Adventureland Melbourne – Page 4 – Harriet's and Michael's new adventures on the other side of the world

Since Harriet spent the last weekend of February in New Zealand, I had the opportunity to geek-out and take my camera for a ride across town. My partner in crime for all things photography-related is Philli. She has a good heart, a good eye and an excellent shutter finger. All three come in handy for a photo walk.

Our assignment for the day was to take pictures of street art. Melbourne is supposed to be the capital of street art in Australia. According to the Wikipedia:

Throughout the 1970s and 80s much of the city’s disaffected youth were influenced by the graffiti of New York which subsequently became popular in Melbourne’s inner suburbs and along suburban railway and tram lines. Melbourne was one of, perhaps the first, major city to embrace stencil art, leading to the naming of Melbourne as the “Stencil Graffiti Capital” and increasing public awareness of the concept of street art.

It’s been a few months since this “We’re moving to Melbourne” ball got rolling, and it feels like it might slowly be coming to a stop. Michael and I have a fixed abode again and we have landed in Port Melbourne. Soon our container of stuff will arrive from Germany and we will do some mad before-and-after shots and our new apartment will seem oddly familiar with old furniture.

It has been a busy couple of months since we packed up from Munich. Halle and Leipzig with Trudy seems an age ago and our holiday to Egypt a warm memory. It was sad to say goodbyes in London and Bremen but then we flew into summer, a wedding and New Years and then a New Life in Melbourne, the excitement and adrenalin pushing us forward.

The most surprising part of relocating has been realising our network in Melbourne is already pretty extensive through friends, friends-of-friends and potential friends lurking around many corners. We have been settling in at a crazy pace with The Tennis, walks, moonlight movies, tours, mykis, South Melbourne markets, swims, byo dumplings, barbies, runs, flat whites and mangoes.

I start university on February 25 so I have a couple more weeks of freedom. I’m looking for some part time work but no luck so far. I’m excited about going back to university and being in schools and giving teaching my 100%. I still have my uncertainties, but it definitely feels like the right place and time to be studying again in a new and exciting direction. This is the theoretical happy pre-class me!

Life Admin has become a full time job and I have lots of new stuff like a bank account, a library card and an Aussie phone number. Hopefully soon I should get a tax file number, a medicare card and a Working With Children Card. Driver’s Licence, student ID and internet still on the To-Do list. Tomorrow we should get a telephone line (the actual phone is in the container) and then internet in a couple of days. Ironies of ironies, Michael is still battling with Telstra to get a work mobile phone!

Integration this far has been fairly smooth: thongs go everywhere, sunscreen is the new moisturizer and I am happy to report an increase in the usage of Yummo, Defo and Arvo. Soon “Haitch” will slip out when I spell my name.