Wow! what a crazy couple of weeks it has been for me. The weekend before last I boarded a flight in Manchester and made the long journey over to Australia. Landing in Melbourne over 24 hours after leaving Manchester was a welcome relief to draw closure to what seemed like a never ending day

Leaving Manchester at 10am and arriving in Melbourne at 7pm the following day was probably about as ideal as things could have worked out, but sitting on the plane and spectating as the world saw two days and two nights in a 24 hour period still takes it out of you!

I was lucky enough to have a pre-arranged lift from the airport and a family home to stay at for as long as I needed upon arrival (thanks Sue ;)).

Anyway, enough about the journey here, what I really want to talk about are my first impressions of Melbourne. Tucked away in a bay on the south facing side of Victoria, hugging the meandering drifts of the Yarra river, Melbourne is what you would no doubt describe as a metropolis. Viewed from a distance you see the towering skyscrapers huddled together, almost impressionistic of the Manhattan skyline. In the city center you really feel the hustle and bustle of working city life. By day you’ve got your office workers wandering around in expensive suits, executives driving sporty cars, locals out shopping, commuters whipping around on the tram network and the odd backpacker making casual observations like myself By night the whole atmosphere changes to a calm and collected mood as the sky darkens and the lights come on. People sit and sip their beers in the many bars and restaurants scattered around the city. Postcard scenes present themselves along the banks of the Yarra River at Southbank.

What fascinates me about the way people operate here though is the laid back tone of life seamlessly integrated with what is clearly a hard working city. You head out to a restaurant or a cafe for your lunch break. Everyone else has the same idea and the venues begin to fill up, but nobody sticks to a schedule. You look around at the people sitting at the tables and many of them are taking advantage of the free Wi-Fi many of the cafes offer their customers so they can keep working whilst they sip on their lattes.

The city is big. I’d almost go so far as to say huge, but then London probably takes first place in that competition. It doesn’t take very long to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life though. By foot you can wander for about 20 minutes to the Royal Botanic Gardens, an immensely impressive collection of tropical plants and trees on a patch of land you can spend half a day strolling your way around the twisty little footpaths amongst the vegetation.

Hop in a car and drive for an hour or so and you hit the Yarra Valley and the Dandenongs. The Dandenongs is the hilly woodside ranges sitting to the east of Melbourne whilst the Yarra Valley is packed full of the lush vineyards of the wineries in the region. I’m sure most Europeans have seen bottles of wine from the Yarra Valley in the shops at some point I’ve yet to do a winery tour but I have visited the region.

Puffing Billy is a steam train which winds its way through the Gum Trees of the Dandenongs. You can join in with the kids who sit along the edge of the windows swinging their legs out as the train trundles it way through the tightly packed trees. All in all I’d say Puffing Billy is probably the least impressive thing I’ve done since I’ve been here though. Geared more towards providing an entertaining day out for children it just had a slightly “tacky” feel to it for me. Maybe I didn’t give it a proper chance?

Closer to the Yarra Valley is Healesville where they have a wildlife sanctuary aptly named the Healesville Sanctuary. By contrast with a Zoo where you’re merely an observer of animals in cages, Healesville is set in a natural environment with some animals almost free to wander. You can attend a whole series of talks about the behaviour, diet and habitats of the various indigenous species they keep. Definitely not geared towards children alone, these talks make very interesting listening You can even go a step further and get up and close and personal with some surprisingly tame Kangaroos. The keeper can offer you a handful of dried fruit to feed to Kangaroos and they are more than happy to be patted by visitors! This made my day out one of the best things I’ve done since arriving.

Following an initial week of sightseeing I’m now settling into a full-time job with SitePoint (software development company). I’m joining the crowds of workers, sipping my lattes and eating my lunches in the cafes of a city which works hard but yells “chill out!”