14.03 Melbourne Grand Prix Practise

Friday Practise: The first proper run for the Formula 1 cars around the Albert Park circuit. There is also a good chance of bumping into drivers and collecting autograhs, if you're into that kind of thing!?

Come race day this would be the view we'd get of the build up, the start and the race!

The day I became a bit of an autograph tart! After seeing only a couple of V8 Supercar races during the year I had a fair idea who was who. So my first autograph was from Craig Lowndes, from Team Vodafone. The V8 Supercar drivers are very approachable, in fact Jamie Whincup (Craig's team mate) nearly ran me over while doing wheelies on a mountain bike in the V8 Supercar Paddock!

The V8 Supercars on the starting Grid for Race 1 of the Manufacturer's Challenge - Ford versus Holden!

This was the closest I got to getting an autograph from Kimi. All the other drivers had been on stage for 20 minutes or so, but McLaren & Ferrari felt that 10 minutes would be enough to satisfy everyone! It's at times like this that you realise that they're not really here for the fans! However, I got a few signatures from the drivers of BMW Sauber, Williams, & Renualt (no show for Alonso - I would have booed him though!).

My GP survival kit included: a hat, sun-cream, a radio, ear plugs, my ticket, a circuit map, a flag & the signed programme!

You can see from the photos that it's pretty difficult to take decent photos without having the fencing feature!

If, like me, you leave the circuit alone there is a good chance that one of these cards may be thrust into your hand as you fight your way to the tram back to the City! Unfortunately Joanna had cooked a lovely meal and I couldn't go out that night!

06.03 Mike Doing The Weather

One of the good things on TV used to be just before 6pm, when Mike did the weather from somewhere around the City. It just so happened after an afternoon trip to Coles, we came across him doing the weather from Docklands! So we managed to see the weather live for once...

We won't talk about the picture I took of Joanna & Mike, which I promptly lost in all the excitment because the camera was set on the wrong setting! Sorry Joanna!

You may ask why we were walking back from Coles? Well, we managed to sell the Magna to a nice girl called Bex, who was looking for a wagon, a couple of days before!! We were sad to see it go, but the money was going towards another set of wheels in New Zealand - a 4x4!!

01.03 Melbourne Food Festival & Getaway Crew

Time to relax and take in what the city has to offer...

Another festival in Melbourne, this time it's the Food Festival! Time to relax and watch someone else do the cooking for a change!!

Just along the Yarra, between Federation Square and the MCG, you'll find the Federation Bells & Speaking Corner. A great place to enjoy views the city skyline and the river!

Two of the stars from our favourite holiday programme, Getaway! You can imagine it... 'we watch your programme all the time!'

Lets hope that Shelly has a decent wardrobe for her new role and she's not being dressed by the same person that did Toni Pearen! Perhaps this will also stop her singing 'Are your MacLeans showing?', it really is starting to grate now - perhaps that's good for keeping the tartar away!?!

You know its the weekend in Melbourne because everyone gets their trailers out! They don't necessarily have to carry anything, they just have to be there just in case!

View of boats in the Marina at Docklands!

06.02 Tas: Wilderness Cruise - Sarah Island

Our final part of our Wilderness Cruise was a tour around Sarah Island, which was a penal settlement!


After returning to Strahan I saw Tim Bentinck who plays David Archer in the Archers! I didn't approach him as it looked like that he was catching a scenic flight! Anway, after a food shop and another tank of fuel we left for Cradle Mountain!

09.06 General Update

Well its been a while since we've added anything of note so we thought that we'd give you a general round up of what's been happening around here for the last few weeks.

Social Front
We done a couple of meet ups around docklands, one for 'meet your neighbours' and another was about environmental awareness for residents. The 'meet your neighbours' was a little disappointing as was really an over 50's club in disguise! The environmental meet was similar but more interesting, and the people were friendlier! There are plans for more social events, Joanna has a knitting group meet (no sniggering from the back!) next week and I'm still doing my screen printing course. Plus, there is also the Melbourne 30's club to revisit. We did have dinner with some people and met someone who was an actress on Neighbours for 26 episodes!

Shopping Trips
Have been spending far too much time in the local DFO! Helen photos will come very soon! A trip was also taken to Bridge Road (factory outlet stores), in fact its very convenient as the tram takes us from our apartment straight there! We have also been doing some veg shopping in the Victoria Market too! A lot of trips always coincide with some form of replenishment. In fact, one trip to Ackland Street took us to a cake shop and we saw Rosie from Neighbours in there!

Cultural Events
We had a recent visit to National Gallery of Victoria to see the History of Sneakers. Took me back to the days of Air Max trainers - they had a few examples of these too! We also saw the View ('I've had the same jeans on for four days now' fame) the other evening in one of the many venues here! It was quite a good show, just a shame that we couldn't understand what they were saying, it wasn't just that they were from Dundee but it was too loud! Did I just type that?! It wasn't just us, there was also a Scottish bloke behind us and he couldn't understand them either!

We also saw 'The Holidays' from Sydney, these were the supporting act. In fact this was the second time we had seen them, as they also played with Jamie T (they've only played twice in Melbourne!). They were so good we got their CD! Can't find any links to them though. There was plenty of stage diving at the end and a couple of people had to be ejected during the show too! We also headed out for food before the gig where we managed to get two meals and drinks for $20! Yes it is possible, but we've found only from noodlie-doodlie bars (v. nice though!).

Work
Joanna continues to do temp work for VCAT, she has just been extended until the end of the month. She's still applying for proper jobs. I on the other hand am slightly unemployed at the moment, but am also applying for proper jobs too. One job is designing semi-trailers (lorry trailers), looks interesting though. Have spent some of the week taking photos for screen printing ideas - blog to follow on progress in this area, and have also redesigned 'vesma.net' so take a look!

We're currently within a long weekend, as its the queen's birthday! She's coming round to ours for afternoon tea! We've had an excellent day out today, a blog will also follow on this with plenty of photos!!

Love to all,
Nathan.

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.

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

19.03 What to do now...

It's the day after night before and we're now sitting in the one of the hostel's tv lounges just lounging around. Well, I think we deserve it! I have dragged Joanna out for four days in a row at some unearthly hour o'clock to make our picnic (she didn't have to make it all on her own!) and head out to the circuit. Took about 15 minutes using the trams from North Melbourne.

The grand prix was absolutely fantastic! When Martin & James talk about the noise and the sheer energy of the start, they're not wrong!!Firstly, the noise is immense - as four days of wearing ear plugs proves! Secondly, the vibration through the grandstand is terrific and finally the sensation of being left breathless as 20,000 horsepower goes by is unbelieveable - those horses have to be fed somehow - I've never experienced anything like it!

The build up was good, with the drivers photo taken in front of us & a bit of a song and dance. There were these three lasses from Australian Idol, called Diva's or something?! The formation of the grid - all the crews out with the cars. Kimi on pole and standing at the foot of our grandstand. The Minogue sisters.

The race itself was good, I guess on the TV it was a little bit of a one horse race at the front. And no amount of merchandise buying helped Jenson along or our efforts to get on TV. We were on before the starting grid was formed, but not during the race. Next year we'll know what to do!! Look's like a good season ahead - not sure if I'll be able to catch the european races - time differences and all that! Hey, Matt (K) perhaps I was wrong about Lewis. Is Jenson the next Couthard?! Lots of talent but achieves little!? The finish wasn't emotive as Le Mans or Daytona.

It was great to be able to see the podium celebrations from our seats, despite loads of people climbing the fences and sitting on top of them. At the beginning we could see Martin Brundle doing his grid walk & the luscious Suzie Perry. We also saw Stirling Moss touching up the Minogue sisters too, which, frankly, I was appalled by/jealous of! Yes, we (I) did catch their eye Simon, and no I didn't turn their stomachs!

After the GP we went back to the hostel to check into our dorm room. Ohhhh [shivers]. Never again! Guys, we shared with two girls & you've never seen such a mess!! Anyway, headed out to Lygon Street (the Italian sector of the city) to catch the atmosphere up there (V. passionate & with Kimi's win...). It was buzzing. Not quite as busy as the night before but quite a few Ferrari's (308's 348's, 456's, 355's, 360's, 430's & 575's) parked along the street again. Enjoyed some delicious italian ice cream & headed back to the room.

Spent this morning looking for my passport before we had a meeting with the real estate agent about our lease. The passport was found some hours later amongst some dirty knickers! We have now spent a small fortune to secure our new abode and we're now just an evening & taxi ride away!

So once we're in, we won't know what to do with ourselves. Perhaps, we'll continue the apartment hunt just for the thrill of it!? Or to see whether we got a good deal. I feel that we could end up in some of the libraries reading the latest trashy magazines! Yes, they do have them and it's free to sit there and wade through them!!

We've heard about about the dreadful snow that's hit and how everyone's now snowed in - is that a lie? It must be channel Ten making things up again!! The weather is still beautiful here, so perhaps we might be able to use the outside terrace and pool tomorrow...

Love to all,
Nathan & Joanna.