Day 8 - We got the car!

We were very excited today as we were going to sign the lease of the house with the agent. As straight forward as it is, we still need to sign on every item on the tenancy agreement. There were about 47 items and 3 copies of the same document, one for the agent, tenant and the landlord. Now, you do the math! The signature just got shorter and shorter. We then borrowed the keys to do some measurement of the house. We practically measured the whole house! Here are some pictures of the house. We also met up with the landlord, who apparently stays behind our house. They have 2 young boys, whom I think can be playmates with Matthew next time. They seems to be Hongkongers. Well, we will find out that soon.

After the house, we drove to Seaford to check out a Hyundai Lantra Sportswagon. Seaford is quite far from Box Hill, so we definitely don't wish to go back empty handed this time. We test drove the Hyundai, and much to our disappointment, it just didn't match up to our slightest expectation. First of all, it creaks! Alot! And the window at the driver's side, cannot be wind down properly, let alone be wind up again. And then there was the missing door opener at the right hand side of the passenger seat. Is that a reinforcement of child lock or what?! After the broken window, we were ready to turn back the car and send it back. The sales guy then recommended a Ford Mondeo to us. Although it is 2 years older than the Hyundai, it is a luxury car, and it has power everything. Power window, central locking, power mirror steering, and airbags! We test drove it, and it turned out to be the most steady and comfortable car out of all we have tested. Not that we have tested alot! This car hunting is very tiring, so when we found one that we liked, we bought it. Spent about another one hour at the car yard to process the payments, and we got the keys and drove it back to city. Short and sweet process. By the way, it costs us $6,500. $1000 below our budget that was meant for a Camry.

Day 7 - We got the House!

(by ChinEe)

Woke up late, and had an expensive breakfast at the coffee house downstairs. Cost us A$27 for a pancake, omelette with coffee and tea! Anyway, that was quite filling and lasted us till 2pm.

We were quite anxious the whole day as we are supposed to know if any of our applications got through, but till noon, nobody called us yet. I called up one of the agents and I was told that if the agent didn't call, she/he probably doesn't have any feedback themselves. So that kind of assured me a little.

Shortlisted some more cars, and text the owners to see if they are still available. Texting is cheaper than calling, literally $0.25 vs $1. The cost for using mobile phone here is horrendous, that is comparing to the competitive rates in Singapore.

We made an appointment with a Volkswagon Passat owner, and he was 20km away north from the city, which is probably like driving from Changi to CBD. It was a disappointing viewing. Although it is supposed to be 'luxury' car, it was pretty used in the interior. First of all, we almost couldn't go for a test drive, as the engine didn't start! After driving around for awhile, it was even worse than the Camry we tested the day before. Engine performance aside, the interior of the car seems like it has been around for more than 20 years. Just not well maintained. The owner was even quoting it for A$7950! So much for driving to the other end of town to view that kind of car.

Hee Juan had a missed call on the way back, and we didn't know if it was from the agent (no caller id shown), so we decided to head back to the apartment to call and check for updates as well. True enough, she was the one who called earlier on, and she has good news for us! WE GOT THE HOUSE! Our 1st choice. Thank God for that! Only God can provide us with accommodation in less than 1 week time. We spoke to an agent and she was telling us it usually take weeks before one gets a place. We were very excited and happy and quickly called up the bank to arrange for bank cheques and then we went to Ikea to look at things to buy.

We then brought back some food from Coles and came back to cook. Somehow homecook food still taste better outside food, even though the ingredients was pretty instant. We had chicken kebabs, canned soup and salad, and not forgetting some really nice and crunchy strawberries.

Must sleep early tonight as tomorrow is SHOPPING DAY!

Day 6

This entry is written by Chin Ee, Hee Juan's wife, for those who don't know.

Monday was a very relaxed day for us, as there wasn't any viewing of houses and we were practically 'stucked' as we haven't had any confirmed accommodation so we can't shop for white goods, furniture, etc. We decided to attend to administrative stuff, like applying for the Medicare card, and getting our Tax File No.

We actually went to the Tax Office to retrieve our old Tax File No, as we have forgotten ours. However, we were told that our old number has been deleted, so we need to apply for new one. Oh well, we decided to do it once we have a permanent address, it's not that urgent anyway.

Applying for Medicare card was pretty straightforward. Only need to show them our passport and fill up a form, and voila, we have access to near 'free' health care!

We went to test out a 1996 Camry from a private seller in the afternoon. After testing, we realised that wasn't the optimum buy, because of the tinted window (shabbily done, thus affected vision), and the small side mirror. Call us fussy, but that certainly wasn't worth A$7100. Maybe if it was knocked down to A$6000. Fat hope, I think. Anyway, because we were near Springvale, we decided to revisit the vietnamese restaurant where we had the most amazing chilli crab for dinner. When we reached there, we couldn't find it, and can't remember where exactly it was, so we just settled down in this Vietnamese place for simple dinner. Turned out to be not bad. The thing here with the restaurant or any eatery you go to, you don't have to use your own tissue! Even the stalls in the food court will provide you with at least a piece of servette! How nice is that? Unheard of in Singapore.

Took a slow and relax drive back to the city and had an early night.

Day 5

Went to Yum Cha at Doncaster. Restaurant called "Golden Dragon Palace" on Manningham road. Restaurant was very crowded with an equal number of asian as well as anglo. Food was OK, but seems a bit pricey compared to Singapore. About $25/head. However I guess you can't really compare prices here with Singapore as restaurant food will always be more pricey here.

We needed a 2nd hand car as the one we have now is rented (Mistubishi 380 - I have some rants about this car.. later). There is a used-car lot at Ringwood which is a lot like the ones in Singapore except the car dealers aren't that aggresive. In a Singapore car-lot, once you are within a dealers 'zone' he will keep hounding you like a dog guarding his owners property until you run away. OK, that was an exageration, but I get that once in a while. Aussie dealers just ask you if you need help, and if you say you are just looking, they will leave you alone.

We were looking for a 10year old Camry for around $6-7K but apparently that is a bit out of range of reality. It seems that for $10-$13K you can get a very decent 4dr auto vehicle. Anything lower is probably very old. Another odd thing about the Australian used-car market is that 99% (about there) don't have leather seats; they use fabric. The ugly ones usually. The worse thing is that they seem to absorb and emit odors of the previous owners or cigarette smoke. Very nasty.

So we couldn't find our $6,000 dream car, so I guess we'll need to review our budget and review our requirements.

day 4

Saturday is house inspection galore day. It is the day where you will find the most number of rental properties open for inspection.

We started the day early at 9am to a house at BoxHill North. Nice. Very nice. Weatherboard house (made of wooden slats on the outside), but looks very new probably due to renovation. Wooden floorboards everywhere, which means carpets or rugs will be needed in the bedrooms. Not a problem. Backyard is isn't large, but there is a large elevated deck at the back, where you can have your BBQs. Heating is via gas heating ducts. This is a cost effective way of heating the whole house. Better than electric-based heating because gas is cheaper. We like this one a lot. There was only another group of 2 asian girls there, so hopefully there aren't too many competitors. We submitted the application, so we should be able to get an answer by Monday or Tuesday.

Throughout the day we went on to view 7 more properties up until around 3pm. It was a very hectic and tight schedule. 5-7mins to view a house then another 5-10mins to zoom to the next house which could be several suburbs away. Thanks to our new Garmin C510 GPS, it helped to cut down the travel time - just key in the address and it guides you to the destination.

The final house we visited at Burwood was extremely popular. There was a huge crowd queuing up to enter the house, like there was some sale or freebies being given away. The property agent could be heard saying "quickly move along, lots of people viewing, closing soon". It was like a museum house where someone famous lived there, and everyone walks around admiring the furniture and paintings within. It was an odd experience. Nonetheless, despite the competition, we applied for it, offering $10/week more than the asking rate. :)

Ending the day dropping by all the agent offices to drop off the application forms. Tired.

Day 2

Had a good rest and woke at 10am. Brekkie at the Deli downstairs. $5 for bacon/egg sandwich and coffee/tea.

We took care of the banking stuff in the morning. Took the City Circle tram (which is free) to the other end of town where the bank office was.

One advantage of opening a bank account from overseas is that you get special treatment when you arrive (for the bank that we opened with). You will be assigned a so-called "private banker" that will take care of all your needs. She will waive fees for things such as bank statements and bank cheques, and these can be done over the phone instead of queueing in line. Another major plus is credit card application. In general, in Australia you will need 6 months of credit history locally before you can apply for any card no matter how long you've been working in your home country. However in our case, it will only take 4-5 days to approve. Neat huh.

Had a house viewing the afternoon at Oakleigh East, which is 17km from the City, which is near our max limits of where we want to live. 2 story unit in a mini cul-de-sac type of property. Only downside is distance and no near train line. We rate this one a average.

Dropped by our cousin's place in the evening for some catch-up. Their 6 month old baby was happy to see us and was constantly seeking the visitor's attention. My cousin stays in one of the nicer parts of Melbourne called Glen Iris. Nice neighbourhood and nice house. Very cosy. Very 'family' type of house.

Went to Chadstone shopping mall. Largest in Australia I think. Tried to find a optician to make new spectacles. Found out it costs $530 for a 1.74dense plastic lens. Wow. I think this is 3-4 times the cost in SIngapore. I reckon this is due to the fact that most people have private insurance or medicare that covers a lot of this costs, so they only bring in the expensive stuff. Thus I'll probably get my specs when I get back to Singapore, or get my private insurance done.

Day 1 in Melbourne

I am writing this after 2 days as we were too exhausted and tired at the end of the first day.

We landed at Tullamarine airport around 445am Melbourne time. Hardly having slept on the 7 hour plane ride from Singapore, I was fairly alert still. Rented a car and drove to our serviced apartment in the CBD. Reached at 7am.

Funny thing, when you call a hotel to confirm that your room is ready on Wednesday, it means you check in after noon, even when you confirm that you will be there at 7am?? So there we were at 7am with our room not ready, pondering if we should hang out on the cold streets for another 4-5hours. Thankfully the quick thinking staff managed to find us a temporary room to rest after a bit of persuasion.



Napped 3 hours. Off to lunch at a Vietnamese cafe along Swanston St. Met ChinEe's friend there. Rumour has it that the soup is recycled so her friend drank it all up to "prevent it" from being recycled. I'm sure its not true. Soup taste good though.

Spent the afternoon viewing 4 houses for rent in the Eastern suburbs. Didn't really like most of them except one - just found out that it has been let our already. Takes only one day for houses to be snapped up. These are very difficult times for renters and the rental market is extremely good with <1% vacancy rate at any time. Got to be fast, Really fast.


Dinner at Central. Sushi bar on level 3. Very expensive compared to Singapore. Sushi plates from $2.50-7.50. I can't even recognize most of them. Seems they like Tuna a lot as 75% of the sushi had "Tuna element". Weird.

Very very tired having only slept 3hours. Slept early.