Day one in Melbourne
14 April 2011
We’re at the end of our first full day in Melbourne. It’s 6.36pm and we’re about to head out for dinner. The jet lag is almost kicking in but we feel we’ve had a fairly productive day.
Getting through customs & immigration was quick & painless. We hopped in a cab to head to our apartment and, about 45 minutes and $60 later, we were at our temporary home for two months. We met a man from the apartment leasing company and were escorted to the 24th floor. What greeted us when we opened the door was nothing short of amazing. We’re in an awesome ‘executive’ apartment, complete with two balconys, tons of light and a great view north-east over the skyline of Melbourne. We quickly unpacked, showered and headed out to explore Melbourne.
We wandered into the CBD around noon, keeping a mindful eye on where we were within the CBD in relation to the bank branch we had an appointment at 3.30pm at. We spent a few hours wandering around, taking in the sights & sounds, and generally getting a feel for the place. The CBD in particular is a busy place — the last time I visited was a Saturday, so I felt it was busy but perhaps not surprisingly so given that it was a weekend. We wandered out around lunchtime so the place was filled with workers going about their lunch-hour business.
We enquired about getting mobile phones and were subsequently depressed when it transpired we’d need 100 ‘points’ in ID documentation and a credit check. To be honest the pre-pay phone option just fills me with dread, given what we went through with our Nokia Brickshits when we first arrived in the US, so we’re going to gather all the paperwork saying we’re honourable British citizens and take it in again tomorrow. The only question is whether we go with Telstra or Vodafone — it may just depend on who can offer us a deal.
We eventually wound our way to the branch which was packed — nothing unusual in that, according to the very nice lady who activated our accounts. We ordered debit cards (Sap went for pink which made her day) and applied for credit cards (I assume that the idea of ‘building’ one’s credit exists and is a good thing in Oz — finding information online about just how it works is kinda tricky). Then we wandered back to our home, bought a few bits & pieces (including a box of wine — got to celebrate the first day) and have been chilling for the past few hours.
We’re about to head out for dinner to try & stave off jet lag for a little longer, but I think we’ll be snoring by 9pm.