Learning the Tram System

Since the past few days were a bit cold and lazy, we decided to take advantage of the amazing weather we got yesterday. We woke up around 9 and were determined to learn the tram system around here. Coming from Texas, there's not much in the form of public transportation, so the large scale of it here is a bit daunting. We purchased our Myki passes (access cards that get you onto the trams) and went into the situation with an open mind. The max you are charged per day is $7 AUD, so it's by far the most affordable way to get around. We told ourselves it was okay if we got lost and it would be a good way to explore different areas if that happened. A local suggested we download the PTV (Public Transport Victoria) App on our phones and I'm so thankful that we did - it was a game changer. You can easily put in your current location and where you're looking to go and it will tell you which tram stop to get to and which line to hop on.

Our first destination was Hosier Lane in the CBD. We had heard a bit about this street and all of the colorful graffiti surrounding it. There is quite a bit of graffiti around town, but I think it's more appreciated here as art vs. back home where we view it as trashy. We put our details into the PTV App and easily made our way into town from St. Kilda. It was around a 15-20 minute tram ride and we felt like pros after reaching our destination with no hiccups.

Here's a few shots from Hosier Lane:

After that, we walked around the CBD some more and discovered all of the little alleyways with shops and cafes.

Thanks for the reassurance!

We then decided that since we were basically tram pros, we should try and get out to our neighborhood where we will be living come the end of November. The area is called Glen Iris and it's about 5 miles southeast of the CBD. This trip took us 30 minutes and we quickly found our new apartment! We walked around the quaint area and saw a few shops and cafes where we could potentially work. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that the minimum wage here is $17.29 AUD (~$12.50 USD). That calmed my mind a bit regarding some of the higher prices we've seen.

The street right outside our apartment. 

A lot of people kept mentioning Chapel Street to us, so we figured that since it was on the way back to St. Kilda, we might as well use our new tram skills and check it out. This street has a ton of clothing stores, restaurants, and bars. It reminded us a bit of South Lamar in Austin, but way more compact and closer together. There is definitely some potential for places of employment for us down the road on Chapel Street.

We got back into St. Kilda around 3pm, did some laundry and watched our new Netflix binge, Nashville, before heading out to meet up with a running group we found online. We walked across the street to the beach, found our group, and set off on a 3.5 mile run along the coast. It was amazing! Easily one of my favorite running paths I've ever been on. We are hoping to join a few more groups like that in order to meet new people and make friends (we jokingly asked a girl on the tram to be our friend)!

View of Melbourne CBD from St. Kilda beach running path

Since the weather is 77 and sunny today, we are going to have our first beach day with a picnic in the sand. Summer doesn't technically start until December 1, but we plan to take in as much beach-time while we can. We invited Brian and Sam, our friends from the hostel, over for dinner tonight. I'm thinking a good Texas chili may be in store!