First 8 Days in Melbourne

Our first 8 days in Melbourne were spent at an apartment hotel in the heart of the city’s financial and business district CBD (central business district), catching up on sleep and finding an apartment to call home for the next 6months. During the day this part of the city is busy with “the suited and the booted” as referred to by the staff at the hotel. At night, the atmosphere changes to outdoor cafes, bars, restaurants and clubs. The first night we went out was absolutely nuts! I guess it was University end of year party night because there were people everywhere who had obviously consumed way too much alcohol before 10pm and
as such the police were in abundance. This was our first
impression of night life in the city but we soon learned that it was probably an end of school year theme downtown and

that every weekend wasn't as chaotic. Nevertheless, police seem to travel in groups of 3-5 always and are usually accompanied by a sniffer dog or two. The day time life in the CBD is such a contrast with men and women in suits and a quiet business like atmosphere. We stayed at the Quest hotel/ apt. on Little Collins street which was really close to the office. We had a really great staff at reception named Summer who was super friendly and extremely helpful. On arrival the first day I went to open my suitcase and noticed that it wasn't my lock that was on it!! Turned out that the TSA at the airport had decided to open my suitcase and put the wrong lock back on!!! Luckily, Summer was able to reach the cleaning staff who found us a hammer and Brian was able to pry it open using the hammer and clippers he brought to cut his guitar strings. I was worried I would have to cut open my brand new suitcase!!

The biggest adjustment on arrival was getting used to a very

different coffee culture here. There is no filtered coffee!!!

No Tim Horton's, no Bridgehead, and not even a filtered coffee maker at the store! We learned quickly that the Flat White (similar to a latte with steamed milk and no froth) was about the closest we were going to get to a double double. We tried so many kinds and coffee shops. Our favorite barrista close to the hotel was at the MYO (make your own) on the corner. Alvin was super, makes a fantastic cup of coffee and understood our coffee woes! Luckily once we moved in to the apartment we bought a french press/ bodum and can now brew our own ground coffee. We brought three tins of Tim Horton's with us and have been rationing our usage. It does start to get expensive to get take out coffee all the time, at 3.00 min. avg. price for a cup.

I started work only 2 days after arriving in Melbourne attending orientation and induction programs. (More on that in another post). This meant that our only time look for an apartment and to explore was in the evenings. We walked around the CBD at night taking in the Bourke street shopping district christmas displays and street performers.