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Published: October 28th 2013
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I'm slowly catching up on my blog, apologies for delay; here is the start of my Ozzie trip.
It was simply wonderful to fly in to Melbourne very early in the morning, and be greeted by Darius and Zephi...difficult to believe for quite some time that I could really touch and hug them! And only 20 minutes or so to drive to their home in Coburg, see Gaynor and Salvi too. Great that I seemed to avoid jet lag on both those long trips, possibly helped by the 24 hour delay in LA, which gave me time to think myself into Ozzie time.
I was immediately plunged into family life, cycling with the kids to school and meeting some of the parents at the little school cafe which is run by volunteers, and greatly benefits networking in the community.
School holidays began soon after my arrival, and with the kids I started to find my way round our northern inner suburbs by tram, train and bus, all nearby. The magic Mykie card is the key here, similar to our Oyster card in London, though there is no alternative in Melbourne, you simply must have one. Another
Flutterby houseof my first tasks was to find a cheap Ozzie mobile phone, and set up a bank account to avert regular bank charges.
The kids and I loved visiting the zoo not far away, and various Fringe Festival events, although I confess to being a little critical of these, the boys seemed to enjoy them. We explored new playgrounds, and they showed me their favorites. On days when they were otherwise engaged on play dates, I set off on my own to explore more.
I met up with our resident relatives, Colin and Ann, who live very centrally, and received a warm welcome, plus large lunch; and one very hot day I took myself off south to St Kilda beach, though it was extremely windy in town, nice to get to the beach. The weather here is so changeable, the temperature can change dramatically from day to day, especially now in the spring, so we could have 25 one day, and think summer, yet the following day could be down to 14! Quite confusing. We had 2 hail showers recently, yet so warm and dry the next day I easily got two loads of
washing dry. One learns to wear layers. And I'm still taking a hot water bottle to bed most nights, when the temperature always seems to dip.
Melbourne is a town of coffee drinkers, which I have easily adapted to, as well as the Morning Tea which seems to be a leftover from a bygone age... I've tested several fab cafés, and recently discovered the most delicious gluten free chocolate cake ever in an old flour mill. Fun to explore. Cycling around on Gaynor's bike has been great, one day I visited CERES, the sustainability centre where there is an organic farmers market, shop, cafe, plant nursery, and lots of allotments, plus a solar array; the whole buzz reminded me of our Community Garden in Oxford.
I'm really enjoying family life too, having lived on my own for so long, it's still a treat to cook for 5, especially after discovering the Coburg market, where very fruit, veg, and fresh fish is available. Everyone's favourite is Grannie's fish pie, which is now on a weekly menu.
Kids back to school after 2 week hols, (there are 4 terms per year here), and
it's been delightful to meet up with several parents for various social gatherings, barbeque, curry night, theatre..lots going on and everyone so friendly.
It's great to witness first hand how well the family are settling down here, and bedding in.
The kids love their school, and have made lots of friends; there are some just up the street, so there are often 4 kids racing around the house and garden. Gaynor is enjoying her job, and Darius is finding lots of creative outlets, he's even popped over to Sydney to work in the Opera House already, and is working on sound effects for an installation, and a play. Plus editing a local bands recording for CD. So I help out with school runs fairly often and take the boys with their friends to the nearby park for a play before returning home.
Planning trips takes up some time, thank goodness for the iPad, more on them next time.
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