The truth about Melbourne:

Melbourne’s variety is proving a hit with many Kiwis who have drifted across the Tasman, reports Lorna Thornber.

Hit hard by the global financial crisis, Bianca Rodriguez and her husband Paul Jenkins decided they were done with New Zealand.

Living in Auckland, they found themselves on struggle street after the birth of their first child, Ellie, as Jenkins, who works in human resources, earned just over the threshold for them to qualify for financial support.

Jenkins was made redundant twice while Ellie was still a newborn and, with a mortgage to take care of as well, they decided life in their homeland had become unsustainable.

‘‘We felt we had to look abroad for new opportunities where salaries were higher and the market more stable,’’ Rodriguez, 37, says. ‘‘Basically we left to keep afloat.’’

Rodriguez had never been to Melbourne or even discussed the city with anyone before they arrived in 2013 and her initial excitement was tempered by feelings of being overwhelmed.

‘‘The city was huge compared to anywhere we had lived in New Zealand,’’ she says. Indeed, Melbourne’s population of 4.85 million is roughly the same as New Zealand’s.

While Jenkins found work relatively quickly, Rodriguez struggled to find anything for a year, despite being qualified and experienced in market communications.

‘‘I felt like an outsider for a while but once I got my foot in the door, opportunities opened up.’’

Five years and another child later, Rodriguez says they are much better off financially than they were in New Zealand and that life is ‘‘just easier’’. And more enjoyable.

Jenkins earns enough as general manager of people and culture for a tech company for Rodriguez to be able to take care of the kids full time and she doesn’t feel any pressure to return to work.

‘‘It’s easy to get around, public transport is amazing, there’s so much variety in shopping, from food to clothes and homewares. The schools are fantastic, there’s lots for kids to see and do. In New Zealand it was a struggle: less on offer and lower salaries made for a harder life.’’

Rodriguez and Jenkins aren’t the only ones to find the living easy in the Victorian capital. Melbourne held the top spot on The Economist’s list of the world’s most liveable cities for seven years running until being overtaken by Vienna in 2018. The Economist’s intelligence unit bases the ranking on 30 factors spread across five broad categories – stability, healthcare, education, infrastructure and culture and environment. Auckland, the only New Zealand city to feature in last year’s index, came in at number 12, down from eight in 2017.

Melbourne is often said to be the most European city in Australia, as well as its cultural and sporting capital, but it’s no Euro copycat (or wannabe). As much as it divides opinion between Melburnians, the Federation Square precinct, aka Melbourne’s ‘‘Meeting Place’’, is a microcosm of the city at large with its mishmash of heritage and avant garde buildings, diverse eating and drinking spots and full events schedule. Whenever you rock up there’s likely to be something happening: a farmers’ market, film screening, live music, art exhibition, wine or food festival, a qigong session, much of it free.

But it’s hard to put Melbourne into a box (or, for that matter, square). Its innercity neighbourhoods have very different characters, defined by the people who’ve made a home there and the businesses they have established.

There’s posh South Yarra/ Prahran with its upscale boutiques, restaurants, art galleries and venues beloved by the LGBT community; historic Richmond with its Vietnamese flavours and legendary discount clothing stores; the River District, home to such cultural and sporting heavyweights as the Arts Centre, National Gallery of Victoria, Sidney Myer Music Bowl and Melbourne Cricket Ground; and bohemian Fitzroy, possibly the Brooklyn of Melbourne with its slowdrip coffee houses, vegetarian

‘‘I felt like an outsider for a while but once I got my foot in the door, opportunities opened up.’’ Bianca Rodriguez

eateries, proliferation of cocktail, whiskey and wine bars, and entertainment options which in the same week can include an artists’ market, rap, R&B and hip-hop night, ‘‘crap music party’’ promising ‘‘the worst tunes for the best party times’’ and ‘‘baby drag queens’’ show. And that’s just a small selection of the city’s sprawling suburbs.

And then there are the laneways that run like arteries through the central business district, delivering cultural lifeblood in the form of world-famous street art and yet more small-but-perfectly-formed cafes, bars, galleries and boutiques. Wherever you head, the city’s creative, bohemian, go-getting but goodtime-loving spirit seems to shine through.

For some Kiwis, it’s love at first sight. For others, she’s a slow seductress whose hidden charms reveal themselves one evening or weekend of exploration at a time. Many decide they never want to leave.

Amanda Sheat, who moved to Melbourne from Auckland in March 2014, thinks of her new city as an amped up, more mature version of her hometown.

‘‘It’s easier to get around and much more vibrant and exciting. There are a lot of great things happening in Auckland and it’s changing, but I don’t think fast enough to keep up with a lot of the things that are already established in Melbourne.’’

Sheat, who works in communications for Parks Victoria, has also found the career opportunities to be greater over there, meaning you’re more likely to find your ideal job – eventually.

Sheat, 32, decided to move to Melbourne after returning to Auckland from her London OE and finding the City of Sails a little too slow-paced for her liking.