Hey, sorry it's been a while, we've both been very busy over the last few weeks. Still, now seems like a good time to fill you in on what's been happening since we last wrote.
Firstly, I've (Mat) finally got a job!!! I got a call on December 16th from someone I'd handed my CV to a couple weeks earlier and they told me about a position they had at one of their cafés. I was instructed to go there for 10am the next morning for a trial after which they told me to come back on Monday for a full shift. I've been working there almost every day since (including Christmas day and New Year!!). In fact, I've just finished a 40 hour week! The café is at the old Melbourne observatory next to the Botanical gardens (here's a link: http://www.observatorycafe.com.au/ ) and the position is just floor staff; taking food out to customers and cleaning away dirty plates. However I've also done a couple of shifts in their stand-alone kiosk where I spend most of my time serving ice-cream (those were VERY busy shifts).
The two weeks prior to Christmas was also full time for Leah, where she worked 8 days in a row before Christmas day itself. Luckily she was off on the day and found some time to make an indulgent chocolate torte, which we ate for pudding. All in all, Christmas felt rather strange and not much like a holiday (although the increased amount of work did meant that we could treat ourselves to some beers, a bottle of wine and even some steak for the day itself). We did miss home though, especially family and friends but even the cold too - something just doesn't feel right about Christmas when it's this warm! Typical Melbourne weather did try and make us feel at home - we had heavy rain, brief sunshine, thunder and lightning storms, large hailstones (see video) and more heavy rain! Luckily, we'd already had a bit of a party the night before with our housemates; we each cooked something and had a big meal together with a few drinks. We also did a white-elephant style secret santa (which ended with Leah getting a BBQ set and a model globe for me).
New Year's Eve was also quite low-key this year, I finished work early so we had a wander around the Botanical gardens before heading home to share pasta and a few beers with the housemates and heading down to the river to watch the fireworks. The gardens are huge and feel like wandering around the Eden project (just without a roof) but since the Christmas thunder, the temperatures have been steadily increasing, NYE was in the high 30's (it's now peaked at about 40°C!) so we couldn't stand it too long in the midday heat before seeking some shade and water. There's an outdoor cinema in the gardens though, where they commence showings at sundown and we're looking into seeing a film in the coming weeks.
Finally, just before our fortnight of full time work began, we took a trip to the St. Kilda area of Melbourne (where our closest beach is). It was really easy to get there, just a short tram ride through the city centre, over the Yarra river and down to the coast. The main high street in the area is Chapel Street which is a buzzing mix of restaurants, bars, cafés and shops and (at the time) we were hoping there would be some job opportunities in the area. Like every road here it was deceptively long and with the amount of businesses it is surprising that there weren't more jobs on offer. Still, there was a great vibe in the area and it was good to see somewhere new. The beach itself was pretty nice too (much better than we'd heard) and the best bit (as far as I was concerned) was that it was just around the corner from Albert Park.
Albert Park is the location of the Australian Grand Prix and it's open to the public throughout the year. We managed to walk down the pit straight and I even climbed the podium (although it looks a bit better after a race - there was a lack of flags, trophies and champagne). The other great thing about the park was the view of the city which would have made the trip worth it on its own (see photo). Anyway, that's more than enough for now. We hope you all had a really great Christmas and we wish you all the best for 2012.
Lots of love,
Leah and Mat
p.s. don't forget to look at the photos below!
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