Quick stats:

• 5 movies watched (I probably missed a lot of in-jokes in Pokémon)
• 1 book read (hey, I was traveling and it was the longest Harry Potter book)
• 3 Aussie dream items achieved! YES. (more below)
• 1 bearded dragon encountered (on a hike)
• 8 brackets used so far already

The tour across Australia continues! This edition is in the Northeast part of the country, Queensland. Australia is actually very comparable in size to the States, yet its population is only 25 million. For comparison, Canada’s (entire country) population is 37 mil. & California’s (state only) is 40 mil. My trip from Melbourne -> Brisbane is kind of like Miami -> Washington DC.

It’s kinda hard for me to see that in my head but there’s a lot of empty space in this country. I’m sure the snakes and spiders require decently large personal space bubbles.

It was a blast! I hadn’t gotten to know my cousin’s family up there much and they’ve got four kids so it was a great chance to catch up. Catch up we did! So much playing time and quality baby squeezing time was had.

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We watched oodles of episodes of Bluey, a local animated kids show that is AMAZING. Each episode is short and charming as all get out. I hope it crosses the waters to others as it’s delightful. The kids loved dancing to its opening theme song, and I loved watching them. Seriously, look it up.

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Nat was kind enough to check two large items off my Aussie to-eat list: fairy bread and pavlovas. I know it may not sound like much, but fairy bread is a simple childhood joy that many grew up with but isn’t something you buy at a restaurant. It’s basically white bread (usually no crust), butter and hundreds & thousands (spherical sprinkles). Yup, that’s it! It was simple and tasty! I guess we did something similar when I was little (as a rare treat only): sprinkling sugar (sometimes Milo too) on buttered white bread. I could only really get this from a family with young kids, so I was super excited to finally try this. (Again, it’s the simple things.)

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Next, New Zealand and Australia seem to own the pavlova as a standard summer BBQ dessert (also a Christmas dessert!). I don’t love love meringue so I was wary, but Nat made a stellar one! She cuts down on the sugar a bit and adds an extra egg white for a chewier meringue. Gobs of whipped cream and seasonal fruit top it off and voila! I definitely had more than one slice…. possibly three.

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Another child-related one was a party pie! It’s really just an even smaller meat pie that are usually only at kid’s birthday parties. Since I didn’t know too many children who had close birthdays and didn’t want to get a box of 12 for myself at the grocery store, my Uncle helped me out and took me to a nice pie shop that sold them as sides (for your main pie). Again, this country has its priorities in line. I got a mince chicken party pie with my steak & mushroom meat pie. Dreams can be achieved!

Since I’m on a roll food-wise, I’ll add on that I tried a few more local chocolates: Violet Crumble (honeycomb) and Chomp (wafer + caramel). I never liked honeycomb much but this country really likes it! It’s everywhere. Violet Crumble was lighter than Crunchie so I liked that but it still sticks in your teeth so I doubt I’ll be a big fan. Chomp, on the other hand, is kind of like a Twix light, so I’d totally do that again. Adventures abound.

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In between eating we did get some sightseeing done. Hit up Kangaroo Point Cliffs, which are these climbable cliffs right downtown right along the Brisbane River. The local City Cat ferry is a great way to see the city but I’ll have to catch that next time.

Southbank is an awesome area with lots of restaurants and fairs. This weekend a Buddha Festival was on and we caught some fun free shows. The best bit was that they had an amazing free water park, with waves and sand and everything. It was akin to Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica with less shopping and more free park space. I love how much they invest in public park space in this country.

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I did get to see my first bin chicken there too! (Otherwise known as the ibis.) They’re seen around public spots, usually near food. I hear they’re in Melbourne but I haven’t seen any yet! This song sums them up quite well (warning: these birds illicit some strong language).

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My cousin lives in a sweet neighborhood with apartment-like perks (community center, pool, gym, etc) but they’re all in houses not apartments. They lived across the street from the pool so I got a lovely night swim session in. I even saw a kangaroo bounce by me on the walk home!

I took a train down to the Gold Coast and my Uncle took me on a nice hike along the Burleigh Heads. It’s the middle of winter for them. Winter. I was told this is as cold as it gets. Sure looks like it to me. Seems rough. Felt strong San Diego vibes here.

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Got back in Melbourne just in time for Tilly’s 2nd birthday! My uncle made a super impressive birthday cake (from watching YouTube clips!) with fondant and everything. We had a lovely day for Tilly full of bubbles and Paddle Pops. Loving all this family time and glad to be down here to spend it with them!

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Until next time! Miss my family and friends Stateside something bad this week too. I’m so glad I’m getting a chance to hang with my Aussie family right now and can’t wait to head back to the States… eventually. ❤

Quick stats for last week:

• 4 movies watched (Avengers was so enjoyable but I miss my Oakland crowds)
• 1 book read (I was travelling!)
• amazingly only got a bite per day while in Malaysia (that’s an all time low record for me)
• 12 Anzac cookies consumed (I celebrate Anzac day in my own way)

After 7 long years, I finally went back to Malaysia! It was kind of surreal being there after living there for high school. I think it’s progressed nicely! Still lots of malls but you need somewhere to hang out when it’s over 90F outside and at least 70% humidity everyday too. They do have Ladies parking areas, closer to the doors & lifts and super well lit–for single women shopping. It’s a good feature, but a bad sign that it exists? Does that make sense?

For not having any planned schedule at all, I did pretty well! Saw three aunts & uncles, one set of grandparents, a nibling and a high school friend. I ate all the things too! Got to hit some of my favorites, but I’ll have to come back to get the rest next time. Kuey teow (flat rice noodles) and rice (nasi lemak literally means “fat rice”).

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I love me some foreign McDs (had to try their spicy fried chicken along with my favorite–chicken congee). They had a banana pie and also a chicken curry pie! Sure, why not.

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They’ve got some fancy cafes now too so got to drink well and share yummy fusion cakes (cempedak/jackfruit salted caramel!).

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Saw this amazing thing, where this guy was able to cut out the core of a coconut, without puncturing it! Man, I should’ve taken a video since it was just so smooth and I’m sure it’s crazy difficult to do well. You just get this awesome completely edible ball of coconut meat, filled with juice! I popped it into the fridge to have it chilled later and man, it was great. The only problem, especially coming from super eco-Melbourne, was how much plastic was still in Malaysia! It’s EVERYWHERE. I guess I feel that when I visit San Jose from Berkeley, but it was … a lot. It’s a slow movement but hopefully they’ll be able to cut that down slowly?

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It was actually a little bit cooler that week as it was raining a bit everyday. That cooled things off a bit since it wasn’t ever prolonged rain, but short bursts of rain here and there. It did nicely clear out the air often so that was a plus.

Traffic seemed a lot lighter too but I think it’s mainly that I didn’t head downtown very much at all and we took mostly toll roads. Everyone seems to use them but they can add up! The route my aunt takes is 10RM (~US $2.50) everyday. Okay so it’s not as much as the Bay Bridge but it’s still something.

I know my aunt gives me crap for craving the Air Asia meals, but it’s seriously pretty great food! In the States I was just so Malaysian food deprived, that I’d happily take any of these menu items on a domestic flight. Just look at those!!

It was a quick trip that was packed it, and we even go to get drinks and see a stellar view of the Petronas Towers. Lovely way to end my trip!

Back home, I’m getting more cozy and finally printed some pictures for the apartment (thanks Kim W for the assist!). I framed the caricatures from my goodbye card too and get to see those everyday! Making me smile more and miss everyone when I see their faces.

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Got some family time in and it’s great that Joey’s learned how to smile! He’s beaming back at us now! Love it so much. Tilly’s learning how to floss from her Dad too! Ha. I fly up north to Brisbane and Gold Coast later this week so I’ll get to visit my newest nibling (my cousin up there just had his 4th little kiddo). I hear Queensland is where all the truly dangerous animals are so… wish me luck. I’ll check my shoes for snakes & spiders, for sure.

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I’ll leave you with my all-time favorite item I saw on sale in Malaysia:

Quick stats:

• 2 graphic novels / 1 book read
• 5 movies watched
• 1 comedy show (Maria Bamford was great!)
• found Nemo & Dory
• 1 epic day tour taken (540 km / 335 mi covered)

Had my last Mandarin class of Term 1! 我是电影会计师。(Translation: I am a movie accountant.) Okay, was. I can’t say much besides introducing myself, asking after your nationality and what your job is, but hey coming from absolute zero Mandarin knowledge, I’m going to count that as a win. I’m not signing up for Term 2 immediately as I think I’ll travel while I’ve got the time then I’ll sign up for more Mandarin later.

Kim came to visit! First use of her passport–I’m so proud. We got lots of sights in while she was here.. and so many animals! We hit up the Sea Life aquarium and the Melbourne Zoo. Animals galore!

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Tilly got to find Nemo and Dory and see sharks and *huge* manta rays. I loved that there were so many tunnels and bubble views in the tanks so kids could walk thru the tanks and see the fish up close. Most were too dark for Tilly but it’s an awesome feature.

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The Melbourne Zoo had gorgeous habitat-style areas and all the areas were thematic to natural habitats (seriously, the bamboo forest there was bigger than the one in Kyoto). They had a good Aussie animal area with bouncing kangaroos, a friendly emu and wombats (awake ones!). The platypus was smaller than we thought and so cute, swimming so fast.

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Since I don’t have a car I was waiting for a visitor to check out the Great Ocean Road. It’s just west of Melbourne and we went on an epic day tour covering its entirety. It’s a lovely coastline stretch 243 km / 151 mi long that took 17 years to complete. The scenery was giving me strong Pacific Coast Highway vibes, but with a rocky coastline.

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The Twelve Apostles were stunning to see. Kinda sad to find out that there were never actually twelve, but only nine and now eight (last one fell over in 2009). It’s all about what sounds good, I guess.

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Saw the Shipwreck Coast (over 200 wrecks!) and we went inland to see the Otway National Park and explore some of the rainforest. We saw a different species of eucalyptus (not the ones you see all over the country and the ones that koalas hang out in) that’s 2nd tallest in the world (after only coastal redwoods). It was massive!

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We didn’t find any in our hike but discovered that there’s a carnivorous species of snails (which of course are all black). They’re endangered so I guess it’s best that they’re not just hanging out too close to the trails.

It is Easter so there are hot cross buns everywhere! It’s not sweet really, as it’s more of a fruit bread. Folks generally eat them toasted and with butter. Yums! We had one of the best things ever, which was madeleines fresh to order (at Cumulus Inc.). Pretty sure that was my first time tasting one of those fresh.

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So much Hot Star and boba too. Hot Star’s a Taiwanese fried food spot and their fried mushrooms are divine. I eat it whenever I walk by, so I have to be careful which streets I walk down.

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We got to take in another comedy show too, this time it was Maria Bamford. She was hilarious! I hadn’t seen much of her before this so I’m super glad we went to see her. (Solid rec, Annie!). The comedy festival is ending soon, so I doubt I’ll see any more shows this year but thankfully the Spanish Film Festival starts in a second so I’ll never be without a festival handy.

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Other fun Aussie things to share:

• Love how their mailboxes look like ! to me. The bottom slot is for newspapers, but it’s just such a fun look, so I just see exclamation points everywhere.

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• I’ve never seen it before but the 7-11s here had single serve boxes of Krispy Kremes! Kinda neat.

• Never thought about this but you can buy kangaroo nuts as souvenirs. You know, for that perfect friend.

Quick stats:

• 4 graphic novels / 2 books read
• 3 movies watched
• 2 comedy shows attended
• 4 ferries taken (2 of them camo ferries!)
• 0 white wallabies seen
• 1 new pie eaten (curry scallop)
• so much roadkill–mostly wallabies (I stopped counting at 20… and this is unrelated to the bullet above)

My explorations of Australia continue as I headed to the island off the island (and an island off that too!). But first, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival has begun! I don’t follow comedy too much so I had no clue that this festival is the 3rd biggest comedy festival in the world (after Edinburgh and Montreal). I mean look at the list of the folks playing just on one single day:

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Annie and I kicked it off strong with Michelle Wolf! I loved her HBO special and that White House correspondent’s dinner is stuff of legend. She got a night off and we had a blast! She was hilarious and we got to cap the night off with stellar Taiwanese fried snacks.

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Denise and I went to see a local comedian, Lawrence Leung. It was great! He’s kinda dorky and worked the bow tie he was wearing. I think I only lost a bit in terms of Aussie speak but I think overall I did pretty well. I gotta say having my first ever choctop was kind of the thing I was most excited about. They’re standard movie and theater fare here. Such a great snack. I can see a lot of these in my future.

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Got some time with Joe Marie before he left town too. Fit as much family time in together while he was here. We had a nice day in the city and he even used that custom KitKat machine and made his own to take home. Loved the Aussie print.

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Okay, now on to Tasmania! Ever since I was a kid and would draw Australia and then put the little triangle island off the edge–I’d wanted to visit. It’s just so close to Antarctica! The bookshop even had an “Antarctic Transport” section. I even got to see the Aurora Australis parked downtown! Since 1990 it’s the first Australian Antarctic icebreaker. It still regularly makes supply runs down South.

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I also thought it’d be a good place to drive on the other side of the road for the first time, since it’s quieter there. Rented a car for a couple days to visit some parks.

It has some of the most beautiful national parks and super unique wildlife (even for Australia). I was hoping for sighting the white wallabies that can live as they don’t have any predators on the island. I was in the area but didn’t know that’s the only spot where they were! Another reason to return.

Freycinet National Park has the glorious Wineglass Bay, which was a steep but short hike to view. All the trails were well maintained and it was a great visit.

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Decided to hop on a lovely island cruise of Bruny Island, to check out oodles of wildlife. Drove onto my first car ferry too! Just a short ride but it was super fun. The island has a North and South separated by a skinny sandy isthmus called The Neck. It’s crazy pretty and I got to chill out at the lookout there for a while. Couldn’t have picked a better spot.

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Took an island cruise off the Southern end and they doled out dramamine to each of us but 10% of the boat still barfed. I am so thankful that I managed to hold it in myself since it got pretty swell-y at times. Amazing towering rock walls, deep green waters, a pair of dolphins but it was a bit early in the season for whales.

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It’s such a nice, quiet place where folks from Sydney and Melbourne seem to go to get away from the busy city life so I guess I was surprised to see a museum like MoNA here. It’s just super edgy and full of unique pieces. There’s no signs on any art (you get a iPod touch full of info that detects the art near you if you want to know about it) and you’re encouraged to wander the premises, discovering pieces all around. It was pretty epic but kind of hard for me to know if I caught everything (I didn’t) but I’ll be back.

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One of the first exhibits you see is a captivating one that uses water droplets to create words. They’re popular words that have been searched on the internet so they’re random. It’s called bit.fall by Julius Popp. Seriously, I have lots of picture of this since it’s something you can just keep watching. It makes a great mechanical sound each time.

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Tasmania houses Port Arthur, their Alcatraz (and also tragically the location of the 1996 mass shooting that changed their gun laws) where there’s an old penal colony. I decided to not go visit this trip, so maybe next visit.

Got to try some of the local delicacies, mainly seafood-related. Had local fish ‘n chips and a scallop pie (they pack like 5 in one pie!). They also have a local plant, pepperberry (tastes like it sounds but like a light pepper), so tried pepperberry ice cream. It was nice with a kick!

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I walked a bunch too and walked downtown daily (preferred that over fighting for parking downtown). It’s super hilly there so it felt kinda of reminiscent of SF. Saw some excellent street art (it’s just all over this country, isn’t it?) and some pretty architecture.

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I survived driving although I did avoid parallel parking since I wasn’t quite up to that challenge yet. Made it through some roundabouts though! Pretty pleased about that.

Got back to Melbourne and watched a few movies and saw some lovely Melbourne-isms:

• metal straws (the only proper substitute to plastic I’ve had but they’re pricey so I don’t see them often)

• cinema snacks in refillable tubes! so smart.

Quick stats this week:

• 10 graphic novels / 2 books read
• 6 movies watched
• 1st veggie pie consumed! (It’s so hard to say no to a chunky steak pie)
• so many true crime Netflix episodes watched

First off, remember the Spag Bol chips from the last post? I finally tried them and they’re shockingly accurately pasta tasting! Each bite had the taste of bolognese but even by the middle of the bag, you were kind of tired of the taste. Okay, chip update over.

This week was a quiet one. The 30th French Film Festival has started so I’m all over that. Signed up for 8 films and still have a few more to go. I really enjoyed Astérix: Le Secret de la Potion a bunch. I never caught the 2014 movie so I’ll look that one up. I used to read all of those comic books growing up so it was such a delight going back into that world. So cheeky and full of puns.

Saw Dilili In Paris this morning and it was cute! Interesting animation style and solid message. It opened Annecy 2018 and was quite the hit there and I can see why since it’s a love letter to Paris.

The program for the 62nd SF Film Festival just came out so even though I can’t make it this year, I went through the entire program and there are some great shows in there! Project Gutenberg, Monos, Booksmart & American Factory. There’s some Sundance 2019 overlap too and a few that are even in my French Film Festival here (A Faithful Man and High Life). So those in the Bay, please go see some movies! Great ones in this year’s festival.

Lucky for me right when this ends, the Spanish Film Festival starts! 🙂 Never ending movies for me!

My sister gave me a bunch of graphic novel recommendations so lately I’ve been on a tear. I didn’t want all those super dark dystopian ones, so it’s been Tune, Fence and Saga. Loved everyone’s a aliebn when ur a aliebn too. It was so cute! Please send over any other graphic novel recs if you have ’em!

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Joe Marie was in town for a bit too so I got to play tour guide again. Took him to noodles and lots and lots of street art. We went to Hosier Lane to look for an #eggboy piece I heard about, but within a day of the tagging it was already covered up. Bummer. The Sponge Bob piece I saw a few weeks ago is all covered up already. Guess that lane just gets painted over and over again all the time. I’ll have to visit more often to check on all the street art updates.

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More interesting Aussie things to share:

Things here sometimes make me look twice… things are almost the same as in the States but just slightly different.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Bonus shot of the coffee table I’m trying out:

I’m off again to explore more of Australia next week… Tasmania! I’ll look for Tasmanian Devils while I’m out there.

Quicker stats for my longer update this round:

• 5 movies watched (Captain Marvel was decent and the French Film Festival has begun)
• 3 books read
• 2 kangaroos petted
• at least 9 pies eaten (it was a great week)

(Firstly, I’m writing this from my apartment for the first time! I FINALLY have working internet. This is a major event in my life, so let me enjoy this moment. Sweet sweet internet.)

Went on my first domestic trip: to visit Adelaide, in South Australia. It’s got this sweet state logo.

Justin & Joe were in town and so I followed them to see Justin’s hometown. An 8 hr drive (same as Sydney) or a 1 hr flight. Been a while since I’ve been on Qantas and they had this stellar new feature, where 1) free plane wi-fi and 2) they note your seat number and can give you a simulated interactive view of what you’re flying over with clickable highlights! This is a dream I’ve always wondered about since I love the window seat. I wished the flight was longer so I could have more time to explore what we were flying over!

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Adelaide is a wonderful land of koalas (literally that live across the street from Justin) and meat pies (the proper amount I expected to find.. not the must-seek-out amounts in Melbourne). Even tried the Adelaide special, a pie floater (meat pie drowned in a thick pea soup).

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We hit the ground running and had so much stellar food (pies, fresh pasta, tasty Malaysian) I didn’t have a moment of hunger the entire trip.

We also went to see wildlife, at a nearby animal park. So many awesome animals roaming about (and one ran right thru my legs!) and you could feed and pet them too! After playing Crash Bandicoot back in the day, I finally got to meet a real bandicoot. Very fluffy and cute. Kind of difficult to distinguish between a potoroo but I think we were able to.

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The koala’s get tired after too much human contact so we missed the koala hold time but still got to see quite a few up close. Love their furry ears and how they wedge themselves into a branch corner and just nap all day. A good life.

SO many kangaroos too! They even kick when they’re “relaxing” on the grass, or it’s leftover bounces or something, but I kept a safe distance and only pet their backs. I’ve seen the video of them fighting.

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Adelaide hosts a ton of festivals and I was there during their busy season when the Adelaide Festival, Adelaide Fringe and WOMADelaide were all ongoing. They’re each awesome festivals featuring art, music and interesting events each year. There are oodles of free events too. We went to a show and enjoyed lots of other features (light projections and all the associated food too).

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Justin’s favorite food truck only is at this yearly festival, a poffertjes stand (Dutch pancakes). We went back here a few times since these are SO tasty. Mini pancakes with rum butter, lemon and powdered sugar. A perfect snack food between shows. Seriously, no pictures can capture how tasty these snacks were. We stopped sharing and each were getting a plate by the end.

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Visited lots of friends (and their adorable babies) and even was able to squeeze in an old high school mate that I hadn’t seen in 20 years! We were too busy catching up that I forgot to take a picture. Ha. Next time!

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The beaches in Adelaide were lovely and super clean! The water was chilly but we braved them and dipped in and enjoyed some beach time. Saw the prettiest beach shower ever and we think we figured it out but it was pretty artsy so we couldn’t tell if we controlled it ever but we did manage to turn it on. It was a sculpture of its own!

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I got the full food tour of local snacks: all of which were yummy and I hope I can find outside of South Australia (I think for most I can):

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Back in Melbourne went straight to another beach and caught up with the niblings (little niece/nephews/cousin’s kids is getting jumbled into this term) and had a fish and chip feast. Fish n chip menus have several items I’ve never heard of before (all items deep fried):

• Corn jack – spring roll-esque item filled with cream corn (hot lava alert)
• Chiko roll – I haven’t been able to discern it from a spring roll, which is also on the menu so I’m considering it as spring roll #2
• Dim sim – previously covered dim sum lite (larger than average shui mai), battered
• Dippy Vienna Dog aka Battered Sav – hot dog dipped in batter
• Crumbed sausage – similar to above but crumb fried (ala Shake and Bake)
• Burger in batter – I assume it’s just the patty in batter, but now I’ll imagine it as an entire burger on a stick, dipped in batter instead. It’ll remain a mystery until I try one.
• Sea Shanty – ??

This beach was chillier but still super clear out and nice just playing in the sand with the kiddos.

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Before I knew it, I had my next visitor: Liana! YAYYY! Sister’s in town only for a few days so we had to hit the ground running and eat our way thru town.

Took her straight to the South Melbourne Market to eat pies and pastries. We got her a dimmy (dim sim) and fancy fancy cakes. Of course more Malaysian food and some quality family time too.

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We both love a good book store so we went in at least four of those and checked out the libraries. She bought me my first physical book (The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle), which I’m pretty excited about since I didn’t pack any and have been tired of reading only e-books since I’ve arrived.

Enjoyed showing my sister around my new haunts, and having an extra person to eat with so we can try double the items! We most definitely did that.

Now I get to give the local libraries a break from my patronage and just chill out at my place a bit more. I could hear the cars racing every day this week since the Melbourne Grand Prix is just nearby. Even saw a few fighter jets fly by today in their closing ceremony today. Kind of hard to miss those.

Until next time! I’ll leave you with my fav Aussie shortened words so far, found at a grocery store. I can’t say I’ve actually heard someone say “spag bol” instead of spaghetti bolognese but I’ll be keeping my ears open.

Quick stats for this last week (and change):

• 41.9 mi / 67.5 km walked (my max single day so far is 10.2 mi!)
• ? mi biked since my phone doesn’t track that but I am *loving* being back on a bike again (also love that it’s a relatively flat city)
• 4 movies watched
• 2 books read
• 7 plants bought (I just love coming home to greenery)

Since internet is still the last utility outstanding (it gets set up THREE weeks after I ordered it), I’ve been spending lots and lots of time in local libraries, for internet and air conditioning and the like. I love libraries so it’s not too bad but I wish I had prepared for that and ordered it as soon as I signed my lease!

Pretty thankful for it though, as it’s how I was able to keep my Oscar tradition alive and I could stream the show and the red carpet show. I was quite the display with an iPad, macbook and iPhone all in use for those few hours. I’m extra glad that the time difference worked perfectly for open hours! (It played local time Monday at noon. Talk about perfect.)

This year I watched 45 of 52 nominees (87%) but the more I watch, the worse I do in predictions. I finished this year with just 13/24 (54%) correct. I’m pretty happy with my misses (Olivia Colman is a delight!) but sad about Green Book wins. Sigh. It was just… decent, but not Best. Guys. I was so happy about the Black Panther and BlackKklansman love.

French Film Festival starts here tomorrow, so the next year begins off with a bang! Some decent selections so I’m excited to try a few of these out. The real haul will be at the Melbourne Film Festival in August. Cannot wait!

These last week had a crazy hot streak, where it was 3-4 days in a row of sweltering 90-100F days. I stayed in one day just cause it was too hot (ironically, it felt too hot for me to leave to hit the swimming pool). Just stayed in and Netflix binged (I download episodes at the library, then watch them at home). Watched Salt Fat Acid Heat, The Crown, Sex Education, Daredevil and Wanderlust. If you have any recommendations, throw them my way! I’ve got lots and lots of time to watch things these days.

Op Shops (opportunity shops) are thrift shops/2nd hand stores that are plentiful in my neighborhood (there’s one on every major street really). I’ve been hitting them up a few times a week and slowly stocking my place up (especially for kitchen items). They’re gold mines! Found a few great picture frames for a few bucks each! It’s like treasure hunting. My place is going to be mostly Op shop-sourced, ideally.

I’ve made up for a dearth of meat pies in the beginning and caught up nicely this week. They’re harder to find in Melbourne since folks are kinda too fancy for that. I have to go hunting a bit to find them, but I’ll happily hunt those down. There are some pretty fancy shops that do them, which I don’t need, but I’ll take them all. The most consistent one to find are the traveller pie (designed for optimal single-handed consumption) at 7-11. Not knocking it but I miss places like Queensland where pie shops are everywhere!

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Hosted my first people at my place! We are entering a Survivor pool so I had to watch the show! It was lovely to have others in there, and helped me realize I need to own more than just one mug. Baby J did great and it was great having a little baby in there. Soon more TV and movie nights!

Also, more visitors! Justin & Joe flew thru Melbourne on their way back to visit family in Adelaide (I’ll join in a few days!). I’ve honestly eaten more in the past three days than I have since I’ve gotten here! And I haven’t been shy with eating on my own, but phew, these last few days were SO food-filled! Malaysian feasts, seafood spreads and fancy cocktails. Not complaining but I haven’t been this consistently stuffed in a while.

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Excited to do some Aussie exploring, so I’ll report back on Adelaide next week! Tasmania is coming up at the end of the month too. Liana’s coming next week too! YAY!

Until next time!

Quick stats this week:

• 24.4 mi / 39.3 km walked
• 3 books read
• 3 movies watched (sorry, At Eternity’s Gate… your use of shaky cam was so distracting)
• 1 rather large spider met
• 1 bat found (dead though I think)

Biggest new development is that I’ve now got wheels! Just got a used bike and I’m super excited to get even more miles covered across town with this new baby. It’s a bit stressful biking on any major roadways (turning right is rather hard) so I’ll think I’ll do that funky hook turn thing and I think that’ll be better. People definitely aren’t as pedestrian or bike friendly as in the Bay, so I’ve found a few more agro folks on the road than I expected. Also, I’m super afraid of getting door-ed and I’m never looking on the correct side for cars still. It’s a slow process. Thankfully, it’s a legal requirement for bikers to use helmets so it’s nice to feel safer with that rule.

There’s a lovely weekly food truck/stand situation on Saturdays at a park nearby. It’s been great to go to and it’s so relaxing! There’s usually live music too and chalkboards and hula hoops for the kids. I’ve been meeting my friends there and we mill about and enjoy great coffee (available everywhere) and superb toasties (toasted sandwiches). Today I went with momos (Nepalese dumplings). It’s called Hank Marvin, which is funny because it’s just a saying that rhymes with “starving”. Starving –> Hank Marvin. Aussies are funny.

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Here are a few more nicknames that I have learned and love:

• Paramedic = Ambo (short for Ambulance)
• Electrician = Sparky (my personal favorite. It’s just such a cute nickname!)
• Carpenter = chippie
• Tradesman = tradie
• Bricklayer = brickie

Okay a nickname that ticks me off is that a hotel = hotel, but sometimes a hotel = pub. WHAT. I guess 100 years ago or whatnot, they used to also have some boarding rooms in the back/upstairs where folks could stay but they mostly don’t anymore, but they’re still called hotels! How’s that not confusing. Guys. Let’s update those names!

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My place is starting to feel home-y. Once I get internet, that’ll be great so I don’t have to leave to mooch wifi from somewhere. It’s been a lot of am/fm radio (so glad I brought that with me) and reading oodles. It’s kind of been nice to disconnect but having internet will be lovely. The walls are more bare than I prefer but I’ll have to work on that shortly. It’s such an old building that it’s all brick so I can’t nail anything into the wall, so I’ll have to use those sticky 3M sorts. Here’s how it’s forming now:

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I love it so much. I’m in the Jewish part of town so there are a ton of bagel shops and delis. It’s a nice perk so at my local coffee spots, I can also get a decent reuben!

Now that the place is more liveable (hot water’s now fixed but my washer still is occasionally possessed), I think now is the experience I was hoping to get. Living solo, and just wandering around town whenever I feel like it. The real journey begins now!

I’ll look on the bright side of this, but I met a new neighbor (SO thankful he’s on the outside of my apartment, but it’s closer than I prefer). It’s a huntsman spider which doesn’t web and isn’t deadly but still… jarring to see when I come home each day. I’m gonna hope he’s good for the building by eating other pesky insects.

Also, bats! I guess at dusk you can see hundreds of them in the air and they live in the nearby botanical gardens. Just came across this one on my walk to the library.

Fun things I’ve seen about town:

• their neighborhood watch signs all make me want a Thin Mint

• these cute Kiss & Go signs near a school, for their drop offs

• there are actual penguins hanging around the pier, every day at sunset. I forget how south this continent is!

• Loved the work of this guy’s work around town: Awol. Such great pieces of Aboriginal kids!

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It’s almost been a full month since I’ve been here! Nuts. Still can’t fully believe it but it’s flying by! So many more cafes and restaurants to try out. Pies to eat! I’m falling far behind in my pie quota, so I best fix that soon.

Miss you all!

Quick stats for this week:

• 40.3 mi / 64.8 km walked (it was cooler this week, so a lot better for walking)
• 3 kombuchas drank (non-homemade. Not that hipster yet)
• 1 live concert attended
• 2 dead jellyfish seen (on the beach)
• 2 movies watched
• 0 books read (65% thru Aurora, but hey I had visitors!)

Friends were in town! Only two weeks in and already showing folks around town! I only know a teeny bit more than they do but it’ll have to do! My friend Melissa was in town for a wedding so we explored Queen Vic Market and the famous graffitied Hosier alley.

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It also happened to be the St Kilda Festival, so caught a live Regurgitator concert! I remember listening to them back in the early 2000s when I was here. They’re a local indie/punk band that are all grown up now with kids so they’ve put out a childrens album! It was lots of fun to see adults with their kids rocking out.

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Some kind soul gave us some ride tickets so we got to go on the ferris wheel! It’s always higher than it looks from the ground, and it was nice to see the beach and fairgrounds from up there.

Anthony was in town too so we got to explore Melbourne and I got to share all my fav carb spots with him. Coffee, carbs and we went to the beach! The Brighton beach boxes were a short 30 min bus ride away. It’s a teeny strip of beach with 80ish boxes lining the shore. Each is pretty small, without power or water, but they’re so iconic and rarely on the market as they’re passed down generationally, that these days one went for a whopping A$337,000! These are 6x4m boxes! They are awful cute, but that’s some Bay Area real estate pricing for you. I left the Bay to not pay those prices!

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Oh other critical thing: I have a place! OH YES. So I only just got my bed, so I’ve been sofa sleeping for a few days, using my raincoat as a blanket (it’s the biggest thing I brought with me). Glamorous, I know. But now, now there’s a real bed for me to sleep on! And a fridge so I can go buy groceries. It’s a whole different world.

The drivers license process is shockingly easy (no physical test and they just check that I have a current US one). Considering it’s a right-hand drive, I’d kind of expect a driving test, but I’m glad I didn’t have to do it. I still don’t plan on driving any time soon, but having a local form of ID is helpful. I’ve got two library cards now (they do them by suburb… oddly enough). A local bank account is next up on the docket. Well, I should get internet soon too. That’s kind of important I guess.

Went to a superb exhibit at the National Gallery of Victoria this week too! The perfect thing to do on Valentine’s Day. Escher x Nendo: Between Two Worlds was so so excellent. Creative designs, interactive displays and so many fun, mind-bendy exhibits that perfectly matches the source material. We had fun running around in the Nendo houses and I especially loved seeing Escher’s studies before his final prints were made. So cool seeing a bit into the mind of a creative genius. Didn’t have time to see the rest of the permanent collection, so I’ll be back for that soon!

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We also hit up the local bouldering gym (first bouldering-only gym in Australia!). It was pretty compact but plenty hard enough. Gotta dust off those muscles but I’m thankfully not that sore. It’s Ladies Night on Mondays so I’ll be back for sure. 🙂

Ute of the week (with extra graffiti background):

Also, other fun things I’ve seen around town:

• I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen a lady crosswalk signal!

• similar to handicapped parking, they have pram parking for parents with prams/strollers. It’s so thoughtful!

• bus stops face inward from the street. Haven’t figured out why yet… safety? But it does make the bench more useful and welcome to sit, even if I’m not waiting for the bus.

I’ll show pics of my place next time, once I get a chance to fully unpack it and all!

Miss you all!!