Girls Night

Following Friday night drinks at the office, Alex (first picture) invited me to join she and her girlfriends (second picture) Jo Jo, Sam, Caroline, and Mel (not pictured) for a night on the town. We started at a BYO Thai restaurant in Chinatown. I clicked right away with all the girls and we had the best time talking and laughing. They immediately welcomed me into their group and were so wonderful - bold, interesting, similar interests, easy conversation - and LOUD. At one point the restaurant asked us to quiet down because other customers were complaining. Who, me? We went onto a bar in the city, switched from wine to champagne, and the dancing queen was full-on!

Manchester Lane

Uuuum, uuuum, uuuum. The live music here is so incredible!!! I LOVE it. Tonight I heard two bands at a swank bar in the CBD, Manchester Lane. Not just bands, really GREAT bands. I saw two bands and left with three CDs - I rarely buy CDs so that's actually an amazing compliment to their talent. The first was called Ginja Roe (second picture) and the second band, CWQ (first picture), had their EP launch (CD release) tonight. The lead singer's name is Chris. He and his girlfriend Pip were at our party a couple weeks ago and were two of my favorite guests. Sweet people. CWQ's music is self described as "drawing on a varied palette of instruments and influences to create a style that is very much their own twisted, dirty, and dusted up blues folk. It's an always changing instrumentation of guitars, mandolin, sax, harmonica, drums, piano accordion, banjo, slide, fiddle, vocal harmonies and more." It was an incredible performance. Truly. The music is powerful, complex, and interesting and the performance was the highest energy workout I've seen. It's Wednesday night and the place was packed - more than 100 people. I talked to the lead singer from Ginja Roe for 5-10 minutes when I bought her CD. She's hoping to make it in Austin someday. I think they will. I don't think I've seen a band yet in Melbourne and not met the band. They have all been so friendly and humble and interesting to talk to.

Phill and Cassie and I met for dinner before the show in Chinatown, my first trip! I have no pictures because it was pouring rain. What drought??? I feel like it's been rainy/misty most of the days I've been here. They need the water so badly that it's hard to complain, but I'm definitely ready for sunny warm days. Seems I'll be waiting a while. The rain cleared by the time we left Manchester Lane, so Phill and I took the tram to St Kilda, then went for a walk along the beach and on St Kilda Pier before returning home. It will feel like an early morning tomorrow. I'm off to bed.

Community Cup

HEY HO LET'S GO was the phrase of the day at Sacred Heart Mission's Community Cup XIV. The event is a fundraiser for the Sacred Heart Mission (directly across the street from my flat with glimpses of the bay just beyond it). It's held at the Junction Oval, one of Melbourne's footy/cricket stadiums, and a nice walk through Albert Park from my flat. I love where I live!!! The day's festivities cost a whopping $5 and consisted of live music and a footy game played between local musicians and radio dj's. Footy is HUGE here - it's Australian Rules Football, and it moves quite a bit faster than American football (less time outs, no downs, it seems the ball just changes possession and continues play - of course this is my first impression and may well be wrong). The field is oval, not rectangular. The band I saw play at Spanish Club played today, along with several others, starting around 11 AM until around 2 PM, when the footy game began. One singer was introduced as the mayor of St Kilda and came on stage in a skeleton costume... wouldn't put it beyond the realm of possibility for this neighborhood. During the live music, we (spectators) filled the footy field - throwing footballs and frisbees, chasing down dogs (there were heaps of them!!), and of course drinking beer. I got a bottled water and laughed at the label, "another bloody water," with a label that jokes about no picturesque mountains and waterfalls to lure customers. Australians have a funny sense of humor. The musician that sang the national anthem clearly did not know the words and spoofed his way through it. Later during the game, the commentators said the players seemed to have taken an unannounced intermission because nothing was happening on the field. The tone of the day was very relaxed and casual and easy, as most things seem to be Australia. I ran into a bunch of Cassie's friends within my first half hour there, and adopted Lisa's dog for the afternoon. Would have loved to bring Jack.

The Espy

Friday Night Drinks at the office were followed by my first visit to a bar in the CBD, The Robot. Most of the bars are down alleyways throughout the city and this was no exception. The name was not at all fitting for the atmosphere, a warm and cozy, two level saki bar. The group started with around 10 people (two guys from my group and others I didn't know), but slowly tapered off. One by one, each of the girls left, leaving me with five guys. Bugger. I decided to leave the boys to be boys and was home by 12:30.

Even with an early night, I struggled to get moving today. It's so much less exciting to venture on my own than with friends. I spent most of the day at home. I fumbled with where to hang/place/dry my wet sheets. This no drier thing is killing me. I also watched a footy game on TV and surprisingly really enjoyed it. Footy is their abbreviation for Australian Rules Football, which is HUGE here. There's a lot less stopping and time outs than in American football. The game seemed to move a lot faster. None of them wear any kind of padding; it's just (short!!) shorts and jersey tops. I'm trying to learn a little before I go to my first game.

Tonight I went to The Espy, technically called The Esplanade Hotel (many of the pubs are called hotels here - very confusing). The Espy has been open since 1878 and is a well known music venue in Melbourne. They have three different stages, some free and some requiring a cover. Their website says that on an average week, the pub plays host to over 50 stages across 3 stages 7 days a week. I was about halfway there when I realized that I forgot my ID. I contemplated turning back to walk home and get it, but realized that in my three weeks here, I have not once been carded and decided to take my chances. Sure enough, I walked right in without a problem. A little different than in the U.S.? I watched a couple bands play, both very different music styles. The one pictured above was terrific - a reggae funk band. The other band was smaller and sounded like a strange mix of Jason Mraz and Thievery Corporation - as if you could ever mix those two. I know, weird! I once again stink like smoke and can't wait for the smoking ban to start July 1st!

Mexican with Americans

Yes, the posts are becoming less frequent. As I am beginning to settle into a 'normal' routine, I find less 'newness' to share with y'all. This week I've been simply going to work, cooking dinner, doing laundry (have to wash sheets in shifts because of limited drying/hanging space), watching a little TV, and planning some future travels (bring on the spreadsheets!). The work schedule is later here, which works well for me since I prefer to stay up at night and sleep later in the morning. However, it makes the day seem a lot shorter, especially now in winter when it's dark around 5:30 PM. Work hours are around 9-6 or sometimes later. By the time I take the tram home and possibly stop for a few things at the grocery store, it's 7-8 PM before I walk in the door. Grocery shopping is a little different here - no cheerios, no tostitos, no Jiff - not much brand recognition. Cheddar cheese is white and yogurt is creamier.

I finished my last day of 12d training today, which means I have a rental car again. I'm becoming a regular pro driving on the wrong side of the road. Will I be able to drive in TX again? I drove to a new neighborhood tonight, Malvern, only a few miles from where I live. It's the second richest neighborhood in Melbourne, pretty upscale, as opposed to my bohemian, grungy, eclectic hood. I had dinner at my co-worker Mike's house, who is here with his wife Tara and daughter Madison. Mike and Tara are both around my age. They moved here in February from Colorado, but Tara is originally from Odessa, TX and Mike is from Wisconsin. He actually was working in Austin for 6 months on the URS 183A project and in Minneapolis a few years prior, but our paths never crossed. Small world. We had mexican food for dinner which is a real treat in Australia, because it is very difficult to find good mexican food here.

Aussie Animals

Casey and I went to Healesville Sanctuary today, about 65 km northwest of Melbourne. We drove by many vineyards on the way (part of the Yarra Valley) - that will be a future stop for me! Animals pictured above are as follows: kangaroo, wallaby, emu, echidna, koala, wombat, pelicans, and dingoes. We also saw platypus, flying fox, spectacularly colored birds, and tasmanian devils (sleeping only) among others. They actually have possoms at the sanctuary as well. Who would be excited to see one?! The sanctuary was a little unique in that you could pass through many of the animals' habitats. I pet the wombat (Florence), wallaby, and dingo (Opal - doesn't she look a lot like Jack?). I only included the picture of the "killer" pelicans because we couldn't get past them and it became quite humorous. I was determined to overcome their territorial squawking until two pelicans blocked the pathway and started opening and snapping their huge beaks at me. I jumped back and we decided to wait for other people to distract them before passing. (Allison, does this bring back memories at Disney World?) I tried to capture the platypus (most expensive animal to house at the sanctuary), but just imagine a big black square and that would be what all 15 of my pictures look like. I especially enjoyed the "Meet the Keeper" sessions. We raced the rental car back to the city, arriving 5 minutes after they closed for the day. Fortunately Casey had foresight to call ahead and do a little schmoozing. It worked, thankfully!

The last animals featured above are "The Tough Brothers"! I work with Toughy at URS, and he had a gig with his brother tonight at Palookaville in Fitzroy. They were both sporting their newly purchased cowboy boots from Allen's Boots on South Congress in Austin, picked up along their recent long holiday in the U.S. They also played a gig in San Francisco during their massive tour. I'm pretty sure they saw more of the U.S. than most Americans do in a lifetime and Austin was the highlight of the trip! Toughy plays acoustic guitar, harmonica, and sings and his brother plays piano and sings back up. I'd describe their music as singer-songwriter alternative country/bluegrass. I walked in about half way through their first set, and was greeted by "Hey Jen, how you going?" from the stage. It's so fun to know the people playing. They were followed by a series of comedians, so a group of us stuck around for a few of them.

Kangaroo... yum!

I kept the rental car through the weekend to do a little extra exploring. I got a later start than expected to this day (see House Party #2), so initial plans were changed a little. It was an overcast day, so not the best for sightseeing. I left my place at 12:45 PM, arrived at Casey's "mansion" apartment at 1:30 PM, and we were driving back by my place at 2:45 PM. I live about 5 km south of the city and Casey lives about 3-4 km north of the city, so we're really not that far apart, but traffic was no fun, even on a Saturday. While I enjoyed the freedom and greater range afforded by the car, I am thankful for public transport, saving me from driving every day in this huge city (it's very spread out) with millions of other people.

We only had about 2-3 hours of daylight since it starts to get dark around 5 PM - I am already anxious for longer days in summer. We started driving towards Mornington Peninsula, but never quite made it. We stopped to see the colorful beach houses in Brighton, a suburb neighboring St Kilda. I've seen lots of pictures of these beach houses at Vic Market and on postcards. They are not actually houses, rather huts for storing beach furniture/toys and other various uses (I'm told some have hammocks hanging inside them, people sometimes eat in them, etc) while on the beach. We saw several sailboats out, along with some larger barges, despite the overcast weather and low winds. We continued on toward Mornington but stopped again at a shopping centre in Frankston (Casey's idea!). I saw a K-mart and Target in this shopping centre that began to restore my faith in the large chain stores. They were a huge step up from the Target and Big W I saw in the CBD. It was dark by the time we finished there (shops closed at 5 PM), so we decided to head back to Melbourne (we were about 40 km away).

We went to Kent Hotel (a restaurant not hotel) on Rathdowne St in Carlton for dinner. We both ordered one of the specials - South Australian Kangaroo fillets with baked beet vegetables in a red wine sauce, with horseradish yogurt. The server informed me the kangaroo comes medium rare and asked if that would be okay. I requested medium-well, to which I got a slightly disgusted look and an "are you sure?". Casey took his as served (medium-rare). It was excellent! It tasted a lot like a filet mignon steak. It was very lean. Mine was a bit tough, a little tougher than beef cooked the same way. Casey's kangaroo actually looked good and not at all bloody. I think I would take it as served next time, to get the more tender meat. I'll definitely order it again. Yum!

House Party #2

Our second house party was Friday night in honor of Cassie's birthday (girl in the picture with me). It was quite a scene. Her friends started arriving one by one around 8 PM, threw out a great spread of food and wine, and continued talking, drinking, dancing, and getting more and more crazy into the wee hours of the morning.

It was really an interesting mix of people - lots of them in artsy fields - musicians in bands, graphic designers, film producers, photographers, etc. The majority of people I met last night (and in general in Australia so far) have traveled abroad for at least one year. Most go to the U.K., Europe, or Asia (in that order I'd say). Being part of the commonwealth, it is easy for people to get a one year working visa to travel between the U.K., Canada, and Australia. When Australians go on vacation, they go 'full-on'. They go for months at a time, not days or weeks like most of us in the U.S. I suppose it is partially because Australia is so far from everywhere else, but also the people really want to truly experience different places, not just see them. I have found Australians to be very well educated about other countries, politics, and world events, much more so than most Americans of the same age. Another observation has been the fact that most dating couples live together and if that falls through, they go back to live at their parents' house. Not many people live independently.

A core remnant of the party was still going strong when I crawled into bed this morning at 8 AM. They took a nap for a few hours and were up, singing, dancing around, and planning today's festivities by noon.

Danger Zone

I'm alive! That is a feat because I drove a rental car home this evening. I remembered to approach the vehicle from the right side, where the steering wheel and gas pedals are. The shifter and rear view window were on my left in the middle of the vehicle, while the windshield wipers were on the left and the turn signal was on the right. So backwards!!! The fact that it was a little drizzly on my way home spared me the embarassment of the 5-6 times I tried to signal with my windshield wipers.

It wasn't as scary as I expected. I just tried to stay close to the line on my right. I did make one error. In the city, cars make hook turns from the far left lane to turn right (across traffic). This is so that they don't block tram traffic in the center of the street. I was expecting to have to make a hook turn at a major intersection, but realized the lanes were marked with 'normal' turn markings, so I circled the block and got it right the second time around. I was so confident by the time I reached home that I backed into my parking space to make departure easier in the morning.

I have a (borrowed) Melway in the car to help me find my way should I become lost. This is a serious map BOOK. It's huge - maybe 300 or more pages!!! I read in my tour books this weekend that there are 3.6 million people in Melbourne, and everyone I talk to keeps telling me how spread out the city is, but 300 pages?! Wow.

By the way, all the cars here are OLD (many from the 80's and early 90's) and small. I have only seen a couple vans and one SUV. A bit different than Texas?!

How you going?

A popular phrase here, I unintentionally blurted it out when I saw Casey this morning. It sent a warm sensation through my blood that I'm starting to adapt the Aussie culture - I love it. The whole natural flow of my question was completely wrecked by my gawking reaction to my own question. How foolish I must have looked.

Nothing much to report here. I spent most of yesterday (the Queen's Birthday) reading travel guides cover to cover and making lists of must sees. Let the spreadsheet planning madness begin!! I may be able to take my first day trips this weekend...

Brace yourself and be thankful that you are in the U.S. I 'hired a car' (rented one) for tomorrow evening so that I can drive myself to training on Thursday and Friday, about 40 km from where I live. Not only will I be driving (which in itself is enough to evoke fear), I will also be driving on the wrong side of the road with a steering wheel on the wrong side of the car to a location with which I am completely unfamiliar. Yikes!

Chapel St Shopping Spree

Chapel St is renowned for shopping in Melbourne, starting with typical shops in the Windsor neighborhood and escalating quickly to upper end shops in Prahran and South Yarra neighborhoods. There are over 1000 shops lining both sides along a 2 km stretch. I went a little crazy and bought THREE pairs of shoes.

I pretty much shopped till I dropped, which undoubtedly squashed my enthusiasm for Richmond, my next neighborhood exploration. It was an ethnic mixing pot of Indian, Vietnamese, and Thai restaurants and spice shops, but it had a grungy ghetto feel to it, at least the area I was in. I walked what felt like 10 miles to the IKEA to look for bedding but was overwhelmed by carts and winging children galore.

I narrowly escaped the havoc to tram it to East Melbourne to check out the only viable option I've come across for a church I may like. Wow! It's called Planetshakers City Church, which does conjure some crazy images, which would be... appropriate. The church was wild and crazy with spotlights and a mosh pit during the praise and worship, a dance interpretation, skits, and just as I was preparing to listen to an Australian accent for the message, a guest pastor was introduced from the U.S. (bummer!). The church had a big gospel undertone with hooping and hollering and 'Amens'. I actually think I liked it. It will definitely require a second visit.

I was completely exhausted by the time I took multiple jam packed trams to get back home, squelching my earlier desire to head out for some live music. I turned on the TV and came across Rove - it's a late night comedy show (similar to Jay Leno or David Letterman but with more of a Saturday Night Live flavor). It was very entertaining - I laughed hysterically.

St Kilda Film Festival

This day was full of exploring my current home stomping grounds, St Kilda. Fitzroy and Acland are the two major streets in my neighborhood, jam packed with cafes, bars, and shops. I first headed down Fitzroy St toward the beach. It was a chilly but beautiful sunny morning. I walked through a park full of palm trees as I approached the sandy beach. A little cold for a swim though there was a girl modeling in a bikini for a photo shoot. Brrr! The picture of the Melbourne skyline is taken from the St Kilda pier (that is how close I am to the city!). The tallest skinny skyscraper is the Eureka tower, and my office building is right next to it. Apparently, you can see penguins from the pier at dusk. I haven't checked that out yet. I continued along the river, and passed the Palais Theatre (popular venue for concerts) and Luna Park (picture). Luna Park is a theme park with rides and games. I was surprised that I could walk right in without purchasing a ticket - you only pay by ride. From there I headed down Acland St (picture of shops), which is great for shopping and I'm told has some of the best cake shops around. I tried a passion fruit meringue cake, and it wasn't my favorite. Better luck to me next time. Norrell pointed out the "Puppy Phat" store to me last night. They serve puppy-chinos and all kinds of doggy treats in addition to dog beds, clothes, and bags. I was excited to see 'heaps' of dogs out today, many of which accomanied diners at sidewalk cafes! Yay!!

It was a good thing I went exploring in St Kilda today because I was reminded of the St Kilda Film Festival, which started Wednesday and ends tomorrow. The George Palace Cinema that hosted the films is just down the street from my apartment, right by where I catch the tram every morning. I purchased a session ticket for the 9 PM showing tonight, and it was really great. The festival includes Australia's top 100 short films, and I saw 8 films including animation, digital art, documentaries, and dramas. The films ranged in length from a few minutes to more than 20 minutes. The films varied drastically from sharp witty humor to dark twisted plots. The theater was rather ornate, and the concessions included the normal popcorn and candy as well as beer, wine and their popular 'choc tops' (chocolate dipped ice cream cones). There's also a bar attached to the cinema. I'm so glad I went. I may even go back for another session tomorrow!

Pay what you like?!

Tonight's 'Friday Night Drinks' at the office was followed by dinner at a vegetarian restaurant in St Kilda, Lentil As Anything, just down the road from where I live. The concept here is very unique - pay what you want!!! The menu is rather extensive and unique. We opted for the Japanese chef's surprise (upon prompting from our server - who was in dreads with crazy piercings). We had a delicious meal - giant stuffed mushrooms, sauteed eggplant with soy beans and chili paste served over japanese udon noodles, avocado salad, and three different types of curry. It was an all around international affair. In the top picture from left to right: Stephan (Germany), Steve (Melbourne), Linton (Melbourne but on his way to PNG - Papua New Guinea - for field work in a gold mine!), me (U.S.), Ben (France), ?? (Germany); Narrell (Brisbane) is in the last picture. When you're done eating, you just pay what you felt it was worth. Bizarre? I live in St Kilda, remember?

A couple other random office things...

• I received an e-mail yesterday from a URS employee in Houston that is transferring to the Melbourne office in August. Texas is taking over! She actually knows much more about Melbourne than I do, having studied abroad here for four months. She's already been recommending some good spots for live music and nightlife. Will be great to have her around!
• One of the guys in my office has also been suggesting various venues for live music. Turns out he plays guitar and sings and his brother plays piano - they play around Melbourne occasionally and played a gig in San Francisco on their recent 4 week holiday in the U.S.
• Another one of the guys is a semi-pro footy player (that's Australian Rules Football, one step below the professional teams).
• Other guys like to throw the football around the office and actually broke something today. For a moment, it sounded like it may have been the window but ended up being just a glass on someone's desk. Oops.
• One of the senior principals of URS introduced himself today, and through conversation, we realized he had collaborated previously with my grad school advisor in Austin. Oddly, it also happened to be his birthday today, so the FND (Friday Night Drinks) crew sang him happy birthday. Not sure if it's Aussie tradition, but the end of the song was followed by a very spirited round of hip HOORAY, hip HOORAY, hip HOORAY.

Cheers to us, we deserve it!

I arrived home at 6:30 PM tonight, earlier than most nights and started cooking dinner. About 5 minutes into it, Phill arrived home with Cassie and easily persuaded me to head out to see Cassie's friend's band play at Spanish Club on Johnson St in Fitzroy (close to Brunswick St that I was raving about this weekend). Cassie's hair set the tone for the evening! She's a wild one. The band was fabulous. The guy in the leather jacket on the right, Matt Walker, is actually rather well known around Australia but the music community is pretty tight knit and he's helping out some friends with this up and coming band. It was singer/songwriter poetic soulful rock-ish music - hard to describe but very enjoyable. The bar scene was very chill with lots of curved seat benches. We met a bunch of Cassie's friends - Lisa, Sean, Peter, and some of the band members. Phill and I kept clinking glasses throughout the night, saying "cheers to us, we deserve it", I suppose because we both worked today. Is that reason enough? Actually though, I had a nice lunch out today with a lunch special including a coke or glass of wine. The guy who ordered before me ordered red wine... you know, when in Australia, do as the Australians do.

The Glass Ceiling

The Melbourne URS office hosts an event called "The Melbourne Glass Ceiling" every quarter for women employees and clients. They serve champagne, wine, and canapes (hour doerves) and bring in a powerful female speaker. Today we had the pleasure of hearing "The Hon Dr Sharman Stone" who is in the House of Representatives as Federal Member for Murray. She was an incredible speaker, being the first woman to fill many distinguished roles such as Director of the Dept of Agriculture (wish I could remember the others - they were all so impressive). She wasn't the slightest bit arrogant, rather very humble and relatable. She drew me in immediately and so many things she said rang so true. She provided some very interesting statistics about the decreasing trend for couples to have children, about the impact of having children on future career opportunities, and about the differences in the way men and women are perceived in the workplace. One example is that women tend to ask questions while men remain silent but benefit from the answer to the women's questions. In general, their bosses tend to believe that the men did not ask the question because they "had done their homework" and already knew the answer, even if they did not. She was a very empowering speaker, at times nearly convincing me that I must want to do what she does, or at least be like her. I certainly have a lot to learn as I first read her title as "The Hon" (sounds like hawn) thinking that must be some Australian political term with which I am unfamiliar. Turns out it's abbreviated for The Honorable. Whoops!

There was another quick speaker at the end of the program about "Fitted For Work", a program launched in Melbourne a couple years ago (modeled after programs in the U.S. and elsewhere) to help unemployable people find work. They provide business attire, teach interviewing skills, and boost self-confidence for women coming off of welfare, drugs, prison, etc. The whole idea of it really appeals to me and I talked to the co-founder about getting involved but I'd have to be available 10-3 or 1-5 during weekdays to help in the capacity I'd prefer, which probably won't work with my job. Such a cool program though. Maybe I could do it once a month or something.

Familiar Faces

We had a cold drizzly morning and the power went out at work around 12:30 PM. We were just on our way out for lunch anyway, but when we returned from a quick lunch down the promenade, the power was still out. A co-worker Belinda and I decided to head across the river for coffee. We went to the alley way pictured above, Degraves Street, and enjoyed the heat lamps in the street. The alley spans two blocks and is full of cafes, with shops around the corner. While we were chatting, one of the guys I met at "Friday Night Drinks" came up to say hello to me. On my way home Friday night, I also ran into a guy from salsa dancing the night before. Me! New person! Running into people - I love it.

Next Monday is a holiday (the Queens birthday), so we have a long weekend. I told the guys at work that I was contemplating taking a train to Adelaide this weekend with Phill, and they scoffed incredulously, in utter disbelief that I would even consider spending 9 hours on a train to go "there". They were so entertained that they kept repeating the idea to others, who all responded with the same reaction. Maybe I won't go there.

Fitzroy and Carlton

The weekend started with "Friday Night Drinks", a URS-Melbourne tradition. The office provides a refrigerator full of beer and wine at 5 PM Friday for anyone interested. The stock was depleted after about 2 hours, at which point the entire group headed to the bar next door, Blvd. We were there till after 11, when the group migrated to another bar across the river. I bailed at that point, exhausted from a full first week. I must have met 20 people or so. Yay! They were all wonderful but I'm told in general Australians do not have great regard for Americans. In fact, they call us seppos. Australians tend to nickname and shorten everything, with much slang derived from rhymes. In this case, Americans are called Yankees or Yanks which rhymes with septic tanks, which is then shortened to seppos. People from England are called poms (fair skin burns easily and turns red and pomegranates are red, thus shortened to poms). It's a lot of work to keep up with all the slang!

I did some laundry this weekend - I'm sure you're wondering why I would bother to mention this. We have no dryer! Some people do have dryers but they don't work the way American dryers do, leaving things damp to wet even after drying (based on the fact that dryers waste an enormous amount of energy). This means that EVERYTHING must air dry - sheets, towels, socks, underwear, everything. We have clothes horses (drying racks) to help with this process. I saw one at the mall today that had a mobile for hanging socks. So different.

I explored a couple neighborhoods this weekend and fell in love with Brunswick Street in Fitzroy (first two pictures after map) - it was overflowing with great shops and cafes - lots of people and excitement for a Sunday afternoon. Fitzroy is just north and east of the CBD - super close to the city. I also loved Carlton Gardens (last three pictures), which had walking trails north and south of the Melbourne Museum and IMAX theater located in the center of the gardens. I could envision walking Jack in those gardens. I'm warned it will be challenging to find an apt that allows dogs, so let's hope I can find something in an area I like!

I finally got a cell phone today!! My number is +61 0406 963 765. I accept international calls, really.