Mozzeenet

I’ve been in Melbourne for 3 days now and everything has been going well. It was a hectic week before leaving Sydney but a great one seeing friends at various social outings. The removalists came and picked up my stuff on Wednesday and everything went smoothly up to my departure on Thursday night.

Andrew picked me up at the airport. The plane was early and I must have looked a little forlorn, dragging my backback along the floor because it was quite heavy. My face lit up when I saw him, he said. That wasn’t just because of the backpack!

Friday was my first “proper” day of work and it went really well - I’m working with a great bunch of people and I’m interested in the work. There’s a lot to do which keeps it interesting.

Have had a great weekend hanging out with Andrew. We went to Brunetti (of course) for coffee and biscotti on Friday night with his Mum. Saturday we drove around to look at some places for me to move into for 6 months. We only saw two and they weren’t right for me. For the other two, the real estate agents didn’t turn up. Gotta love that! I will continue the search. I did manage to buy a bed in a sale though and arranged a good deal for renting a fridge yesterday. As I don’t have a place, I am thinking of setting up a tent beside the Yarra. I will at least be able to sleep well and have a coldie!

In the mean time, Andrew is looking after me very well. We had a nice lamb curry last night which he cooked and some dessert wine for afters and laughed maniacally watching previews of the Kath and Kim telemovie which is on tomorrow night.

Today we started off as I mean to go on - having breakfast in a chocolate shop just up the road! They make their own chocolates and sweet treats. After that we headed into the city to the Mercat Cross Hotel where Stuart works and had a second breakfast of eggs, bacon, baked beans etc (whiffy). We checked out the Queen Victoria Markets, saw some camels and a South American band.

We then headed over to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image to see an exhibition on Stanley Kubrick which was really interesting. They had screenplays, photos, Kubrick’s notes and excerpts from the films. They also had props and models as well as mini-documentaries.

After that we went for a bit of a sunday drive along the road past Port Melbourne, St Kilda, Brighton and Sandringham where we saw a whole bunch of kite surfers (don’t mean to give you nightmares, Fiona). It was a sunny day so really nice to be out and about.

Now I’m just preparing my footy franks and Tia Maria for the Kath and Kim telemovie. Greasch.

Well that’s a bit of an inflammatory title isn’t it! I am becoming controversial in my old age. It was recently all over the media about a so-called attack in Byron Bay on Rex Hunt, the television celebrity fisherman. It was reported that the town has become hostile to outsiders and dangerous. As a place which has been known as a retreat for people living alternative lifestyles and with a relaxing, holiday atmosphere, this caused a bit of a sensation.

First of all, Rex’s allegations were revealed to be rather exaggerated and it emerged that there were two sides of the story with Rex’s party being equally aggressive and insulting towards the people involved although the Hunts have denied this. There have been no police reports made so the validity of the claims is questionable. Apparently the cut on Rex’s head which there was a huge photo of published on News.com.au was from his wife’s stiletto which she threw at the youths!

I’ve been visiting Byron for the past ten years or so and during that time, it has never been the alternative, hippie backwater which it probably was in earlier times. It has always been swarming with backpackers and other tourists in the Summer. You can understand why the locals get sick of that especially those who have lived there for a long time. There is also a high unemployment rate and it must be discouraging for young people who live there to see all these rich people (houses are leased out for thousands of dollars a week in the Summer) when they don’t even have access to jobs. Apparently most real estate purchases there are by people from Sydney.

It certainly isn’t a dangerous hotspot for violence and crime. Apparently some people have cancelled their plans to go there in the holidays. I was there last weekend with Andrew visiting Mum and I want to refute Rex’s claims by describing some of the wonderful activities we enjoyed while visiting.

First off there are some great places to dine and wine at. On Friday night, we visited the Balcony which serves tapas until 11pm and has a very convivial atmosphere. Our waiter was a Chilean man with a fantastic sense of humour and also very efficient. The roasted field mushrooms and haloumi tapas were great. We had a bottle of wine which was on the expensive side. It is nice sitting out on the balcony. It’s also open just for having drinks.

At home, Mum had a treat for us. It happened to be my birthday the day before (had a wonderful birthday celebration in Sydney too) and Mum had picked up a delicious flourless orange and chocolate cake i.e. jaffa flavours. Yum!

On Saturday night, we went to Muoi’s Feast, one of Mum’s favourites. It had superb food ranging from Asian flavours to modern Australian, at very reasonable prices. The service there was also excellent. It was bookings only that night, no walk-ins off the street which shows how popular it is. It’s also quite unassuming and casual - no airs and graces.

Sunday was fantastic. We did the walk up to the lighthouse which is a must when visiting Byron. The view from on high over the ocean and surrounding beaches is magnificent. It’s a circular walk, one side winding up through the bush with wild turkeys wandering around and the other winding down past the beaches and coast. We saw about four water dragons too hiding in the brush on the way down.

At the bottom, we walked down onto a beach and had a gorgeous swim in clear, blue and warm water. There weren’t many people swimming in that spot (unlike city beaches which are crowded). It was so relaxing paddling in the calm waters. The waves were only small. I like the surf like that, so calm and peaceful.

That night we enjoyed a delicious BBQ. How much better does it taste after a long walk and swim. Andrew did a sterling job of cooking it and chopping the wood beforehand.

The drive to Byron from the Gold Coast is only 45 minutes now which is so convenient. Pity about Jetstar. I don’t have much good to say about that airline. I much prefer Virgin Blue any day. Jetstar was cramped, delayed and the boarding process is like cattle herding. Awful. That’s for another rant though!

The biggest recent news for me is my imminent departure from Sydneyland to Melbourne town. I have been looking for jobs over the past few months with the aim of joining Andrew by the end of this year and in the last fortnight, it all came to fruition. I landed a great 6 month contract with the Victorian government developing content for a website used by community agencies.

It’s exciting thinking about where to live and planning the move although there is heaps to do and it is very hectic. Due to the urgency of the project, I had to give short notice to my work in Sydney and come down to Melbourne for a couple of days this week to get up to speed on what needs to be done before moving down permanently next week. The removalists are coming to pick up my stuff next week too.

It’s a bizarre feeling moving away from Sydney where I’ve been for the past 16 years. It will be sad to leave behind friends and my life there but the good thing is it’s easy to visit regularly. I’m all disorientated at the moment too with all the flying around. Sometimes I have to stop and think for a few seconds to remember which city I am in and where I am going.

It’s amazing that it has all come together. I wasn’t sure when the right opportunity would come up but it is fabulous that it has so quickly and it will be so much fun exploring the new city with Andrew and getting to know the different interesting places here.