23.04 Sights of Melbourne

Eureka Tower - the tallest apartment block in the southern hemisphere!

Nathan sitting on a wall, with some lovely trees and skyling in the background - doesn't he look well?
Joanna walking towards Federation Square along the Yarra.

Federation Square looking over towards Swanston Street.

Part panoramic of Federation Square

23.04 Tram Spotter

It was only a matter of time before a post like this would appear! Fortunately I left my bobble hat and notebook at the apartment so I could blend in with the tourists!!

We recently rode on a Combo tram celebrating 100 Years of the Electric Tram in Melbourne. The tram contained a number of info-banners, each with the key stages of tram development. So I thought that I’d do a blog version of it. And the thing is we probably take this mode of transport for granted!

The oldest trams you are likely to see are the SW6 Class Tram. These run on the City Circle, these are free and as the name suggests do a loop of the city. There are also a small number of green ones (possibly W Class), but you have to pay to use those!

The Z5 Tram is probably one of the oldest modern looking trams, my research suggest these come from the ‘70s. It’s not really a tram you can trust as its eyes (lights) are too close together! You’ll get some nice wood effect ‘living in the 70s’ panelling in these!! Very comfortable seats though!

Continuing the theme, is the Z Class. This hauls the Z5 Tram into, what was then, the present. Lights were in a similar position, but were rectangular instead of round & incorporated indicators.

The B Class is perhaps the most common around the city. We regularly pick these up from Docklands. Exterior changes includes the lights being mounted slightly wider, a much wider destination sign, including the route number.

The most modern trams are the Combo (long wheelbase version) and the Citadis (short wheelbase version). These are contemporary looking and address accessibility issues of the other designs with low level flooring.

There is a very rare beast that travels the tracks of Melbourne, and that is the newest tram of the breed. Pictures will come soon…

You’ll notice that all the trams have bumpers, these aren’t to protect them from bumping into cars, it’s so the tram recovery vehicle can push them out of the way! Picture of this vehicle is also coming soon too…

Don’t take my word for any of this, use your own notebook (if you have one) and visit the website

www.100yearstrams.com.au for everything that you ever wanted to know. I’m bored of this now!

Jo xx

22.04 White Wine Wendy Strikes Again!

Honestly, we really don’t know where the time is going to as we say goodbye to another week. Jo’s worked all week and I’ve done a couple of days. It’s given me a chance to get other some bits and pieces sorted, but not the important ones though!

As many of you know, we had a ‘social evening’ planned on Thursday, this was a meet set up by someone that Jo had seen on ‘GumTree’. After some email contact we had secured the time & place in the city. It was an impromptu club called ‘Melbourne 30s’!

The time had come and we spent a few minutes psyching ourselves up by walking around a music shop opposite the hotel. Once we were ready we headed over the road and entered the bar. We ordered our drinks and sat at the bar, as we tried to decipher who was who. It was a shame that there was no one there to introduce themselves.

After a couple of sips of the ‘ole dutch courage’ we had worked out that a group of ‘dowdy’ and ‘slightly older than we imagined’ people were probably them. We think that first impressions are very important and we weren’t particularly impressed, there weren’t any cool dudes or chicks like ourselves in the eight – yes EIGHT! Anyway, not to be perturbed by this we decided that we’d head off and come back.

After a little walk around the laneways we had a drink at a bar and headed back to the hotel. Unfortunately it hadn’t improved much, if at all! There were still the same numbers of people there, so decided that we’d head back to Docklands.

It wasn’t a wasted evening as we headed to the Lounge Room bar and after a few more drinks, Jo heckling the band and a short stumble home I think it worked out very well!

We received an email from the Melbourne 30s the following morning saying it was a great success and he’s organising another event. We’ve said, surprisingly, that we’ll go and hope that some others might turn up. Just got to get some of those nose & glasses combo’s just in case we get noticed!!

Lots of love,
Nathan & Jo.

20.04 Celebrity Watch

To be perfectly honest I'm pretty disappointed that we haven't been able to expand our list of...two!

I saw Sean Hughes from Nevermind The Buzzcocks walking down the street as I was heading to work. He's over here for the Comedy Festival. After seeing Ardal O'Hanlon at the 'festival I spotted Darren from Neighbours. That really is a list to be proud of!! I think we'll have to up our game a little!

You'd expect, when you live in a city this size, you might bump into someone, especially being down the posh end of Docklands! There are supposed to be some footballers who live round here, but we're not into aussie rules yet so we don't know what they look like.

Anyway, we saw another show at the 'festival last week of the 'Best of Edinburgh', with four acts. Unfortunately I didn't catch their names as everytime the mc introduced an act all we heard was muffled noise. It was very funny though. We have another show booked up for next week, which should be fun.

Love to all,
Nathan.

15.04 Broadband? You Mean NarrowBand?!

A little guide on getting your broadband connected the australian way!

Phonetic recognition systems can be great, but if you don't speak the lingo, you'll have to adapt! If she says 'ig-zisting', she won't understand 'existing'! I had to australian-ise myself for the very first time!

'Technical Support' will always mean a short trip to India, very nice this time of year I've heard! Abuse the phonetic system to speak to someone who's relatively local. Good way is to try and have a conversation with her, she'll always say that she doesn't understand, but I'm sure they're recording and will add the intelligence later on!

If you feel that things aren't being sorted, try and deviate from the 'script'. A good thing to see whether there is a 'script' is to ask whether the operator is following one. If they are (& they usually are), hear them squirm or ask whether they can speak to their senior technician.

Keep the pressue on until its switched on!

I never realised how exhausting ordering broadband could be. After three weeks of waiting, calling, waiting & calling for a connection we finally got it late last week. However, the speed is very disappointing. I've used a speed checker that has showed that we're getting 256K/second! This evening we're only getting 28K!?! Where is the basic 1 or 8mb?! Not here I'm afraid!

Honestly, they are so far behind with an optical system that we're right at the limit of receiving broadband within the fairly recent development of Docklands. Compared to the UK its also quite expensive, but I'm sure we'll manage! Just!! Oh, you can't do a 'rolling-month' contract, it has to be 12 or 24 months! Where's the logic?

Nathan.

13.04 Friday 13th - a very bad day.

As the title suggests today, Friday 13 April, was a very bad day. Today was the day I discovered DFO.

DFO is Direct Factory Outlet, this is Melbourne's version of the Ashford outlet centre, a discount shopping centre that makes dreams come true!

Let me put you in the picture. We were aware of the fabled DFO, people had talked about it, adverts on tv and such like and we knew there were 2 in Melbourne. One out near the airport a tram or taxi ride away and we vaguely knew there was one in the city near the Spencer Street railway station. We, in our naivety, thought the city one was a bit small and not worth it. How wrong I was!

I walk past this place on my way to and from work and today I decided to pop in and have a look! Well it certainly wasn't small and was definitely worth it! It has lots of Ozzie high street brands Just Jeans, Glasssons etc but also has TONS of shoe shops and big name international brands Levis, Converse etc and one for the ladies Laura Ashley!

I must admit I did make a very small purchase - now that I'm a working lady I've got to look the part - And it was only $10!

Now I'm scared about walking past this place regularly in case it draws me in again and even more scared about the large one out near the airport apparently you need a WHOLE day to do that bad boy - but Nathan was saying he needed a few new clothes hmmmm we shall see!

http://www.dfo.com.au/

12.04 Local News?!

We found this little snippet in the free local paper here. No doubt that Meridian and South East Today went mad on it! If it was a news item here they would have included the words 'bloody idiot' or a 'hoon' for the person responsible, with 'police are also looking into whether drink may have been involved'. Think yourselves lucky for the unique way the bbc is funded, we've seen the other way and its crap!!

10.04 Joanna's April Observations!

I thought I would take the time to let you know my thoughts and observations of our time here so far, about a few things near and dear to me and other random stuff!

Chocolate - as those who have visited the antipodes the chocolate, noticeably Cadbury's, has a very distinct taste and it's still the same but I do think I may be getting used to it. Twix taste the same, Maltesers don't. Kit Kats only seem to come in chunky and there are lots of different versions of these cookie dough, honeycomb etc. Will keep you posted on this issue.

Food in general - you can eat absolutely ANYTHING you want from ANYWHERE in the world here and pretty much at any time you want! Just around us we have Cambodian, Greek, Indian, Turkish and that's the 4 closest - crazy! To many of your surprise we haven't actually eaten out much at all. But now I'm working lets hope things will change.....

Coffee - yes there is Starbuck's here, there's one very near to our home. But there are also tons of independent coffee bars which all do a great latte for about $2.50. The coffee culture is fantastic here - loads of pavement cafes and there is a place near us that just does hot chocolate and puddings what a place!

Girl stuff, make up, barbie dolls and such like - Melbourne is a great place for girls there are so many places to shop, from bargain factory outlet places (whole streets in fact) to high class Gucci, Prada etc. For those of you who know me well will know I will be frequenting the former. No primark but there is Big W, Kmart and Target oh yes!

TV & Neighbours - the TV is pants! There are 5 standard channels (free) then you can get pay tv we have the standard. There's LOTS of US shows - CSI, CSI NY, House, and all the other shows you see on channel 5 at home. There are a few ones we've got into 'The Biggest Loser' (fat people losing weight), Deal or No Deal just SO not like Noel and Big Brother starts soon!

Neighbours, yes we are quite ahead but I won't give out any spoilers unless anyone wants some! And we thought we'd see lots of random actors but only seen Darren Stark (Libby's boyfriend) at a comedy show - Nathan spotted him and he's very short!

And I think that's if for now! If anyone wants to know any other stuff about life here let me know!
On a more general note I am now working (as of today) I started temping with a State Government Department, it's fine, so far easy admin work and the people I'm working with seem nice - food seems to feature very highly in the team, cakes etc - bonus!

And thanks to everyone who had sent good wishes, cards, phoned, emailed and generally kept in touch it REALLY does mean a lot to us! And we do miss you all lots and wish you could be here too - but we will try and convey life through pics!

lol
Joanna x

02.04 Living the Dream

Its been a couple of fairly busy weeks here in melbourne. Time is just flying by as we hit our first full month here! Don't really know where the time goes at the moment, however we're not sitting idle! Honest!

Our days are now taken with using the state library or internet cafe's to link to the outside world. This will change very soon, with the installation of a telephone and the purchase of a router. Bring it on! So now we don't have to head to the public telephone on the corner to make calls or catch the over crowded city circle tram for a lift to the library! I think having the 'net at home should help us find the opportunities we're after.

Joanna has had an interview for a temping agency and has a number of cv's posted around the city. Not literally, but with a number of agencies! A walk around the other side of the quay the other evening threw up some other possibilities too. Whereas I've been learning some web development stuff - yes I've defected to the other side! Is NeedaMenu about to come alive?! Luckily I won't have to fill in the application form to become a tram driver. On monday things start in earnest, so we'll have to see how it goes. Initial signs look good though.

Our recent weekends have been spent looking around some of the local events that have been happening. We went to a food & drink festival (there's a surprise!) & a gallery showing some of the uni students work (totally amazing - no sugar paper or powder paints there!). We've had a boat festival around the quay here too. There's plenty going on, although it seems a little quiet this weekend.

This weekend we managed to escape beyond the confines of the city by hiring a car. We headed to the Dandenong Ranges for the day. The ranges are about an hour's drive from the city. The terrain is very similar to that of the great ocean road and even some of the forest we drove through in New Zealand. There were plenty of great roads, but there's only so much you can get out of a Hyundai Getz! Had a good walk around the view point, where you could see the centre of melbourne in the distance. Plus, the clouds & the rain heading our way! This resulted in us having our picnic in the car!

The weather is changing here slightly. We're now experiencing rain and its a lot cooler than it has been. We need the rain here, as we're having the worst drought for 100 years. The news broadcasts always quote the reservoir levels, and everytime there is rain its one of the top stories, with the millimetre'age quoted, even if its only 0.8! Its just like home!

During one of our quieter periods (this is never a good sign) we headed to Elizabeth Street, the street contains loads of electrical stores. We decided to look at some of the digital cameras on offer. We are still of the 'old skool', where there isn't a pixel in sight! Well this has all changed because we made a purchase. Hopefully now we'll be able to upload photos more readily.

So, by popular demand, we have decided to show some pics of where we are living currently...

The Apartment



These are some panoramic shots of our living area, so it is slightly bigger than it looks! You'll see our large open plan living room, with our kitchen, dining table and writing desk (above the tv) and our compact balcony with views to the waters edge.

The Terrace

These photo's show our pool & hot tub, along with the terrace area where we can kick back & relax! Again, I've included a panoramic view from the terrace over looking the CBD, 7's TV Studio, Tesltra Dome and Dock 5.

Obviously this part of the blog will develop as we get more adept at posting pictures. We do have some larger images if these are too small, you'll just have to ask!

We'll give you an idea of what its really like to live around these parts in a future post. We'll show you some really good bits and some of the the other stuff they don't tell you about on

www.newquay.com.au!

Love to all,

Nathan & Joanna.