The Streets of Melbourne

Just a few pics from my walk from the train station to the hotel tonight...which by the way took over an hour to get from the office to the hotel. A little farther than expected.

I passed this lovely flower stand. I would have fresh flowers in my home all the time if I passed this place every day after work. Can't you hear them say 'take me home!'? :) Shelly - I thought of you when I passed it. They had so many beautiful ones that I knew you would love to paint.


This is the art center. (The blue spire at the end of the street.) It is supposed to look like a ballerina and her tutu. The 'ballerina' towers very high into the Melbourne skyline. At night it lights up blue. I hope to get a better picture later this week. And this is what nearly every street in downtown Melbourne looks like....store after store after store mixed in with unique architecture like churches and museums, etc.

And finally this is the view from my balcony.

Aussie Food

So after a long day at work yesterday I come back to the hotel and ordered room service. Not much of a selection so I ordered a "burger and fries." The burger shows up with 6 slices of tomato, lettuce...thus far normal.....then here comes the interesting stuff......4 slices of beets, 2 slices of thick ham, a fried egg and the beef!! HUH? This is not a burger! Fuddrucker's doesn't even offer this. Turns out this is a traditional Aussie burger. Uhm....I did not eat it all. Note: If you want ketchup for the fries you have to ask for tomato sauce.

Today we ate lunch at a Turkish restaurant. Thinly sliced lamb and chicken marinated and grilled. CAN YOU SAY YUMMY? Plus two dips, a salad of your choosing and unlevened bread. The bread was warm, tasteful and out of this world good. My dips were hummus and cucumber and my salad was greek which was basically FRESH cucumbers, olive and mozzerella. The downside of all this yumminess? I would be the size of a house if I ate this every week.

Hopefully tomorrow night I will get away from the hotel and enjoy more Aussie treats. The hotel room service is lacking. I stopped at one of the dozen 7-11's nearby tonight and got yogurt for breakfast. Literally there is one every block.

Aussie Rules Football

My co-worker, Ranjan, and his wife Gay took me to an Aussie Rules Football game yesterday afternoon. (Same day I arrived and only 2 hours after I got to hotel. Reads as: Am I really up for this after 32 hours of travel?)

'Footy' is a BIG deal here. The playoffs started last week so I got to see a playoff between the ranked 1 and 4 teams. Geelong v. St. Kilda.

Let me say that Aussie Rules is football on steroids and drugs. A bright red football but not pigskin, round field, VERY different rules and point calculation and lots of action. I really enjoyed it. Tickets are much cheaper here so the crowds are large and full of spunk. The players are TOUGH - NO pads, definite injuries, no sleeves and short shorts during a winter sport!

The Geelong Cats kicked St. Kilda's back sides 119 - 61. 6 points for a goal, 1 point for a 'behind'. The main ref starts the quarter by literally spiking the football in the center of the field....almost like a tip off in a basketball game. This can also occur if there is a stand off during play....almost like a drop kick in soccer. And very interestingly the side ref can 'throw' the ball in from the side with his back turned to the players (VERY much like a bride turning her back to throw her bouquet the ref throws the football into the playing field). The pic below shows it. I hope you can see it clearly. And check out our seats! Stadium holds 100,000...I was tickled we had such awesome seats.

I really enjoyed the game despite the crazy Melbourne weather. In the course of three hours it went from sunshine and warm to steady rain to sunshine to rain again. I was actually thankful for the rain as it kept me awake!!!

Amazingly enough in today's paper there was a nice pull-out on Aussie Rules Football starting in the U.S. There are already 45 clubs in 26 states which have all evidently been started by Aussie migrants. I could see this taking off in some areas of the states. I would definitely go to a game again.

P.S. On a side note, the Carolina Panthers game is on tv tonight. Who would have thought that Aussies would be interested in the Panthers???!?!?

I made it!

Flight to Dallas: On time and Excellent
Flight to LAX: On time and Excellent
Flight to Melbourne: On time until last hour when we Diverted to Sidney due to 'fog.' (I got about 6 hrs sleep in total and was more rested than I expected.)
Flight BACK to Sidney: Not quite on time but Excellent

Landed in Melbourne two hours later than originally planned. Got to hotel around noon AUS time. I need a calculator to figure out total flight time. lol

My bags showed up! Woo Hoo. No issues with customs but immigration did not have my middle name on file so that had to be changed. No worries!

Hotel is great except I cannot get the temp down to something more pleasant.

More to come later (along with pics) but wanted to let you know I am here safe and sound. =)

And I'm Off....

The day is finally here. A car service is picking me up shortly to take me to the airport. If all goes well by 5:30 p.m. US ET Saturday I will be landing in Melbourne. /cross fingers

I believe I have everything. I HOPE I have everything! What do you think? Think I got everything in these bags? lol I actually have room to spare. : )

I am going to miss my family very much. It was hard to say goodbye to the boys as I dropped them off at school this morning. HUGS

Check....

Geeze! Do I have everything?

Passport - check
Visa - check (not like Visa/Mastercard!!)
Travel adapter - check
Travel converter - nope!
Rain coat - check
Cool weather clothes - check (I hope so! They keep saying how 'cold' it is there and to bring warm clothes but is 55 degrees really THAT cold?)
Medicine - check
Crossword book - check
Luggage - Humm. Where is my large suitcase?? I guess I better get into the attic tonight. I have a feeling it is covered in cat hair as Chip Shot loves to abscond my luggage for his personal napping area.

You would think packing would be easy but I have this anxiety that I will forget something. Well, evidently there is a Target and a Safeway nearby. = )

Four Days and Counting

I leave for Melbourne in four days.

Thankfully I just checked my itinerary (I would have eventually!) and I leave in the afternoon..NOT in the morning. Good. That gives me more time to rest. It is 21 hours of actual flight time....but when you start from when I leave the house to landing in Melbourne it is close to 30 hours. LOL

Oh my!! Close to a 6 hour layover in LAX. Humm....Do you think they show movies at the airport?