Melbourne

 I arrived in melbourne and booked into a cheap hotel having left behind mos of the people I knew in australia back in sydney - It was a daunting feeling as I basically knew on one in the city.

But at least I had some work lined up with decent money to help me save a bit more for making my way around the country and home! The job was working on a government project - software for processing of grant applications. Plus I have to say i settled fairly quickly into the team - who are all really sound! It was a godd relaxed atmosphere in work but also very productive.

Within one week of arriving I was being treated as one of the locals - and I got invited (over a few pints) to play weekly 5 aside football in an indoor soccer league - something I had wanted to do in sydney for months! S first impressions of melbourne  - locals very friendly and life just goes at a more relaxed pace!

I moved into a nice house within my first week also - with other fellow travellers/ backpackers - 4 irish including a girl from ardee! (Cathal, Edwina, Mel and Carol) and 2 German girls (Maike and stephanie) who where erasmus students in the university and 2 Swedish girls who had moved on within a week or two after I moved in. Its a nice clean house really spacious house with big back garden/outdoor bbq and my own room - near the beach in St Kilda! (chilled out area with lots of busy cafes/ bars and restaurants - with a mix of backpackers/ street musicians/ trendy urbanites/ sporty and keep fit types and everything in between and a few crazies and bums. Melbourne itself kind a has the feel of an irish city (two of the main streets in the city centre are called Bourke st and Collins st) and it reminds me of Galway - it has a relaxed atmosphere, good food from all around the world ( I had my first taste of Yum Cha style restaurant feed - top notch!) and music scene to suit every taste.

Its hard to put a finger on exactly why but I just instantly liked Melbourne and was wondering why I had stayed in sydney so long! As Dylan Moran quite aptly put it (albeit to a sydney crowd) "Melbourne where they have real values...". Its less money orientated and flashy than Sydney (although sydney is more asthetically pleasing on the eye).

On my debut for the 5 aside team I scored a brace and we won 6-4 (woohoo I still have it! - well by it I mean I was able to run around after a ball in a game of the not the highest standard i've ever played and not make a show of myself - although I have let my fitness slip a little)

I had only been in melbourne a few weeks but I have to admit I liked it alot - I got invited to go skiing/snow boarding with some of the lads from work and also to go to a big farm house outside of the city for the bank holiday weekend (just two examples of how the locals are quite welcoming and friendly!!)

In victoria they have a law against jay walking similar to the states! And of course I got a fine within my first few days here - it being one of my biggest past times being from ireland! But I have to say I don't completely agree with this method of ensuring pedestrian safety as the very next day I saw the bad side of just obeying the little green man and not looking at the traffic that enevitably occurs with this system - when about 10 people nearly got run over by a ute(a pickup truck) that was coming late through the lights as they all stepped off the footpath as soon as the man flashed green! Anyways thats my rant over...