Hello Melbourne!

We have arrived safe & sound!  Its taken some time to get settled here being that we are starting new with everything we need.  Rob and I had a great flight from LAX to Melbourne.   With the help from a little white sleeping pill (he he), we were able to get much needed sleep on the flight.  We watched movies, read, listened to music, ate, talked and before we knew it- landed.  We waited in a long immigration line then packed up all of our baggage.  We picked up the rental car and Rob (as brave as he is) drove us to our "flat".  Even before starting the ignition, Rob repeated to himself, "stay left, stay left, stay left" to train his mind and hands in directing the car down the correct direction of the road.  Through out the day, the two of us repeated those words to keep each other orientated.  

We had directions to our flat but we got lost.  Eventually found the flat, unloaded the car, took much needed showers and immediately headed out to see Maggie in the quarantine facility.  We had directions to the facility but got lost.  Finally we arrived to "prison" and were kindly directly to pin #69 or cell block #69 or Maggie's prison run #69.  The first look at Maggie revealed to us a distressed dog and I couldn't help but get the water works going again.  The facility is mostly concrete and wire with shelter for the dogs and wire fences.  While we were there, dogs incessantly barked and a radio station was playing over an intercom to help "sooth the dogs from barking" as we were informed by the staff.  After lots of petting, attempted play (Maggie wasn't interested) and tons of cooing, we got Maggie to lay down with us on her make shift bed and I finally stopped crying (to Rob's relief).  We spend an hour and a half with Maggie and met two nice staff members from the facility.  We left feeling a little better about Maggie but determined to return the next day with a fluffy bed and multiple treats for our girl.

Next, we set out to the heart of Melbourne city to the medical licensing office for Rob to present proof of identity and complete the paper work for his medical license here in Australia.  We got lost en route to the office but once there, got a recommendation for an awesome restaurant for dinner.  After dinner, we headed back to our flat, got lost then found and collapsed into our bed for the night.  A productive but exhausting day indeed.

Today we were successful in obtaining mobile phone numbers and oh how sweet it is to have mobile access again.  We purchased a navigation system for our car (Nevman brand) which helped us not only save our pending marriage but wasting time getting lost over again.  We raided a pet supply shop for Maggie's comforts and "needs".  Hit up IKEA, Kmart and the grocery store for some comforts of home and pantry items.  Tonight Rob and I feel tired but have completed some much needed missions.  

Rob is in the driver seat, ok.

Melbourne is a unique, trendy, and fun city from what we can see thus far.  People here have been helpful and kind to us.  Yesterday over dinner we were asked by our server where our accent was from...  How cool is that?  We are excited to explore more of the city in the weeks to come.  

Best sign off for now but I'll update again soon!

Arrived to the Melbourne airport. Rob donning a hat for "bed head".

Melbourne!

She's a jail bird now

The cage run.  Rob is encouraging her to fetch her toy bunny

Maggie finally resting with us and I am just getting a hold of myself.  Over all, she just seemed tired.

Surrounding her with favorite toys from home

Our new nav system who speaks so nicely to us in a female voice.  We decided to name her, "Barbie".  Thank you, Barbie for saving our relationship :)