Bushrangers Bay Trail, Mornington Pennisula National Park

We met another Courtney (from Australia) in Fiji, not to be confused with our other friend Courtney (from the States), that we have kept in touch with since we have been here. We took a train to meet her in Mt. Waverly where she lives. Thankfully she had two cars, one that she drove with a few of us, while Henry and I drove the other car. It took us about 2 hours to get to Morninton Pennisula National Park where we hiked down to a lovely beach. Along our hike we saw a baby kangaroo that was about 3 feet away from us, that was awesome. We didn't take any pictures because we didn't want to spook, plus we didn't know where the mom was, so we kept on walking. It took us about 45 minutes to walk down to the beach, but we didn't go in because there were very strong currents. So we walked around for a bit, climb some rocks, and Courtney, I, and Henry hiked to the top of a rock to get a 360 degree view. It was a wonderful view, but was super windy! I thought I was going to get blown off the rock. After we got done wandering around we headed back and she took us to a place to get some yummy hot dogs. Sorry, no pictures to share of that because I was so hungry I was just focused on eating. They were delicious. To top that off, a few of us got an ice cream bar.

See the water that Courtney is staring at, yea, that wasn't there when we crossed earlier. We ended up walking through the water on the way back. It was about knee high. A nice way to cool off.

Sidney Myer Music Bowl

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra put on a Free concert that we attended. You could bring in your own food and drinks, alcohol included. We sat on our blankets on the grass and ate crackers, cheese, and drank some refreshing white wine. It started at 7pm and lasted till about 10pm. It was a lovely evening. The music was wonderful.

Sailing

On a warm evening we decided to go sailing around the Albert Park Lake. When we arrived there was not much wind, but we saw a handful of boats sailing around so we decided to do it. It was just me, Henry, Tony, and Scott. After we got in the boat they pushed us out and we realized there was less then not much wind, there was actually no wind at all. We drifted into parked boats and got stuck on a rope. This girl who worked there hopped in her little motor boat and gave us a push. That help for about 5 seconds and we got stuck again! The wind was completely gone, and so the four of us just sat there trying a few different things to get going, but we had no luck. We were not the only ones having trouble...thank goodness. Eventually there was guy who came out on the motor boat and brought everyone back in. We learned our lesson, don't go sailing if there is no wind...haha.

Look Right Before Crossing the #$@%*&! Street

Now that we got a place we also had to furnish it, and quick. Everything came from Op Shops (second hand), IKEA, and Gumtree (just like craigslist). Its amazing the deals you can get second hand and the quality too instead of buying everything new. We rented a Ute Truck (like an El Camino) to pick everything up in a day and a half. I(Henry) went to pick up the ute and the guy asked me if I wanted insurance, but I declined. Then I checked the truck and it was a manual. Since this was my first time driving on the left side of the road and it was a manual, I went back and added insurance. When you rent a car in another country they accept a license from any country even though you may not know the rules.

RULE #1, you are allowed to pass a tram (Public train on the street), but not when it is letting people off. I broke that rule within 5 kilometers (i've converted) and was yelled at by everyone in the area, even people not using the tram.

RULE #2, you are not allowed to turn left on red (equivalent to a right on red in the US). Courtney broke that rule over and over and over, but let me know before I drove.

RULE #3, this is not so much of a rule, but just some thing I've never seen. Some intersections have you turn right from the left lane (equivalent of turning left from the right lane) because there are trams in the middle of the street where you would normally turn from. When you get to an intersection like this for the first time you try to decipher the strange street signs and bust out a few "What the #$&@ is that?!!!" and "How the (@#$&* am I supposed to get over there?". Then you get stuck on a bunch of one way streets and can't find places to make u-turns. Getting to a destination can take a lot longer than it should until you figure out the system.

RULE #4, this is a rule I am making for the Austrailian civil engineers. PUT STREET SIGNS ON ALL YOUR STREETS, NOT JUST THE SMALL STREETS. WHY THE MAJOR STREETS AREN'T WELL MARKED OR MARKED AT ALL I CAN'T COMPREHEND!! Also many streets only go for a few blocks before the name changes. Why?

And always remember, look right before crossing the street.

Apartment Hunting

Apartment hunting was more difficult than we anticipated. In the US you see the apartment anytime you like and if you want it then its yours. Here you have to show up at designated inspection times. The inspections only last for 15 mintues and there could be a few other people there or 30 others. Then you all fill out applications and get rejected repeatedly like we did. We weren't the ideal candidates, 4 people with no australian rental history and Alicia was the only one with a job, while the rest of us were job hunting. We finally hit the jackpot with this beauty below. Well it was a beauty after we scrubbed and disinfected the place. It's in Prahran, VIC 3181, close to Courtney and Scott. Now Henry is working for Accent Group (Skechers Australian distributor) so we are all setup. Bank account, check. Apartment, check. Job, check. Diggin' the ING Direct Australia interest rates. We don't have a car, but public transportation within the city is awesome. Henry's commute to work is short and there is time to read during the commute, much better than the 405! You know what is NOT better? The mexican food and its hard to find hot sauce.

Our bathroom does not have an outlet for the water aside from the drain in the sink. This sign is very important to us and if we forget to put the hose in the sink, there will be water everywhere (which has happened twice, not fun to clean up).

6 People, 2 Bedrooms, 1 Bathroom

Scott and Courtney have so graciously allowed us to stay with them for a while until we got our on place. Its like college all over again and everyone seems to enjoy it. Basically we mess up the kitchen most nights try to come up with some delicious dinners, job hunt, apartment hunt, and watch Wipeout on TV while Scott and Courtney go to work. You should check this out if you haven't seen it before.

We do also get out and see what Melbourne has to offer of course. Here is the place we are squeezed into.

Home made pavlova!!!

Met Scott for lunch, but he has to go back to work.

Twins. On the amazing public transportation (trains, trams, and buses).

They didn't coordinate today.

Haven't made it to this show yet.

Bought a printer at the Post Office, yup that's right, the Post Office. They sell random stuff.

Henry's got skills and too much time on his hands.

 Drinks served in a beaker.

Messy kitchen again. The rule is the cook doesn't clean.

We've got a spot for everybody.