Advertisement
Published: September 5th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Where could I possible be?
The Sydney Opera House, voted the worlds most recognisable building Hi All, well we've finally arrived in Australia and so far it's been much better than we expected. Originally I wanted to travel for a year, whereas Maeve wanted to go to Sydney for a year. So as you've probably now guessed we compromised and we are travelling for 6 months and staying in Sydney for 6 months.
We arrived at 04.30 and it was freezing, we'd been used to 30+C for the previous 5/6 weeks so it was a big shock to be standing outside in 3/4C. Also a bright blue sky was a really nice surprise, although Asia was warm it was monsoon season and it was generally overcast from China (Smog) on.
We got to our hostel at about 6.30 and dumped our stuff. We probably should have slept a bit first (we didn't sleep on the overnight flight, the entertainment systems on new planes are too good). We were really too excited to sleep (like christmas eve for kids) and had to go and see the harbour, bridge and opera house asap. The day was glorious and we had a great introduction to Sydney and some really nice pictures which I'll upload soon, I promise.
I can't
believe we already here 4 weeks. The first week and a half was really relaxed and passed by slowly, we kept saying it felt lkike we were here 3 weeks when we'd only been in town for a week. We spent our time sightseeing, looking for accomodation and jobs. Now since we started working the time is flying by and a month has just flown passed. Tommorrow morning is our last time to take Malaria tablets, thank God, it's been everyday (well almost) for 9 weeks now.
Our first big mission was to find new accomodation. Hostels in Sydney are 2 things; 1. Expensive and 2. Horrible. We stayed in much nicer places in some of the worlds poorest countries for a fraction of the price. Our double bed turned out to be two bunk beds pushed together, they must have been expecting big rows between us or something. Well at least we can boast of having stayed in an 8-poster bed. This luxury was costing $441 a week. No en-suite and it wasn't the cleanest of places.
We (I) trawled through website after website looking for a nice apartment for us. Our first attempts weren't too hopeful. The first
place was right in the middle of Kings Cross. and HOLE is not the word to describe what we were led to believe were habitable quaters. The flats were small, dark, really dirty (Our cows at home live in cleaner sheds) and he had the gaul to expect $350 a week for these Quagmires. This exclusive location was between the strip clubs, massage parlours and 'toy' shops of Kings Cross. Our neighbours could have included such establishments as the 'Pleasure Chest', Risque and
Kinks
The next few places were not much better and more expensive. At the end of two exhausting and unsuccessful days of house hunting and faced with the prospect of going back to our 8 poster cell (It was practically in the basement) Maeve was a bit stressed and emotional. We went for a drink Maeve had the slightest weep and I did the only thing I could think of, give her a hug and tell her 'it was all going to be ok'. Of course I had not the slightest bit of proof that it would all be ok but a little white lie never hurt anyone, did it? I'm not sure if it was my
Manly Beach
On a miserable mid-winters day 'credible' assurances or two glasses of wine but Maeve started to perk up a bit. Faced with the prospect of our hostel or a night of drinking we headed off to the Merchantile for a few. All was going well until we confided in our Waterfordian barman of our troubles in attaining suitable lodgings in Sydney. He reassured us it should 'only' take 3-4 weeks as it was now 'quiet' in Sydney and that when it was busier it had taken him 6 weeks to find a new place. I could have hit him, after all the time and alcohol I'd invested in calming down Maeve here he was telling us all these horror stories of viewing of 30-40 people for 1 apartment. Thankfully I'd invested in the right kind of alcohol (i.e. enough), so that Maeve was too tipsy to take all this bad news on board.
At least we discovered one good thing. As we'd been planning on moving on from Sydney after christmas we were looking for apartments for short lets of about 5 months. We'd automatically disregarded all of the 6 month leases for that reason. All of the short let apartments are one of two
Sydney Opera House
View from the water things (or both) 1. Horrible or 2. Expensive. We reasoned that we'd need to commit to a six month lease to get anywhere decent.
The next morning I was up at 7.30 trawling through website after website looking again for a nice place(Maeve was a bit 'tired'). 2 hours later, I had a list. By 9.30 we were having breakfast and I was busy on the phone. We then went around the local estate agents and made more appointments to fill our day. Our first appointment was for a place that was advertised with no pictures.
- In Australia they have a strange system of allocating apartments. There is an open viewing of apartments. It usually lasts 15 mins and there is generally only 1 viewing and it's usually on a Saturday. So you turn up, along with 20 to 30 other people and look at the apartment and then fill out a form to register your interest. Then you give proof of your ID, references and ability to pay. Then all of this info is given to the owner and they pick the person/couple that they want. It's a bit of a lottery and a real pain especially
whe you don't have a job.
Anyway we arranged a private viewing of this pictureless apartment. The owner said that I should bring the deposit with me if I was interested. We were a bit suspicious -
Why were there no pictures?
Why was there not a public viewing?
Why were we being given first dibs on this property?
What the hell was wrong with it?
Anyway we did like the idea of not having to be part of a lottery and knowing that we could walk out with a place and not have to wait a few days to be told a 'better couple' had gotten it and that we'd have to start all over again. We were still suspicious mind you.
We were in for a hell of a land, the place was class. It was on the 16th floor of 17 floors. It's a large 1 bedroom (most of what we'd looked at were studios), full kitchen, large bathroom with amazing shower, washing machine, large living area and good city views. On the 5th floor is a swimming pool and jacuzzi and on the roof top a large viewing deck with views of the whole city harbour bridge, opera house, CBD, Botany Bay and a rooftop BBQ.
This was a nice surprise, we could barely hide our excitement. When it came down to business I asked about availability and when he said he had several interested parties I nearly dropped. I believed, from our phone conversation, that it was ours if we wanted it (which really didn't matter when we didn't think we'd want it, but now we wanted it and were't sure we could have it I was a bit sick). Why the hell did he tell us to bring a deposit?
I (without consulting Maeve - although knowing she wanted it as much as I did) told him we'd take it there and then. He said OK! Hallejulah (or however it's spelt). We signed a six month lease and paid our deposit and it was off the market and ours. After all the shitholes we'd seen we couldn't believe we got this place for $450 a week, expensive but cheap compared to everything else we'd seen. And only $9 more than our 8 poster cell with shared bathrooms. It' in a great location only a 5 minute walk to the city centre and in the very trendy area of Darlinghurst/Surry Hills/Oxford St/Crown St. Everything we need is within 10 minutes walk.
Needless to say we were delighted with ourselves and had a huge sigh of relief that we'd sorted out our accomodation. We cancelled the rest of our appointments and went to celebrate.
We will have a video soon to put up, a kind of virtual tour of our apartment. I warn you you may be overcome by feelings of jelousy or envy or both (for Maeve's girls who can't decide which is the nice one). We do have a sofa bed so if the envy gets too much just book yourself a ticket to Sydney and we'll put you up. (Or put up with you)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.234s; Tpl: 0.02s; cc: 8; qc: 47; dbt: 0.047s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb