BurbleChaz

GO TEAM HOBBYHORSE!

Today, we went to the office. It's on the 27th floor of a beautiful modern skyscraper. The atrium has some astonishing art, including a water feature that would house a family of whales. The coffee area includes a fridge full of beer and a full set of optics. Neat.

We turned up at about 0845. Some of the keen types had already been, and set off to a meeting with The Customer. One of the managers (a really nice bloke) showed us the facilities (including the bar). We couldn't log on to the network until we had the Super Secret Password, and the only known bearer was in a meeting with The Customer, so we went to do battle with The Host Government to get some paper put in our passports.

I spent ten minutes in a phone maze, and fifteen seconds on hold trying to arrange an appointment for this. When I got through I said when we had arrived, mentioned the visa subclass, and the bloke I was talking to finished the sentence for me. 'So, you want us to put a stamp in your passport. Drop by any time.' 'Would now be OK?' I ask. 'Hang on - yeah there's not much of a queue'. So off we go. After a slight bit of navigational confusion we turn up at the Government office. The queue is four deep. It takes two minutes. I start saying why we're there, and get my sentence finished for me again. We take a number and sit down. Forty seconds later, we're called to the desk and our passports are stamped. They pay way too much for government here.

On the way back to the office, we drop in to a new government-run citizens advice office, to see if we can get any advice on pitfalls and traps when renting. We are almost tackled by a woman, eager to hand us more literature than you could eat in a fortnight. She seemed upset that we spoke English and weren't victims of inter-ethnic warfare. Australians - pay your government less. Please.

Since we are being promised lots of lovely meetings for the afternoon, we slope off early to see if we can work out how to open a bank account. Having taken advice from the locals, we go to one of the big high-street type banks. 30 minutes later, we are the proud possessors of three shiny new bank accounts, containg a sum total of AU$0.00. Delighted. This will make life so much easier when it comes to renting a flat

We've been looking at various properties online, and today I phoned an Estate Agent. The receptionist was, I am sure, a lady whose youth was either in tha past or in the closet. We didn't get on very well. I think I upset her by mentioing we had just arrived in the country. She assumed we wanted a furnished holiday let. Then she tried to get all superior. I, of course, Am Not A Toff At All, Despite What Some People Say. So I didn't display any proper behaviour at all, because I'm in Australia, and it's an egalitarian culture. I think that's what upset her most. I'm scared to phone back now.

After a certain amount of systems stuff and joyous meetings, we sloped off after a ten hour day. This is not a sensible precedent. Shopping next, followed by a few minutes in the world's nastiest gym. There are no free weights, the weight machine is designed to break your spine, and I stuffed the cycling machine on level 20. That felt good.

Went to a pub just across the road. It's a microbrewery, run by a large brewer. We had a couple of beers each, and each found something we liked. We'll be going back there again.

Wine: Tempus Two Hunter Valley Shiraz 2003. We thought we were buying a $23 bottle. It rang up as $13. It was probably lying in a cellar we drove past on our honeymoon. Most adequate for $12. The Wine Expert says she'd pay around GBP10-11 for it. I agree. Did we tell you about the Heathrow tasting?

Heathrow, T4, one of the BA Business lounges. The Wine Expert gets two glasses of red. Asks me what I think. I snort and slurp. One is clearly a harsh Cab Sav, so I place it as Californian. The other is a fairly assertive Burgundy. I say so. The WE is astonished. One was a Cally Cab Sav, the other a Chateau Neuf du Pape. Since we have plenty of time before the last free flight to Oz, I get a couple of whites for the WE to try. She nails them both in ten seconds. Chilean Sav Blanc, and a buttery Burgundy Chardonnay. Hence, she's the Wine Expert, and I'm the BeerHound.

HOBBYHORSE!