Melbourne: The Most Livable City?

Melbourne! Where do I even begin....

OK. Let's start with --- People around me have hyped Melbourne up to be the Australian version of New York City... and I'm here to confirm that - NO. It is not. And that's neither a good nor a bad thing.

Melbourne, just like Sydney, is its own city. It's beautiful, incredibly clean, and easy - public transport wise. I guess the main similarity with New York is the grid system - and in my opinion, it just about ends there. NYC is crazy. Melbourne isn't. In fact, it's completely the opposite. It's so laid back and very chill.

My travel partner, Karen and I spent about 6 days in Melbourne so we saw quite a lot of it, many thanks to our Filipino hosts, Tita Bess and Tito Bogie. :) Here are the highlights of the trip in photos...

WHOOP! Downtown Melbourne. Jumpshot. Boom. It's so nice and sunny and clean!

Ahhhh Autumn... My faaavorite season... Makes everything beautiful.

Saw an Australian Football League game at Melbourne Cricket Grounds. I had no idea what was going on in the field. They were running around in short shorts and it was nuts... but I had fun! It was definitely an experience!

Before the game, we had some time to goof around at the National Sports Museum at MCG :)

Went to see some Street Art at Hosier Lane!

Ate some fish and chips at the Docklands.

Got annoyed by lazy and sleepy Koala Bears! WAKE UP!!! I want to cuddle!

This is quite the leery owl! I think he's my favorite animal in the Healsvile Sanctuary!

OK don't even get me started on this Kangaroo. Yeah - like I'd have space in my backpack for your joey!

A big cow stuck in a tree. Hmm...

Went to Luna Park - which is a hundred years old. Literally... they celebrated their hundredth this year!

Checked out the night scene in the city... not too shabby!


Voila! I wish I could post more of the photos I took --- I have plenty!! I just don't have the time... Blogging while I'm on the road is pretty rough... I feel like I'm so tired all the time and super on the go! I should have a lot of down time coming up this June - and I can elaborate more on my trips then.

In the meantime... a final thought.

Melbourne is a beautiful city. It's easy to get around, and I think I understand why it has been named one of the most livable cities in the world year after year...

But if I'm being honest --- I have to say I liked Sydney more.

I may be a little biased... You see, I love Los Angeles. And Sydney reminds me so much of Los Angeles. Therefore, I love Sydney.  :)

To be fair - I think I would have liked Melbourne better if I had more money to spend... but being a poor backpacker in a really expensive city... things can get a little difficult... I couldn't enjoy the "culture" everyone keeps talking about, because the culture involves spending money on shopping and food.

Maybe one day when I've made my first million, I can go back to Melbs and give it another shot...

For now...

Next Stop: AUCKLAND, NZ!

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Hi There! Have we met before? You look familiar! Those shoes look great on you, by the way! I’m Eartha and I recently decided to quit my job to travel the worrrrld! Join me in my adventures by checking back on my blog, and leaving me a comment or two!

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My 2013 Travel Destinations - Part 1

As I get closer to my “launch” date, I’m getting more and more nervous. I’ve been so busy getting myself excited about the round the world travel I'm doing this 2013 that I think I’ve forgotten about how big a deal this is. So then I’ve started panicking, and I’ve been spending my days dazed and bewildered. There’s SO much I still need to do. My mind is literally one big clusterfuck of to-do lists that I feel like I can't tick off!

Incidentally, something completely cosmic happened to me the other day. I got pulled over by a cop for “running the red light” (but I really didn’t!!!)
When my pleas for him to send me off with a warning didn’t work, he asked me to take my sunglasses off and he looked me square in the eyes. He said, “I want you to listen to me. Do me a favor, okay? I don’t know what’s going on in your head right now. I’m not sure if you’re zoning off, or if you just have a lot on your mind. Whatever it is, I just need you to pay attention, and focus. Can you do that?”

It wasn’t until I was driving away from him that I realized he might actually not be talking about the road.

Eerie, right? 

I tried to be as cute as Vanessa Hudgens in this photo, but it didn't work. 

And so I am choosing to take his advice (which will cost me about $500) and get my act together. I shall focus on what needs to be done, and I’ll start by giving you an outline of what my year could potentially look like. :)

Every travel website I’m subscribed to have come up with their top 2013 destinations, and I thought I’d join the bandwagon! I haven’t really talked in detail about my plans for this year… I guess because I’m not even sure about all my stops myself. I do however, have a rough itinerary, PLUS a ‘wishlist’ of countries/places I want to visit on this round of the world tour. For visualization purposes, I’m going to divide my trip into three legs:

First Leg – The Friends and Family Discount

This is the leg of the tour that is pretty much absolute. I’m buying my plane tickets in the next week or so, I’ve arranged my accommodations with the people I’m visiting… in other words, this one’s a sure thing.

PHILIPPINES

I’m going home, amigos. A month in the Philippines of doing absolutely nothing.

OK maybe I'll be doing some of this...

My friends and I on a mundane Saturday night at my house

AUSTRALIA 

Sydney! Photo from worldplacez.blogspot.com

Melbourne! Photo from Wikipedia

I’m traveling to Sydney and Melbourne with my travel buddy, Karen, and we’ll be staying with my family in Sydney, and her friends in Melbourne. I’ve never been, but always loved Australians and their spirit! I have absolutely no expectations, just excitement!

NEW ZEALAND

Gorgeous New Zealand Landscape

Hobbiton! YAY!

I’m even MORE excited about New Zealand! I’m going to visit Hobbiton! I hear so many wonderful things about this little country, and I’ve become very good friends with a Kiwi, so I’m definitely expecting to fall in love with NZ! I even have the ONE RING of power to guide me through this adventure – courtesy of my Kiwi bird, Jackie!

JAPAN

One of my best friends from high school is taking me in! I also have a sister who lives there! I’ll be staying mainly in Tokyo, but will visit Kyoto for their temples as well. Honestly, I just want to see the statue of Hachiko.

The Statue of Hachiko in Shibuya!

Gorgeous Kyoto in Autumn

DUBAI & ABU DHABI

Sex and the City anyone? I doubt I’ll be traveling in the same fashion as they did, but I’m looking forward to some desert moon adventures!

Desert Safari in Abu Dhabi

Dubai

UNITED KINGDOM

I’m flying to the UK after Dubai and I’ll be staying with Abby & Kit (AKA Mom and Dad) as usual! The UK will be my “homebase” because I’ll be spending most of my backpacking in Europe. If I ever get lonely or sad or broke, I’ll just train it back to the UK and stay with mom and dad in Cardiff and work for them as a babysitter/entertainer! At the end of June though, we are going to attend Glastonbury -- one of the biggest music festivals in the world! It’s like Woodstock! We’ll be camping over there for 5 days in proper hippie fashion, and will be rocking out to the best music from the best musicians!

Standby for a photo of ME covered in Mud this June.

The Glastonbury Festival in England from lollitop.magicate.eu  

I will also most likely be spending time with my friends in London and Scotland. I haven’t worked out the details yet – so, friends from London and Scotland, if you’re reading this, let’s hang out, OK? :)

And that concludes the first leg of the tour. I will be on all of the above from April to July. Aaaagh I can’t wait! Let’s hope I don’t blow off all my money during this period!

Stay tuned for my next post where I talk about the second leg which I’d like to call: The Helpex Backpacking Europe Experience! On that post, I will talk about the potential countries I’d like to visit while I “work” my way through Europe with free board and lodging with the help of Help Exchange.

Till next week! TTFN! :)