I am officially of legal drinking age in the US.  Not that it will matter much for a while, but it is still pretty cool.  I didn't have the normal 21st birthday either.  Thursday morning Aarika, Lisa, Dan, Jeff, and myself headed to Melbourne for the long weekend ( Monday was a public holiday in Adelaide for a horse race, the Adelaide Cup).  Luckily, its super short flight to Melbourne from Adelaide, only around an hour.  We got to our hostel super early though, so we had to wait around to check in.  It was pretty cold and rainy, so we headed to the Immigration Museum for a while.  The boys hated it, but I though it was pretty interesting.  After we all navigated our way back to the hostel, with only getting slightly lost, we went to this really cool bar to have dinner.  The inside of the bar was dark, but it was lit up by fixtures that had pictures and patterns all over them so they cast a strange glow and one section even had Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling.  Half of the bar was filled with couches and coffee tables and the other half had regular tables and chairs.  The decorations were so crazy.  One wall had doll heads lined up along the top and every wall had random picture frames, knick-knacks, and mirrors.  It was the craziest bar I have ever been to, but also the coolest.  Plus, they had $4 pizzas!

 Friday we booked a bus tour of The Great Ocean Road, which is a road that was carved into the sides of the cliffs along the coast east of Melbourne.  The road curves and bends with huge hills and drops while looking out over the ocean.  It was a gorgeous drive, but our bus driver was a little bit crazy.  He drove so fast that every car in front of us would pull over and let us pass by.  We stopped at an Aboriginal Cultural center where we got to listen a guy play the didgeridoo.  A didgeridoo is an Aboriginal instrument created by termites.  Making the instrument is just finding a tree limb that has been hollowed out naturally by termites, cutting the limb off as the desired length.  They’re so cool because each one is different and creates a different sound.  Most of the sound is actually created with the mouth by moving your tongue and having different pressures of air in your cheeks.  Apparently, these can only be played by men and Nicole Kidman recently got in trouble for playing one!  I took videos of the guy who played for us because it sounds so awesome.  It actually doesn’t sound like a wood instrument at all.  It sounded almost electronic.  I really enjoyed it. 

 We had a few other smaller stops along the road including a wildlife park to see koalas and for a rainforest walk.  We also stopped at Bells Beach, which is apparently one of the greatest surf spots in the world.  Too bad I haven’t learned yet…

 One of the main attractions of The Great Ocean Road is seeing the 12 Apostles.  These are limestone stacks that are naturally formed by the ocean.  The waves wear away at the base of the cliff creating a small inlet, until the cliff can’t be supported anymore and a sheet of rock falls.  The directions of the waves have left these stacks disconnected from the mainland.  Eventually, the stacks crumble away which is why there are actually only 9 of the 12 left.  We stopped at Loch Ard Gorge and London Bridge, two other natural tourist spots on the coast.  The Loch Ard Gorge is an inlet with caves that has a famous old story of a ship wreck to go along with it.  The London Bridge on the other hand has newer story of a couple getting stuck out on the limestone stack when the bridge collapsed. 

 

On the way back from the tour, we were passing through the city and saw the Crown Casino, which is the largest casino in the southern hemisphere.  We decided to give it a shot.  I have never been to a casino before, so at first I stuck to the slot machines with Lisa.  Unfortunately, I did not do very well on those.  A little while later, Dan decided to show me how to play the Big Wheel and after one bet, I was hooked.  I turned 21 sitting at a table, losing all my money over the next 3 hours.  Despite the fact that I lost, I had a really fun night.  I can honestly say I am much happier that we were there rather than out drinking!

 Aarika, Lisa, and I of course spent the next day shopping.  In the morning, we dragged the guys to Victoria Market, the largest market in Melbourne where I discovered my new favorite food.  Burek.  It’s a Bosnian food which is basically a fried dough filled with cheese or meat.  It reminded me a lot of a pierogi, except much thicker and it more of a pie form.  It is definitely the best thing I have eaten since being here!  Of course, we bought all kinds of other things at the market as well.  The boys decided they were sick of shopping and decided to go to the IMAX while us girls went to shop in Fitzroy, a more bohemian district.  It was a weird combination of expensive stores and thrift shops.  Some places were both in one.  

 The Moomba Festival was going on the whole time we were there, so Saturday night we figured we would check it out.  Strangely, it was an alcohol free event, which just surprised us.  Festivals like that at home always have beer tents and Aussies love drinking a whole lot more.  It was not very exciting, but we did go back on Monday for the water shows, which were really cool.

 On Sunday evening, I saw one of the coolest things I have ever seen in my whole life.  On Phillip Island, near Melbourne, there is a penguin march every evening just after dark.  We got to sit on the beach and watch these mini penguins come in on the waves from the day of eating, to go burrow in the hills.  These tiny penguins would come, a few at a time, out onto the sand only to immediately head back into the water.  After a while, they started coming out and walking up the beach into the hills.  There were boardwalks built right along the paths the penguins take up the hills.  We stood along the boardwalk and watched group after group of tiny penguins waddle up the hill.  We were only a few feet from them which was so incredible.  Sadly, we weren’t allowed to take pictures since the flashing scared the penguins.  I tried to sneak a video of it, but it didn’t come out.  Watching these penguins come out of the ocean and being so close to them, I actually felt like I was in the Planet Earth movies. 

 Overall, Melbourne was great.  The hostel on the other hand, I can’t say the same.  Oh well, it was only for a few days and we didn’t spend much time there luckily.  After 5 days traveling, we were all very exhausted.  This morning I was so glad to be back in Adelaide.  Unfortunately, this means week 2 of classes…