visitor #2!

We finally got our first official friend-visitor, for a whole week!

Last Saturday, I received a message from an old college friend, Sara. She's been traveling through Australia and New Zealand on a backpacking/farming/art show adventure, and decided to make a last-minute trip to Melbourne. We were more than happy to host for the week, and it was perfect timing, as I'm now on summer break!

To be honest, Sara and I were more like acquaintances, from my time in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We both attended Calvin College and had a few friends in common, but were mostly connected through the old blogging site Xanga, one of the many precursors to facebook. I'm not sure if we ever interacted in-person during our college years, but we routinely read each others' deep and thoughtful blog entries, awarded each other coveted "eProps" when necessary, and remained casual facebook friends after college. We finally met up in person a few years ago when she visited her brother in Seattle, and I happily gave them a free ride up the Space Needle where I worked.

2012. obligatory green-screen tourist photo at the Needle. 

When Ben and I hosted my mother back in July, we didn't do a ton of sight-seeing as my mom's focus was mostly on spending time with us. But Sara had come to see Melbourne, and as a result I was given the opportunity to be a tourist again.

Sara arrived on one of the hottest days of the season so far (while on the other side of the world, Seattle had their first crazy snowstorm of the year..!), but as the week went on the weather got cooler and a bit more overcast. Still, November/December is a great time to visit - warm, but not terribly hot.

day 1: 90 degree weather!

Throughout the week, we visited all sorts of exhibits and artsy places, looking for fun social happenings and touristy must-sees. We checked out the free exhibitions at the State Library, including "The changing face of Victoria" and "Mirror of the world: books and ideas," displaying rare and historical books - and books are coincidentally Sara's art specialty! We also walked through an informative and well-designed museum at the base of the Shrine of Remembrance. I'd visited the shrine many times before, but I had no idea that there was an extensive exhibit underneath the war memorial, following the history of the ANZACs through various wars, conflicts and peacekeeping efforts. And we spent more than a few hours at the Melbourne Museum, which is huge and fun and wonderful.

Optical Illusion exhibit at the Melbourne Museum

Sara loved seeing all the narrow laneways blanketed in paint and chalk street-art, including the infamous and ever-changing Hosier Lane.

Hosier Lane.

rare sighting of a blank laneway

I showed Sara the Southbank/Crown Casino area, and we crossed all the cool bridges, then followed the Tan Track to the Botanic Gardens which are finally starting to bloom again. We also made a trip to St. Kilda, exploring the beach, various piers, and touristy shopping/restaurant areas.

Because it's the holiday season, Sara got to experience the extravagant city Christmas decorations, including the decorative Myer windows and the Town Hall lights projection show.

Festive Flinders Station

Melbourne is known for creative and delicious places to eat, so we tried various specialty food joints, walking through Hardware Lane and looking up places for decent tacos. Sara also explored some artsy coffee shops on her own, and we caught the last day of the Night Noodle Markets, on an extremely warm evening (perfect for hot Asian cuisine... haha). We also got up early one day to have breakfast with Ben, at Brown Bagels (so far the best NYC-style bagel place in town).

Brown Bagels. Sara was super brave and got a Vegemite bagel!

We got to participate in some social events, including a few Couchsurfing parties, where we met more non-Melbournians than actual locals. Still, it was fun having conversations with people from all over the world - Chile, Iran, Denmark, Germany, Israel... and of course the good old USA. We also had drinks at our next-door neighbours' apartment, which was really fun.

I took Sara to my favourite places, including Minotaur - a pop culture haven for everything anime, video game and comic-related. We also discovered various stores I had never seen before, including a collection of zine, clothing and record stores in an underground tunnel that connects to Flinders station. And yes, we paid a visit to the Dr. Who pop-up shop.

there was a (free!) Tardis-shaped photobooth.

Of course, a trip to Melbourne isn't complete without walking through the Queen Victoria Markets, people-watching and browsing booths of fresh food, random souvenirs, and local crafts.

Also, Melbourne recently got its first cat cafe! I love animals, but because of apartment restrictions/etc., Ben and I probably won't be getting an animal companion anytime soon - so I've been craving some interaction with house pets for a while. Anyway, at Melbourne's cat cafe, you pay $10 to visit a house full of cats for an hour, and food/drinks (of the packaged variety) are available for purchase during your visit. It's more like a cat house than an actual cafe, but it's something to cross off the bucket list regardless. Also, I'm kind of allergic to cats, so it's a good thing our visit was limited to an hour...

Because Melbourne is a pretty flat city, there aren't many places with good (free) viewing areas. However, the 35th floor of the Sofitel Melbourne has a great view... from the women's bathroom!

Every first Friday of the month, the city puts on free dance lessons. This month was hula dancing, which we decided to try. It's a lot harder than it looks...

Finally, we made a trip to the Royal Exhibition Building to see the Big Design Market, a humongous craft and artisan exhibition. It was amazing, fun, and kind of overwhelming.

I had such a great time showing Sara around (as best as I could). Even though I've lived here for a year, there are an overwhelming amount of things to do in and around the city, and her visit reminded me that I shouldn't stop exploring Melbourne just because I live here. It was wonderful to be around an artist who loves craft markets, exhibits, and street art even more than I do, and it was incredibly inspiring for me to observe and discuss creative ideas with her.

Although we didn't know each other that well before her visit, we do share plenty of things in common, and Sara is a lot of fun to be around. We talked about all sorts of things throughout the week, from television shows to the art of bookmaking, religion philosophies to various gender expectations, anything and everything. It was also great to spend time with someone from one of my many "homes." With family and friends scattered all over the globe, sometimes acquaintances from our various hometowns can feel like family too. At the end of the week, I was kind of sad to see her move on to New Zealand, the next part of her adventure.

"This is probably kind of strange, but your visit is, like, one of the highlights of my year," I confessed to her over a beer at one of the Couchsurfing parties.

And it's true. Ben and I may have wonderful adventures traveling through Victoria and beyond, observing Australian wildlife, visiting beautiful landscapes and discovering fun events. But sometimes, spending a week with someone from "back home," having engaging and sometimes hilarious conversations while feeling completely comfortable and truly myself again... that can be a refreshing kind of adventure too.

Thanks for hanging out in Melbourne, Sara! We hope you enjoyed your stay as much as we enjoyed having you around. :)

CK