We’ve been in Melbourne, Australia for a little over 2 weeks now. Here are some things we’ve learned.
The Australian dollar is about 2/3 of the US dollar. On the whole, things are more expensive here. A 6-pack of beer is about $14 and a brew at the bar runs about $7. 10er of Coke is around $6. Meals out are generally around $40, but tips aren’t expected.
A quick note about payment, Australian cashiers all expect you to use the tap-to-pay credit cards, where we have to insert the chip and sign for transactions. More than anything, it’s an annoyance at self-checkout counters at the grocery store.
The tram/train/buses using the Myki are around $6/day. We were told there isn’t value in a monthly transportation pass unless you ride the bus a minimum of 5 days a week, which we haven’t.
Public transportation here is amazing. We can get anywhere in town really easily, although we have taken a couple rides the wrong direction before having to backtrack. The conveyances are clean and well maintained.
We do a lot more walking here, as we don’t have a car. At our BnB in East St. Kilda, public transportation is a 12-20 minute walk & groceries are 10 minutes away. Apart from our experience riding with an aggressive Uber driver the roads don’t seem dangerous to pedestrians.
People here have been very friendly when you engage them. They don’t really go out of their way to initiate contact or conversation. The AirBnB where we’re staying has a 2nd guest room with rotating guests (2 separate Aussies and a Frenchman) in addition to our host who, while shy, has been largely gracious and understanding.
Our best night so far, in my opinion, was a Rooftops & Hidden Bars of Melbourne tour. Man, it was a blast! 3 Aussies, 5 Americans and a musician from Hong Kong let loose and enjoyed a beautiful night on the town.
Of course, a big topic being in Australia are the wildfires. One of the relatively smaller fires reached the suburbs of Melbourne. We’ve experienced some smoky days. And as I mentioned in my last post, people are disappointed in the political response. From what we were told, regulations prohibit the clearing of any plant life larger around than a quarter, which makes cleaning up scrub brush difficult and contributes to the fires. It has, however, been amazing witnessing the outpouring of compassion from around the world.
I do find it strange that they want rain to put out the fires, but when it rains, it’s a downpour causing flash flooding. The two times it really came down, it dropped golf ball sized hail and collapsed a roof into a grocery store. The weather is not for the faint of heart here.
We loved St. Kilda’s beach and had a traumatic experience being attacked by flies at Brighton Beach, but we’re told that all depends on the day and the weather.
The Aussie Open is happening for the next 2 weeks and although our buddy Ben highly recommended tennis, we probably won’t go at $90 a ticket minimum. Our roommate said she bought a child’s ticket for $5 hoping they won’t notice or care.
As much as I’ve missed watching the NFL playoffs (games start at 7am Australia time) I’ve been watching a lot of cricket and trying to figure that out. I did look into getting tickets to a live game, but again, tickets were about $90 each and we decided TV @ the pubs will suffice.
So, those are my observations about living in Melbourne for the last 2 weeks. I didn’t talk about food or music because those will be separate posts. We also just bought our flights to Tbilisi, Georgia, Lisbon, Portugal & Munich, Germany, so lots forthcoming. Stay tuned & maybe we’ll see you down the road.
Tips
For travelling internationally, it’s probably wise to alternate expensive and more affordable destinations. Australia is gonna be costly.
For speaking Australian, work the word “bizarre” into your vocabulary… I’ve heard it said here more than I’ve heard it used in the US in the past several years.
Also for travelling internationally, be sure to have a good power converter strip. We live by our electronics (2 phones, 2 iPods, 2 laptops, a monitor, an iPad, a MyFi device and a rechargeable battery). Dunno what we’d do without ours.
*Photos courtesy of Evalynn Sundeen