Just come from a land down under...

Four months into our adventure overseas and already another continent down, another pushpin in the world map! I prepared for our trip down under by spending $60 on travel guides and not cracking a single one of them. Typically, I like to have tour books dog-eared and our days road-mapped before we depart but I headed to Australia a mere 36 hours after I touched down in Singapore from my San Francisco trip, where I jammed four weeks worth of activities, eating, and wedding planning into 8 days.

I returned to the airport feeling as if I'd never left. The only thing I could focus on was how amazing my family and friends are for throwing me such a sweet bridal shower and whether or not I chose the right food and floral arrangements for the wedding. I could hardly wrap my head around the fact that I was headed to an entirely new-to-me continent. I know next to nothing about Australia aside from the fact that they talk funny and like to play boomerang so when we touched down in Melbourne, I fully expected to peer out the window and see a vast continent of flat land and a mob of roo's hopping around under a pack of eucalyptus trees. You know, for the koala bears.

We were to hit up both Melbourne and Sydney this go round, starting with Melbourne, where Christian would be participating in a three day work conference. Motorola set us up in the Crowne Metropol, a hotel near Melbourne's Central Business District. Our room was lovely but the hotel itself was nestled in a mega-casino and shopping complex, complete with a food court and movie theater. It was one of those Vegas type monstrosities that span several city blocks, where you only have to feel the outside air if you want to. Weird. We landed on a Friday and took the weekend to check out town. We were pleased to find Melbourne a lot like SF. A great mix of old architecture and modern galleries, indie boutiques, and no shortage of hip new restaurant's and bars. I guess the pre-wedding slim down is just going to have to wait.




Whenever we head to some place new, our agenda usually centers around finding the best places to eat with some shopping and a smidge of sightseeing thrown in (mostly for the picture's). As we started to explore Melbourne, I knew that our waistlines were in trouble. It was refreshing to find many different ethnic options, a ton of cafe's focused around sustainability and fresh ingredients, and very few fast food chains (so basically, nothing like Singapore). Our first lunch was at a very small wine and tapas bar called Movida that we stumbled into from an alley made colorful with tons of graffiti. One thing we discovered about Australia is that there is a thriving art scene. There are art walks aplenty with a plethora of museums for every taste. This artist's culture is also manifested in the streets. Street art of every kind is encouraged and appreciated
and because it's so revered, it's sprinkled throughout the city, making everything look like it's got a little more flair.



Movida turned out to be a fantastic choice and a memorable meal, so memorable in fact, I tracked down the chef's cookbook a few days later and took it home with me as a souvenir, thus beginning my new tradition: picking up a cookbook from a local chef or one that showcases the local cuisine from every stop in our world trek. But back to Melbourne, and specifically, Movida. There's something about the Spanish way of eating - small plates meant to be mulled over lazily with friends and copious amounts of wine - that I just adore. We had an assortment of delicious nibbles, from fresh olive oil rolls to sea scallops with crispy pancetta, mushroom croquettes, an ahi salad, and fried potato bombas filled with chorizo. We washed it all down with plenty of tipple - two glasses of wine and a boozy dessert of lemon sorbet with cava macerated strawberries. Ahh, vacation.

There weren't a ton of landmarks we needed to check off the list, so we spent the rest of our time in Melbourne doing what the locals do - walking around, scouting places to eat our next meal, and shopping. Four months before the nuptials, and it turns out we've embarked on a quest for the world's most elusive man's suit. Although it's a city filled with an incredible array of shopping, Melbourne left us empty-handed. Something tells me this is going to be an ordeal. I feel for Christian (but I'm secretly relieved that my gown has been selected, paid for, and is currently being fitted). It's amazing how many of our days are filled with handling the details of the wedding, thinking about some aspect of it, chasing down items for it, and most recently, having recurring nightmares about flubbing some part of it. Here we are, literally continents away, and the majority of our conversations and at the top of our every to do list, is the wedding. Is this normal? Here I go again....

Next up was Sydney. If Melbourne is San Francisco's hipster cousin, Sydney is definitely SF's beefed up big brother. The city is SF on steroids. It's big, it's beautiful, and the food and art scene's are a melting pot of flavors and cultures. We immediately love it here, and I'm struck with wondering whether everyone compares where they come from with their new surroundings or whether it's only something we do because we so desperately miss our city, our family and friends, and our old way of life. As we enjoy the southeastern coast of Australia, the comparison's don't stop. Our ferry trip to Manly Harbor for dinner one evening takes us through small seaside towns off the coast of Sydney that could easily be somewhere in Maine. Our walk through a hip shop and gallery lined street called Chapel in South Yarra, Melbourne, may as well have been Mission Street in San Francisco. As I have the opportunity to travel more and more I realize that wherever I am in the world, "home" and the people that I'm so lucky to have inhabit my life are always close by in my heart. I see them in everything we do and everywhere we go. And that, loved ones, is what I learned in Australia. (Note: Somebody may need to remind me of this revelation when we start our travels in China.)

If you like great food, fantastic shopping, art, culture, and a seriously beautiful coastline, New South Wales and Victoria, Australia are outstanding places to visit. During our trip, the Queensland area experienced devastating floods and destruction due to a cyclone and Egypt was suffering from a frightening and violent (yet somehow still hopeful) uprising. We watched it all unfold on TV while we escaped the heatwave that hit Sydney and there's nothing like witnessing hardship to remind you just how lucky you are. I still can't believe I'm getting married in less than four months. It still hasn't even sunk in that I get to share my life with a person and a pup who fill my days and nights with laughter and happiness. The fact that we're getting to see the world together while we build and create all the details of what will be the beginning of our future, is just the icing on this incredibly huge cake that I feel so, so fortunate to have been given.


Check out more photo's from our trip down under here.