Two months in Melbs

Two months in the world’s most livable city (according to some magazine) instead of two month on some farm in the middle of nowhere picking fruit, maybe we should thank that bloody Mathilda…

It’s strange how things get sorted out. It feels like everything is written somewhere and that we’re both the actors of some funny story. Our life here seems pretty unrealistic which makes it really exciting. We got here and all we had is a dead van, a couple of backpacks and a big project which is carrying on our trip around Australia. We felt like two immigrants concerned by very basic things such as finding a place to sleep, getting some food, finding a job and even finding a place we can wash at first… Because, YES, we started by camping illegally on a street in our wrecked van!! So you should understand what we mean by unrealistic life! It’s pretty much a “Carpe Diem” way of life which has nothing to do at all with our lives in France. We are in Melbourne, we have nothing and that feels great!!

Less impressive than Sydney, Melbs is so much better to spend some time in! Beautiful parks, beaches, international food, festivals, street life, museums, sports, night life and especially: “people” are so friendly and generous and this is how we managed to find a job, and then another and even another! BBQ in the park is definitely the best way to get to meet real Melbournians. Now we know the city + suburbs quite well, we also got the meet people from all over the world! It’s really strange: Each time we meet an Australian, he won’t say ”I’m Australian”, but “I’m from…” even if he has lived his whole life in Oz ! People also are so willing to share their culture, their food and so on. We really feel how young this country is! It reminds me a lot of the USA since the cities are designed the same way (CBD, bungalow suburbs), but also because of their taste for big cars, the yellow Ford taxies, Casinos all over the place, food and all the Americans we met say that even the landscapes reminds them of some parts of the USA (Nevada…).

Anyway, we think that we’ve managed our way out all our issues thanks to Melbourne. We’ll certainly miss this city when we leave, but we’re extremely excited to catch the Indian-Pacific just before Xmas and cross the Nullarbour desert toward Perth and the delights of the West Coast!

Ps : After our native villages and Strasbourg, Melbourne is the third place we’ve lived in ;)