House!

After weeks of traipsing round dodgy houses (hence learning to read between the lines of aussie estate agent blurbs – low maintenance garden = concrete yard) and applying for nice ones which we didn’t get, we’ve finally hit the jackpot. From Saturday we will be the proud tenants of a house in Peel Street, Kew, Melbourne. It’s a typical Melbourne house: a long, thin Victorian bungalow with three bedrooms off the hallway, bathroom and separate laundry, opening out on a big open planning kitchen and living area with polished boards and lots of light. Plus a compact bijou (teeny tiny) backyard. I’ll upload some of the agent’s pics so you (and we!) can start to visualise it.

Kew is a leafy suburb to the NE of the city centre. It’s not exactly where we imagined we might live but it’ll do nicely. It has all the right local amenities for our stage of life: parks with exciting equipment, cafes, YMCA swimming pool and gym, an apparently lively local church or two, trams into the city centre, etc. (This whole blog is starting to feel a bit estate agenty, apols …) W will be cycling an estimated 30 mins to work at Heidelburg once he buys a new bike.

The next few days will be busy (so what’s new) with choosing & buying furniture, white goods (rental houses come with nothing), bedding etc. We expect to spend most of Saturday in IKEA and then most of Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, swearing at flatpack instructions. We are really excited about having a home, getting out of the apartment (or ‘hoe-tail’ in Thea speak) and getting on with life. There may be a break in communications while we get our broadband set up. Be grateful for rip off Britain: broadband is twice the price over here.