Gone on a Lucky Country

I've been so excited that we are moving to our new place on Friday that I have been in a bit of denial....

We will most likely not get our crate from the States until the end of August.  That means that we will be in an apartment for an entire month with only the contents of our suitcases.  Wow.

We bought a mattress set last weekend and it is being delivered the day we move in... I immediately began the hunt for appliances (we need to provide our own washer, dryer and fridge) and found the washer and dryer second hand. I am working on getting a fridge this week.

What I didn't realize was how much you need for just the basics of everyday living.  I keep thinking of all the things in our crate that I am dying to get. 

So, with all of these things in mind, we took a trip out to Ikea yesterday armed with a small list and the knowledge that everything that we bought would need to be carried home in bags.  Eek....  I am proud to say that we only spent a very little bit and we now have just enough to get us through the month:

2 plates, 2 bowls, 2 glasses, 4 sets of silverware, a set of steak knives, 2 mixing bowls, a frying pan, a sauce pan, 1 cutting board, a trash can, 2 towels, 2 washcloths, a fitted sheet, 2 pillows, and 1 blanket.

Ok....

Friday was a super mellow day...  I hung out around the apartment and ran out for flowers and a card during a break in the rain.  There is a wonderful American named Liz who was working at Joe's new company; but Friday was her last day.  We met the week before when we were out having drinks and she was so incredibly nice and helpful.  All week she has been sending Joe home with all of her Aussie travel books and such for me.  So, to honor her going away we decided to do flowers and a card...

I went to Joe's office and actually got to hang out there for a bit and meet most of his fellow employees.  I like every single one of them!  They are so welcoming, warm and friendly!  So, we went off to the pub and stood around outside (winter right? Ha!) having beers and talking.  Two of the guys were nice enough to spend about 20 minutes trying to explain the sport of Cricket to me.  Sadly enough, I think I actually understand it pretty well now!

This morning we were up early and the city was just so pretty and sleepy that I decided to take a picture out the window for your viewing enjoyment!

We picked up our rental cars and off we went - I took the viewings in Manly & Queenscliff since Joe had that area last week and I'm really glad I did!  I don't like Manly!!  Well, the beach is incredible and the city is cool but I would never want to live there - it's too surfer/party for me.  Also, it was stupid crowded in the middle of winter - I can't imagine what it would be like in Summer.  I really do love how accessible things are here though.  I went to my second viewing (great view from a dump) and then had about an hour till the next one that was only around the corner.  I walked a couple hundred meters back down to a little cafe to use the toilets (I know that sounds horrifying; but that's what they are called here so I am trying to train myself!) and get a coffee and muffin.  I've never had a Pear and Pistachio Muffin before; but I am a huge fan of the flavour profile now that I've had it.  So, I walked back up to the next building which was the last one on a dead end street. Oh, but the street dead-ended into a cliff looking over the Pacific.  Yeah - not a bad way to spend an hour!

That apartment wasn't great either so...

It was about that time that Joe called to tell me that he was looking at the apartment that had me going a couple days ago when I ran out the door for the viewing and the Agent's keys didn't work.  So, she had the right keys this time and he was in - he said that this one was, in fact, the one and I needed to come out to the real estate office to fill out applications.

I ran back to the rental place, returned the car, hopped a taxi back to our apartment, grabbed our paperwork, ran down to Circular Quay, snapped this picture (First time I've seen the Opera House in the sun - it's so white in the sun; but it is beige/gold up close), hopped on the ferry, met Joe, went to the agent's office, filled out applications and had lunch!  Whew!!  The cafe we went to was cute and very interesting in that it was open 24 hours.  It's the first place I've seen since I've gotten here that is open 24 hours.

We headed back to the city, returned the car and then fell into a taxi to come home.  Joe took a nap, I took in some tv and we both took some ibuprofen!  These apartment hunting days really take it out of you...

The apartment we applied for is great. It has everything that we wanted except for a balcony.  It is across the street from a couple parks and only a few steps down to a gorgeous look-out on the end of the point.  Also, it is just a few meters from the steps down to the ferry so Joe would have a very fast commute.  I, on the other hand, will be a little over a mile from the main drag.  I don't mind walking that; but I am trying to figure out how I will be walking it in bad weather or with a few bags of groceries.  Maybe a bike?  Or a super cute scooter?  He he....

Here is a picture of the view from the living room of the apartment..... Drool! 


We are off to Hillsong in the morning (We are going to one of the city campuses this time) and then we are going to go look around out at Bondi beach for the day!

I've gotten over most hurdles here so far.  I found all the little shops I need to live my life on a daily basis....
I have a grocery, dry cleaners, coffee place, cafe with wifi and a street that seems to have anything else you could think of.  I've mastered buying train and ferry tickets and actually making it onto and off of the right trains and ferries.  We have mobiles now and even an Australian bank account.  Joe is working and I got all of the paperwork just in time for him to be getting his first paycheck and for us to get reimbursed for our moving expenses.  The only thing that seems to be missing right now is finding an apartment.

We ended up getting approved for the place that we applied for in Manly; but they said absolutely not to our little doggy so we had to turn them down. It's a great feeling knowing that we can get approved with the packet that I turned in. I'm not sure why I thought they would be so anal about paperwork when they aren't anal about anything else here.  I sat next to a girl on the ferry yesterday while she talked to her friend about how pissed (wasted) they all were the night before "and oh, by the way, I just applied for an apartment and I put you down as my last landlady - I told them I lived in your building for 18 months and I paid 500 a week for rent... Thanks".  So, I guess I am being over prepared and over zealous in providing all of our last utility bills and copies of every vital document I can think of.  Oh well, if it increases our chances than great.

So, I was really excited yesterday to realise that one of our other favourite places was having a showing in just a little bit.  I ran down to Circular Quay and made it onto the Neutral Bay ferry just in time.  Of course, I ended up being early and so I had to stand in the cold rain for a half hour waiting for the agent.  She arrived and surprise surprise - her keys didn't work.  Sigh..... This is the second time we have had an inspection cancelled because the agents don't have the right keys.  There was only one other person there besides me and she immediately helped him, offered him a lift etc....  Then she turned away from me and started making calls and I actually had to go over to her and get her to take my information down so that she could call me Friday once she got the right keys.  I could feel her irritation with me and it was very obvious in the way she interacted with the Australian male that was there for the showing compared to how she acted towards me.

Of course, by the time I got back down to the ferry it was just pulling away so I had to sit and wait for a half hour.  It was pleasant for about 5 minutes until it started the increasing rain again forcing me into the little shelter.  I had the extreme pleasure (and I say this with as much Aussie sarcasm as I can muster)  of sharing the shelter with a pair of aging backpackers and their very smelly, unleashed poodle.  Well, the poodle took an immediate liking to me and started playing the age old game "I'll jump up and put my dirty paws on you and then when you try to push me away I'll try to bite you".  I feel like I was doing ok controlling my irritation until these French girls joined us inside the shelter and proceeded to chain smoke vigorously, as though they had not had a cigarette since at least ten minutes before.

I opted for cold rain over smelly dogs and clouds of cigarette smoke.  I was so dispirited by the time I got home...  I had had such high hopes that I was about to go see the apartment of our dreams.  I decided that I was done for the day - no cooking dinner, no more ironing.  So, I watched tv till Joe got home and then we went out for a ridiculously over-priced meal.  Ahhh.  I'd like to say that dinner lifted my cloud; but it really didn't.  It felt hard to be out and to be laughing with the waiter.  I felt like I was forcing my cheer.

Writing last night helped immensely and I can feel the cloud moving away more and more as I get this out of my system now.  We have a full schedule for tomorrow.  I haven't seen the schedule yet; but Joe had me book two cars for tomorrow morning at eight so I can only assume that we are splitting up again for the day and that we are seeing enough places that walking isn't an option.

I was really hoping that last weekend would be my one and only experience with driving in Australia; but I am apparently going to have a go again tomorrow.

Well, I'm off to run errands.  I am meeting Joe and his coworkers out again tonight.  One of the girls that I met last weekend is leaving the company and going back to the States.  She was really nice and has been sending all of her books on Oz home for me with Joe so I am going to get her a card and flowers as a going away gift.  So, off to the market with me and then I need to make myself look presentable for tonight...

I just wish this bloody rain would stop....

Today was Joe's first day of work.  He texted me an hour in and told me he was having a blast.  He is energized - excited and full of ideas!  It's beyond wonderful to see him this way and to receive further confirmation that our move here was a good decision.

Today was my first day of being a stay at home wife.  I got up, made coffee and brekky, learned to tie Joe's tie (more as a joke than anything - I think I really embarrassed him by wanting to do it for him) and sent him on his way.  I had a really busy day full of errands and getting the apartment back into order after our busy weekend.  I went to the grocery, dropped off his shirts at the cleaners (I know that given the amount of time I have in my day I should do this myself; but for only $2 a shirt I'd have to be crazy not to use the cleaners) faxed some documentation to a real estate agent and had a nice lunch in a cafe - just me and a book.

We sent in an application on an apartment over in Manly.  It was one of the ones that Joe saw on Saturday.  The agent called with some questions even though I included every single piece of paperwork I could think of... Copies of our passports, licenses, birth certs, marriage cert, Aus Medical Ins Cert, Joe's contract, letter from his last job, Aussie bank statement, 2 US bank statements, mortgage statements, utility bills etc...
Anyway, the agent was really nice and said that he didn't think that we would have a problem getting the place.  He also said he would call with news before end of business....that was roughly 4 hours ago and no call.  So, I'm trying not to be negative; but I did find five more really nice apartments that we want to go see just in case we don't get this one in Manly.

I realized today that I am completely over my jet lag.  I don't feel dizzy anymore and I am sleeping like a baby at night.  I'm glad I left that bout of insomnia behind in the States!

I don't have a very long to do list for tomorrow so it might be a good day for people to call or Skype me...  I am going to have to give myself lists for each day and space my tasks out so that I don't end up with long stretches alone in the apartment.  Luckily I am just a block from the harbor and about half a kilometer from the Opera House so I can take beautiful walks!

Oh!  We had meat pies from Pie Face tonight for dinner.  I thought I would like the chicken ones better then the meat and I also thought that putting tomato sauce on a steak pie was gross; but I was wrong on both counts!  My favorite was chunky steak pie with tomato sauce....

Joe goes to bed early and I've been staying up a bit late and I am developing the wonderful routine.  I make myself a small pot of tea and I catch up on writing my blog and reading the others that I follow.  I have to say, it's a lovely way to end the day!

We left this morning in a hurry - I wanted to stop on the way out and get a coffee at the cafe downstairs; but I keep forgetting that they aren't open on Saturdays!  Joe dropped me off in Neutral Bay and then he headed over to Manly in the rental car.  We had 7 apartments lined up to view for the day.

I really wanted to get my moneys worth out of the rental car after we had to pay $145.00 for parking to get it out of the parking garage (have I mentioned yet how expensive this city is?), $30.00 for petrol and $150.00 for the car itself...  Whew....  This is insane!!

This is not the first time I've had a blog...  This is, however, the first time that I have had one that I openly share with people.  There always comes time when you start weighing what you really want to say in your blog and what you know you should say...  For this blog, the time has come much sooner than I thought it would.

So, what I really want to write about is overwhelming homesickness and the absolute stress of making your way in a city when you have nothing to rely on.  When the streets are backwards, the cars are backwards, the GPS doesn't work and you feel like you just want to start walking until you get home....

But, what I should be writing about today is the fantastically dry Aussie sense of humor...

There is a rental book that we got when we moved into our apartment and it is a perfect example of things that you would never see in the states... 

On the page entitled "Fire and Other Hazards":

"Burning the apartment down will probably ruin your stay"

"Please refrain from smoking near the fire sprinklers unless you wish to have a shower at the same time"

So, yea - there's lots to laugh at.  Thank goodness; because there are days when I really need to laugh!

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!