Renting an Apartment in Sydney vs. Canada

So finding a place to live turned out to be fun. Its a whole lot more intense than we expected.

Renting in Canada - well at least when I was a Landlord for 3 years went something like this:

• Landlord posts ad
• Tenant comes to see the place
• Landlord takes out lease for tenant to review
• Tenant pays 1st and last months rent, signs the lease and gets a move in date/time

Our experience finding a rental in Sydney:

• Tenant searches Realestate.com.au or 1 of 5 rental agencies posts up an ad (LJ Hooker, McGrath, Chase, and a few others)
• Potential Tenant either makes an appointment with the agent to view the property or goes to see it during an 'Inspection' time slot
• Inspections are 15 minute time slots similar to an Open House.
• Depending on the popularity of the area or property, expect several other couples to be looking at the property at the same time as you.
• Agent takes your name and number down when you visit during the inspection
• If Tenant likes a place they submit an Application
• Think of this like a job interview, the agent is going to review all the applications for the unit and make a recommendation to the Landlord. The Landlord gets to choose from the potential suitors
• In some cases you need to submit 2 pieces of photo identification, proof of employment, professional and personal references, and some other items.
• Tenant waits to hear back on the application they submitted (2-3 days can elapse)
• Sometimes you need to put a deposit equal to 1 weeks rent with the application
• If a match is made between Tenant and Landlord, Tenant reviews the lease with the Agent
• If Tenant still wants the place, posts 1 month's bond and pays the remainder of the 1st month's rent.
• Tenant goes in to see the Agent, signs more paperwork, gets the keys and basically gets their rights read to them.
• Tenant moves in and is supplied with a Condition Report
• The Tenant has 7 days to complete the condition report to report any damage and to basically confirm the current state of the apartment. Any variation to the state of the apartment at the end of the lease the Tenant is responsible for.
• Tenant stays till end of lease
• Tenant pays for professional carpet cleaning before the end of the lease. Lucky eh.

Simple as that.... hence why we lived in 2 temporary places while we were waiting to hear back on our application. For one of the places we were interested in, the other applicant was willing to pay 6 months rent upfront, we did not want to match that.

Tourist Shuffle - ˈto͝orist ˈSHəfəl

tour·ist shuf·fle/ˈto͝orist   ˈSHəfəl/

Description:	Walking or crossing a street with uncertainty because you have no clue which direction the cars are supposed to be coming from. Usually involves looking left-right-left, when you're supposed to just look right, followed by a quick walk that turns into a run that turns into a slow walk (once you realize that you really didn't need to walk fast at all in the first place)
	Come on you know you've done it while on vacation!

THEY ARE ENGAGED!!

Break out the glasses & champagne.. because my sisterkat is engaged!

Michael Jija-Kat proposed to my sister on Tuesday Sept 18th, 2012 in Italy! I waited all day because I knew the day he was planning on proposing to hear the good news from my sister! Wish I could have been there in person (like when she came to Toronto after Pri Proposed) but christmas will have to be good enough - less than 3 months to go!

This is gonna be an exciting year! Not sure 100% how they are going to plan it all but I can't wait to be the sister helping out verses being the bride!

Now its my turn to get my creativity out to plan her bachelorette & her bridal shower and help her with everything else in-between!

CONGRATS SISTEKAT & MICHAELKAT! Enjoy the time you are engaged!

- jaime 

The Job Hunt!

Today I start the job hunt! I'm excited mostly nervous... hoping to find something that I could see myself in. 

Main things I am looking for/not looking for: 

• Non-Finance
• Central Location - either Sydney CBD or North Sydney 
• Contract or Permanent - not too picky.
• Something I enjoy on a day to day! 

Will keep you posted when/if I find a job... or if I end up staying a lady of leisure ... which is actually not all its cracked up to be! To be honest.. I'm getting bored!

- Jaime 

New Stereo

So those of you who know me well, know that every major electronic purchase I've made usually entailed a few weeks of research on the net, prowling redflagdeals.ca, then some sort of trip to the states. I think I've accepted that things here in Sydney are going to be more expensive so why fight it.

Today I pulled the trigger on a stereo at JB Hifi. It's kinda cool over here because you get DAB radio built into a lot of the stereo equipment.

Also, a tip if you ever do buy something at JB Hifi, always ask what the lowest price they can offer you is. They'll usually drop the price 10-15% depending on the item. Today I saved 14% just for asking! I'm happy.

BOOT CAMP

My body aches as I type this.

Jaime signed us up for bootcamp at 6am on Friday morning. Its time to lose my "UK Baby", also known as about 5-15lbs of overeating in UK. That and the jumvanu's and farewell parties we had before leaving Canada.

We didn't take any pictures, but imagine a fat guy with back sweat panting while running up a hill. Ok, fine it wasn't that bad, but close.

http://www.ultimatebootcamp.com.au/

The location is about 10min walk from our new place and situated right under the Sydney Habour Bridge.

Our New Home

Finally a place to call home. One our main objectives since we've arrived in Australia is securing a place to call home during our stay here. After some aggressive apartment hunting during our first weekend here, we fell in love with a place in a really neat area. Did a bunch of paperwork and waiting and finally our move in date has arrived.

We picked up our keys (after signing a bunch of papers) around 2pm, then hustled back to our temporary spot to grab our worldly possessions. Which turned out to be a massive workout. The elevator was out of service and our place was on the 5th floor. So we end up taking turns carrying down our 4 large suitcases and about 6 smaller bags (handluggage/bedding/groceries/laptops/etc). We grab a cab and take it to our new spot.

Our worldly possessions

The place is spotless and even nicer than we remember it. Although not much time to enjoy it yet, we need to unload and then make it back to our temporary place to return the keys.

Pri lighting a divo - (later found a lighter in the drawer)

After returning the keys we head off to do our first initial grocery run. Unfortunately, as nice as our new place is, the closest grocery store is about 30min walk away. Which is fine when you're buying a loaf of bread and haven't been shuffling heavy suitcases for the past few hours. Also, its funny how the first time you do a walk to a new destination it feels way longer than it really is.

Exhausted but excited, we're finally in our new home. Ready for dinner and to start unpacking.

We ordered Pizza+Garlic Bread and begin unpacking everything. We get Australian Pizza in the spirit of new beginnings here. What is "Australian" you may ask.... Eggs, Bacon, Ham and Onions. Turns out to be quite nice!

It is now time to sleep and we can finally unpack the new purchases (from last week) - mainly bed stuff  and have a nice big sleep and get ready for the next day!


- Jaime & Pri

Temporary Accomodations - Part 2

Pics of our temporary spot on Berry St. in North Sydney

Weekend Explorations

This weekend was one of those weekends that lasted forever (in a good way of course!). We began the weekend with a bus into Sydney CBD (which is close to the Opera House - across the bridge as I keep calling it).  Pri got a recommendation from a friend to head south (as he works in North Sydney) and to continue walking down George Street until you hit Circular Quay (pronounced Key) to find some cool restaurants!

We walked and walked.. and headed to the right of the Quay which we found out on Sunday was the wrong way (we should have headed left). We had a lovely dinner at a local bar (Chicken Burger/Fries plus this mushroom risotto ball) because we were feeling healthy and watched all the local young professional hit the bar hard for drinks after a hard weeks work. It was 7pm and the place was packed - it had an outdoor and indoor where the outdoor section was a large piece of the sidewalk that was roped off with high top tables & bar stools.

Saturday we headed to Westfield's Mall in Chatswood to do some household stuff shopping for our potential new place. We found a target which made my hubby quite happy & managed to get all the necessities: pillows, sheets, dovet, pillows & quilt cover!  We came home and struggled to use up our leftover fridge items and make dinner before we moved on to the 2nd Temporary apartment as we waited for our lease to come through.

Sunday was a good day! After moving out luggage (4 Pieces: 2 Heys & 2 BIG duffle bags) from 1 apartment to another ... we set out for Sydney CBD (across the bridge again) but this time by foot! It was a lovely 30 min walk across the harbour bridge into Sydney where we ate ice cream and feasted at a local pizza place at The Rocks! (An area near Circular Quay that is known for the restaurants/bars/nightlife... which we were suppose to land at on Friday Night). Dinner was good but the highlight was a local aussie kiddie (part asian/part aussie by the looks/accent) that was literally falling asleep while he waited for his pizza and while he ate his pizza. This kid was amazing.. I paid no attention to Pri all dinner and just sat and not-so-obviously looked at this kid eating and sleeping!  We walked back to our place as the sun was setting and I crashed and burned on the sofa while we watched tv and rested our legs.

Take Aways

• Feed kiddies before they get sleepy... and if you don't make sure to videotape them and show them later. :) 
• It only takes 30 mins to walk across the harbour bridge 

- jaime 

Pri and I after we crossed the Bridge & in/around Circular Quay

"Lets take a picture... Ok... Now lets slouch down"

Household Purchases :) 

The Kuch Kuch Bird

We noticed the birds a kinda noisy here. Turns out its one type of bird that likes to hang out in the trees just outside our place... it gets noisy, really noisy.

I call it the Kuch Kuch Bird. But I think the real name is Rainbow Lorikeet.

Here's a link to more about the Rainbow Lorikeet

- Pri

A4 vs. Legal

So when you move countries you sort of have to brace yourself for loads of new things: new climate, new currency, new travel routes, new residence, new people, and on and on.

But they never warn you about this one.

A4 paper size vs. Legal size paper.

After doing most of my growing up in North America I guess I just got used to Legal size paper. A4 just feels too long and skinny. Its unnessary.


-Pri

First week of work is finally over

My first week of work is finally over!

The people... are friendly, welcoming and some genuinely interested in getting to know you better
The location... is nice, the office is situated in a downtown core, its on the 6th floor so the view is quite nice too. The building is a lot newer than the one I was in in Waterloo and much better outfitted.
The work... is a lot more intense, emails are constantly flowing and there are lots of meetings
The commute...is either a 15min bus ride or a 30min walk from our temporary place on Military Road. The walk is nice because you get to walk through a park on the way.
The dress... is formal, lots of people in suits or sharply dressed, the Banana republic golf shirts are just not going to cut it, time to go shirt shopping.

It was a good week, there was a lunch and learn on the first day, so a free lunch and an opportunity to meet most of the 50+ employees in this location was nice.

My tips for climatizing into a new office:

1. Never turn down an offer to go for coffee or lunch with someone. It will help to make friends
2. Get to know the person at reception and in IT
3. Take a walk at lunch or during a break to go check out the local surroundings, never know what might be within minutes of work
4. Listen more and talk less, but make your presence known.
5. Figure out where the washroom and kitchen is

Best thing that happened this week was going for lunch to a really cool burger joint in Crow's Nest. One of the bad things that happened at work this week, was getting to work by 7:20am only to find out that my access pass doesn't work till 8am and having to wait it out in the lobby, that and working till 7pm on my first day in the office.  

- Pri

Google Street View

Small Wins!

It is safe to say that our first day of work (i.e Pri's 1st day of employment) started perfectly... NOT!!!

After a 5 am wake up (which is an improvement from the 2am wake ups over the first 3 days), Pri scrambled around to get together paperwork for our first rental application while I blew the fuse on our only international adapter trying to get my hair dryer from Canada working! We got our things together and headed into the North CBD early to find a photocopier and a place that sells adapters so we can use the many electronic devices we brought from back home.

We took a 10 min bus ride from Neutral Bay to North Sydney and we were pleasantly surprised when we found a local photo copy place open at 8am (and willing to print our stuff for $5), a store similar to best buy that sold international adapters and that there was a bank branch directly across from his office.

I potted about the rest of the day: submitting rental applications, seeing properties and walking twice from neutral bay into North Sydney for house viewing thats were just not worth the 30 min one-way walk.

Our evening ended with some hot soup and toasted rolls after Pri used up 2 of his bus tickets unneccessarily as we tried to figure out how we were getting to our last house viewing at 7pm. Safe to say - this place was a dive... and we rode the bus home together laughing about our 1st real life day together in Sydney.

Key Take Aways: 

• Small Wins - No matter how small can make your day
• Those international travel adapters (big oval type) are not Aussie outlet friendly so you are safer buying one when you get here.
• Buy more than 1 adapter :)
• Do not trust gumtree for rental ads :)

- Jaime 

Our Temporary Accomodations

We found an awesome place online before we left on www.airbnb.com. Its nice to finally have a place to unpack and unwind. We have been living out of a suitcase for the last week and a half in UK and prior to that we were focusing on moving out of our house and into our parents home before we took off.

Some of the key things to consider when booking temporary accommodations when relocating to a new city:

• Find a place with Internet
• Close proximity to public transportation
• Furnished with a kitchen. Check to see if linens are included for the bedroom
• Washer/Dryer
• Close to coffee shops, bars, restaurant
• Location relative to work (if you have a job lined up already)
• Book for a sufficient amount of time in order to secure more permanent accommodations

Our place is great, its really close to Coles and Woolworths (two local supermarkets), its 1 bus away from work and a great jump off point to most areas in North Sydney.

City Tour + First Reaction

Today we went on a tour of Sydney. Not your typical tourist tour, one catered to helping newcomers get acquainted with a city. It was really helpful to drive through the various neighbourhoods to get a feel for what type of area is best suited to our personality and preferences. It is also really helpful to have a tour guide who specializes in this type of tour because you can ask pretty much any type of question and they'll either have an answer or at least point you in the right direction.

Some of the key things I think are important when starting up somewhere new:

• How to get around. E.g. how does the transit system work, where do I buy tickets, what frequency do buses run on the weekend, etc.
• What is the general rule for tipping
• Where to do banking or access funds
• Most popular grocery stores, what are the cheap, average and high tier stores
• Where to buy a prepaid SIM card
• Areas or things to beware of
• Where to pick up a local map

So, after spending our first full day in Syndey, what is my first reaction?

Its lovely. Think of Vancouver minus the rain, add shops and driving of UK, add the hills of San Francisco, sprinkle in a habour, a beautiful bridge and really friendly people and you'll have something close to Sydney. We tour the various neighbourhoods falling in love with the city the more areas we visit. Each area has its own character and personality. The residential streets are really diverse and interesting to look at, unlike some residential areas in Canada where every house looks the same, here each house is totally different to the next.

Its early days still and maybe I have newcomer's goggles on, but so far so good. I didn't come here with any expectations, but if I did, they would have been exceeded for sure.

- Priyesh

We've Arrived (+ Tips for travelling to Australia)

Finally we're here...

So after some fretting about customs by watching too much Nothing to Declare during our stay in UK, wondering if our paperless visa is really saved down on our passport and hoping that our 4 bags make it through to our final destination ok, we're finally here.

Some tips for travelling to Australia:

• Don't bring food into the country. If you do have food with you while you travel, keep it all in one bag, that way you can throw it out before you go through customs.
• Make an itemized list of what is in your luggage. If you declare an item on your declaration card and a customs officer needs you to show it to them, it will save a lot of time and repacking if you have a rough idea of what is in each bag.
• Sit in an aisle seat not a window seat. You will look out of the window for all of 2 min minutes during your 20+ hour journey. It is much better to have the flexibility to be able to get up and go for a walk as you please than be able to look out of the window. The only plus of a window seat is being able to lean on it while you sleep.
• Bring a neck pillow and wear comfortable pants (joggers not jeans)
• Keep a pen handy at your seat so you can fill in the declaration card before you land
• Either go to the washroom on the plane before you land or wait till after customs. If you go to the first washroom after your get off the plane, you will end up lining up at that washroom and then be at the back of the pack of the 400-500+ passengers that just got off the plane with you as you wait to clear customs.
• If you have a black or grey suitcase... do something to make it look different, it'll make finding it on the conveyor belt much quicker.  

So...Pravinabhabhi is picking us up. We're both wondering if she knows what we look like, I haven't seen her in person in over 20 years so I'm not entirely sure what she looks like either. However, when we meet her in the airport the we instantly recognize each other. She later concedes to bringing a photo of us just in case she didn't recognize us...haha

We head back to Anubhais and Bhabhi's place to freshen up and then head out for lunch. We take a walk at Cronulla beach and have pie and chips (apparently an aussie dish). Later we check out some local shops, followed by a lovely dinner with the family in the evening. We're like zombies for most of the day, taking naps here and there.

Our first impression of Sydney is really positive. The air is clean, there is no litter anywhere and the airport is nice. The people seem friendly when we head to the beach and the local shops.

- Priyesh

Pit stop in Singapore

Brief pit stop in Singapore. Was good to stretch our legs after 13 hours on the plane.

The washrooms were interesting ... you had a choice between a squatter or regular

The Journey Begins

Our journey begins. After months of planning we're finally here. We start our trip with on Tuesday September 4th from Heathrow Airport after spending about a week in UK for Reena's Engagement. We're both really excited for the trip to Sydney for a bunch of reasons but also because we get to ride on the A380, although, I'm sure the novelty will wear of quick during the 20+ hour journey (~13 hours to Singapore, 2-3 hour layover followed by a 7 hour flight to Sydney...fun fun).

So why is the A380 so cool? Because:

• The engines are absolutely massive, wider than a car
• There are 3 different loading bridges from the gate to load passengers
• It's a double decker plane with a staircase
• It holds 500-800 passengers
• We saw 4-6 pilots and about 20 cabin crew getting on
• More facts on the A380

But the real reason we think this plane is super cool is the self serve snack bar in the back. :)

- Priyesh