Sorry We've Been Gone!

We have had very busy last few weeks so sorry for the lack of posts! We have been dealing with the stress of finding somewhere to live in the very competitive real estate market here in Melbourne but we are proud to say that we finally have a home! We move in on Friday and are very happy to have this whole process over with and get the rest of our stuff back!

I feel like looking for a house is all we have been doing but we did find time to do some other things too!

We went to our very first Footy match. (Australian Rules Football) It is kind of like soccer meets American football meets rugby. There is a lot going on but it is very exciting and fun to watch. The match we saw was Collingwood v. Geelong who are the top teams in the league so the game was very intense and was close until the final seconds. Geelong came out on top. The stadium holds almost 100,000 people and this game had about 85,000 fans in attendance. Crazy! Click here to read more about it.

We also went to the Melbourne Aquarium which was pretty cool but probably not worth going to again.

The coolest thing there was this giant frozen shark but it's not frozen in ice it's just in a really cold box that somehow keeps ice from forming on the shark. It's a REAL shark! I stupidly forgot to take a picture of it though. UGH! 

Sorry we don't have more to post, things have been so stressful around here. I can't wait until we are unpacked and settled in our new house. 

Talk to you guys soon!!

Our Weekend!

This weekend we finally ventured out and got to explore the city. We went to the Prahran Market, St. Kilda beach and to the Australia Centre for Contemporary Art.

On the way to the market we stumbled across a great little place called Palate and ate breakfast. The food was good and affordable but we were both definitely missing the usual addition of hot sauce, Cholula specifically. Send us some, please. At the Prahran Market we went to a cafe called Market Lane Coffee. I had an excellent single origin espresso and we both enjoyed great cups of pour over coffee, a rarity in Australia. On top of impressive coffee we also received excellent service and even got some great cafe recommendations from our barista. We will definitely be going back.

From there we headed to St. Kilda. We walked down Acland St. which is famous for it's cake shops. Rightfully so, the pastries we had were delicious. Then we took a relaxing stroll by the beach.

Happy belated mother's day to our moms!

On Sunday we went to the Australia Center for Contemporary Art. The current exhibit showcases emerging Australian artists and it was really a lot of fun to see. We took a lot of pictures.

Things we have learned so far:

We are finally getting settled here in Melbourne, one week after arriving. Apologies for the lack of updates, things have been a little overwhelming but we are going to try to post on a more regular basis from here on out. Not much has happened yet. Andy started work and I am getting better at not getting lost...sort of. Here are some things we have learned so far:

• There is no yellow cheese. At least none that we've seen. 
• Katie is bad at directions.
• Andy is good at directions.
• Public transit is confusing. Listed times are merely suggestions and if you don't know when your stop is coming you will miss it. They don't announce it nor is there a screen telling you what's next. Or a map anywhere inside the busses. 
• Kangaroo is on the menu. Best served rare.
• The change in your pocket is actually worth money. Always forgetting that.
• Coffee is really good but ordered quite differently. More on that later.
• KFC is everywhere.
• We haven't run into any other Americans.
• Peanut Butter is really salty. Everything is really salty.

Needless to say, the strangest thing so far is that everything is very familiar but just a little bit off. No huge culture shocks yet but it's only been a week.

Katie and Andy

Getting Here

Hello World!

We have finally made it to Melbourne. It is about 12:30 pm on Saturday and we've finally gotten a chance to sit down, call our families and use the internet.

We left Denver on Wednesday afternoon around 2:30 pm and landed in Los Angeles around 4:30. We got to fly over the Grand Canyon which was amazing because Andy had never seen it and we didn't get a chance to go before we left the US like we had hoped to. My good friend Scott picked us up from LAX to save us from our 7 hour long layover (ugh) and took us to In N Out Burger and a quick stop at the beach. It was great to see a friend and stretch our legs before the longest flight EVER.

Grand Canyon!

Beach in Playa Del Rey, CA

Killing time at LAX. 

The flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne was just okay. I slept for a good portion of it but once I woke up I was feeling pretty sick. Note to self: dramamine for long flights. Andy was as comfortable as someone as tall as him can be on a plane. For the most part though, it was a great flying experience. The food was good, the entertainment options were extensive and they did their best to make sure you were comfortable. 

View from the QANTAS SkyCam somewhere over the Pacific. 

We eventually made it to our new temporary apartment in the Docklands area of the city. It's a little far from some of the places we need to go but it's nice for a temporary home. We will definitely post pictures of it once we get a bit more settled. Yesterday we ran some errands like buying metlink passes for public transit and getting our bank account taken care of. We couldn't stay up as late as we hoped to but I think we are doing pretty well with the jet lag. This morning we went to the Queen Victoria Market which was super cool and a little overwhelming. We will write more about that later.

I will leave you with this amazing photo of the sunrise from our bedroom balcony. A little later after this photo was taken a fleet (fleet?) of hot air balloons joined the buildings. Amazing.

Love and miss all of you,

Katie