'Home' - Melbourne.

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Well, here we are - just over a week in and already feels like we've been here ages.

We arrived on Monday 22nd October and took a taxi to our friends warehouse apartment in Brunswick, we got there about 17:30. The apartment is awesome, it is in a huge old warehouse that was split into apartments about ten years ago. David & Stephanie bought this one earlier this year and gutted it, remodelling it into an open plan 'New York' style apartment. Hardwood floors, granite worktops and high ceilings. Very nice.

We spent Monday evening settling in and catching up. Tuesday we hit the ground running. We headed into the city to activate our bank accounts that we had opened from the UK, they ordered our bank cards and cheque books. We arranged a hire car for the next day, bought a couple of sim cards for our mobiles and then took a tram to St Kilda where we initially thought we wanted to live.

After walking around a few rentals within budget, and walking around the general area, we quickly realised that St Kilda was not the area for us. We got back to the apartment, tired out, at tea-time and hit the internet. We lined up a bunch of apartments to view in Brighton for the next day, a beach suburb with great cafe's and good transport into the city.

So, Wednesday morning, we picked up the hire car and headed into Brighton. Wow - what an eye opener. The properties we were looking at within our budget were nothing short of atrocious. The tidier ones were so small that they were practically unliveable in, the bigger ones were so old, run down and damp-ridden you wouldn’t have let a dog live there. And the amazing thing was, there would be 5 - 10 people at the viewings clammering for them! There is such a short supply of rentals in the area and too many people looking for them. Rent has more than doubled in the last two years, great.

I got a call from work asking how things were going, and could I start work on Monday! They had some work come in and desperately wanted me to come in. So, by Wednesday night we were a bit sick, we had looked at about twenty places and wouldn’t live in ANY of them and it looked like I was going to have to start work and leave Emma to do all the running around finding somewhere for us to live on her own.

Wednesday night we hit the internet again. This time, we printed off a list of properties in Ferntree Gully as we knew properties were cheaper there, being so far out of the city. We also lined up a car to go and see on the way. Ferntree Gully is lovely, not too bad a commute for me - but a pain to get to the city, so it would be a nightmare when Emma gets a job. We saw a cracking house, well under budget and we were going to put in an application, but the commute was just too much so we decided against it. On the way back we had our first bit of good luck as the car we went to see was a belter. It's a 1997 Mitsubishi Pajero, LWB GLS 3.5 litre V6. It's two tone white over silver and has only 130k's on the clock and has never seen any off-road action. It's practically brand new and was bang on budget. We snapped it up and headed back 'home' for another late night lining up properties to view.

This time, we decided to look at Brighton East. It's within spitting distance of Brighton and the amenities there, plus the beach - but it's a bit cheaper as it's not as convenient for transport to the city, ( the expensive suburbs are the ones that have tram lines running through as a general rule ). We finally found a house we could live in, a two story unit with garage on a private courtyard. It was really nice, modern and well kitted out and right at the end of a direct tram line into the city. The only problem was that it backed onto the motorway - the windows were single glazed and you just couldn’t hear yourself think. In the absence of anything else remotely habitable, we put in an application.

We looked at a further six or seven places before heading to our friends Kim & Steve's, who live in Brighton. We had a lovely evening drinking wine, catching up and having our first Ozzie BBQ on the veranda, watching the possums in the tree. We stayed over at Kim & Steve's as we had an early start on Saturday morning, with another four Brighton East properties to view, and a 'wildcard' house to try in a place called Balwyn North, further up toward the city.

As suspected, the places we viewed in the morning were shocking - then, the last one was like a breath of fresh air. A modern, detached house with double garage, one large open plan living/kitchen/diner and three bedrooms. We put in an application straight away, ( along with all the other people viewing it! ), and off we popped to Balwyn. To give you an idea of the geography, Melbourne CBD is in the middle of Brunswick and Brighton, Brunswick being North and Brighton South of the city. Oakleigh, ( where I am working ), is South East and Balwyn is East. We love Brunswick, it's a proper inner city suburb with a great vibe, but to get to work I would have to go right through the city - that's a no go. Brighton is a beach suburb and is about a twenty minute drive to work and easy for public transport to the city. Balwyn is dead East of the city, it's about the same distance to the city as Brighton - but the trams don’t go as far a Balwyn, so it will be harder for Em to get into the city if need be and for a drive to work it's about the same as Brighton.

Balwyn is like Nunthorpe I guess - old, hilly, leafy and very residential. It doesn’t have the strip cafe's like Brighton, but it is very quiet and has a nice feel. So, we went to see the house, not expecting too much, and we were blown away. It's never been rented before, the owners have just moved overseas - so it's in a much nicer state than most of the things we had seen. It is a detached house with an oversize double garage, a large lounge, a large open plan family room/kitchen/diner and three bedrooms - the main bedroom is huge. It's a cracker, and under budget! We put in an application, and we were told by the agent it was as good as ours as there was only one other applicant and they had dogs. The beauty of going somewhere like Balwyn is that there isnt the competition for properties, so you get more for your money. We had a drive round the area and found the local shops and cafes, ( in walking distance - bonus ), and a huge mall and cinema complex a ten minute drive away that is still being built, but should be finished soon. It was only a twenty minute drive to the top end of the city, which is the area we like for restaurants and stuff. So, we now had three applications in and just had to wait.

We headed back to Brunswick as the Pajero was being delivered. It turned up at 5pm, with a bent bumper! The salesman had not noticed it before he left, it looks like it’s been bumped whilst in the compound. We checked it over and its only cosmetic, so we took it anyway on good faith that they will put it right. We just need to drop it off one day next week. It’s about an hour from here.

Sunday we were feeling a bit better about things as we had finally found places that you could live in. We still had the rental car so took it up to Essendon where there is a huge outlet mall. We picked up a Tom-tom GPS unit, ( which has been superb ). Emma is a great navigator, but once I am at work we'll not have the luxury of navigating for each other. Driving around the city is a nightmare, it’s so congested and there a so many roads. So far, the GPS has kept us right.

Sunday night we decided to chance a curry house. It was okay, but nowhere near as good as the UK. The goat curry was nice though.

Monday morning we went into my work to meet the gang. Gary, the big boss, had asked us in so that they could get one of their staff to help us search for houses. It was good to meet people and get the lay of the land and some good feedback on areas to live. Whilst we were on the net looking, we were offered the Balwyn house and the nice house in Brighton East! We tossed up the pros and cons of both. Brighton had better public transport to the city, but Balwyn was by far the better house. It was a tough choice. We made an appointment to view the Brighton house again before deciding.

Gary invited us to his beach house next Tuesday. It’s Melbourne cup day and they are throwing a BBQ. They live near the city, but have a second home on the Peninsula, near their yacht club.

Before we left the office, I had a chat with the squad boss. She was asking how much 'behind-the-scenes' knowledge of Xsteel I had. It seems the three guys they had on Xsteel when I came in January were all pants and no longer worked there, they only have two guys on it now - both fresh in from the Philippines and have only had basic training in how to use it. So, it looks like I am slotting in straight at the top of the tree. Cool. The rest of the office use a different system, and they are wanting someone to take Xsteel forward and expand it so they can take on more work. I liked what I saw when we were in there and they all seemed like a great bunch. I am actually looking forward to starting, which will either be this Monday - or Wednesday, not sure yet.

Anyway, we went to see the Brighton house again and as soon as we got inside realised it was not a patch on the Balwyn house. So, we accepted Balwyn North. At last, we had a home!

Tuesday morning we took the rental car back into the city and dropped it off, before taking out RAC cover, registering with Medicare, picking up our bank cards and then taking the tram back to Brunswick to grab the Pajero and head to Camberwell to get our Australian driving licenses. That was easy, a couple of forms, a photo and read an eye test chart and Bob's your mothers brother.

From there it was a short drive to the real estate agent to sign the lease on the house. We organised utility connection from there and were given the go ahead to move in on the 1st. It's practically unheard of to find a rental in the first week, and then one that you can get straight in. We have been lucky. We got a call from the other agent about the noisy house in Brighton, we had not been successful on that one anyway.

We have brought just about everything with us from the UK, but it does not arrive for another six weeks or so, so we need some essentials to get us through. Luckily, David and Stephanie used to own a holiday property, ( the one we rented in January ), and were selling off the stuff from there. We bought their washer/dryer, fridge-freezer and enough pots, pans and crockery to get us started along with a kettle and toaster. That was a great start.

Wednesday, ( today ), we went bed hunting. Beds and mattresses are so expensive here. We managed to get a metal frame bed as they seemed to offer the best quality for the cost at our budget, and a great mattress direct from the manufacturer. They get delivered on Friday. We also procured pretty much the rest of the essentials to get us through - bedding, towels, a phone and a few other bits and bobs.

So, it's late on Wednesday night at the moment, we pick up our keys to the house in the morning, then we can do a bit of running around taking the washer & fridge down from Brunswick to Balwyn. We'll stay here in Brunswick tomorrow night and move in on Friday when we have the bed. Then, by the weekend, MAYBE we'll have time to actually go out and enjoy some of Melbourne. So far, as you can see, all we have done is house hunt. Still, we have managed to get a lot done in just over a week. Next task, find a job for Emma.

Hopefully I'll get chance to get some more pics up of the house tomorrow, if not it may be a while before we get net access again as our broadband doesnt get installed for a couple of weeks. Nightmare!

So, with the USA trip fast becoming a distant memory, we look forward to getting in our own place and settling in.

Tarra for now.

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