Wildlife

It never ceases to amaze me how many different types of living creatures there are in Australia, even in metropolitan Melbourne. 

We live a measly 2km away from Flinders Street Station, yet have possums in the trees in our road at night and bats in the trees of the park we have to cross to walk home from our tram stop. 

Crows, magpies, mini magpies (not sure what these are officially called but they look like smaller versions of the aforementioned Collingwood mascots), some cockatoo-looking parrot things and lots of other weird and wonderful birds abound.  On a walk through the botanical gardens on Saturday afternoon we spied large numbers of eels and long-necked turtles in the shallows of the Ornamental Lake.  It's turtle breeding season at the moment and apparently these little guys (or should I say "girls") seek alterative water sources for egg laying.  We saw one toddling across the grass as we were leaving the lake.  I'll have to get the photos off S's iphone to post here.

What I really can't get over is the abundance of insects!  Flies, flies and more flies!  Luckily our block was fitted with fly screens this morning, although from the number of flying ants currently circling our dining room light - it doesn't look like they're working.  Note that the windows are also closed.  How these buggers are getting in is anyone's guess.  I kinda feel sorry for them though, they only live for a day or two so to spend a precious 3 or 4 hours circling a dining room light can't be the best use of their already limited time, can it?

There was quite a lot of excitement about a locust plague heading towards Melbourne a couple of weeks ago as well.  They ride down from the outback on the hot desert winds in their hundreds of thousands.  Not many got to us, I think the North Western suburbs of Melbourne were worst hit.  A bit of a anti-climax really.  I was expecting something out of... well, the Bible.

And last week I was drawn to, albeit sceptical of, an artical I read in the mX (free evening paper available at train stations) last week about a kayaker who was repeatedly attacked by a giant (his words), black water snake in the Yarra River (which runs about 200m from our house).  Only a couple of swift blows to the head were enough to make the beast retreat.  At one stage I was thinking about buying a kayak... maybe not!  It's wild out here!

Let there be light... and flying ants

Night markets

There's nothing like a good night market.  The crowds of people from all walks of life, the music - be it drums, bolliwood or string quartets playing upbeat french tunes, divinely fragrant food stalls, large, chilled plastic cups filled to the brim with fruity sangria and the promise of stumbling across either the bargain of the century or some very unique art.

Unbeknownst to us, Queen Victoria Markets holds weekly Wednesday night markets during summer - the first of which was last night.  Our friend Ange, who was in town for a short visit and wanted to catch up for a drink/dinner, suggested we all head over after S and I finished work. 

I'm so glad she introduced to these!  The markets are easily 50% food stalls which really appealed.  From paellas to crepes and everything in between. The choices were endless and very difficult!  A couple of bars were dotted around too, so icy cold beers and sangria were consumed with our seafood paella and chorizo rolls followed by some yummy cupcakes for dessert.  Heaven!

After watching a bolliwood dance group we had a wander around the stalls.  There were some really beautiful ones so I think next time I'll come armed with cash - could be some nice little Christmas present gems in there.  I spied a few things I liked for myself too.

We'll definitely be back before the summer's out.

More visitors from Auckland

I love having visitors to our new home so was delighted (my new favourite word since the Queen used it to describe how she felt about Wills & Kate's engagement!) to have Briar and Kelly to stay last weekend. 

It was brilliant to catch up over some wines as well as hit the shops (now that I have that elusive job!) first on Bourke Street; although plans were slightly thwarted by the wettest Santa Parade I'm sure Melbourne has had, followed by lunch on Degraves Lane and then more shopping on Chapel Street.

Saturday evening was spent on Hardware Lane in the city.  Dinner was nice, but the cocktails at Campari House afterwards deserve more of a mention - delicious and we'll definitely be back there. 

And the following day; because the girls didn't buy enough (read: anything, until I made Briar buy a maxi dress at the last shop we went to on Saturday afternoon!) for my liking, we strolled up to Bridge Road which proved much more successful!

Sunday aftenoon came around too soon and they were off home again, but I'm sure we'll see eachother either later this month or next.  Miss them already x

Cocktails at Campari House

BK laughing at the "zombie" photo

Lunch in Richmond

Employment

I'm relieved to report that I now have a job!  Only a mere 2 and 1/2 months after moving to this fair city.

Despite some very encouraging words from my recruitment agent who excitedly rang me just 20 minutes after posting my CV and covering letter on Seek about 3 months ago, it was a laborious process indeed. 
Whilst assuring me that I'd be beating potential employers off with a stick, the interviews, or "chats" that everyone seems to call them here ("are you able to come in for a "chat"?  All very non-commital!) were few and far between.  And when nothing came of those chats I was faced with every excuse in the book -a couple of arranged chats were called off days before they happened because either there was a re-structure planned or they only had eyes for one person (ie not me).  Then I was too junior, too senior, too Kiwi, I didn't have enough contacts here.  But I'm pleased to say that I'm very happy with the job I finally got and have to thank my friend Amy for setting up the initial chat for me.  Don't know what I'd have done without her!

When considering I know a couple of very skilled ad people who had to return to NZ after months of unsuccessful job-hunting here and when I spoke to various people who told me to give it at least 6 months (!!!) I count myself extremely lucky... it must have been that bird that relieved itself on my scarf on the walk up the driveway to the Melbourne office of an international ad agency for my fourth "chat" there.  Thanks bud. 

Derby Day and Melbourne Cup

The Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival is a definite highlight on the Australian social calendar.  Not wanting to miss out on the action we jumped in boots and all and bought both Derby Day and Melbourne Cup tickets.  We even managed to entice some friends to come over from Auckland and Sydney and make a weekend of it.

We had been watching the nightly weather on the news like hawks and it wasn't looking good.  Torrential rain was forecast for the afternoon of Derby Day.  With there rumoured to be little or no shelter in the Banks enclosure, we were bracing ourselves mentally for a wet and chilly day. 

Marie organised a lovely champagne breakfast at her place in Brunswick and everyone was in high spirits and looking glam in their racing outfits (Derby Day dress/theme is usually "black & white").  There were 10 of us and I think around 9 or 10 bottles of champagne were drunk during the wait for the taxi.  A good time was had by all.

The Banks area at Flemington is huge with lots of food and drink stalls, mature trees, a stage, large screens and loads of seating/tables.  We thought the race would be on for a table, but the prize was really a table with a large outdoor umbrella, of which there were way fewer than actual tables.  After a scout around, we found one.  Only problem being that our group had swelled to 13 and the table sat 6.

We got into swing of things though with bubbles, beer and a flutter on the races.  Overall, the boys did pretty well with Hoani having a big win on the last race.

And then the rain came down.  We were close enough to another table with an umbrella to add our own small ones to the "roof"; filling the gaps between the big umbrellas.  But the rain was coming in sideways as well as pooling and then leaking off the umbrellas.  We decided to call it a day as were all drenched and cold.  Most carried on at the Crown and then Prahran at a 30th birthday party.  But not sure I'll be going to Derby Day again!

S and I also had Cup tickets for the Tuesday, but when the forecast was for showers, we decided to avoid Flemington and ended up watching at a bar called The Nest in Albert Park, near South Melbourne beach.  Had a great time there drinking a few ciders and chatting to friends.  The sun was out for a bit and they had a great outdoor area so we lapped it all up.  And I even won $15 on Maluckyday which was a nice finish to a lovely day out.

I think next year we'll organise a BBQ or go to a bar/pub rather than trying to get to Flemington.  Glad we did it this year though, got to get amongst it!

Next: tennis - a lot closer to home (10 minute walk from our place) and weather is usually a lot better.  Can't wait!

Friends over to play

I must admit that although I have missed my friends and family a lot since I've been here, I didn't realise quite how much of a gap they'd left in my life until I saw Catherine, Trusha, Kim, Keith and Lucy this last weekend.  There's nothing like familiarity and a shared past to comfort a slightly home-sick soul.  Don't get me wrong, I love living in Melbourne but having a piece of home here, was really nice.

It was also great to be able to show friends around our new city and be able to point out landmarks, sights and good restaurants and bars "just like locals" haha.  We had some great laughs over the weekend and some lovely days and nights out with our mates.  Now that they've gone home again I miss them even more.  Luckily Briar and Kelly are here next weekend, by which stage our guest room will have an actual bed as opposed to our fold out sofa bed. 

Can't wait!

Lunch at The Fitz on Bruswick Street

Great Ocean Road

Every time I've come to Melbourne I've wanted to drive the Great Ocean Road, but have always been sidetracked by activities in the city, namely shopping, eating, drinking and watching shows.

Now that I'm living here, I really have no excuse, so one beautifully sunny Saturday, S and I went down to Budget in Richmond and picked up a car for a mini roadie down the coast.

Driving in Melbourne is a little challenging with the hook turns (pull into the left hand lane to turn right?!), u-turns and trams to contend with, but we managed to get out of the city, over the Westgate Bridge and onto the 3-lane (or as S calls them "three way" highways, haha) highway with the city fading away behind us.  Now I know I haven't had the most stressful of recent months (apart from job-hunting), but it's always nice getting out of the big smoke and escaping to the country for a drive... and boy was it a long one.

After stopping for lunch at a real truck stop, we past Geelong and headed down to Torquay.  Torquay is home to head officies of some of the biggest of Australian surf brands and their retail shops... and not much else.  Can't say I'd rush back.  Angelesea and Aireys Inlet; the next two bays along, were charming and quaint by comparison, but still boasted some beautiful big coastal homes.  Wouldn't mind spending a weekend there!  The Split Point Lighthouse provided some good lookouts as well.

Lorne was a little bigger although not as pretty.  For the next few dozen kms after that, it's just winding coastal and clifftop road and deserted beaches.  It's not quite summer here yet, but I could imagine it would be nice in December/Jan to have your pick of beaches and have it to yourself for an afternoon of picnicing, swimming, beach bats and lazing about.  Bliss!

Our goal was to make it to the Twelve Apostles cliffside road formations, having heard so much about these natural wonders.  So we pressed on.  After Apollo Bay; a beautifully calm, long sandy beach, we turned inland through the Cape Ottway National Park and some farmland, which weirdly enough, in parts, reminded me of New Zealand and the drive down to Mt Ruapehu from Auckland.  Finally got back to the coast, drove through Princetown and made it to the 12 Apostles.  I wasn't expecting to be blown away, but these rock formations are incredible!  A result of thousands of years of cliff erosion, they really are breathtaking.  The cliffside erodes at a rate of roughly 2cm per year so thinking about how long they took to form and how many years they've withstood the power of the ocean crashing against them really is awe inspiring.

Some pics:

Well worth the 9 hour round-trip!

Getting crafty

Being unemployed, I have the luxury of having large quantities of one of life's most precious assets - time.  And in an attempt to save some cash, which I unfortanately don't have as much of as I do time, and with the spring racing season coming up, I decided to have a try at making a fascinator.

These essential pieces of racing outfitry (a non-word, but it stays) can set one back upwards of $200 for a decent example so armed with a modest budget and a bright red shopping basket I gingerly entered the budget conscious shopper's utopia that is Spotlight.

The choices were immense with a whole section dedicated to making their own spring racing hats and fascinators.  There were millenery fabrics, fabric flowers, head bands, feathers in every colour imaginable, butterflies, hats etc.  I opted for a plain metal headband/alice band, some ribbon, milleners' fabric, flower and a butterfly.  I'm not sure how I've survived 28 years without a hot glue gun though.  Those things are amazing!  With a little effort and lots of glue, here's the result.

I made another for my friend, but didn't photograph that one before giving it to her.

Having had some success with the fascinators, I decided some coasters were a must (there's logic in there somewhere).  So I chose some beautiful craft paper, contact paper and some unadorned wooden coasters and got glueing.  Here are the results:

Next project: a painting for above our fireplace.