10 reasons to love living in Melbourne

Melbourne Australia voted the World's Most Liveable City, 2017 

by The Economist for a record seventh time. 

I agree it is an awesome city to live. Here are ten reasons to love Melbourne with photos mostly taken from my recent trip, plus a few. You be the judge!

1. Cool Climate: After my humidity hair Bangkok life, I'm enjoying putting a coat on and walking in that cool, fresh non-polluted air... Ok, I was there in the middle of winter, but even in the heat of an Aussie summer, our weather changes. Melbourne is renown for four seasons in a day! It's never a relentless heat, nor the constant Sweaty Betty humidity. 

Although, I'm not sure the Crazy Poodle was that happy with his rain coat...!

2. Coffee Culture: Food is often the most missed thing when people travel, it is for me. I crave my favourite food, 'smashed avo' and look at this! No other country does coffee as well as Melbourne and not a Tim Tam biscuit in sight!

3. Super Sports: I LOVE  the way sport has become so effortlessly central to our lives. Whether it is meeting friends at the Australian Open tennis, or barracking for our favourite footy team. Running in the Melbourne Marathon (5 or 10 kms at a push!) to support Run for Refugees, or cheering for our middle daughter and her Women's Premier League Soccer team. Melbourne calls itself the sporting capital of Australia, so that's official!

4. Perfect Parks: One of the first things I do, when I get back to Melbourne, is to grab the dog and head to the park. We can walk for miles from our place, there are parks at both ends of our road. We also have the beautiful Yarra river running through out the city. I love seeing the changing of the seasons; I'm more annoying to walk with than the dog who stops to pee at every tree. I stop at trees to admire each new bloom!

5. Multicultural Melbourne: Whilst I love Australia, I don't like to feel too disconnected from the rest of the world. I was happy to make a return visit to my old work colleagues at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Footscray. They do some amazing work and were lovely team mates. I miss feeling a valued part of a local community. Watch out Bangkok, I need to sort this aspect of my life out!

6. Happy Healthcare: I seriously have a whole tribe of Melbourne healthcare practitioners who keep me happy and healthy. I'm sure I could have the same in Bangkok, it's known for its medical tourism, but I prefer those who have got to know me well over the years. In particular, my Aussie Osteopath who straightens out my bones from frequent travel and my Kinesiologist who keeps me grounded. With kids playing sport, we're never far from needing the Sports Doctors, this year alone we're hoping to get away with just a broken rib and a dislocated shoulder. 

7. Envious Environment: We can walk on the pavements without fear of tripping, we don't have live wires dangling everywhere, corporate health and safety at work is important, the air is relatively clean for a city. Our council picks up our recycling every week, our post is delivered to the letter box, it is a city under pressure from tremendous growth but it still works, I could go on and on!

8. Super Stable, politically and economically: Compared with elsewhere in the world our democracy is stable and our country is as safe as anywhere is. We walk around without fear of our personal safety and without Big Brother overtly watching everything we do. We trust our police force, our gun crime is minimal. We look out for each other. We accept different faiths and religions. We complain about our political leaders and some of their decisions but it could be worse!

9. Terrific Transport: We are blessed to have a train line at the end of the road, and trams running throughout Melbourne. It takes us 20 mins to get to Flinders Street Station, the main city centre train station. The trains run all night. The one big flaw is no train to the Airport.

10. All the rest it was a tough one whether it was the culture, the food or the festivals. There is always something going on in Melbourne.
So, what do you think?!