Home Sweet Home

So the big move was today and it was hectic from the get go. To the bank to get our brand new PINK bank cards which was such a novelty to us. This was great news to us because this meant we finally had direct access to our Aussie bank accounts… finally.

We then called for a Maxi-taxi and had to wait 40 minutes without one showing up before we hailed a cab on our own. A couple of good looking Aussie’s offered to give us a ride, but somehow a cab wouldn’t stop. Eventually we got a taxi. We had so much luggage we barely fit, but luckily a 35 minute cab ride only cost us 25$. Much cheaper than back home. One thing I’ve noticed about driving on the wrong side of the road gets me very motion sick. Every tram , train and car ride leaves me minutes away from puking. Go figure…

Anyways we finally arrived at 16 Marine Parade, aka home sweet home. We had to carry our VERY heavy suitcases up about 20 stairs. Needless to say we were tired. We quickly made a grocery list and headed to explore. St. Kilda is filled with lots of tiny little shops and bars and cafes. My kinda place for sure. After ogling all the many pastery shops we headed to the super market. 215$ later we had to walk a 5 block home with very heavy grocery bags. That combined with our laugh attack barely got us home, we might have to invest in a personal shopping cart. Food here is basically double the price home but at last we get to cook our own healthy food.

As soon as we got home we took out the cleaning supplies and did a full top to bottom two hour clean sesh to Al Greene. We love our little home and even bought a few deco’s to make it feel more home-y but there is no such thing as central heating in Aus so our rooms and bathroom is perma cold. The fireplace in the living room has now become our huddle spot. We spent our Friday night huddled on the couch in our sweaters and blankets watching bad free cable.

Although I thought I was cold…it got worse. Our bedrooms were freezing and even thought I was sleeping in a hoodie, my slippers and wrapped myself in a blanket and a duvet I still had trouble sleeping and was a frozen ice cycle when I woke up.

We made hot tea and oatmeal for breakfast (our first home cooked meal) and headed to Maccers (McDonalds) where we were promised free wifi but the internet was McCrappy so we left and decided to hand out resumes. I got a trial Monday (like working interview) at a place called Rococo which is a resto-lounge. Believe it or not I’m nervous!

We then caught the first tram into the city to buy mini heaters so we’d be able to survive the winter in our non-heated home. Following our purchase (money well spent) we finally decided to hit the liquor store. 6 Aussie bottles of wine and 60$ later, we were well stocked for a week (hopefully). On the way out of the supermarket we saw Asian massages for 10$ so we treated ourselves. After all the heavy lifting and sleeping on weird beds it was well worth it.

Anyways, bottles of wine to open and dinner to cook. More stories and adventures of living on our own to come! I might have to child proof our place as Kristina is a tad clumsy but for now back to our show!

Ps- be sure to check out the pics below of our neighbourhood.

Last night at the hostel of horrors

Breaking hostel news! The Korean roommate in bottom bunk #2 found gold in his nose after plenty of digging and decided to eat it! I came to Australia scared of finding snakes, but instead I found a boogie man…literally. At least we are normal…kind of. I am currently losing at solitaire again while Kristina is rapping out loud to Busta Rhymes…maybe we are the weird roommates.

 We decided to visit our friend Malin at the bar she works at downtown. We walked for about an hour looking for the place and then finally found it on the second floor of a building. It was called workshop and was decorated very cool but the DJ was spinning trance so it wasn’t too danceable. Kristina almost got hit by a tram on the way home, but I quickly and dutifully came to her rescue.

Today after many days of pleading I finally caved and Kristina and I went to the Queen Victoria Market with our roommates. The market had tons of fresh fish, meat, veggies and dried fruit. We couldn’t stay away from the cinnamon covered cashews and the Canadian maple almonds.

We are also spending our last night in a hostel because we move in tomorrow! I’m very excited about our new home. Not only will we get separate rooms, I won’t have to worry about sleep talkers, snorers or getting locked out of my room in the middle of the night. So excited that we tracked down the nearest Ikea and did a little shopping. I have never been so happy seeing an Ikea before in my life. A good portion of Swedish meat balls later I was packing the shopping cart with everything and anything until Kristina talked some sense into me and we had to eliminate half of the stuff. I guess I have weaknesses to Australian Ikea too. Can’t wait to decorate, pictures to come soon!!

St.Kilda adventures commence tomorrow with the one and only paul-tina, stay tuned! 

No longer homeless!

My Aussie experiences just keep getting better and better. Today teens and I signed our lease to our new apartment. A two bedroom beach front cute apartment couldn’t have been more perfect. I cannot tell you how relieved and excited I am to move in. We get the keys Friday and soon after I will be posting pics for sure!

We also had our first big night on the town. We had our first taste of Aus beer and saw a movie (lame I know) J Bridesmaids was hilarious beyond belief but what was better was the seating. For just 11$ I got better seating than my Air China flight! Spacious and you get to select your seats ahead of time. It really was the perfect movie experience. Kristina lost one of her contacts in the movie so I had to escort her home safely, and of course I executed this task to a tee.

Other than literally being blown away me and Kristina have managed to break the law and get away with it! We were paying student fairs for transit and got stopped by Aus police, [really not the worst thing in the world ;) ]. Apparently unless we are Australian citizens we have to pay full price L Kristina also opened a bag of candy in target while we were shopping for bedding and decided they tasted gross so she put them back and we had to make a run for it. Candy here is weird so it was a very legit move on her behalf. Basically all in all we are some bad ass Canadians always in a run from the law. Except not really that exciting….

Both of us are super excited to get our new place , so much so that we hit up the closest reject store (its actually called that, kind of like liquidation world) to check our the finest home decorations ;) We really are on a tight budget, even the reject store is more expensive than Ikea back home.

Anyways we enjoyed breaky in South Yarra in a cool part of town after signing the lease with our agent this morning and made sure to call the parents to have them wire us more money since our first months rent and deposit basically drained our accounts.

Next update will be from St.Kilda, 8/16 Marine Parade right on the beach. 

This is all for now. xo xo Aussie girl

Aussie Aussie Aussie , Oy Oy Oy

So glad to finally be in Australia after close to 30 hours of traveling alone. Vancouver to Shan Hai 12 hour flight was good and filled with four entertaining movies. Once I reached Shang Hai I realized the confusion of a poorly planned and poorly marked airport. I got held up at China customs somehow but finally was able to collect my luggage and check it onto my second flight. This flight was filled with turbulence galore and very uncomfortable sitting with no entertainment. 10 hours went by in between dozing and my puking neighbour. The food was enough to throw up but these were the last free meals I would eat so I tried to do my best. The pleasant Australian Customs really had me relieved after my Chinese experience. A dog sniffed my luggage and I was on my way. We managed to find a bus and tram to take us to our hostel which wasn’t far thankfully. 2 pieces of luggage each really makes it hard to manoeuvre. Anyway it’s been 3 days since arrival and I’m already feeling at home...other than the fact of course that we are very homeless L

I’m sure everyone thinks I’m probably living the life doing crazy fun Aussie things…well just to fill you in I am currently in my hostel watching one of my 5 roommates work out in a room full of 4 bunks and a 2x2 area in the middle to intense matrix music while wearing some body brace. Oh and playing solitaire of course. Sound lame? This is because I am so exhausted after looking for places for the last two days. We are adjusting to Melbourne time quite well making use of our days. We’ve looked at 4 different places to live but none of them quite what we are looking for. We’re finding it next to impossible to have something affordable and close to our Uni. Most of our roommates have been living at the hostel for over two months and working because renting in Melbourne is so pricy, kind of un-settling. One of my roommates talks in her sleep and has sex dreams out loud, one grinds her teeth so loud I get shivers and comes in at dawn after partying and the others come and go. Kristina makes the best roommate of course as we are always on the same brain wavelength.

Ok so now that my venting is done, Melbourne is amazing. Very windy which makes it cold but none the less amazing. Interesting architecture and funky looking buildings all round. People are very nice and it daily reminds me of Van (minus the mountains of course).

 Things so far that we’ve noticed is that there is a 7-11 every block and that they don’t cut their sushi so you get the pleasure of eating the roll like a hot dog. Hot dogs on the other hand are replaced with corn dogs L but their pie faces (meat pies) sure do make up for it. We’ve learned not to eat the subway here, surprisingly disappointing. We keep looking the wrong way when we cross the road and me and Kristina had a good laugh trying to find the sun because rises in the north and sets in the south. It’s pretty backward down here and funny trying to get used to. The dollar bills here are cool and the20 cent coins are probably double size of the toonie, pretty bizarre. We’ve also learned not to ask for a washroom as no one knows what that is. Slowly learning our way around.

 Our first night here we met up with some of Kristina’s contiki friends and lucked out because we were invited to an AFL (aussie footy league) game for free! A stadium full of 45,000 people and the weirdest sport ever made for an awesome night. By the time the four quarters of 30minutes passed we were just about asleep. Since then its been all business and no pleasure. We’ve been apartment hunting to get a place before school starts.

Anyway this is just a quick update. More to come once we’re more settled.

Bye yeah!

Put us on the map!

Ok, so we all know Melbourne is the place to be in Australia...but where to live is the next question we have to figure out. I had a few suggestions that St.Kilda was a funky-hip neighborhood, and ultimately Kristina and I want to be local to downtown, our campus and wherever work might be. Do some research if you're bored and let us know. Any suggestions?

St. Kilda

Just Booked Australia!!

Alright, June 30th is departure day for me. I'm excited this is finally booked, there were a few complications with seating availability. I guess this leaves T-106 days till the big move to Melbourne. Make sure if you want to see me before you leave to do it before June 30th. What do you think about a goodbye party? Never hurts to go out in style!

Melbourne here we come!