The Seppos Have Landed

 We've made it!  We had quite a successful (albeit long) journey down, we had no lost luggage, our flights were on time (for the most part- late departing Atlanta), and we managed to sleep a bit on our long flight (though we're still walking zombies).


Highlights of the flight and travels include multiple instances of awkward verbiage ("utilized by other patrons," "MAGICAL!," and excessive of use of the word "rubbish," and "the loo.").  Not to mention our Canadian row companion who quietly divulged to Lydia and I that he is currently gaining his Masters in "Infrastructure and Public Security," or in other words, how to be a terrorist (no reason to fear though, he was very nice and intends to work for the Canadian government). The view coming in was beautiful, which included snow-capped mountains, lakes, small towns in valleys, cliff drop-offs into the ocean, and rainbows.
We managed to get all of our luggage from Sydney to Melbourne and from the Melbourne airport to the hotel:

Although we did over-pay the cab driver due to confusion over tips and the currency, we were happy to not have to take two separate cabs to accommodate our luggage.  We checked into our beautiful hotel room at the Westin Melbourne, though have not had much time to enjoy it. As for today, we activated our bank accounts with Australia Commonwealth Bank, purchased a pre-paid mobile from Telstra (we got the super cheapo Telstra T100 prepaid phone, as we are unsure whether or not Accenture's Professional plan will provide us with a handset), purchased Metlink (public transportation) cards, and inspected three properties (one of which was comically inadequate and the real estate agent was entirely unprepared to present the property given his inability to effectively use the myriad of keys required to enter the apartment and the fact that he didn't remember to bring any leaflets).



As for now, we're off to dinner and a beer to celebrate our successful first (half-)day in Melbourne!  We're so excited to be here and love the city already!  Thus far, the city's feel and atmosphere falls somewhere along a combination of Chicago, DC, and San Francisco (more on this later).