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We unexpectedly found ourselves in the City for New Years Eve. Sydney got the time of her day and rang out the old year with an extensive play in the playground nearby. Hefty winds and heavy rain as well as a super tired baby drove us back to our temporary apartment.
After getting Sydney to bed we did finally get to rest as well. Before midnight, we got back up and had some impressions of a Melbourne New Year. This year, there was a fantastic firework despite the rain and grey sky.
Sorry, no pictures for once. Still we wish you all
A Prosperous 2010, Health and Happiness in the New Year !
une Bonne Nouvelle Annee !
ein Frohes Neues Jahr !
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Farewell Shadow! You have been a great family dog, despite being stubborn and always into food and silly things (remember the Florentines you ate after piercing the parcel from Switzerland? Or my necessity bag you chewed on soon after I met Christy?) There was also a more serious side when you had to chase balls, swim with the family or politely endure rough handling by kids.
Farewell, and don't chase the cats to wild!
Shadow died peacefully today January 2nd, 2010 after her illness progressed rapidly leading to complications. She leaves behind many kids who loved to play with her and many cats who were bothered by her need to chase them
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From a very young age on I have been impressed by how the Basler Verkehrsbetriebe, i.e. the public transport in my hometown in Basel, notified about penalties for not having a valid ticket. These days as I am traveling more on public transportation, I found that Metlink has topped by childhood experience with the following announcement.
Speaking of childhood. I also realized how close the Australian Swiss Club is to my work location. It is literally only a block away. I was impressed to see that the club is a lot bigger than the Arizona section. The Swiss Club in Melbourne has its own location with a restaurant serving Swiss dishes. I have not been able to sample the menu but have been told that the Fondue at least is good. (Not that this would be on the top of my least in the recent heat.)
To conclude this entry, let me talk a little bit about our daily experiences as we get settled
From the last entry you may recall that we have made quite a step back. Initially we did not have electricity and had to head back, out of the sweltering heat into temporary accommodation. Since then we have moved into our permanent rental. We have been living without fridge, washer, dryer,microwave, tv or internet. We did get to see DVDs, mostly Sydney’s Dora the Explorer titles.
For the lack of other things to do, Sydney still loves the play grounds. Hence Christy has to go to a park at least once a day. Luckily we have quite some choice of close-by playground options. Sydney has learned how to twist the swing and then use it to spin around (see pictures.) She also likes to climb on rocks (boulders) and then jump from one to the next with Daddy’s help.
The location of Melbourne in general and our place specifically allows us to quickly go to the beach, get some sun beams and then do something else. With this in mind we have started to explore the different beaches. As can be seen from the pictures there are many others with the same idea of how to spend hot summer days. Sydney then is excited to finally have her beach toys back and so we end up building her a sand castle.
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Summy finalky made her first visit to Melbourne. She and Noah spent a few days in this vibrant city. Sydney was absolutely excited to have her auntie Summy and baby Noah. The four checked out the city and had a good time.
On Friday Jay joined the crew and we got the opportunity to go to the Beach, albeit for a short time.
We also got to take a boat ride to Williamstown. The ride leads visitors down on the Yarra. People have to pass under many low bridges and trach first the docklands and then eventually Williamstown, We spent about two hours there, mostly in the park (Sydney!)
We also had an oportunity to commemorate Australia Day. This is the reminder of the first landing of people to form a colony in New South Wales. On this public holiday most people are drawn to Park and Beaches. We did the former and had a BBQ in one of the parks. Most parks have public BBQ spots, so there is really little that needs to be done other than bringing food along
Finally the week was closed out with an exciting tennis finale. Federer won in an exciting game. The city had been flooded with Swiss supporters and I heard more Swiss dialect than in many years before.
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Probably everybody knows that Australians drive on the left hand of the road (and swear it is the right side!) However I thought it would be interesting to check into how young drivers get to drive.
The Government has taken up the fight to avoid accidents like mine many years ago.
For this reason, teenagers need to obtain a learner's permit like in the US. This gives them the ability to drive under supervision. They need to have the learner's permit and mark the car with a yellow L while on the road. After having had the learner's permit for at least a year they teenagers can apply to sit the driver's exam. In order to do this, they need to produce a driving log indicating that they drove (under supervision) for at least 120 hours, 10 of them in night conditions.
Once the young driver passes the practical exam, thee get promoted to P-plates. At this time, they can drive by themselves, but have to mark the car with a red P (P for Probationary.) Strict rules apply; they include no alcohol (i.e. zero Blood Alcohol Content, BAC), at most one passenger unless they carry family members and have a regular licensed person on board, no use of phones in the car, limits on engine sizes and types (i.e. less than 8 cylinders, no turbo charged engines.) After a year of good driving record, they get promoted to the green P plate. At this time they may carry more passengers, but still spend the next three years in probationary state, which carries some of the same limits.
At earliest four years after the driver's test they can get promoted to being regular, fully licensed drivers with standard restrictions (e.g. 0.5% BAC). This is quite a contrast from the US way to get to drive!
The biggest complaint I generally have, is that there are too many people on the road who drive while intoxicated. Drinking is a well accepted spare time activity and driving comes afterwards as a means to get back home. Not a good combination.