MELBOURNE Hard-to-resist city close to home
Why did you move there? We always thought we’d live in Sydney (one of our favourite Australian jokes is that Bondi is New Zealand’s most populous suburb). But after several visits it was hard to resist the intoxication of Melbourne’s people, food and culture. While we’ve left Melbourne a couple of times to live in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, nothing beats being in a city of 4 million people so close to New Zealand. This, and having greater career choices and compulsory superannuation — ask any of our family, we are spenders not savers. What do you do there? Chris is a member of ANZ’s Australian marketing leadership team looking after priority customer segments. I am a qualified lawyer and part of the dispute resolution leadership team for the Australian Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. Much of our spare time is spent growing our family’s Taranaki-based online beef store, and managing bookings for our private villa rental, Templeberg, in Galle, Sri Lanka.
Two years ago we created the Templeberg Residential Writing Fellowship. This provides one Australian writer with free travel to Sri Lanka and a travel allowance for a month-long writing residence near to the best beaches in Sri Lanka. Both businesses have their own challenges but it is great to be able to work for yourself and contribute remotely, while based in Melbourne. Working and travelling with family keeps us alert and entertained. What do you like about Melbourne? The fact it has been voted the world’s most liveable city four years in a row by the Economist and the the world’s friendliest city by Conde Nast Traveller.