Last Weekend:
Last weekend feels like a lifetime ago. It was pretty much a haze of choosing what we would be able to take with us to Australia and cramming the rejected pieces away into a storage unit. My parents and sister came down to help us (they are master packers… they’ve done the international moving thing a time or two, so we had the pros on our side! I really don’t think we could have managed it without them). Here are a couple of pictures:
Luggage
Empty House
Kim Eating a Chicken Heart – Delicious!
The Atlanta airport was a breeze—they didn’t even make us pay for the extra bag! We totally thought we had gotten away with something sneaky and were extremely proud of ourselves. The 5-hour flight to LA was also uneventful… nothing blog-worthy to recount. We thought we were home-free and would just be skipping onto the next flight in plenty of time for departure. Wrong. Not only did we have to go outside of security, but we also had to traipse our way through four other terminals (with no clue where we were going), re-check ourselves in at one counter, go to another counter to pay for our extra bag (dangit! We weren’t sneaky after all!), go to the ATM because their credit card reader wasn’t working, go to another counter because my visa wasn’t being cleared, talk to three different people before we realized that it was because I had gotten a new passport with my married name since we applied for the visa, spend one hour waiting in the security line again, get food because it was 1:00 am EST and we had never eaten dinner, and then run to make the flight. At least we were tired out.
Finally we arrived. We went through customs, got our bags, had cute little beagles sniff our bags, went through customs again, and were then once and for all released into Australian society.
A woman from Will’s office was there to meet us and drive us to our hotel (that was the last time we have been in a car since then… you don’t realize how much you miss it until you don’t have it). Will and I actually weren’t all that tired, but even if we had been we made a pact that we wouldn’t go to sleep until night time. So we walked to the beach (ten minute walk from our hotel), got some lunch, walked around some more, looked for an internet café but couldn’t find one, had a couple of drinks, and then headed back to the hotel room, where we proceeded to pass out utterly and completely… at 5:30 in the afternoon. So much for the pact. But at least we stayed asleep until 7:30 the next morning.
The next day we were up bright and early, ready to get to work setting up our new Australian lives. We went into the city for the first time (we are staying about ten-minutes-by-tram outside of the city, close to Will’s work). It’s beautiful—filled with shops, tourist centers, libraries, restaurants, etc. It feels very European. We spent the day going to several cell phone and electronic stores—something that takes a lot longer than you think it will, considering you have to learn an entirely different infrastructure for each communication device you could want. Cell phone (excuse me, mobile) plans are based on credits instead of minutes, internet is based on download quantity instead of unlimited useage, and there are infinitesimal combinations for both. It made my head hurt. We decided to take a break and get a cappuccino in the Queen Victoria Center.
We left the city without getting anything, but went back the next day for a wireless internet device… which didn’t work, and now we need to return it. And let me point out that this may not sound like too big of a task, but we are doing all of this on foot. It gets pretty tiring, and what you think should only take 30 minutes ends up taking 2 hours. Such as looking for apartments, which has been such an extraordinary experience that it deserves its own post.
Yesterday also served as the mile-marker for our first day with cell phones! After breaking down all of the different providers and plans, we finally settled on a Blackberry Storm for me (yay for e-mail anytime!) and a lower-credit plan for Will (all mobiles in Australia receive free incoming calls, so my phone will be used for most of the calling). And it was relatively inexpensive—just $79 for an unlimited data plan and what equates to 550 minutes for the Storm, and you don’t even have to pay for the phone. Which is ridiculous, because from what we have seen, so far everything in Australia is more expensive than the United States. I guess because it’s an island?? (what do I know about the economy really) For example, to buy an iPhone outright without the plan, it’s $899 for the 8GB, and the 16GB is over $1000. Restaurant food is extremely expensive as well, with lunch prices hovering around the $16 mark and dinner being upwards of $20 (exception: Asian food… but even cheaper food is around $9). Rent for a one-bedroom apartment outside of the city is around $300/week. Expensive.
Today we spent the day looking for apartments, an event that, as I said before, will be its own post. Unfortunately today was also the first day it decided to get really, really hot—45 degrees, which is about 115 degrees. We felt every single one of those degrees, too (again, no car).
Fresh Pasta
We’re pretty worn out from the apartment experience, so we are currently—as in right this minute—sitting in out little hotel room, enjoying the air conditioning, and looking for cars and apartments online (oh yeah, we picked up the wireless service today, too). Will’s first day is on Monday, so we hope to spend tomorrow relaxing a little and heading to the beach. Tomorrow it’s only supposed to be 25 degrees (77 F). Australians have a saying that Melbourne has four distinct seasons, often in one day.
Overall we have been loving Melbourne, but we will be happy when all of the logistical issues get taken care of… and when the weather cools off tomorrow! I’ll try to post a little more frequently, now that we are connected to the outside world once again.
Time Here: Saturday, Feb. 7, 6:45 pm
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