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Day 1: Takeoff, Arrival and the Lume!
I came to Changi with my mom via MRT, and arrived just after 4:40, the time we were recommended to be at Changi T1 by. We left at around 8-9:00 pm Singapore time, with around 6 hours of flight time from Singapore to Melbourne. Dinner was served around an hour or two later, however, leaving me only four hours to try and get some rest (the food was surprisingly decent). My seat couldn’t recline at all, and sleep wouldn’t come to me, so I repeatedly watched the three episodes of SpongeBob that was available, and just stood for most of the second half of the flight. No sleep :(
I caught up on some much needed rest on the bus to the hotel, and during the whole of our lunch break (thankfully I wasn’t hungry at all). We then made our way to the LUME, to a showcase called “Monet and Friends”, where the inspiration for art pieces and the places certain paintings were inspired by was talked about. I wish I had more pictures, but the music and voices were so soothing that I just fell asleep. There was also a dark room with colourful pink and yellow lights with 3D lilies, obviously inspired by Monet’s water lily series. There was also a Matryoshka doll (Russian nested doll) with each layer being a famous artist, and I feel like not buying it would be one of my biggest regrets on this trip (still, it was $100 AUD… so expensive ;-;). Me and two other friends then ate a grand meal of ~$3 instant Shin ramen for dinner, and used the remaining time to explore Elizabeth street, and parts of Melbourne Central.
Day 2: Street Art Tour and a Beach Festival
Day 2: Street Art Tour and Beach Festival
Being a heavy sleeper, my day started with my roommate finally waking me up after sleeping through each of our 2+ alarms (we almost didn’t have time to eat breakfast :/), and then it was time for the long-awaited street art tour! The guide my group was assigned to (Dan, I think?), being a street artist himself as well as a old (not age wise) street art guide, was very knowledgeable of the art and their creators, and shared many stories and interesting facts. One of the stories he shared that stood out to me was how street artists hated wings on walls because of how people won’t pay attention to the art, so a guy came and made a pair of rainbow wings out of tiny little you-know-whats’ (male private parts) and nobody noticed them because they were wings, which proved the artist’s point well. We went to a few different streets, and my favourite pieces were of some funky emus made by John Murray (I think).
For lunch, because me and my friend weren’t so hungry, we went and browsed Queen Victoria’s Market (lunch was there) and I bought a frog beanie! We were late though, because my milkshake order wasn’t made even after 7-ish minutes, despite having an early number (we had to abandon the order without even getting a refund ;-;). After lunch, we went to the workplace of our guides and had a street art workshop there. There, we learned how to make stencils and learned about things called “bridges” that help you create outlines for your stencil. I created a pig based off a wooden pig that my friends from another Melbourne trip saw on their way. After that, we went to St. Kilda’s festival, and looked around a bit. After a little while though, me and my friend decided to go back to the meeting spot and just got ourselves some popsicles from a convenience nearby and hung out with other friends, until it was time to go back.
Day 3: Kayaking and Smartphone Photography Workshop
In the morning, we went on a kayaking trip along the Yarra River, and I accidentally wore my trousers instead of shorts as I had originally planned to. The kayaking I was imagining was more relaxing and fun, but I ended up feeling as if someone had been continuously bashing hard rubber nails into my biceps(?) at the end. I also unfortunately did not get any pictures :(
In the afternoon, we took a tour in a RMIT campus, at Russell Street (a former prison), and had a phone photography session there. It was really fun, and I got many good pictures! At the end of the day, me and a couple other friends went and got bubble tea at Elizabeth Street, looked around in a Sanrio shop and clothing and accessories store with a clearance sale. It was a very fun but draining day.
Day 4: Art Centre Melbourne, Puppetry Workshop, the Alexander McQueen Exhibit
My favorite day so far! We started the day with a tour of the Arts Centre Melbourne, and I’m not kidding when I say that, as an aspiring theatre technician, my breath was literally blown away. It’s the biggest, and certainly the most beautiful theatre I’ve ever seen, and I was absolutely in awe the entire time. If I could choose a place to haunt when I’m dead, those theatres would be some of my top choices.
After that, we went to a puppetry workshop with a puppeteer with a masters degree in puppetry, and learned a whole new form of physical theatre(?). My favourite puppet was Sophie the sock puppet, and the whole experience was just so cool and fun! And, after this, we finally went to one of the most awaited things on the whole trip, the Alexander McQueen exhibit! It was so cool, and as a sort-of clothes designer (for all my characters) and an artist myself, it was really inspiring to see how each piece was created and what they were inspired by. It was an absolutely incredible experience.
Day 5: Healesville Sanctuary (and a Visit to a Chocolate Factory)
This day was another day that I was especially looking forwards to, especially since a friend of mine gave me a mission to buy something emu-related for him (he was originally part of this trip, but had to give this trip up because of reasons). At Zoo Victoria, one of my favourite animals was definitely the emus; they were just so majestic and had such beautiful eyes, and one of them especially was such a great model and held still and looked into the camera as I took some pictures of them. I loved them so much I even sketched it out! So cute!! I also saw some kangaroos posing like a drunk asian uncle and his angry wife, some sleeping koalas, a curled-up dingo and Knuckles from Sonic (just an echidna haha)! There was also this really amazing birdshow that introduced all types of local birds, some common, some endangered, and that was really cool! On the way out, I also found some emu finger puppets, which were the perfect gift :D
We had lunch at a local bakery, and I got a ham and cheese toastie (toasted ham and cheese sandwich but with croissants instead of bread). After that, we went to a chocolate factory and I even got to sample some of their chocolate (it was really good).After that, we went back to the hotel, and we split into two groups: one that went out to eat, and one that stayed back at the hotel. I got instant noodles, cheese and crackers, and a nectarine (for under $8 AUD) and played an hour-long uno game (spoilers: I won). My roommate came to cheer on me at the end, and it was possibly the best game of uno I’ve ever played.
Day 6: (Second) Visit to the National Gallery of Victoria, and Marry Poppins(!!)
For this day, we once again stepped foot inside the NGV for two art tours: a more general tour of some of the more popular and famous pieces the museum has, and another that focused on pieces that were created by Australians (First Nations, I think?). Our guide was very sweet and talked us through the history and meaning of many of the pieces. This time, however, it was the evening that I was most excited about, which was the Mary Poppins musical! I was especially excited because, despite being so involved in theatre, outside of school shows, I’ve basically only ever seen the Sound of Music from that one time when I was six, and an online video of Hamilton. Ashamedly, I did fall asleep for a bit, but I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of the Musical. A big grievance of mine from this day would be that I didn’t get to talk to the techies, even though I clearly saw them.
Day 7: Improv Workshop, Blindside, and Moonlight Cinema (Avatar)
This was the last full day of the trip, and we went to two workshops! The first one was an improv/costume design workshop, but I unfortunately did not get the costume design one. One funny moment from this workshop was when we were to pose as best as we can based on something the instructor said, and I immediately dived down to the floor to play as a knife when he said “fork and knife”, only to realise after a few moments that nobody came by my side.
The second workshop (more of an exhibit) we did that day was to go to visit Blindside, a studio where they showcase works from independent artists. It was really cool! After that, we went back to the hotel before heading off to the Moonlight Cinema, where we watched Avatar: The Way of Water. I’ve watched the movie before, so I didn’t pay it much attention, but the atmosphere of being outside at night was really cool. We went back at around 12 am.
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