Filed under: travel
I head over to Melbourne once a year or so, mainly to catch up with friends who have moved there, part of the Adelaide to Melbourne migration so common for twentysomethings.
This time was similar, but now I’ve reached the latter half of my twenties there’s a pleasant change. No more sleeping on matresses on the floor in the living room; suddenly everyone has space! I stayed with three people whilst there, two couples who’d bought houses and another friend with an apartment to themselves. Interestingly, everyone’s consolidated into the same part of Melbourne, after years of having people spread across the city. Hence I spent my time largely between Fitzroy and Flemington, and most significantly on Brunswick Street.
My only friend who lives elsewhere in Melbourne laments that she’s too corporate for Brunswick Street. She doesn’t have the right vintage clothes and arty attitude. It certainly sums up what Adelaideans move to Melbourne for. The laissez-faire bohemian vibe, festive feeling seven days a week, and bottomless range of food and funky wares.
It’s what a Melbourne holiday is all about.
Filed under: travel
I headed up to Mooloolaba on Queensland’s sunshine coast for my friends’ wedding. It seemed like bad timing, because there was a hurricane a couple of days before, so the beaches were closed at first, and the weather was grim. I was worried for a while that my flight would be cancelled – some guests who were arriving earlier suffered this fate.
My friends must have accrued some good karma or something, because after days of climate suspense their wedding was heralded by a perfect blue-sky afternoon.
The wedding was actually in Alexandra Headland, just north of Mooloolaba, where they’d hired a magazine-worthy house for the ceremony and reception. The views were sensational, while the possoms descending from the power lines kept guests amused at dusk.
I can see why so many people move to the Sunshine Coast. The surf is excellent, the food is good, the lush tropical environment is enchanting. Really, I don’t have anything bad to say about it. It was awesome.
Filed under: travel
For the new year break I ducked over to the Eyre Peninsula, where I used to work as the ABC newsreader. I stayed with my old colleague Emma Pedler and had a blast.
The highlight was on new year’s day when I went to a barbecue on a private beach (pictured) with the locals. The lifestyle on the Eyre Peninsula is awesome. If it weren’t for the sharks, it could be paradise. I sometimes think that if I get sick of travelling I could settle over there.
Another novelty was at one of the Tumby Bay pubs, when we got complimentary meat pies and mini pasties with our beer. It reminded me of getting tapas everywhere when I lived in Spain. Aussie tapas. Nice.
Filed under: travel
While up in the mountains I also stayed at the Elephant Nature Park, because I have a friend who’s been heavily involved in the project.
It was awesome. I’ve since recommended it to another friend who stayed for a whole two weeks. The staff were really friendly and clearly cared about the elephants, who were mostly rescued from abuse such as at the hands of street vendors in Bangkok. The surrounds were tranquil – it’s a rainforest as well as elephant conservation park and the food was good.
It was such a positive and uplifting experience – with the exception of watching the video about why it was set up, which is a bit distressing hearing about the abused elephants before they were rescued.
If you’re going to Thailand and want to have an encounter with elephants don’t pay for a ride or a tour, unless you know the elephants won’t be bludgeoned with hooks and are treated well. You’re much better off doing your bit for conservation and putting your tourist dollars into supporting elephants in their natural environment. You can still have closeup encounters, as this photo demonstrates!
Filed under: travel
After cavorting around Europe I stopped over in Thailand on my way back to Australia. I opted to go up to Chiang Mai as I’d heard great things about it, and I had some frequent flyer points with Singapore Airlines I needed to use up, so it cost me nothing to get away from Bangkok.
It was definitely worthwhile. As something of a Buddhist, I found visiting Wat Phra Thart Doi Suthep high in the mountains breathtaking, though the throngs of tourists clanging the gongs was unsettling. If I were to go on a meditation retreat I think I would choose somewhere more secluded.
It is absolutely stunning though, well worth the trek up the steps.
My friend thought it would be entertaining to take me to a Norwegian nude beach. This was a bit of a misleading plan, because it was not much of a beach, and there were not many nudes. There were more surf life savers and bicycles than bathers, but that was okay by me.
Here I made the mistake of buying liquorice, despite my friend’s warnings. Unlike our soft and sweet liquorice, liquorice sold at Norwegian nudist beaches (and elsewhere in the country I’m told) is hard and salty. An acquired taste. I think of it as Scandinavian vegemite.
