No doubt, there’s something between me and Australia, some unspoken bond. From the time I was planning to study there for my graduate school which didn’t happened to the time I was planning to go there for honeymoon which didn’t happen either since I didn’t end up marrying that guy. Then the invitation from one of my college buddy to visit her in Adelaide to another invitation from long lost friend who was studying in Perth, Australia (who would ever guessed?? Sure life is full of surprise).

All didn’t happen due to a promotion at work and some other life events. I almost thought that probably I wasn’t meant to visit Australia after all. Maybe something bad would have happened if I did, yeah…that was totally my inner superstitious talking. Years passed by and boom!! My best friend in college moved to Melbourne for her graduate school and another invitation came thru email. Since I was travelling thru Asia at that time, what’s another ten hours flight to Melbourne I thought. Like a maniac, I was scrolling internet for a cheap airlines ticket. Finally, all stars were aligned and I found cheap ticket on Air Asia website. I packed my bag pack and flew 10 hours from Medan, Indonesia to Melbourne on red eye flight with a stopover in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Remember folks, unless you are an Australian or from New Zealand, you will need a visa or at least an e-visa to enter Australia.

Yarra River

My first day, I arrived in the morning. My best bud was waiting at the airport. Thanks to the Skype, we had planned our adventure days ahead of time. How delightful to finally see her again after all these years. We boarded a shuttle bus from the airport to train station where we stopped at the café for breakfast and spent 3 hours catching up and laughing at the café like some crazy teenagers. As soon as we arrived at her apartment, she introduced me to her roommate. Here we were, three musketeers ready to explore Melbourne. We took the tram from her apartment to downtown Melbourne. We walked along the Yarra river, where we explored hip stores and bars along the river. We passed St. Paul’s Cathedral. We chilled at federation square and stared at the atrium with mixed feeling. While it looked nice and modern covered by glasses, the Atrium was too stand out and foreign compared to surrounding area such as St Paul’s Cathedral. As an engineer, I kept thinking that the aesthetic guidelines was not incorporated into the design. That night we ended it by going to Indonesian restaurant to eat bakso (meatball with noodle). Surprisingly, I found many Indonesian in Melbourne, it almost felt like Jakarta to me.

After hopping the continent from North America to Asia and then to Australia, I could felt my body was screaming for some pampering. Knowing me so well, my best bud had booked us a tour the following morning to Mornington Peninsula which include a day in Peninsula hot springs, a visit to lavender field and wineries. Lucky for us, we paid a student price since she booked it thru her school. I almost forgot that being a student come with some perks. The trip started early in the morning, we stopped along the way at the lookout point to snap some pictures. Mornington Peninsula located less than an hour away outside Melbourne. Finally we arrived at the hot spring. Peninsula hot spring is a spa with a bathhouse. The place offered different kind of pools with natural hot spring, from gravel pool that massage your feet as you walked on it to the Hamman (Turkish bath house). Funny that my first time in Hamman was in Australia not in Turkey. While you are at the peninsula hot spring, you can also book for spa treatments. After spending entire morning here jumping from one hot spring pool to another hot spring pool, finally we moved along to Australian wineries for lunch and wine tasting. Unwilling to put the alcohol into my body, I purposely skipped the wine tasting and ventured out into the wineries. Lunch was served outdoor on the top of the hill overlooking the wineries below us. I loved the atmosphere surrounding the lunch table; nice weather, nice scenery, and soft cool breeze on my face, it felt like a real picnic day. But I was not so crazy about the food. The food was pretty basic. Some salad, some bruschetta, different kind of cheese and some slice of salami. Where’s meat?? I was hoping for some serious meat, fried chicken or grilled lamb or maybe some kind of kangaroo meat, though I was not sure I could stomach the kangaroo (I meant they are just so cute to be eaten). The last stop of the tour was lavender field. We walked and explore entire lavender field which included the maze, the ponds and the gift shop filled with lavender scent from candle to soap to lotion. At the end of the tour, we chose to be dropped somewhere in the downtown area by Yarra River.

Foxtel Festival

The night was still young, and my best bud just received a text invitation to attend the Foxtel festival featuring Indonesian dance and Indonesian food right on the Yarra River. The Foxtel festival was intended to introduce Indonesian culture to Australian. What a sweet coincidence! So that night we partied away with Indonesian and Australian who attended the event.

Great Ocean Road

My third day in Melbourne was probably the most adventurous one. Not only because the view and physical activity that involved, but also because the tour guide almost left us during the restroom stop. Imagine getting stranded in the middle of nowhere. Well, who could blame us for being late returning to the tour bus. In my defense, the queue was long and the rest room was located right by the Bell beach, the location where the movie Point break was shot. Any diehard fan of Patrick Swayze or Keanu Reeves would want to snap few picture of the beach. That exactly what we did. After few poses, we were 10 minutes late. When we returned, the tour guide who also happened to be our driver already packed all of tea pot and cookies that were supposed to be served to us. He looked grumpy but hey I wanted my tea, he served reluctantly and kept telling us that we were late. Oh well, I was not going to let his grumpiness ruin our day. After the short stop at Bell Beach, we cruised along Great Ocean road to see the twelve apostles.

The Twelve Apostles

Great ocean road in Victoria State often compared to Pacific coast highway in California. While in my personal opinion both are beautiful, I still favor the pacific coast highway in California due to the weather and things to see along the way. The view of the twelve apostle was outstanding. The twelve apostles is a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of the Port Campell National park. You can also enjoy the view from helicopter if you are willing to spend more money for helicopter ride. The day was so windy, but it didn’t stop us from walking along the shore trying to catch the closer view of the twelve apostles. We made a joke, due to the erosion, soon the twelve apostles will be called “the apostle”. From the twelve apostles, we went to Loch Ard Gorge.

Loch Ard Gorge

It was a very short drive for about 3 miles, so if you’re feeling athletic, you can literally walk from twelve apostle to Loch Ard Gorge. The tour provided us a simple sandwich for lunch which we found it somewhat unappetizing so we ended up at some local restaurant. Along the way, we also stopped at Otway national park to hike in the Australian rain forest and we stopped and hiked to spot the koalas in their natural habitat.

Otway National Park (Australian Rain Forest)

Nothing like seeing koalas hugging the trees in their natural habitat made you felt so close to nature. Despite almost left behind by an unpleasant tour guide, I would say that the Great Ocean road trip is a must for anyone who plan to visit Melbourne or Victoria State.

Sometimes, traveling is about wandering around and getting lost in a foreign city and bumping into the unknown spots that’s not listed on any travel websites. This time, my chance for getting lost in Melbourne was very slim since I had my own private local guide, thanks to my sweet best bud. After a couple days of joining the tour, we had enough and decided it to spend entire day and entire night freely on our own without any schedule restriction. To enjoy Australia as a local has been my dream for a while. So on the fourth day, my best bud intended to make my dream come true by taking me to the local hang out spot. A café that serves a very thick hot chocolate drink inside the Arcade. My best bud has bragged about it for a while. She was right, the drink was divine.

Inside The Arcade

The arcade is one of the oldest indoor shopping center in Melbourne filled with restaurants, cafes and stores. It was a nice place to chill and shop for souvenirs. Energized by hot chocolate, I was on the mission to score some Uggs boots at discounted price. How shocking to find out that Uggs are cheaper in United States than in its original country. So my intention to buy Uggs for souvenirs totally blown out the window. After our morning stop for hot chocolate, we went to visit The Shrine of Remembrance.

The Shrine of Remembrance

The Shrine of Remembrance was built as a memorial to the men and women of  Victoria who served in world war I and is now a memorial to all Australians who have served in a war. The architecture of the Shrine of Remembrance reminded me of Philadelphia Art Museum. Both have the same Greek revival architecture. From there we walked to the Melbourne botanical garden. The garden is free of charge. You can explore it as long as you want. The garden also includes the miniature rain forest and children garden.

So if you don’t have time to do an outback or hiking in the real Australia rain forest then Melbourne botanical garden certainly will give you a taste of Australia rain forest. From there, we took the tram to Melbourne School of Engineering, my best bud couldn’t wait to show me her school. It was a nice walk thru the campus. Few snaps here and there, we didn’t realize that the day had gotten dark.

It was my last night in Melbourne, so we decided to meet up with some friends at Padang restaurant. After quite a noise we made at the restaurant because all of us couldn’t stop laughing my friends suggested that we should head to the Melbourne central shopping center to see the iconic clock. So at almost midnight, while we were still laughing, we headed to nearby train station to catch a train to Melbourne central shopping center   to see the iconic clock. The iconic clock located on the second floor of Melbourne central shopping center. Every hour on the dot, a marionette display drops down from the bottom of the watch, with Australian Galah, cockatoos and two minstrels performing Waltzing Matilda. Waltzing Matilda is an Australia “unofficial national anthem”. There we were at midnight having an Australian moment, a perfect way to say good bye to Melbourne.

The next day, we just chilled at my friend’s house as I was preparing to leave for my morning flight to Sidney. As I waved my hands to my best bud as I passed thru security check in , I was hoping that soon enough we will meet again somewhere on this planet. Hoping that nothing in this world will stand on the way of our friendship, not the distance or the time difference. The plane finally took off and as I looked down to the city of Melbourne below, I reminisced about the wonderful time I had spent in Melbourne. I realize, that the journey is not always about the destination or the beautiful landscape and architecture, sometimes it goes deeper than that, way deeper. Sometime it is about the friendship that make a vacation as sweet as cotton candy.