked!

After that it was a quick drive to our next major stop, Franz Joseph. I was planning to go skydiving but after mustering up the courage it got cancelled due to weather. While a little relieved, I was also a little disappointed as it’s rated one of the most scenic skydives in the world. We check into our hostel, The Rainforest, which was my favorite so far due to ambiance and amenities. The single room felt just like a hotel room but much more affordable.

If you look closely you can spot reception!

Even though it was raining I went for a trail run to see if I could get close to the glacier. After you get through town, there are a trails through a Jurassic Park feeling forest that are a couple kilometers long.

I'm fully expecting a T-Rex to jump out at any point.

It actually was farther than expected to even get to the car park where then the glacier specific trails start, so I just did a short one that was steps up a hill that lead to an outlook where you could see multiple waterfalls.

Cue the TLC

I took trails back on the other side of the road and happened across a cool suspension bridge.

Dangerous and slippery when wet

It started to pour so I started sprinting back, feeling like a bad ass in a Nike commercial, until I got a side ache. That night there was a big rugby match (New Zealand vs. Wales), so I went to watch it and have dinner at The Landing, which had great food, sizable portions, and a solid list of local beers and wines.

Off Season Adventures: Sydney

For Part Two of my adventure down under, we flew to Sydney, Australia. 

The view from above - coming in for a landing!

I flew in first midday to do a little exploring by myself. I dropped my bags off at the Pandora office in the Chippendale neighborhood, a former industrial neighborhood that through gentrification (it’s happening everywhere!) that has transformed into a creative scene. It’s south of the city center, between the downtown and the airport, so it was an ideal place to start walking. I walked through Surry Hills, to the fun Darlinghurst/Kings Cross area and had lunch at Sweetheart’s Rooftop, which had been recommended. The restaurant has this super cool, spacious rooftop area that would have been perfect on a sunny day. 

At least I had it all to myself? More drinks for me!

I was the only person up there on this ominously gray afternoon but the bartender was super nice. He whipped up his own creative cocktail and recommended one of their massive burgers. 

So many yums

After this massive lunch I went to get some more steps in and walked toward the city center, through the Domain and Hype Parks, past the Australia Museum. George St was a fun road to walk down to get back to Chippendale, as it has a lot of shops, restaurants, and interesting looking buildings. 

I would so live here!

There was a night market I was hoping to check out in Chinatown, but unfortunately right as I was heading there the sky opened up and it began to torrential downpour. I booked it with my luggage in tow to the closest movie theater to kill some time while I waited for evening activities (which were thankfully indoors).  If you have to see a movie during your time in Australia, Event Cinemas on George St was really nice. I saw “Money Monster,” with George Clooney and Julia Roberts. It actually exceeded my low expectations and was an interesting spin on bank corruption. After the movie I may way to the Sydney Opera House, the most epic of venues to see a show at. It was a special show in support of VIVID Sydney, a light, music and ideas festival where they do really interesting light installations on popular landmarks around town and have a ton of events and parties over the course of 23 days. The photos from VIVID 2015 look AMAZING but when I was there the rain shut down a lot of things. Back to the show, I got to the Opera House a little early for a bite and a drink. The show was Ta-Ku, an Australia DJ from Perth who gained notoriety online with his mixtapes, remixes, and EPs that have an interesting blend of lush soul and dusty hip hop. His set featured the singer WAFIA from Brisbane, who was an absolutely beautiful and haunting vocalist, along with a string quartet, backup singers, and a kaleidoscope laser light show.

LASERS 4 DAYZ

 The next morning we woke up in the apartment we were staying in by Bondi Beach, which would have been the ideal location with the exception of the fact that it still felt like we were in the middle of a hurricane. I will give it to the surfers though, these guys were still out on their boards catching the massive storm waves. Now that’s dedication! Still, that meant no coastal walk for us.

What is this, a beach for ants?

We got lunch at a trattoria on the main street running down the coast, Campbell Parade, that was good but nothing worth writing about. After lunch we walked to Hall St, which is a cute stretch of shops and cafes. As another great indoor backup activity, we decided to get massages. In theory this sounds like a relaxing option, when in reality we went to the Siam Cabana Fine Thai Massage parlor, which was a really nice place but they really go deep with their elbows on your spine. A hurt-so-good moment while you hear your friend in pain through the curtain and realize you’re not alone in this intensity. That evening we went to another VIVID event in Bondi, a Brazilian dance night. It was this super cool underground bar that had a massive front room with a stage and dance floor where the band played.

Brazil Down Under

There was a second bar room in the back that felt almost like a completely separate venue, with fun cocktails and a speakeasy feel. They had a bluesy, vintage band planning which was a big contrast from the Brazilian festivities going on in the other room. 

We woke up to day three in Sydney and guess what, it’s still raining. That morning I attended my first (and so far only) Australian book club, where we read “We Are Completely Beside Ourselves,” which I did not love since I found the main narrator unlikable. However, the brunch we had at Trio during the brunch club was very enjoyable! I had their corn fritters, topped with bacon slices, tomato jam, arugula, and goat cheese. It was the perfect blend of sweet and savory.

Bacon makes everything better

In the afternoon we went back to downtown city even though it was still pouring so I could at least enjoy a little more of Sydney despite the storm (thanks again to my hostess friend for being a good sport and traipsing through the rain). We went to the Museum of Contemporary Art in The Rocks, which is across an inlet from the Sydney Opera House. Usually I find modern art a little bourgeois and ethereal for my taste, but this had a lot of really interesting exhibits using modern art to talk about the issues of immigration and being a refugee.

This one actually has nothing to do with immigration, it just looked cool

There’s a café on the top floor that is windowed and has a good view of the Sydney Opera House and bridge, so we had a snack and waited for the sun to set so we could see the VIVID light display. Sadly, they didn’t appear to be working so we went to Sailors Thai, nearby in The Rocks. It was tasty Thai food, so I definitely recommend it. After dinner we grabbed some gelato and wandered back to the water where the lights were finally up! We watched the lights change on the Opera House for a bit before grabbing a cab back to Bondi for the night.

VIVID #success

Off Season Adventures: Melbourne

After a long hiatus from blog writing, I’m inspired by the latest travels to document the amazing places that I’ve seen. In May of this year, I traveled to Melbourne, Australia to visit a friend who had moved there about 8 months ago. I was excited, as there’s a common comparison in the US that Melbourne is like San Francisco and Sydney is like LA. Landing in Melbourne in late fall felt like SF weather year around, so I was already getting the comparison (although Aussie summers are much hotter). Keep in mind the title of this blog post. I headed to my friend’s apartment in the Collingwood neighborhood, which is the more hipster neighborhood and comparable to SF’s Mission but without the homeless problem, techies, and street poop. In an attempt to evade jet lag I instantly set out on a run, heading to Fitzroy Gardens, which is directly below Collingwood. It’s a sizable park with different garden areas that still feels like you’re in the city.

A little nature, a little city

 After that you can cut over a bridge, which has great city skyline views, and make it down to the running paths by the river.

That skyline tho...

On one side of the river is a massive stadium, and on the other is Melbourne’s massive Botanical Gardens. Being there in the fall felt like a mix of seasonal colors juxtaposed with tropical Jurassic Park looking plants.

Waiting for a T-Rex to pop out

If you run south to north, the park leads back to the running paths going into the city and you hit Federation Square, where a lot of the museums and the main tourist drag are.

If only all transit buildings looked this good

I showered and headed to the Fitzroy neighborhood, next to Collingwood and with a very similar vibe. Brunswick is the main drag and is packed with really funky bars, restaurants and shops.

Melbourne crushes it at street graffiti

I had an amazing salmon avocado salad at the Shfty Chev, a cozy café-like restaurant with fondue pots. It’s the perfect spot for cheese and wine lovers. I didn’t take any photos because jet lag was back in full effect, but for dinner we headed down to the CBD (Central Business District). After trying to get into Chin Chin, which is a trendy Asian Fusion spot that is apparently all the rage, we went with modern, upscale  British food at nearby Papa Goose. I remember it being over-priced for what it was but I almost feel asleep on my plate so I don’t feel fair giving a proper review…

Waking up for Day 2 I was already in much better shape. It was Saturday so we rented a car in the CBD and drove through St. Kilda until we hit an oceanfront freeway that took us south. It was a pretty drive through a lot of smaller beach towns. We hunted down the beach boxes and found a great stretch of them in Mt. Martha. These brightly colored sheds really popped against the gray beach day. Apparently these “boxes” are hard to purchase. Many are grandfathered down through families and if they go up for sale they can run up to $260,000. These boxes don’t have running water or electricity and you’re not allowed to sleep in them overnight (not that you’d want to), so yeah, it’s basically a cute yet super expensive shed.

I mean, I get why people want one...

After getting enough photos we headed up to Red Hill, WINE COUNTRY! It felt eerily similar to Sonoma, just a little more hilly. We tried Port Phillip Estate first, which was very sleek and modern with great views.

Worthy of a pano

Unfortunately they were pretty full so we went to the recommended and nearby Red Hill Estates. They also had pretty spectacular views and the food was very tasty and locally sourced (although expensive). We did a tasting in their back room but here’s where I have to give it to California wineries over Australian. In a place like Sonoma you get a tasting flight of approximately 5 wines for an average of $15. In Australia they charge you $5 per one taste. So basically you could either get a $5 splash or a full glass of wine for $10, which really doesn’t make much sense.

Spot the rainbow at Red Hill

That night in the city we went to a Cat Empire show at The Forum. The bar across the street has fantastic espresso martinis (a popular drink choice in AU right now). And places in Melbourne are all about decorating their ceilings. No space is wasted when it comes to decor! The Forum was a super cool venue that had a Greek feel going, with faux columns and statues with a night sky.

Solid venue, stellar lights

Cat Empire is great live. Their energy is high and it’s feel good music that’s perfect for dancing. The singers have amazing voices and everyone in the band is super skilled, rotating around to different instruments. After the show we headed to the Richmond District and ended up have drinks at the National Hotel, which has a great back patio area.

Drinking under the lights and stars

One funny thing about Australia is that bars are called hotels (there’s no place to stay) and hotels are called accommodations, so don’t get confused and pass out in a “hotel” for the night!

The next morning we went to the Windsor neighborhood on the other side of town for brunch. We tried to get into Journeyman, which looked amazing but had a ridiculously long wait (another San Francisco similarity). We went down the street to Mr Mister, which had a much more reasonable wait and but more of a standard brunch food offering. I had to get a picture of this place for my Ukrainian mother, although we did not go in as it seemed to be an aggressive trio to hit before noon.

The Russian trifecta

After brunch we went to the Melbourne Museum for the Jurassic World exhibit. Expecting an education experience about dinosaurs, we instead found ourselves walking through a reenactment of the movie. You walk through the entry gates to the theme music and get greeted by a mechanical brontosaurus.

I dare you to not hum the theme song

You can walk through the lab where all the “dino DNA” is stored in amber rocks.

I dig the nerdy attention to fake science

At one point all the lights start to flicker and a faux-T-Rex attack goes down. For adults it’s hilarious, but I bet it’s pretty awesome and scary for kids.

#scared #whosyourdentist

The museum also boasts one of the largest IMAX screens in the world so we went to see Alice Through the Looking Glass, which I actually liked better than the first one. Clearly it was a lazy day (hello hangover), so after a movie we went to dinner at Pabu on Smith St in Collingwood, which is a more chill version of Brunswick St. The sushi was just okay but the bao and gyoza were great.

Come Monday it was back to the morning run routine. I did a good loop around Carlton Gardens, where the Melbourne Museum is.

Believe it or not, a museum and not Parliment

The run ended by grabbing brunch at Proud Mary which even post-trip I will say is the MOST amazing meal I had the entire time. They made these extra fluffy ricotta pancakes with candied honeycomb that were to die for but I really would have eaten anything on that menu. 

I wish I could eat these every day of my life

After that I went back downtown to the tallest building of the skyline, the shiny blue and gold Eureka Tower which offers a skywalk on the top floor. The skywalk had great 360 views of the city but it was maybe not worth the $20 to ride the elevator up to the 88th floor.

Pano of the city, river, and stadium - my favorite running spot!

A good chunk of the CBD

After that I went back across the river to Federation Square to the ACMI Museum to see their Scorsese special exhibit, which was perfect for film buffs. The rest of their digital exhibits boarder on sensory overload.

This man has made some classic films

Nearby ACMI there's a well known alleyway that's covered in amazing street graffiti called Hosier Lane. It's legal street art to celebrate Melbourne's graffiti culture and is constantly updated by local artists.

Just one panel of all the graffiti glory

Walking back to Brunswick St, I went to Naked for Satan which had been recommended to me by multiple people. It did not disappoint. The rooftop was massive and had great views of the neighborhood. There’s tapas style food an really good infused vodka drinks.

The fried zucchini was not as good as it looks but the vodka was spot on

That evening we went to yoga in Fitzroy, which is always needed while traveling halfway across the globe. 

The next morning I got up super early and met a tour group downtown for a Great Ocean Road trip. I booked this tour the night before on Viator, so it’s not too hard to get something last minute. After a quick stop for tea (by a freezing cold lake), we headed up to Great Ocean Road, which is a similar concept to Highway One in California.

Highway One needs a better sign like this one!

One of the first towns along the way is Lorne, home to a very epic and popular pier to pub swimming competition that’s so notorious now it’s hard to get entered into. It’s the largest open water swim in the world (see more here).  At the next stop you can buy birdseed from the store at this campsite and a swarm of tropical birds will swarm you, landing on your head and arms which makes for some pretty amusing photos.

Cute but no thanks!

For those who are afraid of swarms of birds (me) or think this sounds unsanitary (me), you can start to wander the eucalyptus forest and get lucky enough to see some stoned koalas hanging out in the trees. Apparently the natives consider koalas the most useless mammal ever, but they are damn cute. Fun fact: A “joey” can be used to refer to both baby kangaroos and koalas.

ERMAHGERD I WANT ONE

We stopped to have lunch at the Otway lighthouse, which is super scenic.

Postcard perfect - no filter needed

You can go up to the top of the lighthouse and take in the views. There’s short walks you can take around the grounds to check out the other historical buildings.

Whale tail...

After that we went to catch our first view of the 12 Apostles, these giant limestone rock stacks separated from the coastline. There’s only 8 actual apostles (originally there were 9 but erosion happened), plus a couple stacks that look just like the apostles but are for some reason not.

"Rock" stars

After that, we did two more stops nearby. The first was Loch Ard Gorge, where you can walk down to this cove that made me almost feel like I was on Maya Beach in Thailand again (but the colder version).

Secret beaching

After that it was London Bridge, which has a couple short trails you can hike to see different limestone formations in the ocean.

It's hard to pick a favorite photo, beauty everywhere!

We wrapped up at the Gibson Steps (only 86 steps down to the beach), which has a few of two of the limestone stacks (I am not sure if these are Apostles or the impostors). My only complaint is that the tour is sold in as a sunset tour and we left the 12 Apostles right when the sun was starting to set. As our bus pulled away, I could see the beautiful sunset colors beginning to emerge. They should start the tour an hour later to account for any seasonal shifts when it comes to sunset timing.

Only the beginning...

The next day was another city day. After another morning run in the parks (I cannot get enough of Melbourne’s beautiful parks!), I grabbed a quick to-go breakfast of a chai latte and roti wrap at a small neighborhood café, Plug & Nickle. For a quick and easy breakfast it was delicious, definitely get a side of hot sauce with it. I love that both roti and chai are popular items in Australia.

More park pics since I forgot to snap my roti

I took the city tram through town to get to the Pandora office in South Melbourne. The public transit system in the city is top notch. It’s clean, streamlined, and super easy to figure out. In South Melbourne we grabbed lunch at Gas and shared an open faced lamb pita with hummus that was top notch. Hummus is another popular ingredient in Australia. My friend had a giant tub of Yumi’s Hommus, which I’m still trying to figure out how to order in the US. After that I walked around the South Melbourne market, which had some interesting little local shops and is a good place to get affordable souvenirs.

Souvenirs, plus food and flowers

From South Melbourne it’s pretty easy to walk over to the Shrine of Remembrance, which you can walk around in.

Shrine from the outside

You can also go up to the top, which offers more great views of the skyline.

MORE PANOS! #cantstopwontstop

To the right of the shrine is the edge of the Botanical Gardens, so I walked through the park and found a good bench to read on. There’s also a lot of free greenhouses you can walk into and see some neat local vegetation from more tropical regions in Australia.

I dunno what kind of tree this is but its fucking cool

After that I walked down Chapel St, which is a popular shopping area that ends back in the Windsor neighborhood. While I waited for my friend to get off work I enjoyed some local wine at Tusk, which had a nice outdoor seating area. After that we went to dinner at the nearby Mr Miyagi, which was the best dinner of the trip. I highly recommend getting there right when it’s opens. If you do get there and there’s a wait, there is a cool bar area in the back and they make fancy cocktails.

Ohai, more coll graffiti

For dinner we tried a bunch of dishes but the highlight by far was their famous nori tacos.

Personal mantra of my trip

The next day was my last full day in the city and I still hadn’t tried their most popular brunch dish, the avocado smash. I ran over to the Richmond neighborhood, to try it at a Friend of Mine. My friend who lives there said it was the best she’d had in the city so far and it did not disappoint. The dish is sprinkled in feta with a beet puree.

OMG YUM

I walked Smith St in Collingwood again and found a cool shop that sells things made by local artists. Walking back to Brunswick I finally found the George Constanza themed bar. Sadly it’s only open in the evening hours but I did get this great shot of their very apropos graffiti in the alleyway.

For I am Constanza, Lord of the Idiots!

That evening I went to an event at Glamp, this really cool themed bar that makes you feel like you’re drinking in an open air tent on an African safari even though you’re inside.

Bar camping - the best way to camp

After that we grabbed dinner at Cookie, which is a popular Asian fusion restaurant which is so massive that it’s not too hard to get into. They have a cool looking rooftop bar as well. We ate more roti, so I was happy. After that we checked out some bar options in the CBD and ended up at this cool place in an alley called Section 8, which felt like an apocalyptic garden with a DJ and local rappers battling. 

Leaving Melbourne in style