we ate the shrimp from the barbie

here we are in our final days of australia. I think that we both feel like we are leaving our new home, and keep thinking about how exactly we could make it work to stay here just a little bit longer… particularly since we have gotten used to visiting the chemist and answering ‘how are you going’ with a ‘good’ instead of ‘I think we are walking, but should we take the bus?’

before we left sydney we were able to make it up to the blue mountains for a day. it was a total escape from city life, with beautiful hikes amongst the waterfalls. the forest was so lush, and we agreed that it felt like a forest from the midwest, but with palm trees. after making our way down the ravine we were somehow convinced that it would be easier to climb up the scary ‘grand staircase’ than taking the tram, so over 1,000 steps later we made it to the top of ‘the three sisters’ and called it a day.

now we are in melbourne on our last day of oz. this morning a mate at breakfast compared sydney to a blond headed bimbo and said melbourne is the bookish brunette. hmm. don’t know where he came up with that, or if we really agree with it for that matter but it was an interesting thought.

melbourne is a bit like san francisco with the hills and street cars. the harbor definitely does not compare to sydney, but there is a river running through with all kinds of activity. people keep saying how melbourne is ‘artsy’ which we think means people with dread locks, tattoos and peircings. but there are several very quaint neighborhoods with a variety of both modern and very old styles of architecture and certainly many galleries.

the best part of our melbourne stay though, has been throwing the shrimp on the barbie! we met some friends out on the town and they ended up inviting us to dinner at their house for an australian barbeque. we had an amazing dinner with such a great family, a young couple with their two kids. it was so interesting to see how an australian family can differ in their views on life and politics. they also had a beautiful home in a trendy part of town and we just couldn’t believe that they would invite us, a completely random couple, over to their home and cook for us. Later on they took us out for some cocktails and we ended up in these hole in the wall places that were fantastic, and places that we never would have known to go into. they honestly made our time not only in melbourne, but maybe even in australia!