Life in Melbourne is different from life in Miami in many small ways. Here are a few things that I find myself doing more living here than I ever did before while living in Miami.
Walking
Aside from a sporadic evening exercise regime, the most walking I did in Miami was in the mall. Miami is hot and humid and often the places you want to get to are beyond comfortable walking distance. In Melbourne, everything is just “down the road”. If you live and work near the city, you don’t need to own a car thanks to Melbourne’s public transportation. It’s easy and comfortable to get around on foot.
Housekeeping
In Miami, I was my mother’s daughter. I lived with her and was spoiled by her. In Melbourne, I’m somebody’s partner and we share a home. Now my daily routine includes cleaning and cooking and, though it has its pleasures at times, becoming a homemaker has been on the most difficult adjustments for me.
Learn about dogs
In Miami, I had a cat. In Melbourne, we have a dog. Sam is clever, sweet, and very cute, but his antics were driving me mad. Off to doggie charm school he went. It’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made here. After only four sessions (with four more to go), his transformation has been remarkable. He’s calmer, he’s learned how to sit, drop, and wait. He’s much more enjoyable to have as a pet now.
Battle flies
There are flies in Miami, but the flies in Melbourne are extra special. It feels like there are many more of them and they are bold. They buzz around your head and love to land on you. The worst is when they try to go into your ears. Some of these are huge. The motion of waving away flies with your hand is dubbed the “Australian wave”.
Shop for locally-made products
In Miami, just about everything is from somewhere else. Australia still produces many goods, which is a point of Aussie pride. Not only can you easily obtain locally grown food, Melbourne has a rich design culture for fashion, accessories, and home goods.
Live greener
Not only do I walk more, use public transportation, we also recycle, grow some herbs and vegetables, and buy locally-made products. In Melbourne, there’s also a big interest in recycling , upcycling, and sustainable living. On any given Sunday, you can visit just about any market and find some great and unique handcrafted and upcycled merchandise. There are numerous local government-offered workshops as well as large events to teach, encourage, and celebrate greener habits such as Bikefest and the Sustainable Living Festival.
If you’re an expat down under, are there things you do in Oz you never did before or that you do more here?
I do a lot more walking and biking, too, which I love. I don’t do a lot of biking for running errands and such because if I have to go somewhere, it’s a real pain to carry around my helmet, and my ultra heavy bike lock, and walk around in my bike cleats or have to take different shoes along to change into. And then I’m all sweaty and I have helmet hair and it’s just gross. So I ride my bike for exercise (about an hour a day) and otherwise I only use it for going to Pilates (since I’m going to get sweaty there anyway) or for very short trips to the store or whatever.
I’ll tell you one thing I do a lot less of now and that’s eating out. Waaaay too expensive here. In America, I’d eat out a couple times a week and my partner at the time had the palate of a three year old, so my cooking at home was limited to things like mac and cheese and frozen pizzas. Now I cook at home every night, a big fancy meal of some sort. And we only eat out for very special occasions, so maybe two or three times a year, tops. If we go out, we’ll go to some upscale expensive place and make a three hour event out of it. It has to be a place where the food isn’t something I could make at home. And we probably wouldn’t even do that, except G gets this job perk where he can put pre-tax dollars onto a card that can be used only to pay for meals out. Weird. If we didn’t have that card, we’d probably never eat out at all.
I haven’t been to any of these markets you speak of, though…
I hate those heavy bike locks too and I’m currently on the hunt for a more stylish helmet. I’ve found a few supercute ones from the U.S. or Europe, but they don’t meet Australia’s tough standards so back to the drawing board.
We don’t eat out much either. Not only is it expensive, but service tends to be pretty bad, and the food is hit or miss. Nine times out of ten, we end up disappointed.
I enjoy going to the markets, but I actually do very little shopping. Mostly I just like to see cool stuff and be inspired.
So what’s the problem, Cosette? Life in Oz sounds prettttttty good, apart from the housekeeping, of course! Ah well – can’t have it all, they say! 😉
Yep, it is pretty good 🙂
Oh! And, I forgot those nasty flies in Melbourne – they are terrible, tenacious little sods! 😉