kelseys birthday!

The second birthday in Australia went off with more hitches than we can bear to say. For the record. do not show up to the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the Footy season opener with members club tickets and sandals on your feet. Sure they’ll let 3 people in front of you in with them on, but not you. Thankfully you can walk all the way back to the tram stop, take it back into the CBD and find a little asian shoe store still open at 8pm to buy yet another pair of flats and make it back in time to meet the birthday girl at the bar and catch the 2nd quarter of the game. Also- if you’re wearing your teams jumper (jersey), and you happen to be in the members club section, you’ll be the only one wearing one. dually noted. Since the Richmond Tigers lost, we had a great reason to blame our celebrations on- you can only imagine how much fun we had. A huge thank you to the O’Sullivans- we don’t know what we’d do without you! (we certainly wouldn’t have seats 3 rows behind the Richmond bench…oh ben cousins #32...)

home sweet (australian) home

We found an apartment! It’s a private renovated wing of a great old Victorian mansion in Brunswick- just a 15 minute tram ride to the CBD. It took a liter of bourbon and more cleaning supplies than anyone should ever inhale, but we didn’t sleep until it was spotless. Ory mopped the 15’ ceilings for crying out loud. We’re slowly furnishing it thanks to ikea and the great vintage shops near us- bridgette bought a 1960’s coffee table for $20 and carried it all the way up Lygon street (boy work). The Queen Victoria Market is right around the corner for Saturday grocery shopping (we bought 5 kilos of grapes for $3 and an entire tray of steaks for $15 just to name a few bargains we couldn’t say no to. Imagine sitting near us on that tram ride home).

In other news… JOBS. We have to pay this absurd rent somehow

Kels- the breadwinner of this family thus far- working at the aboriginal arts center framing thousands of dollars worth of authentic artwork from the outback and slinging coffee on the side at the cutest little Italian café.

Bridgette- lasted 2 shifts at Santinos Terrace with straight-off-the-boat, wildly inappropriate 50 year old Italian men. That was 2 shifts too long. Went door to door to nearly every architecture firm in this city (bloody Von Furstenberg flats to prove it) and scored an interview with a great firm in the CBD this week-so keep your fingers crossed!

Ory- waiting tables at an Italian restaurant… yeah you’re seeing the pattern here, we’re in the middle of melbournes little italy, also the epicenter of the Italian mob (no we’re not kidding…the good news is it’s the safest part of the city for that very reason). Good thing we love a good espresso and a great pasta dish…and Italian men.

Needless to say, we’re falling in love with city life!

xo

b.k.o

b turns 24!

There couldn't be a better way to celebrate the first birthday in australia than with a trip down the great ocean road in a 1964 ford falcon. 2 days and 500 kilometers along the shipwreck coast-some of the most amazing ocean views you could imagine. we stood in ice cold, crystal clear water looking at the edge of the world. we walked along the beach at the 12 apostles and climbed in caves at the site of the sunken loch arch.

now its back to city life and planning the next adventure in underland!

wish us luck! (donations accepted and payable through paypal)

xoxo

b,k,o

as if

So there was a minor setback in the apartment search today...in the form of 26mm of rain in less than an hour, golf ball sized hail, and the evacuation of southern cross station after a massive hole was torn in the roof. but other than that, another beautiful day in melbourne!