So I finally made it to Melbourne, and I have to admit that (although all the travels to this point have been amazing) it's nice to know I'm gonna be in the same spot for a while. My first few days in this part of the country have been great!

The day I arrived I pretty much just figured out how the transit works and got my self to where I'll be staying. I have to give a big shout out to my good friend Leila back in London who hooked me up with a friend of a friend who rented me a room in his house for the short term. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

The house is about 10km north of the city in a suburb called Preston. I am right on the train line, really close to Regent station if you want to google it to check it out. It is an ideal location because I am about 6km (1 tram ride) from campus and right on the main train line that goes downtown.

When I arrived, my new roommate/landlord Craig met me at the station and walked me back to the house. He gave me the grand tour and then I unpacked (for real!). That evening Craig and his partner made dinner and invited me to join. It was an awesome welcome to the new place.

The next day Craig took me for a tour of the neighbourhood to show me the important stuff like the grocery store and pharmacy as well as the tram line that I take to get to the school. That afternoon I went out and got groceries and a few things that I needed to grab to get a little more settled. We are really close to a super cool market where you can get all sorts of fruit and veggies. I'm going to be a regular. That evening I scored another awesome meal - I could get used to being the newbie!

Friday was my day to get to campus and figure out my situation there. The transit was easy enough to figure out but I had a much harder time making my way around campus! Eventually I found where I needed to be and met with the right people. I jumped right into their regular project meeting which was a little crazy, but really cool. They have a ton of stuff going on and there will be a variety of things for me to work on if all goes well.

That evening I made a friend who agreed to be a tour guide for me and show me some of the interesting places in the city. We started with dinner at a little Japanese restaurant that conveniently has $3 beers (everything here is super expensive so this is a big find). Afterwards we checked out a few of the cool areas such as flinders station and the graffiti alley (check out the photos). Of course we also sampled our way through a few pubs as well.

All in all the transition is going pretty smoothly. I have to say that I am loving the coffee scene here (in Australia) - literally have not had a bad cup. Although I'm probably blowing far too much cash on the habit.

Next task is find a bike so I can get out and do some real exploring. Maybe I'll find one to match my suit?

Stay weird party people.