Well we celebrated our first Easter Down Under and the heathens that we are, we never made it to church. But we did manage to rent another van and this time it started and kept running without incident! Found several car rental places and dealerships up in Artarmon so this will be our go-to suburb when a car is needed.
Unfortunately it rained all weekend, straight through Friday & Sat., combined with holiday store closings, made Sydney more of a ghost town than the thriving metropolis it usually is. It is considered a public holiday straight through from Fri into and including Monday. While in Artarmon though, we found Fantastic furniture and Bunnings were open on Sat. so we bought shelving, lighting and a trash bin. I even remembered to look for Henry to surprise him with an American dollar bill but he was not working that day. From there, we went to Chelsea and James apartment. They are a super nice couple we met on the Sydney Americans Facebook group. Great timing that they were headed back to Texas and needed to unload everything from an iron and ironing board to a kitchen table and chairs and pretty much everything in between. We got so much accomplished, it was great!
The rain finally stopped a bit on Easter so that was a nice break but at least it kept us indoors to put our cheapo furniture together before heading out for more exploring.
Yesterday, later in the day, after sorting through mail and putting together furniture, we went for a hike (called bush-walking here!) through Ball’s Head Reserve. The council converted an old BP oil refining and coal mining facility into bush-walking trails, replanting native plantings with Million dollar views of the harbor in the distance. We saw monstrous-sized spiders everywhere, holy crap! lol Had no idea how close a walk it was from our apartment. We just walked up Lavender and onto Union St. The suburb changes from Lavender Bay to Waverton, a very nice neighborhood! We may consider it if/when we move next year. But I have to say that it is a challenge to find a balance between street & train noise and an easy walk to the train station. During our walk in Waverton, we came across an adorable cafe, The Grumpy Cafe, formerly The Grumpy Baker.
A little history and description here: http://www.bestsydneywalks.com/balls-head-reserve/
Check out these beautiful views of the city skyline and harbor from Ball’s Head.
We met a friend along the way (water dragon, like the spiders, they are everywhere too)
Today was both productive and enjoyable! After hours, days really, spent on the phone, I think I finally resolved the gas and electric problems. Because the retailers bill quarterly, we now have free electric and gas from when we moved in, 3/20, until the next meter read coming up on the the 10th of April. Crazy system but the free utilities works for me!
I recently found a hair salon and had a cut and color done at the Rocket salon (They’ve since changed the name to Wildlife hair) in McMahon’s point. $144 – ouch. But there is no tipping here in Australia, as a rule, although I do find myself tipping every now and then, especially in the higher-end restaurants. My hairdresser, Cody, was a lovely girl and interesting. At 17 years old she once worked at a slaughterhouse/meat-packing facility which turned her into a vegetarian in no time apparently. I think I would too… Across the street is Billi’s cafe so I had a nice lunch there after my hair appointment.
http://www.wildlifehair.com/#intro
https://www.facebook.com/billisburgers/
I also ordered change-of-address labels on Vista print and found petite clothing sites local in Australia. After more exploring up in North Sydney, I also discovered an Aldi’s, where everything is so cheap! A real refuge in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
This weekend also happens to be Easter and in Australia it is celebrated as a four-day-long weekend, Friday - Monday off is pretty damn cool. The bars/hotels were filled to the max around the city Thursday night. Our big excitement was borrowing a few dvds from the library until the internet kicks in on the 17th.
A typical, beautiful sculpture you will see walking the streets in the CBD (central business district) of Sydney. A native ibis has decided he likes the sculpture too. This sculpture also happens to have a water fountain in the center. (Jim in the pic, on the right, watching the bird.)
When Jim returned from Tokyo, he brought me back this lovely kimono. I just love it and wear it all the time!
He also brought back the winning lottery ticket from Japan too - well maybe not….
And since we are on the subject of Japan, I wanted to share this link to view these incredible Japanese prints.
http://blogs.loc.gov/picturethis/2015/04/seasonal-offerings-a-new-japanese-prints-flickr-album-and-special-sakura-display/?loclr=eaptb
Finally, I thought this was a fitting quote….
“One kind word can warm three winter months.”
~ Japanese Proverb
So the Origin gas saga continues… gas was scheduled to be turned on yesterday. No time was given, not even a range. Just have to wait all day for them to show to read the meter. This is because the gates are locked to access the property so I need to be able to let the meter reader in. Ugh
At 10AM I asked Jim to call to pinpoint a time frame at least and so glad he called. They were never even coming out but just did not bother to let us know! So exasperating… It’s a really convoluted system here. I just learned that the electric and gas are never actually turned off as it is controlled by one utility distributor. So you must set up a new account with a retailer, not the actual distributor. The previous tenant had Energy Australia but moved out and never paid the final bill so if we wanted to go with them, we were going to be on the hook for their balance owed!
On and off the phone all day with several different retailers has been dizzying to say the least. Jemena (gas retailer) told me that the gas was on and I only had to turn the knob under the sink to get it going. (It’s these little things that can make you mad when moving to a new country. =:- O )
Yay, finally have cooking gas at least and could smell it a bit but did not think much of it as it quickly dissipated.
Toward the end of the day, Jim & I met up at the library, our sanctuary, to use the computers and borrow a few movies. From there we stopped by “Billy Barry’s Hotel” for dinner – fun place! For those who are wondering, all the bars here are called hotels.
http://www.billybarrys.com.au/
“The word “Pub” is used in Australia to indicate a bar, also known as “the local”. They are often called “Hotel”, the reason for this dates back to the days that licenses only allowed pubs to provide alcohol to traveling public, the presence of a few rooms ( who might never be used) then gave some impression that the rules were being followed.”
http://www.amazingaustralia.com.au/pubs.htm
We then arrived back to our apartment around 8:15pm to discover the entire apartment smelled like rotten eggs – a catastrophic explosion waiting to happen!! We immediately turned off the gas line, opened all the windows and sat across the street in the park for a good 30 min. We emailed the landlord to call us ASAP. We then headed back inside once the gas has cleared out and went to bed. Lakis (our landlord) called 7:30 the next morning and sent Ivan the plumber out to check the gas connection. Sure enough, there was a major leak coming through and could have blown up the entire building. Needless to say, we were livid over the lack of accountability on the part of our landlord and have considered taking legal action.
For now, it’s good to know we are safe and I can finally cook!
Words of the Day
baby = bub
trunk (car) = boot
