It is currently a warm, sunny, 25 degrees in Melbourne, Victoria. I'm reclined on the third (or rather, 2nd) floor of my townhouse, legally (by two years) sipping a bottle of alcoholic cider, and looking out on a cluster of 200 meter tall buildings scraping the sky... in two different hemispheres, simultaneously. This week, I have met kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, Tasmanian devils (which are terrifying, by the way), cockatoos, dingos, koalas, and the world's smallest penguins.
I love this continent.
Stories of note
International Waters
Qantas airlines has free everything. I mean, except tickets, but the in-flight movies, meals, drinks, blankets, pillows, and headphones? Free. All of them. It was a nice break from American Airlines, where a single complimentary ginger-ale was the extent of their free things. The stewardess leaned over (I hurriedly paused The Social Network and pulled off my headphones) to serve me dinner (Beef rigatoni and butterscotch pudding that tasted like nothing, because I was on an airplane) and asked what I'd like to drink with my meal. A thought went through my head-- I was on an Australian airline, could luck be in my favor?
I asked her, "Is this flight employing the Australian drinking age, or the American drinking age?" with a specific downward inflection on the words "American drinking age" to imply disappointment if that were the answer.
She laughed for a good ten seconds before replying, "Australian, love. What'll you have?"
What I expected to be a long, boring flight ended up being a long and deep night's sleep, thanks to a couple of mini-bottles of shiraz. So deep, in fact, that I did not experience any jet-lag whatsoever the next day.
Stanley Street
"So do you love your apartment, or do you love your apartment?" is an exact quote from one of the agents from the company who set up my housing in Melbourne. The other one said something along the lines of, "Oh, you're living at Stanley Street? Lucky f**k."
By "apartment," they are referring to Semester in Australia's newest, and "by far the nicest" (another exact quote) location in Melbourne. Semester in Australia is a company that sets up affordable, hassle-free housing for students studying abroad in Australia, and they did not disappoint. I'm living in a spacious, three-story townhouse with a rooftop terrace in West Melbourne (a district so small, we're encouraged to simply tell people that we live in North Melbourne... a district so nice I wouldn't be surprised if the architects simply said, "Okay, we'll just mix all of the best aspects of downtown California and downtown Europe into one location.").
This is the view from the roof:
Yeah.
Wallaby Way
We booked this tour trip to Phillip Island ("we" being my roommates, some of one of my roommate's classmates, a dutch girl and I, and "Phillip Island" being one of the most beautiful places in the world). Before we got to the island, we stopped for lunch at this sanctuary for the rehabilitation of injured Australian wildlife. We legitimately had no idea that we would be stopping at this place until we were pulling into the parking lot. The tour guide told us where we were, and ended his statement/spiel with, "It's a bit cooler today, so the kangaroos and wallabies will probably hop up to you and interact with you. Feel free to buy some food to feed to them."
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Two Australian dollars ($1.60 in real money) later, we were walking down this trail past a sign with a silhouette of a wallaby next to an arrow, and we were surrounded. The little guys were timid, hopping around us until we poured a bit of... uh, well it looked like rabbit food mixed with corn kernels into our hands, crouched down, and held it out to them. Then they were digging their little noses into our hands, gobbling it up.
And then as we kept walking, we met some slightly taller friends...
But if we're friends on facebook, chances are you already knew about Roo, here.
The Phillip Island Penguin Parade
...Is exactly what it sounds like. After a trip to a stunningly scenic coastal path, which, oh, right, here you go:
...We went to the southern beach of the island, which was one of the southernmost points in what they called "mainland Australia" (by which they meant Australia that isn't Tasmania, because we weren't on the mainland) to watch hundreds of the world's smallest penguins waddle ashore to return to their nests and feed their families at sunset. I'd have pictures, but cameras weren't allowed. It was the most adorable thing I have ever experienced.
And it was in two different hemispheres, simultaneously. :)
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