Hello from Oz!

Hi everyone. Ive had a week with no internet (and a week with no LSB!!![!]) but have now got that sussed

I arrived in Melbourne Monday morning no problems, but realised very quickly that my pack was far too heavy when I walked nearly 2km in the wrong direction looking for my accommodation.....lesson learnt!

Melbourne is a great city, crazy amount of people in a small area though, and if you dont know where your going (like me) its very easy to get tangled up in it all! Took me a little while to figure out the trams, and that the old shitty ones are free, and the nice new ones cost money (surprise surprise), but was quite good once I figured that out. They cruise around the city and somehow cars dont seem to get in their way (think railway tracks down the middle of the road with no barriers of any sort). I dont think it would work it Auckland, to many people would die!

Where im living has been a pleasant 23 degrees since I arrived, although a little bit of rain this morning but has cleared again. Im surprised at how wet everything is here, the ground is saturated and there are little lakes everywhere. Apparently its been ten years or so since it has been this wet, although is already drying out fast.

The social life is better than I expected. For those who have seen the movie "The Castle", I am living about 10 minutes from Bonnie Doon, which has a really good pub. Seems to be reasonably busy most nights of the week! Mansfield which is slightly further up the road has a few good bars in it as well.

Wildlife here is crazy, Cockatoos everywhere, and saw my first Wombat yesterday - picture a big sack of patatoes, bouncing across a paddock, and you have a wombat. The locals tell me they are tough creatures though, and not to hit one in my car as its like running over a block of concrete! Lots of Kangaroos as well, saw a couple bouncing across my lawn yesterday so that was cool, although they are considered a pest out here as there is so many!

I havnt had a chance to take any photos yet, but will flick some through when I can. Hope all is well back in NZ!

Trams used to go down the middle of the road in auckland. tkf

Hey FM - having been overseas myself (Aus & Thailand) for nearly a month, have I missed something? Is this a holiday or the big OE? Years since I was in Melbourne. Tend to head for the Northern beaches of Sydney where I have family.

glad things are going good there fencerman
Have a couple of beers for me // lol and some prawns on the Barbie

Once you understand the difference between a schooner and a pony, you will fit right in.

Have fun Shaun - I love Melbourne, my sis and dad are there now and if I could not live in the Wairarapa or Welly it would be Melbourne!

Great to hear from you, Fencerman. Please keep the news coming. As I said, I worked at Mt Buller up beyond Mansfield, Merrijig etc.

Lots of pics please & do tell us about your work & where that is.

Thanks.

I love Melbourne too...and the trams are great. I suspect you're right about Auckland drivers though [}]

BTW - it's 23C here too

Keep posting to let us know how you're getting on...

Di, Shaun has taken a job with a contracting company. Read more here

Wow, what an adventure, our little boy has all growed up.

Thanks Kate - have fun Shaun!

Guess you're familiar with the Aussie fencing style of threading the wires through holes drilled in the posts, which intrigued us on our travels there.

I'm told that it was to prevent 'roos popping all the staples when they hit a fence at full tilt but the thing that puzzled me was how fencers threaded barbed wire through post after post without getting totally frustrated by all the snagging that would occur :confused:

Was it the 'roo thing or were staples just not available or prohibitively expensive in days past? And yes it would suck like a black hole threading barbed wire through the posts, not to mention drilling all the holes with a brace and bit or a hand auger.