Mahurangi Regional Park & Rangitoto Island

     We've had a couple wonderful days in nature here around Auckland.  Yesterday, Mariel and I went to Mahurangi Regional Park for a hike and a swim on the beach.  The hike led us to the top of a hill with a lookout onto a couple of beaches.  We had a swim in the clear ocean and then sat down for our lunch.  As soon as we opened our sandwich containers, a flock of ducks waddled over to see what was happening.  Apparently these ducks made their entire living scaring tourists into dropping their food, because one brave duck took a bite out of Mariel's sandwich as she held it.  We soon discovered they don't like to be touched so all you had to do was point your finger at the ducks and they'd wobble away.  

     Today we took a ferry to Rangitoto Island, a volcano expected to erupt in the next 400 years (not today though); Auckland has about 50 active volcanoes around it.  You had to hike to the summit over loose, black volcanic rocks.  Let me tell you, with a high of 80 degrees and the sun reflecting off the rocks it was an exhausting climb.  We made it though, and Mariel only had to push me up the last bit of the path.  It was a great place to look out at Auckland, as well as the surrounding area.  There was an old army bunker there and the sign inside said the man who guarded the supplies stayed five years after WWII because no one told him it was over.  He only found out when the army came to close the post down.  There were some cool volcanic caves called the "Lava Caves" that we climbed through.  It was a bit tough without a flashlight (or torch as they say here) though, so I'd suggest bringing one to anyone who plans to visit there.  We also took a dip in the ocean before getting back on the ferry.

     Mariel and I have been cooking dinner for her family each night.  It's been fun because as housemates in Dublin in 2009 we would cook together every day.  This week we've made zucchini fritters, shakshuka, and potato curry so far:)  Tomorrow we are going to plan our route of travel for the next two weeks.  We've decided to focus on the North Island and visit Paihia, Tauranga, Taupo, Napier, Wellington, and Nelson before I start work in Blenheim on March 17th.  I'll likely get the week of March 24th off so I'm planning to visit the South Island then.

Mahurangi look out

Beautiful rolling hills from Mahurangi look out

The daring duck, stealing a bit of Mariel's sandwich

Bottom of Rangitoto

Top of Rangitoto (Mariel literally pushed me up to the summit)

View of Auckland from Rangitoto

Rocky paths we walked on at Rangitoto

Lava Caves at Rangitoto

Last Days in Melbourne

     Sorry for my lateness, I've been so busy these last few days!  Although I'm safely in New Zealand now, I'll give you an update on my last few days in Melbourne.  During the day Friday I went to the south side of Melbourne to see St Kilda Beach.  It's a beautiful area of town with a theme park (Luna Park), a theater, botanical garden, and esplanade.  Friday night Nikki and I took a train home to her parents' house in Surrey Hills.  They have a beautiful home!  We had a delicious dinner of salmon, potatoes, peas, and lima beans. Her younger sister, Izzy, made a tart for dessert out of vanilla bean paste and figs.  We stayed the night and then set out for a tour of the Mornington Peninsula and Montalto Vineyards.  They had a cafe with brick oven pizzas.  Izzy and I shared a zucchini pizza and a lamb sausage/brie pizza.  We also tasted some of their wines and olive oils (my favorite was the oil infused with basil).

     Later that night we drove back to the city to experience White Night, the second annual all-night arts festival in Melbourne.  There were synchronized swimmers in the public bath house, light shows projected onto buildings, bands playing in the streets, bars/restaurants/shops open all night long (the festival was from 7pm Saturday to 7am Sunday).  I loved that we just walked around the city all night, and around each corner was something new.  For instance, we happened to come upon some opera singers in a cubby of the Royal Arcade singing "Tonight" from West Side story.  However, by the time 2am came around Nikki and I were exhausted so we went home.

     On Sunday we again went with Nikki's mom and sister, Izzy, on another road trip to a winery.  This time to Domain Chandon in the Yarra Valley.  Their main champagne house is in France, with sparkling wine production locations around the world in Argentina, California, and Australia.  You can only call it champagne if it comes from Champagne, France.  We had a picnic lunch in the grass in the sunshine and it was perfection.  The tour of the facilities was fascinating because the traditional method of champagne making is very labor intensive.  After the wine is fermented in large tanks, it is put through a secondary fermentation in the bottle.  Post-fermentation, the bottles go through "riddling" where quarter turns every day on riddling racks allow the yeast to fall to the neck of the bottle.  The necks are frozen and the yeast pellet is "disgorged."  Due to the loss of wine in disgorging, a dosage is added (wine plus sugar) to make up for the lost volume.  Dry sparkling wines will not have a dosage added.  We did a tasting afterward, and were lucky enough to try a 2004 sparkling wine that tasted of delicious biscuits.

     Then it was time to head home and pack for the next leg of my adventure.  Now that I'm in New Zealand, I'm staying with my good friend Mariel, who was a roommate of mine when I studied abroad in Dublin.  We are planning a trip for the next two weeks around New Zealand before my harvest job starts on March 17th.

My favorite tree at the St Kilda Botanical Gardens

Luna Park entrance

St Kilda beach

They finished the mural from the other day!

Nikki and I with Maggie, on our way home for dinner

Montalto Vineyards

Montalto Olive Grove

From the left:  Izzy, me, Nikki, Philippa

White Night

White Night

Domain Chandon, Yarra Valley

Domain Chandon Vineyards

We had the most lovely picnic:)

Riddling room

From the left:  Izzy, me, Nikki, Philippa

Okay, one last street art picture (probably my favorite)

Exploring Melbourne

     This week has been fun getting to know the city of Melbourne.  It's the second most populated city in Australia, at around four million, and the capital of the state of Victoria.  When we last left off I was getting ready to go to the Queen Victoria Market, which was amazing!  I met my friend Tessa, who lives here and attends Melbourne University.  We had some delicious food (masala dosa, Korean spiral potato with chicken salt, cronuts, candied almonds) and listened to an American-style folk band.

     Yesterday I woke up in time for the daily free walking tour of the city.  We left from the State Library and ended by the Yarra River.  Some of my favorite history tidbits are as follows:  Ned Kelly was a bushranger who was quite controversial here in Australia.  Similar to Bonnie and Clyde, he and his gang robbed banks for a living and were sometimes known to burn mortgage papers.  Finally captured in a shootout with police, he was sentenced and hung in the old Melbourne jail; his last words were, "such is life."  Another interesting thing you'll see around the city are plastic bands on most trees in city parks.  This is because opossums are a big problem here.  They climb the trees and eat new leaf shoots, eventually killing European tree varieties.  The plastic bands, while looking very silly, prevent the critters from climbing up.  As a result, the ground is littered with opossums at nightfall because they have no trees to climb.

     There is also a huge street art scene here in Melbourne.  Street art is different from graffiti because it is done in permitted areas with great artistic care.  Graffiti is just for someone to publicize their name and deface property.  Below I've shown some of my favorites.  Also, there are many beautiful structures in Melbourne dating back to the 19th century including the Royal Exhibition Hall and State Library of Victoria.  The Royal Exhibition Hall was very close to being torn down; luckily it was saved by one vote and preserved.

     I've really become comfortable with the city, and am able to get around using the trams or even walking.  It's fun to explore the different neighborhoods.  Yesterday I walked along Brunswick St in Fitzroy where there are a lot of vintage shops, cafes, and bars.  I've gotten to try different Aussie brews such as Little Creatures (pilsner, Rogers amber ale) White Rabbit (white ale, dark ale), and Mountain Goat (steam ale).  I'd highly suggest them all!  Looking forward to the weekend including a winery visit and White Night (annual all-night, city-wide arts festival).

Korean Spiral Potato seasoned with chicken salt

Queen Victoria Market

Old Melbourne Jail where Ned Kelly was executed 

Anti-opossum tree bands

Royal Exhibition Hall at Carlton Gardens

Melbourne Street Art

Street Art

Street Art

Royal Arcade famous Gog & Magog clock

Typical Melbourne laneway

Street art being painted as we watched

One of my favorite pieces we saw

Melbourne skyline over the Yarra River

Introduction to Australia

     I arrived in Australia yesterday morning to a balmy 80-something degrees; somewhat disappointed the runway wasn't littered with koalas and kangaroos like I'd hoped.  I was very proud of myself in that I managed to purchase a Myki (reusable public transport card), take a tram with a couple transfers, and walk to find my friend Nikki's apartment.  I had mixed up Palmerston Street and Palmerston Place, and I was lucky that a bunch of Aussie construction workers on their lunch break confirmed that, "Oh yeah, a bunch of girls have been in and out of that apartment all day...I think it's a hostel or something!"  Indeed it turned out to be my friend's apartment, and yes it is quite like a hostel:  five bedrooms (plus one living room squatter) with only one toilet!  I've heard rumors that there's an extra toilet but it's an outdoor one on the back patio and I'm sort of afraid to check it out.

     My friend works every day so I've been in exploration mode these past two days and then we meet up when she is finished with work.  Last night I went with her sister, Millie, and some of her friends to a rooftop bar.  We had some drinks in the sunshine and I almost forgot the ruthless winter I came from in the US.  For dinner we went to a place called "Lentils As Anything."  It's a sort of self-sufficient non-for-profit organization that relies on donations as well as volunteers to cook and serve the food.  Patrons are asked to contribute what they feel their meal is worth as well as based on their financial situation.  It was a delicious array of vegetarian food including salad with coconut dressing, rice, potatoes, fried cabbage, lentils (of course), and many other things I wasn't quite sure what they were.

     Today Millie and I went for a cappuccino in the Italian district on Lygon St.  It's very cool today because rain storms are headed this way, so we enjoyed our hot beverages in the outdoor seating area.  I also took a tram down to the National Gallery of Victoria, just past the Yarra River.  It was a great view of the city plus a nice walk around to see the shops.  There are pedestrian lanes here called "arcades" where shops, restaurants, and urban art are accessible as you walk.  Sometimes they are down an alley from a main road or even underground by a train station.  I'm also getting excited to meet my friend Tessa tonight for the Queen Victoria Market.  I plan on sampling a lot of food and checking out all the different goods they have for sale!

Eureka Tower, tallest building in Melbourne

Flinders St Station, backs onto the Yarra River and extends two city blocks

National Gallery of Victoria

Archway of the Cathedral Arcade

Final days in Singapore

     It's been a relaxing last few days in Singapore.  Emily and I threw a party at her apartment on Saturday night, where I was very excited to be reunited with a friend from the Purdue Contemporary Dance Company!  Crazy that half way around the world we would be able to see each other again.  Sunday we took it easy in the morning, and in the afternoon made our way to the Singapore Zoo.  They have one of the best zoos in Southeast Asia.  My favorite animals were the big cats like white tigers, lions, and cheetahs.  The scariest thing we saw was the komodo dragon.  They are terrifyingly fast and have over 50 strains of bacteria in their mouths; if they bite prey it will eventually die from the infection.

     Later that night Emily's friend Alvin picked us up in his parents' car.  They are rare here because the registration alone is around $80,000 Singaporean dollars for 10 years.  He took us to the Yishun Hawker Centre for chickenrice, the national dish of Singapore.  The chicken for this dish is cooked in sub-boiling temperatures in a stock solution flavored with garlic and ginger.  The chicken is served cold with garnishes such as pickled pineapple, cucumber, and tomato.  The rice is served piping hot with dark soy and chili dipping sauces.

     We also went on an hour long hunt for durian, the King of Fruits in Asia.  They have a spiky outer husk with a soft inner fruit.  Durians have a pungent, almost mildewey aroma that gets stronger the more you're around it.  They are so stinky that the durian is banned on public transportation in Singapore.  I'm glad I tried it, but the durian is not for me.  The end of the night was perfect when we visited the Marina Barrage, a dam where they've also created a pedestrian space.  It was so cool and windy with people flying kites, and there was an amazing night view of the city.

     This morning I am packing and getting ready for the next leg of my journey:  Australia.  I'll fly from Singapore overnight to Melbourne and arrive in the morning.  So excited to finally see the land Down Under!

Reunited with Dallan, former PCDC buddy

Fun party at Emily's

One Raffles Place

The lemurs were loose int he zoo, hopping around

Chickenrice, national dish of Singapore

I met the elusive durian

Night view of Marina Bay Sands

The True Singaporean Foodie Experience

     Yesterday Emily and I took a personal day and went to Sentosa Island.  I'm not sure if we're a bunch of sickos, but we proceeded to eat spicy Indian food on the beach at 88 degrees F.  It was so nice to walk along the beach, with the cool waves splashing up onto our feet.  No swimming for us; there were a ton of ocean freight-liners in the bay.  Em got some sun while I laid in the shade, and then we had some ice cream:)

     On our way home from the beach we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some items for the party we're throwing tonight.  The food prices in the grocery store are absolutely ridiculous!  We paid $7.50 for a box of brownie mix (that's about $6 USD).  Granted, that's a specialized item that's imported from the US but food prices are generally inflated here compared to what I'm used to.

     We celebrated Valentine's Day by going to another of the happy hour events at Emily's work.  They had three specialty drinks and we had the French Kiss (gin, St Germain, lemon, Champagne).  Afterwards we went for dinner with two of Emily's coworkers, one from Singapore and the other from South Korea.  Since we had a true Singaporean, he gave us the ultimate foodie experience by taking us to the Newton Hawker Centre.  Hawker centres are basically open-air food courts.  As I'm learning, food is a central part to the cultural identity of Singapore.  Emily said when she first moved here, people were always asking her, "What did you eat for dinner last night?  What did you eat for breakfast this morning?"  Always an important topic of conversation among coworkers and friends.

     I really pushed my boundaries by trying all of the foods bought for us at the hawker centre:  sting ray, oyster omelette, squid, pork satay skewers, and sugar cane juice.  Let me describe to you the foods...sting ray has a very soft texture and was pretty neutral, tasting like the spices used to prepare it.  The oyster omelette just tasted like fried food.  The squid freaked me out at first, and I had to work up my courage to eat it.  It tasted a lot like a marinara sauce, and then the squid just took a long time to chew.  Of course the pork was delicious, and the sugar cane juice tasted like sweet grass.  Below are pictures of my newest foodie adventure, so proud:)

Sentosa Beach

The Merlion statue at Sentosa

Newton Hawker Centre

Sting ray

Oyster Omelette

Squid

Pork Satay

We love the new food:)