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Oh Happy Day!

4/12/2010

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What an unexpectedly lovely day! We wanted to start the car buying process today so we decided to head into the City and after some brunch head up to a Toyota dealership on the tram and take it from there. Brunch was at Federation Square where we were able to watch the start of the cricket. There is a green penguin in the square which you can see in the pictures above. It's the Wishing Penguin set up by the Salvation Army. Kids can write a wish on a card and put it in the penguin's ball and then the wishes are displayed on the big screen.

Car buying was painless and fruitful. We should be picking u an used Toyota Corolla saloon next week. It's not the flashiest of cars and certainly no match for my beloved Maximinion (my Mini in UK which I had to get rid of) in terms of appearance and coolness but it's practical, functional, easy to re-sell...all those boring things and the thing that pleased Steve the most, well within budget. In fact it's below budget so I console myself with the fact we have more money for shoes and dining and holidays! We extended the car buying process by purchasing a sat nav too. So by the end of next week, we will both be in receipt of an income, have a car and have a proper bed! I am really looking forward to our container delivery on Monday whereby all my shoes will be here and all my clothes and kitchen gear and Christmas cards (better get a move on writing them). It's been so long since we packed the container I can't remember what's coming!

After the shopping we had a walk through the Block Arcade which is one of those cute arcades Melbourne is renowned for and stopped at the Hopetoun Tea Rooms for some refreshment and a sugar boost. Given we have no TV at home yet we decide to swing by Fed Square again to get the latest cricket score. We ended up staying there the rest of the afternoon. There was a stage just below the big screen and the Melbourne Mass Gospel Choir performed for about an hour and a half. Interesting accompaniment to the cricket but not unpleasant. We started off sitting in the 30 degrees sunshine and watched Cook get his century before moving to Chocolate Buddha and sitting at one of their terrace tables in the shade. Two cocktails for me, two beers for Steve and a protein snack of some lovely sashimi we watched the rest of the cricket. I really wanted to see Pietersen get a century but not today...

The gospel choir finished with an exuberent performance of Oh Happy Day which summed up our day and the England cricket team's performance rather aptly.

Walked back by the river stopping for another drink in a busy riverside bar. Another venue to add to the list for a repeat visit. Decided to stay out and get some dinner on the other side of the river (where home is) and enjoyed some tasty food and a bottle of wine watching lots of people walk by.

Undoubtedly the sunshine had a lot to do with making today a great day but just walking around the city, stopping off here and there for some refreshment and just chilling at the square were lovely things to do. Let's hope the sunshine continues!
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    We are Steve and Minda and we've been given the opportunity to move to Melbourne for two years. We arrived November 2010 and passed that two year milestone and are now Australian citizens! This is a blog of our experiences as we move to this new country, settle in and have fun!

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