End of the first full week

So I've finished my first week at work. Still love the job, the work colleagues are just fab, my boss I met on Saturday on Lygon street to show me her favourite coffee shop: Enoteca Sileno (920 Lygon Street) - it was quite impressive, got fancy Italian wines and interesting Italian foods there, and lovely little cakes...

Actually will try and write in some sort of chronological order...So Monday, I moved in to my new home, I think I blogged about this again, it's great anyway and pretty much in an ideal area for not being miles away from work but also being able to walk or cycle to some nice cool places for drinks and the like or shopping, ace! The night I moved in, Kate and I went to a Japenese restaurant: Matsumoto Japanese on Lygon Street, pretty cool...took a picture of the amazing wooden boat our Sushi and Sashimi arrived in, fun!

Tuesday had my 'People and Culture' experience, basically they've trendified the HR department and given it a silly name. Had bad cop good cop scenario, the main woman interviewing me was scary looking with a face (sorry to those of this that it offends) that has never seen a smidgin of make-up or colour or perhaps even happiness her whole life...I don't know her history, maybe there's a good reason for this, anyway, she was very peculiar I thought, but with a happy smiley side-kick who was much more pleasant to talk to and was saying how exciting this job must be for me etc, much more like the majority of Australians that I've come across; positive and smiley a much better way. One thing I did find out is that I don't need to get private healthcare insurance, by having a job I seem to be covered under Medicare...although I may want to seperately sign myself up for that, although apparently you can do it retrospectively...In the evening I did my first supermarket shop which was cool...I've get de ja vu...and am wondering if I already did Tuesday on the blog...so will jump to Wednesday to avoid risk of repeating myself...

Wednesday, job good, more eating out in the evening. Caught the number 96 tram from Nicholson street at the end of my road down to St Kilda (which takes about 40 minutes) to meet the lovely Gabrielle and we ate in Entre Tapa Vinos, http://www.entretapasyvinos.com.au/ - I'm starting to collect the little cards restaurants give you now and rating them and keeping a little stash of them, I'd rate this place in St Kilda as a 7 maybe? It was quite expensive but the food was pretty tasty and the wine was good. Went there again on Sunday night with Kate when we both went down to St Kilda again to listen to some music and we had a lovely wine, which I wish I'd taken down the name of, but I think it was a Verdeho..? Lovely.

Thursday, my colleague, Diane, brought in her bike which she can't use at the moment for me to borrow whilst I'm here, which was fab...cycling back all the way from work to home wasn't quite so much fun in the heat on the busy roads...took me 50 mins...so think maybe cycling to tram and then tramming it in is preferable...hmm. In the evening I cooked some tasty lamb I'd bought from the nearby supermarket (Piedmontes), the food out here on the whole is so lush and fresh by comparison to what, at least, I am able to get at home, I love it! Also failed to go to the wine tasting of a newly opened bottle shop as they were only doing the tasting for an hour...tasty looking wines in there though...

Friday; cycled to the tram and then trammed it in. Work was good fun in that I got through things and became a bit more familiar with the titles I'll be working with. In the evening Kate and I went to Mezza Lebanese grill, again on Lygon street. Food was pretty tasty, I'm not quite as much a fan of Lebanese food but Kate is and loved it. Only problem is we ordered a banquet which could have fed 4..so we ended up taking a doggy bag home of the main course (we thought we'd had the main course when he came along and asked about it...). Then after this we went down in to the city to 'Night Cat' to watch Kate's flatmate play in a band, also over to the lovely Cookie (www.cookie.net.au/) which has a roof top cinema which then turns in to a bar too...seems to be a bit of vetting in the door, not sure how I feel about that, except that Kate and I got in, so I guess that's kind'f nice...

Saturday...yes, Saturday. I went to meet my boss on Lygon street at Enterico Sileno as I mentioned earlier on, beautiful sunny day it was, and I wore my pink flowery dress. On the way back my boss recommended I call in on the flower shop just to smell all the flowers, which I dutifully did...it was lovely and I couldn't help but buying some flowers too, some calla lillies and orchids I got! Very pretty...Then I went along to the Salvation army place which has beds to buy, wasn't that keen on the place and it was only possible to buy divan type beds which I didn't want : www.onlymelbourne.com.au/melbourne_details.php?id=690 and really needed the loo...so headed home...lucky for me I did, the clouds started to get really dark and it felt like it was turning in to night time...a bit batman/ghostbusters-esque I thought! I was intending to head back out again but getting more and more unnerved by the skies...then it started to rain, then it started to really really rain...I decided to film at this point to show that it's not always sunny in Melbourne and mid way through the video it started to hail, at first I thought it was branches on the roof or something, then I looked at the ground and it was huge hailstones, the size of small pebbles, mental!! I started to get a bit scared too as I didn't know how much it was a freak thing or a frequent occurrence. Apparently it is a bit unusual for this part of Australia, but not for others...that evening I stayed in and had a good delve in Cormac's music collection.

Sunday...I had a good long lie in and then went to investigate the pool near Sydney road in Brunswick: www.brunswickcitybaths.ymca.org.au - they have an outdoor and an indoor pool...I did 44 lengths and proud of it...then went for a wander round Sydney road, it's wedding dress shop central, although all closed because it's a Sunday but I went and had a look on Clare's behalf, some very pretty dresses there. Also found a nice organic and very gluten free pro place called La Mann Fresh, 399 Sydney road, pretty good place, although not a huge stock of stuff...Then the clouds started to get a bit darker and I had to get myself back to my bike AND home...did get rained on a bit, but no hails thankfully. Sunday evening myself and Kate went over to St Kilda to The Prince (www.princebandroom.com.au/) a good venue...though they could have done with some more lighting. We were watching some DJ-VJs which were very cool. Stayed there till late. Then woke up this morning for more skype and some more rain sadly...want it to stop now so I can go out and explore Brunswick street a little...

Getting settled...

So...loads has happened it seems since I last wrote...I've got somewhere to live! It's a fabulous place in North Fitzroy, quite suburban, but near to some lovely eateries, like 10 mins max away and a new wine shop I spotted on the way home this evening and a supermarket (I enjoyed doing the first shop and looking at all the things they have for sale in a supermarket, obviously similar to back at home, but with tweaks and extras - the meat particularly looks so tasty you could almost eat it raw :-) My old dentist does that, eats raw meat, funny creature!). The house is really nice and am living with one guy, Cormac, who's very nice and interesting too and he's been in the house a while. It's a bungalow, which lots of them are around here with lovely shiny wooden floorboards. 'Twas weird emptying out all my suitcase and hanging things up, I knew the suitcase was big, but already my room feels quite full! Kate helped me choose a doona (aka duvet cover) and the cover's a bit embarrassing, funny though. Cormac also lent me a lamp and a milk crate as my bedside table, ace! Got the place by leaving ad advert 'seeking a room' in 'The Readings' on Lygon street that I mentioned on the previous entry - had quite a lot of people contact me through that advert since as well which I'm having to decline politely - so worth noting for others wanting to find a place to live...think possibly more effective than gumtree...maybe?

Also on Sunday went to look at a family home type house in Ivanhoe, decided Ivanhoe was too far out, particularly whilst only living here for a while...the main 'town' of Ivanhoe doesn't seem very exciting, although we did try out Zanetti's for breakfast and the breakfast was good. But not as good as Cafe Quince (43-45 Spensley Street in Clifton Hill. http://www.cafequince.com.au/), that breakfast was reeeally good, that was Saturday morning...have been trying to take the cards from each place I eat in so I can name drop them here, but not been consistent with it.

Friday night on me own tried Curry and Spice in Clifton Hill, not so excited about that food...this evening actually was my first home cooked din/non-eating out and it was ace - my flatmate cooked us Snapper, coz of course fresh fish is the thing to have here too which was rather lovely too!

Sorry, jumping around the days all over the place here but still...on Saturday night Kate drove us around the city for a look at things - both very keen on Lygon street, then a wander round the main city with the drunkards - spotted a couple of guys getting pulled for J walking...'are you serious' I heard as we walked by. Traffic lights seem to keep you waiting a long time so I can totally relate to why they would have walked...you feel like an idiot waiting for as long as the lights make you sometimes!

Also got a phone on the weekend, went with Optus which seems to have good deals for us foreigners who still want internet usage and to text our friends back in the UK obsessively. Bought a phone too so Brits can still text me at normal prices...so paying like $40 a month for unlimited texts and stuff...reasonably chuffed with that.

Went to a music festival in Brunswick on Sunday, lots of stalls on the streets on Sydney road...loads of bars there with music, also some clothes shops, which I must go back and take a look at some day...that evening ate in Gurkas, 414 Sydney Road, food was OK, but not spectacular.

Had another day of work on Monday, went quite well, but difficult to get through stuff even though the work is very similar to my job in Oxford - quite intimidating. The people are lovely though. One of my work colleagues has offered to lend me her bike whilst I'm here and another gave me a lift home at the end of the day, my boss has suggested meeting up on Saturday to take me to her favourite cafe in Lygon street, fun! Sorted out 'People and Culture' on Tuesday, today, silly amounts of paperwork. Apparently I don't need private healthcare because I get medicare through having a permanent residency visa...also realised today that due to Perm residency visa, I don't need to get a visa for New Zealand when I go later on this month either... Filling in the tax file number forms also I count as full resident so that they can't charge me 45% tax or whatever it is they would otherwise....ermmmm....for the interview they also needed to make up 100 points to show I was who I said I was, passport is 70 points and apparently, weirdly, the work staff card, which was photo ID, was valid...odd, catch 22 confusion. I brought over all sorts of bills, proof of address, degree certificates, birth certificates...all I pretty much needed was my work contract, my passport...ermmmm....yep, and I think that was it to set up a bank account and set myself up with payroll. Even my bank are happy to leave my address down as my work address...it's almost too easy to set yourself up...all that panic I had in advance, what a waste!!! Maybe I should take that as a lesson for future anxiety should it arise...I think we're all fully aware that I'd do it the same way again...

Ooooh, I should also at this point thank Kate, and flatmates too, for letting me stay at theirs - Kate had only moved in herself two weeks beforehand. It would have been a lot more difficult to set myself up if it hadn't been for having a place to stay meanwhile with people who knew a bit about Melbourne on hand and without Kate and her car too. Also Joanna, her flatmate has kindly lent me her mattress in the new house until the weekend where I should be able to pick up a new one from a salvation place on Barkly street.

You know Australians have a bank holiday next Monday, Labour day, to celebrate the 8 hour day, which is weird because the majority of them won't be working on it...including me...I fancy going to see the Penguins sometime this weekend on Philip Island...