Hello Melbourne

Bye Bye Camperdasein - Hello big city life! It's so nice to be back in a big city. We even decided to arrive in Melbourne a day earlier - that way we have more time to explore the city and enjoy the luxury of a bed and an apartment. The first day wasn't too spectacular, we got some advice at the tourist information, took the Circle Tram around the city to get a first impression, and had Greek food to celebrate. But the first impression of Melbourne was really great!

The next day was a bit more exciting, we took a hop-on hop-off bus tour of Melbourne to get to know the city a bit better, walked around the city a bit, and in the evening visited a night market. We're still desperately looking for something that resembles a Christmas market, but this search seems futile. The night market was more like a market where you can buy all sorts of things and especially eat culinary delights. We still had a nice evening, but the Christmas feeling, as always, was missing.

On the third day, we had to drop off the car. We didn't feel too sad saying goodbye to Orbit I (the name of our car), but it also meant that the first part of our journey is already over... it's unbelievable how quickly time flies. After that, we explored the city some more before heading to my first cricket game in the evening! A "must-do" in Australia - so we didn't want to miss it. I had high expectations, read the rules of the game beforehand so I could get into it, but I quickly realized - cricket is not my game xD. I didn't really understand the rules and there wasn't much atmosphere in the stadium... I'd rather stick to soccer xD.

Since we've been in Melbourne, we've also been lucky with the weather again! On Christmas weekend, it's going to be up to 38°C... now that's what I call a hot Christmas. The fourth day took us on a walk through the lanes and arcades in Melbourne, and for the first time, it really had a bit of European flair.

That's when I also understood why my tour guide compares Melbourne a bit to Paris. In the evening, we went to a dress rehearsal for an annual charity Christmas concert, which takes place here every year on the 24th of December. The Christmas concert costs three times as much as the dress rehearsal the day before, so we opted for the cost-saving version. It was really, really cool, I had a bit of Christmas spirit for the first time and understood why it also has its advantages to celebrate Christmas in the summer.

Now it's Saturday the 24th of December 2016. The date tells me it's Christmas, but otherwise, there's nothing to indicate that for us so far. We're currently thinking about what we can do with the day... Christmas in Australia... let's go.