We're now in the middle of sorting out our stuff to return to the UK, so thought I should make some attempt to get this up to date before we leave Melbourne in a few weeks. It's pretty cold here now so we're hoping for some English summer sunshine when we get back! We've not done any major travelling since our Sydney/Brisbane trip but have been busy nonetheless. A quick summary below and photos to follow...
We were straight back into being sociable when we got back to Melbourne from Brisbane. We met up with a friend and her family to see her brother in a show called Scrabble Unscripted, which was part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The general idea is that a couple of people play Scrabble at the side of the stage, and then others use words from the board to inspire their improv. Very funny stuff! The festival itself is (I think) the third largest in the world - it goes on for three weeks and there are more shows than you could possibly ever see. We managed to get to a few, including a night out with some other UK visitors.
The main focus for me in April was work, as I was very involved in organising a large event at Queen Victoria Market on 29th. The general idea was to recreate a Spanish/Latin American market within the market, with food, crafts, music and dancing. It all came together very well on the day which was a relief as we were a bit concerned that the rain would put people off. Fortunately it didn't, which I think is an indication of how popular cultural events are here.
Andrew has also been busy at work, and we have been spending a lot of time with friends here as well fitting in a weekend to Echuca in mid May. This is the town where Andrew grew up, about 3 hour drive away from where we are. He still has relatives from both sides of the family there, and so it was good to catch up with them. We also made the short trip across the New South Wales border to Deniliquin, my friend Kristie's hometown and also where Andrew's dad lived as a child. The town is famous for its Ute Muster (see http://www.deniutemuster.com.au/) which sounded so bizarre to me that I wasn't really sure it existed. But yes, it does!
The highlight of the following weekend was a trip to the MCG to see the Aussie Rules, North Melbourne (aka the Kangaroos, the team Andrew supports) againt Melbourne. I think I more or less got my head round the rules in the end and the Kangaroos won by one point, which is a very close game by AFL standards. I think I've got a long way to go before I'm converted but it was good to see it. Since then we have had a pretty quiet few weekends, the only major event being Andrew's colleague's wedding a few weeks ago.
So that brings us more or less up to date but there is another post to follow very soon, including some photos...
Showing posts with label melbourne. Show all posts
Showing posts with label melbourne. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Moomba - Birdman rally - 10th March
Melbourne is very big on major events, and one very long established one is Moomba which takes place every year on Labour Day weekend. In case you were wondering, Moomba is an Aboriginal word meaning "Let's get together and have fun" so that pretty much sums it up. There are various activities, mainly based around the Yarra River which runs through the city, and we wandered along to see the Birdman Rally. This is basically an excuse for people to dress up in silly costumes and jump into the river on the pretence that they are actually trying to fly...
Admittedly some did give the flying idea their best shot, whilst others clearly just felt like jumping in the river! It was fun to watch and was carefully judged from a boat by Lord Mayor John So amongst others. Incidentally, not sure if anyone in the UK will have heard of John So, but he has recently been voted the world's most popular mayor, and certainly got a far louder cheer from the crowd than anyone else that day.
Here are some photos for you:
A very pretty but not especially useful flying machine
At least this one tried - I think his flight of a few metres was enough to make him the winner
Birdman website: http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/info.cfm?top=243&pa=3421&pg=3431
Moomba site: http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/info.cfm?top=243&pg=1832
Admittedly some did give the flying idea their best shot, whilst others clearly just felt like jumping in the river! It was fun to watch and was carefully judged from a boat by Lord Mayor John So amongst others. Incidentally, not sure if anyone in the UK will have heard of John So, but he has recently been voted the world's most popular mayor, and certainly got a far louder cheer from the crowd than anyone else that day.
Here are some photos for you:
A very pretty but not especially useful flying machine
At least this one tried - I think his flight of a few metres was enough to make him the winner
Birdman website: http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/info.cfm?top=243&pa=3421&pg=3431
Moomba site: http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/info.cfm?top=243&pg=1832
Werribee Open Range Zoo - 2nd March
As a wedding present, one of Andrew's friends bought us a ticket for 3 zoos in the area - Melbourne, Healesville Sanctuary and Werribee Open Range Zoo. Here are some pictures from Werribee...
the web address is: http://www.zoo.org.au/vorz/
the web address is: http://www.zoo.org.au/vorz/
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Summer in Melbourne
It seems quite odd to be blogging now that we're not rushing from one place to the next every few days, but then on the other hand I know that people are still keeping up with us via this site so thought it was time for an update. Also, although we now have our very own landline and a cheap call package, the 11 hour time difference means that I am not chatting to people in the UK almost as much as I did when we were in London. I hope to catch up with more people properly soon!
OK, where to start in summarising the past month+? The first thing I have to say is that unlike the UK we most definitely have not seen any snow in recent weeks - it's certainly the warmest February I have ever experienced! The weather in Melbourne is in many ways unpredictable - for example today it has been 38 but is now raining. That has its advantages, especially when much needed rain falls, but from a personal point of view can also be a complete pain when you get caught in a thunderstorm in your flip-flops (or thongs as I've been told I must call them!) Someone said to me recently that without having the weather to talk about Melburnians would be lost, so at least that makes me feel not too far away from home...
I'm really enjoying my work here which is proving to be really varied, and of course it's a great chance for me to improve my Spanish. Andrew is also happy where he is, and it's good not to be back full time at this stage. We definitely want to focus on the holiday side of things while we have the chance, and we are currently in the process of pencilling in dates for trips within Australia. We're very aware of how much we want to do and how quickly time is flying by. We are just back from our first Aussie mini adventure - a weekend on the Great Ocean Road (post to follow) - and so we now have the lovely feeling of coming back to our own home after a few nights away.
We now feel well and truly settled in flat (we even have internet!) and have already had several friends round for dinner. The chef is also back in action - in fact we've both been cooking a lot - and don't you just love the apron?!...
We also had a party for Andrew's birthday here. We were supposed to have a few drinks here then head out to our local pub, but that pretty much went out of the window after a second trip to the bottle shop (otherwise known as off licence - they have drive-thru ones here!) As the photos show a good time was had by all, and you won't be surprised to see that we still can't dance...
On the day of his actual birthday we decided to take the day off to be tourists, including taking a wander around the Melbourne museum which has diverse exhibits to say the least. Ryan, this one's for you - see if you can work out whose kitchen this is from the original Neighbours set, now housed in the museum:
In the evening we had dinner with Andrew's mum and sister, so it can safely be said that the day was well and truly celebrated!
Other things to report...
Australia Day (26th January) conveniently fell on a Friday this year so everyone made the most of the long weekend. We started by reintegrating ourselves with the world of hostelling - not though staying in one but going on a pub crawl with Tania who we know from London. Remember the story about the girl we bumped into in a La Paz hostel? Well she is now here! It was a really good night albeit slightly strange to be part of a group of about 30 backpackers again!
Whilst recovering on Friday we saw this little air show from our balcony, especially put on for us obviously:
..and the rest of the weekend was spent at various BBQs, so yes there is some truth in the stereotype on that one! I also went to see Charlie (a friend who some of you will know/may have met at our wedding) performing as Mole in a really lovely production of Wind in the Willows at the Botanic Gardens here. I went with some friends and their 8 year old son, so didn't feel too silly pretending to be a rabbit!
Another interesting evening out was watching the ‘soccer’ semi final between Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United at the Telstra Dome. I have to admit that the prospect of going to watch a game of football that everyone insisted on calling soccer was a little bit worrying; I was even less pleased to discover that I had to support the blue team against the red one! The first half was pretty disappointing and an early goal from Adelaide didn’t help. The game was however livened up by the interesting shouts from the crowd, my favourite being “go home you Adelaide bogan” closely followed by “ it’s soccer not football” as yet another slightly far from accurate shot went flying miles over the bar…
A Melbourne equaliser early in the second half sent the crowd a bit mad, but as time ticked away it looked like Adelaide were going to win on their away goal. Just when we thought that all was lost, supersub Robinson came on for "the Victory" and saved the day in the 93rd minute. When he was interviewed afterwards his Scouse accent filled the stadium - as if we needed any confirmation of where the real home of football is! In case you were wondering, Melbourne have since won the final - against Adelaide, don't ask! - by a pretty impressive 6-0...
![]()
Celebrating the Victory's victory
And finally, here are a few photos from December that we never got round to posting:
My parents with Andrew's Dad and sister Jo at the Melbourne Wedding party
Andrew and Andrew (aka Loud)
Mum, Kath & Cath in the sea at Lorne
OK, where to start in summarising the past month+? The first thing I have to say is that unlike the UK we most definitely have not seen any snow in recent weeks - it's certainly the warmest February I have ever experienced! The weather in Melbourne is in many ways unpredictable - for example today it has been 38 but is now raining. That has its advantages, especially when much needed rain falls, but from a personal point of view can also be a complete pain when you get caught in a thunderstorm in your flip-flops (or thongs as I've been told I must call them!) Someone said to me recently that without having the weather to talk about Melburnians would be lost, so at least that makes me feel not too far away from home...
I'm really enjoying my work here which is proving to be really varied, and of course it's a great chance for me to improve my Spanish. Andrew is also happy where he is, and it's good not to be back full time at this stage. We definitely want to focus on the holiday side of things while we have the chance, and we are currently in the process of pencilling in dates for trips within Australia. We're very aware of how much we want to do and how quickly time is flying by. We are just back from our first Aussie mini adventure - a weekend on the Great Ocean Road (post to follow) - and so we now have the lovely feeling of coming back to our own home after a few nights away.
We now feel well and truly settled in flat (we even have internet!) and have already had several friends round for dinner. The chef is also back in action - in fact we've both been cooking a lot - and don't you just love the apron?!...
We also had a party for Andrew's birthday here. We were supposed to have a few drinks here then head out to our local pub, but that pretty much went out of the window after a second trip to the bottle shop (otherwise known as off licence - they have drive-thru ones here!) As the photos show a good time was had by all, and you won't be surprised to see that we still can't dance...
On the day of his actual birthday we decided to take the day off to be tourists, including taking a wander around the Melbourne museum which has diverse exhibits to say the least. Ryan, this one's for you - see if you can work out whose kitchen this is from the original Neighbours set, now housed in the museum:
In the evening we had dinner with Andrew's mum and sister, so it can safely be said that the day was well and truly celebrated!
Other things to report...
Australia Day (26th January) conveniently fell on a Friday this year so everyone made the most of the long weekend. We started by reintegrating ourselves with the world of hostelling - not though staying in one but going on a pub crawl with Tania who we know from London. Remember the story about the girl we bumped into in a La Paz hostel? Well she is now here! It was a really good night albeit slightly strange to be part of a group of about 30 backpackers again!
Whilst recovering on Friday we saw this little air show from our balcony, especially put on for us obviously:
..and the rest of the weekend was spent at various BBQs, so yes there is some truth in the stereotype on that one! I also went to see Charlie (a friend who some of you will know/may have met at our wedding) performing as Mole in a really lovely production of Wind in the Willows at the Botanic Gardens here. I went with some friends and their 8 year old son, so didn't feel too silly pretending to be a rabbit!
Another interesting evening out was watching the ‘soccer’ semi final between Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United at the Telstra Dome. I have to admit that the prospect of going to watch a game of football that everyone insisted on calling soccer was a little bit worrying; I was even less pleased to discover that I had to support the blue team against the red one! The first half was pretty disappointing and an early goal from Adelaide didn’t help. The game was however livened up by the interesting shouts from the crowd, my favourite being “go home you Adelaide bogan” closely followed by “ it’s soccer not football” as yet another slightly far from accurate shot went flying miles over the bar…
A Melbourne equaliser early in the second half sent the crowd a bit mad, but as time ticked away it looked like Adelaide were going to win on their away goal. Just when we thought that all was lost, supersub Robinson came on for "the Victory" and saved the day in the 93rd minute. When he was interviewed afterwards his Scouse accent filled the stadium - as if we needed any confirmation of where the real home of football is! In case you were wondering, Melbourne have since won the final - against Adelaide, don't ask! - by a pretty impressive 6-0...
Celebrating the Victory's victory
And finally, here are a few photos from December that we never got round to posting:
My parents with Andrew's Dad and sister Jo at the Melbourne Wedding party
Andrew and Andrew (aka Loud)
Mum, Kath & Cath in the sea at Lorne
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Settling in Melbourne
Big news item number one is that we now have our own place. You may remember that we were having some difficulties finding somewhere close to Andrew's work, as there was a lot of competition in the area. As a result of this it was proving pretty much impossible to get a 6 month lease as the landlords were understandably taking the people who could commit to 12. The low point of the process was finding out by accident that an application we had submitted had been rejected when we saw it down as let in the property listings!
At this point we decided to change our tactics ie broaden our search area and look at classified ads rather than go through agents. It paid off straight away as we found the place we're now in via the gumtree website. We have taken over someone else's lease as she was relocating. It's less that a year old and so very modern, and in a great area (Richmond for those who know Melbourne) close to the city, bars, restaurants, shops etc. The added bonus is that we have great views from our balcony/communal roof terrace across the MCG to the city as these night shots show...
Unlike the UK, furnished lets pretty much don't exist here, so the next challenge was finding furniture. Fortunately between Andrew's stuff from his old place and loans from his mum, sister and friends (thanks everyone) the only major things we needed to buy were a table and a compuer desk. And with Ikea a short drive away, problem solved! Several trips the storage unit later, all we needed to worry about was making sure that the drinks cupboard was well stocked :-) We're loving having our own place, and being able to cook in our our kitchen and put clothes in a wardrobe rather than a backpack is very exciting after so many months of wandering!
The other news is that we both have jobs! Andrew is back at the company he helped to set up/has been involved with for years, and I am working in fundraising for a Spanish/Latin American welfare centre. Andrew is full time at the moment, and I'm working a very civilised 2 day week and trying my best to be a domestic goddess the rest of the time! We're planning to do some travelling soon but in the meantime enjoying city life and looking forward to Australia Day (26th Jan) and Andrew's birthday celebrations in early Feb.
At this point we decided to change our tactics ie broaden our search area and look at classified ads rather than go through agents. It paid off straight away as we found the place we're now in via the gumtree website. We have taken over someone else's lease as she was relocating. It's less that a year old and so very modern, and in a great area (Richmond for those who know Melbourne) close to the city, bars, restaurants, shops etc. The added bonus is that we have great views from our balcony/communal roof terrace across the MCG to the city as these night shots show...
Unlike the UK, furnished lets pretty much don't exist here, so the next challenge was finding furniture. Fortunately between Andrew's stuff from his old place and loans from his mum, sister and friends (thanks everyone) the only major things we needed to buy were a table and a compuer desk. And with Ikea a short drive away, problem solved! Several trips the storage unit later, all we needed to worry about was making sure that the drinks cupboard was well stocked :-) We're loving having our own place, and being able to cook in our our kitchen and put clothes in a wardrobe rather than a backpack is very exciting after so many months of wandering!
The other news is that we both have jobs! Andrew is back at the company he helped to set up/has been involved with for years, and I am working in fundraising for a Spanish/Latin American welfare centre. Andrew is full time at the moment, and I'm working a very civilised 2 day week and trying my best to be a domestic goddess the rest of the time! We're planning to do some travelling soon but in the meantime enjoying city life and looking forward to Australia Day (26th Jan) and Andrew's birthday celebrations in early Feb.
Monday, January 01, 2007
Happy New Year!
Happy 2007 everyone! Keeping with the Aussie tradition, we had a BBQ with a few friends to see in the new year. Hope you all had a great time wherever you are.
We probably won't be posting much now that we're in one place for a while, but I know people are still reading so will keep you up to date with where we're up to and put a few photos up soon.
Bye for now!
We probably won't be posting much now that we're in one place for a while, but I know people are still reading so will keep you up to date with where we're up to and put a few photos up soon.
Bye for now!
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Our first few weeks in Melbourne
As I already mentioned we have been doing a mixture of practical and sociable since we arrived here, and it has certainly been a full few weeks. It was great that we had our own car within a few days of being here as Andrew's mum lives in the Eastern suburbs, his friends are mainly central(ish) and my parents were staying for part of the time in an apartment on the edge of the city centre. I am pleased to be able to report that I have just about got over the indicators and windscreen wipers being the 'wrong' way round!
Our wedding party on 16th went really well - the only hiccup was that the marquee was initially delivered to Andrew's mum's instead of 35km away to the park where the party was being held...luckily all went well otherwise! We had great weather and it was lovely that we were able to gather together approx 60 family and friends despite it being Christmas party season. As well as catching up with/meeting the rest of the Aussie contingent (including the newly arrived from England Jess & Co!) it was great that my mum & dad were able to be there as well as my friend Katherine who was in Melbourne on her way to spend Christmas with family in New Zealand.
Of course having first time visitors in town gave us an excuse to be tourists, and we all enjoyed exploring the city and heading out to the Great Ocean Road amomgst other things. On Katherine's last night here mum & I went with her to see the hilarious Dame Edna show - 'she' is a local after all, a good way for me to perfect my Aussie accent I thought! As for dad, it goes without saying that the highlight of his trip was going to the test match with Andrew on 27th, despite the result of course. Meanwhile Andrew's mum, sister and auntie took mum & I up into the beautiful Dandenong mountains, so we were well out of earshot of the Barmy Army!
Christmas Day itself was also quite a remarkable effort on the part of Andrew's mum and auntie, as there were around 20 of the family here for Chrstmas dinner. We all had a good day despite the rain and distinct lack of tropical sunshine!
Mum & dad left on 28th which of course was hard for me, but I'm starting to settle here despite feeling a very long way from home at the moment. Our main focus now is to get our own place sorted out, which is taking a bit longer than anticipated so far. We hope that this is just because of the time of year, but it seems that the area we're looing in is a popular one and we're only after a 6 month lease so it's just a case of being patient I suppose. In the meantime as all the estate agents are closed for the weekend/New Year we're just being distinctly lazy!
PS Problems uplodading photos at the moment so will put some online soon...
Our wedding party on 16th went really well - the only hiccup was that the marquee was initially delivered to Andrew's mum's instead of 35km away to the park where the party was being held...luckily all went well otherwise! We had great weather and it was lovely that we were able to gather together approx 60 family and friends despite it being Christmas party season. As well as catching up with/meeting the rest of the Aussie contingent (including the newly arrived from England Jess & Co!) it was great that my mum & dad were able to be there as well as my friend Katherine who was in Melbourne on her way to spend Christmas with family in New Zealand.
Of course having first time visitors in town gave us an excuse to be tourists, and we all enjoyed exploring the city and heading out to the Great Ocean Road amomgst other things. On Katherine's last night here mum & I went with her to see the hilarious Dame Edna show - 'she' is a local after all, a good way for me to perfect my Aussie accent I thought! As for dad, it goes without saying that the highlight of his trip was going to the test match with Andrew on 27th, despite the result of course. Meanwhile Andrew's mum, sister and auntie took mum & I up into the beautiful Dandenong mountains, so we were well out of earshot of the Barmy Army!
Christmas Day itself was also quite a remarkable effort on the part of Andrew's mum and auntie, as there were around 20 of the family here for Chrstmas dinner. We all had a good day despite the rain and distinct lack of tropical sunshine!
Mum & dad left on 28th which of course was hard for me, but I'm starting to settle here despite feeling a very long way from home at the moment. Our main focus now is to get our own place sorted out, which is taking a bit longer than anticipated so far. We hope that this is just because of the time of year, but it seems that the area we're looing in is a popular one and we're only after a 6 month lease so it's just a case of being patient I suppose. In the meantime as all the estate agents are closed for the weekend/New Year we're just being distinctly lazy!
PS Problems uplodading photos at the moment so will put some online soon...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
