It only took a drive in from the airport for me to be impressed by this lovely city in the Southeast portion of Australia. All I needed to do was to look at the skyline on the way to a hotel. The skyscrapers fill up the view on the approach, and the buildings are imaginative and innovative. This is clearly a city that has put some thought into its expansion into the ranks of the world's best. No wonder more than five million people live there - a few behind Sydney as the biggest city in Australia. Combine those two cities, and about 40 percent of the country's population is located in them.
The Aboriginals had been on this land for 40,000 years. Then Melbourne was founded by the British in 1835 (after a brief early attempt at colonization). A gold rush in the 1850s started a run of prosperity that lasted more than 30 years and put it on the map for good.
Melbourne has been ranked as the world's most livable city in some surveys, and that makes plenty of sense. There has been a great deal of investment into infrastructure by the government, and it's relatively easy to get around. Yes, driving in the downtown business district can be interesting with all the traffic and the trams, but it works better than you'd think.
It can get hot here - 116 degrees one time - but usually it sticks to the 80s in summer. Meanwhile, the winter temperatures get above freezing on most days, so snow isn't much of an issue.
No comments:
Post a Comment