Our time in Melbourne is quickly coming to an end and looking back, we had some really great memories and of course bad ones as well. We first arrived in Melbourne on 10th February and it was a completely new experience for us living independently without our parents and even more so being in a foreign country. We booked the first 2 weeks in an Airbnb so that we would have time to settle down and we were lucky to find a job and a permanent place to live within a week!

Work

Our first job was at a gyoza shop by the beach which was everything we wanted. The people there were really nice, the food was good (we could eat and drink as much as we wanted) and even now we are all still friends! Unfortunately, we had to leave as we weren’t getting enough shifts and it wasn’t enough for us to have savings for our travels.

Our next job involved going door to door convincing people to change to new LED lights under a government scheme. While giving out free stuff might sound easy, it was actually still pretty tough convincing people that it was a legitimate government scheme and not a scam. This new job provided much better money and we got to meet many different people from different countries as well which was really cool! We also got to go on 3 road trips to more rural suburbs during our short time there – Geelong, Wangaratta and Warrnambool (which is a lot!). The suburbs were a lot wetter and colder as Winter is Coming (GOT references right there for GOT FANS) and the estates had few to no shelters to hide during storms . There was a high turnover at the job and in our last 2 weeks there, more than half of the people had left or were going to leave. While we didn’t like the job, we made a good amount of money from there to sustain our travels for the next month or so.

Accommodation

Our first 2 weeks at the Airbnb were miserable as our hosts were difficult people and were calculative over silly things like paper towels. We were really determined to find a studio apartment because of our experience at the Airbnb and were lucky to find one quickly!

We found our apartment from a property management company called Easy Living Melbourne and while the initial month of our stay was relatively pleasant, it got worse and worse as the months went by. While we enjoyed the interior of our studio, the company had not informed us that there was going to be major renovations on our floor and from our second month on it felt like we lived in a dumping ground. Apart from that, the company gave our door entry code to the workers who let themselves into our apartment as and when they deemed fit. We felt unsafe and our privacy violated throughout our stay with them but we are really glad it’s finally over!

As of right now, we are living in our rooftop tent and being on the road. It has its own difficulties and inconveniences as well but I think we are having the best time of our trip so far 🙂

Mini trips and visits

During our 5 months here we had people come visit us from Singapore too and we made mini trips with them. First visitor would be Bel’s parents! It was also our first trip to the Great Ocean Road and Grampians National Park. The Great Ocean Road was really winding making it quite a drive but the views were so worth it! We visited the McKenzie Falls and Fish Falls at Grampians National Park too where we mini died climbing the gazillion steps there and back. Also had lots of good food and lots of shopping before we were back to work again.

Ended our second job with the arrival of Sharon and Dawn! We went to the Great Ocean Road and Grampians National Park AGAIN but it was still fun with different company. Spent a day as tourists in Melbourne as well taking photos of the wall art at Hosier Lane, trying croissants from Lune Croissanterie and eating a 1 metre pizza at Criniti’s!

Rested for a day before Dong and Ali arrived! It was more chill this time as we mainly stayed in the city/ St Kilda area trying out different cafes. We had more of a night life on this visit with parties for 3 nights straight HAHAHA. We also tried out 2 vegan/vegetarian cafes, Matcha Mylkbar and Sisters of Soul which was surprisingly really good!

Made a mini 2D1N trip to Sydney after for Vivid Sydney and Bondi Beach because the flight there was really cheap. Strangely, Sydney looked and reminded us so much of Singapore in terms of the layout and the general feeling for a moment it felt like we were back home. Highlight of our trip was definitely the dozen oysters we had at the Sydney Fish Market that was so fresh and at such a good price!

Moving on 

Despite working most of our time in Melbourne, we had a really enjoyable time as well and we do still feel a little sad but excited to begin our life on the road. Freezing while writing this in our rooftop tent right now but here’s the start to another advencher!

 

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