Melbourne

Well, I had written a very long post on our last days in Perth and our first days in Melbourne, however, it seems to have gotten lost and hasn't posted to the site. So here's the abbreviated version:

We really liked Perth. Despite the misfortune of getting bedbugs on our very first night, we really enjoyed the city. It's very laid back. It's quite small and therefore much less hectic. There's plenty of green space and it seems pretty popular to hang out by the river. It's definitely a place that we'd return and spend some time in again. Our last day we were able to visit many of the beaches in the area. They weren't the best beaches I've seen, but they were nice. The water was quite rough and wavy. We saw many people surfing and kiteboarding. Kiteboarding involves a parachute and a board. You are essentially being carried by the wind over the water on a surf board with a small parachute tied to you. Looked like it involved quite a bit of coordination. We also made a stop to Lake Monger which is home to the black swans of Perth. As I mentioned before, the black swan is the symbol of Perth. It's official now, the swans in Australia love me! I was surrounded by about ten of them while I was feeding them. And they weren't attacking me! It was fantastic. I'm convinced that everything is just the opposite down here in the southern hemisphere.

We'd actually be in New Zealand right now if it weren't for Mark's friend inviting us to stay with him in Melbourne. He rescued us from our hostel and took us to his fabulous house in the suberbs! This place is incredible. He's got a pool and a tennis court. It's an old house that was built in 1880 and it's been beautifully maintained. Apparently, Cate Blanchett and Kylie Minongue grew up right in this suberb! His family has been great. And Richard, Mark's friend, has been taking us all over. We were able to visit quite a few things that would have taken us much longer and much more effort to see on our own. Today, we actually got in a round of golf.

Melbourne reminds me a lot of Toronto. It's much more fast paced than Perth was. The city drivers are crazy, just like at home. And it's even more expensive than Perth. We are continually shocked by the large Asian population here. Although, we shouldn't be seeing as Australia is much closer to Asia than Canada is. There's a large Vietnamese population in Melbourne and we ate out in the "Little Saigon" section of town one night. I don't think we were expecting to find this many Asian restaurants in Australia.

I guess that's all for now. We are leaving on Thursday for Auckland. Looking forward to New Zealand the more I read up.

I hope that everyone is doing well!

Love,
Nicole

P.S. Thanks for everyone who's sending me emails. I really enjoy hearing from everyone! Even though we don't have much internet time, I love getting mail. This may be an exciting once in a life time trip, but I still get a bit homesick and hearing from people helps!