Melbourne!

I've been in Melbourne for a week now, and it has been busy enough so far, looking for apartments, organizing this and that, doing a bit of shopping, orienting to the city, exploring the many suburbs, and settling into roomie life with my friend for a few weeks. My roomie is extremely power conscious, to the point of insanity at times, as I've told her. She cannot stand to have a power point left on, or a light, or a computer, or a computer that is shut down, or the speakers, and so on and so on. My 7 watt reading light by my bed apparently is what is destroying the ecology of the country, that and my sleeping computer with it's two LED lights flashing. I try to tell her that the amount of power used is so minuscule it could hardly be measured. I've also offered her money so she may stop nagging me...it doesn't help. She sits there and looks around the room for things to turn off, constantly. I recognize that I am in her space, but come on, it's all a bit ridiculous. She can spend $2000 on botox but won't take my $20 for power so I can leave my computer turned on. I am on a mission to find my own place ASAP so this does not destroy our friendship...she knows how I feel, but my words are lost on her. Lots of love to you, girl, but the whole power things is beyond me sometimes, heh heh.

I interrupted his catnap in the sun

Dundee looks over the 'hood

I spent most of the past week looking for apartments, organized a bunch of inspections, and went to see several and then checked out the commute to work - over an hour. Back to the drawing board again to look for apartments in Footscray where my office is, and spent most of yesterday inspecting apartments and putting in applications. I'm very particular about what I want, and know I won't get my ideal place, but there are certain things I am going to hold out for. My ideal place is this: one bedroom or very large studio in an old building with gas cooking, on-site laundry, adequate cupboard space, off-street parking, and hardwood floors. Additionally I would like a shower over tub, and a courtyard or balcony. So far I have found no old buildings in the area I need to live in, you know, the character buildings with lots of beautiful footboards, ceiling and window trim, huge windows with large ledges. I have found several with hardwood floors, but not always with gas cooking, or on-site laundry. Most all have parking, but few have a courtyard or balcony. I prefer ground floor but have only seen very dumpy apartments on ground floors so far. The search continues. 

Dundee found a nice chair to curl up in

Tomorrow I go to the office for the first time and meet my new coworkers and team leader. I'm both excited and anxious. It is a chance to reinvent myself once again and start fresh, but what if they don't like me? And does that matter? I wonder what my desk space will look like? Will my new team leader be as awesome as my favorite team leader in Alice Springs? What is the workload like? How many days will training take? When do I get paid?? So many questions. I hope to have many of them answered on my first day. Stay tuned...until then I am curling up on the sofa on this rainy day in Melbourne and settling in with a good book and my kitty.

possible apt - nice kitchen

the living room and balcony