Distance travelled – 19.296 km/11,990 miles
Around the time I was moving to Amsterdam, my friend Alex moved to Sydney. He later moved to Melbourne and there was a standing invitation to visit.
Originally, I moved to Amsterdam for two years, having taken a career break from work. My intention was always to use the last couple of months of that career break to visit Australia (it not being the sort of place you pop over to for the weekend). Well, the two-year stay in Amsterdam didn't work out exactly as planned (virtually nothing went to plan, really) but I never gave up the idea of visiting Melbourne.
Well, when the time finally came to leave Amsterdam, I did my best to implement the "visit Australia" plan - with a bit of luck I'll get a job in Edinburgh and be restricted to annual leave. Having saved up some money during the last year I was in Amsterdam, the funding was there, the time was there and the opportunity was there.
The problem began with the first "well, if you're going all that way anyway...", so a few weeks in Melbourne grew into three months travelling round the world! First Singapore got added, then the train ride from Perth, then New Zealand and then the US. Each addition seemed logical at the time... Ah well. What did the bard say about the best laid schemes of mice and men...?
So, here I am in Melbourne:
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Blogging will be a bit less frequent here. The idea is to draw breath and relax with friends rather than spend every second doing touristy things. Touristy things will be done, but less intensively!
YAY! Forget about the blogging, just please have fun. Melbourne is a very special city and I miss her.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenEnjoy and breathe in every single minute!! 'I left my soul there...down by the sea' (as the song goes). Melbourne is my true home!
BeantwoordenVerwijderenAfter spending 9 months of my year in Australia in Melbourne, I revisited for a week a couple of years later, (between a week in Cairns and a week in Perth), and felt sick when leaving. A week barely scratched the surface.
Enjoy it all, the Southbank, the restaurants round the casino, the street chess on Swanson Street, the giant marble purse outside the post office, and the brass men standing at the lights on Swanson. Melbourne Central with it's glass dome and preserved Mill inside, the wacky art in the central reservations in the roads, including the half buried library outside the libray. Go to Brunswick Street, and visit Umago's Pizza for me and all the other wonderful cafes and late night places on that street, go to Little Italy - Lygon Street and buy a slice of real riccotta cheese cake.
Oh and as for church, there is St Paul's, but do go to St Patricks (catholic church) too, the external decor (gargoyles) is impressive, and to see such detail, virtually unworn (they are both barely 100 years old) makes a real change.
Enjoy!! Very jealous!