Melbourne, Day Two

I was up relatively early the next morning to go out for a wander and spent a bit of time chatting with my AirBnB host in her fabulous net loft.

I was staying here, in a building that was originally built as low-income housing for actors by a philanthropist in 1883. It was lovely!

I was right on the edge of Chinatown, so I took a few pictures as I wandered.

Christmas in summer is actually kind of fantastic.

This is St. Francis Church, the oldest Roman Catholic Church in the region. It was built between 1841 and 1845 on the site of an older church. 

Loved this art deco building.

My first destination was the Queen Victoria Market, a fabulous and massive indoor/outdoor market.

Just one of the aisles in the food market section.

Out in the open air section, where you can find pretty much anything.

So pretty!

Tiny free library!

I thought this was cute. My descent into pseudo-hipsterdom continues.

On the way back to my home base, I wandered through some alleyways.

There are so many little restaurants tucked away, I'm really looking forward to going back and exploring more.

Ten years ago I went to London for an acting intensive, and while I was there I made a friend who is originally from Melbourne. She's back in town after spending a few years in the UK, so we met up to catch up. First off, gawking at this very impressive Lego sculpture in Federation Square.

We went to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image to see a costume exhibition of the works of Orry-Kelly, a local boy who made good as a designer in Hollywood. The collection was very impressive!

After wandering through the exhibit we continued on to the exhibits on the Australian film industry. Below, a replica of one of the original Mad Max cars.

The windmill prop from Moulin Rouge!

One of the costumes Cate Blanchett wore in Elizabeth, and the Oscar she won for The Aviator.

That's the Forum Theatre on the corner.

We took a nice walk up and down the Yarra River, which was quite lovely (albeit hot and full of flies).

Fans of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries will recognize the boathouses.

On the edge of the botanic gardens. Didn't have too much time to explore, but looking forward to future expeditions.

I'm a sucker for horse-drawn carriages, what can I say.

Looking back toward the CBD.

Bar under the bridge!

A back view of Flinders Street Station.

Old and new.

Another fun little bar.

I love all the funky old buildings here.

The Bourke Street Mall, all dolled up for Christmas.

We tried to fit the State Library of Victoria, but had just missed the closing. We did meet this adorable little bunyip outside the library. In Aboriginal folklore, the bunyip is a bogey man, monster, or devil-type. I think this one is pretty harmless, though.

Melbourne, Day One

As happy as I was to be with friends in Dunedin, I wasn't there for too long. When I realized that I wasn't going to be able to stay in New Zealand (this time around, anyway), I started researching other working holiday options, to find that Australia was basically my only remaining hope. As much as I'd enjoyed my trip to Sydney earlier in the year, I didn't get the sense that I wanted to live there. I'd heard good things about Melbourne (that it is, in essence, a larger version of Wellington), so I decided to check it out before applying for the visa.

Looking at a map, Australia and New Zealand aren't that far apart, and many people that I've spoken to get the sense that they really are quite close (or the sense that they're the same country, but that's a different conversation entirely). They're not. Even though Melbourne is on the New Zealand side of the country, it was still a 3.5 hour flight across two time zones to get there.

Most of my first day was taken up by travel (Dunedin to Christchurch, then Christchurch to Melbourne), and I spent more time gawking than taking pictures once I hit the city. This was my first view of it, on the bus in from the airport. The skyline vaguely reminds me of Denver.

I was staying at an Airbnb on the edge of Chinatown. There's a great mix of old and new in the CBD, more pictures to come.

Melbourne is renowned for its alleyways, for the street art and bars and restaurants that can be found there. First up for me was this lovely Italian place.

My first impressions of Melbourne: fun, funky, and HOT. After a year in New Zealand, I was ill equipped to handle any temperature above about 75F (24C), and it was well above that for most of my stay.

Tekapo to Dunedin

Tekapo is renowned for its stargazing, and there's an observatory on one of the nearby hills. I drove up to take a look around, tour the observatory, and generally marvel at the scenery.

Looking out toward the north end of Lake Tekapo. The lake is fed by glacier water, giving it the lovely hue.

The smaller lake, Lake Alexandrina, is fed by rain water. 

The fuzzy mountain in the center there is Aoraki (Mt. Cook).

Looking out over the observatory toward the valley I'd been in the day before.

The (tiny) town of Tekapo.

Off toward Twizel.

More shots of the lakes and mountains.

There were some impressive wildflower fields back down on the shores of Lake Tekapo.

A rather impressive storm rolled in that night, so sadly I never did get to do any actual star gazing. The next morning I set off for Christchurch to return my rental car and officially end my road trip. On the way out of town, I stopped to take a picture of the iconic Church of the Good Shepherd - if you do a Google search for Tekapo, chances are you'll see a picture of this church with the Milky Way behind it. My picture is rather less impressive.

After an uneventful (if wet) drive to Christchurch, I was met by a dear friend who ferried me down to Dunedin after I had dropped off my rental car. We stopped in Little River, a very cute artist's community, where we narrowly escaped these fellows.

Another stop along the way was this amazing used bookstore in an old barn.

We both got a kick out of this particular sign.

From there it was on to Dunedin, my home for the rest of my time in New Zealand.