WEEK ONE

I arrived!

After 24 hours on a plane, multiple dodgy meals, five films, two unscheduled hours in Kuala Lumpur and one rather extensive frisking from security in Dubai, I landed at Melbourne at 1am - minus my Lonely Planet guide.

A few days of getting to know where I now live were in order, so after showing me where the train station was, and pointing out the coffee shops to avoid, I had to make sure I got all my boring jobs done before starting work. So, tax numbers, bank accounts and new mobile phone numbers were all set up and ready to go.

On Sunday I decided it was time to go into the City, ignoring Will's advice that everything was closed on Sundays. This was in fact almost entirely correct - however the book shop was open, so Will replaced my Lonely Planet guide - late birthday presents are the best! My mission was to try and get my bearings in the centre of Melbourne, and I decided that the best way to do this was to wander about aimlessly, and just keep walking - I never got that far from the streets Will had shown me, and eventually decided to hide from the oncoming rain in the National Gallery of Victoria - part of the buildings in Federation Sq. made from a lot of glass and concrete, and to be perfectly honest not the prettiest building in the world, but is intriguing.They had some stunning aboriginal artwork on display and I was surprised that some of it was very contemporary and very political.  Melbourne is still just coming out of winter, and it is safe to say I was slightly optimistic in my clothing choice, so after getting thoroughly cold to the bone, and deciding that exploring isn't fun if you can't feel your hands,  I had my first experience of trying to get the train home - not a tricky task for most, however, with my sense of direction I could have feasibly ended up anywhere!

The next couple of days were spent meeting up with people from Melbourne Fringe and trying to figure out what the hell I was going to be doing for them for 2 weeks. They all seem very nice, but I still have those butterflies you get whenever starting a new job. I have been spoilt for the past few years always knowing my employers and knowing precisely what is expected of me. However, I was given a grand tour of my venue - the 'beautifully' decorated Lithuanian Club, with four rooms, varying in sizes from a 30-seater to a 350-seater - just a little different to what I am used to but, I am so excited to get my teeth stuck into something new I can't wait. Oh, I did however have a dead pigeon in one of the rooms - to be honest I am bloody glad it was dead! A live bird would have been a lot worse!

Next day I decided to take the dogs down to Williamstown - just a couple of train stops away, so I though I would walk them there and back, which would successfully knacker them out. Well, it was slightly further than I thought, and by the time we got there I had well and truly decided we were getting the train back! It is a lovely little suburb though, with  pier, and some amazing old buildings on the waterfront - including multiple coffee shops and ice-cream parlours. As it is still in brisk spring weather here I opted for the coffee option, and took my time sitting on the pier looking at the high-rise buildings of Melbourne from across the water.

I had the Fringe launch that night which was set in an old substation which they were using for an exhibition of Australian furniture designers - brilliant venue, and some beautiful furniture (and some complete crap too!) So, after a few free drinks courtesy of work (and the obligatory 'staff photo'), I pottered home again as my jet-lag had finally decided to catch up with me!

So, all in all, a lot of admin, and some preliminary exploring done this week - planning more next week as the Fringe is only an evening job (lightweights!) so I will have until 5pm everyday to keep looking about.

So, one blog down! Lets see if I can keep this up! If you like my rambling musings, or indeed have any suggestions as to where I should go, please leave a comment or simply look again next week to see if I have kept this promise to myself - if you don't like it, then sod off, don't comment and never come back to read more as I can guarantee it'll be more of the same!