The world’s most liveable city
Melbourne is less than five days away. Today I spend my day cleaning and boxing up my apartment.
My flight leaves Monday morning at 7:15 AM from Schiphol airport. After close to 24 hours of flight time and 2 quick stopovers (in Vienna and Singapore) I’ll arrive at Melbourne airport somewhere around 5 PM, local time. Due to the 10 hour time difference, I expect a near-death-jetlag for the first days there.
For the first time in my life I’ll set foot on Australia, the biggest island of the world, home to Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, Heartbreak High and Crocodile Hunter Steve Erwin. Also, it’s the most uninhabitable continent with its extreme heat, lack of natural water ways inland, vast stretches of desert, lethal ocean currents, and the most dangerous animal species in the world.
Melbourne on the other hand, is the self-proclaimed “world’s most liveable city”, which seems an outright contradictio in terminis. I’ve been reading up a bit on the city where I’ll be living and studying the next five months, and it seems like there is quite a bit of truth in their statement though. Supposedly Melbourne is Australia’s most cultured city, with many museums, parks and art galleries, a strong coffee culture, 3.9 million inhabitants of many different ethnical backgrounds, bicycle paths, and trams. It sounds a bit like a big version of Amsterdam, only with a much better climate and a beach. I can’t wait to go explore!
I’ve got a hostel booked for the first few days, but will start looking for a nice little apartment as soon as I get there.
