August 13, 2011:
Amy is the secondary on call this weekend - she had to go in last night at 2am and then again at 8am this morning. "Typically" the secondary on call rarely has to go in, but that is not the case this weekend! We will hopefully go to the beach with Tim, Liz, and some of the other interns today. For anybody interested you can google map or google earth 'coogee beach' to see where we live. There is a great foot path that follows the coast from Bondi Beach south to Maroubra Beach. The path takes you past steep cliffs overlooking the water and into each of the coves - usually sandy beaches. Along the path just north of us is Gordon's Bay, a reserve that is well protected from the break and is supposed to offer good snorkeling and shallow diving.
Last week we signed a lease on our first apartment for the killer price of $480/week...:( Very expensive, but everything is expensive here. Bananas are currently $15AUD/kilo! We have a two bedroom, one bathroom apartment with a fair sized living area and a balcony facing a quiet street. We also have a laundry room connected to the kitchen. Internal laundry is a big advantage because many places have shared laundry or no laundry at all. Now we just have to find a washing machine on gumtree (the aussie version of craigslist)!
We have been staying with Tim and Liz because we don't have sheets or much other furniture; plus its nice to have company around and to be in the loop. We have electricity connected at our place and 'mobile' internet. One of the wireless companies has this device (about the size of a cell phone) which serves as a hot spot. I picked up one of these pre-paid devices and we have a monthly plan that allows for 3GB of data. It is portable and we have internet wherever there is coverage. I actually checked my email on the bus yesterday! This was a far cheaper option when compared to a cable or dsl connection for our apartment.
Yesterday I went to the city to take a work site safety course. It was a boring six hour class that taught us how to not injure or kill ourselves and what to do if that happens. The instructor was pretty entertaining given the content of the course. He shared hilarious stories of the stupid things people have done - I never believed somebody could drink an entire glass of bleach. Most employers require this "white card" certification for all their employees. I have received a few call backs from employers and I have a trial work day next week with a fancy landscaping/gardening company. There is work, but it has been a bit frustrating based on our location and it would be nice to find a job that I enjoy. With public transport, it can be difficult getting to work or taking a job that requires 30-60 minutes on a bus or train. My aspirations of become a trinket salesman may become a reality :) j/k
August 22, 2011:
We we are finally situated in our new place. There are so many things that we couldn't justify bringing with us (kitchen items, etc) that we have been slowly purchasing. There are a couple of stores that sell cheap 'Made in China" stuff that we have been shopping at. Tonight we actually made a meal with our own pots and pans!
Yesterday we purchased a washing machine from an ad on Gumtree. It cost us $220, but its a good machine and we should be able to sell it when we leave and get most of our money back. Some people have clothes dryers here, but most people just hang their clothes on lines or racks. We picked up a rack that is set up on our balcony.
I looked at a car on Saturday - a real "deal of the day", but by the time Amy and I talked it over (she was at work), the Germans sold it. It was a sweet Ford Falcon wagon hahah! It was all set up for campers and came with all the goodies including a surf board - oh well...
We did end up purchasing a car today. It's a green 4-door Hyundaiu Excel (1998). Not set up like the Falcon, but it will get good fuel mileage and serve our needs. It cost $1900, but again, if we use it for a year or so, we should be able to sell it and get most our investment back. Car ownership is strange here. Every car must have "rego" (registration) which means it has been inspected by a mechanic and determined to be safe and road worthy. That inspection costs money and you end up with a "pink slip". Registration can then be done after a pink slip is obtained. Fortunately for us, the Excel has a pink slip good through August 2012 and registration is paid for through February 2012 - that saves us some cost. Insurance is affordable at $37/month for both of us. It will be nice to have a car when we want to get out of town for the weekend, to pick something up across town, or for me getting across town before the buses run in the morning.
I did end up getting a job. It's a landscaping/garden maintenance position with Peter Fudge Gardens (www.peterfudgegardens.com.au). I like work well enough and the starting pay is pretty good. Right now it is part time, but things will really pick up in the next month or so when we move into spring.
More to come soon, including pictures.
Hope all is well and much love!
Showing posts with label Sydney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sydney. Show all posts
Monday, 22 August 2011
Tuesday, 9 August 2011
We made it downunder!
So much to say!
Before getting any further, we want to give a sincere thanks to all our family and friends that helped out with the wedding and to those who attended and shared our special day. You are all generous, caring, and so supportive. We had a fantastic time on the honeymoon (a special thanks to everyone that helped support our trip)! Thank you's are coming soon. It has been a whirlwind following the wedding and we wanted to use photos from the wedding - you'll soon see. Anyway...
Antigua was so relaxing and so enjoyable! We stayed at a very nice place (Jolly Beach Resort) that had good food, good drinks, a great beach, and lots of activities! Not only did we 'bag some rays' on the deserted beach, but we swam, kayaked, and took sailing lessons. We learned to sail a hobie cat and wind surf. Raymond, our private instructor, is an accomplished sailor and a great teacher. The beach was fantastic. At any given time there were about a dozen people laying in the sand or swimming in the warm water.
We took a land tour one day to see some of the more touristy places: Shirley's Heights, Nelson's Historic (but still active) Dockyards, and Devil's Bridge. The two of us rode in the back of a Land Rover that was outfitted for about 12. We set up the tour for the day before, but the driver never picked us up - so we ended up with a private tour the next day - fun, but a bit awkward.
Overall, the trip was amazing and soooo relaxing. The wedding was rather stressful and the honeymoon was a great way to wind down, relax, and reflect. The first morning after we arrived, Amy rolled over to look at the clock: "1:30!? I think lunch is served until 2, do you want to get up?" haha We had to drag our butts out of bed for lunch! I think we were a bit burned out from the wedding...
When we returned, we spent a couple days in FOCO. We managed to get the rest of Amy's gear cleared out of her house and most my Nick's. There are a few remaining items in the garage - sell it and keep the money guys!:)
When we got back to the western slope, we hit the ground running and its been a whirlwind since. We were fortunate enough to stay at Aunt Sue and Uncle Jimmy's guest house for a few weeks - it was wonderful waking up with Mamm's Peaks out the window and only the occasional vehicle passing by.
We were quite busy getting the cattle sorted and turned out. We ended up doing a lot of riding and Nick did a lot of irrigating. The hay was amazing and Frank had to actually turn water off in July! The days were busy and pretty long, but we managed to get a day to camp and fish and got our things packed for the long trip.
We traveled with Sheila to Dallas for Shanna and Zach's wedding. We left early Friday morning, leaving Gretta behind. The wedding was perfect and so beautiful; despite the fact that it was HOT there. Nick was sweating through his shirt ushering people at the wedding - he had to put on an undershirt before the ceremony started because he was 'pooling up'. Shanna looked gorgeous (of course) and Zach was looking pretty sharp himself. For some reason, we hung out at the hot tub til 4am the night of the wedding...good thinking.
The next day Nicole and us dropped Sheila off to catch her flight and met Shananaba and Yakyak before we hopped on our plane to LA. We were flying stand-by from LAX to Sydney. The Mayor had us reserved on United and Jeremy had us reserved on Delta. The Delta flight had no open seats and the United flight had ~45. We thought we had a good chance of getting on the United flight, but they closed the doors with 44 open seats and 9 stand-by passengers waiting...boo. We got a room for the night and decided to buy tickets.
We were able to check our bags at 2pm for our flight at 10:30 - pretty nice. Then Toni picked us up at the airport and took us to her fancy place in La Canada (outside LA) to relax and hang out. We sat by the pool (Nick took a quick swim) and had a nice dinner before heading back to catch our flight. Thank you so much Toni! That was such a nice afternoon and saved us from the cold tiles at the airport.
The flight took 15 hours and we arrived in Sydney around 6:30am. We were able to sleep some; there were also movies and games to keep us occupied. From what we were told, they schedule all the international flights to arrive early in the morning and ours happened to be one of the later ones; so we were stuck in a long line getting through customs. It wasn't bad though, our line was screened by dogs - little hounds of some sort. We caught a cab to Tim and Liz's place - only cost $50...:( Liz is one of the interns that started in February. She got her DVM for The Ohio State and brought her husband Tim along with her. They have been great and very welcoming. We have been staying with them in their extra bedroom. It would have been a real hassle and pretty expensive if we weren't able to stay with them.
Finding a place to rent is a real pain. Regulations require that all tenants must inspect a property before they put in an application or sign a lease. We saw about 12 places before we found our 2 bedroom apartment at 178 Oberon Street. Amy was working, but Nick inspected the property and put in the application - each of us had to fill out the paper application. They require all kinds of ID, bank statements, rental history, references, former utilities bills, 2 pints of blood, and a psychological exam. Ok, maybe not the blood and psych exam, but it is a serious process!
We were able to use the Randwick Equine Centre's (REC) ute. A ute is what we call a truck, but they aren't really "trucks" here. Most are small little Mitsubishi's or Mazda's and some are classy El Camino styles...sweet. Anyway, we cashed in on a moving sale and ended up with a mattress + box spring, a fridge/freezer, 2 chest of drawers, a hanging rack, and some bathroom storage drawers, all for $200. Considering the price of things here, that was a great deal. We have since moved all that stuff and most of our clothes to our new place. We will likely move in permanently this weekend.
Amy is enjoying work. REC is a pretty fancy place and they see a lot of cases. She has been busy the past 2 weeks learning the ropes and getting used to things.
More coming soon!
Before getting any further, we want to give a sincere thanks to all our family and friends that helped out with the wedding and to those who attended and shared our special day. You are all generous, caring, and so supportive. We had a fantastic time on the honeymoon (a special thanks to everyone that helped support our trip)! Thank you's are coming soon. It has been a whirlwind following the wedding and we wanted to use photos from the wedding - you'll soon see. Anyway...
Antigua was so relaxing and so enjoyable! We stayed at a very nice place (Jolly Beach Resort) that had good food, good drinks, a great beach, and lots of activities! Not only did we 'bag some rays' on the deserted beach, but we swam, kayaked, and took sailing lessons. We learned to sail a hobie cat and wind surf. Raymond, our private instructor, is an accomplished sailor and a great teacher. The beach was fantastic. At any given time there were about a dozen people laying in the sand or swimming in the warm water.
We took a land tour one day to see some of the more touristy places: Shirley's Heights, Nelson's Historic (but still active) Dockyards, and Devil's Bridge. The two of us rode in the back of a Land Rover that was outfitted for about 12. We set up the tour for the day before, but the driver never picked us up - so we ended up with a private tour the next day - fun, but a bit awkward.
Overall, the trip was amazing and soooo relaxing. The wedding was rather stressful and the honeymoon was a great way to wind down, relax, and reflect. The first morning after we arrived, Amy rolled over to look at the clock: "1:30!? I think lunch is served until 2, do you want to get up?" haha We had to drag our butts out of bed for lunch! I think we were a bit burned out from the wedding...
When we returned, we spent a couple days in FOCO. We managed to get the rest of Amy's gear cleared out of her house and most my Nick's. There are a few remaining items in the garage - sell it and keep the money guys!:)
When we got back to the western slope, we hit the ground running and its been a whirlwind since. We were fortunate enough to stay at Aunt Sue and Uncle Jimmy's guest house for a few weeks - it was wonderful waking up with Mamm's Peaks out the window and only the occasional vehicle passing by.
We were quite busy getting the cattle sorted and turned out. We ended up doing a lot of riding and Nick did a lot of irrigating. The hay was amazing and Frank had to actually turn water off in July! The days were busy and pretty long, but we managed to get a day to camp and fish and got our things packed for the long trip.
We traveled with Sheila to Dallas for Shanna and Zach's wedding. We left early Friday morning, leaving Gretta behind. The wedding was perfect and so beautiful; despite the fact that it was HOT there. Nick was sweating through his shirt ushering people at the wedding - he had to put on an undershirt before the ceremony started because he was 'pooling up'. Shanna looked gorgeous (of course) and Zach was looking pretty sharp himself. For some reason, we hung out at the hot tub til 4am the night of the wedding...good thinking.
The next day Nicole and us dropped Sheila off to catch her flight and met Shananaba and Yakyak before we hopped on our plane to LA. We were flying stand-by from LAX to Sydney. The Mayor had us reserved on United and Jeremy had us reserved on Delta. The Delta flight had no open seats and the United flight had ~45. We thought we had a good chance of getting on the United flight, but they closed the doors with 44 open seats and 9 stand-by passengers waiting...boo. We got a room for the night and decided to buy tickets.
We were able to check our bags at 2pm for our flight at 10:30 - pretty nice. Then Toni picked us up at the airport and took us to her fancy place in La Canada (outside LA) to relax and hang out. We sat by the pool (Nick took a quick swim) and had a nice dinner before heading back to catch our flight. Thank you so much Toni! That was such a nice afternoon and saved us from the cold tiles at the airport.
The flight took 15 hours and we arrived in Sydney around 6:30am. We were able to sleep some; there were also movies and games to keep us occupied. From what we were told, they schedule all the international flights to arrive early in the morning and ours happened to be one of the later ones; so we were stuck in a long line getting through customs. It wasn't bad though, our line was screened by dogs - little hounds of some sort. We caught a cab to Tim and Liz's place - only cost $50...:( Liz is one of the interns that started in February. She got her DVM for The Ohio State and brought her husband Tim along with her. They have been great and very welcoming. We have been staying with them in their extra bedroom. It would have been a real hassle and pretty expensive if we weren't able to stay with them.
Finding a place to rent is a real pain. Regulations require that all tenants must inspect a property before they put in an application or sign a lease. We saw about 12 places before we found our 2 bedroom apartment at 178 Oberon Street. Amy was working, but Nick inspected the property and put in the application - each of us had to fill out the paper application. They require all kinds of ID, bank statements, rental history, references, former utilities bills, 2 pints of blood, and a psychological exam. Ok, maybe not the blood and psych exam, but it is a serious process!
We were able to use the Randwick Equine Centre's (REC) ute. A ute is what we call a truck, but they aren't really "trucks" here. Most are small little Mitsubishi's or Mazda's and some are classy El Camino styles...sweet. Anyway, we cashed in on a moving sale and ended up with a mattress + box spring, a fridge/freezer, 2 chest of drawers, a hanging rack, and some bathroom storage drawers, all for $200. Considering the price of things here, that was a great deal. We have since moved all that stuff and most of our clothes to our new place. We will likely move in permanently this weekend.
Amy is enjoying work. REC is a pretty fancy place and they see a lot of cases. She has been busy the past 2 weeks learning the ropes and getting used to things.
More coming soon!
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