Thursday 27th April, Marconi Ericsson Celebration Event
Kelly and I had an invite to go to the Hush Bar, Level 3, Melbourne Central Shopping Centre with the rest of the team. It had been arranged to celebrate the joining of former Marconi staff and to officially welcome them to Ericsson.
Free food and drink we decided that it would be good to go along and socialise. The photo is a couple of the lads I work with - Andrew and Branko.
Well it was a good evening, but far too much to drink!! Oh and don't ever agree to skulling! My boss was very keen that we 'skulled'-Basically downing your drink in one..so struggled getting up this morning as you all know what a lightweight I am..and been struggling all morning!! Good job that we had free pizzas in the office at lunchtime though I did avoid having the beer or wine!
Tuesday 25th April, Anzac Day - My Birthday!!!
Day off for my Birthday - Well - For Anzac Day really!
On Monday I’d contacted Julie and Craig, Spencers friends (thank you Spencer x). I arranged to meet them at the railway station in Newport (near Williamstown). They were lovely, also met up with some of their friends, Sandra and Jim. Spent the afternoon in the pub and also got some food. Had an enjoyable day and they really made me feel at home. I arrived back at my apartment early evening. Chatted to mum and dad were at Monkey World. Thank you for the txt messages I received, definitely appreciated when you are miles from home and make you feel that you haven’t been forgotten.
Monday 24th April
Usual day at work, started the Telstra Induction Course.
In the evening went to the gym, unfortunately the Jacuzzi closed for maintenance, hopefully not for to long!
Txt from James (backpacker from weekend) to say they were definitely going out and if I wanted to join them. Wandered along to the Backpacker hostel 8.30pm. 6 of us went out – 2 German girls. The other lads were called Tom and Matt, real youngsters! Tom was only 19..really impressed that they were off travelling on their own.
James had a pack of playing cards of different bars to visit Melbourne ($10). The bars in Melbourne are not easy to find and if it was the UK you would never enter them, they are all up back alleys and shady looking doorways that lead either up or downstairs. I can only remember the name of a few of them, La La Land, Mur Mur, The Golden Monkey and a Russian bar, one drink in each. Just after midnight I told them it was my birthday and they all sang Happy Birthday to me. At 3.30am we were hungry and ended up in MacDonald – And how bizarre is this bumped into a lad from work!! I ended up going to bed about 4am after opening my Birthday present from mum and dad and my cards. Thank you x
Koala & Kangaroo Photos
Melbourne Sky Line
Photo taken from Highway on way back to city after trip. My apartment is next to the building virtually in the centre of this photo. This build is also where I thought I would be working, until I found out I was out at Broadmeadow. Oh and Broadmeadow, well I’ve been advised it’s were the Melbourne Mafia recruit! Don’t worry we are using a pool car to get to and from work to avoid having to walk around the area.
Sunday 23rd April, The Grampians
Woken up at 6.10am to the sound of lots of Cockatoos creating the morning chorus! Left the lodge at 8am – Drove in to the Grampians to see the Mackenzie Falls. The walk to the falls had only recently been re-opened as the Grampians had suffered a massive Bush fire back in January, caused by lightening. A lot of the trees were blackened but there was new green re-grow. The falls were pretty and no tourist, probably due to the fact that we were there so early. Though the weather for the day started off promising unfortunately the fog came into the mountains which meant we could not see anything from the view points, which was obviously a little disappointing. Instead we went the Cultural Centre just outside Halls Gap. After this we went for lunch whilst our guide dropped off 4 of the girls for a bus to Adelaide. To make up for missing some of the tour we dropped into a winery (Bests, EST 1866). We arrived back to Melbourne at just gone 5.
Saturday 22nd April Great Ocean Road
Booked a 2 day trip through
http://www.ecoplatypustours.com/ to visit the Great Ocean Rd and the Grampians National park
Early start, waiting for mini-bus at 6.30am. Definitely interesting the characters that you see wandering home at that time in the morning. Only 8 people on the tour, 7 girls (German, Japanese, Italian & English) and one lad from Leeds. I believe that over the 2 days we travelled 600km. (
http://www.greatoceanrd.org.au/)
Slightly disappointed that unable to visit Bell Beach due to the recent Rip Curl Pro surfing competition. However some terrific views along the Coastal road. Visited a rain forest and also an area where we went wild koala hunting, how cool was that! As it was lunchtime and they’d been snacking all morning they were very lazy but managed to get a couple of photos….and avoided being wee’d on! lol
Then travelled further down the coast to the Twelve Apostles, (see highlights page on above website) of which there are now only eight, the others having collapsed into the sea over time. Several of us decided to take up the helicopter flight to see them from the sky as it wasn’t that expensive, it was well worth the money.
We then went and visited some of the bays we’d seen from the sky by bus. As usual took lots of photos! After this we travelled on to “Halls Gap” in the Grampians to stay at a back packers lodge, arrived at about 7pm (
http://www.visithallsgap.com.au/). Just like someones house..well it was but converted for backpackers. Shared a dorm with the two Italian girls. $22 for the night plus $8 for evening meal. After dinner we all went out..not to go partying or drinking, but to go Kangaroo hunting!! Our guide advised us that if we went to any of the grassed areas in the town and looked near the street lights we would find Kangaroos just wandering around. We could get up really close to them, closer than you would in a zoo and they never minded the flashed going off from the cameras. There was also a paddock next to our accommodation where wild deer seemed to be just chilling out. As these were a lot more nervous we didn’t take photos.
For those that are wondering...
...I have started work, though at present it seems to be a bit slow going...have done one induction course and to do another for Telstra, once my username and password arrives.
In an office about 25 minutes from accomodation, we are borrowing a pool car to get back and forth. I'm letting Kelly drive! Avoiding highways as you have to pay tolls.
Tomorrow should be a bit more interesting as have a training course on using the planning tool.
Managed to logon to MSN at work however will only catch people online if you are up very late (after about 11.30pm) or early morning (about 7am - 8am when I'd be leaving the office)
I hope that everyone is well and it is great to hear from you - especially the txt messages and comments on here.
Puffing Billy, Yarra Valley & Healesville
8am start, met tour at the Marriott Hotel, a 5 minute walk from the apartments. Good weather though not that warm. Steam train trip as fun, roast lunch at the Fergusson Winery then off to the Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary. Saw lots of Aussie animals! Kangaroos, wombats, platypus…
Easter Sunday
Weather still very cloudy. Opened my Easter Ducks from mum and dad. Decided to keep up the good work and went to the gym then used the Jacuzzi. Booked a trip for tomorrow and went through all the leaflets to decided what I’d spend my weekends doing. Then went out for the afternoon to the Melbourne Museum (
http://www.melbourne.museum.vic.gov.au/ ) and afterwards the IMAX Theatre. Watched “Deep Sea-3D”(
http://www.imaxmelbourne.com.au/ ). Oh and got 4 little Easter eggs from the hotel!
Saturday 15th April
Woke up at 5am, read my book, got up had breakfast, went to gym (7am). Popped to shops for a few things. Bucketing with rain so just like England! Wandered round shops, sorted out mobile phone for Oz (SIM provided by work). Went to library, closed due to the bank holiday, bizarrely appears to be open Easter Sunday. I decided to go the Aquarium as weather not good, showers then clear. Not worth trying to go on a day trip. Enjoyable afternoon spent at the Aquarium and took lots of fishy photos!
Good Friday
Got up late and decided not to rush in to sightseeing - After all going to be here a while! Went for a walk round block, wandered down to the aquarium and picked up lots of leaflets on things to do around Melbourne. Weather was sunny but clouded over. Had a coffee at Federation Square where it proceeded to bucket down. April showers! Felt odd seeing the leaves falling off the trees after leaving the UK and the tree just sprouting. So wandered back to the hotel to relax in the Jacuzzi and then went out for something to eat with Kelly, Adrian and Chris Vietnamese restaurant, early night though as still very tired. I’ve not really suffered from jet lag.
First Post in Melbourne
Sorry that I’ve taken so long to post but not had any internet access. Arrived last Wednesday, about 4pm (Australian time) 210c. Out flight had been delayed in Dubai due to fog! Shattered after the flight, must have been watching all those movies… all those films I’d meant to watch but had never quite got round to!
Went to bed virtually straight away – And slept for nearly 12 hours. Office (or so we thought) was only a 5 minutes stroll from our apartment building. We went to work for 9am Thursday. Everyone in office seemed friendly, given a SIM card for work phone so to go and buy cheap PAYT. Found out that Kelly and myself were actually to be based out at Broadmeadow which wasn’t as close to the apartment – A 20 minute taxi drive…at present we don’t know how we are going to get to the office each day as it is a rough area. We could get the train but once we get to the station in Broadmeadow there is either a 20 minute walk or bus trip, though we’ve been advised that this could be a bit dodgy! First few days to get a taxi until something sorted. Oh and met up with Phil Sullivan in the office, he was really helpful and just a bit surprised to see us.
Thursday Evening – Met up with a few of Kelly’s friends, went for dinner and to a few different bars. Good evening and everyone very friendly. Adrian might even be going to work at same offices as myself. Quite a late night considering!!
Change of Plans
So nothing is straightfoward! I am no longer going to Sydney to work..I'm now going to Melbourne. Not certain how they made the mistake but never mind, I now need to read up on Melbourne. Also not certain how easy surfing will be in Melbourne (Yes I know I'm really going there to work). When I get there my office is on the 37th floor, so I think I will be taking the lift.
The following link is for my accommodation whilst there :
http://www.somersetonelizabeth.com/home.htmAccording to the information about the hotel there is broadband access in every room, so I hope that I can work out how to use it.
My flight - Unfortunately they were unable to change the flight from Sydney, this means that we will have to take an internal flight to Melbourne, but I think Kelly has got a friend in Melbourne who will be able to pick us up at the airport rather than us catching a taxi which will be cool.
Flight Booked!!
Well at last!
Flight booked for Monday evening(10th), flying with Emirates via Dubai. Arrive in Sydney 6.05am on the 12th and presumably straight in to the office! How scary is that! Looking forward to it really. ..
Now looking forward to a busy weekend catching up with everyone before I go...and sorting out that packing.
Thank you for all your comments, hopefully I'll be able to keep this updated..depending on my internet access of course..
Australia At Last!
It feels like I've been waiting forever..well 5 weeks really! So this morning had it confirmed that the purchase order had been signed and I was finally going to be off to Sydney!
Now..well now waiting on details of when I will be flying out! Lets hope that doesn't take so long..
I'll be flying from Heathrow...hopefully!
So as promised I've set up this blog to keep you informed on how my six weeks in Oz is progressing...I'll also try to post photos..
