Anzac Day Parade - Geelong Style!

I'm sorry this is so late!   As you know, we've been without internet for a few weeks but, as of yesterday, we're back in business! 

"Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders "who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations" and "the contribution and suffering of all those who have served."^[1][2] Originally 25 April every year was to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps(ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire during World War I."  (Wikipedia)

We had hired a car for the long weekend so decided to make full use of it for the bank holiday of Anzac day.  With another couple, we decided to head down to Geelong to see what they had on offer.  Geelong is the biggest city outside of Melbourne and is on the sea.  A lot of people that commute into Melbourne from Geelong for work - it's over an hour's drive or train but worth it for those craving a beach lifestyle. 

Being new Australian residents, it was only right that we got involved in the Anzac Day celebrations.  We found a parade that went through the main road of Geelong; what a special tradition to witness.  Veterans from various wars and from all parts of the Australian services marched through the town centre and onlookers were able to applaud them with thanks for their service. 

Thousands of Australian flags lined the street waving on the veterans, and relatives of veterans, all displaying their, or their relatives’, medals proudly.  Three marching bands played along men and women with walkers, some in wheelchairs and one gentleman was even wheeled in his hospital bed.

After that we had a walk around the pier which encloses a swimming area for bathers to be shark free! It’s a really beautiful beach front area with a park and gas BBQ’s for picnics.  We’ll definitely be back in the summer. 

We then headed further down the coast to the town of Torquay where we had a fabulous lunch at the Growlers restaurant.  Juicy home made burgers and yummy fish and chips before heading down even further to the famous Bells Beach.   Bells beach is where the Rip Curl Pro surfing competition is held every year.  Keen surfers were out in full force despite the cold wind and the ever lurking thought of sharks! 

A quick coffee to warm us up and just over an hour drive back to the city.  Next time we’ll venture further along the Great Ocean Road and hopefully spend a weekend exploring. 

The Joys of Internet

Finally!!!   We are back online and so excited!   I can't believe we lasted so long without it.   The only thing that kept us going was the 3G on our mobiles, but even that was chewed up so quickly we had to ration ourselves to one look at Facebook per day!

So while we're on the subject, I might as well let you know about the joy of setting up internet in Australia.  For those of you that are moving over here, consider this a priority and get researching as soon as you have a new home to move into.  I waited until we moved, thinking it wouldn't take more than a few days.  And Oh how wrong I was!

So the first thing to note is that Telstra is the BT of Australia.   They own the phone lines and all other providers go through them.   This does not mean that are the cheapest!

There are many service providers that you can go with and the best thing to do is just research what each has to offer to suit your needs.   Most of them will do phone/broadband/tv packages.  

The main providers I’ve heard of along the way are iiNet, Telstra, TPG, and Dodo.   The service has not been amazing from any of the providers so I wouldn't recommend one over the other for that reason.  All I can do is tell you what we went with.   

We chose to go with iiNet’s TV Combo.  For $119 a month you get the broadband, phone line and Fetch TV.  This includes the monthly rental of the super sleek modem and phone, 200GB of internet and all landline calls made within Australia.   Fetch TV is the usual free channels plus a few extras, but the best part is that we can pause, rewind and record!  The adverts here are a nightmare so this is almost as important as having internet!  We also have access to newly released movies that we can rent but get 30 free ones to start us off.

We can upgrade the TV to include more channels but with baby on the way we’re waiting to see if we need them - Brad will be far too busy to need the sports channels!