What We Love

1. Wide open spaces. There's SO MUCH sky.
2. Pockets of green everywhere. Tree-lined avenues. Beautifully manicured front lawns...and trees. Some people sure take a lot of trouble pruning and shaping their trees.
3. Playgrounds everywhere! Beth loves the ones at Bundoora Park, Williamstown by the sea and MacDonald's Playland @ Hoppers Crossing.
4. The cool weather. Going for a jog's a breeze when you know you aren't going to perspire. And we haven't seen a cockroach so far!
5. The choice and variety at supermarkets. Each has its own special day where there are extra discounts.
6. Cheap and fresh fruits ($3+ for 4-5 avocadoes, $2.99 for a punnet of oversized strawberries, $2.99 for 2 kg of apples).
7. Malls that are compact yet have everything you need.
8. Friendly faces. Last night, we got back to our hostel to find a mini-party going on on the front porch. There were 3 guys and a gal smoking and drinking beer. One of the guys - Sam - came up to say hello and introduce himself and joked about the Ozzie love for barbies and parties. We've also met many of the residents and chatted with a couple - Indian students usually cooking up a fragrant spicy storm in the kitchen - most of whom go out of their way to be nice to Beth.
9. The accessibility of history, culture and the arts. (Today, we popped into the Werribee Cultural Centre in the town centre, where we viewed artwork by primary and secondary school students, and picked up a calendar of events to be held at the in-house theatre for the rest of the year. Beth fell in love with the library, and all of us were agog at the gargantuan cakes at the cafe next door!)
10. Clean and dry public toilets (not counting the ones in public parks and playgrounds that are usually dimly lit and sparsely stocked).
11. Kid-friendly wash basins in toilets.
12. Seniors seem to be really independent here. We've seen disabled seniors in motorized wheelchairs doing their shopping, and white-haired little old ladies pushing their personal shopping trolleys in supermarts and loading groceries into their car boots - all by themselves. And we like that pensioners get all sorts of benefits, like discounts off haircuts at certain salons.
13. Clear road signs on/leading to highways and freeways.
14. Free parking in the suburbs. Parking is generally ex in town, but in the suburbs, it's common to find public carparks with signs like "2P" and "4P", which mean parking is free for 2 or 4 hours (as the case may be) between the designated hours. Great for when you're out shopping for groceries or running errands.
15. The emphasis on sports. There are facilities for tennis, squash, bowling, swimming, biking, skateboarding and of course footy, in practically every neighbourhood we've checked out.
16. Our in-house cafe, which serves the best foccacia I've ever had, a tempting array of pastries and cakes and a solid latte. We had brekky al fresco yesterday and it was such a lovely thing to do, with the warm sunshine and the cool breeze and a view of the street, where we could watch residents from the neighbourhood pop in and out for a takeaway.
17. Healthy eating options. At Mac's, which I've only ever associated with fries and burgers, they have healthy lite choices for people who prefer yoghurt, muesli and fruit smoothies to sausage McMuffins. For tea, you can also enjoy gourmet cakes (including a gluten-free option) like what is served in cafes, and deli subs in addition to the usual burgers. And there's the soft serve cone, which is $0.50 but tastes so much richer. Yums.
18. Go Green. We have great respect for the emphasis on recycling. Every home (including our hostel) has 2 different wheelie bins, a green one for general trash and a yellow one for recyclable stuff like paper cartons and plastic bottles. Shoppers at supermarts bring their own green recyclable shopping bags. Even major malls have high tech looking 2-in-1 or 3-in-1 bins at their entrances. We've started bringing our green s.b. everywhere too, in case we need to pop into Safeway or Coles for groceries, but it's hard to kick the plastic bag habit. Plastic bags are after all very useful for throwing out the trash, no?