Moving in

So... we now have our new place. We went down the following day to the estate agent and signed our 12-month lease. We have to notify them in writing anytime we want to do anything so much as put a screw into the wall, and they seem to suggest a no-pet clause, but it looks like it's going to be fine.

Apartments in Australia tend to come unfurnished, so we're in the process now of gathering together various pieces of furniture on a budget. We decided our number-one priorities should be a fridge and a bed. We made a journey out to our local IKEA in a city suburb called Richmond. After a long and exhausting ordeal, we came away with a queen-sized bed and mattress along with other odds and ends for the kitchen.

Putting it together was another challenge, but we now have a brand-spanking-new bed in our apartment, complete with reversible quilt covers. We've got a second-hand fridge on eBay and are currently negotiating with the seller to work out a way by which to get it delivered.

Electricity, gas, and water are all due to be turned on tomorrow by 7 pm, by which point we'll be free to move out of our hotel and into our new home. We picked up a couple of garden chairs in the Salvation Army for our balcony, where we intend to have many breakfasts.

In other news, we went to take in a free classical concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, in the Botanic Gardens. It's an outdoor arena where they schedule different shows during the summer season. Thousands of people gathered for the last performance of the season, and although we arrived late, we were still able to get a spot off to the side.

Melbourne is in the middle of something of a drought at the moment. Although the temperatures are no longer in the high 30s (90s), it is still warm enough to walk around in shorts and t-shirts. Apparently they haven't had rain here for many many weeks, and all the locals are looking forward to cooler weather. For those of us who have just come from Ireland, though, we're enjoying it while it lasts.

I went to my orientation for international students at ICPP today. There were 10 of us, 8 of whom are doing my course. The layout of the college looks pretty good. They have two well-stocked darkrooms and three large studio areas. The orientation was mostly useless, covering basic stuff about living in Australia that we'd already picked up first-hand. The little he showed us of the college itself looked encouraging, though. Classes don't begin until this day week. Tomorrow we're taking a tour of the city to check out all the photography and camera stockists in the city.

Last night we went to a gem of a movie theatre called The Astor Theatre. Most nights of the week it shows a double bill of both old and new movies, classics and cult rubbish. Yesterday we caught a double bill of "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" For a movie lover, it's a dream come true. It's an old-style movie house oozing with charm and Art Deco accutrements. Their ice cream is also pretty good.

We went into the city today and set up some home insurance. If a bush fire ravages our apartment in the next 48 hours, we will not be covered, but we're crossing our fingers. Other than that, we can now rest easy with all our camera equipment and laptops in tow.

Home at last

This morning, we got the call. Actually, two calls. The first was to ask about the place we'd provisionally turned down yesterday, asking if we really did want to give it up. With sweaty palms, we held firm and said we didn't want the place, thanks, we'd hold out for a place we really did want.

And then, an hour later, we got one! It's on Fitzroy St, one of the two main streets in St Kilda's. For those of you New Yorkers, it would be like living on McDougal or 6th Ave in the Village, but it's quiet because it's in the back of the building, facing a courtyard. The courtyard has a fountain and all sorts of lovely plants, and we've got a balcony facing onto it. It's one bedroom, with a small study off it.

We saw the place on a lark. We didn't want to live on Fitzroy because we thought it'd be too loud, but we happened to be in the neighbourhood when there was a viewing, and dropped in. You have to go through the courtyard to get to the place, so it's actually extremely quiet and beautiful.

Good things come to those who wait.

The place is still listed on the real estate agent's website, and there's another viewing of it tomorrow at 10:30. We sign the lease at 9 am, so there's going to be a bunch of angry people ringing our bell!

Because neither of us is employed at the moment, the landlord wanted 3 months' rent up front. So a HUGE thank you to Anne-Marie and Richard, whose generosity (and foresight) has let us get this beautiful place. We stand corrected - we did need it after all.

To market, to market

We went to the Prahran market today. It is definitely one of the highlights of Melbourne, at least so far. It's full of fresh fruit and veg, loads of tasty dips, fresh bread, homemade yoghurts (we got the passionfruit and banana - yum!), flowers, nuts, organic meats, fish, a stall that sells nothing but potatoes, another that specialises in wild mushrooms, cheeses, every sort of fresh food you could want. We got four kinds of dips - hummous, tzatziki, and two spinach dips. We also got an organic brown bread baguette for dipping.

This is our third market excursion - we've been there once before, and went to a night market last night. It had all sorts of clothes and goods for sale, along with food from around the world. We got burritos and honey dumplings (sounds weird, but very tasty) and sat out on the pavement watching a jazz band and a group of bellydancers (who performed separately, though a jazz-bellydance fusion would have been cool).

And in property market news, things have finally started to look up. We got an offer on one of the places that we'd applied for....but turned it down. Problem was that by the time we were offered it this morning we'd seen several other places that we decided that we actually preferred when we thought about it. And we did think about it for half an hour or so, but in the end determined that we were in with a reasonable shout of getting at least one of the other spots we'd applied for and so decided to hold firm. The property we were offered also wouldn't become available until 7th march and we are anxious to get out of the hostel before that.

Still the offer was heartening and several hours later we got a call from another estate agent making some preliminary enquires about our financial status before presenting our application for a different apartment to the landlord. We may hear something tomorrow about that one, and if offered, we'll definitely take it. it's in a great location and although quite small is nice and bright and has a balcony overlooking the building's courtyard. Still, musn't get too ahead of ourselves.

In the "It's a Small World After All" category (and you're welcome for now having The Most Annoying Song Ever in your head for the rest of the day), we ran into Aoife, who, it turns out, is living around the corner from us. Go figure. Leslie met up with her for a while, but Cass was sick (she's had bad jetlag, with headaches and throwing up, but she's better now) and had a coffee. We'll probably meet up with her again soon.

Arrival

We've arrived. After a 20-something-hour plane journey (who can really keep count of these things when you're chaning time zones? We lost a day in there somewhere, that's all I know...) and much luggage hassle, we arrived in Oz.

Our hostel is in a great location, on Grey St. in St Kilda's. It's the bohemian area of Melbourne, sort of like Greenwich Village, but with a beach. So far no bedbugs (although a woodlouse is being detained for questioning) but plenty of mosquitoes and other flying menaces. Three factors combine to create the mosquito problem:

1. It is hot (90s/ upper 30s)
2. There is no air-conditioning, and thus windows are open.
3. There are no screens on windows.

We're also a little sunburned. And... um... there were some jellyfish on the beach one day, but they seem to have gone away. It's a hard life, to be sure, but we bear our crosses stoically. Just so you wonderful people buried under mounds of snow in freezing temperatures or - worse! - suffering in Dublin where grey skies and rain are the weather report all year round can feel a little less envious of us.

Who am I kidding? Be envious. It's great here.

We're looking for apartments frantically, and have put applications down on five places. The property market is beyond fierce though, so it may be a while before we get something. You're encouraged to tell the landlord you're prepared to pay more than the listed price for a place in order for them to pick your application out of the dozens received to entrust with their darling property, which seems like auctioning rental places. Which is crazy, but we don't make the rules.