Traveling has been my main hobby for the past few years. Take pictures with Earlier I used to travel to different places in Bangladesh.
Lately I have started traveling to neighboring countries. Through India, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, the distance of my travel countries has increased gradually, but I never thought that I would suddenly travel to Australia. Rather, European countries were in mind in the plan to visit. But last year ago there was a big change in our family. My elder brother suddenly shifted to Australia. In Melbourne. For several years, I noticed in the newspaper that the name of the city of Melbourne, Australia, was coming at number 1 in the list of the most livable cities in the world. I was a geography student in university. I know that it is not a joke to be named number 1 among thousands of cities in the world. So there was already an interest in the city of Melbourne. As luck would have it, the opportunity to travel to Australia came before Europe.
With the help of my elder brother, I left for Melbourne at the end of April with a visa without any plans. Travel arrangements are made by Malaysian Airlines. I traveled to Australia with 3 days notice to get a ticket for 61 thousand taka on special offer. Friends in Melbourne were not notified in advance due to lack of time. I thought that first I will come to see and listen, then next year the charki with the wife and children can be rotated.
Where to travel for 10 days in Australia, nothing was decided before. It was not thought whether to visit only Melbourne or to go to Sydney as a city. Although the elder brother’s friend Ratan Bhai told me to leave more time for Sydney instead of wasting time in Melbourne. In my head, however, I had fixed one place of note on this trip, that is The Great Ocean Road near Melbourne. Especially the Twelve Apostles. A beautiful creation of nature. 200 kilometers of road bordering the seashore. Beautiful beach along the road. Millions of years have been created by the sea and the mountains, and all the wonderful natural sculptures have been created. Sea caves and thick columnar mountains have been created by sea water rock erosion. Looks very nice. I decided in my heart that if I can take my brother along the Great Ocean Road, it would be good, and if my brother can’t, I will take a tourist bus. I must say that I was lucky, because on this trip I was able to visit not only the Great Ocean Road, but also some of the most famous places in Melbourne, including the Sydney Opera House, Harbor Bridge and other beautiful places around.
From the moment I arrived at Melbourne Airport at 8pm Melbourne time on April 26th, I was beginning to realize that this trip was going to be a little different for me. Usually abroad, no one comes to receive me at the airport. This time when my own brother came to receive me at the airport, it felt a little strange. It was more fun when I left for home in my brother’s car. Because my brother never drives himself in Dhaka, he does not walk a single step without a driver. And he is the one who took the car out of the airport parking lot and drove home with me at a speed of 100 km! You have to learn driving and drive your own car here. I heard that he used to drive by himself for a long time, now he started driving himself to some far away places by fetching me from the airport. The biggest surprise of the trip to Australia is the first one. It was the first time I felt the difference between the life journey of the two countries. Looking through the window of the car running by Sai Sai, I began to sink into a strange feeling.
Melbourne’s winter weather is harsh. Cloudy days with cool weather. with a gusty wind. And from the day I entered Melbourne, it started to get cold. It was raining on the way from the airport. As soon as I reached my elder brother’s house, it started raining heavily. Babu Bhai’s house is in a suburb called Waribi, which is quite far from the city. I thought at home and after a long time of meeting Vashti, after eating and drinking, I talked to my brother about my trip to Australia with the news of my safe arrival in Australia on the phone and on Facebook.
Easy communication is probably one of the many reasons why Melbourne is the most liveable city in the world. With a Public Transport Victoria or PT(V) card you can get around Melbourne safely 24 hours a day. PT cards are available for purchase at any station or department store. Top-up a few dollars on the card with ATM card-like machines at each station or bus stop and the whole of Melbourne is at your fingertips. And for bus or train numbers and other information, you have to download a mobile app. This app will tell you the nearest bus stop or train station you need to go to, how many bus or train numbers to catch. I got my PT card.
Eight or nine thousand miles away from Bangladesh, in a place as silent as a grave, he remembered his wife and child, shivering slightly in the bone-chilling cold. And I said to myself, it is more comfortable for me to live in my own country than the most livable city in the world.
The total duration of my visit to Australia was 10 days. Out of these 10 days I stayed in Sydney for 3 days. Melbourne to Sydney is a 1 hour 15 minute plane journey. A whole 10 days passed before I understood anything. I returned to the country happy to see many things seen and learned more than the disappointment of not seeing many things.
On the first day of my trip to Australia, I took the train to Melbourne’s Flinders Station in the afternoon and saw Federation Square and strolled along the banks of the Yarra River. On our first day’s tour, I got my elder brother Wadud Bhai who was traveling to Australia. The first day saw many examples of why Melbourne is called the sporting capital of Australia. Etihad Stadium, Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and Australia Open Stadium (Arians Arena) can be seen from a distance. Eureka Sky Deck, the tallest building in Australia and the southern hemisphere of the world, was very visible while walking along the Yarra River. It was not climbed on the first day due to lack of time. I just tried to understand the flavor of Melbourne city in the cold air. The trams running around were very nice. We also went to the train station by tram before returning home. Had to go to Southern Cross station to catch train back home. Then we returned to elder brother’s house by train. I said goodbye to Wadud Brother in the middle.
The trip to The Great Ocean Road with Big Brother on the second day was one to remember. Even we could not believe that we can drive 200 km by using GPS and return in good condition. My brother’s previous farthest journey was to Melbourne airport which he did to pick me up the night before. So daring that we will go 200 km is quite an adventure type thing. Without telling Bhabhi, we left the car towards The Great Ocean Road. Bhaiya was talking to many acquaintances but most of the acquaintances were trying to discourage us. But brother bravely left. We felt all along the way that it was not a mistake to dare. Enjoying the amazing driving experience and admiring the beauty of Australian highways, I started moving towards our destination. Stopped the car two or three times on the road and had light breakfast and coffee from KFC and McDonald’s. The game of cloud rain was going on all the way, but the final attack of rain started as soon as we reached the destination. I was reaching the climax of the fascination to see the Twelve Apostles in the strong wind and rain. I was thinking that it is not right to see this place for such a short time. I will come with my wife and children after a long time. I ran and took a few pictures after seeing the waves of the sea and the decaying mountain pillars in the strong wind of the sea covered with black clouds.
10 days is quite a short time to travel to Australia. I may have seen only a small part of a vast country. But from what I saw, it seemed like a very nice country. A naturally beautiful and impossibly regulatory modern country. Several pictures are attached to this article to give you an idea of the city of Melbourne and Sydney.
