Day 56 of "Figuring it Out" - Birthday Shenanigans + Things I find weird/interesting about Melbs

Kia Ora friends! Happy Thursday! And Happy Birthday to me (haha so conceited). I'm officially 28 - and that's very scary oh my gosh. I better start getting through my 30 things I want to do before I'm 30. I've only got 2 years to go. Geez. Anyway, Melbourne weather today is super humid, it was overcast earlier this morning but I only needed a t-shirt when I went for a walk earlier today at around 8:30am. This morning Luke made me poached eggs on toast for a birthday breakfast and got a few artsy presents also! Thank you to everyone who has said happy birthday today or sent me a card! It's much appreciated. I've spent most of the day baking but I've had to sit down A LOT because I get so tired so easily but I'm so glad I have some time now for more hobbies. We're having some friends over tomorrow night so thought it would be good to also have some baking for them. I'm definitely a feeder. I didn't use my stand mixer as much as I normally do though, so my wrists are quite sore (thanks carpal tunnel) from mixing but I really hope people like my baking! I made some cupcakes and cookies so far. I'm not sure if I'll get a chance to ice the cupcakes today, it might have to be tomorrow but that's okay. I'm pretty scared about icing again, it's been a long time since I've done it, but I should start practicing again because I really want to hehe.

PIN IT

Tonight, Luke and I are heading out for a birthday dinner and I'll need to shower and do my make up beforehand because I am covered in flour and nobody wants to go out covered in flour. I also need to do a few spot-cleaning things and re-pot my plants. But we shall see how I go today.

For today's blog, I thought I'd share some of the things I find weird about Melbourne and living in Melbourne (I guess you could call in culture shock because I'm a kiwi) but it's interesting to think about how both Australia and NZ are so close together and similar but there's actually a lot more differences than you might think!

• Togs are called "bathers" here and the slang is incredibly different. Like a fluffy is called a baby-chino (makes more sense tbh).

• I still have no idea what a magic is - people have explained it to me but what? Do I just need to go and order one and experience it for myself?

• People say "ya know" a lot more than kiwis but kiwis say "um" and "like" a lot more

• I can now hear my vowel pronunciation (e vs i etc.) so if I say better, it sounds like I'm saying bitter and SO many people will pick out your accent and also lots of people have no idea what you're saying when you say the numbers six or ten lol.

• The range of snacks is not as good.

• Milk is weird here - oat milk is produced on wheat farms (apparently that's only an Australian thing) and homogenised milk really hurts my tummy here! I don't know too much of the science behind it but milk here doesn't go well with my tummy but milk back in NZ, is okay.

• Some of the intersections are terrifying - Keilor Road, for example. You can't see if a tram is coming. If you know, you know.

• Hook turns - so weird.

• Anything "scary" probably won't hurt you directly e.g., a snake isn't going to jump up and bite you unless you step on it or annoy it, spiders are big but they don't seem that scary. I'm still scared of the bull ants and march flies but I'm getting there with other wildlife like bugs - finding them less scary.

• The humidity is awful.

• I still don't know what side of the road to catch the tram from but the PT is really great here. You can go anywhere!

• Going out for every meal is normal here? Like I'm an avid foodie and love researching things about food and eating food, but the only times I would actually go out to eat for every meal is when I'm travelling or special occassions. Other times, it would be either once a week with Luke or whenever a friend asked.

• The TV channels are weird - like Channel 7, 9, and 10? NZ at least starts at Channel 1.

• The amount of betting advertising, and targeted at women, I've never seen so much in my life

• I might get some hate for this but Lune seems overhyped! I've had a croissant from there (but it wasn't in the morning so not as fresh) but idk why there's such a big line every day. Kudos to the owner - she's amazing. I just don't know? Maybe I didn't try the right one. I'm definitely going to have to go back.

• The rental market is awful

• There are so many more places to see wildlife - and there's so many colourful birdies. I love the birds. But they sure are noisy really early in the morning when you want to sleep. Who needs an alarm clock? But there's also plenty of kangaroos and wallabies hopping about.

• There is barely any free parking - you gotta pay and you gotta pay a lot. There's heaps of parking garages in the city (but who wants to drive to the city anyway) and I'm guessing it's to encourage us to use PT wherever possible but sometimes when your health is not good, driving is better.

• Trains always seem to be packed and it's really hard to get a seat (especially during rush hours).

• Melbourne has foxes (I only thought foxes lived in the Northern Hemisphere) but I learned when I got there, that Melbourne has them are they are pests. They're still super cute though. And much smaller than I thought they would be. Please stop eating all the native wildlife.

• Bats sound like monsters.

• The drinking culture is worse than what it is in NZ but Australians expect kiwis to hold their alcohol better?!

• Panel shows are great here - although I do miss 7 days. But Cheap Seats, Have You Been Paying Attention? and Hard Quiz are so funny.

• You must walk to the left on escalators (now this is normal to veer left in NZ), but you can also just stay standing on the escalator and others wait, but because people are getting past you in a rush, you need to stay to the left.

• Weather is just f*cked here. Enough said.

• Sports fans are crazy and I mean legit crazy.

• People always walk really fast. Like I don't think I've ever seen anyone mindfully walking around Melbourne.

• Melbourne doesn't have green (compost) bins in every household - you have to pay for them.

• I still have no idea how to pronounce half the suburbs in Melbourne and the east side is SOOOOOOO long.

• Toll Roads are still weird to me and I still dunno how they work really? Like paying tax to drive on a road? So annoying.

• Some websites say that Australia swears a lot more than other countries but I would say kiwis definitely swear a lot more. It might depend on who you hang around though.

• Public toilets are a bit more well-maintained than NZ ones and there seems to be more - I'm guessing because there's way more people.

• The Melbourne vs Sydney debate is so weird. People always tell me I won't like Sydney and I still have no idea because I've never been.

• Wages are higher in general and you get penalty rates for working the weekend (you only get higher pays when working a public holiday in NZ and that's only if you're on wages and not salary).

• Sick leave is different - it doesn't accumulate like it does in NZ, you only get a set amount of days (and if you have chronic health conditions or get sick easier, you're fucked - haha me rn).

• Retail staff seem friendlier - maybe it's the higher wages aha?!

• There's more people who smoke and vape around the city - it's gross but there doesn't seem to be as many designated smoke-free areas like NZ has.

• Jandals are called thongs (so weird). I've just started calling them flip flops lol.

• You only have to do two driving tests, your learners' and then the one to get on your P's and then you stay on red/green P's and finally automatically get your full licence after a certain amount of time? Like what? In NZ, you have to do your learner's, then your restricted, and then your full test and it's so expensive.

• It's less common to be able to drive a manual (maybe it's bc there's more farmers in NZ so more common for manuals to be driven).

• There's lots of shops around the suburbs that don't seem to be open on Sundays.

• Some places encourage tipping (I'm guessing because of all the tourists - I think Queenstown might be a little like this too).

• People seem so grumpy whenever they go to the supermarket and it's not often you can get a checkout person to help you. Self-checkouts are so hard when you have a back injury LOL.

• Oh and you need either a coin or a little trolley thing to get a trolley?

• There are "crossing supervisors" that are around before school and after school but they blow their whistles and don't let you cross until they've done so. It's so weird. I had road patrol as a kid and that was much more fun.

• It took me an embarrassingly long time to learn that bi-carb soda was baking soda and so long to find it on the shelves LOL.

Anyway, I am sure I can think of more and come back to this later on! But for today's question, I want to know, what's the best gift you've ever received? Let me know in the comments below. For me, it's anything food related!

Enjoy your Thursday! Ka kite,

Much love,

Ash xx