I can't stand the rain!

G'day

It's Saturday and the plan was to have a look round a few neighbourhoods and get an idea of where I might want to live (I'm only in the flat for four more weeks). Unfortunately it's raining and not just the odd shower every now and then but apparently a month's rain in one day according to the forecasters. Hum. And I don't have an umbrella. And the nearest place to buy an umbrella is a good ten-minute walk away according to the concierge (did I mention we have a concierge? Oh yes) meaning I'd get soaked en route to buy it which makes it all a bit pointless.

But at least it means I can do another post and update you on what's been going on.

Sooo, last night we had end of month drinks on the roof of the Lonely Planet office. Loads of free food and drink and I should have taken my camera as the view is amazing - the whole of Melbourne laid out in front of you. And then an author had invited me and a couple of Aussie mates round for dinner which was lovely. Great food, great conversation - and I saw my first possum! Now look (as the locals would say), I always assumed that these teddybears-come-to-life type creatures were so cute that nobody could have a bad word to say about them (see below for just how cute they are). But no. They're detested by Australians to the point where one anti-possum story at the dinner table included details of trapping them in a bin and then using a hose-pipe to fill up the bin and drown them. Noice.

Miscellany
Things I have learnt

1. Though shops may price items at $3.99, $9.99, $19.99 etc there is no such thing as a one cent coin in Australia meaning that when you hand over, say, $20 in the expectation of 1 cent change you're sadly disappointed.
2. Nobody has a good word to say about that book The Slap (set in Melbourne and full of unsympathetic characters apparently - I've yet to read it).
3. People don't like the expression Down Under  as an alternative for Australia (oops!)
4. An off-licence is called a bottle shop. Makes sense, though really it's the contents of the bottles that you're interested in rather than the bottles themselves.
5. Taxi drivers don't have a clue and you have to give them directions - tricky when you don't know the city at all.
6. All the bogans I saw dressed up in their finest (men: suits; women: dresses and fascinators) to go to the races today (it's Derby Day here - one of the big horse races during the season) will have got very VERY wet.

And that'll do for now. Hopefully next time I'll have some non-marsupial pics to include.

Cliff

Five days in

G'day

I really need to think of new titles for these posts, rather than just keeping count of the days as if I'm in prison.

Today a few of my questions were answered. You stand on the left of the escalator and the coins look quite a bit like UK coins. I also remembered that I shouldn't have complained about the price of half a pint of cider - not because it's not expensive but because they call half a pint a "pot" as in "G'day barman. Harzitgahn (How are you?)? I'll have a pint and a pot of beer, mate. Good on yer. Noice". It's almost like I was born here.

Tonight I had enough energy to catch the tram down to St Kilda, probably Melbourne's most famous neighbourhood. It used to be the cool hangout for local trendy types but now it's a bit past its best and full of ex-pats. Still, it's on the sea (well, Port Philip Bay so not exactly the sea - go to wikipedia if you're confused) so sunset was pretty noice.

CBD (Central Business District - the city centre to me and you) at sunset from St Kilda

Sunset from St Kilda (quite arty shot, isn't it?)

And finally - can you tell what it is yet?

Yes, it's a Fairy Penguin. St Kilda has a colony, apparently. I say "apparently" as this one was the only one I saw and it was outnumbered by people trying to photograph it by about twenty to one. Noice though.

And that's enough excitement for one day cobbers.

Four days in

G'day

I'm here! Flight from hell from London to Singapore - chatty guy next to me, coughy guy behind me (surely it's not natural to cough for 12 hours and not die), two screaming toddlers to the left, and one of their brothers vomiting in the aisle three feet away. Then the accommoation had no record of me, meaning after 24 hours in transit I had to stand around for 45 minutes while they sorted it out.

And then there's the jetlag. First night fine but second night I woke up at 3 - and that was it. First day at work is a bit of a blur.

Luckily flat is good, right in the centre with views acoss the city (pic below), and nice Australian friends were on hand to welcome me and we had drinks by the river (the Yarra if you're interested) watching the sunset.

Work's good - but I won't be going into details on that as it wouldn't be very professional meaning I'll be keeping the posts focused on Aussie life sooooo what have I noticed. Well, with the current exchange rate it seems VERY expensive. My first weekly shop worked out at around £55. Now maybe that's normal for some of you but I don't usually spend more than about £30. And half a cider is around £2.50. For a half! Looking on the bright side, I'm earning Aussie dollars so assuming the exchange rate stays the same I'll be able to bring a bit of money back with me - unless I've spent it all on basics!

What else? Public transport is worse than London - when trains are late (which is always) they don't even bother explaining why or apologising. And there's a surprising number of bogans (as chavs are known here).

Things I haven't figured out yet? The coins. Whether you stand on the left or right on escalators. And which fabric softener to buy. So much to learn! But for now it's good on yer from me and hasta the next g'day.

Cliff Down Under

First g'day of many!

G'day!

I've decided after presure from certain people (I'm looking at you Elizabeth Carter!) that I'm going to blog my year in Melbourne working in Lonely Planet's product development team. No idea what I'll write but hopefully something interesting will happen during the next twelve months that will be worthy of comment (whether it'll be worthy of reading who knows).

Check back once I arrive in Oz (23rd October) to see what life's like Down Under!

Cliff