The start of winter

Even though the warm weather is gone we haven't let that stop us from having fun.  Still lots more to report for the month of June:

Trivia Night
I don't think a month has gone by since I've been here that didn't even some kind of firm-sponsored drinks or social club event.  The June event was trivia night at the Crown. 
Kelly and I recently applied to be on the Australian game show - Million Dollar Drop (the show is filmed in Melbourne and there are way fewer people in Australia than in the US so we are thinking our odds are pretty good.  Plus we made a top ten list of reasons they should let us on the show).  We were thinking the trivia night would be a perfect opportunity to start practicing for our television debut.  Sadly we do not know any Australian trivia.  Not to worry - we have downloaded trivia apps on our phones so we're sure not to embarass ourselves on national TV.
Anyway, the trivia night was pretty fun (it was definitely not the best social event of the year as I had been told previously) and the best news is that neither of us got kicked out :)

I didn't bring my camera to trivia night and I couldn't find any pictures to steal off facebook either!

Wine Tour #2
Chad and Megan Pollock (former EY Minneapolis colleagues/friends) were in Melbourne for Megan's job.  Luckily they were here over the long weekend for the Queen's birthday so we got to hang out with them.  On Saturday we went on a wine tour (my second in a month).  It was a beautiful, sunny day in the Yarra Valley:

Kelly, Chad, and Megan at Rochford winery

View from Yering Station

End of the day at Domain Chandon....everyone is feeling a bit silly I think!

Concerts
I've decided that Melbourne is the perfect place to see concerts.  Although the tickets are more than I would usually pay in the US, the venues are much smaller so you always have a good seat!
Amy, Sarah, Tiff, and I went to see Justin Bieber in May (yes we were the oldest people there without children, stop judging).  Apart from the thousands of screaming girls it was actually a really good show.  That kid is talented (seriously stop judging).

Bieber Fever

The next concert I went to was Kylie Minogue with Steph.  How could I not go to a Kylie concert in her hometown.  If you had asked me what songs Kylie sang before I went to the concert I would have only been able to name Locomotion (which she only sang part of).  Even without knowing all the songs it was a really good show - she had great special effects and great dancers!

Last night a group of us went to see Rock of Ages at Comedy Theater.  If you love 80's music you have to see this musical.  It was GREAT!  Good music, cheesy storyline, a free LED lighter, and drinks delivered to your seat (which we sadly did not take advantage of) - what more could you want out of a musical?   Seriously - if anyone in Melbourne hasn't gone yet and needs someone to go with, I'll go again!

Next up - Kelly, Tiff, and I are going to see Elton John in December!

Friends!
We have found lots of other things to keep us busy over the last few weeks:

• Emma and Rockey moved from their apartment in Southbank to a house in Hawthorne.  They had everyone over for a housewarming over the long weekend.  The Rockeys have introduced Kelly and I to our new favorite party food - cheese and pineapple.  It's so easy yet so delicious!  Emma also makes a killer Cosmo!
• Bar 9T4 - we went here after the Rockey's housewarming.  It is by far my favorite bar in Melbourne.  All 80's/early 90's music all night long.  I am determined to have my birthday party here.

Bar 9T4

• Footy!  I went to my first footy game (Australia Rules Football) a couple of weeks ago at the MCG.  Our friend Trevor is a member of the MCC so we were fancy and got to sit in the members section.  Its so fancy you can't even bring drinks to your seat!  Sadly my team (St. Kilda Saints) got beaten by Geelong (Trevor and Justin's team) but it was still a fun night and I learned a little bit more about AFL.  Don't ask me too many questions though, I still don't understand much!  I wouldn't call myself a very loyal Saints fan though - I actually wasn't too upset they lost because I had tipped Geelong anyway.  I'm currently 5th place in my the RCIP tipping competition.  Not bad for an American who doesn't understand what's going on!
• Last Saturday night the newbie group went to dinner at Squires Loft in the Docklands.  Delicious steak!  After dinner we went to Spice Market to celebrate Parita's birthday.  All that dancing led to my personal best step count for the Global Corporate Challenge.  I had so many steps (over 37,000) that the website made me actually type out all my activity for the day to make sure I wasn't cheating!  An hour workout, an hour walk around St. Kilda, running errands in the city, and then 3+ hours of dancing really adds up a lot of steps.  I knew going out was good for my health! 

Dinner at Squire's Loft

Now I'm all caught up before my parent's and the Kanes visit beginning on Thursday.  Everyone has been saying they can't wait for that blog......because they know Jill will do something funny/embarassing at least once a day.  I'll do my best to capture these moments on camera and give you a full account of their visit soon!

May (and a bit of June)

The month of May was filled with lots of fun and new experiences.  Here are a few of the highlights:

Yarra Valley Wine Tour
Back in December, a group of 8 of us (the EY newbies) purchased scoopons for a winery tour in the Yarra Valley (just outside Melbourne).  It took us until May to find a weekend that worked for everyone.  Overall the day was a success.  We did start out the day complaining a bit that the itinerary was not what was promised on the scoopon.....but as the wine started flowing the problems were quickly forgotten.

I think everyone's favorite winery of the day was the Yileena Park winery - cute place, funny owner, god wine :)

Val, me, Steph, Rockey, Graham, and Emma at Yering Station

Annie and Belinda Visit!
Annie and Belinda (my Contiki friends) came to visit on the weekend of May 21.  This was my third time seeing Belinda (in Adelaide and Sydney) but this was the first time I had seen Annie since arriving in Australia.  Annie lives in Brisbane and is also one of my travel buddies (our most recent trip was to Africa last summer).

If anyone was on facebook that weekend they would have seen from Belinda's check-ins that we did a lot in two days.

Saturday we started the day by meeting Justin and Kiz at the Espy for lunch.  Most of our conversation revolved around the fact that JUSTIN AND KIZ ARE HAVING A BABY!!!!!  I am so excited for them!!  After lunch Annie, Bel, and I wandered around St. Kilda for a bit - the Pier, Acland St., and of course a stop at Cold Rock!

Beautiful autumn day in St. Kilda

Saturday night we ventured to Chapel St and had dinner at Amigos restaurant (I love Mexican food) before meeting up with the PwC group for some drinks.

I had rented a car for work and decided to keep it for the weekend to be able to pick up the girls from the airport, so we decided to take advantage of having a car to explore parts of Melbourne none of us had been to.  I'd heard lots of good things about Williamstown so we decided to check it out.

With my rental car - the Swift!

Sunday was chilly and rainy so I think we did not get the full Williamstown experience.  Plus a lot of the shops/restaurants were closed on a Sunday.  I'll have to come back on a warm, sunny Saturday sometime.

Bel and Annie in Williamstown (CBD in the background)

The best part of Williamstown though was the hot chocolate!  I got a tiramisu hot chocolate that was absolutely amazing.  The drinks were serviced in mugs with a candle underneath to keep it warm.  And the hot chocolate was so rich it tasted like drinking melted chocolate.  Yum!

After driving around Williamstown trying to find a pizza place that was open, we ended up at a pizza place in Altona (very delicious).

We ended the weekend with a few hours at the DFO.  I think this was my cheapest trip to the DFO ever.  The only things I purchased were two movies and a Lady Antebellum CD (I miss my country music!)

EY Away Day

May 30 and 31 we traveled by bus to Creswick (about two hours from Melbourne) for the EY Assurance Away Day.  Apparently away day's are pretty common in Australia (or at least that's what I have heard) as a form of team building and a way to show appreciation for everyone's hard work. 

The first day we got a short update on what was going on the firm and then split up into our smaller teams for some "get to know you" activities.  Monday night during dinner we had a guest speaker - Michael Milton - an Australia Paralympic gold medalist.  Michael shared the story of losing his left leg when he was 9 years old and how never let his disability stop him from doing anything - including becaming a gold medalist in skiing and cycling (he also holds the record for the fastest Australian skiier...not just for skiier's with disabilities).  Michael's story was truly amazing - I had goosebumps through most of his speech!

After dinner there was a "pink pageant" which raised money for breast cancer awareness.  Three of the partner (2 male, 1 female) dressed up in pink - pink wigs, pink shirts, and pink pajama pants - and competed in a sort of beauty pageant.  I wish I had pictures from this event - it was hilarious.  I love that the partners are so willing to get up in front of 200+ people and make complete fools of themselves (for a good cause of course)! I can't picture any of the partners in my old office getting up to do that!

After dinner entertainment - a DJ with a dance floor full of accountants!

Day 2 of the Away Day was a Survivor competition where we competed in groups of about 10 people.  One of the competitions was putting up a tent while blindfolded.  I really thought my month of putting up/taking down a tent in the dark in Africa would make me an expert at this task.  My team got 2nd in this competition  I have no doubt the tent used had been the same canvas tent that we used in Africa I could have had it up in about 4 minutes flat (or maybe my tent partner, Annie, was really the only reason our tent ever got put up correctly in Africa).

Still Exploring
After living in Melbourne for just over 7 months there is still so much of the city to explore - and mostly so many places to eat/drink!    I finally got back into trying out new places over the last couple of weeks:

• Brunswick Street - I still haven't properly explored Brunswick St/Smith St. (Fitzroy area) but I know there are lots of great places I need to try.  My new favourite place to dance is on Brunswick St - its also the place that finally played Kesha when Kelly and I requested it!

Out on Brunswick St -Beer served in red keg cups!

• Tony Starr's Kitten Club - This place was recommended to me by my friend Gemma (another member of my Africa tour group, who lived in Melbourne for a few months last year).  Gemma told me that the Kitten Club does the best cocktails in Melbourne.  Emma, Val, Steph and I sampled a few cocktails last weekend.  Luckily I had read some reviews online beforehand which mentioned that the place had a green door - otherwise I probably would have mised it all together.  I love hidden places like that!  After our cocktails we headed upstairs where there was a live band.  All the dancing I've been doing lately has really helped the pedometer step count for the Global Corporate Challenge.  See - going out really is good for you!

• Banff - This is a pizza/pasta place in St. Kilda.  My friend Simon recommended this place to me awhile ago and Kelly and I tried to take our MN friends but it was full and we were really hungry.  Kelly, Parita, and I went back a few weeks ago.  I'd recommend this place to anyone looking for a relatively cheap meal (pizza or pastas).  They have some really unique pizza toppings (I tried the saganaki and potato one - delicious!)

• Santiago Tapas - Yesterday Kelly, Sarah, and I tried out this place in Middle Park.  This was another of my scoopon purchases (yes Betsy - another one!).  $35 for $70 worth of food.  While we were waiting for Sarah to arrive, Kelly and I picked out about 10 diferent tapas on the menu that sounded good.  We were reading off everything to the waiter who finally said, "Maybe you can start with this and then see if you want more."  Apparently we had gotten a little carried away!  The food was good - I think my favorite was the queso de cabra frito con miel (battered goat cheese with honey and almond sugar).

 

I need to start taking pictures of all these places (and the delicious food!) so that I can remember all of them.
In other news......Kelly and I finally got a new TV!  We now have more than 4 channels!  We also purchased a wireless internet router and an HDMI cable so we can hook up our computer to the TV to watch US shows :)  Yesterday was a very productive afternoon for us!

The rest of the MN crew's visit

It's been almost a month since Heather, Dave, Sara, and Rachelle left Oz so I figured I should finally finish the blog about their visit before I forget all the fun we had!

After New Zealand we spent 5 days in Sydney.  This was my 3rd time in Sydney but I think it was probably my favorite!  I saw lots of new things - and being surrounded by lots of my favorite people didn't hurt either!

Paddington Market
My cousin Rachel met up with Kelly and I on Saturday morning when we arrived in Sydney.  Even though it was raining we venture out to Paddington Market.  This market is great!  Its not your typical tourist market.  Tons of vendors selling cute jewelry, paintings, etc.  I didn't buy anything but I can't wait to go back!

A Night on the Rocks
The rest of the crew at our posh Marriott hotel on Saturday evening.  Kelly, Rachel and I were well rested after our afternoon nap so we were ready to go!  We all got dressed up and headed out to the Rocks.  I would post some pictures but I don't think Rachel wants her mother to see any of them :)

All in all the night was great, however we did discover a few things about going out in Sydney:
1.  The lines at the bar are HUGE, but that doesn't mean the bartenders work any faster
2.  You cannot buy shots after 12:30 (Judy - Rachel did not try to buy any shots we only heard this from fellow bar patrons)
3.  Lady security guards are ruthless....they won't let you in no matter how sober you are!

A real conversation between me and the DJ at the first club we went to:
Me:  Do you have any Ke$ha?
DJ:  (shakes his head no)
Me:  Do you have any Rhianna?
DJ:  (shakes his head no)
Me:  Do you have any Katy Perry
DJ:  (shakes his head no)
Me:  Do you have anything that people actually like?
DJ: (shakes his head no)
Me to Kelly:  We need to leave, I think I'm going to get kicked out of here

Luckily Kelly was able to sweet talk her way into the Lowenbrau Hotel.....where they actually played all our favorite songs! (and the line at the bar was much shorter!)

Easter Sunday
Having a cousin who is a local is very good for finding good places to eat.  Rachel recommended "Pancakes on the Rocks" to us, which we decided sounded like the perfect Easter brunch.  The savoury and sweet pancakes were both amazing - I'd recommend this place to everyone.

After brunch we caught the bus to Bondi.  Although it wasn't a very warm day it was at least sunny so we got a lot of great pictures of this beautiful beach.

After hanging out at the beach for a bit we decided to do the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk. I've been to Bondi before but never done this 6 km walk.  It was beautiful!!  The walk is pretty easy and there are tons of places to stop and take pictures.  As we were walking I immediately thought that my mom would definitely love this.  I'm crossing my fingers for a sunny day when my mom is in Sydney later this month.  I already told her I'm making her do this walk!

Zoo and Aquarium
Kelly and I opted out of the Sydney bridge climb on Monday morning and instead we decided to meet Belinda and the Adelaide girls at the Torango Zoo (another first for me).  This zoo definitely has the best view I've ever seen.  We took a ferry from Circular Quay to the zoo and then took a sky safari to the zoo entrance.  (I was nervous the sky safari was a chair lift but luckily it was gondolas (I have a very strange fear of chair lifts). 

Picture stolen from Katie's facebook page :)

It was great to see Belinda and her friends.  We had met Sarah, Katie, Jess, and Ezzy in Adelaide so it was fun to see them again.  We also met their friend Zoe who had recently moved to Sydney and they were visiting for the weekend!  All together these may be the funniest girls I know - I think I laughed all day!

I think he was pretty cute - until he pooped into his own hand.  I walked away after that - not sure what he did with it!

After the zoo Kelly and I met up with the rest of our group at the Sydney aquarium (another first!).  I actually don't know the last time I have been to an aquarium anywhere.  I think I need to find some more to go to...it was great!

After the zoo we decided we needed to fit in with the rest of the population and go to the pub!  It was ANZAC Day (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) which means everyone was drinking....and there were lots of men in uniform.  We found some couches at a bar on Darling Harbour and enjoyed watching other people drunkenly making foolds of themselves on the dance floor at 5 PM (I even more enjoyed that I was not one of them!)

Karoake
I can't think of many vacations with Belinda that did not involve karoake.  After our full day of animal viewing we met up with Belinda and gang again at a Ding Dong Dang karoake.  So much fun!

Belinda and I wow'ing everyone with our vocal abilities.  I think we got a perfect score

Last Day in Sydney
We completed the Sydney portion of the trip with a walk through the royal botanical garden, LOTS of pictures of the opera house and harbor bridge, and a bus tour around Sydney including stops at the fish market and Chinatown

Sydney vs. Melbourne
Kelly and I spent most of the time in Sydney comparing Sydney to Melbourne.  Here's a rundown of what we came up with:

Sydney:
1) Better beaches (seriously that coastal walk was gorgeous)
2) They played Ke$sha - Kelly has been requesting "your love is my drug" at every bar in Melbourne and the first bar to actually play it was the Lowenbrau Hotel in Sydney.  However, we have since taken this point back when a bar on Brunswick St. in Melbourne also played it for us!

Melbourne:
1) Restaurants!  You don't have to walk far in Melbourne to find a restaurant, cafe, sushi stand, etc. We were staying at the Marriott in Circular Quay and struggled to find something to eat besides the McDonald's on the corner (which we did hit up after our night in the Rocks).
2)  Public transporation - I would much rather ride a tram than a bus!  Plus I felt like the trains were so slow in Sydney
3)  Bars!  I've never been denied a shot after a certain time or been told their "scouter" spotted us walking down the street and wouldn't let us in.  Seriously - that night we were SOBER!

I know we had more but this is what happens when I wait a month to write my blog.  Overall though, Kelly and I found Melbourne to be the clear winner in the comparison.  Sydney is an awesome place to visit but I think we are both happy in our choice to live in Melbourne!

I left Sydney on Tuesday night to head back to Melbourne for a 3 day work week while the rest of the group went to Port Douglas for 5 days :(

Once everyone got to Melbourne Kelly and I both had to work so we didn't have a lot of time to show them around.  While we were working they saw the Great Ocean Road, Phillip Island, and Yarra Valley Wineries.

On Thursday night we showed them a few bars around Melbourne including the James Squire Brewhouse and the Croft

Shots from a syringe at the Croft

 Friday we did a laneways tours around the city and the went to a Melbourne Rebels rugby game.

Laneways tour

RK and I cheering on the Rebels

It was so much having our friends visit and showing them why we love Australia so much!  I think its safe to say they all had a good time - even if they spent a little too much money (Memories are priceless).  I think I was the most homesick I've been after saying goodbye to our friends, but I have more visitors to look forward to soon - and lots more of Australia to explore!

Kelly and I are sad our friends are gone :(