Yup! This was my first trip away from Asia.
My family wasn't big on traveling when I was young so the furthest I've been up until I went to high school was Leyte. So you can imagine the leap to Australia was a big thing for me. It would mark a lot of firsts in my life:
- First time outside Asia
- First time in the southern hemisphere
- First time to travel to a country during the winter season
- First time I'd see/touch snow
- First time I flew domestic in a foreign land
- First time I'd travel abroad for more than a week
You get the picture. I often say to my friends that whenever I travel to an unfamiliar place, the sense of wonder in my eyes never goes away. I get amazed by the silliest things when I travel and Australia was no different.
I'll be talking about five aspects of my travels... you know, just so I have a guide while writing this post. I'll be talking about the people, the food, the things to do, the sights to see, and one of my favorite things about travelling abroad, the transportation system (I'm not even joking about this one).
People
When we landed in Sydney airport, I can't say I was overwhelmed by their friendliness. I guess there exists a natural law that prohibits immigration personnel from being too friendly. Don't get me wrong; they weren't rude, they were just not friendlier than normal. Me and Ham took an Uber to Central station where we'd meet up with Lucky. The Uber driver was nice enough but it was when we were waiting in the station that I met my first friendly Australian.
She had seen me and Ham with our big bags and asked where we came from. We told her we came from the Philippines and she went on to talk about someone she knows who knows someone from the Philippines. Australians love their small talk and even though we had to leave shortly after we started talking, I won't forget that friendly old woman.
Australians are just naturally friendly, I guess. If they're not, they're just pleasant people to interact with. My only idea of how Australians are was from Masterchef Australia and I always said they seemed like the nicest people... and they are!
From time to time, I'd interact with an immigrant but I can say that the locals are the ones who are really nice people. I'm used to going into a restaurant/fast food chain and being greeted with, "Good morning, sir! Welcome to _________." That's nice and all but to be greeted with a "Hey, guys! How are you?" just seems more natural and genuine. I even felt more "peaceful" when they'd say, "Peace be with you" as mass. By the way, special mention to the priest in the church in Melbourne. He took time to talk to me and ask me about my vacation so far. Ahhhh. Australians, don't change.
Food
This is a tricky one. I didn't know much about Australian food except fish and chips and Vegemite so I don't think there's much in the way of good Australian food. Or maybe I just didn't try it. What I did get to try was authentic Korean cooking as well as Japanese cooking. Korean grill, Raw Beef, Ramen, Sushi, Sashimi, Donburi. These are the things that make me happy.
Now, I must say that Sydney has a lot of Asians. Vietnamese, Koreans, Japanese, Chinese and Filipinos are all over the place. I guess this explains why I noticed Asian cooking more than Western cooking. I did get to try a kangaroo burger, which they say has leaner meat. I couldn't notice the difference much compared to pork. But I noticed they use a lot of beet root in their food. It was a good change for me so at least I got to try out a different kind of burger before leaving Australia.
Street food isn't something you see so often so as soon as I realized that this wasn't going to be a food tripping travel, I was happy and content with the next few items I was looking forward to see in a foreign country.
Things to do
This was a big issue for us when we were planning our trip. Our original tickets had us in Sydney for 11 days. Cebu Pacific then moved our return flight by 2 days so we had to fill 13 days with activities for us to do.Technically one day wouldn't count as it was the day of our flight back home but still. This was not a small task. As a guide, this was how our trip to Australia was planned:
Day 0 - Layover in Manila
Days 1 to 3 - Sydney
Days 4 to 7 - Melbourne
Days 7 to 9 - Sydney
Days 9 to 10 - Thredbo
Days 10 to 12 - Sydney
Day 13 - Go back home :-(
Our fear was basically this: we'd have 2 to 4 days where we'd either have nothing to do, or spend more than our allotted travel budget to fill these days with things to do. Fortunately, we didn't have this problem. We had a total of 8 whole days in Sydney alone and I can't think of a dull time. We were either trekking, walking in the parks, window shopping, going to the beach. Museums were plentiful in Australia but we just opted out of those activities. We did go to a zoo and luckily for us, Taronga Zoo was still celebrating the birth of a baby elephant and I got to see one before it turned one month old.
Just talking a walk in a park or on any of the trails, you'd find little pieces of art. One in particular captured my eye as it showed a free diver and a scuba diver and I enjoy both these activities. Public performances are a common sight in the streets of Australia - a singer, dancer, contortionist, juggler, and even magicians. These performances are really nice to watch and observe and the best thing about them is you don't need to look for them. You, literally, just bump into them.
We did set a day or two for Thredbo. I was already in a country experiencing winter and I was not going to let the trip finish without getting my first hand experience with snow. I could've opted to try out skiing or snow boarding but truth be told, I wasn't in the mood for wiping out during my first snowy experience so I contented myself with sliding down a kiddie slope in a toboggan and getting my picture taken with a snowman.
Yup! Snow. Snow made 5 hour drive to Thredbo and 5 hour drive back worth it.
Sights to see
We had lucked out when we booked the tickets last October to schedule our trip during Vivid Sydney! The Sydney Opera House looked it's best during Vivid Sydney. Even Taronga Zoo had a bunch of installments for Vivid Sydney and although we didn't stay for the night, they still looked pretty awesome! Harbour Bridge looked amazing on our first night out.
We did get the chance to see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge at different times/angles - at night during Vivid Sydney, in the morning on a ferry, during sunset from Mrs. Macquarie's chair, up close and personal when I peaked inside - and each time, it looked new and took a little bit of my breath away. I was seeing a landmark that defined Australia in my head and it felt unreal that I was seeing this structure up close.
Our brief visit to Melbourne saw us drive through the Great Ocean Road on our way to see the Twelve Apostles. Again, it was another sight worth the long drive. One could really appreciate the forces of nature that shaped the apostles over the years. I'm actually curious to find out what they would look like in 20 or 30 years. Many tourists might even be in awe as seeing the Pacific Ocean, looking into the distance and realizing how vast that ocean is but for me, it wasn't something especially breathtaking; Siargao's view of the Pacific spoiled me, you could say.
We also got to see some other things like the Bathing Boxes on Brighton beach, the Eureka Skydeck, and the Etihad Stadium. I'm clumping these three together coz even if I did enjoy our visit to them, they paled in comparison to everything else we'd seen in Australia (i.e., snow. Yes, everything takes a backseat to snow).
One last place I'd like to mention however is St. Mary's Cathedral. We were supposed to hear mass here one time but our schedule forced us to hear mass in another church. This place was amazing. I'm not going to pretend I know the architectural terms for this style so I'll be honest in saying I got my info from Wikipedia. The Gothic architecture just looked so stunning! I love the churches here in the Philippines but this one just had a different feel to it. Inside was so peaceful and solemn, it made me want to pray. I even noticed the some other tourists came in and offered their prayers as well. I'll always think what it would feel like to hear mass there. Oh well, that's something to do for my next visit.
Transportation System
Call me a geek but I seriously geek out over a foreign country's transportation system and I try to memorize it. I get amazed how seamless everything seems to be. A quick check online shows that you need to ride a train to this station then transfer to a bus when you get there before you finally reach your destination. Here, you'd have to think, "The train will cost me X pesos and the bus will cost me another X pesos. When I get there, the jeep will cost another X pesos." There, the system was so ingenious.
It'll cost you X AUD to go from point A to B only, Y AUD from B to C only, and Z AUD from C to D. But if you plan to go from A to D while simply passing through B and C, it'll charge you a totally separate fare which is less than (X + Y +Z) AUD. I still don't get how they do that but the geek in me wants to try to program that thing.
Of course, this thing isn't isolated to Australia. Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan all have these systems in place but Sydney's train system was probably the most complex. I was able to understand Tokyo's trains pretty well and those were in a language I didn't understand. But had I been left behind on a platform in Sydney, there would probably be a 75% chance I'd get lost or ride a train that I shouldn't. This is because the train tracks in Sydney service more than one route.
In Singapore, for example, if you ride the purple line, you'll end up on the end of the purple line and a quick look at your little guide will tell you exactly what station that will be. Sydney is different, some trains look like they'd go the same direction but diverge upon reaching a certain stop. And say, you miss your stop, it's not as simple as going to the opposite side of the platform and taking that one back to your stop. I get why this complication exists.
Sydney has all its trains and they're all interconnected so seamlessly it doesn't become as tourist friendly as the ones in Hong Kong where there are signs everywhere which practically tell you, "You are now standing on the platform where the Red train will stop." Not to say it's more complicated. They actually have a phone app where all you need to do is enter your starting point and destination and it tells you exactly what time you need to be a platform 18 to catch the express train to your next stop where you'll have to transfer to platform 4 where you'll have to wait 3 minutes to ride the train which will bring you to your destination. Pretty handy, I'd say.
Melbourne, on the other hand (from what I saw, at least), went with trams with some train stations for further distances. They even had a Free Tram Zone which we used to our heart's content to get around because free things make everything better. They had the same issue I had with Sydney trains in that I couldn't tell for certain whether a tram would move straight or turn at the corner. As a result, we did have to leave a tram we didn't need to since we didn't know which way it would go. As it was my first time riding trams in a city, I still enjoyed the experience very much.
We didn't ride buses all that much but we did few times. I was impressed with how strict the time table was for their buses. If the time table said the bus would arrive at 3:47PM at that stop, it would. I wish I could've ridden the buses more in Sydney. My only other point of comparison would be taking the buses on EDSA and I think we can all agree that isn't the most pleasant experience.
Wrapping up
I'm actually surprised at how this post unfolded. The transportation system in Australia took up the most space. I must really be that kind of geek. Lol.
I really enjoyed my Aussie trip and I wouldn't mind going back there again and again. I've never said this about another country but I wouldn't mind living there. My heart is still stuck in the Philippines so I'm not leaving any time soon but if I were to live abroad, I'd definitely consider Australia the most.
Day 0 - Layover in Manila
Days 1 to 3 - Sydney
Days 4 to 7 - Melbourne
Days 7 to 9 - Sydney
Days 9 to 10 - Thredbo
Days 10 to 12 - Sydney
Day 13 - Go back home :-(
Our fear was basically this: we'd have 2 to 4 days where we'd either have nothing to do, or spend more than our allotted travel budget to fill these days with things to do. Fortunately, we didn't have this problem. We had a total of 8 whole days in Sydney alone and I can't think of a dull time. We were either trekking, walking in the parks, window shopping, going to the beach. Museums were plentiful in Australia but we just opted out of those activities. We did go to a zoo and luckily for us, Taronga Zoo was still celebrating the birth of a baby elephant and I got to see one before it turned one month old.
Just talking a walk in a park or on any of the trails, you'd find little pieces of art. One in particular captured my eye as it showed a free diver and a scuba diver and I enjoy both these activities. Public performances are a common sight in the streets of Australia - a singer, dancer, contortionist, juggler, and even magicians. These performances are really nice to watch and observe and the best thing about them is you don't need to look for them. You, literally, just bump into them.
We did set a day or two for Thredbo. I was already in a country experiencing winter and I was not going to let the trip finish without getting my first hand experience with snow. I could've opted to try out skiing or snow boarding but truth be told, I wasn't in the mood for wiping out during my first snowy experience so I contented myself with sliding down a kiddie slope in a toboggan and getting my picture taken with a snowman.
Yup! Snow. Snow made 5 hour drive to Thredbo and 5 hour drive back worth it.
Sights to see
We had lucked out when we booked the tickets last October to schedule our trip during Vivid Sydney! The Sydney Opera House looked it's best during Vivid Sydney. Even Taronga Zoo had a bunch of installments for Vivid Sydney and although we didn't stay for the night, they still looked pretty awesome! Harbour Bridge looked amazing on our first night out.
We did get the chance to see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge at different times/angles - at night during Vivid Sydney, in the morning on a ferry, during sunset from Mrs. Macquarie's chair, up close and personal when I peaked inside - and each time, it looked new and took a little bit of my breath away. I was seeing a landmark that defined Australia in my head and it felt unreal that I was seeing this structure up close.
Our brief visit to Melbourne saw us drive through the Great Ocean Road on our way to see the Twelve Apostles. Again, it was another sight worth the long drive. One could really appreciate the forces of nature that shaped the apostles over the years. I'm actually curious to find out what they would look like in 20 or 30 years. Many tourists might even be in awe as seeing the Pacific Ocean, looking into the distance and realizing how vast that ocean is but for me, it wasn't something especially breathtaking; Siargao's view of the Pacific spoiled me, you could say.
We also got to see some other things like the Bathing Boxes on Brighton beach, the Eureka Skydeck, and the Etihad Stadium. I'm clumping these three together coz even if I did enjoy our visit to them, they paled in comparison to everything else we'd seen in Australia (i.e., snow. Yes, everything takes a backseat to snow).
One last place I'd like to mention however is St. Mary's Cathedral. We were supposed to hear mass here one time but our schedule forced us to hear mass in another church. This place was amazing. I'm not going to pretend I know the architectural terms for this style so I'll be honest in saying I got my info from Wikipedia. The Gothic architecture just looked so stunning! I love the churches here in the Philippines but this one just had a different feel to it. Inside was so peaceful and solemn, it made me want to pray. I even noticed the some other tourists came in and offered their prayers as well. I'll always think what it would feel like to hear mass there. Oh well, that's something to do for my next visit.
Transportation System
Call me a geek but I seriously geek out over a foreign country's transportation system and I try to memorize it. I get amazed how seamless everything seems to be. A quick check online shows that you need to ride a train to this station then transfer to a bus when you get there before you finally reach your destination. Here, you'd have to think, "The train will cost me X pesos and the bus will cost me another X pesos. When I get there, the jeep will cost another X pesos." There, the system was so ingenious.
It'll cost you X AUD to go from point A to B only, Y AUD from B to C only, and Z AUD from C to D. But if you plan to go from A to D while simply passing through B and C, it'll charge you a totally separate fare which is less than (X + Y +Z) AUD. I still don't get how they do that but the geek in me wants to try to program that thing.
Of course, this thing isn't isolated to Australia. Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan all have these systems in place but Sydney's train system was probably the most complex. I was able to understand Tokyo's trains pretty well and those were in a language I didn't understand. But had I been left behind on a platform in Sydney, there would probably be a 75% chance I'd get lost or ride a train that I shouldn't. This is because the train tracks in Sydney service more than one route.
In Singapore, for example, if you ride the purple line, you'll end up on the end of the purple line and a quick look at your little guide will tell you exactly what station that will be. Sydney is different, some trains look like they'd go the same direction but diverge upon reaching a certain stop. And say, you miss your stop, it's not as simple as going to the opposite side of the platform and taking that one back to your stop. I get why this complication exists.
Sydney has all its trains and they're all interconnected so seamlessly it doesn't become as tourist friendly as the ones in Hong Kong where there are signs everywhere which practically tell you, "You are now standing on the platform where the Red train will stop." Not to say it's more complicated. They actually have a phone app where all you need to do is enter your starting point and destination and it tells you exactly what time you need to be a platform 18 to catch the express train to your next stop where you'll have to transfer to platform 4 where you'll have to wait 3 minutes to ride the train which will bring you to your destination. Pretty handy, I'd say.
Melbourne, on the other hand (from what I saw, at least), went with trams with some train stations for further distances. They even had a Free Tram Zone which we used to our heart's content to get around because free things make everything better. They had the same issue I had with Sydney trains in that I couldn't tell for certain whether a tram would move straight or turn at the corner. As a result, we did have to leave a tram we didn't need to since we didn't know which way it would go. As it was my first time riding trams in a city, I still enjoyed the experience very much.
We didn't ride buses all that much but we did few times. I was impressed with how strict the time table was for their buses. If the time table said the bus would arrive at 3:47PM at that stop, it would. I wish I could've ridden the buses more in Sydney. My only other point of comparison would be taking the buses on EDSA and I think we can all agree that isn't the most pleasant experience.
Wrapping up
I'm actually surprised at how this post unfolded. The transportation system in Australia took up the most space. I must really be that kind of geek. Lol.
I really enjoyed my Aussie trip and I wouldn't mind going back there again and again. I've never said this about another country but I wouldn't mind living there. My heart is still stuck in the Philippines so I'm not leaving any time soon but if I were to live abroad, I'd definitely consider Australia the most.
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