Weeks Eleven and Twelve: Melbourne, Sydney and Kosciuszko

Melbourne

I met a few people early on my trip from Melbourne, and the recommendations I got for how to spend a few days there were to walk around different neighborhoods, go to a bunch of coffee shops, and try to make it to a jazz show. So that’s pretty much what I did, and I really enjoyed the vibes down there. The city is very flat and has loads of parks and green spaces, which made it very easy to wander around on foot mixed in with a train ride here or there. Granted it was the first Western city I’d been in since October, so my perception might be a bit biased, but it felt like a place where I could actually see myself enjoying and living. Will that happen? Probably not, but it’s still a nice feeling.

The first night I was there I looked around for a jazz show and a guy named Brett Williams happened to be playing with his trio. I hadn’t heard his name before, but the list of some of the bands he has played keys for intrigued me (Snarky Puppy, Marcus Miller, Jon Batiste, Stevie Wonder, the list goes on). I decided to rush over there just in time to make the show and it was a killer time. I haven’t listened to jazz in a while, and it’s an incredible genre to see people’s musical ability and creativity. I ended up very pleased with my decision to go.

On Sunday I found a church to go to and I happened to start chatting with the people sitting next to me. Turns out they lived in Singapore and were also visiting Melbourne. They asked if I wanted to join them for lunch after, and it turned into a fun few hours of chatting and eating good Ethiopian food. 

I think sometimes I still default to the Seattle Freeze mindset of people not wanting to interact with those they don’t know, and moments like these are always a nice reminder that most people are actually very sociable if you just get the conversation started.

New Years Eve in Sydney

I’ve always spent New Year’s Eve inside given how cold and dark it is outside, so it came as a big surprise when I was told people camp out from 9 AM in the morning to watch the Sydney fireworks show to get the best views. And with the sheer number of parks and bays people watch from, I didn’t realize how large of a scale it operated at.

Not wanting to quite spend an entire day outside, I met up with Amy and Becca around 3 PM at a park just north of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. By the time I arrived, there were easily a few hundred people in this single park. We spent the next many hours napping on the grass, playing monopoly deal, eating, and talking.

Six hours later, there was a first round of fireworks. Everybody clustered up near the fence, watched the show, and immediately returned to their spots on the grass afterward to wait for the big show. Somehow we managed to entertain ourselves for another three hours, then came the countdown from the bridge and the midnight special.

The Harbour Bridge made for a cool firework display, with fireworks shooting up from the bridge, out to the side, and even cascading down into the water. The bay was filled with other fireworks shooting up all around.

I can’t say I ever imagined spending over nine hours outside camping out for New Years, but it was a fun change of pace from the norm. It’s hard to complain about spending a whole day outside relaxing and hanging out with friends reflecting over 2024 and looking towards 2025.

Hiking in Kosciuszko National Park

I was stoked to get out to the mountains of Australia. I knew from the maps that it would look very different to hiking in Washington, and was curious to see how the four days would go. The short version is those days were easily some of my favorites of the trip so far. It was nice doing something physically taxing all day, getting some killer views, and getting closer with Fin and meeting his friends.

We did two overnight trips. The first was just me and Fin to Mt Kosciuszko, and the second we met up with his friends and hit Mt Jagungal.

When I heard Mt Kosciuszko was the tallest mountain in Australia, I was prepping myself for a bit of a challenge. 6 miles of easy fire trail later, we were at the summit. I won’t complain about the easy first day though, as throughout the rest of the trip my body slowly became more and more beat. And now I can say I’ve been to the top of Australia!

We set up camp by Wilkensons Creek, and after we took a dip in the creek and ate some dinner we perched up on a rock and had all the natural entertainment we needed for the next three hours. The sun began to set off the ridge, and the sky became incredibly vibrant. A sliver of a moon and a single star near it rested right above it. I’ve seen many cool sunsets in my life, and that night easily has a place among the most memorable. As the daylight faded away, more and more stars filled the sky. By the time we went to bed it was completely full, milky way and all. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen stars like that. I love being in awe at nature, and there’s not a better night I could have asked for to do just that alongside getting to know Fin better.

The Jagungal trip was much more of a beating on the feet. Thankfully we didn’t have too much elevation with full packs on, but we cruised through 33 miles in two days. My feet were very ready to be done by the end. The first day we hiked into our hut, dropped packs and headed to the top of Jagungal. At the top, dark clouds hovered in the distance and lightning even struck a ways away. Slightly worried about getting caught in the wet before we got back (only Fin remembered to pack his rain jacket to the top), we started hustling back down. With four flat miles to go back to the hut, torrential downpour ensued. With a mix of speed walking and even a bit of running we got back to the hut in a little under an hour. As we walked in the doors looking like we’d all jumped in a pool with all our clothes on, we got lots of laughs from the other hikers staying there. The hut was a very helpful dry relief as the rain poured on the rest of the evening. All over the walls were old newspapers from the 1920s on, showing a really cool picture into what news looked like during the wars and from different perspectives around the world.

The wilderness in Australia is a unique mix of desert and alpine. It feels barren and then all of a sudden it’s lush green and a lake is nearby, then back to dry hills. 2019 fires created a massive burn zone in the area, and six years later, the dead trees are being encased by new greenery in a way unlike anything I’ve seen. I’m glad I had a few days to experience a different kind of beautiful nature. At the same time, I’m also very excited to be in New Zealand next month and have a much more extensive array of proper mountains surrounding me.

I’ve included some of my favorite shots below, but if you want to see some more photos you can check them out here.