The Wattle
Ever wondered why Australian sports teams always wear dresses in green and yellow?
These colors don’t show up on the Australian flag or anything alike and I learned today where they come from ...
Actually the dresses are green and gold and the colors come from the Australian national flower, the wattle. The wattle is a bright yellow flower that comes in about 70 different kinds, some are small yellow balls with long or short leafs, some are rather cylindrical in shape.
Getting started in Melbourne right away!
Already at my first day in Melbourne I opened a bank account and the plan was also to buy a mobile phone. Nevertheless, I was piling up information on different mobile phone handhelds as well as different providers and plans, caps, prepaids, … The more information the more confusion - I finally ended up buying the cheapest handheld (Nokia :) available and adding a prepaid card.
The next point on my to-do list was to find an apartment … easier said than done!
Dealing with real estate agents here in Melbourne is one of the not-so-good experiences I got out of coming to Melb … They don’t seem to be interested in finally leasing a flat out, they never call back or answer any eMails, they even tell you wrong information about inspection times and apartment details … not so easy! However, keep fingers crossed it seems I’ve found an apartment – about 15 minutes on the bike or tram right opposite of a big part and – best of all – it has a small courtyard!
Keep you updated on what's going on with my to-be apartment ...
cu Birgit
... Hello Australia
Friday 4 August 2006 3.30pm - Vienna - 17 °C, slight rain:
leaving Vienna on Emirates Airlines and paying a fortune for 3kg excess baggage, about 5h flight to Dubai on a nearly empty plane where I had a row to myself
Friday 4 August 2006 11.30pm - Dubai - 37°C
arrival in Dubai, even though it was a quite big plane, we disembarked not via a gang-way but just through stairs and a bus. I guess you can imagine how this heat in the middle of the night upon leaving the plane hit me like a hammer ...
Saturday 5 August 2006 1am - Dubai, K-Porte Inn Hotel - 15°C
first thing upon arrival was changing the temperature in a freezing cold hotel room ... 22°C seem to be more reasonable than 15°C ...
Saturday 5 August 2006 - Dubai - ca. 45-50°C, bright sunshine
running round Dubai in the worst heat ever. Distances in Dubai are very big, even in the city center - I definitely underestimated that and was soaked in sweat soon. Frequent visits to different shopping malls cooled me down. Whole Dubai seems to be a construction area ... Dubai is definitely not among my favorite cities world-wide
Sunday 6 August 2006 11am - Dubai - still very hot and again bright sunshine
leaving Dubai, again on Emirates, I managed to change packing for not paying excess baggage again. ca. 13h flight to Melbourne the plane was full to the last seat. :( I was sitting next to Mark, a kiwi doing marketing for the Alinghi-team for the next America's Cup in Valencia, Spain.
Monday 7 August 2006 5.30am - Melbourne - 2°C, sunrise
arrival in Melbourne, gone through immigration and customs in no time.
!!! Special thanks to Robinette and Bob, for picking me up at the airport and showing me the ropes :)
Thanks to Thomas, my brother-in-law to make that contact :)
My life in Melbourne started at high speed right away …
Good Bye Europe ...
Dear all,
don't really know how to get started though I thought my farewell from Europe would be a good start ... it was really good to see all my friends and relatives once more before I headed off for Australia.
Beginning of July I spend about a week in Munich ... had a lot to do to meet everyone, had some good visits to the Biergarten, some coffees and lunches, and - of course - watched the soccer. Then I left to see my Granny in Metzingen and my aunt and uncle near Lake Constance.
Back in Vienna I had just about 2 weeks to clear my apartment and meet with all my friends there. To simplify that task I organized a farewell party on my last Saturday in town. Thanks to my family and lots of helping hands the party turned out to be a great success. We had a delicious BBQ and kept up the high spirits even when it started to rain ... it seems that's Murphy's law that it always starts to rain in dry periods on days where a summer party is going on ... never mind ... :) Thank all of you for coming and celebrating!:)
The Friday after this great party I had to say good bye to Vienna and headed off for Oz ...
Yet that's another story ...
cu
Birgit
Ever wondered why Australian sports teams always wear dresses in green and yellow?
