Although I am in Sydney, I didn't start my travels here. To catch everyone up to speed I began my travels in Melbourne, Victoria. I learned very quickly that it is pronounced Mel-binn rather than Mel-born by the locals. I arrived at the Tullamarine airport on September 11th and luckily my luggage arrived as well. I soon found a shuttle that drove me to Home @ The Mansion; the hostel where I lived for the first four nights of my stay. I absolutely loved this hostel and met so many wonderful friends that I am planning on staying in touch with in the future. Since it was a smaller hostel, dinner time in the kitchen was hardly navigational but the atmosphere was electric as everyone wanted to meet anyone.
The rest of my stay was with Mel and Ben. We chose each other on couchsurfing.org and I couldn't speak higher of these two. They were absolutely, the most welcoming couple I could have asked for as my first couchsurfing experience. They fed me, gave me a place to sleep, introduced me to their friends, and took time out of their busy schedules to hang out and get to know me. Ben and Mel you are welcome to stay with me anytime in Oregon.
I also had the opportunity to travel to Halls Gap which is about 4 hours by train outside of the city. Here I met up with Dennis, a guy I met in the hostel from Germany that enjoys hiking! I enjoyed a weekend of hiking around the Grampians National Park with amazing views and challenging climbs. I quickly learned that when the trail disappears and all you are left with are rocks to scale up, look for the little yellow arrows that lead you away from the cliffs..
Other things that I did in Melbourne include: Melbourne zoo trip, Queen Victoria Market, figuring out the metro system!, DeGraves street, winning a prize, Gardens, Government house, shrine, the great ocean road tour, and much more but instead of writing a book about it I'll show you through pictures!
