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News Personal

Melbourne to Perth: a 3700km road trip

In July 2008, I moved to Melbourne with a plan on staying for approximately 12 months.

It turns out I was completely wrong about that time frame, because after more than 5 years, I’m still here!

Quite simply, Melbourne has been amazing. I’ve had the time of my life.

Melbourne’s food, bar and sporting culture have been highlights. On the other hand, Melbourne’s weather has not been a highlight!

I’ve met some great friends, and explored some beautiful places.

I’ve bought a house in Melbourne.

I’ve also been really impressed by Melbourne’s tech community. In particular, being a part of the WordPress Melbourne User Group.

But best of all, I’ve been lucky enough to meet the love of my life, Jen.

The Future

After many discussions, Jen and I have decided to move to Perth.

In 36 hours time, Jen and I will be leaving Melbourne and starting our huge road trip to the other side of Australia.

Here’s the 3700km plan:

Melbourne to Perth Map

We’ll be taking our time on this journey – there’s plenty of sightseeing to be done along the way!

The trip even includes a short ferry ride across the Murray River!

We’re both really excited about starting the next chapter of our lives in Perth.

I’m looking forward to being closer to my family and long-time friends, and being surrounded by amazing beaches.

I’m also excited about being in the same office as my business partner and colleagues.

Melbourne, I will miss you. But you never know – we may even be back some day!

Categories
Meetups WordPress

WordPress User Groups in Australia – Some Statistics

Below are some statistics that demonstrate how popular the WordPress user groups are in Australia:

Location Population Number of
Group Members
% of Population
in Meetup Group
Hobart 216,276 93 0.0430%
Bendigo 89,666 23 0.0257%
Brisbane 2,146,577 342 0.0159%
Sydney 4,605,992 661 0.0144%
Melbourne 4,169,103 516 0.0124%
Canberra 367,752 42 0.0114%
Adelaide 1,262,940 81 0.0064%
Perth 1,832,114 66 0.0036%
Wollongong 288,101 9 0.0031%

As you can see, Hobart has the highest percentage of their population being a member of their user group. Well done Japh!

Here in Melbourne, it looks like we have some work to do.

Population Figures are sourced from Wikipedia as of 10 October 2012.

Number of Group Members Figures were sourced from each meetup.com group page as of 10 October 2012.