in Australia

We are now in Melbourne, Australia. After the Term at ISB ended, we headed to Koh Samui and Bangkok in Thailand for a few days of R&R, and then came to the land down under. We'll be here until we return in California in May.

Our first impressions of Melbourne are that it is very much like San Francisco! At this time of year, the weather is on the cooler side (long sleeves and long pants), the city is clean, efficient and the people are generally young and friendly. It is quite a change from the frenetic pace and crazy systems of India.

Our plan after Melbourne is to drive up to Sydney, spend a few nights there, then drive up to Brisbane to visit my old San Anselmo roommate Jenny. We will then fly to Cairns, where we will explore the Great Barrier Reef and Northern Queensland. Grantland also wants to visit the famous Australian Outback somewhere along the way. Finally, my brother Justin will join us in Cairns for May 9 – 16.

In case you’d like to reach us, we picked up a Vodafone cell phone with an Australian number.

Shirley & Grantland in Australia: 61 0420 240 496
(you may have to drop the first “0” before “420” when dialing)

Speaking of mobile phones, it was an incredibly easy process in Australia – a 5 minute application for the sim card and prepaid plan. By contrast, the process in India took quite a bit of research on Grantland’s part to understand all the different pricing plans – Vodafone has probably had to develop a wide range to reach all income spectrums of the population in India. The application took about 30 minutes and we had to provide 2 passport pictures, sign many forms and also copies of our passports; probably another added effect of having no unique IDs in India.