The wife's solution

I have been ill for just over 3 weeks, it started as soon as we moved into our new place, and other than a couple of good days a week and a half ago (when maybe I rather unwisely decided to go skim boarding on a sandbank part way out to sea, with no wetsuit even though it is properly winter here in Melbourne now), it has been getting progressively worse.

(Left, Noelle didn't find May to be quite as warm as I did; Right, Nothing will keep me from the sea)

So last week when I started having real difficulties breathing in the middle of the night Noelle went to get me some more medicine, I was quite surprised at what she came back with as a solution ...


In case it isn't clear enough, yes it does say 'poison' on the side!

Either way, even that didn't sort me out, I had 2 days off last week in case whatever I had was contagious, although despite Victoria having the biggest outbreak of Swine Flu in Australia I was negative for that. So I am now on 3 different steroids to get me breathing properly again, so Noelle has missed her opportunity to poison me in the middle of the night ;p

Aussie Life

I am still deciding how I am going to blog in future. But for those of you who want to know what we are up to, here are the things we do in our free time ...

Playing in the snow, Mt Buller, 2nd May 2009

Playing at the beach and in the sea ... most days

Playing in the wind

You can see more photos on facebook by clicking here (anyone can see them even if you are not on facebook)

12,000 miles, 2 1/2 months, 12 weeks, 78 days ...

That is how far we have been apart and for how long. I left England via the US on 20th January. As I track Noelle as her flight approaches it's layover in China, I know that tomorrow (9th April), at 8.05am she will be landing in Melbourne. I hope she is more excited when she sees me again than she seemed to be when she dropped me off in London 12 1/2 weeks ago ...We dated 300 miles apart until 3 weeks before we got married, but managed to see each other every weekend but one from the time we first met until our wedding. We have spent time apart before, but never for this long (7 weeks being the longest before this with me in the UK and Noelle in the US).

Looking forward to your arrival Noelle, and thanks to all those who have helped Noëlle especially after I left :)

Don't worry about me ... I'm just an immigrant

At 10.48am today I received this message on my phone ...

As I realise it is hard to read, this is what it says:

VIC Police

Extreme weather in
Vic expected
Tuesday March 3rd.
High wind & fire risk.
Listen to ABC Local
Radio for
emergency updates.

This is a really clever service and apparently the first time it has been used. It was sent to every phone registered in Victoria. However, everyone else I know got it yesterday. Maybe somewhere on my phone registration I selected 'immigrant' so they decided to not tell me until after I left home for the day. Fortunately I decided not to cycle in the 22km today, so I was safe from the Gale force winds [down rated from a hurricane warning] :)

Hill Start ...

I discovered Wednesday evening that it is not good to park on a hill when your car is almost out of petrol! I was excited to get to the Temple and do some family file work that I had just submitted. I stopped to get petrol on my way, but the station was out of unleaded. I figured I would just head straight to the Temple & fill up after. I had a great evening doing doing work for family that I had researched since getting here to Australia. I then went to the car and chatted to Noelle for a while and then did some stuff on line.

By the time I finally went to start the car it was pretty late, and it wouldn't start! I sat reading the manual (for an hour) for solutions other than petrol, and trying some other things. This though lead to a low battery warning, and it was now nearing midnight!

Eventually I decided to walk to a petrol station, bought a petrol can, got questioned by the police, (who had been called by a concerned home owner where I had parked). They offered no help, not even a lift back to my car. I did find someone else on a late night fill up trip with jump leads in their car (in case the battery was now too flat), who gave me a lift back to the stranded car.

It seems that a few hours parked on the hill meant all the petrol ran to the wrong end of the tank. It did start on it's own and I got home sometime after 1am!

I now know EXACTLY how many kms I get from a tank ...

This is my kind of Footy ...

Last night I went to see Carton Blues hammer the North Melbourne Kangaroos

The game was at the Telstra Dome in the Docklands ... an even better bonus was that as I was queuing to buy my ticket a lady gave me 2 tickets :)

Although this was my first AFL game, I think it was a great game. It seems that everyone is pushing me to become a Carlton fan; from the dealer I bought our car from, to the guys I went to the game with. (Though we had a lowly Roos fan sat in front of us).

I will have to get my head round the rules a little more (what rules I was wondering at one point). It is pretty aggressive and 1000 times more interesting to watch than 'soccer', and so much faster paced than American football.

Another point on the score card to Melbourne and the Australian lifestyle ... thanks for inviting me Brett

House

So as I am here on my own I changed my accommodation plans once I got here. Until last weekend I spent the last few weeks at a place resembling the Motel that Earl & Randy Hickey live in. Long term tenants, right on the main road, and not the kind of place you'd stay on holiday. It did the job though and was just what I was looking for.

I was regularly offered beers from coolers when all the tenants hung out on old seats outside in the hot evenings, while the kids entertained themselves on scooters and things they picked up off the floor.

It's quiet during the day ...













I had a busy weekend though as, among other things, I moved to a house ready for Noelle to arrive. Now the furniture hunt is on. (Lead by a trip through the mountains to get a mattress. I am off to collect a washing machine today).

It is the house right in the centre.

I am now living in the far north eastern suburbs of Melbourne near the foothills of the Dandenong mountains, about 30km from the city in one direction and the beaches in the other. I pretty much drive past the Melbourne Temple every evening on my way home ... I love it out here :)

Grave Stone

My Dad's grave got the head stone added last week. I was sad that it wasn't done before I left/I wasn't there for when it was laid. I am glad that there is now something there to mark to spot. I have only been back there twice since he died (and that only at the end of last year), as it was strange not having a grave stone. I am happy that one day when I visit the UK in the years to come that I will be able to visit and remember him. I hope my Dad is happy I finally made it here ...

Noelle found out the stone had been placed over the weekend, so went out on Monday evening for me to get photos. Thanks Noelle :)

My Dad is buried in a small village called Woodlands where many of my ancestors were born and buried, and at the feet of his Mum (a Froud). It have just discovered this week that descendants from the same group of ancestors ended up in Australia and that I am distantly related to some friends here in Australia (the Hills). I will be doing some of the work for these common ancestors on the Melbourne Temple in the coming weeks.

Unexpected offroading

Again this was not my next intended blog post (sorry Dwight) ... honestly though the complexities of why Noelle isn't here and what has been going on isn't that exciting as a blog post ... I will get there though.

I have expressed before the inadequacies of GPS. Tonight though I discovered the flaws of googlemaps.

I had to go collect a mattress this evening, so looked up the directions before I set off. I was presented with the following route.

I now understand why the road I now live just off is called Mountain Highway ... you don't have to head very far until you leave the highway and find yourself half way up a mountain covered in trees; with the smell of smoke in the air! (Again in case it was missed, there are lots of fires here, and on the weekend I moved much closer to the ones that are still burning)

I was soon lost in the middle of nowhere looking out at this ...

Oh, and these were unsealed, though fortunately graded, mountain roads. There were also sheer drops along several parts. I found myself wondering why on earth googlemaps had picked this route for me!?

Fortunately I bought a car on Friday, and picked it up after returning the rental car I have been using the last few weeks on Saturday. One of the strict criteria for a car for us out here was that it have 4WD or AWD, (so we could get into the mountains and above the snow line in the winter). I have to say I was very glad that I had set this as a requirement this evening ... I had not expected to engage the off road capabilities of the car so quickly, especially in the dark!

I am specifically not mentioning what the vehicle is or showing more than the dashboard as Noelle doesn't know what I have bought yet.

I made it back safe, and it will be fun to go back up there in the daylight to see where on earth I was driving, and how close I was to the edge on the switchbacks!

Thongs, Skivvies and Poms

For a long time I have found the way languages develop interesting. What I find more interesting is how different English speaking nations have diverged over the years ...


It seems that all Australians wear
thongs and skivvies,
and not a lot more this time of year ...

While I am still unclear on the whole skivvy question
(confused by my previous understanding, whether it is a
unisex item, long sleeve, or more like a vest top?). However,
I can confirm that I now sport my thongs on a daily
basis for everyone to see ;p

Back in 2006 in New Zealand, there was a temporary ruling banning the word 'Pom' from public broadcast as a racist term (personally it doesn't offend me). However, it is clear that many British people in the southern hemisphere see this term, at least as an insult, if not more. It seems strange then that the only people that have called me a Pom since moving here, are sales people ... trying to sell me expensive items!?