September Glory

September Glory said the flags and posters around the city. Yes it was the culmination of the Aussie Rules football season, the Grand Final, to be held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). My hotel having been fully booked for some time for the weekend, I had to decamp to the Vibe Savoy at the other end of the CBD on Thursday for 3 nights, which was a bit of a nuisance.

Friday saw a great influx of footy fans. The final was between the West Coast Eagles from Perth in Western Australia and the Sydney Swans - a rematch of last year's Grand Final. Everywhere around town there seemed to be people in the Eagles' Yellow and Blue, with rather fewer in the Read and White of the Swans. But that is maybe because they had further to come so came earlier (Perth is 2 timezones ahead of Melbourne).

On the morning of the big day, I went round the corner to a little side-street cafe for breakfast. (Bacon and egg roll with a mug of coffee for $5). Brazenly decked out in the Swan's colours though it was, I found this group of Eagles fans tucking in to a hearty breakfast.

Of course I didn't have a ticket (there were none to be had even if I had tried to get one), but I went down to the MCG to sample the atmosphere. Even 2 1/2 hours before bounce-up, the place was teeming with people. And, all of a sudden, the Swans fans had appeared.

It seems that 'footy' is a passion of all ages, both men and women. Here was one family group.

I'd heard that a good place to watch the game on a giant screen was the Punt Rd Oval, home of the Richmond Tigers, and hardly more than 1/4 mile from the MCG.

Entry was free and there were food outlets, children's games and a beer tent to go with the 2 big screens. There must have been a good 2-3000 people in the ground by the time the match started, the majority being in Swans' colours (The Swans used to be a Melbourne team before they moved to Sydney).

One of the pre-match rituals is the singing of the team songs. Here are the Swans' fans singing their song.

And almost without noticing it, the match was started. (The TV coverage was focussing on two players trying to rip the shirts off each other at the time). Within minutes the Eagles were a dozen or so points ahead.

Eventually, the Swans scored a goal and their fans had something to cheer.

But at 1/2 time the Eagles were 26 points ahead. A bit one-sided, I thought. The Swans fans looked a bit miserable.

Now I'd also heard that Federation Square would have a big screen and that might be a good place to watch the match. So during the 1/2 time interval I went back past the MCG and on to Federation Square.

Here I found almost as many people as were at the Punt Rd Oval crammed into a smaller space.

And, to my amazement, the match was far from dead. The Swans came roaring back in the 3rd quarter and, by mid way through the final 1/4 had got the game back to 1 point. And then the Eagles scored another goal (and 6 points). And then the Swans scored another goal back. And then....

Eagles soar over the Swans said the paper headline afterwards, but it was a pretty frantic finish and they clung on to an 85-84 points victory. The Eagles in the crowd went wild.

Well that was the first Aussie Rules game I had watched, and what a spectacle! Hard lines to the Swans, but maybe they shouldn't have let the Eagles get so far ahead.

Oh, by the way, I took lots more photos. You can see them here on Flickr.

Melbourne Shot Tower

There seems to be endless places to shop in Melbourne, with shopping malls everywhere. They mostly seem to have been built in the last fifteen to twenty years, although there are some older arcades.

Near where I'm staying I could see an intriguing cone of glass. I went to investigate. Here in Melbourne Central Shopping Complex, I came across a spectacular blend of old and new.

The Shot Tower...

Once it was the tallest building in Melbourne — all 50 metres of it. Even as late as the mid-1950s it stood six metres higher than the then city building limits.

...says this article in 1980 from The Age (which seems to be the best newspaper around here). A shot tower, by the way, was used to make lead shot for shotgun cartridges. The process was fairly simple. Molten lead was poured through a colander and fell down the tower into water. As it fell it solidified into spheres of shot. Those that were mis-shapen were sorted out and melted again to come down the tower once more.

The article goes on to explain the history of the tower and laments that it may be demolished in the name of progress.

But no. The tower has been preserved and the new shopping centre constructed around it in 1991. Here's how it used to look. But now it is encased in a 55 storey steel and glass cone. Very striking. Quite my favourite image of Melbourne so far.

Queen Victoria Market

I think Bury St Edmunds market is pretty good. It has plenty of choice, variety and quality.

But Melbourne has a market, the Queen Victoria Market, besides which it pales into insignificance. It is so big you need to signs to find your way around.

I particularly like the delicatessen area.

Look at these sausages!

There are plenty of meat stalls, with huge cuts of meat of all descriptions, including various cuts of goat and "doggie bones" - bones for the dog, rather than bones of dog.

I bought 2 huge Mexican sausages here. "Only two?" asked the man serving me. I explained I only had myself to feed. "But you must buy some for your girlfriend for a barbecue", he said. I explained that my wife was at home in England. "But then you still must have a barbecue with your girlfriend", he retorted with a grin.

As well as visiting the delicatessen and meat areas I stocked up on fruit and vegetables from the huge array of greengrocer stalls. There are various eating places and tables around serving a variety of yummy smelling food. But then what did I spy?

Aargh, is no place safe? If you look carefully, here, just over the road from all that fantastic food, you can see the ubiquitous dreaded golden arches!

Children's Garden

I mentioned previously that there was one bit of the Melbourne Royal Botanic Gardens I enjoyed the most. It was the Ian Potter Foundation Children's Garden.

Established in 2004, it has lots of features for children to explore. These characters in bronze are from The Magic Pudding, not a book I've read, but maybe I should.

Here in the rainforest / ruin garden there are lots of places to clamber over, through or hide in.

Due to water restrictions the stream through the gorge has been switched off.

But there is still water in the wetlands around the grassy island to splash about in.

I bet Little Miss and Little W would love it!

Day out in Sydney

On Friday, still in my first week in the job, I had a trip up to the company's Australian headquarters in Sydney for some meetings. It doesn't look to far on the map, but it's actually over 400 miles from Melbourne to Sydney, so the bunch of us travelling had quite a early start to get there for 9 o'clock.

The office is situated in Macquarie Park, North Ryde some way north of the city centre and quite some way from the airport. My first impressions of Sydney were not encouraging - too much traffic, too much concrete and too many roadworks, but there was some pretty spring blossom beside the road in places.

The office environment was pleasant and I was made very welcome. At the end of the day I was given a T-shirt, hat, document briefcase and a beer. And, furthermore, my friend Geoff, who had orchestrated getting me out to Australia, took me to his home for dinner with his wife Di. "I'm just dying to hear what you think of us Aussies.", he said. "Well I'll have to put it on the blog then.", I replied.

It came time for me to go to my hotel. Except I'd lost my printout from Anthea with the details. I must have put it down on the desk when I was handed the bottle of beer. "Don't worry.", said Geoff. "There are only 4 hotels it could be and they are all close to each other. I'll take you." So he drove me back towards the office (he lives only a few minutes drive away) and we stopped off at the Travellodge.

"This may sound a silly question, but have I got a reservation here tonight?", I asked. That brought a grin to the receptionist's face. No I didn't. So next we tried the new Marriot Courtyard across the road from the office. Yes that was it. Phew!

So many thanks to Geoff and Di for their kind hospitality.

And on Saturday I got a day of sightseeing in Sydney before my flight back to Melbourne in the evening.

I took the free shuttle bus to the Sydney Harbour Marriot, where I was able to leave my bags for the day, and was soon at Circular Quay. What better way to start than take a boat cruise around the bay?

I bought an explorer ticket and took the 2 hour trip with Captain Cook Cruises.

An avuncular guide gave us a running commentary of what we could see and who lived where. Not only that, but a guide to the house prices too. They are horrifying!

Of course I took lots of pictures including the opera house from every angle - it is an amazing place, but I'll resist putting any of those here. The bridge is pretty impressive too.

Yes those dots are people on top of the bridge. I was sorry I didn't have enough time to climb up there myself.

I got off at Darling Harbour and saw there was a Chinese Garden. I decided to investigate and was very glad I did. It is a charming oasis in the middle of a big city.

I had my lunch in the teahouse there.

Half the day was gone and I hadn't started on Geoff's suggestions on what to do!

I walked back through the city centre to Circular Quay and on to The Rocks, one of the few remaining bits of old Sydney. Opposite Argyle Terrace, I sat in the square for a while and listened to Slide McBride and his jazz band. They were excellent.

From there I went back round circular quay and into the Royal Botanic Gardens, out to the Opera House and round to Mrs Macquarie's point. I have to say that I would refute Melbourne's claim to have the best Botanic Gardens. Sydney's is better, to my mind, but it's a close run thing.

I thought this bottle tree was pretty amazing.

Anyway, I had a great day. It was lovely and sunny with temperature of about 27 degrees. And I saw a lot, including no less than 4 weddings - one at the Chinese garden, one at the Rocks just by the end of the harbour bridge and two in the botanic gardens. I was pretty tired by the time I got back to my 'home' in Melbourne!

You can see a full set of photos here on Flickr.

St Kilda

Last Sunday some of my new workmates invited me to join them on a trip to St Kilda. (Actually we went to the Melbourne Observation Deck first).

We took a No. 96 tram from Bourke St, which got us there in about 20 minutes. We got off shortly before the Luna Park amusement park and walked to it along the Sunday street craft market.

We decided the smiling face gate looked just a little bit sinister. Like something from a 1970's horror movie, I thought. But it was the beach we had come to see, with its sands and view of Port Phillip Bay.

I wished I had changed into my shorts before coming out, as it was really quite warm and pleasant. So I had to roll my trousers up to go for a paddle.

Yes. That's me. A year ago I would never have dreamed that I'd be paddling in the water on the south coast of Australia right now.

We took a walk along the pier. As you can see, we are really not too far from the centre of the city.
There were signs up about not disturbing the penguins. We didn't see any, but a local told us there were about 1000 of them living in the vicinity.

By now we were getting a bit hungry, so we wandered up Fitzroy St and chose this Italian restaurant for something to eat.

The portions were huge, but I can't say we were too impressed with the food. Pat took most of hers away in a doggie bag for later. So then it was back on the tram to head for 'home'.

The Melbourne Hook Turn

Here's one of Melbourne's endearing little quirks - a driving manouevre that may be unique to the city. It's called the "Hook Turn", and it's mandatory when you are turning right where this sign shows.

The aim is to avoid blocking the carriageway on a road where trams run down the middle when turning. What you have to do if you want to turn right is, first of all, to pull over to the left in the middle of the crossroads (but still signalling right turn).

Like that. As you can see this lets people turning left go round the corner behind you.

Then you sit there while the traffic going straight on passes you on the right.

That must feel really weird.

And then, when there is nothing coming either way, you turn right.

Just like that. Wacky or what?

Melbourne Observation Deck

One of the things to do in Melbourne to orient yourself, is to go up to the Melbourne Observation Deck. The view is quite something!

The Rialto Tower, which houses it, is impressive enough without going up it. I love those cloud reflections.

Here's the view looking east across the CBD.

Flinders St station looks tiny in comparison with the skyscrapers.

South of the Yarra (the South Bank) has the Eureka Tower.

My guide book says it will be taller than the Rialto when finished. It is finished now, but it doesn't look taller to me. In the middle distance you can see the famous MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground), host not only to the boxing day Test Matches, but the AFL 'footie' grand final, coming up at the end of September.

It's quite fun looking down on more ordinary skyscrapers.

This was not the only one that had a children's play area on the roof. I don't think the missus would be too keen on the little ones playing there! And some roofs had tennis courts. I must remember to watch out for falling tennis balls as I walk the streets.

Looking south-west you can see the docklands and Port Phillip bay.

If you keep going in that direction you get to the famous Great Ocean Road. I hope I get to sample something of it one weekend before I have to go home.

While I was up the tower I momentarily made the elementary navigation error of a Brit Down Under. Looking towards the sun, it being around midday, I thought, "That's funny. Shouldn't I be looking towards the sea if I'm facing south?".

That reminds me. As a boy in South Africa, my primary school teacher was explaining that the sun is always in the North. "But if you are in the northern hemisphere, is the sun always in the South?", asked smarty-pants. "No. Of course not." was the answer. Hmm.

No climate, just weather

I had my induction session with The Company on Monday. Boy was that hilarious. Not only was I rejoining a company I'd worked for for umpteen years, (and still had to attend an induction session), but Mark P, who was giving it, had met me in the UK earlier this year before I left. He looked really confused when he saw me!

Anyway I am now back at work, but I hope to keep the blog going. Forgive me if I eke out the weekends over the following week.

One thing that Melbourne is reknowned for is the fickleness of its weather. "You can experience all four seasons in one day", it is alleged. I'm beginning to believe it. Yesterday was a record temperature for September - 30.2 degrees C! Yes it has that Summer Feeling. Yet today the temperature was more like 18 degrees.

It reminds of a time, many years ago, when I was a student. Sat in a pub in Cambridge, with grey skies, a chilly breeze and a horrible drizzle outside, at the beginning of June, an American friend said mournfully "This country doesn't have a climate - it just has weather". Yes. So far, Melbourne seems to be a bit like that.

Update Mon. 25th Sept. The weather yesterday was quite wild with winds up to 100kmph and some lashing rain. And the forecast is for snow on the hills not far from Melbourne today!

Melbourne Royal Botanical Gardens

"The Royal Botanic Gardens are well worth a visit" said James, my account manager at the contract agency. He was right.

Just a short walk from the city centre, the other side of the Yarra, the Royal Botanic Gardens is a rambling green space full of exotic plants, huge trees and inviting lawns.

I rather liked these purple spikes.

There were also azaleas in bloom and a wisteria that climbed higher than any I'd ever seen. Yet this is still mid-September, and thus the equivalent of mid-March at home. Things must come earlier here.

The gardens contain hills and lakes. The ornamental pond meanders around the centre of the gardens.

Here are some more plants I liked.

These succulents remind me that Victoria is suffering from a water shortage. It seems to be an issue here, and arguably a symptom of global warming.

It was lovely to see all the people picnicking on the lawns. A great place to come and relax, I think. Furthermore...

but no, I think I'll save my favourite bit for another post.

Connected!

Before I left home I got my laptop and home PC set up to use Skype Internet telephony, including the (beta) video calling. All it needed was a webcam and microphone for each machine and the (free) Skype software. Well it worked at home between two machines in the same house, each connecting via the Internet. Now to do it for real!

Saturday mornings is Swimming Lesson time for the kids at the Bury St Edmunds pool. So after they came home we had a go at intercontinental video conferencing. And it worked!

Here's what I could see on my laptop.

Up to now the little ones hadn't been told where I was. But I told Little Miss that whilst it was 9:30 am for them it was 6:30 pm with me. And they thought it was amazing that when I pointed my webcam out the window they could see it was dark here in Melbourne. I asked if she could guess where I was, and she guessed Australia straight away! I think maybe the regular not-so-accidental bringing up of facts and stories about Australia in family conversation over the last few weeks has paid off.

One of Big Miss's friends arrived at the door, so she was invited in to see what was going on. "That's scary!", she pronounced.

The latency (delay between things being said at one end and being heard at the other end) will take a little getting used to, but being able to see each othe as well as talk to each other was brilliant! OK, so the sound broke up a bit every now and then, but we talked to each other and saw each other for about an hour just for the cost of the broadband connection.

So we may be, as a family, half a world apart, but it doesn't seem quite so far now.

First Impressions of Melbourne

It was pre-dawn when I was picked up at the airport and driven to my apartment hotel. Even so, there was plenty of traffic as we headed through the suburban sprawl towards the Central Business District (aka CBD). I looked at the road signs, the skyscrapers in the distance. This reminds me of the US, I thought. Except they drive on same side of the road as we do in the UK here.

And then it struck me - when was the last time I had stayed in a city for any length of time? Bury St Edmunds (Suffolk) - 9 years, Binfield Village (Berkshire) - 7 years, Addlestone (Surrey) - 2 years. Yes it 1987 when I moved south from Whitley Bay (Tyne&Wear) that I last lived in a real city. Well I did spend a week in Bern in January this year, I suppose, but this was going to be different.

I set out for the office to meet some people I will be working with. The skies were grey and there was a bit of a chill in the air. People had overcoats on. This was a bit of a shock to the system - I've been wearing shorts virtually all the time for the last 3 months.

I arrived at the office. They weren't expecting me until Monday but I was warmly greeted and people interrupted what they were doing to meet me. Friendly and cheerful, I thought. I'm going to enjoy working with these guys. And sympathetic to the effects of jetlag too. I was definitely beginning to fade! But my driver from the airport had confirmed what I'd heard about how best to beat it - try and keep going until a normal bedtime in the new timezone. "Just Keep Swimming", I thought to myself. And I did have a number of things to sort out....

I needed an Australian bank account, or else I couldn't get paid. At home I bank with Barclays, but they don't operate in Australia. They do have an alliance with Westpac. So I walked into their Collins St branch and said I'd like to open an account. No problem. Within minutes I had a transaction and savings account with Internet banking, courtesy of a friendly young man called Emeka. The sun had come out now and I was beginning to warm to Melbourne.

Armed with my bank account details I set off to meet my contact James at Paxus. They are the agency who are employing me as an independent contractor to work for CSC Australia. We needed to get a contract signed and some forms filled in before I could start work. James is a scotsman who has been in Australia for about 8 years, but he was just like what I was beginning to recognise as characteristically Melburnian - cheerful, helpful and direct. Within an hour we were sorted. My Temporary Business (Long Stay) visa (aka
Type 457)had been approved, so I was free to start work on Monday.

Just Keep Swimming... I needed a new camera, but first, something to eat. I wandered into a shopping mall with some fast food outlets. What a choice! Here was something else I was beginning to recognise - Melbourne is pretty multi-cultural. I settled on a kebab. Yes that was tasty.

Swimming on, I visited camera shops and chose to replace my lost 4-y-o Fuji Finepix 6900Z with another from the current range. I got a Finepix S9500 for $699 (about £280 at current exchange rate). Cool. Some of my first shots are below. I met up with some new workmates for a beer on the South Bank. The place was buzzing. I got a takeaway from a restaurant in Chinatown which I washed down with some lovely Aussie wine. And then I fell asleep before I could get into my pyjamas.

It's Spring! Here are some azaleas.

There's quite a mix of architectures. Here's Flinders St Station.

I rather liked this reflection of skyscraper in skyscraper.

Yet there are old-fashioned horses and carriages.

And there are multiple cultures evident. Here is Little Bourke St.

You can see more of my photos here on Flickr.

But to sum up my first impressions...
Nice people - friendly, direct, helpful and cheerful. A buzzing city with an intriguing blend of old fashioned and modern, ex-colonial british and many other cultures. Great shopping, eating and drinking. And some lovely early spring sunshine.

I think I'm going to like it here.

Interred Down Under - I've arrived!

Gosh it's a long way from Bury St Edmunds to Melbourne.

No pictures yet, I'm afraid. I managed to get my camera stolen on the train to Liverpool St. But apart from that, everything went fine.

Heathrow Terminal 4 is nice enough when you get through check-in and security (which took me 1 1/2 hours) and the Tube station there is due to reopen this Sunday (it's been closed for 20 months). I flew Qantas taking off at about 11:00 pm, via Singapore, where we had about 1 1/2 hour stop. (There wasn't time to do much more than have a walk around the terminal facilities and then check in for the 2nd leg). The first leg takes about 12 hours, during which we gained 7 hours, so it was about 6pm local time that we arrived, having just been served breakfast. Then it was another 7 hours to Melbourne (gaining another 2 hours)and we were served breakfast again just before we arrived. So that was 2 breakfasts in the space of about 8 hours!

I didn't bother watching the films or other entertainment on the screen on the back of the seat in front of me. Instead I kept the display on the changing maps showing where we were, how fast we were going, what height we were at, etc. It brings home what a small place Britain is when it disappears off the map so quickly, but getting across the Ukraine, a corner of Russia, Afghanistan and India takes so long. And then, when we finally crossed the northwest coast of Australia, we still had 2000 miles to go. Wow!

Yes it was a long journey, but it's remarkably quick considering the distances. We had a tail wind from Singapore and got up to 1038 km/hr - that's 645 mph. And, in about 19 hours flying I travelled half as far as the Missus's car has travelled in 4 years!

We arrived at 4:50 am. I was met at the airport and taken to my apartment hotel. These sorts of hotel are a pretty good idea - a serviced flat in a building with all the usual hotel facilities too. I've got a separate bedroom (with en suite) and living and dining area with a kitchen at the end fitted with cooker, fridge, microwave, dishwasher, washing machine and tumble drier. And, of course, a broadband connection, so I was able to draft this post before I set off to find my new job.

My brain knows it is only 6:30 in the morning, but the rest of my body is not so sure. Almost as strange as the time shift is the season shift. It is early spring here and feels chillier than at home.

Well I better go and find my new workmates and get a few things sorted out so I can start work on Monday. More anon.

Interred Down Under - The Journey Begins

So this is it. Off to Melbourne in a few minutes. The hardest bit is going to be being away from the family, I think. The little ones only know that Dad is going back to work and is going to be away.

Big Miss was fine. She has to be "the other adult" while I'm away. "Does that mean I can eat as much chocolate as I like?", she said. Cheek!

Little W was fine too. "I'm not sad", he said cheerfully as he was belted into his car seat to be taken to the child-minder.

But Little Miss doesn't want me to go. She says she needs my hugs.

And as for the missus - well she's not had to put up with me being away all week for several weeks in a row. And I will be half way around the world.

Still, we are all geared up for regular calls on Skype. I hope it works! Time will tell.

Harvest Time

Hmm. This post is appearing out of sequence because I lost some photos I was going to use. Read some later posts and you'll find out why!

Here's something I'm really going to miss while I'm in Australia - it is time to start harvesting our produce.

We have a little apple tree that produces masses of apples. They are only tiny, but really quite sweet. Last year the missus pruned the lower branches and I wondered if we would get bigger fruit this year.

Well the answer is No, but they do look rather pretty.

And then there are the tomatoes. Well we've been eating them until they came out our ears for the last few weeks, but now it is time to start culling the plants. Here is a small section of our tomato forest.

(I would have shown you the wheelbarrow full of fruit that got picked from 1/2 of the plants, but that photograph is I know not where).

We normally harvest the chillis in October or November. But the Medusa chillis are already ripe.

Having tasted a few of the fruits, though, I would have to say that you should only grow these as a decoration rather than for the crop - they have no heat whatsoever.

At the other extreme, though, we have our Habanero Orange chillis. Here we kept a couple of plants over winter and they have come again really beautifully.

They are dynamite!

And we also have, as described previously, masses of (mildish) Guajillo, loads of Fiestas, Black Pearl and Chinese 5 colour, and plenty of Fatalli, Tokyo Hot and Caribbean mixed hot peppers.

But what is going on here?

It is the missus's fault. She lured the little ones under the tree and then shook it to bomb them with apples! Now Little Miss is trying to bomb her brother. I only picked up all the windfall the day before and now look at it!