Australia is and will always be my happy place! I absolutely fell in love with the country, its landscape, wildlife, people and opportunities!
That’s the reason why I lived in Melbourne for over 2 years.
It’s hard to summarize all that happened during that time, but Australia has such a huge place in my heart that I want to share my adventures in Down Under with you in my ‘Australia’ Blog Posts!
Let’s start with Melbourne, the city that has changed my life.
Melbs love
Ohhh Melbs. How much I love you!
Melbourne literally changed my life upside down. After my 6 months backpacking tour in New Zealand & an unforgettable island hopping in Fiji, I made my way to OZ.
➳ Read: My first backpacking trip in New Zealand.
Beautiful Melbourne! A city with so much beauty and quality of life that it directly stole my heart.
My actual plan was to stay in this vibrant city for 3 months and then travel along the east coast before heading back home to Germany.
But these plans changed already after two weeks and the main reason for that was: I fell in love!
I met my boyfriend Ville after only two weeks and things got clear for me quickly. I wanted to stay longer.
Me and my boyfriend Ville enjoying life on the beach in our home city Melbourne.
Not only being in love with my boyfriend, but also love for the country and Melbs was crucial for my decision.
I met so many amazing people here that I can still call my second family.
I got used to the Australian laid back lifestyle and just absolutely loved being here. So why come back to Germany if I was so happy here?
And that’s how I ended up in Melbourne for 2 years and 2 months working, enjoying life, exploring myself, building meaningful relationships and even going to college!
View from our bedroom right in Melbourne City.
Later we moved into a shared house in Carlton. It was a a beautiful old Australian house!
Friends Trip to the beaaaach!
Best Work Crew at “The Mill House”, where I used to work as a bartender! Mucho love to these guys xx
Until today I look back at this time with a huuuge smile in my face and a little ache in my heart because I really miss this place that will always stay my second home.
Besides that, Melbourne has been the reason why I am still heading constantly into new adventures of life together with Ville!
1 month after we met each other. Now we are together for 3 years already- time flies!
Food & Restaurants
When it comes to food, Melbourne has amazing restaurants and a wide range of international food from Italian, Indian, Korean, Japanese, German, Chinese, Spanish and more.
Pizza for Valentines Day? Yes please!
Pizza Time!
Lygon Street is one of the best streets in Carlton/Brunswick East in the north of Melbourne, where you can find Italian restaurants and cafes.
One place you should try is “400 Gradi”.
The pizzas here are amazing!
Queen Victoria Market
Queen Victoria Market.
A must visit when in Melbs!
Queen Victoria Market offers great options to buy souvenirs, have a snack and stroll around.
During winter time the market turns into a cozy night market, where you have different small shops, can eat hot churros with chocolate, drink mulled wine and listen to live music.
It’s such a beautiful place!
St. Kilda
Want some beach? Some festivals? Or cool bars and restaurants?
St. Kilda is directly located at the beach and from here you have beautiful views over the skyline, watch sunsets and even penguins!
The small cuties come to the shore every day shortly after sunset because they come back from fishing to feed their ‘girlfriends’ and babies. It’s a magical moment to watch them coming back in big groups from their journey and see them from close hiding between the rocks.
Festival Time! St. Kilda Festival takes place every year directly in front of the beach and is for free!
Sunsets are my favourite time of the day! And Australian ones are especially beautiful.
City views
View from Eureka Skydeck. 
In Melbourne you can’t even have enough city views!
There are so many rooftop bars where you can enjoy delicious cocktails while watching the city lights.
Some of them are:
*Lui Bar
*Naked for Satan
*Imperial Hotel
*Emerald Peacock and sooo many more.
There really are hundreds of great bars in Melbourne to enjoy a drink!
Or you can visit Eureka Skydeck, head on top of level 88 and have a stunning view over Melbs.
Bars & Nightlife
Honstely, I have never been in a more amazing city for nightlife than Melbourne!
There are so many options between: clubs, rooftop bars, hidden laneway bars and outdoor parties that you literally have huge struggles to decide where to go. And every suburb of Melbourne offers different kind of parties.
My 21st birthday!
The vibe is just liiit!
Bars and Clubs I really liked in Melbourne:
*The Mill House
*Revolver
*Worker’s Club
*Section 8
*Naked for Satan
*Cherry Bar
*Asian Beer Cafe
….and so many more….
Streetart
ACDC Lane.
Melbs is also famous for its colourful streetart!
If you walk through the many laneways you will spot amazing drawings.
Famous laneways for streetart are for example: ACDC Lane & Hosier Lane.
Streetart in Fitzroy.
Brighton Beach
2017 
2018 
2019
There are two beaches a little outside of the city you shouldn’t miss!
1. Brighton Beach, which is famous for the many cute little Beach Boxes with different colours and drawings.
2. Half Moon Bay, with beautiful calm waters and perfect to chill out!
Events
Melbourne is not only known for huge events like Melbourne Cup or Grand Prix, but also for other events like the White Night.
The city is never sleeping!
Every week there is a different event going on and it really never gets boring. Day and Night Markets, festivals, exhibitions, parties, concerts, street events and much more…
Melbourne really deserves to be ranked the most liveable city in the world for 7 years in a row!
Farmwork phase
About 4 months I was working on a farm under the week to get together my 88 days of farmwork to be eligible for a second year Working Holiday Visa, which I still have in my pocket!
Here I was packing apples and pears for supermarkets 8 hours a day- very hard work mentally, but I made it. 🙂
After 4 months finally back to freedom!!!
Favourite roadtrips close to Melbs
Several times Ville and me were hitting the road to explore different areas in Victoria and got surprised every time.
Close to Melbourne you can find beautiful spots and roadtrips!
Great Ocean Road
The Great Ocean Road is located about 90 minutes from Melbourne and is 243 km long, which makes it also a great destination for a day trip.
During your trip you can stop at small villages, enjoy breathtaking views over cliffs and explore the nature and wildlife.
When my mum came to visit me in 2017, we found new friends after 2 minutes in this place!
The Kennett River Koala Walk can be found along the Great Ocean Road. It’s lots of fun as the curious birds want to get to know you better.
The highlight for many travelers visiting the Great Ocean Road are the “12 Apostles”. They are about 60 metres high limestone rocks and give a beautiful view with the ocean!
Wilsons Promontory
My favourite destination in Victoria for overnight trekking and roadtripping!
I loved this trip and have so many awesome memories connected to these days.
Ville and I hit the road and spent 3 days and 2 nights hiking through Wilsons Promontory, cut off from society and without phone signal. 😀
It was simply amazing.
I love to be in the nature and connect, wake up early in a tent and just live with the minimal that you need. Besides that, the landscape here is beautiful!
Bye bye society! Our backpacks full of food, tent, gas cooker and everything we need for 3 days of surviving far from scoiety.
Arriving at the first beach- Waterloo Bay! The blue of the ocean is amazing and the sand sooo white.
And more beach views.
You can really see that the nature is completely untouched.
It makes a huge difference to visit places you can’t access by public tarnsport or car, but have to walk thousands of kilometres instead to get there.
It’s worth it!
Even rain or bad weather doesn’t stop us from exploring!
Bye Melbourne, Bye Australia
Arrived in March 2017 and left in May 2019.
During that time Ville and I had the chance to explore Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania and the East Coast and live a happy life together in a place that was magic for us.
I am really grateful for the people we met during that time, the experiences we made and things I learned!
After graduating from college, we decided that it was time to leave Australia for a while to spend some quality time with our families that we have seen only for a very short time in between.
Besides that, we wanted to follow our passion for traveling and have the freedom to explore different corners of this world and participate more in volunteer projects.
This is why I can’t wait for all the adventures lying ahead of us and sharing them with you!
Maybe I can inspire you & show how beautiful and full of opportunities the world out there really is.
All I can say is: it won’t be the last time Australia, we will be back!
➳ Read: With a camper through Tasmania.
I hope you could get a great impression of my life in Melbourne! Could you imagine to live abroad in a city like Melbs and a country far away from home? Would love to hear your thoughts below!
