The Travels of Kate

Today.

Today was a pretty quiet day since it was 38 degrees. That's about 100F. So it was kind of hot.

Actually, it's funny. People keep asking me about the heat, how am I coping, does it ever get nearly this hot in TN?? And I sort of laugh inwardly, because I think it gets much worse in TN. We don't have many 100 degree days, but a 100 degree day in Melbourne in bearable because it's not very humid. The nice ocean breeze helps as well. In TN, it's very humid and we all cry.

The flip side of that is that many houses here don't have central AC. Or heating for that matter. It's just seen in many cases as a waste and not needed. So it can still get hotter indoors than I'm used to. But it really hasn't been that bad.

But today was kind of sad heat wise, so we had a slowish day. We did laundry.

That was a semi new experience in that the Porters, along with many other Aussies, don't have a dryer. Another wasteful unneeded expense I think. So I had my first experience with hanging up clothes on the line.

Here I am with my clothes.

And here's an "action" shot.

We eventually went out to go look at some Op Shops. That's short for Opportunity Shops, and they're basically like Goodwill. You see, it seems that since like July or August, I got some hips or something, and now all of my skirts that I've had since I was 13, 14, 15 have stopped fitting me. It's sad. So we went to look for more.

Then we went to Judy's house. Judy is my uncle David's sister. And they had a pool. So we decided it would be good to go. On the way I passed a weird billboard, so I took a picture.

After that, my mom, Pippi and I went back to Pippi's. Pippi has air conditioning! She doesn't usually use it, but a day such as today rather requires it.

My mom ran down to the Fish and Chippery and I had another burger and chips. And I watched Mean Girls, because it was on channel Ten. After dinner, I started typing up these blog entries!

And so there we are, up to date! Hooray!!

• throws a party*

The 16th is kinda hazy. I know we got my TFN! Well, not really. We went in and applied and I got a receipt for it. It will come in the mail in 28 days.

Then we went to visit André...his place is pretty nice and close to uni, so that's good.

Then we were really hot so we decided we had better go for a swim again.

There was a storm in the distance, though it never reached us. But it made for a neat photo.

Here's me going into the water.

Here's me swimming!

Here's me coming out of the water.

Here's some other people who were also enjoying the beach.

More me!

Here I am contemplating life. With a storm raging in the background. Very poetic.

Seagull footprints! I thought they were cute.

And that does it for Friday. Which just leaves Saturday! I am almost up to date, hooray!!

On the 15th, we went to Port Melbourne, just for the sake of visiting another part of town. We had to go to the post office to get my TFN application, but we decided to visit a new and exciting post office instead of a local one.

My TFN, by the way, is sort of like a Social Security number. You aren't born with one here, though, and it's not really even required that you have it, but if you don't, they'll tax you times a lot, so you want it. It's a Tax File Number. Yes.

So we went to the post office, but it turns out they don't have TFN forms there, they keep them at newsagents. Luckily, there was one right next door so we went there to get it. Newsagents are like magazine, newspaper, stationary stores. And apparently they also carry tax forms!

After that we had some lunch. Port Melbourne has a million lovely little cafes and restaurants, so it was tricky to pick one.

Here is a picture of the main road in Port Melbourne. I liked the contrast of the old 1890s buildings with the new skyline in the background.

And here's my mom and I there!

After that we went to Coles, which is the major supermarket here. Here is a picture of me with the largest Easter egg I've ever seen!! It was exciting.

On the way home, we were behind one of the trams that goes to Melbourne Uni, so I tried to take a picture, but it was challenging.

After that, Pippi and I went down to the Elwood beach, but I don't have any pictures of that. Oh well. It was quite nice. First swim in the ocean in 10 years or so. When I told my cousins that, they just about fainted. But we don't have an ocean in TN! The last time I swam in the ocean would have been here, in Australia. And it wasn't the last time we were over, since that was in winter. So it would have been when we came for Christmas and my 9th birthday.

And that just about does it for the 15th of February.

Valentine's Day. Yes. Nothing all too romantic going on for me today.

Instead, Pippi's boyfriend Peter took us out to brunch at a nice place in Elwood, which is the suburb Pippi is in. It was quite nice. Then Pippi and Peter ran away, because Peter's trying to buy this townhouse in Frankston, and they were going to be late, so they let my mom and I.

We lingered in the cafe for a bit longer, and I took some pictures.

I took a picture of this tree, because what is more Australian than a gum tree?

Then I took a more general picture of the roundabouts.

Roundabouts are everywhere here, and they'll all backwards as you go around them to the left. Still haven't really gotten used to the other side of the road. It does take a while to get over the feeling that you're going to crash the car everytime you turn right.

I also took a picture of this sign indicating that we must watch out for pedestrians! Because the light part is sideways. I thought that was neat.

After brunch, my mom and I walked back to Pippi's house and then decided to track down the beach. We knew it was a five minute walk, we just weren't sure in which direction. So we took a guess.

Here's me amongst a bunch of palm trees that we passed on the way.

We made it! But as you can see, we aren't at the beach part. But look, the ocean! Well, really the bay if you want to be technical.

It's rocky.

Here's downtown a little bit further down the bay. It was a hazy day, but luckily you can still make it out.

No collecting sea shells!

My feet. In the water! Still at the rocky part.

We found the beach!

Then we started to make our way back. My mom and I thought this tower looked sort of like a nutcracker, though it's not.

A playground.

Notable because of the built in shade that's over the playground equipment. Shade and not getting too much sun is a big issue here, due to the whole lack of ozone thing. Water conservation is also a HUGE issue as we're in a rather massive drought at the moment. But that is a topic for another entry.

Here is a rather interesting part of construction on Pippi's street.

To end the day, Pippi gave her dog Jock a bath. It was fun.

All right, well, we've made it to Tuesday the 13th! For future reference, I don't think I'll be making an entry for every single day, but my first few days here have been particularly eventful and photoful, so I have.

So on the 13th, we went shopping! A very important thing to do. Our main endeavor was bathers for me. Bathers being a bathing suit. I have one, but I got it about 5 years ago, so everyone insisted I must buy a new one so I could frequent the beach. So off we went.

We parked in a parking garage. While there, I took a picture of a Give Way sign. Because we don't have those, we have yield signs. So yeah.

We then went up escalators to the shopping area, and I tried to take a picture of where it said "Entry to Shops," because that phrase seems rather Australian to me. But my mom and Pippi got in the way. They were not all too pleased at the particular angle at which I captured them, so please ignore that.

Once there, we got some lunch, and then went to the grocery store and then Target to get my bathers, two pairs of shoes, and towels. Because a girl does need towels. And the 12 pairs of shoes I brought with me were clearly not enough.

However, all of this shopping pales in comparison to one very important thing. I had a dream fulfilled! I have heard, from Erin probably, that in Chicago they have Targets that are two stories high and they have two escalators that go up, one for people and one for carts. I just thought that was the coolest thing ever, so it has been a dream of mine to experience such a thing.

At the shopping center we were at, they didn't have quite that, but they had something very similar. And you didn't even need to hold on to the cart (or trolley as it's called here). it would just go up or down and no matter how much stuff was it in, it didn't roll away! I was so impressed, that I took pictures.

And...um...I probably did other stuff on the 13th but I didn't take pictures so I don't remember - is that bad? Ooh, I think I might have gotten my bank account on the 13th! Yes. But I didn't take pictures of that.