Melboune, the Seattle of Australia

Well I made it! After a surprisingly easy 14 hr flight over the pacific, I have arrived in the city of Melbourne. I flew a new airline (started in 2007) called V Australia, a new sector of Virgin America. They are a 4-star airline and were excellent in terms of comfort and service. This, coupled with a new Boeing 777 made the long flight surprisingly smooth. I was very impressed.

Melbourne is the Seattle of Australia. The city center is full of lush oak trees, lots of brick buildings and a fair share of graffiti. The streets are loaded with restaurants, cafes, and coffee bars. There are bars, lounges and clubs tucked around every corner which project the strong music and arts vibe here. There are even small alleyways full of small restaurants and bustling walking paths for a nice European feel. I have been surprised, however, at the amount of litter here as compared to the cities of NZ or Canada, which were immaculately clean. Not sure why Aussies like to litter.

Transport is very good here, with a collection of trains, trams, and buses. It's quite expensive here, which is to be expected for a city, but it's balanced with a high minimum wage (around $16/hr). People are generally pretty nice here, for a city, and there doesn't seem to be the overworked, grouchy frowning types that are so frequent in the US cities. The populous is very young here, lots of young professionals. The main industries here are banking, administration, business, and civil engineering.

I am staying temporarily with a friend here until I sort out a job and a place to live. I have been applying for lots of jobs here in renewable energy engineering at the moment. If that doesn't work out, I sense that I will have no trouble finding bar work here in one of the million cocktail bars they have around. The cocktail culture is very strong here, probably the best I've seen yet in the world. Mixology is king and everyone loves going out for a nice tasty drink, so I will be right at home for that!

I've been enjoying some of my favorite little things that I missed from NZ like really good ginger beer, edam cheese, excellent breads, and marinated green lip mussels. It feels so good to be back in this part of the world again, hearing the accents and sayings that they have. I feel a little like I came home.

Time will tell for what happens in the next month or so. I have a best mate from the States set to join me in April, embarking on his first experience living abroad, how exciting!

Well, that's all the news for now, next update I will include some photos of the city. Ciao.