For those days when regular, amateur gum just won't work...

I was going through pictures I had taken, and came across the ones below. For those of you who have been to Winnipeg, and realize the craziness and illogical design of some of the traffic lights there, the one below (at LaTrobe and Swanston Streets) has it beaten with no contest. I’ll explain it as best I can. In picture 1, the green arrows in the bottom corners mean cars can go left or right. The solid red light means cars can’t go straight. The white arrow on top means trams can turn right, while the red “T” means they can’t go straight. In the second picture, the red arrows and light means cars can’t go at all. The green bike means bikes can go straight, and the white “T” means trams can go straight. So if you ever find yourself driving down Swanston (from the university to the Yarra River) and cross LaTrobe, you should now have some understanding of the light. But you might not want to quote me on what all the lights mean. I could be way off. And FYI, streetcars are called trams in the local lingo.

Because of the trams, Melbourne has some odd traffic rules. One of them is that, at some intersections, a car turning right needs to pull over to left (called a “hook turn” in the local lingo). This sounds a bit backwards, but they also drive on the left, so the odd driving rules shouldn’t be a surprise. Anyway, whenever an intersection has this sign posted:

A car needs to follow the turning rule I’ll try and explain. Suppose a car is heading down street A and wants to turn right on street B. The car would pull over on the left, so that other cars driving straight on street A can pass on the right. The turning car then waits for the light to change (so that street B has a green light) before turning right and proceeding. Crazy as it sounds, it does make sure that turning cars don’t block the trams. And it probably helps ensure that tourists are less likely to drive. Hopefully the photo below clarifies. The police car is going straight. The white pickup (or “ute” in the local lingo) is turning right, waiting for the light to change.

Classes started last week, so I’ve been somewhat swamped with a large volume of low-level coursework. It’s not that the work is difficult; the challenge comes merely from the volume of work. On the bright side, with much less free time I’ll be much less capable of spending money.

While I did nothing this weekend, last weekend I went out to the Grampians with some fellow MBA students. For those of you who don’t know the Grampians, it’s a national park a few hours outside of Melbourne, in one of the Australian mountain ranges. It’s a pretty cool place, although the mountains aren’t that impressive – they’re like the foothills to the Rockies. But all in all it’s a pretty nice place. And on the way there, we took the Great Ocean Road. Apparently it’s one of the top scenic drives in the world. While I’m sure that’s a matter of opinion (I-94 from Minneapolis to St. Paul is also a top-notch trip), I’d be inclined to agree that it is quite the scenic drive. See below.

I’m feeling more settled in. I now have an apartment, phone, and bank account – some of the critical things. I actually opened a bank account the second day I was here. After comparing a few banks, I went to ANZ (Australia New Zealand Banking Group, I believe – and the “z” is pronounced “zed” down here) to open an account. Interestingly enough, no banks offer free checking accounts regularly, only to students. Quite a shift from the US, where everyone offers a free checking plan. Anyway, At ANZ, I asked about opening a checking account. For a few seconds I got that look from the teller like I didn’t know what I was talking about – or was just another uncultured American – before she asked if I meant a “”transaction account.” So I guess in reality I don’t have a checking account here, rather it’s a transaction account. Just a technicality.

Last weekend and the weekend before I got the chance to check out some of the Australian sports – Australian rules football (“footy”) and rugby league. Both were interesting. The games seem a lot more fast-paced than US sports – the play rarely stops. Also there’s very little protective gear in use. The top photo is from footy, the middle from rugby, and the bottom for humor – apparently some guy name Batman had some role in Melbourne’s early days. Or the government is just a big fan of the superhero.

On an unrelated note, I applied for (and was granted) permission to work, so I now have a visa label in my passport.