Exam Highlights

Writing exams and highlights hardly go together. But thankfully I passed the ones I wrote, I met up with lovely friends from Dunedin (the boys in the pic), made some new friends from Melbourne (the girls in the pic) and did a whizz tour through the Adelaide Hills and the Mclaren Vale (where we were too hungover to try any wine - but boy did we have a sumptious lunch).

I guess the other major highlight of being halfway through these exams is that Tim and I have survived them! I was fairly grumpy and on edge - to the point when he told me he preferred spending time with me when I was asleep! Hopefully the next lot will be more effortless..

What have we been up to?

Work and study - would have to be a big bulk of our time. Tim got a great job, 3,5km up the road, he wears jeans to work, they're teaching him loads, he's especially learning the art of elastic band flinging and ducking and moccachino drinking. In between he solves problems and swallows the urge to tell customers to bugger off. He's working in a swish building - doing customer support for the big boys who have Sun Microsystems - IBM, Melbourne Uni, ANZ etc. I am working in the Emergency Department of the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

We also get to chill at home a bit and do the odd bit of drinking - this photo was taken when Tim just got home for a night out on the raz - you'd never have guessed right?


Eating and cooking at home - been lovely to be creatinve in the kitchen after eating out for 2 months on our lovely holiday! Don't you love Tim's chef outfit - not that safe when cooking fried eggs.




Exploring on our bikes - luckily Tim knows what he's doing.. and he's getting really buff and full of muscle - YUM!











Setting up home - so many things to collect - this is my scrummy man putting the clothes horse together - isn't he lovely!













Enjoying the sights of Melbourne and still trying new things - this was Tim's first Ferris Wheel - you can tell he really took to it!



We've been up the coast a little - how gorgeous! This is the start of the Great Ocean Road - 1 hour up the coast form Melbourne. Getting to explore more in 2 weeks when our gorgeous buddies arrive from NZ!










Tim's been to the Grand Pris - it was just down the road and bloody noisy and exciting!

I also got to see some of it during a study break - by peering over the fence - like these other free loaders.

Checking in..

Hello everyone out there. Sorry it’s been so long - I have so much to say and no time to do it! For all those who are not sure – we are now in Melbourne. We’ve been living here since mid-January where our beautiful 2 month home trip ended.

We’ve got a lovely, albeit noisy 2 bedroom flat 3 blocks from the beach. The second bedroom is available for visitors – you’re welcome to come and stay! We had a crazy time finding this spot –we saw 36 flats in a week – and had to beat back all the other prospective tenants to have a good look around whichever place was open for inspection.

Life in Melbourne has been a whirlwind of admin, work, study and some small amount of exploring. Most of our explorations have been of the eating establishments – and boy are there some gorgeous places to eat out. Happily for us we have 2 scrummy places across the road – although there is a constant enticement for amazing desserts and homemade hashbrowns!

We have been cycling everywhere – it has been quite an education – neither of us had cycled in proper traffic before – and I have to cross town to get to work! It is quicker and more reliable than taking the tram or driving. It’s pretty funny some of the things we have transported. Tim lugged our new printer home on his back like some mutant ninja turtle. We literally stuffed a taxi full of bean bags – the driver couldn’t see out the rear windscreen and one of the bean bags was limiting his access to the gearstick. Thankfully he was an imported taxi driver – we reckon an original ozzie wouldn’t have transported us in such conditions! Anyway – 2 weeks ago – we turned all this cash into a car.. It’s the only photo we have – but please meet our lovely Fritz.












Speaking of taxi drivers - it's one thing we've noticed as an Australian peculiarity - they have no idea where they are going! We have to direct them on the whole - had to travel with a map in the beginning!

Other 3 photos - images of Melbourne.

It's good to be back.

XXX