Last Friday, we went down to St. Kilda to a huge building where there were 3 live bands playing! The lowest floor was heavy metal- not really my type of music, so we only glanced down there. And it smelled like sweat- ew. However, just above that was a good rock band playing. We listenened to the end of their set, which was pretty good- just a bit mellow.
Here's the first rock band we heard. After them a much better rock band came on called "Jaime Robbie Reyne and the Paradise Three " and they were a lot of fun to listen to. They even had a little bit of a Bob Dylan feel to them. There was another band playing on the next floor up, but it cost to go to that show so we just stayed downstairs.
Here's the girls next to the stage!Saturday morning, we got up and walked down the Yarra River towards the city.
Here's a picture of a private high school close to our hotel. This place is huge!! It looks like one of those British private academies from TV. Their uniforms looked very British too. I could tell all the kids who went there must have very rich parents lol.
Some pretty flowers on a tree along the river.
Matthias came with us, and here he is trying to be a koala haha.
There was a walking/running/biking path that went along the river the whole way- it was very well kept up and gave us great views of the city and the river. I wish I could take walks like this everyday in the US!
Liz and me bench sitting underneath the cool trees that looked like willows =)
One of the bridges going over the river.
Here's the PRIME gang!
It does not take too long to reach the city, as South Yarra is pretty close to downtown. Here you can see the city in the distance as we are walking towards it. It was a beautiful day, despite forecasts of rain. It did not end up raining a single drop until after dark. The sun was shining the whole day too =)
There were a ton of people rowing along the river. Coaches would ride their bikes along the path beside the river and yell instructions at their students who were rowing using a megaphone! Very interesting.
Some Aussie ducks!
I love this picture!
Of course, we had to take another jumping picture lol. Unfortunately, I am covering Michelle's face =( BUT- it's okay because now she gets a solo shot:
Wheee!
Me in front of the city.
While we were walking, Saleh stepped on the back of my jeans and ripped them!!! I was sad, but I got over it. And I tackled Saleh later in revenge when he wasn't looking. Muahaha.
This is the SunGod's brother- SunDog! A lot of the art in Melbourne reminds me of art found around UCSD oddly enough.
Saleh is so nice! Look at him helping this poor homeless man! Haha- Matthias is such a clown.
Another river shot.
Once we reached the city, we continued to walk along the river by the shops and restaurants. This couple brought their dog with them and he was relaxing in the sun. So cute!
The tall buildings in the city.
Sidewalk art! There is a guy who makes a living off of money he gets from people while painting really good pictures on the sidewalk. He was really talented, and had made some great drawings!
This reminded me of SunGod too- only the metal version.
After our walk, we got on the free tourist shuttle that goes around the city. It was hop-on hop-off, so you could get off at any stop you wanted, look around, and then catch another bus.
Michelle and me on the bus.
We got off the bus at Lygon Street (the end of the Italian district) and walked down to Brunswick Street which was about 1 kilometer away. It had a lot of shops and cafes, and it was a neat street to walk down. Here's Michelle and me on a random couch artpiece decorating the street.
Brunswick Street!
Then we found a playground! The 5 year old in all of us came out. This was such a weird playground thing- it was like an upside down, double seesaw. Lol, well, you can basically see how it was.
So much fun!
Saleh zooming across on the sliding handle!
Liz daring to cross the dodgy chain bridge...
And here I am surfing the seesaw!
The ultimate Russian doll experience. And of course, we are in our appropriate height order.
On our way back to the tourist bus, we saw some more street art.
And a dancing Toto! Maybe he's happy to not be in Kansas anymore? I dunno.
After we finished the bus route, we got off at Federation Square and went into an art museum they had there. It was pretty cool, and they had a ton of aboriginal art from Australia.
These dolls are a bit creepy to me...
Some Australian shields.
This was my favorite painting there. It is too small to tell, but practically this whole painting was made using dots! Aboriginal art uses a ton of dots. You can tell a bit better in this next painting:
This was so cute! They looked like a mom and baby dog.
I loved this painting too.
After all that art staring, we were tired! But that didn't stop us. We took the tram over to the Docklands to look around as the sun was going down. It was such an awesome day of just touring around the city!
Check out the beautiful clouds in the background too!
A view of the city from the pier.
Odd sculptures that I don't understand lol.
PRIMErs!
The pier we walked down.
And the girls again!
There is a cute little boy in an adorable beanie covering up the "T". I wish this picture was bigger so you could see him better!
Michelle and me and the end of the pier/dock.
To warm up a little, we went into this cafe called Hot Chocolate. It was very tasty. Inside, there was a group having a bachelorette party! Only in Australia, it is called a "Hen Party."
Here's us waiting for our hot chocolates at the table.
YUM!! It was so chocolatey. And mine was dark chocolate too! "CoffeX marks the spot!"
When we left there, it was dark, and there were some great views of the city lights! That is the highway bridge across the river in this picture.
And here is the city! Once we got back to South Yarra, we went over to our Indian friend Anil's apartment to teach him how to make a cake in the microwave. He was nice enough to make us dinner again (an Indian breakfast dish called pua, or something like that) so we hung out over there and watched some TV for the rest of the night. (Including the end of Deep Impact- which was a really cheesey action/drama movie with bad acting, although a surprising number of well known actors. It must have been before they got famous.)Sunday was our shopping day =) and us girls went all over the city to different markets. Very fun.
Monday rolled around, and we got up early again...
to go for another walk along the Yarra River. Only this time, we walked in the other direction- away from the city!
It was a very beautiful walk, and a great way to start off the day.
This was a real wild parrot we saw in a tree by the river. There were at least three of them living in the tree!
Hering Island- the only island in the Yarra River. It could only be reached by boat, and it wasn't very big. All it had on it was a plant sanctuary.
Michelle, Steph, and Liz by the river.
We walked down about 2.1 kilometers, then crossed the bridge to the other side, and walked back.
Such a beautiful day! Why, now that we must leave, does the weather have to be getting so good?!
Me with the sun in my face =P
Another view of the Yarra River.
We found a random rock climbing wall underneath the highway on our way back- very odd. But we tried it out! And we found out we all stink at rock climbing haha.
I nearly fell to my death!! Very suspensful indeed. No harness either!! Yes, I know I can be reckless...
You can see the city in the distance. That tall building is Eureka Tower.That night, John and Andres came over to celebrate Andres' 3oth birthday!! We took them to Soda Rock- the 50's diner right down the street from the Claremont.
They gave Andres a free sundae (which we ate right up in seconds!) since it was his birthday. He was so excited!
After that, we went back to the hotel and made him one of our specialty microwave cakes! We have made so many on this trip- I must say we have gotten quite good at making them.
The Germans made us all party hats out of styrofoam hats!! They were so cute!
Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum.
Andres blowing out his candles! (We only had two left haha)
YUM!!
I love Andres' hat here. And Michelle's face haha.
Oh, good times.On Tuesday night, we managed to get everyone we had met at the Claremont to come back for a reunion!! It was so much fun- and it meant a lot to be able to see everyone back together again.
Here's us hanging out at the Claremont.
The whole gang! We have met Lena, Matthias, Anil, Andres, Moritz, Xiaomin, John, and Michaela at the Claremont.
It was nice to see Xiaomin- we hadn't seen her in a while.
Put em' up partner!
Michaela and Lena made us all hats out of newspaper! Here we are pirates. Those two are so creative!
I was inspired to make my own newspaper creation- a crane!Today (Thursday) was our last normal lunch with the lab, and we (the PRIME kids) had to finish our own cryptic crossword. Here's the tables we sit at every day for lunch.
After we finish eating, we always go to the cafe for coffee to finish up the crossword.
Here we are sitting in the cafe. We finished our crossword all on our own! (With a little help from Tom on one of the words...)
Here is my last latte from the cafe! It is a heart- I was happy.I am sad to leave. This has been an amazing trip, that I will never forget! Thanks especially to the PRIME people who made this an opportunity for me! (Teri, Peter, Linda, Gabrielle- thanks so much!)
And for people at home, I will see you in two weeks! Now I am off to New Zealand, and then Sydney for a few days. So until then! Cheers mates!
-Heather Griffith
