I've arrived, finally!!!

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Well i have finally arrived in Sydney, i wasn't sure it would ever happen!!! and i am sure some of you think the same.

I spent my last night in NZ with my family. I am so glad now that i did have that time with them, couldn't get enough cuddles with Jesse, poor thing, lucky he is young enough to not understand his mental Auntie. But all jokes aside, it was great to have the time with them as it may be a while before i am back.

I think i handled myself quite well at the airport, fussed around and carried on so i wouldn't get too upset.

Leanne made me a wonderful Tshirt with a photo of Jesse and a matching one for him and also a small photo album of his first month. It sounds silly but i carry it with me everywhere.

Well I am finally sort of settled in. Finally as Grant and I have had a rough couple of weeks. Firstly the backpackers was not what we imagined after seeing their website, amazing what these marketing people can do with photoshop! The room was only just big enough for one person and yes, there were the two of us!! Nothing like getting to know someone pretty quickly.

We are staying in a suburb called Newtown, quite close to the city, about a 10-15 minute walk. It's an intersting place to say the least but i really love it. Very alternative and i think the gay capital of Sydney. The main street is called King Street and i think there must be about 100 or more different bars, cafes and restaurants along the road.

The other thing that amazes me, is you can walk down the road at 10pm on a Sunday night and will find 100's of people, shopping, walking and catching up. It has this buzz about it that is very hard to explain.

My friend David Vogt, some of you will know him from Vothole and the Crowne Plaza picked Grant and i up from the airport, it was fantastic to arrive to a friendly face.

As the weather was so good he took us on a small tour of the city and then we found a beautiful park and had lunch. By the time we'd finished Grant and i were so exhausted that we crashed out very early.

Our first week has been very interesting. Looking for somewhere to live in a city you don't know is hard. Things started to look up when we found a great apartment after only two days of looking. The letting agent said to us, don’t worry about the mess, the tenant will clean this and the carpets once they have moved all their furniture out. So, we signed up. Saturday morning came around, we were stoked about finally getting out of the rundown and not so tidy backpackers (well I was anyway, I don’t suggest any of you share a small room with Grant), we turned up at the agents office, handed over a ridiculous sum of money for the bond, picked up the keys and walked up the hill to meet the furniture delivery truck.

Well, what a dump, the bed that had been strategically placed against the wall was covering a massive big hole and other things that I didn’t even want to work out what they were, the place hadn’t been cleaned, nor had the carpets, the bathroom had scientific experiments growing in the shower. It was awful and only minutes after arriving the furniture truck turned up.

Of course being Sydney, the driver offered me no help apart from dumping the furniture in the lounge. So I was off down to the agents office, caused havoc down there, I tell you men in Sydney do not like emotional woman who threaten legal action, so after a short time they ever so kindly refunded my cheque and got me out of the office as fast as possible.

What to do with the furniture and somewhere to stay? It was off to a truck rental company (oh and by the way, Grant can’t drive a truck!) and move everything back to the lovely backpackers and beg to stay for another week. I have to admit they were awesome, and also offered to store all the furniture. Can’t say they were all that impressed that I took out their beautiful tree with the roof of the truck though.

After days of looking hard out for somewhere else, we started to realize why we had found that place so easy. Sydney is full of dumps! It’s awful to say the least. Anyway, Grant isn’t all that sure of how long he is going to stay for so we decided to go our separate ways and look for shared accommodation.

I’ve found a great little terraced house in Newtown with another chick who is about 35. It’s three bedrooms although there is only the two of us and is about a million years old, but huge rooms and lots of trees around us. Grant’s down in Pyrmont in an apartment with another guy, great location but I couldn’t live with the city noise.

Now that i am a bit more settled, it's time to start getting out and seeing a few things.

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