Getting to Know Melbourne
A Journey Through Time 🕰️ Sometimes things can be much simpler than we expect
The first thing that surprises me about Melbourne is the quiet efficiency that hums beneath the surface.
After the emotional adjustment of the first few days, I started noticing how the city itself operates - like a well-oiled machine allowing every cog to move at just the right pace. As I walked the wide, clean streets between the impressive towers, I noticed how everything here is designed to make life simpler. On the guided tour, using public transport, navigating the job search process - Melbourne is teaching me an interesting lesson.
📍Februrary 1st 2023 | Melbourne, Australia
Free Walking Tour of Melbourne
As I do in every new city I visit, I took a free walking tour, an excellent way to get acquainted with a place from the start. It has become hugely popular in major cities worldwide. The concept is a 3-hour walking tour of a central area with a local guide who, besides introducing the city, provides incredibly useful tips.
You can ask them anything you're curious about. The tour is technically free, with the guide's pay coming solely from tips, so it's customary to give $10-20 or whatever you feel is appropriate. Our guide took us to really interesting spots like Melbourne's old jail turned museum.
He told us about sculptures around the city, the time when Melbourne gained independence on the condition of being named after the Queen (Victoria). Surprisingly, about a year after insisting on independence, gold mines were discovered, making Melbourne the wealthiest city in the world - perfect timing. We passed by unique buildings designed at the Queen's request, walked through beautiful parks with massive trees and perhaps the greenest grass I've ever seen.
The saying "the grass is always greener" was alive and kicking. I've heard a lot about the weather in Australia. The northern part has a tropical climate, meaning it's always hot with a dry and a wet season with rains.
The southern part generally has four seasons like Israel, just reversed - December to March is summer. In Sydney, for example, the weather is perfect most of the year. But they say here in Melbourne it's "four seasons in one day," so I know there's something to investigate.
Yesterday, I tried to figure out the weather since the app said 20°C and cloudy. I stepped onto the balcony on the 15th floor, but that didn't reflect it accurately.
I wore shorts and brought a jacket. Outside, I saw people in shorts and others in coats, and all day I noticed what people were wearing - it was just everything, some in flip-flops, others in boots. Everyone was right because when I left home in the morning, it was still cold and I needed a jacket.
But once the sun came out, it got warm, especially after walking a lot.
Yet standing in the shade, it felt freezing again. So I put my jacket back on, then took it off.
In the evening, it got really cold around 8 pm, which is weird since it was still light out - the sun doesn't set here until 9 pm (!) Today's forecast said 17°C with no clouds, 5% chance of rain. So indeed, as soon as you're in the sun, it's very hot. The Australian sun is known to be particularly strong, so it's recommended to go out with at least SPF 50 sunscreen.
Again, I put the jacket in my bag, and luckily so because around noon, it suddenly started raining, which turned into a downpour.
I'll keep investigating.
📍Februrary 4th 2023 | Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne Greets Me with Open Arms
Melbourne is exactly what I imagined. The streets are wide and clean, the towers impressive, everything is done right - smart and efficient.
It started at passport control when I smiled at the officer as I handed her my passport and declaration, offering to show her my visa on my phone. I was nervous she'd suddenly say, "You want to stay here for a year?!
Keep dreaming!" Instead, she smiled back with a look that said, "Aren't you cute thinking I don't have that on my computer? You've arrived in Australia, we know what we're doing here. " And I melted because I knew this was the place I most wanted to be right now.
It continued at the charming apartment I arrived at, where nothing was missing. Everything was designed properly, brand new - I felt like no one had been there before me. It had everything I needed and even things I'd forgotten I needed.
After the places I stayed in Mexico, I feel like I'm on top of the world. This is the level I expect. It carried through to my apartment and job search, everything online.
I'm looking for an apartment on Facebook pages and Melbourne groups. There are user-friendly sites like Homely. I apply for an "Inspection" to view the place, then apply to rent it (the longest form in the world).
For work, I started searching online for bars that interest me. I found a few and went to check if they needed staff. At the first two, they directed me to email my resume, so I understood that's how it works here - they don't want you to work hard, they want efficiency.
I went home to start translating my resume, something I'd wanted to do for months because I knew I'd need to but kept putting it off until the last minute.
And here I am. I read many tips on writing resumes in Australia specifically. Many recommend adding a photo, highlighting my military service and that I'm a non-smoker, not digging into irrelevant information, and using short, concise sentences.
I started writing briefly, admittedly spending most of the time on page design and using software to check my sentence grammar. My English is good, but for formal things, I prefer assistance to sound proper, especially somewhere English is the native tongue.
Today I've already emailed resumes to several city bars, applied for more apartments, and am continuing my RSA course (I'll expand on that later, it's really interesting). I don't feel like I'm "enjoying" Melbourne yet - I'm full of anxiety and uncertainty, stressed to find an apartment and job already, not too picky about what exactly, just shooting in all directions. The main thing is to find something so I can relax and finally go out for a drink.
Yes, I've been here over a week and haven't gone to a single bar. It doesn't suit me, I know, it's just been really cold at night, and I've still had a lingering cold.
I'm feeling much better, but it's still unpleasant to cough on people.
All the stress doesn't help the vibe, even though it's Saturday night and maybe that's exactly what I need.
📍Februrary 6th 2023 | Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne's Excellent Public Transportation
Melbourne is known for having Australia's most developed public transportation system.
People here use the myki card, topping it up with money, similar to Israel's Rav Kav. Only after struggling to find a machine that issues the card did I discover you can easily get it through the Google Wallet app on your phone. This really reflects my experience in Melbourne so far - everything I've needed to do or understand has turned out to be much simpler than I thought, with things done in the easiest way for understanding and operation.
Amazing. There's an elevated train system here, the Tram, which is free in the CBD city center, tourist-friendly since most attractions are located there. One of my tasks was to get a myki card and load it with money.
A Tram ride outside the CBD costs $4. 40, with a daily maximum charge of $8. 80, meaning even if I took the train four times, I'd only be charged $8. 80. On weekends, the max is $6. 60. From day one, I understood that not everyone pays, but you have to be very careful because if an inspector catches you, the fine is $250.
A variety of transport options is excellent, but "the price" is that every traffic light takes forever for both cars and pedestrians.
On the roads here, you often see limousines, Hummers, and fancy luxury cars. Public electric scooters are also a thing here, but you hardly notice them because the sidewalks are incredibly wide, the roads are huge, there are bike lanes, and with the free elevated train, who even needs a scooter?
I mainly encountered them in the mornings when students were likely on their way to class or late at night when youngsters were coming back from going out. Riding bikes is more common here. In general, Australians have a high health awareness.
Most buildings here have gyms, indoor pools, and saunas. At all the small breakfast places, cafes, restaurants, and grocery stores, there's a wide range of vegetables, salads, and very healthy meals at really affordable prices. Everything looks good, fresh, and appetizing.
Sushi culture is huge here, with Japanese restaurants every few meters, their entrances offering counters selling ready-to-go, fresh sushi packs for home, the office, or the nearest bench. There are restaurants of all kinds from all over the world here, and it really feels like a melting pot of cultures. In the picture: The roads include the elevated train, so they're very wide.
At most intersections, if someone wants to turn right (think opposite), they move to the middle of the road, pass the train tracks, line up with the cars going straight in the same direction, and wait with them for the green light. As I sum up my first few weeks in Melbourne, I'm starting to understand why it's considered one of the world's most livable cities. It's not just the efficiency of the systems or the excellent public transport - it's the feeling that the city was designed around the people living in it, not the other way around.
The health awareness, variety of options, and ease of navigating it all make life here more pleasant, even (or perhaps especially) for a digital nomad trying to find her way. After what I experienced in Mexico, I find myself gradually embracing the order and convenience Melbourne offers. Maybe this is exactly what I needed - a little less wild adventure and a little more home that functions as it should.
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