Some updates

I need to try to be quick since I've spent a lot of time editing some photos and I've already been spending quite a bit of money on internet time! The photos I put online start here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/m-gem/1308367787/ It's from my whole time in Australia so far.

So in the weekend I enjoyed the wonderful weather we had. As you'll see in the photos, I went to the Botanic Gardens, which are some of the best in the world. So beautiful, and a reminder that they have quite a few different plants and animals here than I'm used to.

Sunday I met up with a former co-worker from Amsterdam and she took me out to her house in a rural suburb on the outskirts of Melbourne. It was so nice to see some of the area. I had lunch with her and her Dutch boyfriend in their sunny backyard and then she and I went for a drive around the nearby wine region. It was just endless prettiness. Hills and the rolling vineyards... Though she said it's good now that it's the end of winter, but they have drought problems a lot and then everything goes brown and dusty. So I was lucky to see it now. We got a glass of wine at this winery that's like perched on a little hill with views off the valley all the way around. Oh, as we drove around I saw my first wombat -- dead and stiff on the side of the road. Poor wombat. It looked like a small brown bear to me...

I move into the share house tomorrow, very happy about that, cannot wait to settle in and cook for myself again and all of that. Still no movement on jobs; tomorrow I'm dedicating to moving and settling in at the house, then Wednesday, depending on how things are going, I may give in and apply for temp office jobs.