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Published: February 24th 2008
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House hunting
Work out after a hard day's flat hunting Brisbane - week 1
Our first week in Brisbane was certainly eventful. We landed on the morning of Tuesday 5 February after an okay flight with Japan Airlines. I slept all the way and Steve managed about half an hour so he was not so keen.
It’s so easy to get anywhere in OZ. On arriving at the airport we asked the best way to get into the city and within 5 minutes the girl had booked our tickets for the shuttle bus for us and we were standing at the bus stop. We arrived into the city at around 10am but couldn’t check into our hostel until 2pm so we had a few hours to spare. We went and sat in the square and had some breakfast, watching the world go bye.
Basically we just spent the rest of the day finding our feet and exploring the city and it was an early night as we were still quite tired.
No rest for the wicked the next two days…. We spent Wednesday trawling the city checking out job agencies We managed to book a couple of appointments and even got to see someone from one agency,
although we were a little underdressed as when we walked in everyone was in suits and really smart and there was Steve and I in shorts and flip flops….mmm.. not a great first impression.
Thursday, we had booked a couple of appointments to view apartments…well apartments may be pushing it a little. The first one was in an area called Redhill only 5 mins from the CBD. We got there and wearn’t too enamoured by the area but the apartment was even worse……it was like a really bad student place that boys had lived in and not cleaned for a year. The guy hadn’t even cleared up his socks from the middle of the lounge. We spent about 30 seconds and that is no exagertion it was hell. But we didn’t let our spirits be dampened, and on to the next one. This was in a lovely area called Kangaroo Point so a better start than the last one. It was really funny coz we had our map trying to check we were in the right street, not necessary as we only had to look at the 10 other people stood outside the building all there for the same
viewing!!! It’s a nightmare here as they book you all in at the same time so its really competitive. Anyway you would all have proper laughed at this one. Imagine a double bed with a built in wardrobe at the side and then a microwave at the end of the bed and a tv on the wall. That is your compact studio apartment. Oh my god and then imagine about 12 people all trying to view the ‘room’. It was hilarious. One guy handed his application in there and then we couldn’t believe that he was prepared to pay for a place like that.
So after that we promptly doubled our budget and started looking at a different class of living, one which hopefully everyone else in Brisbane wasn’t looking at.
Friday we got jobs…..wait for it……you’ll never guess……..call centre jobs, yes that’s right steve and I are now the proud owners of jobs in a call centre. Even funier it’s the same call centre so we are working together……we have gone back 10 years to where we both started at cis……Even better, you should have seen the tests we had to do to get
View from our apartment
Not quite but this is on our doorstep the jobs….it was like auditioning for MENSA.
Saturday was spent looking for somewhere to live….getting desparate now as the hostel was awful…..The first apartment we viewed was amazing and we loved it. We even managed to be the only 2 at the viewing - that was only because, although we had seen other people waiting for the viewing - they were stood outside the wrong entrance to the apartment block and we didn’t tell the letting agent so he didn’t know they were there - crafty or what?
We saw 2 more later that afternoon but decided to apply…yes apply…. for the first one. This was down on South Bank about 2 minutes from loads of great bars, restaurants, parks and also a lagoon and man made beach. The place to live in Brisbane!!!!!
A few frantic calls to my mum to get some documents faxed across that night…this time difference thing is sometimes a bit of a nightmare… and on Monday we received the call to say it was ours…yeahh
On Saturday we bumped into (not literally - facecbook helped) an Aussie guy we had met in the Whitsunday Islands last year. He used to live in Sydney but moved to Brisbane about 6 months ago so we will get together with him for drinks soon.
On Sunday we spent the day with Chris and Wayne, friends of a friend in the UK. They emigrated here last year. We went to theirs in Cleveland which is on the coast and had a barbie. Their house is like something out of neighbours..with a pool and everything..it was lovely.
We went out for a few drinks down at South Bank on Sunday night to prepare ourselves for the week ahead at work…
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Fanny x x
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No rest for the wicked!
No rest for the wicked, you two have been busy. Your apartments sounds brilliant, can't believe you are soo close to the city beach! Is my spare room decorated yet? hehe! Keep the blogs coming guys......as ever....really enjoying them. Nothing much of interest to report this end. Love n hugs x x