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.