recent arrivals

We arrived in Melbourne early on Monday morning. Two folks from Ray's group picked us up at the airport and brought us to have coffee in one of the many city gardens here in Melbourne. At noon they dropped us off at our house in Richmond, a suburb east of Melbourne. We're staying with Dave and Wendy, two Americans who have lived here for the past three years. Dave is a post-doc at Monash University and he and Wendy, with their recent experiences on getting settled in Australia, have been a great help to us.

For the past few days Heather and I have been busy setting up bank accounts, obtaining our government tax number, and looking for bikes. We also plan to get cell phones, a job for me, and posibly a car, with the job for me my biggest priority. Fortunately, there is a large shopping center a block away with a supermarket, Kmart, Ikea, and various other mall-type shops. A few blocks in the other direction is a strip of Vietnamese, Thai, and Turkish restaurants, along with the obligatory cafes. And only a block to the north, we have access to an extensive bike and running path that follows the meandering Yarra River all the way from the city center to over 50km towards the suburbs. Heather is hoping to use the path to ride to work once she gets her bike.