melbun```^.^

melbun. good ol' melbun.
Day 1:
so we arrive here and it's all like "whoa my mom rented a car for melbun florida instead of melbun australia so we're like totally stuck here without a car is she senile? well its ok because we find another place called red spot rentals and they give us a car that's relatively cheap."
So we drive around a bit and find our hotel/apartment, and it's kinda nice like stebbins sorta dirty but whatever my mom's really pissed because its in kinda a grungy part of town; chapel street distrct which turns out is actually a pretty hip area because it contains a lot of fashion boutiques. After we check in we decide to head out to city center which is very nice we take the tram in instead of driving because it seems like too much of a hassle to drive in. The first place we stop is federation square which contains a restaurant called 'Lord of the Fries' (more on this later) which we vow to eat at but not quite yet; first we walk around federation square which has some cool museums like Institute for the Moving Image and victorian museum something and i like some painting called Sunblast.
Next we head around blah blah blah like the old Parliament building then try to see victoria street farmer's market but it's closed after which we ride around a bit then go to Crown Casino Resort and Riverside Spa extravaganza where i gamble about 2 dollars and lose it all then some guy comes up to me and he's all like hey man you wanna sign up for a card and get 5 free dollars (sure) then eat peking duck at chinatown. go home. at night we have a lot of trouble booking our flight from brisbane to cairns and don't get to sleep til midnight even though we need to get up early to drive teh great ocean road

Day 2: Great Pcean Rd. and the Great Blowhole:
:::
so today's all like whoa so much driving the GOR is beautiful and we have fish and chips at this place called Apollo Bay Seafood Cafe which makes fish and chips fresh as you order it!!!!! Lauren got something else called "the Lot" which is like "the Works" or "the-everything-on-it" (get it? tee hee). It was good because it had egg in a hamburger and bacon in a hamburger. We see all that there is to see like 12 apostles and elephant rox. then drive back and stop at woolworth's to get some Teddy Bears (chocolate covered gg and some nasty chewy bars). Get back and pass out because we left at 8:30 and got back at 10 and we were driving the whole day.

Day 3: Healesville Animal Sanctuary and the Lord of the Fries:::
::: Today, we were well rested because we slept in fairly late. We left at around 11 in the morning for Healesville Animal Sanctuary (which was chosen from 3 of Melbourne's zoos because it contained many animals only found in Australia) . It was quite a long drive, although in the end it was worth it because it was really a gas. One of the best parts of the sanctuary was when we saw a show called the "Birds of Prey" and "Parrots in Flight" where the trainers had birds fly around the theater and even right over our heads at times! I learned that eagles are really cool, even though one stupid lady tried to reach out and have the eagle land on her hand (which would have torn her skin up and stuff). We also saw some bats and dingos. The zoo was also great because we could walk up to kangaroos and box them, but they had just eaten so they were gg'd.
After we left the sanctuary we drove back to city center and ate lord of the fries with Italian sauce with cheese. Then we looked for a bottle shop and shopped for shoes but young (I) got too messed up to be of any use. Gohome. The casino also had a lot of fireballs.
-y

Can't Wait

so, tomorrow when we get to melbourne we're gonna get a car to drive around. One Snafu. people in australia drive on the opposite side of the road (like in england). tonight we're going to go out with my family friends' car (btw they owned a kebab store) and drive around a bit to get used to the new conditions. it should be fine as everything else is the same (thank god the gas and brakes pedals aren't switched positions). i'm kind of upset because i didn't get to eat kebab today (although i had half of one yesterday), but i had a nice steak made by our friends here. rugby is such a funny sport. i can't really wait to start driving because we will be doing a lot of it soon and i want to get a lot of practice.

Tomorrow, I plan to have a kebab with french fries in it. Maybe tonight we will go to sport club and shopping town?

-Yueyang

Hello world!

Young and I have been in Australia for 2 days! After a nauseating 14-hour flight, we arrived in Sydney at around 7 in the morning. Yesterday we hit up all the spots: saw the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, Royal Botanic Gardens, Darling Harbour (+ Sky City Casino), local kebab place (yum), and dinner with Young's aunt in Sydney's Chinatown. We planned to go out and enjoy Sydney nightlife, but we passed out after unwinding at the Brydges Hotel with an hour of Lord of the Rings - Fellowship of the Ring!

Today, we went to Gap Bluff (b-e-a-utiful!), and hit up the local beaches (Bondi and Coogee). We are very tired!

More updates to come soon... including our observations on Australians/local culture.

We yet to have shrimp or anything on the barbie... hopefully this will come true within the next 4 weeks.

OVER AND OUT
- Lauren