Word of the Day

It's become a bit of a running joke at work that I try to learn at least one new word a day.  Today it was 'jumper', as in a sweater or pullover.  Yesterday I was offered a 'chewie'.  My strange look told the person I was baffled, so they showed me a piece of chewing gum.  When your car gets smashed you take it to a panel beater.  And a trolley is a shopping cart, which is kept locked up near the front of the store.  You put in a $1 or $2 coin to unlock it, then your coin is returned when you lock the cart back up.  The purpose is to encourage people to bring their carts back rather than leave them in the parking lot.  Speaking of money there are no pennies here; the smallest bill is a $5.  Coins are denominated between 5 cents and $2.  Another fun one is that 'rubbers' are a required item on a school supply list. So those of you grinning right now should clean up your dirty thoughts with the eraser that was intended :-)  There are heaps more words but I can't fit them all here and it's time for me to take the rubbish out.  The weekly service will pick it up before I'm out of bed in the morning.  But when I wake up I'll have cereal or toast for my brekkie.  Tonight I had lamb chops grilled on the barbie.  Jarrod did a bloody fabulous job on them.  Cheers!

Air Museum

This morning we went to the Australian National Aviation Museum.  It has nearly 50 airplanes plus many other aviation artifacts.  It was fun to tour through the hangers and walk among the huge airplanes outside.
This afternoon we dropped Jarrod off at the pier then headed to a community indoor pool.  We all had fun but are tuckered out after a busy weekend.  Hopefully next weekend the weather will be good so we can go to the zoo.

Melbourne Museum

We visited the Melbourne Museum today and it was fantastic!  The museum uses technology and extensive exhibits to provide an awesome experience.  For example they have animals from all over the world (less than half are in my picture it was so big).  Computers show a layout of the room, then you touch the one you are interested in and it displays a brief bio. 

There were also thousands of bugs (dead and alive) displayed in Bugs Alive, plus full size dinosaur and whale skeletons.  There were galleries on modern Melbourne, the Aboriginals, a children's play gallery, life and science, a living forest, and more.  Many of the exhibits are interactive.  The boys even got to make a model Titanic to bring home with them.  It was by far the best place we've been to yet and a must-see for anybody going to Melbourne.  And it's only $8 per adult (children are free).  I wish we had something this great at home! 

Wind and Rain

I confess I wasn't the one who took this picture of Mordialloc Pier but it shows what it was like last night (same pier, different storm, from the Internet.)  Yesterday brought us lots of wind and intense rain.  Jarrod had to time the waves so he could get out to the shelter at the end of the pier.  No surprise that he was the only person fishing last night.  I'm not sure if that's dedication or stupidity :-)  Unfortunately he came back empty handed.  He'd like to catch a gummy shark (flake).  We had some from the fish and chips shop today for lunch and it was delicious.

Fishing

Jarrod went to the pier last night after the free parking time started at 8pm.  He had been told that evening fishing is quite good, plus the pier is lighted at night for just that reason.  He had a successful trip and caught 16 gar fish!  We ate them for dinner tonight - they had lots of bones but were very tasty.  Unfortunately the new fishing pole ended up being the wrong pole for the occasion.  Gar fish need a much smaller pole.  A fellow fisherman loaned Jarrod a spare and they had an enjoyable visit.  We've both found the people here amazingly friendly.

Day at the Beach

Jarrod and the boys spent a fair amount of today at the beach.  I heard tales of huge sandcastles and fun galore.  Jarrod tried his luck at fishing but didn't catch anything.  Of course fishing beats work any day whether you catch something or not.  And having a 12'2" fishing pole is a whole lot of fun!  Unfortunately he didn't take a camera so I missed out on the sandcastles.  Only the smiles were left over :-)

The evening entertainment isn't quite so exciting.  We have 8 Tele channels:  4 ball channels (e.g. cricket, soccer, footy and golf), 2 news channels and 2 children's channels.  So instead Jarrod tried his hand at art... yes, that's an apple decorated with seashells.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the all the dads at home!  This morning we headed to the Mount Dandenong National Park.  The trees and vegetation were amazing to see.  The weather left room for improvement due to rain and fog but we still enjoyed ourselves.  From there we came back to the house for some dry clothes then headed out again to buy Jarrod a fishing pole and gear.  We then headed along the shoreline for some sightseeing.  We ended up at Frankston Pier about 20 km away.  The weather this afternoon was beautiful.

Downtown Melbourne

We headed out early this morning for the aquarium.  The first 30 minutes or so was fine heading into town but got quickly confusing in the mess of roads entering the heart of the city.  According to Jarrod "a swarm of bees is more organized than the traffic in downtown Melbourne."  After about the third trip around the same set of roads trying to snag the correct one Jarrod muttered something about divorce if I dared accept a long-term assignment in Australia.  Fortunately he's well adjusted to right-hand drive by now so we made it through safely and eventually found the right 'carpark' and into the aquarium.  Both boys enjoyed the penguins and the sharks the most.  We saw all kinds of fish including at feeding time.  Then we headed for Queen Victoria Market via the city circle tram.  The market was aisle after aisle of street vendors.  We only made it through a small portion in a couple hours.  We found some great souvenirs then made our way back to the car after a long walk since the trams were full.  Our drive out of town had much more traffic but fewer wrong turns.  I liked touring through town seeing street after street of small shops next to skyscrapers.  It was a fun but tiring day.

Wrapping up the work week

Friday is here!  Work is done for the week and we're planning our activities for tomorrow.  Assuming the weather is agreeable we plan to spend an exciting day in downtown Melbourne.  Today the boys went to the beach and saw lots of shells.  They've been having fun hanging out with Dad and spending time playing.  (Jarrod's been getting glares from ladies in the stores though because he looks like a delinquent father who's letting his kids skip school.)  And a coworker brought me a sack of puzzles and toys which has been great fun.

In follow-up to the shopping note thank goodness we found a discount grocery store.  Milk, cereal and basic foods were much more reasonable.  The selection was rather spotty and not nearly like a full grocery but it will help us supply some staples for a decent price.  Of course coffee is still about $15/lb - yikes!  Along with tonight's dinner we had rock melon (a.k.a. cantaloupe) and Kraft Mac & Cheese with no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives (in accordance with Australian food standards preservatives are not included).  The mac & cheese was a bit off but it satisfied Ryan's desire for one of his favorite foods.  All in all it's been a good adventure so far.  Lots of new experiences for us all.

Shopping, Shopping, Shopping

Jarrod and the boys picked me up from work tonight and Ryan immediately told me about his day... shopping, shopping, shopping.  Between yesterday and today they went to a fish market, vegetable market, meat market, Sam's Warehouse, Dick Smith's Electronics and 'cash exchanger' (aka pawn shop).  The fish market was the first stop yesterday after venturing out of the house to find food for dinner.  After discovering that his store was the first place Jarrod shopped after coming all the way from America the owner said Jarrod's fish would always be cleaned for free, as long as we promised not to eat fish for dinner every night.  Fillet would be extra though!  We had baked red snapper for dinner and it was great.  Today Jarrod dropped me off at work and headed out with a list.  We needed a rug because my wussy toes didn't like the cold marble floor in the bathroom, plus there wasn't a washcloth to be found in the whole place.  I was surprised that a rug was only $8, washcloth $1, and a hairdryer I picked up at an outlet store by work was $13.  The pawn shop had a like-new coffee pot for $9.  However a half gallon of milk was $4.59 and a small box of cereal was $7.29.  Go figure.  Fortunately Jarrod now has a GPS to help him find his way so tomorrow he plans to venture further out.  As far as my work goes I'm settling in and starting to learn about the implementation design plans.  The folks at Simplot Australia have all been very nice.

Arriving at Melbourne

After approximately 28 hours since leaving home we managed to get into open air in Melbourne. Customs was a breeze and our eight checked bags, four carry-on bags, the four of us and Puppy squeezed into a taxi van and headed for our new home away from home. It was about an hour’s drive from the airport and Jarrod nearly didn’t make it but we’re here at last. It’s a nice place and will suit us well. We got all the bags unpacked and spent a little time relaxing. My body tells me it’s after midnight as I write this but the clock says it’s 4pm. We’ll fix some dinner and make it an early night. It might take a couple days of settling in before we adventure too far though. First on the agenda will be to find a grocery store for some grub and an electronics store for a GPS. Ryan’s doing good but Kyle’s fading fast.  Jarrod seems to be on his second wind. We’ll get some updates in a couple days.

The Trip

Saturday was our big departure day. We arrived at the airport extra early, a good thing since the lines were huge with delays on several United flights. Our flight took off on time though and the boys had their very first experience flying. They had fun on take-off and did fine the rest of the trip outside of some minor ear aches when landing. We had a short layover in San Francisco for some fish & chips at the airport then boarded for a 13+ hour trip to Auckland, New Zealand. Both boys were amazing in how well they got along. After a couple hours of TV/games on video screens Kyle started feeling sick so it was time for Dramamine and lights off. Both boys slept about eight hours through the night. (I wish I could say the same!) We had a couple hours in Auckland for our rear-ends to recover before boarding a 4-hour flight to Melbourne. We played a little of the “your plane is broken and you get a new one” then “oh, never mind we fixed it” but eventually our flight took off. It was a relief when we finally landed in Melbourne. The extended flying time had caught up with Jarrod by then and he was a little worse for wear but we all survived.

Getting Ready

Things were so hectic the last few days leading up to departure that I didn’t get the blog updated as planned. We all had a fun week though. Friends jumped in with daycare help as Jarrod ended up working more days than planned. The boys had fun playing with new friends and Kyle really enjoyed riding the bus to school. Kyle graduated second grade on Tuesday. Later in the week the boys visited with Grandma, Grama and Grammy. And Friday we gave Boise a proper send off by braving the cold to spend the afternoon at Roaring Springs Water Park. It was “awesome” and “the best”!