Settling back into Melbourne – it is late fall/early winter here now. Our new rental is in Port Melbourne and about a 3 minute bike ride to the beach – but it is really not beach weather and it is dark at 5pm. I have gone down a couple of times late at night when I get a notice of potential aurora – but I have not seen anything yet.
New Place to Live
We live about a 10 minute walk from a couple of high streets – which is a longer walk that you would expect given we don’t have a car. Additionally, there are some pubs/restaurants located in the neighborhood which are a bit closer and pretty upscale for pubs. I have found a bus that is better than the tram (the tram is 15 minute walk) so my door to door commute is about 20-25 minutes again. Pretty quiet area except our neighbor randomly puts a mannequin on their deck that has a Michael Myers mask. Scared Sharon one time as she thought it was some one just staring at people – and I didn’t believe they looked like Michael Myers – but then a couple of days later I saw it.
Ballarat
I had a work trip to Ballarat – it is where the gold was discovered in Victoria and one of the first goal discoveries in Australia. Unbelievably similar to a western USA gold rush town – they had replicate town (a less commercial version of Silver Dollar City) called Sovereign Hill. In addition to being the home of finding gold, Sovereign Hill was the site of a famous rebellion because of anger over mining licenses and was the start of the breakaway from England. We did the real gold mine tour and took a mining train car out – and speakers blared “Fire in the Hole”. Most of my co-workers had visited when they were in middle school – it was an annual school trip for year 8 in Victoria….the light show has improved quite a bit.
Administrative Challenges
I encountered a communication situation at work which reminded me of my time in South Korea – I was tapped on the shoulder by a co-worker and asked to walk with them. I was then informed that I had been randomly selected for a drug and alcohol test. No worries and I was led to a conference room and handed off to the medical technician. After I provided my information, I then stood up and asked for a cup and she said to sit down – the test is done here in the conference room and I cannot leave. After about 10 seconds, she looks at me as says “it is a mouth swab test”. I did the mouth swab and departed with no more words exchanged.
On the administrative side, I’m starting to work through the Australia temporary resident vortex. To get a medical card and access my online tax account, I needed a couple of forms of ID – and the only one readily available to obtain was a drivers license at the Victorian DMV. I needed 4 forms of ID to get a drivers license – one of which was proof of address. My AirBNB long term invoice was rejected and they suggested I open a bank account. I’m pretty burnt at this point as we are paying Australian taxes but no access to the benefits (or ability to actually file the taxes). As we walk out, the next office is a bank – a coincidentally a bank that Sharon recognizes as she had met the CEO via her US contacts for a coffee a couple of weeks earlier. But I handle it – I go in and advise I need a drivers license so I need to open a bank account. The bank teller says that is not their policy – they were about community and not transactional. Sharon does a little name dropping and next thing we know Mr and Mrs Cantrell are the newest Bank Australia members. We take the handwritten bank account form back to the DMV and they process with no problem. We get our drivers license a couple of weeks later as provisional – because we are taking medicine and need a doctor clearance to drive. At that point – didn’t care – got what I needed for my medical and tax situation and got us into the F1 for free on local day.
Lucky to have friends come through town as well – got to see St. Kilda at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in AFL and some good restaurants. Pictures attached.
