Melbourne

Sarah and I had both been excited to get to the Land Down Under from the very beginning. Neither of us had ever been before, and we had heard from so many friends that Australia is an awesome place. Plus we had met so many Aussie travelers throughout our journey that we wanted to meet up with again. Megan, a close friend of my sister´s from Villanova, moved to Australia after graduating and is now happily married to Matt, one of the sweetest Aussies we have met so far. They so generously invited us to stay with them and their adorable puppy, Lola, for as long as we were in the area.We arrived at the Melbourne airport and Megan and Matt were anxiously waiting for us at the arrivals gate. I had not seen Megan in at least 2 years and was excited to catch her up on everything that had happened since the beginning of the trip. Megan is also a fellow traveler, so she was able to relate to a lot of our adventures and traveling stories. After lots of hugs and excitement, we hopped in the car and were on our way to Megan and Matt´s place. We arrived and were happily greeted by Lola who was so excited to have company that she ran around the house in circles for several minutes. Megan and Matt showed us around their place and within minutes were making us as comfortable as possible - Megan had stocked up at the supermarket on all the goodies she knew we´d be craving (popcorn, candy, and other munchies) and Matt made us some delicious cheese and tomato toasties. It was so nice to feel at home and in a place where we could unwind and be comfortable. Megan and Matt are huge Seinfeld fans and had the entire series on DVD so we quickly popped on several episodes in the background while catching up.
Megan does not yet have her Australian work visa so during the day she would be able to be our personal tour guide. After sleeping in a bit and doing some laundry (so nice to have a washing machine at our disposal), we piled in the car and drove around to get a feel for the city. Megan and Matt live just minutes from the beach so she took us to a cute little cafe for breakfast and then we just walked along the shore for awhile. Megan also took us to a popular area of the city where people go to get a glass of sangria while soaking up the Melbourne sun. Let me just say, the Aussies are very attractive people...it was funny coming from straight backpacking life in SE Asia where girls never wear make-up and guys wear the same outfit 3 days in a row (hey, if it doesn´t smell, it´s not dirty!) to a chic metropolitan city where everyone is all done up and beautiful.After Matt got home from work one evening he promised he would cook us up an authentic Aussie bbq so we stocked up at the supermarket and made a huge feast, he is a bbq expert. We had everything from burgers to pasta salad to chips and guac, it was all delicious. We also picked up some Vegemite, as it had been talked up by every Aussie we had met along the way and we wanted to try for ourselves. Matt promised he´d make us a ¨proper¨ Vegemite sandwich - a thin layer of Vegemite, avocado, and tomato. It was...okay. Really salty, really just...interesting. Sorry all you Aussies, it´s definitely not something I would indulge in often, but the way that Matt made it was alright. I certainly would not want to eat a spoonful of the stuff, though. It is an acquired taste, kind of like how we Americans love our peanut butter but some cultures find it nasty. To each his own.

Megan and Matt live closer to the beach scene in Melbourne, so we had to hop the train to get into the city proper. Megan walked us around some of her favorite areas - the botanical gardens, the farmer´s market, and all along the water. I really loved the feel of the city, it was very laid back and chilled out, yet at the same time in the Financial District area there was a bit of the same hustle-bustle of New York City that I love. The weather was gorgeous, sunny but not too hot, a perfect day to walk around the gardens and explore.
Another reason Sarah and I were excited to get to Melbourne was to meet up with 2 friends who we met at the very beginning of our trip, Johanne and Peter. We shared a hostel with them in Berlin and they promised us that when we arrived in Melbourne that we would all meet up, so we had planned on getting together for some drinks and dinner in the city. After walking around for several hours, Megan headed back home and Sarah and I went off to meet Johanne. It was so great to see him again, even though it had been 6 months since we had seen him last we picked up right where we left off and immediately began sharing traveling stories and catching up. Peter joined us a short while later and we enjoyed a few pitchers of sangria at a hip rooftop bar. After a few drinks the boys we grabbed dinner, walked around a bit more, and eventually they drove us back to Megan and Matt´s to hang out there for awhile. It was really great to meet up with Peter and Johanne again.

Megan has been living in Australia for about 2 years now and has done quite a bit of traveling around the country, so we asked her suggestions for must-see places. Her first recommendation was taking a drive on the Great Ocean Road...so we hopped in her Outback (how appropriate) and were off.