Melbourne - First Week

After flying into Melbourne around 22:30 we roll up to our serviced apartment in South Yarra and sleep, actually quite indifferently.

Waking up not particularly refreshed, I have one day with Sharon and the girls, and have a vision of going into the CBD (the City Centre), and giving Sharon a crash course in the train and tram set-up. My vision was obviously blurred, and Sharon persuaded me we all wanted to go to the bayside beach at St Kilda. On the way we did manage a quick detour to the Anzac memorial, which at least gave us a view of the CBD.

St Kilda was undeniably pleasant with a nice lunch at a beachside restaurant. This lunch, reaffirmed throughout the following days, proved that certainly in cost per portion, Australia is no longer the cheap place everybody suggested it might be. Portion size however is another matter! Despite the portion sizes at lunch we decided we just had to eat out again in the evening.
The rest of Australia pick on Melbourne mercilessly, as having the worst beaches in the world. To your average UK resident it was fine though. At least it was sand, rather than the large rocks that make up a typical beach on the English South Coast.

Thursday I had the shock of going back to work: apart from 16 hours of flying, the last week was all beginning to feel a bit like a holiday. The shock was compounded by having to get up at 5 to fly to Sydney for the day - something in retropsect I regretted booking a week previously.

Sharon and the girls went with the relocation co-ordinator on Friday to look at houses. They planned to look at 15, which seemed a little challenging. But not only had they seen pretty much all by end of the day, but had chosen one! For the last 5 weeks I've been in one form of hotel like accomodation or another and it will be good to get in a proper house, albeit with no furniture or white goods!!

On Friday night we ate out yet again, this time at a Greek restaurant with some outside tables. Its all too easy here, as every 2nd shop on pretty much every street that isn't residential is a quality restaurant. Before Sharon and the girls came out I managed to get some big cycle runs in at the weekends, and I was beginning to feel the need for some exercise. Chronologically they'll be out of synch with the blog but I'll have to come back to these.

Saturday we at last went into the City Centre (the CBD) and bumped into the Melbourne Food and Wine festival - this City always has something going on. Unfortunately the key thing to do here was - yup, eat and drink. There are 2 reasons Melburnians are so sporty: the telly is rubbish, and the amount of food they must consume needs burned off.

In the afternoon we went to the institution that is the Vic Market. Biggest set of sheds I've ever seen with one area serving up the usual blend of watches, leather jackets, and other clothing tat. The fruit and veg and deli sections were much more interesting though. The most amazing range of fruit and veg was being sold at ludicrous prices: 10 garlic bubs for $1, or a box or about 5kg of grapes for about $2.

As the day was nearing the end, each merchant was vying to win the customers with ever louder shout advertising their wares - food fights between stall holders were seconds away.

The deli hall was a bit more serene with endless stalls selling cheeses, great European sausages, fish, and that great Melbourne tradition - quality coffee.

By Sunday we ended up at the Melbourne Aquarium (we'll have bled this City dry in a week). This is definitely a must to go and see. Not only were their exoctic creatures, certainly by European standards, but it was the 1st time I had been in oneof those large aquariums with the walk through tunnels. Watching a 6 foot sting ray, or a 10 foot shark with its attendant flotilla of smaller fish gliding serenely about a foot over your head was worth the entry price alone. The videos we took are better than the pictures, and I've uploaded some. Apologies in advance for the 30-40MB file size though.

We ended up eating out yet again by end of the day - its a race as to whether my belly or bank account blows first.

Next week, certainly for me will be back to normal and it will be nice to get back into a routine.