Moorea

Ok, so our hotel room was out on the water. We could go snorkeling off of our balcony. No big deal.

The first night there our hotel had this BBQ with a traditional Polynesian dance show. The food was wonderful- all sorts of fresh grilled fish and fresh fruit from the island. The show was really fun too- especially watching the white people attempt to move their hips like the polynesians do (it’s not that hard folks- the movement comes from bending your knees, not from actually moving your hips).

Also, I want to learn how to dance with fire.

Anyway. next day we went on a cruise around the island. The cruise itself, while pretty, was kind of boring. We expected more commentary and history, but it was literally just driving us in a circle around the island. Oh well. It ended up being totally worth it when we got the to the swimming with sting rays and sharks bit!

As my friend Charlie said, sting rays feel like marshmallows and act like puppies. Unless you threaten them: then they act like killing Steve Erwin. I like they way they feel when they swim against you- so soft! And slippery. It was cool.

The sharks weren’t interested in us- they swam within a few feet of us, but probably only because our tour guide was throwing food to them. Still, it was cool to be so close.

You could also see sharks under our hotel room!

Tahiti, Part 1

Our vacation after our vacation. I mean, we’ve been sooooo busy! We really needed a break, you know?

This was also when we lived March 20^th/21^st twice- once in Auckland/Hobbiton(!!) and once in Tahiti. Kind of trippy!

I don’t even remember what we did the first couple of days in Tahiti. Not much of anything, I think. I know at some point we went into the market in Papeete and looked at pearls and such. We also went to the Pearl Museum, which was pretty interesting actually- the biology behind the creation of the pearl, the history of the pearl trade, how to determine quality, etc. It’s funny- the pearls to native Tahitians were sort of like gold to the native Peruvians- something they had in abundance, used in decoration and jewelry, but overall not that big of a deal. Until the Europeans came along and went crazy over that shit. Thankfully there wasn’t a giant massacre here over it like there was in Peru, but let’s face they facts- they speak French here now. Oh those white people and their love of shiny things. It’s pretty, yeah, but damn! Calm yourselves.

Hobbitses!

Aaaaand back to Auckland. Just two days though, before heading to Tahiti. Best make the most of it, eh?

Saturday we headed out on a leisurely harbor cruise- I just wanted to be out on the water, enjoying the sun (but taking frequent, sun-burn prevention shade breaks). And that’s exactly what it was- leisurely.

That night I headed out to Brew on Quay (pronounced key down under- no one could explain to me why or what exactly a quay is (and I asked!). And they were shocked that the Florida Keys weren’t spelled Quays! You are weird, people down under.) Anyway, another fun craft beer bar recommended by Luke. I actually got to have the Epic-Thornbridge Stout on tap- woot!

Next day we went to Hobbiton!! And again, I let my freak flag fly. I was sooooooo excited! Especially because the entire set had recently been rebuilt in preparation for the filming of The Hobbit. Apparently after LOTR, New Line disassembled most of Hobbiton and the tour primarily consisted of the natural landscape and a few shells of hobbit holes that the farm owners managed to save. So hurrah! We got to see Hobbiton in all its glory! Unfortunately for you all though, because of that, we are not allowed to post any pictures until the release of the movie or we will be sued. And I can’t afford to be sued by New Line. So if you’d like to see the pictures, you will have to ask me for a personal presentation/slideshow from my computer. Or wait three years or so.

The Shire!

St. Paddy's Day!

Beer Fest! And trouble- also St. Paddy’s!

So one of the best things about writing for MBR is that I can drop this little, “oh, I write for a beer blog in America” line here and there and get way better treatment than I should. No one asks what blog or what the readership is, they’re just excited to show off.

So I may have done this at the beer festival….

And met so many people because of it! Brewers and other festival attendees alike. Best to meet the brewers though- they ignore that whole ticketing system at that point- they just keep pouring samples. So full reviews will be on MBR, I’ll give a quick overview here. The festival featured only craft breweries from Victoria, with the exception of Murray's who cheated and took over the taps inside Beer Deluxe. Sometimes that kind of cheating is ok. J I was first shown around by Julian from Holgate- he gave me samples of all of their beers first and then led me around to some of his other recommendations. I ended up landing with Hendo from Prickly Moses who led me through his sampling. He may be coming stateside for the Great American Beer Festival- might have to make it a point to get out there this year! He then sent me on to Murray's, the cheaters, who actually might have had the best line up there, from what I tasted (sorry Victoria breweries!). Overall I had a really great time and tasted a lot of great beer. But the evening didn’t end there…. because it was St. Patrick’s day as well!

We made plans to meet up with Amy and Nick (from Port Douglas) at an Irish bar… which had a line out the door and around the corner by the time we got there. Boooo. So we went to a bar we had seen earlier on the walking tour that had a good party going earlier and was completely hidden in the middle of the financial district. Worked out! No line and they had Guinness. We closed that bar down and then headed over to the casino, since it was pretty much the only thing left open. No gambling done, but definitely more drinking. And a dude who came a picked me up in a big hug and then called me squishy. Squishy. Loads of fun, drank more than we should have and were sad to say goodbye to our Melbourne friends. But hey! What is facebook for??

Our last day in Melbourne we pretty much just had time for lunch before leaving for the airport. I kind of insisted on going back to Cookie- thankfully, JR was compliant. :) And happily, the bar was not packed! We had a really great time talking to Luke and Chris, our bartenders. Both knowledgeable and, Luke especially, excited to share and talk beer. We did some sampling and then I ended up going with a lager made by a winery based on a recommendation from Luke- would not have been my first choice- probably ever- but it was actually very nice. Kudos to Luke for surprising me and, really, just being an awesome bartender. A rare thing in a world without tips! I unloaded all of the Oz money I had left as their tip before heading out to the airport. I’d definitely like to spend more time in Melbourne next time I come back!

Melbourne Walking Tour

Day 3 in Melbourne we headed out for a walking tour the city. Probably should have done it day one because we came across a lot of things we would have liked to dedicate more time to- but hindsight is 20/20. Guess I’ll just have to go back!

The tour was lead by a young guy named Dave and it was pretty hip for a walking tour. He took us through history and architecture- the usual walking tour content- but also took us to see Melbourne street art, some rock clubs and Melbourne’s coffee culture. It was pretty cool. Some of the street art was amazing and included some Banksy.

Some interesting architectural history: this building (pictured below) is the tallest building in Melbourne and has a viewing deck at the top. More importantly though, the building was designed to recognize Melbourne’s laborers- the blue and white represents the labor unions flag, while the gold represents the prosperity that’s a result of their work and the red is the blood of their labor. The great irony, of course, is that no laborer would ever be able to afford to live in this building.

Another, kind of hilarious, bit of info about Melbourne: they have these art projects all over the city that rely on mechanics in one way or another… that seldom actually work. The top picture shows these bells that are supposed to play music periodically throughout the day- Dave said some days they work, most days they don’t. The bottom picture is a large project representing all of the different nations where folks have migrated from- the big silver sculptures are supposed to move across the bridge apparently, but tend to get stuck.

Anyway, Melbourne was fun and I’d definitely like to spend some more time there. Probably not going to happen for quite awhile though!

The Melbourne Hook

So Melbourne has this thing called “the Melbourne hook.” In order to turn right, you must go into thefar left lane and cross 4+ lanes of traffic to make your right turn. The excuse for this is the trolleys that run in the middle of the road- you can’t go into the far right lane to turn right because you can’t block the trolleys. Instead, you endanger the lives of yourself and others by gunning across multiple lanes of traffic for a simple right turn. This is the Melbourne Hook. And let me tell you- it is thoroughly confusing and terrifying for out of town drivers.

The sign explains it all?

Marvelous Melbourne

Sorry Sydney folks- but my vote goes to Melbourne! Though Federation Square might be the ugliest building I’ve ever seen, the rest of the city has a lot of beautiful architecture and the city, I thought, just has a better overall vibe to it. There’s more life. Melbournians (?) don’t go to bed early on a Saturday night.

Federation Square. Wretch.

Pretty architecture vs. hideous (Fed Square again)

Train Station

First night I headed out to a bar called Cookie, based on a recommendation from Luke and Kelly. A little unexpected- Thai food meets craft beer bar, but it was awesome! The place was packed on a Tuesday night and the food was fantastic. As was the beer selection. J I had the chili chicken. Twice. And paired it with Bridge Road's Beechworth (English Style) Pale Ale- quite nice! Unfortunately, because it was so busy, I didn’t get to geek out like I wanted to, so I just picked a beer and decided to revisit Cookie later in the week at an off time (who knew Tuesday night at 10:30pm wouldn’t be off??).

Next day we hit up another craft beer bar called Beer Deluxe for lunch (we were all about sleeping in as much as possible- very little happened in the mornings). Also a big fan of this place, though the food isn’t quite as impressive as Cookie (that’s definitely not to say it was bad though!). And guess what just happened to be going on there over the next two afternoons- a beer festival! Woot! Kind of thrilled to have stumbled on that, I bought tickets for the next day right away.

That night we split up and I headed out to the penguin parade. Every night just after dusk, thousands of penguins climb up this one beach to their nests. Literally thousands. I couldn’t miss that! And they were so cute! I kind of love penguins. I like how the wattle. From the viewpoint where I sat, we saw several hundred go by. They just kept coming! And then they’d hang out in front of our platform for a bit while the dried off and re-oiled (to keep waterproof). Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures there, but here’s a link to an illegal video of them. Multiple this by a couple hundred or so.

Penguin Parade