Coming to Melbourne and living here for the last 6 weeks has been the definition of a rollercoaster. I cried (a lot) when I didn’t immediately feel settled; and I’m sad that I’m going to be flying on Saturday to Bali and saying goodbye to Australia for a few months.

The bush fires, coupled with how expensive it is to stay here indicated to me that I think I want to travel more than I want to settle. I can’t stress enough how much plans change and you make decisions on a whim. I came here on a working holiday visa and wanted to do a minimum of 6 months, but now I’ve been here for nearly 2 months and my gut instinct is that I don’t want to settle here and I’d rather do some traveling.

This doesn’t mean I’m saying goodbye to Australia forever, though. I plan to come back in a couple of months and do the east coast plus Tasmania, but with the situation of my bank account and the current climate in Australia, it makes sense to take a couple of months to travel other places that are not as expensive and allow me to save up enough to do the east coast properly. Hostels I’ve adjusted to way quicker than I thought, but I’d love to be able to afford some luxury in Australia when I come back!

The bush fires here personally haven’t affected me, but there have been days where the CBD (central business district) where I’m staying smells like a sauna because the smog from the bush fires has been blown across. It is devastating that so many wildlife have been killed and families have had to evacuate, but I feel lucky where I am in the city because we haven’t had any warnings of evacuation nor are we that affected by it.

Circumstances like this make me appreciate the UK so much. We complain about having rainy weather and it being grey all the time, but we should have some gratitude that we do not have to deal with extreme weather conditions and fires that have wiped out half a billion wildlife in Australia. It was pretty eerie sitting on the rooftop of the hostel I am staying in and not being able to see any of the buildings despite being in the middle of the city.

Melbourne is always going to have a special place in my heart as I’ve met friends for life here as well as the Australian culture making me feel so safe. I’ve lived in three different locations of Melbourne and each has its own quirks, amazing food and great people. I’ll be sad to see the back of it for a few months but also buzzing to get on a flight to Bali!