At the moment, I’m writing from a brown leather couch in a hostel in Queenstown, New Zealand, surrounded by snowcapped purple mountains and the bluest water you could ever imagine. But before I tell you about the land of Kiwis, I have to talk about my week in and around Melbourne, Australia.

Part I: Melbourne

I’ve been doing a lot of traveling lately. One of the perks of being an au pair in the southern hemisphere is that the kids have about two months of summer holiday off of school around Christmastime – which means I’ve been free as a bird as of three weeks ago. After my dad set off for New Zealand, I met up with some other au pairs – Kelsey, Jordan, and Tessa – for a week down in southern Australia to celebrate New Years. Our adventure began in Melbourne, one of the coolest cities I’ve ever been to. When I got to Melbourne, I didn’t feel like I was in Australia anymore. Gone were the palm trees, beaches, and scorching hot sun – instead we could put on pants and sweaters and wander around the graffiti-covered streets, sipping cappuccinos at alleyway cafes.

We stayed in Fitzroy, a tiny, artsy suburb on the outskirts of the city – in a hostel called the Nunnery. We were only there for five nights, but the Nunnery felt more like home than almost anywhere I’ve been in awhile. The four of us stayed in a twelve-person room, which sounds overwhelming, but our room was big and homey feeling. We had roommates from France, Germany, Scotland, England, Canada, and a lot of them had been living at the Nunnery for months. They all had a similar story – they came to Melbourne only for a couple of days, and loved the city and the Nunnery so much that they decided to stay forever (or at least until they run out of money). There was such a sense of community at the hostel. Nicholas, who worked at the front desk, tried to set up frisbee dates in the park across the street. The girls and I cooked meals together in the hostel kitchen and ate on the rooftop or in the courtyard, sitting at communal tables and making friends who are traveling from all around the world. We played cards and drank wine on the balcony outside our room and had new friends come and join in as they were passing by.

The Nunnery

When we weren’t at the Nunnery, we were exploring the city. One of the best parts of the trip was that we booked a flight and a hostel, and other than that we had no real plans. Kelsey, Jordan and I woke up early on our first day and went downtown, stumbling upon a few of the graffiti covered streets. There were graffiti artists in the alleys, making the city into a work of art. We wandered down little alleyways, filled with tiny cafes. We met up with Tessa other days and went to free museums and the Queen Victoria Market, where we bought fresh bread, prosciutto, cheese, and fruits and had a picnic in the park. On our last day, we went to one of Melbourne’s many rooftop bars, Naked in the Sky, and drank beers on the balcony overlooking the city.

Me, Jordan, and Kelsey at Hosier Lane

We spent New Years in Melbourne at a Party in the Park. A lot of our friends from Brisbane were setting off for Sydney for New Years, and the ones who didn’t were at least trying to find themselves in some bustling city to celebrate. But I’ve always thought New Years Eve is overrated – especially when you’re in a place jam-packed with people. Everyone at the Nunnery was going to Edinburgh Gardens, BYO, to chill out and watch the fireworks. We decided to join. That night we made dinner and had drinks with new friends at the hostel. We made it to the park, a little boozy, right before midnight and just in time to watch fireworks bring in the New Year.

New Year with new friends

From Melbourne, we rented a car for the next part of our adventure: two nights on the Great Ocean Road. Before leaving Fitzroy and the Nunnery, we took the car on a mini road trip to Brighton Beach where we walked along the sand next to heaps of brightly colored bathhouses. We ate fish and chips on the beach in Sorrento, and spent our last night on a pub-crawl with our Nunnery friends.

Kelsey at Brighton Beach

Part II: Great Ocean Road

I didn’t really know what to expect when we decided to spend three days and two nights on the Great Ocean Road. Kelsey, Jordan, Tessa and I packed our rental car to the brim and drove a couple hours from Melbourne. When we hit the Great Ocean Road, it was amazing. We drove a couple hours on cliff edges, beautiful views, with the windows down, wind in our hair, Kelsey’s “Not All Who Wander Are Lost” road trip CD blasting. We stopped at lookout points, the London Bridge and the Twelve Apostles, and anywhere else that looking enticing. And we broke up our trip into a couple days by spending two nights in tiny towns along the way – Apollo Bay and Port Campbell – and I think those stops are what made the trip.

Great Ocean Road

Part III: Couch Surfing

I’ve always liked the idea of couch surfing. I remember studying in Florence and hearing about the couch surfing organization, but I was too chicken to put myself out there to crash on couches during my travels. It was just against my instincts to be so trusting of strangers. But when I started planning this trip, I made myself a couch surfing profile, hoping to save some money on the road.

We got our first taste of couch surfing at our stop in Apollo Bay. Heath and Kyle hosted us – two pretty cool surfer dudes from Florida. I’d messaged Heath a couple months ago and he was super keen on hosting all four of us, even though he and his roommate were living in a tiny one-bedroom apartment. We were a little nervous about sleeping arrangements, but in Melbourne we made friends with Kaylee and Gary. Kaylee and Gary are a couple from California who are living in Sydney and had been traveling a bit over the holidays. They were staying at the Nunnery after having driven the Great Ocean Road. We met them in the kitchen at the hostel while cooking dinner, and made friends instantly. Kaylee and Gary had coincidentally stayed with Heath in Apollo Bay and had such a great time with the guys.

Couch surfing

When we got to Apollo Bay, we pulled up to Heath and Kyle’s place as Heath was riding his skateboard to work. Kyle let us in and we immediately knew they were going to be great hosts. Kyle showed us their apartment, their new camper van (where a couple of us could sleep for the night), and acted like he was our best friend within ten minutes of meeting him. He was also headed out to work, but before he left he showed us where they kept the spare key and gave us permission to raid their freshly stocked fridge.

We had such a great time that night. Heath and Kyle are awesome guys – so much fun and so welcoming. It was only my first time couch surfing, but I could tell they were probably going to be some of my favorite hosts. They work at the only two bars in town – the Top and the Bottom bars. After dinner, Kelsey, Jordan and I went to visit the guys at work. We ended up at Kyle’s bar, where we got some great beer at a couch surfing discount. Apollo Bay is such a tiny town, and we could tell right away that we stood out like sore thumbs at the bar, where all the locals knew each other. We made friends with some of the locals and got home just before the guys got off of work. When they got home, we stayed up and hung out with the guys before crashing all over the floor and in the big green van. In the morning, Heath took us up to a lookout point where we could see all of Apollo Bay.

The gang with Heath at Apollo Bay lookout

Our adventures in and around Melbourne were amazing and we were sad to say goodbye. Luckily, the travels didn't end there. Tessa and Jordan flew out to spend a few days in Sydney, while Kelsey and I set off for the South Island of New Zealand. We've been road tripping and camping for the past few days…more to come next week!