First time in Melbourne few tips for you.

I been asked few times if Melbourne is still a safe place for visitors and international students after what has been shown by the media world wide especially in India. A lot of people has worries and questions regarding attacks on internation students in Melbourne. Some also asked on what can be done to avoid any such situations. Here is what I have to say about it: It’s a wide topic to discuss. It’s not only the students, it can be ANYONE on the streets, in a pub or restaurant, parking of a shopping center, on public transport or at home late that night can become a victim. It has nothing to do with being Indians or Australians. Yes, it’s true that Indian International students are easy targets here is what I think about it: 1. International Students works in odd hours, do not have their own transport to go back home late night. Streets on weekends can be full with drunk and people on drugs that can attack anyone for any reason. Locals mostly know what areas to voi...

Just one thing to be noted that I personally find YHA as the best and cheapert place to stay if you are a back packer or do nto want to spend much on staying overnight or for couple of days. 1. Great Ocean Road, further than Geelong and a lot of tour companies conducts tours for these places. 2. Mecedon Ranges (If you like lakes, aggriculture, wineries etc.) 3. Yarra Vally 4. Mt.Buller, Mt.Bobo and Mt.Hotham (If you are into snow and ski, part of north east victoria)5. Gippsland and Phillip Island (Penguin prade is pretty famous from Phillip Island) 6. Grampians National Park (It took me about 3 and 1/2 hours to get there but it's a nice place to go to if you like bush walks and rock climbing on the way you would come accross wind farms and other historical places) 7. Dandenong Ranges, Puffing billy, Sky High, (take train from Belgrave for Puffing Billy I think. On the way to dandenong ranges try lunch at Miss Marples 'where mountain highway finishes' )

Amitabh has asked the following question: Another useful piece of info would be how to get to the city/some suburb from Melbourne airport using public transport.. Apparently the public transport connections from the airport are very bad in Melbourne, so this info would be useful to almost anyone.I tried once.. took me 2 hrs 20 mins to get from Airport to Fairfield using a combination of bus/train/train/bus My answer to him was: Airport to Melbourne Suburbs This would be open question, there are factors what decides how you want to do it ? 1. How much money are you willing to spend ? 2. how far away is the place you want to go to ? 3. What time of the day are you landing ? If you want to go to city which is the hub for going anywhere... cheapest is to take the Airport shuttle service from SKYBUS.. It charges $15 one way to take you to Spencer Street Station. It's service is every 15 minutes from the Airport.Same way as SKYBUS there are other shuttle or pick-up services which can be ...

(I am extracting it from a thread i have started on orkut) Being student I went though many ups and dows few years back. here are few tips for you 1. Finding Accomondation ? Answer: a) Best website - http://www.realestate.com.au/ b) Uni - Notice board (most of the uni's has it) usually near to student council offices. 2. Transportation ? Answer: Major areas of Melbourne are divided in two zones. Best part I like is that you do not need to buy diffrent tickets for Bus, Tram and Train. Same ticket works for you everywhere in public transport. International students please remamber that there is no concession tickets for you. More info can be found at http://www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au/ You even have a online trip planner. 3. Job Search ? What kind of jobs are in demand? Answer: Best two sites are a) http://www.seek.com.au/ b) http://www.mycareer.com.au/ You can even search for voluntery work on other sites. 4. Weather & Clothing (Belive me its must melbourne has three weathers ...