Footy in the Autumnal Rains

The Easter holidays ended and term 2 started down under on 16 April. The following weekend we travelled down to Frankston, a suburb of Melbourne to the south-east of the city on Port Philip Bay. Melbourne is frequently referred to as 'The city by the bay'. We were visiting another exchange teacher, Kirsty from Scotland and her Dutch husband, Marc. On the way down we encountered a very British phenomenon - a traffic jam! Being stuck on the freeway resulted in us taking 4 and a half hours to get there, and along with the drizzle which soon turned heavier, it reminded us of 'the ol' country'. We were so late getting there that the wineries had all shut by the time we visited them in the late afternoon, so we had to settle down at Kirsty and Marc's place and sample our own! It was good to chat to them (and another exchangee, Julie from Washington State) about how things are going and about Australians as a people (without any Aussies about!).
The next day we left early because I was due to play in my new football team's first game of the season (although I had played in a friendly the previous weekend). Both Sarah and I have really got stuck into the football (and not soccer as people insist on trying to call the beautiful game here) and we usually go to both training sessions in the week and the match, which is usually played on the Sunday. We have, as a result, started to make some good friends with other footy players and Sarah has started to find employment due to her contacts here. It really is who you know here in order to get work. We have also been out on a few social occasions too which have resulted in a few hangovers because of the strong beer here! One of these was last weekend when I went to an FA Cup final party with a few ex-pats and some Aussies too. We arrived at Rob's house at around 9.45pm to watch the game which kicked off at midnight EST. The game was live on SBS a terrestrial channel in Oz. The game went into extra time before it finished at around 2.30 on Sunday morning. It was good fun, even though I had no interest in who won the game.
So, as a result of the football we are both playing and the fact that we have overspent on trips away in the first few months we have not been away much, although we have done a few day trips here and there. However we are due to go away for the Queen's Birthday holiday weekend in June (yes, despite the fact that most Aussies are not royalists they still have a holiday for the Queen's birthday!). Also we are planning a trip to the Red Centre for the winter break in early July. It still seems weird that the months and seasons are back to front here. Also it has recently got much colder here as we are now in the last throes of Autumn and we have had quite a bit of rain, which has pleased the locals no end. When I say colder the day time maximum is still in the mid-high teens and at night it now regularly drops down to single figures, which is probably much like a May day in the UK! However as the house we are in has terrible insulation and one gas heater in the living room it feels a lot colder in the house than it would in the UK. Apparently this is quite normal in Australia, though. Still the jumpers that I thought that I foolishly packed back in December are now coming in very useful indeed!
Bye for now.