Destination #6: Melbourne & Sydney, Australia
At about 30 days into our journey my tummy said that it had had enough of my abuse! The day before flying off to Melbourne I was woken up at around 6 AM with sharp pains in my stomach. We were still in Malaysia, and luckily we hadn’t planned anything that day. At around 9 AM I decided to wake Cliffton up because the pain didn’t seem to go away and was getting more intense. We decided that it would be better to be cautious and went to the local clinic. The doctor there thought it was probably just an upset stomach but wanted to rule out appendicitis so I was sent over the Gleneagles hospital down the road to do some blood work and do an ultrasound. After getting tossed around from one room to another we got the good news that all my organs in my abdomen looked normal. I probably just had gastritis- inflammation of the lining of the tummy. So I was given an IV dose of an antacid and some liquid Gaviscon (I think). Then I was Rxed some Nexium and Gaviscon to settle down the acids and they sent me on my way. By this time it was probably around 3 PM and Cliffton and I hadn’t eaten a thing except a croissant we bought in the hospital.
Cliffton was a dutiful husband and fetched me something simple to eat, but unfortunately this is when bad became worse. The gastritis morphed into all out food poisoning symptoms. Without getting graphic, I felt weak and shaky and could barely keep anything down, even water.
I pitifully hobbled onto our flight to Melbourne and tried to sleep. It was a night flight so I hoped that I would be knocked out all the way. Unfortunately, that was not the case. And I got to use those little plastic lined paper bags they put in the seat pockets of the airplane for nauseous people. Pretty sure I woke some people up. Poor Cliffton woke up every time I did. He did a great job comforting me and holding back my hair. Lol.
Anyways, after our horrific flight experience I was relieved to see my wonderful Aunt Valerie and Uncle Alan when they picked us up from the airport. Sadly, our first day in Melb was dedicated to sleep and delicately sipping on water. We made a quick stop at my Aunt’s favorite breakfast/dessert place called Brunetti’s, but I think I was too tired to take in how amazing all the pastries and cakes looked. I was slowly nursed back to health by my Aunt and sweet cousin Frances with some good old chicken soup, bread and green juice.
Day two Cliffton got to play golf with Uncle Alan and some kangaroo’s. This was probably the highlight of his trip because he was having some golf withdrawal! While the men were golfing, my Aunt whisked me off for some shopping! I discovered an Australian athletic clothing line called Lorna Jane and got some comfy athletic pants that I admit I’ve been living in all this time… :) Don’t worry I got 2 pairs. For lunch we cautiously made our way out onto the food scene. I had a hearty meal of Chinese porridge which was easy on the tummy! For dinner we were in Carlton and went to Te Amo II. I had the most gigantic bowl of Italian brothy soup (that I ate almost half of, yeyyy!) and we had dessert at Brunetti’s (again, it’s my Aunt’s most favorite place). We also met up with Cliffton’s long lost friend Lionel and his roommate Woody (sp?) at this cool library-looking bar called Fall From Grace! You pull out this book from a bookcase, and it swivels around to reveal the bar downstairs. It’s so cool (no pics sadly).
Day three of our adventures in Melbs we had brunch at St. Ali’s, one of Cliffton’s sister Corine’s favorite brunch places back when she lived in Oz. After a great breakfast (that I was able to keep down, yeyyyy) we visited the Melbourne Eureka Skydeck! We then walked along the riverside on the bridge and made our way to the Block Arcade for the famous Hopetoun Tea Room! I love how in Australia they take high tea very seriously. When you order tea you get the whole darn kettle! It’s so great! I wish they did this in the US. We also took a quick detour into Crown casino. Blackjack in Australia is whack. There’s this rule where if the dealer makes 22 it’s called a “standoff” so odds aren’t as good for the player. So we left! For dinner I met up with my good friend Susie and her Australian bf William for Korean BBQ at a place called Tuwoo (none for me though, just soup lol).
Our last day in Melbs we went to church with the family at St. Anthony’s, and then had Yum Cha! Definitely, some great dim sum (better than America, but of course not as good as HK in our rankings). After lunch Cliffton and I did some wandering around downtown. We stopped by Degraves street for tea time and I got another giant pot of peppermint tea (only tea that’s okay on my acidic stomach), and a huge lump of tiramisu that I shouldn’t have eaten any of. But, no regrets it was amazing! For dinner we met up with Cliffton’s 2 cousins and their kids. We went to an exceptional Vietnamese restaurant for Pho and then again it was tea time at a chocolate shop nearby!
Melbourne is definitely a comfortable city, in fact it’s called “the most livable city” in the world. We’re not sure what that really means though. I would compare it to Atlanta and maybe Vancouver mixed together. It’s definitely busy, it’s got good food, definitely a lot of British influence, but it’s really spread out in terms of all the pockets of suburbs (like ATL). Cliffton and I had the impression it would be more of an artsy hipster place, but we didn’t really get that vibe while we were there. It’s also not stiflingly over-populated like some of the Asian cities we’ve been too (like HK). In other words, it’s pleasantly calm and welcoming. If I had to get sick anywhere, I suppose this was one of the better places to do it.
Onward to Sydney! Sydney definitely had a more touristy, fast paced vibe from what Cliffton and I could tell. We landed in the morning around 10 AM and headed directly to the Westfield Mall for a brunch of Shanghainese soup dumplings at Din Tai Fung and then the Sydney Tower Eye. As you can tell Cliffton has a thing for good views of the skyline. Our view did not disappoint. The Harbour of Sydney makes it extremely unique and beautiful. Before we left I fell in love with a giant wombat stuffed animal. I was pretty heartbroken that we couldn’t take him home, but I would definitely have to throw out clothes to do so. We then wandered on over to Hyde Park to look at the Anzac memorial which was right next to our boutique hotel Park 8. Luckily, we landed in Sydney on exactly the last day of the Vivid light show. Which was pretty cool! Before dinner we headed down to the Sydney Opera House to watch the beautiful lights. For dinner we met up with Cliffton’s delightful cousin Hansel and his partner Scott for tapas and had the chance to catch up on the last almost 2 years!
Our second day in Sydney unfortunately was met with yucky weather. The all day rain didn’t dampen our spirits though! It seems like we’ve been bringing the rain everywhere we go, so in a way we are used to it! We were not, however prepared for the wind! On our way to the Museum of Contemporary Arts I saw a wombat in a store window and this time left with our new little friend, Pudgekins (or Pudge for short). The MCA was a pretty cool museum, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Cliffton enjoyed himself too (he doesn’t like art…). There's a lot of interactive art pieces so it makes it more interesting for "non-art goers" than just walking around staring at classic artworks that they may not be familiar with. After that we met up with Hansel and Scott again and had an Italian lunch in the Rocks area. Then they took us our first Sydney ferry ride to Kiribilli (Scott and Hansel’s neighborhood). And after braving the torrential down pour it was tea time! After a cozy afternoon in a nice warm home, we went back across the Harbour to meet up with my long lost friend Caroline and her friends Melanie and Scott! Caroline and Melanie have been backpacking across the world for the past 11 months! We met up in Potts Point for some more Shanghainese soup dumplings and noodles at a place called Dumpling and Noodle House!
Our last day in Sydney we had much better weather. We started off with breakfast in the Queen Victoria building, which is a historic building that houses a lot of shops and food places. Again, I got my pot of peppermint tea and some lovely toast! After that we made our trek over to the Sydney Harbour bridge. Once we were across the bridge near the Rocks again, Cliffton suddenly got very frantic because we needed to find a bar to watch the Cleveland vs. Golden State game. To which I was quite confused because I don’t care about basketball. We went to the oldest pub in Sydney called Fortune of War and watched the last quarter of the game. The bar was literally filled with ONLY Americans. When the game was over we had lunch near the Harbour, and then took a ferry to Darling Harbour. Mostly, we just wanted to go on the ferry again. We had the good fortune to run into Caroline and Melanie again while walking along the bridge in Darling Harbour. We parted ways again, and walked around the area, and didn’t find much. On our walk back to the hotel again we ran into them again! :) So lucky. Before dinner we stopped by for tea time again at this coffeeshop called Pablo & Rusty’s and I had the BEST CHAI TEA OF MY LIFE!!!! They not only gave me a pot of the tea, they gave me a mini submarine. I literally had about 4 cups of chai, and after that felt pretty hyped up for dinner! We decided yet again to have more Shanghainese soup dumplings at a really good restaurant in Westfield called New Shanghai.
Sydney has many things to offer. They’ve got great food, tea time, historical buildings, beautiful parks, friendly people and most importantly the beautiful harbour. We would definitely return, but next time we would try summer to check out the beaches! :)
