On a Life Vacation

Sorry for not posting to the blog over the past week or so. I have been in a life transition. I finished my 6 month contract at the University of Melbourne last Friday.

Prior to that I was doing 2 things - cleaning up loose ends at work and working out all the requirements for a visa application that needs to be submitted at the end of the month to extend my stay down under.

Police Run Around

I am now in life of leisure mode, but with responsibilites - the visa application. Over the past 3 days I have been contacting various police stations to get a finger print done for a police check back in Canada.

I have been getting the run around as to when to go to the police station. As different times are busy or the staff are not available to do finger printing. Finally a police officer told me to contact the Australian Federal Police and they would do it. I called them and the earliest I could get it done was 24th of January. But he was very polite and considerate and offered me an alternative, the Victoria Police station. I called them and they can do it on December 18th. So I have that booked in.

Next up was a health check, that was much easier; called and booked an appointment for next Monday.

So far the Visa process is slowly getting under way and with some hard work and determination it will be completed and ready to submit in 2 weeks time.

Back to the Vacation

Friday was my last day at Melbourne Uni. It was a busy day ending my 6 month tenure there, but I got a great send off with some excellent gifts and a lunch at the pub. We sat outside on the deck on a warm and sunny Friday afternoon. Everybody was a bit loose and ready to chill and relax for 2 hours before heading back to work for the final 2 hours before the weekend.

Lauren had taken the following Monday and Tuesday off so we had a 4 day long weekend.

Here are the highlights:

Saturday night walked/public transit it to the city on a very warm night. Had drinks at Federation Square over looking the river. Walked along Southbank and had a dessert at a pumping drinking hole.

Monday went for a 2 hour ride to St. Kilda, got rained on. Had a good brunch at a St.Kilda restaurant that's been there forever.

Tuesday my police problems started but it was a relaxed day with a night out at the MCG to attend the Engineering department Christmas party. Enjoyed a one hour tour of the MCG and then had a 3 course meal at one of the function rooms. Very impressive building, blows away the Skydome/Rogers Centre.

As I am no longer working now and it is the holiday season and also Summer down under, my Blog entries will not be as frequent. But I will try to post at least once a week, if not more.