Our Australia Journey…
Day 1 – April 29th:
We arrived in Melbourne at 8am and took a Taxi to the Quest Service Apartments (2 weeks free stay on PwC). The airport experience went pretty smoothly (they had free carts we could use for our many, many bags); However, Kristi attempted to smuggle pistachios into the country and marked that she was carrying “no nuts” on her declaration form. They found the nuts and threatened to fine us. It was a bit crazy – but we made it through unscathed.
The cab ride was fine, but we had our first communication issue. We said to take us to the “Quest” apartments, but the cab driver thought we said “Quay West” and he took us to the wrong place. We said – “no, Quest” and he said “yes, Quay West.” We eventually got there though.
The apartment wasn’t ready until 2, so we walked around Southbank – had breakfast, toured the City a little, went to the Melbourne visitor center, and took some pictures. We also went to the little market across the street from our apartment for some groceries. We definitely experienced sticker shock - $50 later we had a small bag of items. Crazy! We hope this isn’t indicative of all Melbourne markets.
Day 2 – April 30th:
We slept in a little this day. We lounged around the place until after lunch and then went out to open a bank account. We walked downtown (the “CBD”) and found an ANZ bank (we basically picked this bank at random, but there does seem to be a lot of branches, which is nice). Opening the account went smoothly. We then walked down the block to see the CBRE building in Melbourne. It is in the Rialto Tower – the tallest building in the southern hemisphere.
We then decided to try our hand at the transit system. We wanted to make our way to a market we heard had good prices, but it was on the other side of the CBD. The city has a “City Circle” tram, which is free and circles the CBD every ten minutes. We got on okay, but after several blocks the tram ventured off the designated circle and we were very confused. There was a driver change, and the new driver joked about how the prior driver was “lost” and was going the wrong way. Insane. We had to walk about eight extra blocks to the market when we finally got off the tram. The market was cheaper by far than the market by our hotel, but we were quickly flustered by the fact that you had to pay for a shopping cart and your own plastic bags. We survived though, and attempted once again to use the “City Circle” tram to get back home.
Our home-trip didn’t go much better as the interior lights of our tram quit working and we got kicked off shortly after we got on board. We eventually got home, but we determined that with the free City Circle trams you apparently get what you pay for.
Day 3 – May 1st
This day started with drama – the first significant drama of the trip. Since we had opened our Australian bank account the day before, we attempted to initiate a wire transfer to move our money from our US Citibank account to our new ANZ account. Citibank requires that you do this either on-line or in a US branch. We obviously did it on-line. Or at least we tried. As part of our moving process, we changed our contact information with Citibank (address, e-mail, etc.). This was all fine, except it turns out that when your contact info changes, Citibank freezes your accounts for 14 days to prevent fraud. You can only initiate transactions in a branch (a US branch mind you).
This was unacceptable of course, so I just called Citibank to clear it up. After an hour plus of talking to four Citibank supervisors, we determined that we were screwed. There was absolutely no way to get our money for two weeks. The problem was that we needed $3,500 to sign an apartment lease (not to mention buying furniture, etc.) and basically all of our money was in Citibank. Citibank wouldn’t even let us close the account. We could do nothing. All we could do was take $500 a day out of ATMs. Absolutely frustrating – especially since we only opened the Citibank account because they said it would help us in transitioning money around the world. We are even part of the “Global Executive Banking” program – what a joke. We will be closing this account when the 14 days are up.
Okay – I’m done venting. Although the banking experience was a bit crazy, we did attempt to maintain a good attitude, and I think we largely succeeded.
We spent the afternoon touring the inner suburbs of Melbourne with a “Relocation Specialist” arranged by my company. The lady was very nice and showed us a good variety of apartments in various neighborhoods. It was really neat. We got to see some high-rise apartments with amazing views of the city, but we determined that these apartments didn’t provide quite the neighborhood feel (or “village” feel as they say) that we were looking for. We found a couple of places that we really liked, but our favorite area was Port Melbourne. It is a very nice area right on the beach. Of course, that also means it is very popular and therefore quite expensive. Ouch! We had some thinking to do.
We finished this day by meeting my Office Buddy from PwC for dinner. He brought his “flat-mate” along as well. My Buddy and his roommate are both on secondment from the UK. We enjoyed visiting with them, and the food was very good. The combination UK/Australian accent was sometimes a bit difficult to understand, but I think they probably felt the same way about us!
(We technically finished the day by walking through the local Casino in Southbank, which was very impressive – similar to Vegas?)
Day 4 – May 2nd
Our second attempt at using public transit! This time it was for real. We bought day-passes and actually went on-line and mapped out our route. We were heading back to Port Melbourne to look at one more property. This time, I am happy to say, the entire experience went very well. We rode a combination of buses and trams and they were all very nice. I think we will definitely be able to get around without a car.
We got to Port Melbourne a little early and stopped into a Starbucks. This was only the second Starbucks we had seen since arriving. We had heard from a couple of people here that they are not too fond of Starbucks in Australia. Apparently, they find it a little too “uppity” in image. Australians are very much opposed to anyone or anything that is too full of himself/herself. It is kind of interesting. We are happy to have Starbucks though!
We toured another apartment in Port Melbourne and really liked it. The area is amazing, and this apartment was a little bigger than the one we looked at yesterday. We were looking for something small, but we were a little concerned about just how small some of the places were. We actually didn’t think we were going to have room even to store our four large suitcases in the apartment! Kristi felt a lot better about having a larger space, and I liked the fact that this apartment was on the 6th floor instead of the 1st, which provided a bit more privacy (and a better view). We both really liked the property overall.
Of course, this apartment was even more expensive! We walked around Port Melbourne a bit longer and talked it over. The agent told us that we had to basically make a decision that day or else the apartment would likely be gone – it is a very hot market here. We fell even more in love with the area while we were walking around and we decided that we had to put in an application. Now we had to wait to see if we were approved!
We took the tram from Port Melbourne directly into the CBD to look around again. We found a menswear shop that was recommended and found that they had very good prices on suits (relatively speaking, of course). Literally almost every guy we have seen since arrive has been wearing a suit. Kristi and I have felt underdressed just about every time we walked down the street! I decided that I needed at least one new suit, and we found one that fit me very well and was a fair price, so I purchased it!
After walking around the CBD (and utilizing more trams – which we now love), we felt a bit tired and decided to sit down by the river. We’re not used to walking so much! While sitting, a couple of people from one of the large Melbourne papers came up to us and asked us if they could interview us about our day. They apparently run periodic blurbs about random people in the city. They asked us some questions and took our picture and said to check the paper in the next few days. How crazy would it be to end up in the local paper?!? We’ll see.
We grabbed an appetizer and some drinks in a bar by the water (it is actually at the bottom of my building!) and then headed back to our place. When we got back, we heard from the agent from the Port Melbourne apartment and he said that the landlord approved our application! We set a move-in day of May 9th. Crazy exciting (and scary)!
Day 5 – May 3rd
This was our first day venturing out of the “Inner Suburbs.” Well, technically I guess we were still in an inner suburb, but it was the farthest out we had been. We intended to catch a tram to IKEA and another inexpensive furniture store in the Richmond area. On our way through town, we stopped off in the CBD because we heard that there was a Target there. We got off at the stop where we thought Target was (per my – Anthony’s – investigation) but did not see a Target anywhere. We did see a Vodafone store and decided to stop by to see about getting a cell phone. An hour later we each had a new cell phone with genuine Australian numbers. It was one of the first steps in making us official residents.
We found out that we got off the tram a little too early, but we were able to walk to the Target. We had never been on this street before and were very impressed. It was a “Tram only” street and there were many shops and restaurants. The Target was similar to those in the US, but it was three stories and was set up a bit more like a department store (eg, JC Pennies or Macy’s). It was very nice, and the prices were surprisingly reasonable. We bought a belt for me because I somehow managed to misplace mine between Sacramento and Melbourne.
We continued on our way to the furniture store (Fantastic Furniture!) and ran into just a bit of trouble in that there was some kind of crazy traffic jam on the way. The trams in that area go with traffic, so that meant we were stopped. We got off early and walked a ways. We had to get on another tram, and when we finally found the right stop, we had to wait forever for the next tram. And we were in a questionable area of town. This is the downside of public transit. Lame.
It felt like it took forever, but we finally made it to the furniture store. The prices were decent and we found a few things that we really liked, including a dining set, couch/chaise lounge, armchair, coffee table, night stands, and a chest of drawers. Of course, everything is going to take up to 4 weeks to be delivered. Luckily we shipped our folding camping chairs from home, so we may be sitting those for the first month. We closed down the store and weren’t able to make it to IKEA.
The way back home was a little smoother than the trip there in terms of traffic, but we had our first “weird person” experience. We have still yet to see a homeless person, but there was a crazy lady who sat across from us on the tram. She was quite loud and insisted on sharing with us that elderly people got to ride the tram for free on Sundays. She thought that was a scam because “they have more money in the bank than us.” She further clarified that she thought they all had about $7,000 in the bank. I had no idea what she was talking about. I additionally thought that she looked old to me to too, so I thought she should be able to take advantage of the free ride herself. I didn’t mention that though. I just said “interesting” every time she repeated her rant. When she got off, several other people on the tram were laughing about old people riding free on Sundays, which made me feel better. Hopefully crazy people on the tram are not too common.
Day 6 – May 4th
We made it to IKEA today. On our way, we had our first homeless person experience. It was cold outside, and a transient man got on the tram. He sat near us and said he was just getting on to get out of the cold. He was actually very nice. I felt bad for him. After a couple minutes he
moved so someone else could have a seat, and he crossed himself every time we passed a church. He was probably the nicest homeless person I have met. He was surprisingly not at all scary, and he got off the tram fairly quickly.
Speaking of churches, we have seen tons of amazing looking old churches. They are very pretty, and some of them had bells ringing (today is Sunday). We have never gone to a church in an old-style traditional building, but that may be all that is around in the inner neighborhoods. They are definitely beautiful though.
IKEA was fine, but more expensive than in the US. We found a mattress, bed-frame, wardrobe closet, and TV stand that we like. That pretty much rounded out our furniture needs with the exception of electronics (ie, TV and DVD player) and “white goods” (ie, fridge, washer/dryer, and microwave). IKEA had almost nothing we wanted in stock though, so we get to come back later and hope they have everything in at that time. They do not special order or hold goods. Sigh.
We finished the day by ordering a pizza and buying a bottle of wine from the market by our apartment. It was a Shiraz from the Yarra valley, which is apparently one of the top wine regions in Australia and is only about an hour outside of Melbourne! The wine was very good (the pizza was not).
Day 7 – May 5th
Monday was my first day of work. There was nothing too exciting. I had an all-day training, which was quite boring. The office is very nice though. I also got my work laptop, which was cool. Unfortunately, I found that they incorrectly set up my user name as “Anthony A Harris”. They are working on fixing it. On lunch, my Office Buddy introduced me to several other people in the office. About half of the office is comprised of secondees. It is apparently a popular destination. Most of the secondees are from the UK. I am only one of two from the US. My Staff Development Manager, my Staff Development Partner, my Office Buddy, and my primary working manager are all from the UK. Most of the people I was introduced to are also from the UK. I thought the Australian accent was a bit difficult, but it turns out that the UK is much worse. I have no idea what most of them said.
Kristi got in touch with CBRE Australia and set up an interview with them for next Monday, which is very cool. Kristi also continued to help wrap up open items with regard to our lease, etc.
We left the Portland airport on April 27th and flew to L.A. We had a 4-hour layover there and then we headed to Melbourne. It was a 15 1/2 hour flight. Anthony was worried about not being able to sleep, but we each took an Advil PM about 3 hours into the flight and were able to sleep (on and off) for 8-9 hours. It worked perfectly! The flight was smooth and went better than we expected.
We took a cab to our hotel (where we stayed for the first 2 weeks). It was in Southbank, along the Yarra River. It was a really pretty place to stay. Our room wasn't ready when we got there, so we did a little "exploring" around. Here are a few pictures we took that day. 
Our friends from church: Ricky & Liz, John & Siobhan, Jen & Zach (and their baby Elijah) all came out to help us. Once we were finished, we all went out for pizza! My friend, Jeni, joined us for pizza. It was nice to spend our last evening with such great friends!!
The next morning, we drove to Vancouver for the week before flying to Australia. We had a great time visiting with our family and friends there.
Then, we were off! Our crazy adventure has officially begun!
