We got the placewe wanted in Glebe. We didn't find out till saturday morning so it was a nervous wait, but we are very happy about it all now. We'll email soon with all our details.
Anyway it's a nice one bedroom, spacious and airy and clean. It is pretty old but will suit us fine and we are very thankful.
Oh, yeah we sign the lease and move in on monday.
Aliens and strangers
just to update you on the house front: we were looking on the net late wednesday arvo and were pondering the idea of looking at slightly more expensive places. We saw a nice one bedder in glebe, and so i called the agent. turns out there was an inspection at 5pm. by this stage it was ten to five! so we ran all the way (well, nick ran ahead, i half jogged, half walked) we got there in time - just! anyway, it was a beautiful, nice old art deco style place, plenty of space and light. we applied yeste rday morning, put down a deposit and offered to pay them lots in advance (we dont look very good on paper give that we dont have any income at this stage). the agent was checking out our details yestrday, and hoped to get back to us before the public holiday. unfortunately 5pm came and went, still no phonecall. we are hoping he calls early on sat, cos otherwise we will have to do a full saturday of looking for places.
at this point we're trying hard not to mope, and to remember whatever house we get in sydney won't be our true home, neither is tassie our real home, but in this world we are strangers whose true home is heaven.
its not all been about house-y stuff too, we have been doing some stuff to distract us from house hunting. last night we watchd the bourne identity and the night before we saw serenity.
anyway, i'm sick of tapping this out on my pda. we miss you all, and will keep in touch.
at this point we're trying hard not to mope, and to remember whatever house we get in sydney won't be our true home, neither is tassie our real home, but in this world we are strangers whose true home is heaven.
its not all been about house-y stuff too, we have been doing some stuff to distract us from house hunting. last night we watchd the bourne identity and the night before we saw serenity.
anyway, i'm sick of tapping this out on my pda. we miss you all, and will keep in touch.
Renovation Rejects
The house we were after in Glebe (yes, the one bedroom one for $220) unfortunately has a landlord who has got the renovation bug. It's been advertised since just before christmas and was going to be available this week (or so we thought). However, he has now decided to renovate the bathroom as well, and it won't be available till early march, which puts it out of our range, practically speaking and probably price-wise as well.
So we're pretty sad about that. We've still got hopes for finding something in Glebe, but even if we don't, we'll probably try and make a habit of going out there for coffee or something - you know, pretend we live there!
Today we went to Ikea with Bernie and Katie. It's kind of hard to describe the experience. I think we're both still wearing the vacant expressions that come from wandering around for hours looking at swedish furniture. Still, it was very good to have gone and seen the stuff for ourselves. Also, they had dill flavoured potato chips (as in crisps) which were dillicious! I think we would have been a bit more excited about it all if we actually had a house to furnish.
It's not that there are no houses at all, I think it's just that what we're looking for doesn't really exist in our price range (and it would seem such a rip-off to pay more even if we did have the money). Still, we can probably get a studio if we have to and just get a 6 month lease. It would be nice to find one close-ish to college though. We looked at one this morning, which was bigger than most, but still was like 25 mins walk. I know, 25 mins is not that bad really, but we'd be right up the opposite end to all the other guys and going anywhere else than to and from college would be a bit of a hassle. It sounds kind of lame, but in a city where we don't know anyone, you feel the isolation more, even if you're only 20 mins walk away from your friends.
So we're pretty sad about that. We've still got hopes for finding something in Glebe, but even if we don't, we'll probably try and make a habit of going out there for coffee or something - you know, pretend we live there!
Today we went to Ikea with Bernie and Katie. It's kind of hard to describe the experience. I think we're both still wearing the vacant expressions that come from wandering around for hours looking at swedish furniture. Still, it was very good to have gone and seen the stuff for ourselves. Also, they had dill flavoured potato chips (as in crisps) which were dillicious! I think we would have been a bit more excited about it all if we actually had a house to furnish.
It's not that there are no houses at all, I think it's just that what we're looking for doesn't really exist in our price range (and it would seem such a rip-off to pay more even if we did have the money). Still, we can probably get a studio if we have to and just get a 6 month lease. It would be nice to find one close-ish to college though. We looked at one this morning, which was bigger than most, but still was like 25 mins walk. I know, 25 mins is not that bad really, but we'd be right up the opposite end to all the other guys and going anywhere else than to and from college would be a bit of a hassle. It sounds kind of lame, but in a city where we don't know anyone, you feel the isolation more, even if you're only 20 mins walk away from your friends.
There's no motivation for finding work like dealing with Centrelink
I can very easily imagine that over time the word Centrelink will come to be used as a swear word. In a society that is free with expletives only the 'c' word will be off limits. For 22 days now we have been trying to get my Newstart claim sorted out. We think we've gotten to the bottom of it now and hopefully in the next few days we'll be paid.
On a more positive note, we've been given an old digital camera. This means that you will be blessed with visions of our beautiful faces on a regular basis. It's called mul-ti-me-di-a. ;)
Also, we have been asked for directions. Three times. It's no big deal, we live in Sydney now.
On a more positive note, we've been given an old digital camera. This means that you will be blessed with visions of our beautiful faces on a regular basis. It's called mul-ti-me-di-a. ;)
Also, we have been asked for directions. Three times. It's no big deal, we live in Sydney now.
Sydney is...
Hot!
Well, that's obvious I guess!
It's hot in the kind of way that means you never have to take a jumper or even a shirt with you. It's hot in the kind of way that makes cold showers delicious, and putting drink bottles in the fridge essential. Oh, and it doesn't cool down at night much either. Despite all this, we've both been coping pretty well. It's also been pretty breezy since we got here, which has been good.
Right, now we've got the obvious out of the way, other things I have noticed are: the frangipannis are beautiful (props to Emma!). The streets are so dirty if I wear thongs I end up with dirty marks on my feet. All the fruit and veg which we thought would be so cheap here is only cheap if you go to the markets, buying things like mangoes and avocadoes at the supermarket or little fruit shop is actually more expensive than Hobart.
On of the things which has been really wonderful is the kindness of our fellow Taswegians. The guys have been so generous in putting us up, letting us borrow stuff we don't have, and letting us come round all the time to hang out. It's been really great seeing familiar people.
House-wise we don't have any good news unfortunately. We've fallen love with a suburb: Glebe (has the same kind of laid back feel as South Hobart) but the house we've set our hopes on is still as yet unavailable. We have given the real estate agent our details and are waiting to hear back from him to find out when we can inspect it. We've been looking pretty hard, but it's quite disheartening. Some of the places we looked at were so small, smelly and dirty. All we can do now is keep looking, praying and trusting God that something will come up.
We're currently staying at Dan and Miranda's vacant house (they're still in Tassie). They come back on friday though, so we hope we'll find something before then. (Actually, we hope the Glebe one comes through before then!) We really do love Glebe, we went and looked at the outside of the house, and had a coffee at one of the numerous cool cafes on Glebe Point Rd and just felt so happy to be there.
Smelly Sydney
Hey everyone. We've arrived.
So far Bron and I have been to all the real estate agents on King St, Newtown, went on the ferry to Birkenhead, wandered a bit in the CBD and gone swimming. It all still feels more like a holiday than anything else.
The weirdest thing for me so far has been the bottle-shop. I walked in on Wednesday evening for a beer. The beer fridge was wrong. No Cascade beer at all. It may not sound like a huge thing but it was quite alienating.
Thanks everyone for your messages and prayers over the last few days.
So far Bron and I have been to all the real estate agents on King St, Newtown, went on the ferry to Birkenhead, wandered a bit in the CBD and gone swimming. It all still feels more like a holiday than anything else.
The weirdest thing for me so far has been the bottle-shop. I walked in on Wednesday evening for a beer. The beer fridge was wrong. No Cascade beer at all. It may not sound like a huge thing but it was quite alienating.
Thanks everyone for your messages and prayers over the last few days.
