I went to Australia in no small part to visit a good friend of mine, Damaris, who had moved there recently. After traveling solo for the first few weeks, I was so excited to finally meet up with her in Melbourne. The city itself checked all the boxes for what I like in a city: a nice central park, a nice public library, a nice market. There was good food, good bars, and good thrift stores. I spent a day in an artsy district looking at graffiti murals and taking cute photos with my friend.
The true highlights and lowlights for me were my day trips outside the city itself. I booked transportation through a tour to be dropped off at the Mornington Peninsula Hot Springs for the day. It was myself and one other family that was headed for the springs. Everyone else that day would be going on a wine tour together after they dropped us off. It was delightful to see the stark contrast of a group of quiet reserved strangers in the morning magically transform into a group of tipsy best friends when I got picked back up five hours later.
If I have achieved nothing else in life, I can be proud to say that I have become quite the international connoisseur of hot springs over the past two years. So, believe me when I tell you Mornington Peninsula Hot Springs is not to be missed. It consists of a massive sprawling outdoor campus scattered seemingly endlessly with outdoor pools. Wandering through the shaded paths I discovered mud baths, Turkish baths, saunas, cold plunges, and gardens. I would soak and then lay down in one of the many different indoor or outdoor relaxation areas. Then I would need a break from all this unwinding so I would get a snack or a drink at the cafe or restaurant. They also offer spa packages and glamping if you want to stay multiple days. But the crown jewel for me was the outdoor amphitheater featuring live music where the seating is, you guessed it, thermal baths! Truly cannot recommend this place enough.
The next day I convinced Damaris and her brother to take me to visit Phillip Island. We drove 90 minute south of Melbourne to see the “world famous” Phillip Island Penguin Parade. “Phillip Island is home to the largest Little Penguin colony in the world.” Every day, year round, these tiny penguins march home at sunset. The actual name of the bird is the Australian little penguin or fairy penguin. Full grown adults typically reach a height of 13-15 inches. An entire procession of these adorable little guys waddling past? Yes, please!
We have all felt the sharp sting of disappointment in our lives. And nature, try though we might, cannot be controlled. I was also characteristically underprepared. It’s the beach, I thought. And December is the height of summer in Australia, right? Wrong! I showed up in shorts and flip flops and froze my ass off. We were advised to get there early to get a good seat. We sat on the metal bleachers a short distance from the shore facing an unrelenting icy wind for over an hour. We shivered and complained and drank the wine we had thankfully smuggled in. We waited, and waited, and continued to wait.
Finally a single black dot emerged from the water. It was a penguin! Then there were several, playing in the surf and taking their sweet time to come on in. This was not the swarm of overwhelming cuteness descending all around me that I had imagined. This was surely not what we had driven all this way and suffered the elements for, during my summer beach vacation no less. This was no parade. This was not even a drum line of penguins. This was like the penguins on the last stop of a pub crawl.
Eventually, they did start to come out one by one, and promptly ran in the other direction. They were immediately out of our line of sight in the gathering dark and headed straight to the VIP section that we did not pay extra for. The most we saw was maybe 4 or 5 at a time. The whole display lasted about 20 minutes and then it was completely dark on the beach. We were among some of the most underprepared and therefor among the first to leave.
After all the wine and time spent waiting for a big fat nothing, we made a bee line for the bathroom. And that was when we finally got to see them, up close and personal, in all their tiny and adorable glory. It was a bunch of penguins! Not running from the water in a group as we were promised but gathering among the dunes in the soft glow of the dying fluorescent bathroom lighting. This was not what we had been promised, but getting to experience them this close might have been even better.
For my last day trip, I took the train to visit my friend Ashley who lives in the suburbs outside of Melbourne. We had met on an archeological dig in Jordan of all places when I was an undergrad and she was a graduate student. I wanted a study abroad experience while I was in school and could in no way afford it. Then a professor from the archeology department walked into my chemistry class one day and said they were looking for students to run analysis for them as part of a 10 week trip to Jordan. And the rest is another story for another blog post I suppose.
She picked me up from the train station in her enormous ’98 Toyota Land Cruiser, that she had customized into a camper vehicle specifically for adventuring around the Outback. I was in a state of nervous apprehension that quickly transformed into further admiration of her as she expertly maneuvered it through the tight crowded mazes of beach parking lots. We eased effortlessly back into our friendship. We talked about the highs and lows of the past 6 years or so of our lives since we had last seen each other, and soaked up the Australian sun.
Partially generational and partially personal preference, I am someone who has moved around a lot and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. This is also true for many of the people I tend to form deeper connections with. A causality of that lifestyle is becoming good friends with someone, then one of us leaves, and we fall out of touch. There are too many people in my life that I don’t keep in regular contact with. But when I do get to see them, it can be like no time has passed at all. I never know when we will cross paths again. I ache for the community of having all the important people in my life together in one place. However, if there is one silver lining to forming so many of these types of connections, it is that I do try to be more present whenever I get to be with them, and fully appreciate the short time that we have together.
Special thanks to my friends for the use of their names and our stories for this post.
Damaris is a tattoo artists, follow her work on Instagram.
Ashley is also a writer, follow her work on Medium.
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