Write about the past and present life of your CITY or COUNTRY.
88Melbourne, Australia
I was not born in Australia and I did not grow up in Melbourne. I came here out of choice in my mid twenties so I have two advantages: one is that I have experienced other cities and countries and the other is that I can appreciate this city in a way that those who grew up here may not.
Melbourne sits at the south eastern corner of Australia with about 3 million citizens in a country of 20 million spread around the edges of a land the size of the North America (excluding Canada). It is the capital city of the State of Victoria which is one of the smaller States but second largest population to New South Wales whose capital is Sydney.
We used to have a temperate climate and Victoria is known as the Graden State but recent drought and climate change means that we are experiencing hotter summers, dryer winters and having to make changes to our lifestyles to deal with it.
Unlike Sydney, Melbourne was never a penal colony and so its original white settlers were all free settlers. Like the rest of Australia, Melbourne had its original inhabitants which are the Wurrundjeri people. At all events, conferences etc.. we have a 'welcome to country' ceremony where we invite an Aboriginal Elder to acknowledge our usage of their land. Seems quaint when you explain it but it is quite special and is an appropriate connection to 40,000 years of history!
Modern Melbourne boasts some fantastic buildings and big wide boulevards, we owe this to the gold rush in the 19th century in a number of locations ringing Melbourne itself. Most of the old gold-fields have dried up but you can still find gold and some interesting nuggets have appeared in recent times. Most of the goldfields are about one hour driving from Melbourne but in those days it was a three day trudge in a bullock cart if you were lucky!
The Chinese were a big presence on the gold fields and the heritage that this has left us is a thriving chinese community and some of the best chinese food you can get outside China itself! Many other nationalities have also come to Melbourne so we all enjoy the variety and richness of the culture that this brings!
Did you know that Melbourne has the highest population of Greeks in a City after Athens? True..
After the second world war many European nationalities made their way to the relative peace of Australia and in Melbourne, especially Italians who are now such a part of the fabric of life that they complain about the newer immigrants!
Melbourne hosted the 1956 Olympics from which a large number of Hungarians defected. We have large communities of Vietnamese, Indians and Russians and forgive me for thinking of my stomach but all of these mean we have the most fantastic range of restaurants you could hope for. You can find a restaurant for absolutely any cuisine you can name!
Like most of Australia we are pretty laid back and relaxed about life but we love our sport and can get a bit heated about that. We have Australian Rules Football here and the first question most Melbourne people will ask is which team do you follow? Melbourne is home to the Melbourne Cricket Ground where we have the annual Boxing Day Test Match (for those of you in non-cricketing countries this is a 5 day game of cricket that was originally a battle between old rivals England and Australia. More other countries are now included)
In November we have the Spring Horse Racing and in particular the Melbourne Cup - the horse race that stops the nation! In Melbourne it is a public holiday and in other States they have office parties and get very little done anyway! Absolutely everything stops while the race is run - luckily that is only three or four minutes....
I live in a suburb that is just 13 kms from the heart of the city and have a nice house with a good sized garden where I can just relax and enjoy the birds and my pets. I work from home (converted the garage) so am sitting writing this gazing over the herb garden, a lemon tree and a whole wall of jasmine in glorious flower up the side of the house. My dog is asleep beside me and the sun is shining - why would I want to be anywhere else?
However, I love travelling, and I manage to get away somewhere each year. Last year I went to Canada and fell in love with the Rockies, the year before I was in South Africa restoring my faith in nature as I watched the big game in its own environment and I also spend time in Europe and Asia. I also spend a lot of time travelling around for work but everytime the wheels of the plan touch down as Melbourne airport I take a big breath and feel the comfort of this graceful city descend upon me again - it really is about coming home!
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Thank you and yes it is the middle of summer here and we do get some pretty hot days over this time of year. In the daytime it gets up around 28-30 centigrade and can drop to about 14 at night. We then get the odd really hot patch when it gets up to the high 30s and not below 20 at night, that is when the air-conditioning pays for itself! By March we start moving into fall but it is still warm enough to spend lots of time outdoors and then in June we hit winter but if the temperature actually dropped to zero it would make front page news - but we do get wind straight from antartica which is a bit chilly...
Hello Caryl!
Thanks for the wealth of information. I would love to visit Australia some day. One of my close friends here in Colorado hails from down under. My husband spends lots of time in Argentina and Colombia so I am aware of the switch in seasons. I often wonder about Christmas celebrations.
We are hoping yesterday's blizzard is the last, as we are now in spring. But springtime in the Rockies is always full of surprises. In fact, through all of winter the weather changes like a Christmas globe. Some days the snow swirls and then, almost immediately, the skies are empty and the sun beats down, melting the drifts.
We are a desert climate, dry with little humidity. My three children were raised on water, water and more water. My family from the central US state of Minnesota cannot believe that my kids do not drink pop but prefer water- or did. As they come of age, they of course switch to coffee, tea, wine and beer!
We have an excellent brewery in our state- New Belgium beer from Fort Collins is definitely worth a try. Fat Tire Amber Ale seems to be most popular but I love their new Black Ale, 1554.
Colorado is also known for its peaches, grown on the western slope which is a very different climatic experience from both the mountains and the eastern plains. Denver is at the edge of the mountains on the eastern plains and of course, sits a mile high. I live southeast of Denver but above the capital city. One report lists us at 1955 meters. I only know feet!
The Colorado Ute lived in this area before trains striped the landscape-- along with the Arapaho. In the southwest corner of the state we have Mesa Verde and Bandelier where the Anasazi lived in carved out cave structures that are pretty incredible to visit. When my youngest was a toddler, we piled into our Aerostar minivan and drove across the state to see it. She became very confused as the day went on. "When does Mesa Ver Day begin, Mommy?" she finally asked.
One of my close friends is Colorado Ute. When she was a child, the Catholic services took her from her mother and put her in an orphanage to civilize her. She reunited with her mother in California only years ago. Happily she was able to visit with her before her mother died.
Of course, we had the gold rush here, like you had in Australia! And outlaws and cowboys and pioneers from all over the world hung around these parts. We had buffalo running wild on the plains and domestic cattle contained with in fences. We now have ground buffalo meat and steaks in the grocery stores. This meat seems to be more resistant to mad cow and that type of disease. Buffalo are tough creatures and majestic to behold.
bohica says:
2 years ago
A very enjoyable hub! I think that you should have mentioned something about the weather. Most Yanks can not appreciate that now in February that you guys are probably experiencing a heat wave. They might accept it intellectually, earth tilt and all that, but to experience the reality of it - is something entirely different.