We've been here nearly 3 months to the day, so naturally the mind turns to wondering if we made the right choice coming all the way over here. I could answer this with a well-constructed essay debating the merits of Melbourne/Australia versus London/England, but to be honest nothing beats a good list. Just read High Fidelity if you don't believe me.
Pros:
Parking - it's easy & mostly free
Strangers are friendly
Beaches :)
Living in the poshest part of town
Weather (yes, even in Melbourne)
A possum in our back garden (we have named him Pete)
Hardly any chain coffee places
Butchers and bakers in every neighbourhood
Eating out is cheap and better quality and with better service
Babies are welcome everywhere (pubs and fine dining restaurants included)
Good access to the great outdoors
Not much traffic
They have IKEA
Cons:
Non-existent ability of Aussie drivers to merge lanes or indeed drive in general!
Connex are screwing up the trains just as badly over here!
They have IKEA
Gravox is nowhere near as good as Bisto
There is no Waitrose
I'm sure there are other, more deep and meaningful pros and cons but we're tired and need to go to bed!
Night, night zzzz
Monday, April 9, 2007
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Lazy Bloggers
Firstly a big apology for the lack of recent posts. We had a few problems setting up broadband in the new place, and we’ve been busy exploring our new home city & its surroundings.
I (Dom) have a job now (I was offered it the day after the last blog posting, and have been there 4 weeks there so this is quite old news now). It is at MTU Detroit Diesel Australia, a joint venture between Detroit Diesel and MTU who basically both make big (and some very, very big) Diesel engines that go into trucks, yachts, ferries, mining trucks, cranes and so on. So far it is going well although the frequent air travel to Sydney is giving my conscience a battering over my Carbon footprint! I have to say that my 3 trips to Sydney so far have reinforced our initial impression that Melbourne is a nicer place to live – sorry to any Sydneysiders out there!
Anyway, as I said we have been busy exploring:
Puffing Billy
We went on this for my Mum’s birthday in February but hadn’t gotten around to blogging it. It runs right up into the mountains and you get some great views and that evocative steam billowing up around the carriages.
Healesville Sanctuary
This place lets you get right amongst the native Aussie animals – you can literally get within an arm’s length of a Koala which was amazing. (A couple of weeks later though it was topped when we went down the Great Ocean Road and we did the same with “properly wild” Koalas!). Healesville also has the added bonus of being nestled in the Yarra Valley amongst all the vineyards so you probably combine a visit with a cheeky wine tour (NB don’t do the boozing first!).
Toni’s sister Talie was here for 3 weeks (she left on Friday) and saw a lot of Melbourne. When we’ve not been at work we’ve done our best as tour guides, including a 3-day road trip down the Great Ocean Road but I’ll save that for when we’ve gotten some more photos from the camera.
Lastly a couple more photos of Maddie – she is thriving as you can see!
Spider count: 1
Snake count: 0
I (Dom) have a job now (I was offered it the day after the last blog posting, and have been there 4 weeks there so this is quite old news now). It is at MTU Detroit Diesel Australia, a joint venture between Detroit Diesel and MTU who basically both make big (and some very, very big) Diesel engines that go into trucks, yachts, ferries, mining trucks, cranes and so on. So far it is going well although the frequent air travel to Sydney is giving my conscience a battering over my Carbon footprint! I have to say that my 3 trips to Sydney so far have reinforced our initial impression that Melbourne is a nicer place to live – sorry to any Sydneysiders out there!
Anyway, as I said we have been busy exploring:
Puffing Billy
We went on this for my Mum’s birthday in February but hadn’t gotten around to blogging it. It runs right up into the mountains and you get some great views and that evocative steam billowing up around the carriages.
Healesville Sanctuary
This place lets you get right amongst the native Aussie animals – you can literally get within an arm’s length of a Koala which was amazing. (A couple of weeks later though it was topped when we went down the Great Ocean Road and we did the same with “properly wild” Koalas!). Healesville also has the added bonus of being nestled in the Yarra Valley amongst all the vineyards so you probably combine a visit with a cheeky wine tour (NB don’t do the boozing first!).
Toni’s sister Talie was here for 3 weeks (she left on Friday) and saw a lot of Melbourne. When we’ve not been at work we’ve done our best as tour guides, including a 3-day road trip down the Great Ocean Road but I’ll save that for when we’ve gotten some more photos from the camera.
Lastly a couple more photos of Maddie – she is thriving as you can see!
Spider count: 1
Snake count: 0
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