A place to live!

We have just put down a deposit on a flat! Hurrah!

It has been quite difficult with the rental market here and not really knowing what or where we wanted.

Today I saw 3 in Mosman, a big 2 bed with view of the harbour bridge in a block of 4 flats near the ferries, a smaller 2 bed in an older block but with a pool, and a bigger semi-detached further in-land near the shops.

We decided against the semi since we wanted to live nearer the water. The first 2 were difficult to decide between though... in the end we thought that although the pool would be great in the summer the finishing and the size of the other one and the view won it! And our relocation agent told us that Manly is only a 10 minute drive away from Mosman anyway so we can easily get to the beach to cool off in summer.

It is the top left part of this photo (yep Adam wasn't too keen on the colour at first, but I quite like it!), it has 2 bedrooms, seperate living and kitchen, new looking bathroom, seperate 'sun-room' (like a conservatory), and a balcony for barbecues. Also a shared garden area out the back.

Very excited! We are moving in on 29th. Can't wait to move out of this hotel room and get settled.

Celeb spotting

I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art this afternoon in an attempt to get a bit of culture. I saw some Australian artists and an exhibition by Yinka Shonibare, a British Nigerian artist.

He "explores issues of race and class through a range of media that includes sculpture, painting, photography, and installation art" it was actually pretty cool if a bit 'shocking' in places, the african style fabrics he creates are amazingly detailed and all symbolic and stuff.

But, I have to admit I was more excited by what I realised was going on downstairs. The cast and crew of the new Baz Lurhmann film, Australia (inc Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman), were doing a press conference in one of the rooms, and then came outside to have their photos taken in front of the opera house. Can't wait to see the film now!

Employment!

I'm really please to have gotten a job! Sounds like a good opportunity and am very happy to have a job with all the news about job cuts in Sydney at the moment.

Thanks so much to Carl and Kyle for providing references for me. I know it was very difficult with the timezones, so really really appreciate it!!

I still have to get the Tax Reference Number through, for anyone else coming to Aus I would recommend getting that sorted as soon as you have a visa as mine seems to be taking a while and you get taxed 45% unless you present it within 28 days. You can get it online here.

Starting work on 24th, so I have a few days to keep looking for a place to live.

Sydney Wildlife World

On Sunday we thought we should take advantage of our central accommodation so went over to Sydney Wildlife World, a small zoo just by Darling Harbour.

I've never seen Koalas before so was very excited to see them. We saw loads of cute Aussie wildlife: wombats, kangaroos, birds, and the Koalas! Also some not so cute reptiles and spiders - good to know what to look out for!

Sleepy koala!

Bondi again!

I went over to Bondi again, this time it was sunny and I really fell in love with it. The sea was such an amazing colour and everyone seemed really relaxed.


So we thought we'd try to look for places to live around here. The commute would be about 35 minutes into Central and another 10 minutes for Adam to get to Pyrmont. So not too bad...

We went back on Saturday for the official 'inspections'. This was pretty crazy. You get 20 to 30 people all turning up at the same time, there's just not enough property available at the moment. Bit annoying as London was completely the other way round when we were trying to rent out our place! You have to be there ready to make a decision on the spot and be the first to get to the agent with all the forms filled out, references, proof of previous addresses, identification and a deposit. Most of them will have gone by Monday morning.

We were ready to do all of that but unfortunately it seems you pay a big premium for the beach. We were looking at properties higher than our initial budget, but none of them were all that great. And hardly any had air con, which I think we really need for the summer.

We went over to see some friends in Mosman Saturday evening, had a lovely time with them and fantastic barbeque! They told us where the shops and things are in Mosman, so we like the idea of that a bit more now. Might have a look at that area again instead.

Paddington terraces

On Sunday we went to have a look at the Paddington area which is just east of the CBD.

Really beautiful little victorian terraces with wrought iron balconies there. There is quite a good atmosphere with lots of small cafes and bigger shops along Oxford Street.



Also it's right next to Centennial Park which is massive and has lots of big ponds and lakes. Would be good for running. Saw some black swans - maybe they have migrated from Dawlish Warren?!


We liked the area, but I went back on Monday to have a look inside some of the properties available, and for what we can afford we can only get quite a small place. So I think we'll continue having a look at some other areas.

Mosman coast walk

We went over to Mosman on Saturday to have a look at the area for a place to live and to do the walk along the coast.

We took the ferry to Cremorne and walked about 6 miles around the coast of Mosman to Balmoral Beach. It took us quite a while though as we were wearing flipflops and the paths were quite rugged and steep in some places.


Really lovely area, the houses all over looking the small habours and beach coves, and the birds make it sound like you're in a tropical aviary! In some parts it even looked a bit like rainforest.


I think it would be a lovely area to live, very peaceful, although I'm not sure if the commute might take a bit long.