The Adventures of Steph & Matt

Let us first say that we are sorry for being bad bloggers and not keeping you updated on a more regular basis. That is largely due to me (Steph) because I didn't update while Matt was away on some business trips to Sydney and Chicago. My sincere apologies!

So our real updates begin just last Sunday when Matt returned from being gone almost a week in Chicago for a work/leadership meeting! He had a great time learning some valuable leadership tips, catching up with old friends and coworkers, and raiding the CVS for decently priced protein bars.

For our first Aussie adventure, we headed out about an hour and a half southeast of Melbourne, to a little place called PHILLIP ISLAND. Matt's coworker, Manny, has a beach house out there and was so gracious to have us over and show us around the island!

Here we are at Surf Beach, just a 2 minute walk from Manny's house!

Above, you see THE NOBBIES and SEAL ROCK, on the southwestern part of the island. The Nobbies are the big craggy rocks you see in the background. Just left of them is a barely detectable sliver of rock called Seal Rock, where Australia's largest fur-seal colony come to catch some rays and warm up.

Some more views

Can you tell where we went next??

Our favorite part of the day: THE WILDLIFE PARK, to see Australia's unique animals!

Like the spiny Echidna and Tasmanian devil...

This colourful guy we don't remember the name of...

A Wombat...and her new baby! Fun fact: Wombats have rear-facing pouches!

We also met two of Oz's many famous birds: the Kookaburra (left), and the Cockatoo (right).

As well as the Emu....

Unless you've actually seen an emu up close and personal, there's really no way to describe how creepy and scary they are. All I could think was, "Oh. My. God. It's a velociraptor covered in feathers. It's going to kill me. I need to run away."
If you've seen Jurassic Park, then you know what I'm talking about. I just wanted to get out of there. When one of them came chasing after me looking for food, I quickly threw my bag of feed to Matt and ran in the other direction. Needless to say, the visit to Wildlife Park helped me discover my intense dislike of large birds. Matt and Manny, on the other hand, really took to them.

After the creepy emus, we ventured to the friendlier animals: the Wallabies (they look like small Roos) and Kangaroos!

And of course, we couldn't forget about the Koalas...this one was actually awake (koalas can sleep up to 20 hours of the day!)

But the Dingoes were tired...

Hmmm...who looks more devilish?

"I want a pet wallaby!"

Next, Manny took us to a FOREST RESERVE to see if we could see some wallabies in the wild....we had to look hard to find them! Can you spot the one in the picture below?

(Clue: it looks like a dark brown stick in the trail)

Below is one we were able to get a little closer to

After a lovely "barbie" (BBQ) with Manny and his wife, we went to the beach to see the world famous PENGUIN PARADE! Just after the sun sets, thousands of little penguins (Eudyptula minor) emerge from the sea onto the beach and make their 'parade' to their nests for the night!

Since camera flashes scare the cute little waddlers, these pictures are the best we could do..

"I also want a pet penguin!"

Fast forward a few days and we were ready for another excursion! Melbourne has a unique LANEWAY (alley) system downtown that makes you feel like you're exploring a city within a city, so we decided to check it out. Tons of hidden restaurants, bars, shops, and cafes can be found along these laneways, which makes for some spectacular people watching!

We also discovered some funky, colourful graffiti in some of the lanes...take a look:

Hosier Lane

ACDC Lane

As we got ourselves 'lost' in the laneways, we also stumbled upon the GPO, an old postal building that has been turned into an upscale shopping mall, and Matt found his new Facebook profile picture there...

M is for Matt. M is also for mustache. Oops, I mean moustache. In the last few years, November in Australia has been dubbed "Movember" because of a group of guys who decided to grow moustaches (mo's) for a month to raise awareness for men's health, specifically prostate cancer. S0 they grew mo's for the cause and raised some money to help out. It caught on big time, and the moustachioed men movement has continued to bring on more supporters each year, and they have raised millions! Which means any cool guy out there, should be sporting (or trying to sport) a sweet 'stache. I mean, a sweet mo.

Don't you think Matt should grow a mo for a good cause? :)

Until our next adventure...

After being in Melbourne for a few days, here are some fun morsels we've discovered about the city!

The Coffee is DELICIOUS! There are lots and lots of small cafes that serve coffee drinks which put Starbucks and yes, even Peets, to shame. We're slowly learning the local coffee lingo. Here's what we know so far... Short black = one shot of espresso, Long black = double shot of espresso, Flat white = espresso with milk and a little foam, Latte = espresso with more milk and more foam. Steph ordered an Americano and what arrived was a full cup of espresso with a splash of milk. She was super-charged for the rest of the day!

Skinny Flat White

The food is also delicious, but rather expensive. Despite what we were told, the food in Melbourne has been very tasty. Matt's favorite meal was a hearty open-faced steak sandwich, topped with a fried egg. Steph's 3 favorite meals were a pork-belly sandwich, BBQ pork buns, and Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup). However, we've found the prices are more expensive than in the US.

Steph's new favorite book!

Doughnut with custard

"I know it looks weird, but it was delicious!" - Matt

Transportation is easy by car or tram. So far, Matt's been OK with driving on the wrong (left) side of the road. We'll keep you updated on his progress.
If you need to get around the city, the Tram is very efficient and easy. There aren't any ticket takers on the trams, so everything is based on the honor system. Every so often, the Tram Police will board to check everyone's ticket. If you're caught without a ticket, it's a $180 fine! Yikes...

ABBA World: The Official Interactive Exhibition! We randomly found this traveling exhibit during the last few weeks of its Melbourne stop. The exhibit was 100% ABBA and 100% AWESOME! We learned about ABBA history, saw the sequined ABBA outfits, sang to ABBA songs, and danced to ABBA videos. ABBA is LOVED by Australia (see also the movie "Priscilla Queen of the Desert") and Matt (after repeatedly listening to ABBA tapes during family road trips).