Fractal Blog

Finding a place to live in Sydney turned out a bit of a pain. This city is full. The rents are exorbitant. The quality of what little housing stock is available for an acceptable price is frequently substandard. One property we saw had tenants in it who thought that a litter tray for their cats was not necessary, given that they had a perfectly good living room. Where a decent property is available, a dozen or more parties turn up for the inspection, all competing for the same property.

But, we needed somewhere to live. So we threw money at the problem. A lot of money. Ended up with a truly lovely flat in Neutral Bay (!), with Harbour Views. If you crane your neck a bit you can see the top of Sydney Harbour Bridge from the balcony. The view is so lovely we didn't care that the property has neither aircon nor central heating. After all, we viewed it in the middle of summer and the temperature was fine. And how cold can it get in winter in Sydney?? (We'll be able to answer this question in June -- watch this space.)

Anyway, we signed the lease today, and we can move in on Australia Day (Jan 26th). Result. In the meantime, another observation about this country: It is not possible to get a mobile phone contract without passing a credit check, but it is perfectly possible to rent a very expensive flat in one of the most desirable parts of the city without any income. (Admittedly we did offer to pay the rent for the entire 12-month lease in advance but the offer was not taken up.) However, now that we've got it I suppose somebody had better get a job.

After yesterday's crop of flat viewings we went to Circular Quay for some fun on the ferries. This enormous cruise liner, the Sapphire Princess, was docked, dwarfing everything around it.

There are lots of big ships around in the harbour. We watched this tiny tug guide the monster ship out of the harbour.

In the Botanical Gardens we saw some two-day-old coot chicks exploring their environment, being watched by their parents. They had the cute.