Day Seven - One Week Down!
This week has really flown by. Probably because we have been very busy getting our home sorted, and seeing a few people in the slow trickle of welcome meet-up's that will happen for a few weeks to come.
Our couch and armchair arrived, and DocCoffee, who could also be known as DIYGuru, assembled our tv cabinet, a set of drawers and a side-table from Target, and so now everything has a place and I can pretend I'm much neater than I actually am! Remembering to put things away after using them is definitely not my strong point!
I opened a bank account and tried to register for Medicare but the queues were crazy, so we met my sister-in-law for a sweet treat at the infamous Brunettis on Lygon street. The place is filled with pastries and cakes of all sizes and descriptions, and you really can get lost in there if you don't keep your wits about you. Plus, there are some gorgeous Italian men, accent and all, serving you and making you coffee. They're dressed like secret agents in black and white, complete with obvious ear-pieces, and move seamlessly between the tables packed with people getting high on sugar. It's pretty magical.
On Saturday we went to see a movie in the city. Now one of the Aussie favourites at the cinema is a choc-top: a dollop of ice-cream in a cone, covered in chocolate and served frozen in a plastic packet. Can you believe that one of these babies is approximately R58?? Yeesh. But seeing as it was my first trip as a resident, we indulged. They are delicious. And very satisfying, especially if you manage not to get chocolate all over your clothes while eating it in the dark.
That night we went to a 30th birthday party at a cute place in Carlton called Wolf's Lair, which had a gorgeous little rooftop "garden" bar, where the birthday people were mingling and looking glamorous.
Sadly, within an hour the hugest rain storm known to man had decended on us, and we were ushered inside just in time, to a weird little room decorated with Navy memorabilia and a string of flags that included the old South African flag. A bizarre reminder of home in such a trendy spot in Melbourne.
A far more pleasant reminder of home came yesterday when I met up with some Cape Town friends who moved here a few years ago. I took my first solo tram trip through to St Kilda to meet them, we had a lovely catch-up coffee and I glimpsed the Melbourne sea. The trams really are a huge novelty for me here. I'm so thrilled by the idea of not driving. Now I just need to remember to take my Kindle or ipod to pass the time, like a real Melbournian, and it will look as if I've lived here for ages!