Work Trip & Wave Pool in Melbourne

Earlier this year, I started a new job. When I was applying, I knew there was a strong chance of some international travel, so when they asked me to go manage an event in Melbourne, Australia, I was excited to say yes! It would be my first visit back to Australia since I did a working holiday visa back in 2019-2020.

I decided to make a whole workaction out of it. I would fly to Melbourne to work the conference, visit my friend Mike in Sydney, and then meet Bryan in New Zealand for actual vacation. I carefully selected my flights and packed my bags.

Of course, the morning I was set to fly out, I woke up to a text message that my flights were rerouted, adding an extra stop and landing me in Melbourne only a few hours before the event. I frantically rescheduled everything and, luckily, found a better flight out. I was on my way!

After many long hours of flying, with a brief stop in San Francisco to stretch my legs, I landed in Melbourne. Our hotel was in the Central Business District to stay in walking distance to the event, so I took the airport SkyBus to the CBD. My first priority was coffee, Australia’s specialty. I needed a flat white, and Come Back to Earth Coffee did the trick. Apparently my second priority was a donut, but I didn’t know it until I walked past the window of FOC Melbourne and felt the call to step inside. It was yummy!

After that breakfast, my third priority was a quick workout in the hotel gym. Then it was time for a bit of work. My boss and I met up with our Australian partners at the Melbourne Convention Center to check out the venue. All was in order and looking good, so we’d have the afternoon free to roam… and it was Sunday for goodness’ sake!

The weather was perfect and the walk to the convention center was right along the river:

I was hoping to have the afternoon off, because I had big plans in mind. I’d been dreaming of booking a surf session at the fancy wave pool, URBNSURF. I’d never tried a wave pool before, so I didn’t know what to expect. Since I didn’t really know what I was doing and I’m not the world’s greatest surfer, I booked a lesson so that I would get a board and wetsuit included and hopefully wouldn’t get in anyone’s way. But first, food! I grabbed a quick snack from Onigiri To Go on Degraves Street, a street with a lot of cute little restaurants and shops, then I took an Uber back out towards the airport to URBNSURF.

The wave pool was magical. The check in process was seamless, and the staff were all very friendly to help me get set up with equipment and check in for the lesson. And as much as I enjoy the natural appeal of changing into my wetsuit in surf spot parking lots, it was pretty nice to have a changing room with showers for before and after. There were also lockers and water coolers nearby.

The wave pool produces waves at different levels and styles according to a schedule that varies throughout the day. I signed up for the easiest waves (cruiser) and the next level up from beginner lesson (beginner progressive). It ended up being a little below my level, but I caught tons of great waves and had a blast. The coach was really helpful, and it was probably better for my jet lag to lean toward an easier session. The sun was shining the whole time! I didn’t need booties and some people weren’t even wearing wetsuits.

I headed back to the hotel and got some tasty indian takeout for dinner (Me & Yogi Indian Kitchen). I didn’t take a picture, but here’s some street art near our hotel:

After that, it was full-on work mode, with conference events from sun up to sun down for the next two days, followed by work dinners at night. We did have a nice Thai meal at BangPop and enjoyed the evening walks back to the hotel along the river.

Once the work was done, my next stop would be Sydney…