Bens World Tour Australia: Mebourne

G'day mate,

After traveling half a globe and living so many wonderful adventures in New Zealand, week 29 and 30 were designated for an off piste visit to Australia. Crickey Mate! (I promise I won't use many racial stereotypes, but I will re-use the one's I know over and over). I mean, you can't travel half a world to sit still and not take advantage of everything around you. That's not the game.

So welcome to Bens World Tour: Australia. The planned two week excursion would include Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road and Sydney. And on the 22nd January me and Dannii were up at 3am to catch our first flight to magnificent Melbourne.

Gorm photo #20? I lost count...

And of course there was no better way to start the trip then to get fully immersed in Tennis. I mean, of course we planned our trip to coincide with the Australian Open! It was time to sample the atmosphere and see one of Tennis' biggest stages! We sought out (quit easily) the big screen at Federal Square, parked ourselves and began this indulgence. TENNIS!

Posting a photo similar to this actually led to meeting Will, a friend from Nottingham uni. He was sat in an umbrella in the front of this photograph! And so by freak chance we met up half a world away. We met him a few times through the week at Federation Square.

But sadly knowing we couldn't watch Tennis all the time (at least this was Danniis suggestion) we did some exploring of Melbourne. First on the list, the Botanical Gardens (via the Australian Open tennis grounds of course haha).

The botanical gardens were great. You really could forget you were in a city. We saw some familiar and not-so-familiar wildlife around as well as some well kept garden arrangements. I'm sure my grandma would have loved it and so I found myself taking quite a few photos of the flowers!

Willy the Weka!

Volcanic flower display

On our return walk we stumbled upon Melbourne's Shine of Remembrance. The shrine focused on Australia's history with war, particularly the first world war. On reflection, it's quite a prominent building/area of Melbourne and showed a lot of respect. It was a great remembrance area, and quite informative of the wars from another perspective.

r.

Our walk through the city continued and we took in the general landscape of the area. But also we went to a F1 open event ahead of the Melbourne Grand Prix in March. It was just a small event, but they were displaying cars, tires other memorabilia. I even got my photo taken in a replica car, however without a lot of force my legs didn't really fit in, so excuse my driving position...

Random giant Bee found on route

Watch out, F1 world!

Eureka building behind Southgate Bridge

The Eureka Building would soon host us after this as we decided to watch the sunset from here. It is Australia's highest observation tower overlooking all of Melbourne and also contains the fastest elevator in the Southern Hemisphere (I feel they were quite proud of that). Although the building wasn't quite as tall as NZs Sky Tower, the observation deck was amazing and really well presented. There was even a caged outside section which gave you a chance to freeze yourself whilst appreciating the view. But the views were pretty spectacular! We found a window printed sign directing us towards our future destination, the Great Ocean Road, as well as finding binoculars which overlooked several courts of the Australian Open!

The sunset was great to watch from this vantage point, as were the nightlights slowly coming to life in the city.

Beautiful sunset over the Great Ocean Road

A look over the stadiums of Melbourne

The next day we walked Melbourne's Golden Mile to the Museum. The Golden Mile took us through the city's history and through the shopping arcades. There were too many nice restaurants and cafes; Melbourne felt like such a lively city.

We got bored of the commentary accompanying us through the walk, but still took in the sites and made it to the Museum via China Town.

An extinct Australian animal (name unknown)

Aboriginal wall drawings

An accolade built after death of Aboriginal of high prestige

Memorial dedicated to the stolen Aboriginal children

Crickey mate, we haven't watched Tennis all day! Don't worry, this day ended back at Federal Square watching the big screen!

The next day we went out of town a little to the International Food Festival. Of course the food was a lure but we were there to see The Cat Empire, a scar/jazz band. They were really good live performers and we were able to get right to the front to see them! But before this act we spent the day sampling a couple of dishes and sitting in the comedy tent. Amongst them was a funny Indian, and a Jonny Vegas-like Australian who were pretty funny. They were saviors almost as the other half dozen acts died horrifically on stage :-/

But Cat Empire were amazing! So it didn't matter. Especially "The Wine Song" as the entire crowd linked arms and ran in circles!

January 26th in Australia. It can only mean one thing...

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS! The streets were closed off and ready for the parades and everybody was out showing support. I mean, it may be possible that they were all out for Australia Day, but I decided to gloss over that.

The parade went right through the city and lasted for ages. Pretty much all ethnic groups were celebrated along with societies of Australia. Interestingly, one of these groups were the Free Masons dressed in full decor.

Happy belated Australia Day!

Groot!

We followed the parade after it passed and came across an unanticipated follow-up event, an aboriginal protest. Aboriginals have never been treated as well as the Maori in NZ and there signs marked the public holiday as "Invasion Day". It was interesting comparing the two lifestyles of the native land owners.

Snuck in some tennis after the parade!

After being treated to a birthday Lamington Cake it was time to live one of Dannii's greatest birthday gifts ever, tickets to Rod Laver Arena (centre court) at the Australian Open!

We had about an hour to wander around the grounds and see the festival style setup. There were plenty of merchandise tents and sponsor tents. There were also a lot of open courts with doubles being played. But we went to centre court to see our first match of the fourth round: V. Williams vs R. Radwanska.

This was the second time I saw Venus in three weeks and the second time I was routing for her opponent. Radwanska is a great player, but she was overpowered by Venus and lost in three sets. Our second installment, Djokovic vs Muller, lasted quite late in to the evening. Muller played quite well at times and his serve kept Djokovic busy. But Djokovic was incredibly efficient. Even in the flesh he makes it look incredibly easy. I'm so happy we were able to see him. We made out Boris Becker in the crowd too!

Venus vs Radwanska

Djokovic vs Muller

How do you top a night like that? Well, you don't very easily. But we still had some more of Melbourne to see including Melbourne Zoo. We've seen a few zoos on our trips, so we gave Melbourne Zoo a 6/10, about average. Though it was cool seeing animals unique to Australia and it was a nice way to spend an afternoon until we went back to watch more Tennis!

On our last day in Melbourne we went west to Melbourne's docklands area. The docklands were really nice and another great place to eat. Importantly, we also got to see a bit of Madison Keys playing Venus Williams in a cafe; this girl was on fire!

Bolte Bridge at Melbourne Docklands

Apartments at the docklands

Some of many dockland decorations

Perfectly timed photo of me looking like a spaz

Melbournes Wheel

On the same day we also explored an area in south Melbourne, St Kilda, an area famous for cakes and penguins. Although we were there at the wrong time of day to see penguins, we enjoyed the views of the city from the pier and ate cake at Sophie's old place of work, Le Bon.

St Kilda pier

Mmm, Le Bon's treat for me!

Melbourne was a busy week. We saw a lot, met some interesting people and got engulfed in Tennis culture (did you notice?). It is definitely one of the best cities I have ever been too and I hope I can go back again! I didn't even mention our room mate at the hostel who worked at the the Australian Open. His sole job, handing players the pen after matches which they use to sign the camera lense. So cool!

But next we had to wake up early and get out on the Great Ocean Road. So until then,


G'day,

Ben

Waitangi and the Bay of Islands

Kia Ora,

Me and Dannii only had a couple of days in the Bay of Islands, but we managed to fit quite a bit in. Thomas, Sara and Emilie kindly dropped us off after a great time in the Northlands, but spent enough time to eat with us here. But after our paths split, me and Dannii went for an evening strolling along the coastline and watched the sun descend once more across a NZ horizon once more.

Me and Thomas using "The Force" to move Seagulls

Cosy town centre

Orange skies and an orange beach

Night lights!

Dannii undeniably in Paihia

The next day we visited Waitangi National Park. Waitangi is one of New Zealands most famous regions for it was here that the Maori and Europeans signed the "Treaty of Waitangi". We had a guided tour around the grounds and were told of how the treaty came to be. An undervalued British resident by the name James Busby had spent the years before the signing trying to bring peace amongst Maori groups and Europeans. The Maori were lethal to one another and also experiencing how lethal European convicts could be (as former European convicts were coming to find refuge in NZ). The treaty was finally signed in 1840 and it ensured the Maori kept there land but allowed more European settlers to live in New Zealand. In essence, the Maori were responsibly responsive to the inevitable migration of Europeans. Also quite wisely, the Maori used the opportunity to ask the UK to protect them from the French as they were also trying to claim NZ as their own. The Maoris sure were smart ;-)

Maori War Canoe decorated with the faces of the warriors

The United Tribes of New Zealand flag

We also saw a Maori performance on the grounds. It was really good, especially the welcome. This display took place outside of the Maori hut and a peace offering was made before we entered. The video below shows some idea, but perhaps the camera man wasn't on best form...

Our Maori hosts

The day was beautifully hot and so we wasted no time after the performance. We headed straight back to Paihia to jump on a watertaxi which sailed in to the Bay of Islands. 144 islands and bays make up this incredible coastline. We journeyed for half an hour through islands of all sizes until we reached Urupukapuka Island.

One of the smaller islands

Cruising along the coast

The views from the island were stunning, so much so I'm considering returning to explore more of the islands. We didn't climb as many hills as we would have liked due to the time frame and the high temperature. So we also played frisbee in the ocean for a while and took some time to chill ;-)

View from the top of Urupukapuka Island

View after some tree climbing

The following day we were on the water again, this time taking the watertaxi across the channel to Russel, New Zealands first capital city. Well, the capital city was about a mile south of Russel, but it takes the credit.

The best boat in the harbour! A.K.A. my future boat!

Here we took a walk up Flagstaff Hill. This flagstaff had been cut down numerous times by a previous Maori chief. His motive: it held the British flag on land he thought was rightfully Maori. Even after promising to stop chopping it down himself, the British guards would still be overhauled and a member of his group would cut it down instead.

A bit more walking found us at a secluded little beach. It was good for a short stay before we took the scenic route back along the coastline and through forest to explore Russel some more.

Russel through the canopy

Lunch spot

Last look at Russel

That evening we jumped on the bus back home. The Bay of Islands are ticked off the sheet, but I wouldn't pass up another opportunity to get on the water. There's a lot left to explore.

Kia Ora,

Ben