Goodbye Melbourne

As my time in Melbourne comes to an end and I continue along the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians tomorrow, here is another report on my time in Melbourne.

In the short time I have been here, I have come to love the city! Aside from the fact that the weather here can change extremely quickly, I think it's absolutely beautiful here. So if I ever do another semester abroad, Melbourne will definitely be in the running :D In the CBD, there's just everything from bars, shopping, art, restaurants, museums, riverbanks 😊 ... and you can even ride the tram for free. I've never experienced that anywhere else. I also learned that Heidelberg is a suburb/district of Melbourne, which really confused me at first! But apparently, Australians just aren't creative enough to come up with their own names and just copy from the Europeans. Just like with chocolate.

On Tuesday, I spent almost the entire morning in the Botanic Gardens, relaxing, listening to music, and reading. It's beautifully laid out and within walking distance from the hostel! Then I walked along the southern bank (the South Bank) and treated myself to an ice cream for $8.80. So living here is definitely not cheap. I also took a (free!!!) City Circle Tram for a relaxed sightseeing tour around the city. I almost fell asleep after all the walking. And since it's now around 30 degrees, I also got my first sunburn.

It didn't necessarily get better when I spent the whole day at St. Kilda Beach south of Melbourne yesterday. You can also see penguins there after sunset, but I wasn't there for that long. So unfortunately, no penguins for me ☹ But I would also prefer to stay in the water with those temperatures instead of being on land!

Today, I walked to Queen Victoria Market. There are all kinds of market stalls there. From orthopedics, jewelry, clothes, souvenirs, baby clothes, and fruits & vegetables, there's really everything. Especially the fruits and vegetables are 5 times cheaper than in any supermarket I've seen so far. On the first day, I paid $2.20 for 3 small bananas and today $0.55 for 2 large ones. That's quite a difference :D So if I ever come back to Melbourne, I know where to go shopping! I also found a "Gewürzhaus" (spice house) that really has the German name and a "Bratwurstshop" (bratwurst shop). The day before yesterday, I also saw a Munich Brauhaus with beer tables and there's apparently also a Hofbräuhaus. Oh, and today I finally found an Aldi supermarket to do some shopping 😊

Afterwards, I visited the Museum of Moving Images (once again for free) and wore a virtual reality headset for the first time. It's really fascinating what technology can do.

Now I'm enjoying my last hours in Melbourne (sleeping) and tomorrow at 7 am I'll be heading off to the Great Ocean Road by bus. Renting a car didn't work out and unfortunately, some rain is forecasted, but that's just how it is when you're traveling 😊 Bad weather has to happen too. I'm curious to see.

Many greetings to Germany