25 July 2006:
After three months in the hostel, the time finally came to move on. I realize that for most people, they would have moved on after less than a week, but why be normal?! Still, better late than ever, I have moved to the Bondi Junction suburb of Sydney and am now sharing a house with a Canadian, an Aussi, a dog (American Staff Terrier), a cat (does very little, just seems to purr on my lap all day) and a fish (Thai fighting fish, does even less and usually just likes playing dead at the bottom of the tank(!) Rent, the main reason why I moved out is nearly half of the 350 Aussi dollars it cost per week at the hostel (eek! so expensive!) so straight away I knew I was onto a winner with the new place.
So, why the Bondi Junction area? I'm five minutes from the shops, five minutes from the train into the city and the beach is down the road. Naturally, even though the continent was experiencing drought conditions for most of the last twelve months, its been raining nonstop since I moved two weeks ago with the weather forecasters saying that it it has been the wettest July in years: typical!
It is odd living somewhere where the kitchen has all of its walls (the hostel kitchen wasn't entirely enclosed which made cooking in the evenings a "fresh" experience) and having a room which is larger than a double bed is another bonus(!) Speaking of a double bed, IKEA is near Sydney and is the place to get cheap furniture. Only thing to note though is that unless you want to carry the bed back to your house yourself, you'll probably want to get the home delivery option: however, they don't explain until after you've bought the bed that the charge nearly 50% extra for delivery if the bed is larger than double size, and you didn't bring cash with you? That's another 2.x% charge for your credit card. Hmmmm...
Once the bed does arrive, you do get the pleasure (or pain) of assembling it yourself. I was quite proud of my effort: a mere 30+ pieces left over after I was finished! (their design was inefficient and I improved it: well, that's what I'm saying to myself anyway :)
