Cory U of CUExperiments

If you know me, you’ll know I’ll always be a kid at heart. So when we ran into a giant kids shop on day one there was no doubt we’d be taking the kids entrance & exploring. From Canadian headwear to creepy puppets, there was a whole lot to play around with.

My favourite was definitely the canoeing moose/reindeer Hello Kitty. If I wasn’t just a Canadian traveling her own Country, I’d probably come home with a lot more Canadian tourist souvenirs. I was so tempted!

-Cory U

I love that feeling of water rushing across your feet with every wave.

Along the Goldcoast. Kirra Beach.

-Cory U

Starting Adventure 2012 in Australia’s summer, you’d think I’d find the time to wander through the Botanical Gardens before the dead of winter. Instead, I only got the chance to go in the last weeks of Melbourne. Before hitting the final destination, somehow I came across a statue of Hercules & couldn’t help but pose for a random photo.

Although being Australia’s winter, I still enjoyed the wander through the gardens. My favourite was the “volcano” displaying various desert plants. Up at the top, there was a pretty nice view of the city skyscrapers through the garden trees.

Coolest part was viewing a pond that just looked like a giant green field! You’d think it was dirty disgusting algae, but it was really a plant growing on the surface of the water… Dana couldn’t help but poke a stick through it to prove there was really water below.

-Cory U

PS Dana & I laugh at the photo of us together since it totally looks like we could be holding hands…

Much to some of my friends’ amazement, the aquarium was the first time I had encountered jellyfish in Australia. (I have friends that fear I’ll die here from some poisonous animal & never come home… Hasn’t happend… Yet! Haha.)

Focusing on the jellyfish, & not the photos of me with fish, this is what I found was most interesting: The top left photo is of Threadfin Trevally’s that are said to mimic sea jellies to keep predators away. Their long fins look like jelly tentacles to other fish. To me, they were just really mesmerizing to watch. Also mesmerizing were the jellyfish themselves; it’s bizarre watching them float around & think how such an empty looking creature can give off such a deadly sting. Here’s hoping I don’t ever get to experience that pain in the next few months of still being here in OZ.

-Cory U

Like I said before, my favourite part of the aquarium was definitely sitting around & watching the fish swim around us. The Sea turtles were the most fun to watch as it seemed like they were wanting to clean their shells & kept wedging themselves between rocks & tight spaces. Either that, or they really just wanted to hide away real bad.

Creatures that were really cool to see? The Mexican Walking fish that can regenerate practically every part of its body (talk about super powers!) & the Sting Rays that seemed to always smile as they swam by. Oh ya, & I found out a Rock Lobster is not just a song but an actual lobster! (Yes, I’m admitting to not really knowing that.) Cue cheesy B52’s music now.

-Cory U

From penguins to sharks, we saw almost every water creature that we could’ve missed on out Reef & Rainforest trip at the Melbourne Aquarium. The strange part was seeing penguins from the Antarctic even though there are penguins roaming Melbourne’s “backyard” so-to-speak. Also strange, was finally seeing the commonly served Barramundi fish before being caught & cooked… That fish is BIG! My favourite was probably sitting inside the large circular fish tank watching the sharks & sea creatures swim around us.

Funny moments: A little Asain girl mistaking me for her mommy. & a little curly haired 2-ish yr old boy taking a liking to me & joining me in pointing out different fish even though he spoke a completely different language. Still not sure where they were visiting from but he was literally running across the room to his mum, turning around & shouting hello to me through a crowd of people. What a cutie.

-Cory U

More photos walking down the graffiti laneways. You could really crank your neck trying to spot all the tags & designs. One of the coolest things was walking through a group that looked almost like a class for graffiti artists. They all had their own section, masks, & variety of cans to choose from; they even pyloned the area! I can’t think of a city I’ve been in that doesn’t publicly tag their laneways like Melbourne.

A week after our main walk down the laneways & closer to the opening of the newest Dark Knight release, we spotted the Joker near Fed Square. I have a feeling since he’d already been tagged by the time we spotted him, he’s already painted over & won’t be seen there again.

-Cory U

PS The strangest thing to come across down the laneways was a posting infront of a clean drug facility that was closed up for the day due to a brawl. If you still needed your meth fix, there was a number to call. Somehow I forgot to take of picture of it, but I’ll probably always remember the note… Still one of the safest-feeling cities I’ve ever been in though.

One thing that makes Melbourne such a colourful & unique place is its graffiti. Laneways such as Hosier & AC/DC make just some of the alleys to tour through & see a whole other world of design. The fun thing is, you could walk down every single day & find new graffiti appear each time. I think it’s rumored that Banksy made his mark here too, only for it to be covered up by someone else who didn’t realize.

My favourites to see we’re the rodent/marsupial? (not sure which creature exactly) in the “diabetes” soda cup & “LOST”, since it reminded me once again that the crash in the series LOST all started in Australia. Dun dun dunnn.

-Cory U

Just to add to the whole experience or Skydeck88 there was a nicely fenced off outdoor viewing spot to feel how cold it was 80-something stories up on an autumn/winter day in Melbourne. There was a nice view of the more southern parts of Melbourne from there in the direction of areas like St.Kilda, my favourite Penguin viewing spot!

-Cory U

Still at Skydeck88 of Eureka tower. It was real fun playing with the angles of windows & sunlight reflections. I spoke to a local photographer later in the month when I recognized his tower photos from the tower view. He wished they’d hold evenings for photographers where they’d turn off the level’s lights so you could get nice clean shots of the city at night from above. Nothing of a photographer myself, I enjoyed how the windows acted like cool angled mirrors. Come to think of it, I’d be able to cut my hair fairly well with those…

-Cory U

Eureka!

Cheesy jokes aside, the Eureka tower is the tallest in Melbourne & showcases a great 360 view of the entire city from Skydeck88.

The fun part was being able to spot all the places I’ve been from every corner. I could spot the different neighbourhoods I explored, my random work locations & even my “home”. I found it really cool that depending where you were facing, the windows displayed different distance markings to main landmarks like the Great Ocean Road & Sydney.

I did however, find it anything but cool that the CN Tower wasn’t listed in their information exhibition of the tallest structures in the world. The CN Tower is still in the top 5 of the tallest freestanding structures after all & got no recognition! This proud Canadian wasn’t very impressed by that.

-Cory U

No matter how many times I walked through Melbourne there was always something to find that I didn’t spot before. Look up at the buildings & there’s always something new to notice. From strange shaped windows to people popping out of walls, there was never a building that seemed to look like another. & four straight walls never seem to be an option.

Walking to Eureka tower for the day, we ended up finally a bubbly & colourful building to I hadn’t seen before. Coolest was spotting it later on as we hovered above the city in the Eureka Tower.

Funniest part: Taking a photo along the Yarra river only to find it got photo bombed by a clever stranger.

-Cory U

It was a nice sketchy bus ride to get to Bondi Beach. Picture graffiti on seats & windows both inside & out kind of sketchy. I’ve never seen public buses trashed the same way as these. (Poor Sydney gets no props for their road transit from me.)

My main stop was the Bondi Markets that Sunday. Unfortunately the rain scared away some vendors & the atmosphere just wasn’t what it could’ve been, but I always enjoy a good wander through market stalls. The biggest hit with our group was a simple stall selling a variety of charms that were instantly linked together to make one-of-a-kind necklaces. There were at least 4 of us that came out of the market with a brand new unique necklace around our neck. Even though I definitely have the skills to build one myself (& admittingly travel with my own pliers), I still ended up buying one as well.

Didn’t stay long on the beach front as the rain was fighting to come out. From then on, the entire weekend was rainy & viewed under umbrellas with spongy wet shoes.

NEXT UP: Saying Goodbye to Sydney

-Cory U

Walking through Sydney, we came across this laneway featuring a now permanent art installation. Angel Place Laneway is decked out in 120 birdcages & commonly labeled birdcage alley. Even cooler, there are speakers set up on either side that when you walk through you can lightly hear the sounds of birds that once lived in the area.

It was definitely a hidden gem that I was happy to be shown.

NEXT UP: Manly Beach

-Cory U