I have a new home!

I've been a little bit slack with my blog updates over the last week, mainly because I feel like I have too much to write about...which means the longer I leave it the worse it becomes :-S


So starting with my arrival in Melbourne, work has put me up in a nearby hotel which means no cooking facilities so I have been surviving on tinned soup and takeaway. Not particularly ideal and making it hard to eat well and cheap, but it's not for too much longer. I'm definitely going to get stuck into the exercise and good eating once I'm settled.

Today was my eighth day at work, everything there is going smoothly. The people seem really nice and it is a great workplace with even better conditions. There will be a lot of future opportunities for me here. My first few days were just reading manuals and doing little training courses but I've been given a few real tasks since then.


As you may have guessed from the title, I have found a new place to live. Payed the bond today and should be able to move in in around 10 days time. Possibly earlier but it will depend on what the agent can
manage with the current tenant. It's a great place and I'm really happy with it. It's in one of the top floors of a large building, about 3km from the city and has a wraparound balcony that looks north and west. Hopefully I'll get to witness some great sunsets from it over the next year :-) I'm really excited about it now because I can start planning where furniture will go in my head and work out what extra things I might need. The kitchen doesn't have a lot of storage but there is a built in desk nearby and a weird island bench that has
no sides...I'll post a photo once I'm in and hopefully some after pics once I've worked out how to do it. I've become a big fan of the projects over at http://www.ikeahackers.net/ and it's giving me a lot of ideas about how I can work some cheap custom storage in the space :-)

My rental search didn't start well though, the first place I looked at was completely different to the advertised photos (e.g. opposite side of the building and very dark, smaller and carpet instead of timber floors, smaller balcony looked into the complex instead of out). The second place I liked, it was small but a townhouse rather than a unit so more privacy, but when I enquired about it the next day it was already gone. The third place I waited outside (with a few others) for the agent for over half an hour and they never showed. Didn't put me in a good frame of mind for finding somewhere. So last Saturday, after hiring a bike, I rode around to a few open for inspections. The first place I saw was my favourite and I put in an application on the spot. Saw one later in the day which I also applied for just in case, but thankfully, that property has been leased to me :-)

Did I mention I'm excited?

On top of that, yesterday I found a great advertised job for that guy of mine, seems perfect and it looks like he'd be qualified. Applications close tomorrow night so he'll be working on it today and I'll check it tonight ;-) It would be so incredibly perfect if he got that job though. Keeping my fingers crossed, not sure if I've already used up all my luck for this year though!

Oh I've also ordered my bed, just a cheap one but one I liked back in Brisbane, knew it would take 2-4 weeks to come so hopefully I won't be on just a mattress in my new place for too long. Tonight is the State of Origin, a very important game for any rugby league fan (of which I most definitely am) where Queensland (my old state) takes on New South Wales (the state inbetween Victoria and Queensland) in a best of three series. Queensland (also called the Maroons due to their uniform colour, NSW are the Blues) has won the
last five series but there is always a lot of pride at stake. I'll be cheering for the Maroons alone in my hotel room while message a lot of family and friends who will be at the game back in Brisbane.

Think that brings everything up-to-date. I've really got to start posting daily. Oh and I'm going home this weekend for a wedding and to catch up (I know, I've only been here two weeks) so I'm really looking forward to that. Missing someone in particular a hell of a lot. At least I have a setting up a new place to occupy me now :-D