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!

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