Melbourne City Hotels
Discounted Melbourne hotels and accommodation direct from local travel agents. Book now for the year end holidays.
Melbourne is a big huge cultural melting pot.To be honest, when I first thought of a holiday in Melbourne, I was a little worried. I was thinking of a three-month extended holiday. Three months would be a very long time if it turned out to be a wrong decision.
I was worried because I was afraid I might not assimilate well into the Melbourne way of life and culture. Being an ethnic Chinese, I worried about discrimination. I worried my spoken English would raise eye-brows. What a fuss-pot I was. And it was all for nothing. However I ended up in China Town. Occasionally after a nap and opening my eyes I would forget I am actually in Melbourne or in Australia. I was wet from the heat just like at home. There were the sounds of Chinese voices, and laughter as the aroma of wok cooked dishes wafted in from the restaurant downstairs. However it was the nightspots I frequented that Melbourne's multi-ethnicity really sank in. I made friends with a Malaysian who had a Vietnamese wife. Their best friend was a Moari from New Zealand who had married a Hong Kong girl. In fact it became a standing joke I would be swept off my feet by some Australian and settle down in Melbourne. I am keeping that option open. For the time being I need to complete my masters. Melbourne is like a melting pot. The first European Immigrants were British and Irish. It was this way until the Second World War. Large numbers of Chinese, Germans and United States citizens were attracted by job opportunities on the gold fields and from here they moved on to Melbourne. In the first half of the twentieth century, along came a few Italians and Greek Australians. The numbers really exploded after the Second World War when immigrants flocked to Melbourne from Mediterranean Europe — primarily Greece and Italy, but also Cyprus and Turkey. he 2001 Census, there were 151,785 ethnic Greeks in the metropolitan area, although some estimates put this number close to 300,000. Nearly half of all Greek Australians live in Melbourne. Melbourne immigrants:-
The cities of Dandenong, Monash, Casey and Whittlesea on Melbourne's fringe are particular migrant hotspots. |
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