Penguins and street art

Since I last posted, I have moved into my apartment (yeah, no more AirBnb or hotels!) and have settled into working life in Melbourne.  I live in St. Kilda, which is a funky neighborhood southeast of the CBD (central business district, aka downtown).  I'm close to the beach (unfortunately it's too cold currently to take advantage of this) and Albert Park (great running track).  Plus it's only about a 20-minute tram ride to work, though at some point I'll get a bike and commute that way.

Ross came up to visit this weekend and I took a couple days off.  We had been thinking of going camping/hiking at Wilson's Promontory but it is still a little on the cold side for a tent... That being said, I've been told that there are wombats (and emus, kangaroos, etc.) at Wilson's Prom, so it is definitely on my "To Do" list.  Plus you can also hike out to the Lighthouse keeper's cabins and spend the night there, which sounds awesome to me.  Even though we didn't get out hiking, we did not lack for things to do in Melbourne.

We started off by wandering through the laneways in the CBD looking at some of the street art.  Melbourne is known as one of the world's great street art capitals and the laneways (think alleys but narrower) are often covered from curb level up several stories with multiple layers of art.  It is fantastic.  I've made a habit of keeping my phone close at hand when I'm out in the city because you never know when you're going to come across some gorgeous, crazy, or political artwork.  I love it!  At some point I'll have to do a blog just about street art in Melbourne because it is so cool and it's constantly changing.

On Friday we went to the Melbourne Zoo for a large chunk of the day. It is the oldest zoo in Australia and the third oldest in the world.  It's on the expensive side but it is nice and has one of the coolest aviaries that I've ever seen.  We had been hoping to avoid the swarms of parents and kids by going during the week but we ended up having a bunch of school groups running around. You can't win them all, but we still had a good time.

One really fun thing about St. Kilda is that a colony of Little Penguins has settled in the breakwater near St. Kilda Pier.  In the evenings you can go out and watch the penguins come in from a day of fishing. I stumbled upon the penguins when I first moved to St. Kilda, much to my delight, and so on Friday evening Ross and I went to see them come in.  Unfortunately it was only in the mid-40's and really windy, so it was a rather cold wait but it was definitely worth it! They didn't come in until dark so they were pretty hard to pick-out but it was still so cool.  They are like little torpedoes moving through the water and they are so little!  I would definitely recommend going and seeing the penguins to anyone visiting Melbourne.  I mean, really.  How often do you get to see wild penguins with the skyline of a major city as the background?

St. Kilda beach

Little Penguin

Saturday was a very laid back day.  We went to a live showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show in the evening and so we stopped by a secondhand clothing store in the morning to get some clothes. From there we made our way up to the Queen Victoria Market.  Once again, we didn't give ourselves enough time to really explore before it closed for the day...  It is such a huge market, you could probably spend most of the day there.  It has everything from vegetables to t-shirts to chickens (both ready for the oven and ready to lay eggs) and everything in between.  We had wanted to play mini golf at a place that just opened up in the CBD (Holey Moley), but it's still too new and popular, plus we didn't know that we needed to make a booking online, so next time...  We ended up finding a couple new (to me) bookstores and happily spent a while perusing the shelves.  We also stumbled upon some more great street art (I'm telling you, it's everywhere!).

Handmade pasta

After a pleasant weekend exploring Melbourne, Ross headed back to Wellington this morning and I'm heading up to Brisbane for a week of field work this afternoon. I know that I will be crazy busy in Brisbane but I am really excited about getting some warmer weather for a bit as it has been a rather chilly spring so far in Melbourne.

Melbourne

When I last posted, I was just about to head down to Melbourne and wasn't sure where I would be at this point in August due to my questionable visa status.  Since then I have applied for and was granted a Bridging Visa, which allows me to stay in Australia and work while Immigration makes a determination on my longer term work visa. I heard back about the Bridging Visa the same day that I submitted my application so hopefully I will hear back from Immigration by mid to late October, if not before, regarding how long I can stay in Australia.

Yarra River and Melbourne at sunset

This is my third weekend in Melbourne and I like it more and more as time goes by.  The first weekend I was here, I spent almost the entire time running around looking for a place to live.  Being a big city (~4.5 million people), the cost of living is really high here so I was mostly looking at places where I would have a (or multiple) housemate(s). I ended up finding a nice two-bedroom apartment where I will be living with an Aussie woman, who is about my age, and her dog.  I'm a little worried about adjusting to living with a flatmate again seeing as I haven't lived with anyone besides Ross in a really long time but my future roomie seems really nice and her dog is awesome.

Royal Botanic Garden

Shrine of Remembrance

Ross came up to Melbourne last weekend in a spur of the moment trip.  It was great to see him and we spent our time exploring (its what we do best!) Melbourne.  We hit the Shrine of Remembrance, Royal Botanic Gardens, Federation Square, Chinatown, and both parts of the National Gallery of Victoria (it's broken into International and Australian in two different buildings).  We also made it to see some footy (aka - Australian Football) which seems kind of a like a cross between rugby and soccer.  Its an odd game but its really fast paced and pretty entertaining.

Royal Botanic Gardens

Taking advantage of the company seats for footy

By Southern Cross Station

This weekend I did some exploring on my own, went to footy yet again (my third time...), and finally got out running a couple times(I'm been slacking since arriving in Melbs).  I went to St. Paul's Cathedral, the State Library of Victoria, and the Queen Victoria Market.  The library was amazing!  It has art exhibits on every floor and great architecture.  I will have to go back to the Queen Vic Market because I arrived at it about 10 minutes before it closed but the little section that I saw was very enticing.  I also went to the Reading Bookstore, which was great (recommended by Ross's advisor who is a Melbourne native).  I managed to restrain myself from getting any books but only because I'm in an AirBnb until I can move into my apartment at the end of the month and I didn't want to have yet more stuff to move.  One evening on my way back to the tram I stumbled upon a winter concert series in Federation Square and was treated to opera arias by a woman who had been classically trained.  It was incredible!

Federation Square

State Library of Victoria

Needless to saw, Melbourne is a really cool city.  There is so much to see and do all of the time.  Plus it has great architecture, awesome food (especially Asian - every type you can imagine!), a really interesting multicultural vibe, and huge gardens and parks.  I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time exploring and getting to know the city over the coming months or years, depending on how long of a work visa I am granted.

Goodbye for now Brisbane

I have had the pleasure of living and working in the Brisbane area for the last three months.  I have really enjoyed the area and must say that winter in Queensland is fabulous (though I'm not so sure how excited I would be about summers here as I have been told repeatedly that they are incredibly hot and humid...).  I have also seen some great wildlife and gotten out on some gorgeous hikes.

Koala from my first day on-site

Kangaroos my last day on-site

Kangaroo my last day on-site

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, my work visa is only valid until the middle of August.  It's kind of a weird, long story but I just found out at the beginning of last week that I could reapply for another work visa so that I can continue working for the company that I've been working for.  So, I've spent the last week running around trying to assemble all of the necessary items to submit my visa application. This has involved fun things like getting fingerprinted at the Redcliffe Police Station and calling Immigration so many times that I finally just programmed them into my phone.  I am still waiting on a couple items before I can submit my visa, so I am going to be cutting it very close.  

During one of many phone calls to Immigration, I found out that when you apply for a visa and you are already in Australia, you also automatically apply for a Bridging Visa A (BVA) which, if it's granted, allows you to stay in the country and (most of the time) keep working.  This completely changed my plans as I had been assuming that I would have to go back to New Zealand until my visa was granted (which would be fine because I could see Ross).  There are a couple problems with the Bridging Visa A: 1) I'm not sure how long it takes to find out if you're approved or not, 2) if you are granted the BVA, it's not guaranteed that you will be able to work while you're on it, and 3) you can't leave the country and then return on a BVA.  If I wanted to go back to, say, New Zealand to see my husband, I would have to either 1) apply for and be granted a  Bridging Visa B or 2) stay out of Australia until my other visa is approved.  Needless to say, the last week has been a little stressful and I'm not entirely sure where I will be come August 16th... 

To make matters even better, the project that I'd been working on up in Brisbane has slowed down immensely.  So much so that I've mostly been working from home on other reports and data analysis for the past month or so.  Because of that, I've been going a little stir crazy with no one to talk to.  I had mentioned this to my manager (she's not technically my manager, but I work mostly with her) and she took it up the food chain.  On Thursday afternoon (4 days ago), the managing director for the company called me to let me know that they wanted me to work from the home office in Melbourne for the last couple weeks of my current visa and that I'd be flying down to Melbourne on Monday (tomorrow).  Because of this, I've spent the last couple days packing, cleaning, and working on my visa.  I feel a little weird saying this, but I'm really looking forward to being back in an office setting. The last month has taught me that I do not like working from home.

That was a lot longer story than I meant it to be...sorry. But that gives some insight into the joys of applying for a new visa and getting to move in the middle of it all!

I had wanted to get out hiking this weekend (I've been a slacker that last couple weekends) but packing/cleaning/visa took priority.  Instead, I treated myself to a whale watching trip (I figured that I could take a half-day break).  I went with Brisbane Whale Watching which is run out of Redcliffe (about 2 miles from where I live).  We had fabulous weather - sunny with hardly any breeze and the water was incredibly calm! I tend to get seasick so the calm water was a godsend for me.  

The Humpback Whales migrate past Brisbane from about June through November when they swim north from the Antarctic to have calves in the tropics and then they migrate back south for the austral summer.  We saw some dolphins, a Minke Whale, and a number of Humpback Whales.  The Humpbacks were splashing a bunch with their tails and fins which was really fun to see.  We also had two Humpbacks swim under the boat a couple times.  They were just adolescents but they were still so big!  It was really incredible to be so close to such majestic creatures.  I am so glad that I went - it was a much needed break from the craziness that has been my life for the last week or so and it was so incredible to see the whales up close.

I'm not sure what life holds for me come mid-August but by then I'll be due for another blog, so we'll see...

Lighthouse on Moreton Island

Moreton Island

Sydney

At the risk of sounding like a total travel snob, last weekend Ross and I met in Sydney for my birthday.  We have both wanted to go for a while and since we're in the right part of the world, why not?  We flew in early Thursday morning and then flew back to our respective homes on Sunday night.  We stayed at a nice AirBnb in Potts Point and walked 50 miles (yes, 5-0 according to my FitBit) around Sydney in four days.  It was great.

Sunset behind the Opera House and Harbour Bridge

After meeting at the Sydney airport, we caught the train into the city, dropped our stuff off at our AirBnb, and set off to explore.  Our first destination: the Sydney Opera House.  We walked from our AirBnb, through the Royal Botanic Garden to Mrs. Macquaries Point.  Most pictures that you've seen of the Opera House, with the Harbour Bridge in the background were probably taken from here.  Since it was around lunch on a Thursday in the middle of winter, there weren't that many tourists around but given that Sydney has ~5 million people, there were still a lot of people out running and walking on their lunch breaks.  After getting the requisite pictures from afar, we walked over to the Opera House and marveled at it up close.  It is a gorgeous building with really cool tile work.

From there we headed around Sydney Cove, through The Rocks, and up to the Harbour Bridge.  For $15 you can go up into the southeast pylon and it is well worth it for the amazing views over the harbour, Opera House, and city.

We then went to the Museum of Contemporary Art for about two hours before it closed.  From there we went back to the Opera House because there was a light show (Badu Gili Water Light) projected onto the side of the building at dusk and 7 pm (it was on every night that we were in Sydney).  It was set to music and was incredible.  Well worth sitting on cold concrete steps for.

We then wandered around the CBD (central business district, aka downtown) for a bit, had awesome Malaysian at a hole-in-the-wall place and then slowly made our way back to our AirBnb with stops by the State Library of New South Wales (open late on Thursdays and has an amazing mosaic map of Abel Tasman's journey around the South Pacific), St. Mary's Cathedral, Hyde Park (where we saw some possums!), and the Anzac Memorial.

State Library of New South Wales

On Friday we started off with stops at St. Mary's Cathedral and the Anzac Memorial.  The art and architecture of the cathedral was gorgeous and the Anzac Memorial was extremely moving.  I never fully appreciated how detrimental WWI was to the populations of New Zealand and Australia until living here (almost 40% of males aged 18-44 were enlisted or a little under 10% of the total population of Australia).

St. Mary's Cathedral

Anzac Memorial

There are more than 164,000 stars on the ceiling of the Anzac Memorial;
one for each person from New South Wales who  was enlisted in WWI.

The main event for Friday was another trip to the Opera House but this time we went inside and attended a Sydney Symphony Orchestra performance of Mozart and Haydn in the Concert Hall.  It was a Tea & Symphony event, so we were given tea or coffee and biscuits (aka cookies) prior to the concert.  It is an incredibly surreal experience to sit in the sun in the Sydney Opera House, looking out the floor to ceiling windows across the harbor at the Harbour Bridge while sipping on tea and realize that you're not imagining it all.  The concert was fabulous!  I am so glad that Ross suggested looking to see what was happening while we were in town because it never would have occurred to me.

The Concert Hall at the Opera House

After the concert we got back to our extensive walking tour of Sydney.  We stopped by Parliament House, which has been the home of the Parliament of New South Wales since 1829, making it the oldest continually operating parliament building in the world.  After passing through a metal detector, we were basically given free rein and could wander where we pleased in the building.

Legislative Library

Legislative Council

We then headed down to St. James' Church.  Built of convict-made bricks in 1819, it is Sydney's oldest church.  It  was small and homey but had a gorgeous stained glass window ('Creation Window') from the 1950s.

Creation Window

We then went back to St. Mary's Cathedral and paid the small fee ($5) to go down into the crypts.  They hadn't been open before we had to head to the Opera House for the concert and I'm so glad that we went back because they were incredible!  The crypt floor is 12,000 square feet and most of it is covered in an amazing mosaic.  Best of all, we were the only people down there for a while so we could actually see the floor in all of it's glory (and yes, I am aware of how odd that statement is).

After spending a lot longer in the crypts than we thought that we would, we went and spent the rest of the afternoon in the Art Gallery of New South Wales.  It has an amazing selection of work and an incredible Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander gallery.  There was also an exhibit of O'Keeffe's work but you had to get a ticket for that and there was more than enough in the free sections of the gallery to keep us busy.

On Saturday we decided to escape the city for a while by taking the ferry out to Manly and doing the Manly Scenic Walkway through the North Head section of Sydney Harbour National Park.  The ferry ride was great - smooth and scenic!  Manly is a cute little suburb and the scenic walkway is pretty.  It was nice to get out in nature after so many people and so much concrete.  We ended up spending most of the day out in North Head, wandering around.

View from the ferry

Sandstone cliffs and the Pacific

View toward the city from North Head

Collins Beach

Fort Denison

Once we got back to Sydney we did a quick jaunt around the Royal Botanic Garden and stopped by Government House, which is the official residence of the Governor of New South Wales.  It was closed by the time that we got there but it was worth swinging by for a peak.

Government House

Sundial in the Botanic Garden

On Sunday, we had a more laid back day (for us).  We started off in the Royal Botanic Gardens because we had missed some sections on Saturday that I had wanted to see.  After that, we headed over to the Australian Museum.  The big exhibit was about spiders so we went to that (Australia has some crazy spiders!) and then spent the rest of our day wandering around the museum.

Sydney Funnel Web (deadliest spider on Earth) at the museum

Eventually we headed back to the AirBnb, collected our stuff, and caught the train back to the airport. As much as I complained as a kid when my parents would drag my brother, sister, and I to every museum and church within a 50-mile radius when we travelled now I just have to laugh because I do the exact same thing.  It was a crazy, busy, fun weekend and, despite having incredibly sore feet for a couple days, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.