Weekend at Sydney

At the Federation square of Melbourne, There is a big sign that reads " life is too important to take it serious". It doesn't make sense at all. However it hits me. That kinda of reflects Aussie attitude. If you don't take life serious, there's nothing serious. Aussie are genuine and laid back. They know how to enjoy the moment of life.
On 24th, after a long hectic working day, I took an evening flight to Sydney. I stayed with my cousin for 4 days at Sydney. Sydney is very different than Melbourne, lack of Aussie flavor, more of international atmosphere. Chinese will take over this town someday and converse it to Shanghai or Beijing.
My cousin gave me a tour around Sydney's harbor on Friday. Saturday was a perfect beach day. We started off at Bondi beach and walked down to congee. It's a 2 hours scenic walk. It was warm summer beach weather. Sydney is completely a tourist prone town. I enjoyed the two- day tour of Sydney. However I miss Aussie and Aussin spirit that are missed at Sydney. Sydney's harbour area is where the main tourist attractions are. Nice harbour view, sail boats, trendy clubs, hot beach people, high-end restaurants, million-dollar hourse that show off " money, power and beauty" . Where are the fun Aussies with the greeting like " God' Die, Mate! How are you doing todie!". I truly miss the simple, fun, laid back and warm Aussie and their goofy Aussie slangs. Standing in the middle of streets of Sydney, you could find yourself anywhere of the world. With the mixed cultures, it somehow lost some of the most native and valuable features. Some mostly worshipped things are kept very well, if not even more stressed, money and beauty.
In this sense, I miss Melbourne a lot more than Sydney.
The bouncer at " Transportation" club was from a little tiny town; the Italian owner on Lygon street gave me a free Geleto; Turtle 's manager asked me out for dinner knowing that I only stay for two more days at Melbourne; the clearner called Doug told me " go hawks!"; the butcher's wife and chef's mom told how much her land costs......... the green, picture like green farms and the cows that lay on the grass, carefree............
I want to be an Aussie farmer's wife....... haha

Second weekend at Melbourne

After a long week of hard work, I felt I totally deserve some cool beer, a fun night and of course checking out Aussie boys and picking up some Aussie slangs. Kent and I went back to CBD for a fun Friday night. The original plan was to check out some Irish bars. We ended up with a club called "Turtle". I had a blast. Yeah, Aussie beer (VB and pure blond)+ Aussie boys+Aussie slangs= fun.
I was left alone on this weekend since my boss Kent left for New Zealand on Saturday morning. I enjoyed some solo adventure. On Saturday, I continued my Melboure adventure to the surrounding areas. I started from Victoria Market, through Lygon St, Carton Gardens, Fitzroy Gardens, back to Yarra bank. Then I took the tram to St Kilda for sunset and dinner. It was a good walk tour of greater Melbourne area!
On Sunday, I hit the road in the early morning and started my one day road trip. I drove along coastline through Frankston, Mornington to Rosebud and came down to Cape Schanck ( I didn't finally get to the light house as the light house was then closed for a tour and it was very windy.) From Cape Schanck, I drove up to Stony Point for the ferry over to French Island. The schedule didn't work out. So I decided to drive all the way around the port to Phillip Island. Phillip Island was my destination. It was already 6:00pm when I got to Phillip. I drove through the island and took a short pit stop at the Nobblies Seal Rocks and turned back. I didn't wait for Penguin Parade and I also missed Churchill Island and other attractions. I don't really care. Phillip Island is somewhere I set as my destination. I've already enjoyed enough on the way. During the one-day road trip, I checked out a food festival at Mornington Beach town, chatted with a few fishermen at Frankston, found the way to Cape Schanck, checked out Stony Point's ferry schedule, enjoyed country views, stopped at a farmer's cafe for toilet, enjoyed scenic drive at Phillip Island and talked to all the birds at Seal Rocks. At the end of the trip, I gorged a steak pita sandwich at Nadoo- a chain fast food restaurant. It was a great day. A great journey!

First weekend at Melbourne

On the first weekend, Kent and I spent one day at Melbourne CBD area. We strolled through streets, shops and checked out restaurants. We walked through center streets to Dockland. Lots of walking, food and window shopping. On Sunday, we took "Great Ocean Road". We started from Geelong and came along the coast road en route a bunch of beach towns till Port Campbell. ( Warrnambool is the end of the road. We didn't go through the end and turned back from Port Campbell). We took an inland country route back to hotel. Great Ocean Road is really stunning! It's similar to California's coast highway. However the scene is much more beautiful. During the 6-7 hours ride, you often find yourself between blue ocean and green farm, unlimited blue and endless green, cliff and flat, movement of the wave and stillness of grass and cows. One of the beach towns we passed is named " paradise beach " which in the world describes how I feel about the scenic road. I was very much in love with the farms. I don't' know what it is. It brings me peace and I really enjoy every second that they are right in front of me, like a masterpiece painting. On the way back, Kent and I were spontaneous enough to stop by a hotel of a small village for dinner where a big anniversary celebration was going on. Almost entire town was there for the old couple. Only one chef cooked for the entire town that night and he is the son of a butcher and a lady also present at the ceremony. The lady told us their farms, lands, stocks and her son etc. Our plates came up 2 hours later. It was a very interesting 2 hours wait though. Sometimes 2 minutes wait can be boring while other times 2 hours wait can be extremely interesting. Oh, I have to mention about the 12 Apostles just because they are labeled as a symbol of Great Ocean Road. They are okay. They are not 12 anymore.

Australian Trip- Melbourne and Sydney

I went on a business trip to Australia from Oct 6th to Oct 28th. I stayed at Melbourne from Oct 8th to 24th and flew to Sydney and came back to USA on 28th. It was a pretty intense business trip. During our visit, we audited our subsidiaries at Melbourne and visited Sydney's operation as well. Work kept us busy during the week and I tried to explore the cities as much as I can during the weekend.
I really like Melbourne. It's second city of Australia. It's very centralized. The CBD ( central business district) is quite small. We stayed very close to CBD area and commuted 40-50 minutes one way to work. Driving at right side is pretty challenging for me, on top of that, pulling in and out of the cramped hotel underground garage is also a pain. Melbourne and Syndey are both quite diverse compared with Europen towns. Yet not as near to diverse as where we are. I love locals and their slangs. I tried to pick up some slangs when I was there. Melbourne has a gorgeous Yarra river and Sydney has a nice harbour. They both contain what most big cities are featured anywhere in the world: skyscrapers, shops, crowds etc.
I'm more impressed by the countryside though. Driving 30-40 kilo out of the town, you hit the green carpet like grass, ranches, farms, cows, farmer houses. The scene is absolutely strikingly beautiful and peaceful. You know, that is it. That's Australia.