Thoughts from working and travelling outside the USA
We were lucky to be able to attend both years we were in Australia - First in 2024 when we lived across the street in St. Kilda and in 2025 we returned from Perth for Sharon's birthday and a final goodbye to Melbourne friends. 2024 If you have had a chance to watch a bit... Continue Reading →
In our last couple of weeks we visited some interesting places in Melbourne Went to the coolest street in the world (according to TimeOut magazine) – it was far from it. Not even top 5 coolest in Melbourne. Need to investigate criteria. Halloween in Port Melbourne – really just starting to be a tradition in... Continue Reading →
This is my last blog from Melbourne, at least on this assignment. My 6 month assignment ended by lasting about a year and a half – but luckily Sharon was able to come with me and it been a great experience for both of us. Melbourne is truly one of the great cities of the... Continue Reading →
AFL Finals Returned to Melbourne at the start of spring – mostly gray days with spectacular sunny days mixed in. The main activity in Melbourne in September is the AFL finals – start with 8 teams and then a weekly playoffs until the Grand Final and with 8 teams in metro Melbourne, usually a lot... Continue Reading →
One thing that we like about Melbourne is that there is always an event happening, similar to larger cities like LA and London, every week there is some event – many unexpected. I think it is because Melbourne is so remote, people don’t have the opportunity to go other places and focus on making Melbourne... Continue Reading →
Spent the last 3 weeks focused on work and doing activities on weekends that Sharon wouldn’t be as interested in doing and keeping up with Euro 2024. Weather has been OK – highs in the 40s-low 50s, sunny and little wind – much better than a December in DC. My first visit was to the... Continue Reading →
Sharon headed back to the US for a bit as my end date keeps moving around and she had places to be and people to see in the US and will be back in early July. When I told a couple of co-workers that Sharon was having to leave summer and spending time out with... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
When I told people that I was moving to, or later that I lived in, St. Kilda, I always got a reaction: Cool, edgy, dangerous, overrun by homeless and drugs, near beach, used to be nice, is nice, lots of hookers, good restaurants and entertainment, crappy food, cute for an Expat, and many other adverbs.... Continue Reading →
We have made it to the Mornington Peninsula 3 times, once coming back from the Great Ocean Road via ferry, a day trip, and a long weekend. The Mornington Peninsula almost encloses the bay on which Melbourne is located with Port Phillip Bay on one side and the Bass Strait (part of the Great Southern... Continue Reading →
We had a short weekend trip to western Victoria which was something that I needed to do for work anyway. We visited the Grampians National Park and Ballarat. The Grampians is a mountain range that literally pops up in an otherwise flat area and has a lot of natural beauty with lakes and waterfalls and... Continue Reading →
Week 521 - 10 years and one week after I moved to Korea and started my blog…2014 was such simpler times . I finally got my visa sorted a couple of weeks later than planned - at the end of the day Australia basically takes off the period from mid-December to end of January and... Continue Reading →
We did limited research for Wilsons Prom - mostly in the car driving. It seemed that most the hikes at Wilsons Prom were 10 miles plus – it is a destination for multi-day hiking trips. So we thought we would settle for beaches where you could park and have a short walk to the beach.... Continue Reading →
After we swapped Annelise for Mary, the pace quickened. Mary and Sharon went to Sydney and we were supposed to do the Great Ocean Road tour on the next Saturday. But it rained – so we changed the plan to go to Philip Island and Wilsons Promontory. Mary booked two tours – one was a... Continue Reading →
The visits from the USA continued – As Steph and Anish left, Annelise arrived on their plane and then 10 days later, Annelise left and Mary arrived on her plane. The United Visa Explorer mileage promotion working out well for people coming to Australia. Annelise prefer hanging out around Melbourne than travelling within Australia -... Continue Reading →
We got lucky in that Paul McCartney decided for another tour down under and we were able to get tickets. The concert was at Marvel Stadium - the second biggest stadium in Melbourne after the Melbourne Cricket Grounds but it was similar in that it was a round field much bigger than a U.S. stadium.... Continue Reading →
After some quality time in the US, we returned to Melbourne and moved into our AirBNB in St. Kilda. St. Kilda is about 3 miles from the CBD but is considered a suburb (pretty much everything outside the CBD is a suburb) and our AirBNB is between the beach town and Albert Park. I had... Continue Reading →
The Great Ocean Road is one of the iconic sites in Australia. The road starts about an hour from Melbourne to the start of the road and it goes along the southern coast of Australia for about 150 miles and is similar to the Pacific Coast Highway in California. Its about 3 hours to get... Continue Reading →
Sharon has arrived so less time to write blogs (which is a good thing). We have been spending time walking around town and getting her acclimated with the Women’s World Cup. Even without the WWC Cup, this is a very busy time of the year in Australia in Sport. The night of the first Australian... Continue Reading →
After a full week back in the USA visiting my parents in Branson and having our going away/Sharon retirement outing in the neighborhood, I flew back to Melbourne. A common theme was “isn’t this your 3rd or 4th going away - you keep coming back”. And I will again. Sharon comes over next week –... Continue Reading →
On my first Saturday night, we decided to go we a Australian Rules Football game – “footie”. All I remember from when it was on ESPN in the 1980s is the signal for a goal by a guy in a white outfit. It seems many people have the same, and only, recollection. We picked Richmond... Continue Reading →
Started a six month assignment in Melbourne, Australia – the assignment materialized pretty quickly and I’ll return back to my old position by the end of the year. Sharon will be joining me for a good portion for the time so it will be a good opportunity for both of us to see a part... Continue Reading →