Arriving In Melbourne

At last we have arrived... It was now Sunday 06:10 local time (UK +9hrs)

It was the usual waiting around when we arrived at the airport. The first queue was immigration. It seemed to move pretty quickly and we got through ok. Then at baggage reclaim the suitcases came off really quickly and altogether as well...bonus. We were not sure where the car seats would be. We were quickly shown over to an area and just by magic a guy appeared carrying the bottom of the car seats but not the backs to them. After a quick chat he went away and within a few minutes he found them. We were really impressed how quick we got all our stuff together. We then went through Quaranteen. We decided as we had some food stuff we ought to declare it. We went to the Quaranteen area and we were ok and they decided not to look in our cases. On walking out we noticed all the people who had nothing to declare were being searched..... I think we did the right thing grin....

We only had to cross the road to collect the hire car. We had ordered an estate and after what had happened to the cars in the UK I was a bit concerned that we would need to upgrade again to fit the suitcases in. No need they had given a Ford Territory. An SUV with a massive boot. The girl at the desk was really helpful and couldn't do enough for us. Helping us with were to go for houses, what were the better areas to live and where our hotel was.

The 4 large suitcases and all the bags just disappeared in the huge boot of this car and off we set. We decided to head into Melbourne CBD (Central Business District) to find our hotel and where I would be starting work the next morning. We were all very tired. From the Airport there is a toll road to Melbourne. We were told that we could purchase the tickets (as it was all electronic) at Shell petrol stations and newsagents. We pulled into a newsagents and as I got out the car door swung open and hit my head. Now I had a cut over my and and it was bleeding quite a bit. The newsagent had no idea what I wanted so we went in search for a Shell garage.

We eventually found one and the chap in there had no idea how to purchase these tickets. It was an automated machine. Eventually I worked it out and into Melbourne we went.

We found the Hotel quite easily, helped by the map the car rental people gave us :-). Then we found where I was to be working. A 30 story building, looking very impressive. Didn't look to far a walk from the Hotel either.

Then we went down the coast to look at some potential areas for renting a house. The girls were fast asleep in the car. We ended up in a town called Frankston which was right on the coast and look quite nice about 30Kms from the City. We then drove back to Melbourne stopping at a few places on the way back to look at a few house and estates. We got lost and had a bit of trouble finding the freeway back but we eventually got there. We checked into the hotel, ordered room service and crashed out for the night...