Hey everyone Well we have arrived in Oz and have settled in nicely. Our top priority upon arrival was to secure a roof over our heads. We did that nicely, by getting the first place we applied for. We love our little flat. It's in a nice location too, in Richmond, one of the subarbs that's quite close to the CBD. James is still job hunting as, u...

Wet and windy is the order of the day for Melbourne, and we are feeling quite cold! but hey! We drove passed Melbourne to Phillip Island which is famous for the little penguins who march up the beach on a nightly basis. The Island now connected to Australia by bridge once had beaches full of nesting penguin but sadly the likes of us gawping tour...

And alas thus ends our travels! What an adventure it has been with travel to 11 countries using 8 different currencies and trying to communicate across a language barrier in six different ways. The fascination has been with observing the people interacting with each other and ourselves with their different cultural backgrounds and language skill...

Yes, it's my last day of work here and not for the first time in the last 12 months, I'm handing back an ID badge and being escorted from the premises. It's pity to be leaving as the work is easy, the money's good and there's work for another 6 weeks but hey ho, when you gotta go etc etc. I was also contacted by another agency in Sydney today wh...

Australia is a surprising place. As much as Americans think of Australia as a vast emptiness with roos and koalas, there are some strange remnants of English society here. Before living here I would didn't know the meaning of the words: cup eve, quinella, facinator and Makybe Diva. I never would have guessed that in Australia the whole nation (o...

A 7 hour flight from Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne is in Southern Australia - a chilly place to spend a few August days after being on the equator for a few months. Melbourne's streets are filled with trams and pedestrians. Getting around town is easy thanks to the City's network of trams, subways and busses. Its a beautiful city offering beaches, one...

It's been two weeks since my last journal and I have had quite an adventure in that time (that sounds like the start of my confession..."it's been two weeks since my last confession Father..."). In my last journal, I ended by saying that the next time I would write I would be employed hopefully in the coffee making business. Well the good news i...

Ok...so just to let you all know...NZ makes you pay an exiting fee to leave their country! I couldn't believe it myself...it's quite ridiculous actually. Hard an ohhh sooo much fun time packing and re-packing my bags at the ticket counter at the airport. Apparently you are only allowed 7Kgs (15.5 lbs) of luggage with you in the main cabin of the...

Rich and Al and I have this one day to figure out Melbourne, really soak up its character, so we start out early (for us, so think noonish) and stay out late. We ride a tram into the city. The boys don't pay, because Laurence told us that we shouldn't, because we're not Australian. I do pay because I already tried that trick on the way to the fo...