Things I love about Melbourne. . .

As a jam maker, I think this is such an amazing idea. Sugar for making jam. It already has the pectin added. And it's only slightly more expensive. It suggests that a bigger segment of the population is interested in making jam, right?

Aspects of our adjustment here have been difficult. Everything is So Much more expensive than we had expected, and then I succumbed to some stomach/perhaps food poisoning thing. Me, of the iron stomach. Good for building character, though right?

But there are also many many wonderful things about Melbourne, and I suspect Australia in general. So I thought I'd document some of them.

• The transportation system. Trams are frequent and easy to use
• The number of folks who ride their bicycles
• The Melbourne Botanical Gardens 
• The very public way they are addressing their celebration of Australia Day (more on that tomorrow, which IS Australia Day!)
• Fresh bread and pastries everywhere
• Pasties (meat and veg hand-pies). . I developed a love of these in the UK, and they're easy to find here, too.
• Generous water for showers
• Lots of public spaces
• How things that are not-so-good for you (think cookies, soda) are sold in smaller quantities, and taxed, whereas food that is good for you is not taxed
• The lack of obesity (see bullet above)
• The Australian accent, in it's abundant variety!
• The number of accents and languages you hear when walking down the street
• The number of shades of flesh and brown skin colors seen everywhere
• The weather, mostly. Except for a couple of 42C (107F) days, it's been beautiful. And like Boise, it reliably cools off at night
• The kindness of people in shops and restaurants who wait on you.
• The fact that waiters don't expect to be tipped, and that they receive a living wage.
• A health care system for all citizens