The afternoon following the Australian Grand Prix, we embarked on a road trip from Melbourne to Sydney in an effort to see some of the country side.  We could’ve done this in eight hours by taking the M1, but we decided to take the Princes Highway to see as much of Australia’s beautiful coast as possible.  This decision increased our journey to nearly 15 hours, but I think you’ll agree by the end of this post that it was totally worth it!

We stopped just outside of Melbourne for afternoon coffee and maps, because we were no longer in Meghan’s beautiful BMW we couldn’t rely on Starla’s navigation.  We wanted to stay as close to the coast as possible, meaning that we would get off the Princes Highway frequently onto smaller local roads.  For my road tripping American friends, we did not find a map like you would expect, you know with all the roads clearly marked and blow-ups of the larger towns to help us navigate.  Instead, we found a…hmmm…let’s call it an overview of the major roads in Victoria and New South Wales, for about $10 each.

Our next stop was in Lakes Entrance, for two reasons: First, I was ready for a bathroom break, urgently.  Second, I really wanted my parents to see 90 Mile Beach.  It still blows my mind that Australia has these incredible, untouched beaches.  In America, we build hotels or million dollar homes on them to make them unreachable to the average person.  We had the same experience at Lakes Entrance on 90 Mile Beach that Ben and I had two years earlier: As far as we could see, there wasn’t another human to impede our view or ruin our photos.

After enjoying 90 Mile Beach until nearly sunset, we decided to see how far we could make it, though reluctantly, because we weren’t sure what we’d miss…Eden was our Target, as this is the halfway point between Melbourne and Sydney, which would leave us with eight hours of driving the following day.  We arrived in Eden around 9:30 pm, and stopped in Coles to get sandwich making supplies for dinner.  We were all far too tired to eat out that evening.  As my parents picked out our supplies, I used hotels.com to make a booking at the Comfort Inn Merimbula, which was approximately 20 minutes away.  When we arrived at 10pm, the place was dark, so I pressed the after hours call button so we could get checked in.  The manager lectured me about calling when late reservations are made because they close at 8pm, though their door clearly said 9:30pm AND hotels.com accepted the booking.  Finally, I said, “Maybe you should set hotels.com to NOT accept after hours reservations.”  Bottomline, I usually like Comfort Inns for on-the-fly bookings both in Oz and in America, but I would not stay here again and I would not recommend you stay here because the innkeepers were rude.  On the bright side, my parents got their first real and significant view of lorikeets playing in the wild just outside our hotel room as we drank our coffee on the patio the following morning.

The next morning we hit the road early heading for Bondi, where we would spend our first night in Sydney, stopping, of course, to see the sights and pristine beaches along the way.  Our first stop was Tura beach, where we also had coffee and pastries for breakfast.  I was again blown away by just how beautiful and untouched Tura Beach is!

From here we continued up the coast, staying as close to the coast as possible, you know on the small, sometimes gravel local roads with one lane bridges that we could kind of find on our half-assed overpriced map.  We came across Mckenzie Beach, used a dirty rural outhouse with a possum chilling above the toilet (ok, I did, Mom decided she could wait), and got our first glimpse of the foothills before arriving in Bondi in the pouring down rain just after sunset.

It is a long-ass drive up the coast from Melbourne to Sydney along the Princes Highway, but I believe it’s worth doing once because it really is beautiful.  After that, just take the 58 minute flight and save yourself two days.

How could two race lovers visit their daughter and son-in-law in Melbourne while the Grand Prix season opener was happening and not attend?

We decided to get grounds passes, rather than grand stand or marquee passes, because then we would have access to the entire track and all of the show cars.  It was a good thing we went with this option too, because we literally walked the entire track!

We arrived early, and by public transport so that we could enjoy the fine, albeit slightly warm, Australian beer on this beautiful autumn day.  The schedule for the day was quite full, allowing us to see GT, V8 Supercars, and the Porsche Carrera Cup before the Formula One race.

After these races, my favorite part of the day commenced: the RAAF Roulettes!

And the RAAF Jet flyover, for which we were perfectly located at the far end of Albert Lake with a gorgeous view of Melbourne.

Finally, we reached the main event!  The Formula One cars hit the track for a 56 laps or 2 hours of racing, whichever came first.  There was one crash during the race, which we saw on the big screen, and then we got ourselves lined up at the end of the race to see them remove the car from the track. I’m not sure if they do this at all F1 races, but we were allowed onto the track after the race ended!

If you’re in Melbourne for the Grand Prix season opener, I highly recommend attending, even if you’re not a race fan.  It’s certainly an experience to be had!

January

We went to our first cricket match, took a drive down to Phillip Island to see the little penguins and attended the final match at the Australian Open.

February

Astrid and Gizmo finally reached the end of their quarantine period in the USA and came to Oz.  I didn’t realize that I would miss them so much that I would cry when I picked them up from quarantine in Oz.

March

We went to Tasmania, which never seemed like a real place until we moved to Australia.

April

Easter and ANZAC Day lined up perfectly in 2014, allowing us to take a 10 day vacation with only 3 days officially off of work.  We went to Bali and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  Dream vacation!

May

I love these girls. (Yes this picture was taken in July, but never mind that.)

June

While Carrie & Jess were in America, Ben, Schall and I took a road trip to Adelaide, “City of Churches.”

July/August

I headed home to America, where my favorite people threw me a bachelorette party.

August

We headed for Brisbane for a weekend.

September

I am fortunate enough to have girlfriends in Australia who wanted to throw me a Hen’s Night!  Not many ladies get 2 bachelorette parties.

October

We were married as the Grantrobus’ in Waipio Valley, Hawaii.

November

Geelong threw a wine festival to properly celebrate our 1 year anniversary abroad.  We are blessed to call these people our friends.

December

We went to the Northernmost city in Australia, Darwin, and saw the crocodile that starred in Crocodile Dundee.

Here’s to you 2014!  It’s been real, but I cannot wait to see what 2015 has in store for us.  Cheers bitches!

My Bachelorette Party, thrown in Minneapolis, was hosted by my sister Jackie and cousin Jessi.  They rented rooms at the Hotel Minneapolis, invited everyone I love, made adorable decorations and laid out a bar crawl (which we really didn’t stick to).

[See image gallery at bohopunk.com]

My girls in Melbourne (Carrie, Jess & Meghan) threw me a Hen’s Night in Hawaiian Theme.  The rented a limo to take us to take us to a Hawaiian themed bar called Luwow which was our launch point for a Fitzroy Bar Crawl/Dance Party.

[See image gallery at bohopunk.com]

I had an amazing time at both parties and feel blessed to have these ladies in my life!

[See image gallery at bohopunk.com]

If you’re interested in taking this tour, let me know and I’ll send you our pilot’s details!

Basically our first weekend in Melbourne Ben noted that he would like to attend the Australian Grand Prix, which opens the F1 racing season.  He did a bit of research and decided early on that he would be getting a grounds pass and checking it out.  In the weeks leading up to the race, which is held in Albert Park, traffic was a bitch!  Because its a road course, they started shutting down roads that we drive on everyday and setting up the race track.  In the week before the race, we could hear the qualifying rounds from our apartment and drove past the race location on my way to work every day!  It’s like the city of Melbourne was building the suspense and excitement for the race for us!

Obviously, the usual suspects were in it to win it.  I mean, living in Melbourne and skipping the Australian Grand Prix would be like skipping the Australian Open.  Just Plain Silly.

The day of the race was cloudy, overcast and seriously threatening rain.  We kept our fingers crossed that the race would not be rained out, because that would be a major disappointment!  We took the tram up St Kilda Road towards the track and entered through Gate 5.  We wanted to be sure we arrived in time for the flyover and the National Anthems, but realized as we were approaching that we were nearly missing the RAAF flyover!

(photo courtesy of Ben Grant)

We quickly reviewed the map and observed a man who was more excited than  a child to be attending the race.

(photo courtesy of Ben Grant)

As we started making our way around the track in search of our friends, we discovered there was a car show happening on the race grounds.  We saw everything from vintage Mustangs, Mini Coopers & MGs to brand new Ferraris.

(photo courtesy of Ben Grant)

Then, out of no where, the flyovers began!  This jet was so loud that we could here it coming before we could see it!

(photo courtesy of Ben Grant)

This pilot could turn this jet on a time!

(video courtesy of Ben Grant)

Following the flyover, they very casually played the National Anthem and then a Qantas flyover occurred.  It’s quite bazaar to see a massive jet flyover so low and slowly.

(photo courtesy of Ben Grant)

We waited expectantly, following the National Anthem and the Qantas Flyover, to hear “Gentlemen, START YOUR ENGINES!!!”  Unfortunately, either no one said this or they did not broadcast it within the race grounds.  This race was also a rolling start, so we did not get the excitement of cars fighting off the line.  We did, however, have a pretty good vantage point for the start of the race.

(photo courtesy of Ben Grant)

(video courtesy of Ben Grant)

After a few moments of enjoying the race from this view, we decided to move around the track a bit more to see if there was a better view, which is when we came upon the flagman.  His arms must get very sore, because he waves that flag in whatever color is required through the entire race.

(photo courtesy of Ben Grant)

(photo courtesy of Ben Grant)

(photo courtesy of Ben Grant)

(photo courtesy of Ben Grant)

(photo courtesy of Ben Grant)

I expected that I would be in need of earplugs and kept my eyes open for them, but it turns out they changed the engines and they are now much quieter.  We sort of missed the sound of the souped-up V8s ripping by and we didn’t need earplugs, but it was still pretty awesome.

(video courtesy of Ben Grant)

About 45 minutes into the race we still hadn’t found our friends, so we continued on looking for them.  They had fantastic seats on some of the bleachers, which set Ben up for super photos.

(photo courtesy of Ben Grant)

(photo courtesy of Ben Grant)

(photo courtesy of Ben Grant)

(photo courtesy of Ben Grant)

This race is interesting, because it’s 58 laps or 2 hours, whichever comes first.  We had, in fact, RSVP to a race party overlooking the course.  At about 6:15 we decided we should head over to the party and catch the end of the race from above.  Her view, which overlooks Albert Park all the way to Philip Bay, was AMAZING!

(photo courtesy of Ben Grant)

So when we started to see all this hype for an all night art party, I was pumped. 7pm to 7am of art in the streets of Melbourne. Throngs of people enjoying a cocktail, some art and each other in the streets all night. I was pumped.

Then we realized that there would be no cocktails in the street. For how anti-public alcohol consumption Melbourne is, you’d think it was a dry city or wanted to be a dry city. I thought maybe there would be an exception for this one art party night. That’s alright though, there was still to be art and my favorite people in a Australia.

The first thing we came across was awesome! “Tattooed City” was a video loop projected on the side of The Arts Centre Melbourne.

As always, the trees along St Kilda Road were lit up beautifully.

And the view of the city from the center of the ever busy St Kilda Road where you usually can’t stand is spectacular!

Then we moved into The Queen Victoria Gardens, where shit got weird. The “art” in this park was a bunch of weird and sometimes creepy movies that I just did not get. Remember, I love art. We were planning to meet up with some more friends in this park, but they were underwhelmed and bailed. I can’t blame them, I may have shared the sentiment, but we pressed on. FOMO, yo.

It’s a good thing we did too, because deeper in the park we found some cool things.


As we walked through the park, all we could here is loud pulsing, thumping music. Soon enough we discovered the source.

Then there were these trees that kept freaking me out from the corner of my eye. Suddenly I realized it was like the Wizard of Oz. The trees had faces that were blinking and shifting expressions.

Have I mentioned yet that the entire place smelled of weed? A girl couldn’t find an alcoholic beverage to save her life, but she could get a contact high just by breathing.

After crossing the river and heading into the city, we found Flinders Station lit up beautifully.


As we turned to head up Flinders Street, we found the rest of the buildings were also part of this light show.



That was about the extent of the excitement in the CBD. We walked around for hours after this following the art map and were left longing for art and cocktails.

There were about 6 food trucks total in the entire event. We were surprised by the number of bars and restaurants that closed at their normal time. One would think that they’d take advantage of the masses.

While there were definitely some highlights, I would say that a White Night was a bit if a disappointment. Good company, however, always makes an underwhelming event worthwhile!

Back in February, our friends invited us to go to the Melbourne Zoo with them; naturally we went.  Once there, we realized that buying a zoo membership was actually a sweet deal: Melbourne Zoo, Werribee Open Range Zoo and the Healesville Sanctuary!  We knew nothing about the Healesville Sanctuary, but already knew we wanted to go to the Werribee Open Range Zoo.

Melbourne Zoo 

15 Feb 2014

All of the zoos here are smaller than I expect and close earlier than I expect, but the bright side is you can get through them in just a couple of hours.  We showed up at 2:30 and saw most of the zoo by closing time at 5:00 pm.  Here are some of the highlights for me:

I will always love Giraffes & Zebras.  I hope some day to see them in the wild in Africa.

I met my first Kangaroo!  He was very friendly or more likely sad.  I’ve yet to see one in the wild, but at least now I’ve seen one.

Who could ever tire of these cuties!

I sucked it up, faced my fears and got in the bird enclosure.  It turns out the birds did not come anywhere near me.  Most of them never even left their perches. 

Big Bird has got to be based on these goofy looking creatures.

I loved this little cutie!  Who knew wild boars were cute?  I imagined them fat, ugly and smelly like domestic pigs.

The last thing that I did after the rain started and before we made for the car was make friends with this tortoise .  He even let me touch his shell.

Werribee Open Range Zoo

2 March 14

This zoo wasn’t quite what I was expecting, although I’m really not sure what I was expecting.  It was part normal zoo and part safari-bus tour.  I think I was expecting it to be more safari bus tour than normal zoo.  My number 1 highlight, which I do not have a sufficient photo of, were the gorillas.  To see them, all the people are forced into a little glass box.  While we were standing in there, 2 gorillas conspired to scare the people.  They both grabbed a handful of poo while running at the window and then punched the window as hard as they could while smearing the poo down it.  People screamed and ducked and generally acted like the gorilla could actually hurt them.  Ben and I laughed hysterically!

Next up, hippos!  Early in the day they were in the water, late in the day they were out of the water.

When our friends arrived, we made for the Safari Tour.  We ended up with an entire car on the bus-train to ourselves, which allowed us to pop back and forth between sides of the bus for the best viewing.

This Rhino apparently has the largest horn known to man.

Oh, and that pile of dirt that the giraffes are always hanging out in, it’s Rhino poo.  Apparently giraffes are particularly fond of Rhino poo.

We’ll have to go back sometime, because we missed the part of the zoo that housed the Australian Animals.  You know, because everything in this country closes at 5:00 pm.

Healesville Sanctuary

8 March 14

Over Labor Day Weekend, Ben and I decided to go to rural Victoria.  One of the places we visited on this 3 day weekend was the Healesville Sanctuary.  Again, more of a zoo than I was expecting….but I was able to see more Kangaroos!  I still haven’t seen one in the wild, but at least now I’ve seen a lot of them!

And as usual, we got to see koalas.  I’d really like to take one of these little cuties home with me!

This was my first echidna sighting – they’re much cuter than a porcupine.

Again, I faced my fears and entered the bird cage.  Only one tried to land on me, but I shooed him away.

I thought the pelicans in Florida were massive, but they have nothing on these guys.

I nearly couldn’t handle looking at these massive bats, also known as Flying Fox.

We skipped the snakes and reptiles and moved on to the very cute Tasmanian Devil.

And lastly, even if the dingo did eat you’re baby, I still think he’s just a cute dog.

Of the three zoos visited on our tour of the Melbourne Zoos, I’d say the Healesville Sanctuary may have been my favorite.  It had actual Australian animals, rather than mostly African Animals.  We’ll definitely be going back to all three!

This year I was tired of being frustrated by Chinese New Year and instead decided that I wanted to enjoy and celebrate, so I headed to Chinatown.

Unfortunately my phone overheated and my videos didn’t turn out. I’d like to state for the record that the dragon dance was awesome (and a little scary when they set off massive strands of fireworks).

Happy New Year!

Two things really stood out to me on Australia Day. First, the Australian Open is surprisingly bluer than I expected, despite being fully aware of its general blueness. Second, the lack of pride in the national anthem. In America, when the anthem plays we remove our hats, face the flag, place our hand over our heart and either sing along with pride or stand quietly and respectfully. Concession stands stop serving and people do not shout and drink during the national anthem. On Australia Day when the Australian National Anthem began to play, my American friends and I respectfully rose and stood quietly. The Australians around us sort of looked at us oddly and also rose, but seemed unsure what was happening, which made us feel a little unsure what was happening. It was just a bit odd to us extremely patriotic Americans. Ah well, different cultures different ways.

The walk home from the tennis along St. Kilda Road was very pretty on Australia Day. And yes! Much like the cricket, Australians do say “the tennis!” I love it!

Monday was our day off in celebration of Australia Day, so we headed down to Geelong for a barbie with some friends. Fortunately, they had some amazing Australian gear for us to get really patriotic in!

That, my friends, is how Americans nail Australia Day weekend!

Happy ‘stralia Day!