We now have a vehicle. Being two relatively well off, relatively young, childless, cultured, fun loving people, what kind of car do you think we bought?
If you guessed a used station wagon, you get a gold star.
Marlys and I are the proud owners of a 2001 Holden Commodore station wagon. We are taking unsexy transportation to a whole new level. The Commodore (or "Commode") is the highest selling car in Australia, and the term "basic transportation" springs to mind when viewing or driving it. On the upside, it has plenty of room for visitors and their luggage, is cheap to insure and operate, and can take a lot of incidental contact. The two points being critical when you haven't driven on left hand of the road since 1994.
On our first driving experience, we picked up the car at Jen and John's house on Friday night. John, who owns a car business, had made sure we didn't end up with a lemon and got us a very good deal. We had a couple drinks with them: champagne for Marlys to calm her nerves, water for Matt so he would be an alert driver. Suitably prepared, we headed to the car, where Jen then got on her knees and said a few prayers (wish we had a picture of that). Then off we go.
No problem. Driving on the left is actually fairly easy when there is traffic and you know where you are going. You just follow everyone else and plan your turns. Marlys and Jen had plotted a course to our apartment from their house on Melways, and we had a highlighted path with the fewest number of possible turns all laid out.
There is still entertainment value galore. The wipers and turn signal switches are reversed, so Marlys knows when Matt wants to turn left because he turns on wipers. And it took Matt quite a while to realize there is a rear view mirror up and to the left.
Of course, we couldn't have a totally uneventful trip. We did luck out and get caught up in a sobriety check point. Thanks his exhibition of caution earlier in the night, Matt passed with flying colors in his first encounter with Melbourne's finest. We finally parked the car at our apartment, from whence it has not subsequently moved, and immediately repaired to our new local pub for a nice big VB.
We're waiting for traffic to die down to nothing before venturing forth again. I think Saturday at 5 AM. I'm sure our neighbors think we are odd - we have a car in our parking space, but no gas, electricity, furniture or fixtures in our apartment. They have a mighty expensive parking plan, those Yanks.
Next up: trip to Tasmania.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Let's just give photos a try, shall we?
Number One complaint about our blog? No pictures. We do have a camera but there are issues for the moment. That said, the text only version is so 1995 so here are some pictures of Australian animals to tide everyone over. All pictures (c) our friend Lucy and her mum.
1. Denny the Wombat. They had a pet wombat for a year or so. He apparently wandered into their farm one day so they kept and fed him for a while. Eventually he re-introduced himself to the wild.
2. Lizard (duh). This one's for Jared.
3. The Cockatoo. Or "Cockies", as they call them.
1. Denny the Wombat. They had a pet wombat for a year or so. He apparently wandered into their farm one day so they kept and fed him for a while. Eventually he re-introduced himself to the wild.
2. Lizard (duh). This one's for Jared.
3. The Cockatoo. Or "Cockies", as they call them.
Monday, September 10, 2007
All Caught Up
Sorry to be so behind on what’s up down under. This should catch you up to the present date.
Last weekend (September 1 and 2) the Melbourne Angel (aka Jen from work) gave us a driving tour of a bunch of neighborhoods in Melbourne. We decided we want to live closer to the CBD (Central Business District = downtown) so we can rely on public transit most of the time and not spend a lot of time commuting. So the 3 hour tour (Matt was Gilligan, Marlys was Mary Ann) was intended to give us an idea of some different places to live. After that Jen and her husband John had us over to their (beautiful) house for appetizers, and then we went out to a Chinese restaurant (the Tea House on Burke) in Camberwell, which is the suburb where they live. There was a fantastic tasting menu at only A$50 per person and for entertainment there was a big Chinese group celebrating something and they were all doing horrid karaoke.
We started off our Sunday (Father’s Day in Australia) by heading to church at St. John’s Lutheran in Southgate, which as far as we can reckon is the closest Lutheran church. And were we in luck. Once a month they have music students from local colleges perform Bach cantatas, so instead of a sermon there was a half hour or so of chorale music. It was beautiful. Gladys and Martha, you would have been in heaven. The pastor at St John’s is originally from Saginaw, MI, although he’s lived in Oz for 30+ years. It’s funny, he still doesn’t have much of an Aussie accent, but his speech is all Australian in terms of phrases, slang, etc. Does that make sense?
We then went to the Queen Victoria Market, which is the other, bigger market in central Melbourne. It’s much more than a farmer’s market (although it has a huge “fruit & veg” section, including tons of organics), with lots of specialty foods, meats and fish, clothes, Australiana, etc. I can see we are going to head there a lot. Matt then spent a couple hours looking at apartments in the Docklands area, which served mainly to confirm we do not want to live there. Docklands is a redeveloped area just west of the CBD full of new high rise apartment buildings. While it’s very close to work, clean, new and full of trendy restaurants, it’s too impersonal for us and doesn’t feel like a neighborhood.
Monday was not a holiday because Australia’s Labor Day is in October. And even then we don’t get the day off. But it was a big day for us nevertheless. With our possessions on their way across the Pacific and the clock ticking down on our temp apartment, we intensified the quest for our new home. We searched all the advertisements online and from the weekend papers and on Monday made a ton of calls. Unfortunately, we started getting two answers from estate agents:
(1) apartment was already let .
(2) it would be available in October.
Because the market for apartments is very tight, agents don’t feel the need to work particularly hard. Most “inspections” or apartment viewings are once a week for 15 minutes. Imagine 70 people waiting to walk around a tiny apartment counting the electrical outlets, checking out the views, and flushing the toilet. We talked to one agent about setting up an inspection – they said we could view the apartment but we would have to go to her office in Elwood (southern suburb), leave a deposit, pick up the keys, turn around and go back to visit the apartment in Albert Park (which is halfway between the CBD and Elwood), let ourselves in, take a look, and then reverse the process. She couldn’t be bothered to meet us there so we took a pass.
The good news: we loved the first one we viewed on Monday. It is on Beaconsfield Parade, which runs along the beach in the neighborhoods of Albert Park and Middle Park. The building was built in the 1930s and is sort of a Chicago three flat with a beach feel, if that makes sense. The apartment has 2 bedrooms (room for you, dear reader!!), is spacious, and is in the back of the building so while we have the most minimal of ocean views, we don’t have the noise from traffic on the road. Apparently it can be busy in summer.
There is also great access to two tram lines so it is 15-25 minutes to work on the tram depending on traffic. At the further stop there is a neighborhood center with cafes, bike shop, grocery, etc. It reminds me of the Linden el stop from when we were kids. Don’t worry Rosy - the newsagent is a clean cut looking South Asian immigrant. Martha – don’t call in a raid!
Rick, the letting agent, was very patient with us, answering all our questions about renting in Australia, which were no doubt a little basic for him. We put in our application and waited for a response. On Wednesday, just as we were placing more calls to other agents, we got the good news: the place is ours! Our lease starts the 15th, although I think we will be more likely to move in towards the end of the month when our stuff arrives. So we have a few more weeks of room service in us. Such a tragedy.
On Friday 6 Sept, we went out to dinner at the Mail Order Office with Marlys’ boss, who was in from Hong Kong for meetings with the Australian teams. Going to the MOO (as it is called) is like going to a speakeasy: you go down this little alley, through a door without much of a sign, down some stairs, and suddenly you’re in the old postal vaults from the GPO next door. Great food (especially Matt’s quail cassoulet), a couple glasses of good Australian Shiraz, and we judged it an excellent evening.
One “fun” thing about Australian apartments: they do not come with all appliances. So Saturday we headed out to the discount appliance superstore to buy everything electric. Another co-worker, Maria, had volunteered to take us to a place in the suburbs. We bought a washer, dryer, refrigerator, TV, vacuum, microwave and a toaster. Whew. The funny part (clue: it wasn’t the final bill) was the guy who helped us: he had just returned from visiting friends in St. Paul! Small world. And just so you know we are observant: he too remarked on how much cheaper the beer is in Minnesota (see our post on September 3)
After the shopping we drove down to the coast, looking for an outdoor restaurant with a bay view, enjoying the gorgeous spring weather (70 degrees, bright sunshine) and a long bay front drive. Since we had been cooped up in the city for two weeks, it was just what the doctor ordered. We finally wandered into a place called the “Mordiallac Sporting Club”, which is a little sports (that means cricket and footy) club in a town called Mordiallac. You could become a member for the day (free) and eat on the verandah, which had a gorgeous view of Port Phillip Bay. Note to Jared: Marlys had the fish and chips, and the fish was called flake. Flake is shark meat! Yum!
Today we started out with breakfast at Muleta’s, which (DAVID PAY ATTENTION) consistently wins the award for the best pancakes in Melbourne. It is also right next to the Queen Victoria Market, where we did some fruit & veg shopping. We then walked through the CBD and across the Yarra to the National Gallery of Victoria (the NGV) to see the traveling Guggenheim exhibit. We ended up joining the NGV, which gets us into the Member’s Club (ooh – free tea and cookies!) and also gives us and guests (hint, hint) discounts or free entry into a lot of exhibits and museums throughout Victoria and Australia.
September is playoff month in Australia, with the footy finals and rugby finals both going on. Footy and rugby are far and away the most popular sports, so the newspapers are about 80% devoted to those sports, 10% to the racing form, and 10% other news (oh, was George Bush in Sydney for APEC?). Today there was a big game for each sport in Melbourne, so the streets were thronged with people in jerseys, scarves, face paint, etc.
After the NGV hunger was getting the best of us, and we were on our way to the temp apartment when we saw the Immigration Museum was having their annual German Fest. A museum providing knockwurst, German hash browns, and German beer? Culture is a wonderful thing!
Now a note to readers: you can leave a comment (just below) anytime. We check every day and love to hear what’s up with you!
Last weekend (September 1 and 2) the Melbourne Angel (aka Jen from work) gave us a driving tour of a bunch of neighborhoods in Melbourne. We decided we want to live closer to the CBD (Central Business District = downtown) so we can rely on public transit most of the time and not spend a lot of time commuting. So the 3 hour tour (Matt was Gilligan, Marlys was Mary Ann) was intended to give us an idea of some different places to live. After that Jen and her husband John had us over to their (beautiful) house for appetizers, and then we went out to a Chinese restaurant (the Tea House on Burke) in Camberwell, which is the suburb where they live. There was a fantastic tasting menu at only A$50 per person and for entertainment there was a big Chinese group celebrating something and they were all doing horrid karaoke.
We started off our Sunday (Father’s Day in Australia) by heading to church at St. John’s Lutheran in Southgate, which as far as we can reckon is the closest Lutheran church. And were we in luck. Once a month they have music students from local colleges perform Bach cantatas, so instead of a sermon there was a half hour or so of chorale music. It was beautiful. Gladys and Martha, you would have been in heaven. The pastor at St John’s is originally from Saginaw, MI, although he’s lived in Oz for 30+ years. It’s funny, he still doesn’t have much of an Aussie accent, but his speech is all Australian in terms of phrases, slang, etc. Does that make sense?
We then went to the Queen Victoria Market, which is the other, bigger market in central Melbourne. It’s much more than a farmer’s market (although it has a huge “fruit & veg” section, including tons of organics), with lots of specialty foods, meats and fish, clothes, Australiana, etc. I can see we are going to head there a lot. Matt then spent a couple hours looking at apartments in the Docklands area, which served mainly to confirm we do not want to live there. Docklands is a redeveloped area just west of the CBD full of new high rise apartment buildings. While it’s very close to work, clean, new and full of trendy restaurants, it’s too impersonal for us and doesn’t feel like a neighborhood.
Monday was not a holiday because Australia’s Labor Day is in October. And even then we don’t get the day off. But it was a big day for us nevertheless. With our possessions on their way across the Pacific and the clock ticking down on our temp apartment, we intensified the quest for our new home. We searched all the advertisements online and from the weekend papers and on Monday made a ton of calls. Unfortunately, we started getting two answers from estate agents:
(1) apartment was already let .
(2) it would be available in October.
Because the market for apartments is very tight, agents don’t feel the need to work particularly hard. Most “inspections” or apartment viewings are once a week for 15 minutes. Imagine 70 people waiting to walk around a tiny apartment counting the electrical outlets, checking out the views, and flushing the toilet. We talked to one agent about setting up an inspection – they said we could view the apartment but we would have to go to her office in Elwood (southern suburb), leave a deposit, pick up the keys, turn around and go back to visit the apartment in Albert Park (which is halfway between the CBD and Elwood), let ourselves in, take a look, and then reverse the process. She couldn’t be bothered to meet us there so we took a pass.
The good news: we loved the first one we viewed on Monday. It is on Beaconsfield Parade, which runs along the beach in the neighborhoods of Albert Park and Middle Park. The building was built in the 1930s and is sort of a Chicago three flat with a beach feel, if that makes sense. The apartment has 2 bedrooms (room for you, dear reader!!), is spacious, and is in the back of the building so while we have the most minimal of ocean views, we don’t have the noise from traffic on the road. Apparently it can be busy in summer.
There is also great access to two tram lines so it is 15-25 minutes to work on the tram depending on traffic. At the further stop there is a neighborhood center with cafes, bike shop, grocery, etc. It reminds me of the Linden el stop from when we were kids. Don’t worry Rosy - the newsagent is a clean cut looking South Asian immigrant. Martha – don’t call in a raid!
Rick, the letting agent, was very patient with us, answering all our questions about renting in Australia, which were no doubt a little basic for him. We put in our application and waited for a response. On Wednesday, just as we were placing more calls to other agents, we got the good news: the place is ours! Our lease starts the 15th, although I think we will be more likely to move in towards the end of the month when our stuff arrives. So we have a few more weeks of room service in us. Such a tragedy.
On Friday 6 Sept, we went out to dinner at the Mail Order Office with Marlys’ boss, who was in from Hong Kong for meetings with the Australian teams. Going to the MOO (as it is called) is like going to a speakeasy: you go down this little alley, through a door without much of a sign, down some stairs, and suddenly you’re in the old postal vaults from the GPO next door. Great food (especially Matt’s quail cassoulet), a couple glasses of good Australian Shiraz, and we judged it an excellent evening.
One “fun” thing about Australian apartments: they do not come with all appliances. So Saturday we headed out to the discount appliance superstore to buy everything electric. Another co-worker, Maria, had volunteered to take us to a place in the suburbs. We bought a washer, dryer, refrigerator, TV, vacuum, microwave and a toaster. Whew. The funny part (clue: it wasn’t the final bill) was the guy who helped us: he had just returned from visiting friends in St. Paul! Small world. And just so you know we are observant: he too remarked on how much cheaper the beer is in Minnesota (see our post on September 3)
After the shopping we drove down to the coast, looking for an outdoor restaurant with a bay view, enjoying the gorgeous spring weather (70 degrees, bright sunshine) and a long bay front drive. Since we had been cooped up in the city for two weeks, it was just what the doctor ordered. We finally wandered into a place called the “Mordiallac Sporting Club”, which is a little sports (that means cricket and footy) club in a town called Mordiallac. You could become a member for the day (free) and eat on the verandah, which had a gorgeous view of Port Phillip Bay. Note to Jared: Marlys had the fish and chips, and the fish was called flake. Flake is shark meat! Yum!
Today we started out with breakfast at Muleta’s, which (DAVID PAY ATTENTION) consistently wins the award for the best pancakes in Melbourne. It is also right next to the Queen Victoria Market, where we did some fruit & veg shopping. We then walked through the CBD and across the Yarra to the National Gallery of Victoria (the NGV) to see the traveling Guggenheim exhibit. We ended up joining the NGV, which gets us into the Member’s Club (ooh – free tea and cookies!) and also gives us and guests (hint, hint) discounts or free entry into a lot of exhibits and museums throughout Victoria and Australia.
September is playoff month in Australia, with the footy finals and rugby finals both going on. Footy and rugby are far and away the most popular sports, so the newspapers are about 80% devoted to those sports, 10% to the racing form, and 10% other news (oh, was George Bush in Sydney for APEC?). Today there was a big game for each sport in Melbourne, so the streets were thronged with people in jerseys, scarves, face paint, etc.
After the NGV hunger was getting the best of us, and we were on our way to the temp apartment when we saw the Immigration Museum was having their annual German Fest. A museum providing knockwurst, German hash browns, and German beer? Culture is a wonderful thing!
Now a note to readers: you can leave a comment (just below) anytime. We check every day and love to hear what’s up with you!
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Working it
So how was the first week at work I hear you ask?
First off, the entire staff is absolutely wonderful. They are obviously a tight knit team, but they welcome us with open arms and smiles. They are kind, funny, and patient with the new Yanks. They have volunteered to help us house hunt, give references, suggest restaurants, and discuss any and all aspects of Melbourne living – in short they take an active interest in seeing that we are settling in. They have also already learned to poke fun at out foibles (few that they are). In short – we feel right at home!
Here’s how the week went:
Monday: half the staff was at an off-site event for the day, so we were able to ease into things. After a spin around the office (10 minutes) and meeting the staff who were in (20 minutes), we got down to some actual work. Matt’s blackberry had been buzzing with a few minor disasters over the weekend so he was especially eager to respond to some pressing issues. There as a small welcoming lunch (Japanese, yum) and at the end of the day we all went over to the Crown Hotel for a happy hour.
The Crown Hotel is part of the Crown Casino complex, which is a Vegas like casino in the heart of Melbourne, just on the south side of the Yarra River (the river cuts through the southern part of the city the central business district is to the north). The happy hour was held in a special floor normally restricted to high rollers (someone know someone?) that had two story windows with 270 degree panoramic views. I never realized the amount of neon in Melbourne. Anyway, a few free drinks and some get to know you chat we took a cab back to the pied de terre and went to bed. We stayed awake until 8!
On Tuesday we attempted to get our visas stamped at immigration. After arriving at 1 PM, were given # B198. They were currently serving #B150. After 25 minutes they were on # B153 so we decided to bag it and try again on Friday.
Tuesday afternoon the office threw us a "Welcome Tea" towards the end of the day. The theme was an "Aussie Feast", which consisted of (American translation in parentheses):
Anthea (co-worker) - "Hi Marlys, do you want a piece of fairy bread?"
Marlys - "No thanks, Anthea, I just had a Tim Tam."
Perfectly normal in Australia, perfectly odd in the US.
Matt likes vegemite. No, he’s not just trying to fit in - he really does like it. He is now having it on his breakfast toast most mornings.
The people from the office seem to get together as a group fairly frequently. On Wednesday, Jen (who picked us up at the airport) had organized dinner and tickets for Phantom of the Opera. We went to European for dinner, whose cuisine was, as you might expect, European - Italian pasta, German schnitzel, French fois gras, etc. It was delicious. Aussies are great dinner companions. They are very outgoing and conversational, and opinions are to be shared, not held. It was just like dinner with Matt’s family.
"Phantom" was in a very old, recently restored theater – the Princess. Our seats were 4th row, dead center. Jen pulled a string or two I think. It was an excellent show, and Marlys screamed a very lady-like, "holy crap!" when the chandelier came down, which was Matt’s favorite part (he’d seen it before so knew it was coming).
Thursday – we collapsed into bed after work. No event. Very nice.
Friday we went to immigration the minute it opened. Took a grand total of 10 minutes. Timing is everything, even at the DAIC. Then with two rather plain looking visas in our passports we went to the bank to access our account. We had opened the account over the internet and deposited a nice sum there for our arrival, but couldn’t access the account until we could show our passport and visa. This 10 minute process took about an hour and a half. We were "helped" by a woman named Chitty and, you guessed it, we got Chitty service. Eventually we had an open account, but no checkbook, ATM card, etc yet. Ugh.
Did we go out and party Friday night? No, we made dinner, read and watched a little TV, and researched neighborhoods to start the apartment hunt the next day. Stay tuned….
Aussie phrase-of-the-day: "rug up" means "dress warmly". Lately it’s been chilly so we’ve had to rug up.
First off, the entire staff is absolutely wonderful. They are obviously a tight knit team, but they welcome us with open arms and smiles. They are kind, funny, and patient with the new Yanks. They have volunteered to help us house hunt, give references, suggest restaurants, and discuss any and all aspects of Melbourne living – in short they take an active interest in seeing that we are settling in. They have also already learned to poke fun at out foibles (few that they are). In short – we feel right at home!
Here’s how the week went:
Monday: half the staff was at an off-site event for the day, so we were able to ease into things. After a spin around the office (10 minutes) and meeting the staff who were in (20 minutes), we got down to some actual work. Matt’s blackberry had been buzzing with a few minor disasters over the weekend so he was especially eager to respond to some pressing issues. There as a small welcoming lunch (Japanese, yum) and at the end of the day we all went over to the Crown Hotel for a happy hour.
The Crown Hotel is part of the Crown Casino complex, which is a Vegas like casino in the heart of Melbourne, just on the south side of the Yarra River (the river cuts through the southern part of the city the central business district is to the north). The happy hour was held in a special floor normally restricted to high rollers (someone know someone?) that had two story windows with 270 degree panoramic views. I never realized the amount of neon in Melbourne. Anyway, a few free drinks and some get to know you chat we took a cab back to the pied de terre and went to bed. We stayed awake until 8!
On Tuesday we attempted to get our visas stamped at immigration. After arriving at 1 PM, were given # B198. They were currently serving #B150. After 25 minutes they were on # B153 so we decided to bag it and try again on Friday.
Tuesday afternoon the office threw us a "Welcome Tea" towards the end of the day. The theme was an "Aussie Feast", which consisted of (American translation in parentheses):
Fairy Bread (white bread with butter and colored sugar sprinkles on top). Kids love this!
Shrimp from the barbie (duh)
Vegemite on toast (brewer's yeast extract on toast)
Chicken skewers (self explanatory)
Spring rolls (ditto)
Tim Tams (really good cookies)
Meat pies (baby size pastys. Makes us long for the UP and a real pasty)
Champagne, beer and wine ("tea" to Australians after 4 PM)
Anthea (co-worker) - "Hi Marlys, do you want a piece of fairy bread?"
Marlys - "No thanks, Anthea, I just had a Tim Tam."
Perfectly normal in Australia, perfectly odd in the US.
Matt likes vegemite. No, he’s not just trying to fit in - he really does like it. He is now having it on his breakfast toast most mornings.
The people from the office seem to get together as a group fairly frequently. On Wednesday, Jen (who picked us up at the airport) had organized dinner and tickets for Phantom of the Opera. We went to European for dinner, whose cuisine was, as you might expect, European - Italian pasta, German schnitzel, French fois gras, etc. It was delicious. Aussies are great dinner companions. They are very outgoing and conversational, and opinions are to be shared, not held. It was just like dinner with Matt’s family.
"Phantom" was in a very old, recently restored theater – the Princess. Our seats were 4th row, dead center. Jen pulled a string or two I think. It was an excellent show, and Marlys screamed a very lady-like, "holy crap!" when the chandelier came down, which was Matt’s favorite part (he’d seen it before so knew it was coming).
Thursday – we collapsed into bed after work. No event. Very nice.
Friday we went to immigration the minute it opened. Took a grand total of 10 minutes. Timing is everything, even at the DAIC. Then with two rather plain looking visas in our passports we went to the bank to access our account. We had opened the account over the internet and deposited a nice sum there for our arrival, but couldn’t access the account until we could show our passport and visa. This 10 minute process took about an hour and a half. We were "helped" by a woman named Chitty and, you guessed it, we got Chitty service. Eventually we had an open account, but no checkbook, ATM card, etc yet. Ugh.
Did we go out and party Friday night? No, we made dinner, read and watched a little TV, and researched neighborhoods to start the apartment hunt the next day. Stay tuned….
Aussie phrase-of-the-day: "rug up" means "dress warmly". Lately it’s been chilly so we’ve had to rug up.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Rest of the Weekend
For all of you waiting on pins and needles for our next post (judging by the number of comments, that means Danny and Nancy), here’s a run down of what we’ve been up to.
When we last posted your intrepid travelers had safely arrived in the Paris of the South. After leaving the South Melbourne Market, we wandered back to our apartment via Federation Square, which is the sort of Times Square of the city, and also home to the main tourist bureau. After loading up with maps and other freebies for our visitors to use (hint, hint) we got on the Circle Tram.
[NOTICE: the following is original work and not written by Metlink] Melbourne has a fantastic public transit system. It is served by a huge network of trams and trains as well as busses. The tram network is the largest in the southern hemisphere and you have to get pretty far out to outrun the tram network. Of course, that’s where the regional train network still has service, and it costs the same to ride a train or tram, and you can switch from one to another on your trip at no cost. Very civilized. The Circle Tram is a free tram that circles the CBD (downtown to us Yanks), running in each direction and arriving every 10 minutes. It goes by almost all the major tourist draws. It rocks.
A quick trip on the Circle Tram took us back fairly close to our apartment, where we had a bite to eat and went to bed. At 6PM.
A bit about our temporary apartment. It is a one bedroom place and is a bit tight because we did bring six suitcases. But it is clean, has a big kitchen, is serviced 6 times a week, is close to work, and has windows on two sides for plenty of light. One real piece of bad news is the location: we are at what must be the highest point in Melbourne. That means we are always walking up hill to get home. Tiring, especially if you’re carrying something like groceries, suitcases, FedEx deliveries, coffee pots, etc. And because we are surrounded by office towers, there is no view like you’d normally have in such elevated circumstances. But all in all – a minor annoyance.
Sunday we were up at 4 AM, bright eyed and ready to go. Matt went for a run at 6 or so, dodging club goers who were definitely NOT on the way home yet. We did a little shopping (Matt’s riff on Australian retail to come) and decided to explore our temporary neighborhood that day. We found the nearest supermarket (Coles) for supplies. Just like a Lunds, except you can buy alcohol any day of the week (Score one, Melbourne), even if said alcohol is more expensive (Score one, Minnesota). Prices on food are about the same, although bananas are much more expensive for some reason.
At about 4 PM, already fading, we repaired to our pied a terre to rest for our first day of work. While resting, we learned about Australian TV. Let’s see: there was Aussie Rules Football (“footie” in Victoria), cricket, track and field, another footie match, rugby, a third footie match (this one took place yesterday but, hey, some people may have been in a coma so it’s new to them), soccer, and the news. If only there was some footie!
We made it until 7 PM - then it was lights out.
That’s the weekend. More to come….
When we last posted your intrepid travelers had safely arrived in the Paris of the South. After leaving the South Melbourne Market, we wandered back to our apartment via Federation Square, which is the sort of Times Square of the city, and also home to the main tourist bureau. After loading up with maps and other freebies for our visitors to use (hint, hint) we got on the Circle Tram.
[NOTICE: the following is original work and not written by Metlink] Melbourne has a fantastic public transit system. It is served by a huge network of trams and trains as well as busses. The tram network is the largest in the southern hemisphere and you have to get pretty far out to outrun the tram network. Of course, that’s where the regional train network still has service, and it costs the same to ride a train or tram, and you can switch from one to another on your trip at no cost. Very civilized. The Circle Tram is a free tram that circles the CBD (downtown to us Yanks), running in each direction and arriving every 10 minutes. It goes by almost all the major tourist draws. It rocks.
A quick trip on the Circle Tram took us back fairly close to our apartment, where we had a bite to eat and went to bed. At 6PM.
A bit about our temporary apartment. It is a one bedroom place and is a bit tight because we did bring six suitcases. But it is clean, has a big kitchen, is serviced 6 times a week, is close to work, and has windows on two sides for plenty of light. One real piece of bad news is the location: we are at what must be the highest point in Melbourne. That means we are always walking up hill to get home. Tiring, especially if you’re carrying something like groceries, suitcases, FedEx deliveries, coffee pots, etc. And because we are surrounded by office towers, there is no view like you’d normally have in such elevated circumstances. But all in all – a minor annoyance.
Sunday we were up at 4 AM, bright eyed and ready to go. Matt went for a run at 6 or so, dodging club goers who were definitely NOT on the way home yet. We did a little shopping (Matt’s riff on Australian retail to come) and decided to explore our temporary neighborhood that day. We found the nearest supermarket (Coles) for supplies. Just like a Lunds, except you can buy alcohol any day of the week (Score one, Melbourne), even if said alcohol is more expensive (Score one, Minnesota). Prices on food are about the same, although bananas are much more expensive for some reason.
At about 4 PM, already fading, we repaired to our pied a terre to rest for our first day of work. While resting, we learned about Australian TV. Let’s see: there was Aussie Rules Football (“footie” in Victoria), cricket, track and field, another footie match, rugby, a third footie match (this one took place yesterday but, hey, some people may have been in a coma so it’s new to them), soccer, and the news. If only there was some footie!
We made it until 7 PM - then it was lights out.
That’s the weekend. More to come….
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
