It took me about 40 minutes door to door this morning to get from my apartment in St Kilda to the office 3.5 km away. The office (top picture) is located along the Yarra River in the city, so I had a nice 10 minute walk along the river from the tram to the office. There are tons of birds here, and I was certain I would arrive for my first day splatted with white gunk but somehow managed to avoid that tragedy. The office location is rather remarkable, with river and city skyline views (second picture) out many of the conference and break room windows.
David and I were the "new starters" today. David is from Melbourne and works on a different floor, which should be great for meeting more people. Lots of orientation, an induction CD, and loads of paperwork. However, the people in my workgroup (WISER) seem very social and friendly. They all have nicknames... Dills, Broken Morris, Tuffy, Robo, Texas, etc. I'm told this is very common in Melbourne, and many of the names are based on variations of the surname. Two of the guys just returned from a four week "holiday" in the the U.S., so they recounted their tour across MANY states, coast to coast. They had rave reviews of Austin. Of course! A group of people headed to a nearby food court for lunch. This place is pretty swank for a food court - real dishes and about 10 or so different choices including Indian and Turkish food. Birds, birds everywhere! Even inside the food court building, dozens of birds swooped around while we were eating.
Six of us knocked off a little early to go to the bar next door (Blvd). We had a few "shouts" (rounds) of excellent beer ("pots" of Carlton Draught - glass sizes range from pots to pints to schooners), and shared some good laughs. Cheers!
Happy Memorial Day to y'all in the U.S.!
