Penguin Day!

Another weekend - yay - and we thought we'd make Saturday a penguin day!  We got a train to the city and made our way to the Melbourne Aquarium.  They have King and Gentoo penguins there, so we got to see some snow - although not as much as you have back home so we hear!  There were also, many weird and wonderful fish, jellyfish, sharks, stingrays and umpteen other sea creatures to keep us amused!  I couldn't resist popping my head up in a gold fish type thing to see the fish from the inside, as the picture shows!

We then headed to Brunswick Street in Fitzroy for some lunch before heading back to the apartment, grabbing a cake on the way, and then getting ready for a night out in St Kilda.

There is a bus that goes to St Kilda more or less right outside our apartment so it's a short trip to the hustle and bustle of trendy Acland Street.  St Kilda has a holiday feel to it and it attracts lots of backpackers so it's got a lot of great bars which are packed on a warm Winter's night!  We went for a meal at Abbey Road and waited for the sun to start setting.

At sunset we made our way along St Kilda pier to the end where there is a breakwater made of rocks.  It's here that Fairy penguins come in and find their nests in the rocks.  Unfortunately we didn't get any decent photos because flash photography isn't allowed.  Many people though do use their flashes and it's so annoying as they scare the penguins and spoil it for everyone else.  After seeing a few we made our way to the top of the rocks to get away from people fighting to get a better view.  We couldn't believe it when Darren spotted a cheeky little penguin there running along the path!

After seeing the penguins we went back to Acland Street to get the bus home, and as we were trying to cross the busy Esplanade two undercover police cars pulled a car over.  One of the most popular television shows over here is 'Highway Patrol', and when we saw the police cars I said to Darren 'I bet there's a camera crew in the second one'.  Sure enough, the camera crew hopped out, so I got my camera out too!  I was a bit scared to take close photos though incase I got arrested!!!!

Birthdays!

This week is always a busy week for birthdays but this year it's all the other way around!  Normally I don't get to see my brother on his birthday, but I do get to see my dad and Emma.

This year I got to take my brother out for a birthday lunch - the first time that that has ever happened!  It was a scorcher of a day (39 degrees!) and we met at the Brown Cow in Hampton.  And it was lovely!

Today, however is Jimmy and Emma's birthday and we don't get to see them so we've been feeling a bit home sick.  Posting my dad's card a week early seemed very strange and I came over all uneccessary in a shopping centre when I posted his card - I miss him!

We've managed to Skype them both to say 'Happy Birthday', but I just wanted to do this blog update to wish Jimmy and Emma a very happy birthday, and although we can't give you birthday kisses, we're thinking of you anyhow.

Just another Sunday!

Sundays are a little different over here to what they were back home and they are a real treat day for us!  Instead of the Sunday roast we used to have at home (which we do miss by the way!), we head off somewhere for a big brunch!

Today is the first Sunday of December, and the first one of the Summer, and it's a hot one!  We have a nice lie in and then get on the bikes and head in the direction of St Kilda.  We venture to the end of the pier (where aparently you can sometimes see penguins!) and find the St Kilda Pier Kiosk.  It's too hot to sit outside so we find a table inside and order a breakfast each.  It's at times like that that we agree we're lucky to be here - sat with lovely food on a beautiful day with a view of the sea and the esplanade of St Kilda.

After breakfast we walk back along the pier and mooch around the St Kilda Arts and Crafts market before heading down trendy Acland Street.  Before we go back to the bikes we stand and watch as people scream on the ricketty old rides at Luna Park!  One day we're going to brave them - but not today!

When we get back to the apartment we decide that there's still half a day left for us to enjoy so we get on a train to Chapel Street.  We get off at one end and by the time we get half way down we decide it's time to stop for coffee and a cake!  Cakes don't come in half measures here, so it's a large coffee and a humungous piece of Coffee Club Mud Cake!  Delicious yes, but you definitely know you've had it!  Sarah Lee's not a patch on this beauty!

So it's back to the apartment and Darren gets ready to cycle to footie and hopefully win with his 5-aside footie team - the Mighty Poms In Oz.  I on the other hand sit on the decking and catch the last of the sun with a Koala 'No Worries' tea!  Breakfast, cake and sunshine - what a struggle Sunday has been!

Naughty Booys!

We've been in Melbourne now for a couple of months so we thought that it was time that we visited one of the tourist attractions.  We opted to go to the Old Melbourne Gaol for the 'Crime and Justice Experience'.  The gaol was built between the 1840s and 1860s to house Victoria's growing criminal population and it's one of Victoria's oldest surviving buildings.  It's also where 135 people were hanged!  Some of Victoria's most notable characters - bushranger Ned Kelly, notorious gangster Squizzy Taylor and Ronald Ryan (the last man hanged in Australia) have all spent time within the gaol walls.

Enough of the history from the guide - here's our story!

We got to the gaol quite early and because there wasn't really anyone else there, Dudley (a man of many tales) adopted us and gave us the history of the gaol and what went on in each of the gaol buildings.  All very interesting, but we wanted to get on the first 'Watch House Experience' so we had to try and wind him up sharpish as it was due to start.  the 'Watch  House Experience' is a guided tour and interactive experience where you get arrested by a Charge Sergeant, get locked up in the cells and experience an environment unchanged since police and inmates left.  We didn't really know what to expect but it sounded like fun!

We made it to the Watch House on time, and Sergeant Rebecca Finch came out and shouted at everyone in the queue.  Once inside, she split us up into males and females and made us stand along the walls shoulder to shoulder.  She gave each of us a charge card which detailed who we were, what our crimes were and who our arresting officer was etc.  She shouted that we had to learn what was on our cards and that we'd better hurry as we only had a few minutes.  Although I knew that it was only a tour, I have to admit that the fact that she was in uniform and was shouting a lot without a hint of a smile scared me a bit!

Sergeant Finch then went behind the front desk and called us all in where we had to stand with our backs against the wall.  She told us a few do's and don'ts and asked a few people random questions.  I stood there looking across at Darren just hoping that I wouldn't be picked on or get a fit of the giggles.  Phew - questions finished and we'd escaped the wrath of Sergeant Finch....or so I thought!

They always pick on someone durin these things and of course that person was me.  I was called up to the desk and asked details about my charge - I was Kate Williams and I'd been arrested by Senior Officer Trinh for culpable driving.  Aparently I'd been aggressive and committed assault on arrest.  Did I have piercings, tattoo, drugs....all simple questions until she asked my age - that wasn't on my card so it threw me!  She took a few mug shots and I was able to retake my place against the wall - phew!

We were then led towards the cells where she checked our hands and the soles of our shoes for any concealment of contraband.  When she saw my wedding ring and engagement rings she laughed and said 'You won't keep then for long lady!'.  She took us to different cells depending on who had arrested us and slammed the doors and locked them shouting 'See you in the morning'.  After a few minutes she shouted 'Lights out!' and we were in darkness.  Not for long though - we were soon let out and we could continue the tour. 

When the tour was finished Sergeant Finch was no longer in character and as we left she said 'Have a good day', to which I replied 'Yes Sergeant' - I obviously was still in character!

We then went back into the gaol and looked around the small cells and saw the gallows where people had been hung.  It's a very dark and creepy place.  I think we were both glad to escape back out into the sunshine!

The gallows

Treats from home!

I was so excited and got up mega early - today was the day!!!!  Our furniture was finally arriving from Blighty and we couldn't wait!  Well I say finally - we were hoping it would be here for Christmas so it was actually coming a lot earlier than we were expecting - but it couldn't come soon enough!!!  Darren had taken a day off work to help decide where everything would go.  I had visions of him going to work and leaving an empty apartment and then coming home to it fully furnished, but I don't think he trusted me with the interior design!  To be honest I think he was just as excited as I was to see all our stuff again!

They delivery guys were due between 10am and 12pm, but knowing the way things work around here we were expecting to have to chase them at 12pm!  However, they actually turned up at 9.15am - before we were actually ready for them - and they were great!!!  They gave me a list of all the items that had been packed - each one with a number on, and as they brought them in I checked them off!  First off the lorry was Darren's bike and his golf clubs so he was happy from the outset!  And it was all done in about an hour and a half!

I couldn't believe the number of boxes labeled glasses and china - our kitchen wasn't really big enough for all the boxes!  So I quickly tried to unpack them before they brought more in!  Everything went straight into the dishwasher so that I had more room while I thought what to do with them!  We've bought more kitchen stuff since we've been here so we're certainly not short of anything anymore!

We haven't found homes for everything yet and there's been a few cries of 'Where does this live?', but the delivery guys were great and put everything where we asked them, unpacked the big things and assembled everything we needed them to.  They even helped us move some stuff down to the basement where we have a secure cage that we can store things in!  Here are a few piccies of a work in progress.....

There were a couple of casualties - only little things like a glass saute pan lid, a plastic tray and a few scuffs here and there, but overall it's amazing how our stuff has arrived in the same condition as it left the UK after a couple of months on a ship!  A pot of English Mustard leaked which was a shame (didn't get on anything else luckily!), but the coffee, T-bags, salad cream and spicy BBQ sauce made it in one piece!  There were a couple of unexpected surprises too - what looks like a pager which must have belonged to one of the packers, and a spider!  Don't worry, it was dead and I recognise it as a Gloucester one, not one of the dodgy Aussie ones! 

My clothes smelt lovely as I'd put lots of Bounce sheets in the suitcase!  Darren obviously didn't listen to me back home when I told him to do the same with his because he asked me if I'd put some in his when he smelt how nice my case was!  I hate to say 'I told you so!' (but as you can imagine, I did!).

It's so lovely now to have our things - the place is so much more comfortable (although more things to bump into!).  There's still a lot to sort out but it was bliss to sit on the sofas in the evening with some food from the local fish and chippery, a few drinks and then sleep in a bed for the first time this month!  And it was nice to get up in the morning and have a nice cup of coffee in comfort with the sun streaming though the blinds.

Some stuff we're wondering how on earth we've lived without it, and other stuff we're wondering why on earth we've brought it, but it's nice to have our creature comforts again.  Even my grandad's garden gnome is now sat on our decking to enjoy some Aussie life!  It's just a shame we can't ship the people we miss over too!

 

Band, bikes, birds and cold beans!

So I was trying to wait until something big happened before I put another post on - and Pearl Jam is it! We got the tickets months ago while we were still in the UK, and as they have been my favourite band since forever I was, as you can imagine, a little excited!

Darren went for lunch at Channel 7 next to the Etihad arena and let me know that people were already queueing - the gates didn't open until 5pm!  Darren left work at 4pm, came home and we had a quick bite to eat before catching the train to the stadium.  The week had been so hot, with temperatures up to 38 degrees, but as we walked to the station the heavens opened and we arrived at the stadium a little soggy!  Luckily it didn't take too long to get in the venue and we had time to buy me a t-shirt, get a drink and find mark and Emma before the last support act - Ben Harper and Relentless 7 - came on.  While they were playing, the crowd cheered as someone came on the stage.  Emma asked who it was and when I looked it was none other than Eddie Vedder!!!  A taste of what was to come!!!!!

Despite not being able to really see the stage (luckily there were big screens!), the music and the atmosphere were fantastic!  I think I showed my age though as the youngsters were bopping away to the stuff off the new album whereas I was loving the old stuff.  There was a bit of a panic when I thought that they weren't going to play my favourite song ever (Alive) - but they left it to the second encore so I was happy!  They played a two and a half hour set and I reckon they would have gone on all night if they could have.  The lights came on in the stadium and yet they still carried on going!  Eddie is now 45 I think and Pearl Jam are still as awesome as they've ever been.  I think Darren would have preferred it if he knew a few more of their songs, but for me it was just track after track of brilliance!  Long live Pearl Jam!!!!

Saturday we were both tired so we only ventured as far as Chapel Street for a nosey round the shops, back to Brighton for lunch on Church Street and then back to the apartment to get ready for a night out.  Darren and I were going our seperate ways - he to the UCI Indoor World Track Cycling Championships and me on a girls night out by the River Yarra.  Unfortunately, the heavens opened again!

Over to Darren for a spiel about cycling because it's lost on me I'm afraid.........
Team GB were competing (albeit with a weakened team) in the second round of the championships. Just as Lee and l arrived at the venue a small mini bus pulled up and out jumped 3 GB cyclists with their bikes, pretty surreal moment and needless to say l missed the photo opportunity! Once in the venue we were in the general admission area and were surprised to see another 3 GB athletes sat there, so we decided to take our chance and sat down next to: Chris Newton, Andy Tennant and Ed Clancy - really weird being sat next to 3 Olympic medalists and world record holders!

l managed to have a quick chat with Chris Newton, but decided against asking for a photo as he might of thought we were a couple of stalkers! Neither of us had a pen so we couldn't even grab an autograph from the lads...

Sadly, it was a good night for the Aussies rather than the Brits, although they did have a full squad out for their home leg. The commentators were very funny and came up with some cracking one liners...all in all a really good night and l will certainly be back to watch it next year.

Thank you Darren!  Meanwhile, I'd help organise a girls' night out so that a lot of the people that I have met seperately could meet each other.  There were 10 of us in total and it was a really fun night, despite the rain!  We went for dinner and had a really nice meal, plenty of wine and the most amazing puddings!  Everyone got on really well and I'm hoping to make it a regular thing.  Everyone got soaked on the way home - not quite the sunset evening we'd planned by the river, but a great night all round.

Sunday was a quieter day - and still raining!  It's hard to believe that we've gone from a bush fire warning to a flash flood warning in 48 hours!!!  The weather here is wierd!  Even in the rain we caught the bus to St Kilda and had breakfast there.  It was a bit of a false start when they brought the food out and the beans were cold!  We ummed and ahhed for a second wondering if it was some strange Aussie custom, but the waiter confirmed that they do indeed have their beans hot over here!  The second attempt was much better!  A wander, Darren playing football and a chinese takeaway and the weekend's nearly done!

Settling into Brighton Bay

I know, I know, I've been a bit slack with the updates on here, but there's been lots going on and nothing in particular to say! 

We're settling nicely in Brighton!  Living 10 minutes walk to the beach and nothing on the telly is proving to be great as it means that sometimes when Darren gets home from work we make the effort to walk down to the beach and take in how lucky we are to be where we are.  Other nights we'll go for a walk up Church Street (full of shops and cafes), or, if it's not too hot we'll go running together!  One night this week we went out to a local Italian restaurant with 3 other couples which was very nice, and Sunday nights are still spent with the boys playing football and the girls getting together too!  Darren managed to get a round of golf in this weekend too - he hired some clubs and played 9 holes at Albert Park.

Darren seems to be getting on great at work - he had his Christmas Cocktail Party last week, which seemed most bizarre as most days it's been above 30 degrees!  Just doesn't seem like Christmas at all!  One day I was meeting a friend for a drink when she finished work, and I sat in City Square while I was waiting.  There is a massive christmas tree set against a backdrop of clear blue skies, and they had set a stage up in front of it with a fireplace and sofas on it.  I was enjoying the sunshine when next thing you know a band comes on and a guy starts singing 'It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.....'.  He was lying!

Anyway, the drink after work turned into a bottle of wine in Federation Square and a bottle of bubbly and some food on the South Bank!  Sarah managed to drop her knife on her lovely white top (I said you couldn't notice the pizza mark!) and I managed to break a champagne flute, so we decided it was time to call it a night on the great night we'd had!

Like I say, Darren is getting on well at work and they quite often go out for lunch together - they seem a sociable bunch.  Darren and his boss get on so well that he sometimes gets a text from him of a morning saying what colour shirt he's wearing!  Aparently the sending of a text is a lot less embarrassing that turning up in the same shirts!!!

I'm still busy trying to find work.  Each day I trawl through the jobs that have been listed since the previous day (normally nothing relevant), and I went into a recruitment agency last week to see if they can help me.  The meeting went really well and I came away thinking I would be working by now, but nothing has come of it so far.  To keep myself busy I've been meeting up with people so I'm making friends and not going out of my mind!  I've met Jen for lunch at St Kilda and Diane and I had an adventure to Brunswick Street, and generally my days are quite busy, give or take the odd dull day.  On dull days though I just look out the window at the sunshine and ask myself if I can really whinge about the fact that I've got nothing better to do than go to the beach!  It's been the hottest November that they'e had in over 100 years - reaching 38 degrees on some days!!!  Factor 30+ all the way for me and my pale skin!!!

I also went to a free yoga class down the road and I babysat my beautiful nephew Kieran one morning - I wouldn't get the chance to spend that sort of time with him back in the UK!  We had great fun playing with his farmyard and watching telly!  He had brought 'The Bee Movie' with him, and it was quite hard to explain that we couldn't watch it because we don't have a DVD player yet!  To him it was obvious what to do 'You just put it in the machine and it comes on!'.

Speaking of which, our stuff has arrived and is currently in a bonded warehouse waiting to be examined by customs!  We're hoping to have it released next week which is a lot sooner than we thought - we were hoping to have it by Christmas!  I can't wait til it arrives - oh to sit on a sofa!!!!

Brighton Booys!

So we’ve moved from South Yarra and now we’re Brighton Booys!!! Luckily Lee (the male half of a couple we have become friends with) has a car and was available to help us move our stuff in a couple of trips. We only came with our suitcases, but it’s amazing the amount of stuff that you accumulate over a month – for example pillows and a duvet!




First impressions of our home for at least the next year were great – so here’s a few piccies:

The apartment is still practically empty, but we spent the first weekend picking up essentials to keep us going until our stuff arrives from the UK. For the first couple of nights we were sleeping on a blow up bed that Mark and Emma have lent us, and a couple of blow up cushions from the MotoGP! We took a trip back to Chapel Street to get an iron, kettle and a TV and went to Fantastic Furniture to order a couple of chairs and a mattress and had a mammoth trip to Supa Bargains (basically Pound Land) to get bits and pieces like an ironing board – amazing what you can carry back on the train! The fridge freezer, washing machine, mattress and chairs were delivered the same day so it was nice to get some washing done and be able to put a pint of milk in the fridge!!

Since we’ve been in Brighton we’ve been really busy! Days have been spent buying stuff and the evenings have been spent with friends and family. We moved on a Saturday and that evening we cycled to Mark and Emma’s where they were having a BBQ for my niece, Mabel’s, birthday. Because we got there late we missed the food, but a couple of glasses of wine went down a treat before cycling back again! Emma’s parents are over from England so it was nice to see them, along with Emma’s cousin Cara and her husband Kris, and Mabel and Kieran had great fun dressing up because it was Halloween! Mark must have been so proud when Kieran came outside dressed as a ‘Scary Fairy!’.

Sunday night is now 5-aside football night for Darren, so Chris and Gill picked us up and the boys played football while Gill, Jo and I sat in a wine bar and had a couple of bottle of champagne! Very nice way to end the weekend while the sun was going down.



Tuesday was Melbourne Cup Day which is a public holiday, so Darren had the Monday and Tuesday off which was nice so that we could settle in properly. Monday night we went to Chris and Fiona’s who are a couple that we had met the weekend before at a bbq. It was really nice to be fed and watered and to sit on a sofa for the evening! And Darren and Oliver had a lovely time playing with their light sabres!!!

Tuesday we cycled to Port Melbourne for a coffee and the biggest muffin I have ever seen! I don’t think they could decide on what flavour to do because it had chocolate, rhubarb and toffee in it and it was still warm from the oven – lovely! In the evening Mark and Emma came round to see our new place and then we went out to Groove Train in Middle Brighton – it’s really nice that they live so much closer than when we were back in the UK and we can see more of them.



Wednesday morning Darren had to go back to work unfortunately – I’ve got used to him being around – but I’d arranged to meet up with a girl who has just come to Australia from South Africa, along with her relocation agent and mine. We went for a coffee at a coffee shop just round the corner from our apartment so it was ideal for me and a nice way to introduce me to someone else who is going through the whole relocation thing.



So it’s been a busy old time of it and I’ve made the papers!!!! In our last week on Chapel St I went out on a girls’ night out in the city with 6 other girls which was really good fun! On the train on the way back, Jo picked up a paper that was sat on one of the seats and there I was!!! It was the interview with MX newspaper that had happened on the South Bank on Darren’s birthday! I hadn’t thought for a minute that it would be make it in the paper – but there was my picture and my name in print!!! Funny way to end a good night out!!!

Tonight will be the first night that we have stayed in since we’ve moved to Brighton so looking forward to relaxing on our almost comfortable chairs and watching our new telly – even though there’s rarely anything good on!