Ticket to Ride, er, fly

Well, it's official. The Gray family departs January 8th, and arrives in Melbourne January 10th. We bought our (one-way) tickets just a few hours ago. We really wanted to travel a day earlier, so we'd arrive on a Sunday instead of Monday. But we also needed a direct flight. Not only because of the long travel time and not wanting to wear out the kids anymore than we need to, but because anticipate taking a good bit of luggage with us, and definitely don't want to have to worry about dealing with it and clearing customs in Sydney or Brisbane, and then flying to Melbourne. Unfortunately, the only direct flight available on the day we wanted was Qantas. They're using other planes, but from their website we couldn't confirm that the seats had individual entertainment systems at each (my United flight didn't). For a 15 hour flight, it makes the time go sooo much faster, especially when kids are involved, so we decided not to take the risk with Qantas.

Today we enjoyed our last Thanksgiving in the States for a while. Andy's Mom and Dad both came up from San Diego, and we had a lovely dinner (courtesy of Marjo and Sprouts market. Seriously, that was quite a deal, and so yummy. How pathetic is it that at my age I've never cooked a turkey? Don't answer that. But it was worth it to me to be able to play games with the family all day instead of spending it in the kitchen.)

Speaking of Thanksgiving, as we prepare for this incredible journey, I am especially thankful for the huge outpouring of love and support we've received from our friends and family. We couldn't do it without you, and it means more to me than you'll ever know.

The rest of the weekend will be spent at Alanna's softball tournament. Andy's dad is staying overnight so he'll finally get to see her play, which is great. We're also hoping to get some work done on the house. Two of the three bathrooms are done, one to go. Also looking forward to Saturday night, as my PSU friend Leslie is coming to visit along with her family. And of course, we need to get the Christmas decorations up. I wonder if I should bring them along? Ben and Annie, do people string lights up on their houses at Christmas time. Nevermind, I just remembered the electrical issues...Guess they'll go into storage.

Nothing else too much to report on the Australia front. I have been corresponding with another mom who's also moving to Melbourne in January with her two daughters (ages 2 and 5 though). She just came back from her scouting trip, so we were comparing notes. She actually visited two open houses, and her report terrifies me a bit. There were 65 rental applications turned in! The reason I worry is that it's going to be very important to get a rental in a good neighborhood, as the best public schools are impacted, and will only accept you if live in the designated zone. The zones are rather small, so even though we've identified a number of schools we'd be happy with, it's going to be difficult to get into those neighborhoods. Sensing my concern (okay, I flat out told him), Andy's allocating a day of his weeklong visit in December to visiting houses and applying if possible. It would be the best Christmas present for me if we could secure a house before we move. We'd be able to apply to the school, and wouldn't have to move twice or deal with temporary accommodations. Trying not to get my hopes up though.

Speaking of Andy, it's been really nice having him back home. He arrived last Friday, and the LA morning traffic gods smiled on us: we were able to get home by 9 am, in time to get to Alanna's school and see her accept an academic achievement award. Afterwards, we talked to another mom who was from Australia. In fact, they were just back there so that her husband could be inducted into the Australian music hall of fame! It was so interesting to talk to her. Finally, we surprised Aliya out on the playground at recess time. I didn't think she was ever going to let go of Andy. Needless to say, we're very happy he's home. And not just because he brought us four packages of Tim Tams!

For No One

well, maybe not no one...Random thoughts and comments for posterity and our four blog fans (you know who you are).

1. We got our visas! It's official, we can live in Australia until November, 2014.

2. "Three more sleeps" as they say in Australia, until Andy comes home. It hasn't been to bad for me, because we had a wonderful week together in Melbourne. The girls, however, are really missing their daddy. Skype is our new best friend, not to mention a great motivator: "Girls, get your jammies on and brush your teeth if you want to Skype Daddy..." and they're ready for bed in a jiffy! It's great fun for them to play checkers online while seeing him and talking to him. It's also fun for me to watch Andy's academy-award-worthy performances of shock and indignation when he realizes, too late, that he's about to lose the checkers game once again. It's also quite entertaining for Andy as they mug for the video cam, kiss the web cam, wave the web cam around, etc. Anyone know if you can record the video???

3.  Andy was able to snag a toaster, iron, electric kettle, small TV, DVD player, hair dryer, microwave, shop vac, 2 fans, and assorted cords, surge protectors and adapters, from some Americans who are moving back to the States. He got quite a deal. My mate Ben from work also passed along a few Aussie outlet strips, so we have got a nice little start on acquiring things we'll need. We do get an allowance for appliances, but a fridge, washer and dryer will take care of that. Speaking of which, many Australians apparently do without dryers! Shocking, I know. They hang laundry out to dry. As an indication of how rare clothes dryers are, some American ex-pats told me they were thrilled to find that Costco carried Bounce dryer sheets, and they also found themselves explaining to native Australians what they were used for!

4. Unrelated, but interesting (to me) is the fact that Australians actually drive the speed limit! Since they drive on the left side, I asked Andy if the right lane was the "fast lane." He said nope, all lanes just travel along at the speed limit. And no one zigs in and out, trying desperately to get ahead. Perhaps as a result, I saw no car accidents while I was there. Are Aussies just natural law-abiding citizens? Not so much. They apparently have a lot of photo enforcement. Speed, and you'll get a ticket in the mail. Frustrating if you're running late or just like to go fast, I suppose, but it feels a lot safer.

5. Andy just asked me to book his next flight. He has to go back for a week in December. We haven't booked our (one-way!?!) tickets for the family yet, but we're tentatively thinking about January 7th. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can try to find a long-term rental.

6. Andy went to his first movie on Sunday. He ended up in a theater in South Yarra. The good news is there was a full bar with couches in the lobby. Alcohol was allowed in the theater. The bad news is the matinee cost $18. We won't be seeing many movies at that price.

7. Tonight was the end-of-season soccer party for Thing 2. Everyone was starting to plan for the spring season, where the coach recruits his team. Normally Thing 2 would be on that team, as the coach is her best friend's dad. Unfortunately, we won't be around for it. The same thing for softball. Spring signups have begun, and we'll miss that. No more Bunco for me, after being a founding member of a group that's been playing for almost 7 years. And who'd have ever thought I'd be sad at the thought of not driving to Temecula at 5:30 in the morning anymore? I've really come to appreciate the quiet time to myself, to listen to podcasts or new music, and to watch a lot of fantastic sunrises. A lot of "last times" are coming up in the month ahead, and I'm dreading it. I know the flip-side is they'll be replaced with wonderful new opportunities and adventures in Australia, but at the moment all I see are the people and things we're leaving behind.

Andy in Adelaide Again - Days 17 & 18

On Tuesday, Andy and I both went to the airport. I was headed home via Sydney, and Andy was off to Adelaide to do some work. Here are some of his comments.

   I found some good Mexican food in Australia.  Only, I had to fly to Adelaide to do it.  And by the way, duuuuuuuuuddddddeeeeee, the hotel room is awesome!  (Note from Alexi: He's emphasizing this because his last hotel room "left a lot to be desired" as he so tactfully put it. As the family travel agent, I was the one responsible for booking that less than satisfactory room. So, he's simply letting me know that I made up for it this time. ) As I drove up, I realized it had serious potential.  The hotel is right on the sand, overlooking the beach here in Glenelg.  Then I rode the elevator up from the parking garage, keeping track of which way the elevators faced, i.e. where the ocean is.  As I got off the elevator, I started looking at room numbers trying to figure out if odds were on one side and evens on the other, or if the rooms were numbered consecutively.  Consecutive, and with the numbers increasing, I realized my room just might be on the left side, that is, an ocean view.  But then I turned a corner, and my hopes sank, until I walked down a short hallway, and found my room at the end.  The last one, with a door that opened and led me straight TOWARD THE OCEAN!!!  SWEEEEEETTTTT!!!!

   First things first.  Open the sliding glass door, step onto the balcony, and take a deep breath of ocean air as I listen to the waves gently crash on the shore.  Nice, with a crescent moon shining through the thin clouds.  I think I’ll be sleeping with the sliding door open, so I can hear the waves.



View 1 From Room



View 2 from  room



View of hotel from pier



The pier

   But back to the restaurant.  I talked the bartender into trying a margarita on the rocks.  She’d never done it before, so she looked at a quick cheat sheet, and I got a nice strong margarita.  Two ounces of tequila, one ounce of Cointreau, a few splashes of agave syrup, and an ounce or two of margarita mix.  If you’re keeping track, that’s more than 50% alcohol.  After shaking with ice, she poured it into a standard margarita glass, so I asked for a separate glass of ice to keep my drink nice and cold.  Add in a bit of queso, a burrito and an enchilada, and I was one happy boy.

   I finally got a bit of a chance to explore downtown Glenelg, which is a beach resort town kind of like Newport Beach and Huntington Beach.  I got back to the hotel at around 7pm, and went for a walk along the boardwalk to find some food.  The boardwalk had plenty of sights to see (see photos), including beach volleyball courts, ferris wheel, indoor water slide + mini-golf course + merry-go-round.  Definitely looks like a fun place to visit if we’re in the mood for a holiday.  According to the locals, the beach gets packed during the summer, and the boardwalk and stores are equally busy.

Ferris Wheel



Water slides and mini golf

 

Looks like we'll be going to Adelaide every weekend  :-)

   The highlight was dessert.  There were no fewer than 5 ice cream stores to choose from, and two lolly stores.  I decided on the ice cream store that also makes fresh donuts.  I had a small cone of ice cream (Dutch chocolate and cappuccino) and an order of 3 hot, fresh cinnamon-sugar donuts.  Oh, that was some serious gluttony, but truly the first over-the-top dessert I’ve had this trip.  Of course I’m not counting the TimTams or the dessert at the winery.

   My California accent gets plenty of comments, with Aussies having an easier time understanding me than I do them.  I’ve regularly made some gaffes by responding with complete non-sequitors based on what I thought I’d heard.  For example, “What did you have for dinner?”  “I’m fine thanks, just deciding what flavor ice cream to have.”  Or “For here or take-away?” “No thanks, I’ll just have water.”  Funny and embarrassing at the same time. (Note from Alexi: One thing we noticed was that, oddly enough, most people seemed to think we were Canadian. Gotta tell Andy to stop saying "ay?" at the end of his sentences.)

You Can't Do That

     Turn right, that is, unless, you move all the way to the left. You see, Melbourne has something known as a hook turn, feared by drivers everywhere, but especially newbies to Australia. Imagine you're in the States driving, and want to turn left. You get in the left turn lane if there is one, and make the turn when it's clear. If you were doing a hook turn in the US, you'd get in the far RIGHT lane (in other words, as far as possible from where you want to be) and then when the light just changes, you make the turn. That's what you do, with the right and left reverses, in Melbourne. To add to the excitement, there's usually a tram line running through the middle of the road, so be sure to avoid the trams. Did Andy get to attempt this today? Maybe, maybe not. First things first.
   Today we visited two more schools, one government (public) and one not (Catholic.) Both had potential. Andy was sold on the Catholic school, not for the obvious reason but because of it's proximity to the bay and beach. Alanna will probably like the public one because the colors are purple and yellow. Have to share a few pics from a bulletin board from that school.


They have a variety of take away food




There aren't that many gangsters

  The Catholic school had a really cool play area though. In addition to raised bed gardens where the kids grow fruits and veggies and sell them, they have some large games:


Connect 4



Chess

    After touring the schools, we headed to the only Costco in Australia to pick up a printer for Andy's office. I finally caved and bought my first soda, since it was a mere $1.50, only to be a bit dismayed to find no diet soda. After inquiring, I tried Pepsi Max, which has "no sugar and maximum energy." There you go! Next up, a quick visit to Andy's office, then the fun began: navigating through the city in rush hour. Wouldn't have been so bad except on most of the streets we couldn't turn the way we wanted, and some weren't even through streets. Finally, the opportunity, and necessity, for a hook turn presented itself, and here are the results:

    It's my last night in Australia, so I'm trying to soak up the culture a bit listening to the radio. Every other ad announces that it's Mo-vember, mo being short for moustache, and I believe it's prostate awareness month. This concludes the public service announcement.
   We watched the ARIA awards last night, sort of the Australian grammys. Very refreshing, shall we say. One of the things I love about going to other places is hearing the music, and it will be interesting to see if any of the songs make it in the States.
   For those that might be interested, the news here right now is focused on a few main events:

1. Hillary Clinton's visit to Melbourne. She didn't visit us, shockingly.
2. Quantas. Three problem flights (and emergency landings) in three days. I'm flying United home, for what it's worth.
3. Interest rates. If we were undecided before about renting vs. buying, the question has been answered. They don't have anything like a 30, 20, or even 15 year fixed mortgage rate. As far as we can tell, 5 years is the most. So rising interest rates means pretty much everyone's mortgage is going up. And huge exit fees means it's expensive for people to refinance with another lender. Yikes. We definitely won't buy anyway, as the housing market is about as insane as the southern Cali market.
4. Sports. This country is serious about its sports. We definitely need to pick a footy team to barrack for (very important: root means something entirely different here). And we clearly have some learning to do with regards to cricket. Let me share a quote from the paper: "Tharanga set about proving his value with a composed 86 not out that led Sri Lanka to 3-213 before two rain delays ended the innings after 41.1 overs, and set Australia 244 from 39 overs at the SCG." yeah, okay, if you say so.

Not sure if I'll get to post again before I head home tomorrow, so I'll say G'day for now. Overall, I'm really glad I made the trip. The people here are incredibly friendly and the schools seem excellent, so that puts my mind at ease quite a bit. Cheers!

Day Tripper

     Funny story from the other day. Andy inadvertently (thanks to his GPS) went on a toll road and we didn't have an eTag. The good news is you can call in the automated phone system and pay the bill. The bad news is the voice recognition software didn't recognize his American accent. When asked what state he was calling from, Andy replied "Victoria." The system asked, "Northern Territory?" uh, not quite. Andy had to use his best Aussie accent to make himself understood.
    Last night we had dinner at the Italian restaurant attached to our hotel. While I have complained about the prices, it should be noted that the prices shown are really the final prices. Everything already includes the tax, and there is no tipping. Andy and I had a really hard time with that, and had asked various people about it. Finally we asked our friendly waitress from Ireland, who has been here two years. She confirmed that they really do not tip here. Wow.
     Didn't make it to a milk bar, but we did make it to the Safeway grocery store. Per Ben's command suggestion that we try an Ice Break, we did. Below is proof. It was quite delicious.

Gimme a break...an Ice Break

        For the art connoissseurs in the group (Lynn, are you here?) we're staying at the Blackman Hotel, part of the Art Series hotels. Everywhere there is art from Charles Blackman, including in the elevators, hallways, and of course, the room. He did some Alice in Wonderland themed art, so there are mirror rabbits in random places in the hotel. But I digress...


Roo Crossing sign



     Today we took a drive out to a local winery in the Yarra Valley. It was less than an hour, a lovely drive, and of course we had to stop for this sign. Unfortunately, we didn't spot any live roos. Our destination was the Kellybrook Winery, a quaint, family-owned vineyard. We enjoyed a fabulous lunch, accompanied by several glasses of a very nice Shiraz. The dessert alone was worth the trip, a decadent dark chocolate ganache, coffee ice cream, Kellybrook tawny port and raisin puree. The sauce was much much better than it sounds. We actually asked for it on the side--yes Ben, I can get things on the side here--but it was so scrumptious we quickly poured it on top of the dessert.

Kellybrook Winery

        

Lunchtime

     One observation about eating out: they happily serve tap water, and often provide a bottle so you can refil your own glasses. This makes Alexi very happy. On the other hand, ice cubes are not included in the deal, which means we have to ask for some ice if we want to secretly slip an ice cube into our wine. Shh, our dirty little secret! But really, don't judge. Red wines aren't really meant to be served at "room temperature" and they are much better, imho, a few degrees colder. Hence the ice cube. 

    All in all, a nice little day trip.

Two of Us

..have been very busy touring Melbourne. One big thing checked off our list is we set up a bank account. Here we are on our way to the Exxon Mobil building in the CBD (Center Business District) to finalize our account with the credit union.

View over the Yarra River

     So far we've visited six schools and for the most part we like what we've seen. Class sizes are all a lot smaller (max of 24, compared with the 32 at home) and there is plenty of technology. We're looking at both Catholic and goverment (public) schools and much to Alanna's dismay and Alexi's delight, every school requires uniforms. Most of the schools have large play areas and often they are covered. Better yet, most of the schools have new buildings and classrooms, or are in the process of building them. The Australian government spent millions of "stimulus" money on schools. Every school, whether public or private, received money. What a concept! Can any of you point to something built with US stimulus dollars? Anyway, here are a couple of pics of two schools we like so far.

     In other possibly interesting tidbits, seems like mail is delivered on moped. How fun.

Mailman (?) following the ubiquitous trams

     Also, in all of our driving all over south and eastern Melbourne, I have seen exactly one Starbucks. I have seen hundreds of Milk Bars, though I don't know what they are. They also have drive-through liquor stores, hmm.
    Last night, Andy and I had dinner with an ex-pat couple, Brian and Mary. Andy works with Brian, and they've been here 10 months so they had a lot of useful tips. We met at a Mexican restaurant, or at least, the Aussie version of it. Named Areeba, rather than Arriba, but close enough. Lamb enchiladas, anyone? They did have 20 flavors of margaritas, but frozen only. Despite a well stocked bar, they didn't know how to make a real margarita on the rocks! And for those new to Mexican food, the menu helpfully explained what to do when your order fajitas. All in all though, it was a nice evening with good company. We are slowly coming to the realization though, that we won't be eating out much when the family is here. It's outrageously expensive. Of course, hopefully we'll find some less expensive, fabulously tasty, hole-in-the-wall joints, but if not, well, time for Alexi and Andy to expand their cooking repetriore.
   Finally, a huge shout out to Nana and Gram for taking such good care of the kids and the house while we're so far away. We are very blessed.

She's Leaving Home

     Yep, I left home. Left the girls in the good care of both of their grandmas, and I feel very fortunate about that. I also left pages of notes and instructions to guide them through the myriad details: carpools, sports practices and games, rehearsals, lessons, school due dates, class websites, how to print homework, how to use skype, how to reach us in Australia, and the list goes on.
    Somehow, it all got done. I hustled over to the McCormicks Halloween party just in time for a fabulous prime rib dinner, and a quick goodbye to my mom and the girls. I think it really helped that they had the distraction of the upcoming trick or treating, or else they might not have let me leave.
     In hindsight, I think the hardest part of the trip was the 2 hour line to check in. Most of it was spent outside LAX, but thankfully I was in line with a lot of friendly Australians so the time passed quickly with only minor worries about whether we'd make the flight. Needless to say, we did. And really, the flight wasn't too bad. It was a bit of a selfish luxury to have 15 hours completely to myself, with noone else to care for or worry about. I watched two movies, took two bendadryl, and slept as well as could possibly expected while sitting half upright with occasional bursts of turbulence or small children crying. Woke up, watched another movie, had brekkie as they say here, and landed in Melbourne. Took an hour to clear immigration, get my  luggage, and clear customs. Being head and shoulders above the crowd (especially when he stands on tip toe) he was easy to spot. 

From Andy's perspective, the day started early.  I had planned on going for a row with my new mates at the Yarra Yarra Rowing Club.  But before going to bed on Monday night, I checked on the status of Alexi's flight, and quickly noticed that within an hour of departing LAX, Alexi's flight was expecting to arrive in Melbourne an HOUR EARLY!  The headwinds must have been light, or the tail winds really strong.  So I had to call around to back out of the row.

I was nervous enough about Alexi's arrival that I woke up early to be sure the flight hadn't sped up any more.  It hadn't.  But I still had to get to the airport.  And every airport welcome needs a sign.  But since it was a holiday, nothing was open, especially at 7 am.  So I asked the hotel staff if they had any poster board.  No luck.  Then I walked to the French bakery next door to see if they had any boxes left from the days pastry delivery.  Just one.  So I quickly cut up the box and borrowed a few highlighters to make a sign for Alexi.

Then it was on to the airport, and a blazing fast 60 kph (around 35 mph).  Darn these law-abiding Aussie drivers!  But just as I was crossing under the flight path to the airport, I saw a VAustralia plane fly overhead, and I was SURE it could be none other than Alexi's.

I was able to park without much trouble, and quickly hustled to the arrival area in the International Terminal, where I proceeded to wait for over an hour for Alexi to appear through the magical doors.  I was so worried about missing her, since we had no way to reach each other, and we had not pre-arranged a plan should we not meet up.  I was nervously bouncing up and down on my toes, trying to see over the crowd, and every time one of the two magic doors opened, I stretched my neck to see if it was Alexi.

The arrival board had 18 slots to list recent arrivals, and with each new arrival, another plan was dropped from the list.  During the hour wait, I watched Alexi's plan (VA12) steadily move down the list, until it, too, finally dropped off.  And still, no Alexi.  I asked a woman next to me if it should take an hour to clear customs and immigration, and she nodded with assurance.  In fact she was waiting for her husband to arrive from Los Angeles.  At that, I breathed a tremendous sigh of relief, sure that I had not missed Alexi, and that she was still behind the magic doors.

And only minutes later, through the magic doors, I caught a glimpse of her blonde hair and beautiful, beaming smile that appeared the moment she saw me standing among the crowd.  I jumped up and started waving my sign as I moved to the end of the line to welcome Alexi to Australia.

  

Tired but happy Alexi

     The car ride was, er, interesting. It felt very strange to sit in the "drivers" seat and not have a steering wheel! Still, I was quite glad Andy was doing the driving, even though he kept veering over waaay to far to the left for my comfort. His explanation is that he's used to being on the left side of the car, and therefore used to being closer to the left side of the road, and therefore keeps moving to the left. That's his story and he's sticking with it. As for navigation, I was trying to follow along on a map, while he used the GPS on his blackberry. Unfortunately, the Blackberry locked up, and I didn't notice that he went east instead of west on the western ring road. Therefore, when we officially become lost, we had to stop and ask for directions as I couldn't find our location on our map. To his credit, Andy is a rare species: a male who will if necessary ask for directions. He walked out of the gas station shaking his head, laughing...Turns out we were not on the southwest corner of the city as planned, but northeast. In other words, we were NOWHERE close to where we thought we were and where we wanted to be. But it was all good, and we were able to drive through some of the neighborhoods we wanted to check out anyway (Balwyn, Canterbury, etc.,)
     Came back to the hotel, had lunch, had a nice Skype video call with the girls and the grams, and then set out to explore. Took the tram into the city. What a great day to arrive. Today was the Melbourne Cup, also known as the horse race that stops a nation. Crowds gathered in to watch the races on a large screen. Pretty exciting race, apparently. The favorite, So You Think, didn't win, but was upset by a horse named Americain! Also, it is apparently a huge fashion event. The women wear very short skirts and elaborate hats or headpieces that they call "fascinators." Here are just a few that we saw.

fascinators, pic 1

Fascinator, pic 2

Another interesting find for me. While using the toilet (Aussies don't bother with the more delicate term of bathroom or restroom, they call it like it is: toilet) I saw this door:

The Time Out room?

It actually leads to a restaurant named Time Out, but I think I'm going to tell the girls it's a room where parents can send mis-behaving children  :-)
After a nice walk around the city, we found a river-side restaurant and enjoyed some drinks and a nice dinner. Andy had a very nice Rockbare Shiraz, that we'll definitely be looking for in the stores.

And that about wraps up my first day in Australia!

 



Andy - Day 8

On Sunday morning, I got up to get to church by 9 am.  I drove down to Elwood, and along the way found the single Mexican restaurant in all of Melbourne, right across the street from St Columba’s Catholic church.  It was an old, old church, one of two churches in this parish.  The lone priest does one mass at each church on the weekends.  Pretty small compared to SSJ.  In fact, there were probably fewer than 100 people in church during mass. 

The gospel and sermon had the theme of “go out on a limb,” which seemed to sum up our plans for Australia.  On top of that, the pastor commented that security is not enough.  We need to stretch ourselves and take the occasional risk.  How’s that for a good omen?

Afterwards, though, I stayed for a cup of tea and a bit of socializing with the parishioners.  I met Dominic, who had recently visited Gettysburg, and Gerry who was once an accountant for BHP Billiton, the largest company in Australia.  I also met Teoni who is a teacher in Brighton, and whose son is in Year 5 at St Columba’s.  Teoni had great things to say about both the private school and the public schools in Brighton.  Of course, Brighton is the Newport Beach of Melbourne.

After church, I came home to chat with you guys, then headed out for a short drive before going to the Celtic Woman show.  I took the tram for a 10 minute ride down south, and had plenty of time to walk around.  First stop was Luna Park, which is a beach-side carnival, like Coney Island. 

Luna Park

Andy in front of creepy clown at Luna Park entrance

Then I walked along the boardwalk and took a few photos of the beach, which was cloudy, windy and pretty cold.  

Beach

While walking through the parking lot, I identified the only minivan I’ve seen in Australia, a Kia Carnival.  The Mitsubishi Pajero and the Toyota Kluger are mid-size SUVs with a third row of seats.

Then I walked back to the theater and took a few photos outside and inside.  As I walked into the theater, I quickly noticed that I was clearly among the youngest in the audience.  From my seat in row zed (“Z”), I saw plenty of gray hair or bald heads.

Before the show started, an old woman was being escorted to her seat down front.  Apparently she dropped her program, and the guy in front of me gallantly got up, quick-stepped a few rows to pick it up, and chased down the lady and the usher/escort to return the program.  What a gentleman.

During the show, the one beautiful song had the lyrics “set your desire on this far shore,” which seemed like yet another favorable omen for moving to Australia.

Theatre where Andy saw Celtic Woman. He was in Row Zed (Z!)

After the show, I stopped at a restaurant called Phamish for a bite to eat ($45 for an appetizer, pizza, beer and dessert, and that was just for me!).  I ended up in a corner of the restaurant, and soon a pair of Irish women were seated at the adjacent table.  I was minding my own business, reading the paper, and trying to do an Australian crossword, and failing miserably, when one of them started dishing on marriage and monogamy.  I sensed I might get drawn into this, so I did a quick calculation should I need a bit of data (12 years, six months, 13 days, 3 hours).   Before long, one of the women stepped away, and the other (Christa) asked my opinion of marriage, and I nonchalantly held up my left hand to show her my ring.  She raised her eyebrows, and asked “How long?”  Was that predictable or what?  “12 years, six months, 13 days and 3 hours,” I replied.

We proceeded to talk about marriage, and I happened to be the one piece of evidence that Christa did not need to support her arguments against marriage.  I mentioned how eager I was to see my wife on Tuesday, and how we’re off on a great Australian adventure.  Hopefully I managed to knock a small hole in her belief that marriage is unnatural/wrong/destined to failure/etc.  By the way, the other woman’s name was Caoimhe.  I’ll give you a hundred bucks if you can figure out how to pronounce that one, and absolutely no fair Googling it.