I had been warned before I got out here that Internet is not quite what we are use to in the UK and US. At first I really did not notice any difference at all but now I certainly am! Almost all the apartments I have looked at don't have it and the ones that do its totally different from what we are use to. Here you pay monthly by the amount of bandwidth you use. So the last couple of days as we come to the end of the month it has been really, really slow. Ah well just something I will have to get use to out here!

A lot has happened since I last spoke to you all. Right off the bat I can tell you at the end of last week I got an unpaid theatre job! I am going to be the front of house manager for two productions next month. An adaptation of 1984 and Macbeth. You can check out the company I will be working for here: www.eaglesnesttheatre.com. There are so many great Fringe theatres out here and this will be a great networking opportunity! And two great shows to boost. That same day I also joined the local Scandinavian Club at University of Melbourne! They meet up every Wednesday for Kuub and I might treat myself to the $60 crayfish party next month!

On Friday night my hostess family and I went to their nephews restaurant in a posh neighbourhood called South Yarra. The food is what I suppose you would call Modern Fusion? We had delicious starters but my main was far too heavy. The sauce just completely overpowered everything. We did have some fantastic local red wine that the nephew locally sources from the state.

On Saturday I had 4 apartments to see. The first one was really nice but a bit more then I want to pay. Really nice guys too and a neighbourhood that I am fond of. I was optimistic for the day ahead as I still had 3 more to see. Unfortunately my optimism started to wane very quickly after I saw the second one. It had the premise to be such a great place but unfortunately it can only be described as a shit hole! It was in this massive warehouse in a fantastic location. But that's about all it had going for it. To get to my 'room' if you could even call it that I had to walk up the milk crate staircase. I felt fine visiting the place but would fear for my personal belongings living there. She said that anywhere between 7-12 people live there but trust me this had none of the charm of Holland Road! The third place I saw was very cheekily described as being in one location but actually was much, much further out. And the man living there can only be described as a beast. He was a overweight, sunburned, beefed up meat head. And as for the house. Another dump. The last place I saw was in a good location, had great people living there but the room was falling apart. One part of the right wall was now a wood board till they could afford to plaster the whole wall. And god knows how long the carpet had been there. So yes not exactly a marvelous afternoon of apartment hunting. Thankfully I had some lovelyness in between it all when I met up with my (wait for it) friends, friends, friend! A lovely girl who just finished her degree last year in costume design. She is moving to New Zealand in 10 days for 3 months but I am seeing her again on Sunday for burgers and beer. And also she hinted at the fact I might be able to adopt her bike for a bit!

Sunday I woke up to the sun shinning and the cold wind chill gone. It was actually a wonderful warmish autumn day (still winter here though!). I headed in to meet my friends friend for brunch who is just coming to the end of her one year working holiday visa. As I have mentioned before Melbourne is famous for their food and they are also famous for what they call their lanes. Between some of the big streets downtown nestled in between are fantastic lanes dotted with alfresco dinning cafes, boutiques and bookstores. They really are wonderful. After a very tasty pumpkin and ricotta sandwich we headed out to see more of them. Some of the lanes are really fancy and some are really simple and charming. I can't wait to treat myself later in the year to some of the really amazing looking restaurants. As for my brunch date she had lots of great advice. She actually was offered a 5 year extension on her visa out here but was homesick for Europe. She said the last year has been amazing though and she was really excited for me. Shame she is leaving tomorrow as we got along really well! She is though putting me in touch with her Swedish friend who is a member of the Swedish society! After brunch and lane exploration I went to meet another friends friend. The Melbourne International Film Festival opened last week and we were going to see a series of short films. There were two I liked in particular. Unfortunately I can't find the piece of paper I had written the names down on but one was a fantastic animation short that Nick Cave had narrated! After the films I headed back to my favourite place in the world Readings bookstore. After Saturdays disastrous viewings I decided I needed some more in my pocket of options. I ended up seeing two great ones that night. One already has fallen through unfortunately which is such a shame because it was ideal. I really must stop getting my hopes up! Will be calling the other one tonight to see what they say and have 2 appointments tomorrow to see places. I am going to try and arrange a few more. At this point I have some great material to write a show about my trials and tribulations of finding a place to live!!!

Today is my hostess daughters birthday. I am trying to get her tickets to see Traces which is coming to Melbourne for 10 days next month but not having any luck finding where to buy tickets! Tonight the three of us are going in to Hamer Hall (the cities main concert hall) to see a concert by Michael Nyman. He is a British composer that has done a lot of great film soundtracks such as The Piano. It should be a lovely evening.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx