When I last posted, I was just about to head down to Melbourne and wasn't sure where I would be at this point in August due to my questionable visa status. Since then I have applied for and was granted a Bridging Visa, which allows me to stay in Australia and work while Immigration makes a determination on my longer term work visa. I heard back about the Bridging Visa the same day that I submitted my application so hopefully I will hear back from Immigration by mid to late October, if not before, regarding how long I can stay in Australia.
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| Yarra River and Melbourne at sunset |
This is my third weekend in Melbourne and I like it more and more as time goes by. The first weekend I was here, I spent almost the entire time running around looking for a place to live. Being a big city (~4.5 million people), the cost of living is really high here so I was mostly looking at places where I would have a (or multiple) housemate(s). I ended up finding a nice two-bedroom apartment where I will be living with an Aussie woman, who is about my age, and her dog. I'm a little worried about adjusting to living with a flatmate again seeing as I haven't lived with anyone besides Ross in a really long time but my future roomie seems really nice and her dog is awesome.
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| Royal Botanic Garden |
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| Shrine of Remembrance |
Ross came up to Melbourne last weekend in a spur of the moment trip. It was great to see him and we spent our time exploring (its what we do best!) Melbourne. We hit the
Shrine of Remembrance,
Royal Botanic Gardens,
Federation Square,
Chinatown, and both parts of the
National Gallery of Victoria (it's broken into International and Australian in two different buildings). We also made it to see some footy (aka - Australian Football) which seems kind of a like a cross between rugby and soccer. Its an odd game but its really fast paced and pretty entertaining.
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| Royal Botanic Gardens |
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| Taking advantage of the company seats for footy |
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| By Southern Cross Station |
This weekend I did some exploring on my own, went to footy yet again (my third time...), and finally got out running a couple times(I'm been slacking since arriving in Melbs). I went to
St. Paul's Cathedral, the
State Library of Victoria, and the
Queen Victoria Market. The library was amazing! It has art exhibits on every floor and great architecture. I will have to go back to the Queen Vic Market because I arrived at it about 10 minutes before it closed but the little section that I saw was very enticing. I also went to the
Reading Bookstore, which was great (recommended by Ross's advisor who is a Melbourne native). I managed to restrain myself from getting any books but only because I'm in an AirBnb until I can move into my apartment at the end of the month and I didn't want to have yet more stuff to move. One evening on my way back to the tram I stumbled upon a winter concert series in Federation Square and was treated to opera arias by a woman who had been classically trained. It was incredible!
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| Federation Square |
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| State Library of Victoria |
Needless to saw, Melbourne is a really cool city. There is so much to see and do all of the time. Plus it has great architecture, awesome food (especially Asian - every type you can imagine!), a really interesting multicultural vibe, and huge gardens and parks. I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time exploring and getting to know the city over the coming months or years, depending on how long of a work visa I am granted.
