We started looking at apartments today... We saw three and the experience was slightly disheartening. The first was quite lovely; but had the downsides of being a short term lease and being pet-unfriendly. The second one had an absolutely breathtaking view of the entire skyline and harbour; but had the downsides of being smelly, water damaged and dated inside. The third was just awful - just completely awful.
So..... We have about 30 or 40 more places that we are going to try to see in the the next few days. It's hard to schedule them when you have to rely on public transit and walk to get to them. I think we might rent a car all day Thursday and try to see a whole ton that day.
So far I am amazed by the prices people will pay for something. I get the high rent prices - I am totally ok with paying them; but I am amazed that some of these apartments are even considered inhabitable.
We went to the Telstra store tonight to get our mobile phone situation sorted. Turns out we need many more points of ID than we had with us. I have to print out a copy of our membership card for our private health cover and we will be opening a bank account in the morning and that should get us to where we need to be. Getting your new life set up here is just a series of small irritations and annoyances. Someone tells you that you need a birth certificate and then later you find out that it doesn't count because it's not from the right country! Ah! I can't wait till things are a little more stable...
I'm sad that Joe starts working on Monday; but I'm kinda glad - we need some paychecks to start rolling in or else we won't have anything to open a bank account with! This city is so very expensive. Actually, I don't think it is nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be - it's just expensive to start a new life in a whole new place. Every 5 minutes we are realizing that we need something that we forgot or running across some crazy fee or charge.
The Internet service in our apartment is $70.00 a week! The saddest part about that is that the service is absolutely horrible. You can re-load a page over and over before it finally loads properly. Our apartment had very basic sample packs in it so we had to run to the grocery for dish soap, laundry soap, hangers etc...
Thankfully we did not have to go out today and buy Joe a whole new work wardrobe as we located his garment bag at the airport! Joe decided to call the airport just in case the garment bag never made it into the taxi and there it was! So, on our way back from the outlets in Homebush I took the train into the city and he went on to the airport and collected it. I love the trains! They just make sense and they are so clean. I had to change trains at the Wynyard station today and as I was sitting on a bench listening to my Ipod someone came up to me and asked me for directions!! The best part was that I actually was able to tell this poor lost woman from Melbourne what train she needed to be on... It felt good to realize that, only a few days in, I am really trying to learn this city.
Our days are so full - not just busy; but also full of the tiny little things that are so different in every day life. I have about a million things I want to blog about every day. I've been writing them down and I guess I'll get to each of them as I have time. The sense of humor, the groceries, the food, the restaurants, the people... It's fascinating!
So..... We have about 30 or 40 more places that we are going to try to see in the the next few days. It's hard to schedule them when you have to rely on public transit and walk to get to them. I think we might rent a car all day Thursday and try to see a whole ton that day.
So far I am amazed by the prices people will pay for something. I get the high rent prices - I am totally ok with paying them; but I am amazed that some of these apartments are even considered inhabitable.
We went to the Telstra store tonight to get our mobile phone situation sorted. Turns out we need many more points of ID than we had with us. I have to print out a copy of our membership card for our private health cover and we will be opening a bank account in the morning and that should get us to where we need to be. Getting your new life set up here is just a series of small irritations and annoyances. Someone tells you that you need a birth certificate and then later you find out that it doesn't count because it's not from the right country! Ah! I can't wait till things are a little more stable...
I'm sad that Joe starts working on Monday; but I'm kinda glad - we need some paychecks to start rolling in or else we won't have anything to open a bank account with! This city is so very expensive. Actually, I don't think it is nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be - it's just expensive to start a new life in a whole new place. Every 5 minutes we are realizing that we need something that we forgot or running across some crazy fee or charge.
The Internet service in our apartment is $70.00 a week! The saddest part about that is that the service is absolutely horrible. You can re-load a page over and over before it finally loads properly. Our apartment had very basic sample packs in it so we had to run to the grocery for dish soap, laundry soap, hangers etc...
Thankfully we did not have to go out today and buy Joe a whole new work wardrobe as we located his garment bag at the airport! Joe decided to call the airport just in case the garment bag never made it into the taxi and there it was! So, on our way back from the outlets in Homebush I took the train into the city and he went on to the airport and collected it. I love the trains! They just make sense and they are so clean. I had to change trains at the Wynyard station today and as I was sitting on a bench listening to my Ipod someone came up to me and asked me for directions!! The best part was that I actually was able to tell this poor lost woman from Melbourne what train she needed to be on... It felt good to realize that, only a few days in, I am really trying to learn this city.
Our days are so full - not just busy; but also full of the tiny little things that are so different in every day life. I have about a million things I want to blog about every day. I've been writing them down and I guess I'll get to each of them as I have time. The sense of humor, the groceries, the food, the restaurants, the people... It's fascinating!
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TPG is likely going to be your best bet in terms of internet service in Sydney. We're with them down in Melbourne and pay little for the service we get. I'm not sure if you're going to be able to switch or not, but I figured I'd throw it out there in case you can.
Well, we are limited by what the serviced apartment offers so we are over a barrel on this one. We will prob just end up going with Telstra with everything once we get a permanent place. Joe wants to bundle everything... It's really more his department so I am trying to stay out of it :D
$70 a week for net??? You are totally being ripped off there. We pay less than that per month.
Well, we are getting reimbursed for it so no worries!
Yeah, I also nearly dropped my coffee when I read $70 a week!! We are with Telstra Bigpond, and pay $60 a month for unlimited upload and download on Broadband. We are on cable because we have Foxtel as well.
We get all our local calls free and a discount on the overall bill because we have our landline, mobile, and Foxtel all on one account.
No, I don't work for Telstra, don't even have shares with them! I know there are heaps of good plans around, but Telstra works okay with us.
I really feel for you being homesick. Excitement with your hubby in a new place is one thing, but leaving the rest of your family and friends across the world must be tough. I do hope you find your feet soon with a decent apartment (or house) to rent. How are you finding our accent? Some of my American friends who have lived here for 30 years or more still have trouble understanding me occasionally, when I get carried away about something!
The accent isn't bad as long as I can see the person talking - it can be hard when I'm on the street and I hear people talking around me and sometimes I catch snippets and realize I didn't understand it!! :)
I am liking Teltra so far - they were great with our mobiles so we'll prob go with them once we are settled!