It's been a while since I've posted.
What has happened since?
For a start, we've sorted out the lodging - at least for a year. Found a place south of the river (SOR). Many things were new to us. Sorting out the tenancy agreement and all that entails. Getting furniture and appliances to create a resemblence of home. Shifting furniture that we were given, transporting said furniture in a trailer and setting it up in our new home. A couple of firsts there, never rented before, never transported anything in a trailer before. It certainly kept us busy.
If we thought the pace was going to slow down after that, it certainly hasn't. Once you've got your tenancy agreement, everything that couldn't be done before that, is now possible.
It was now possible to ;
1) apply for the Tax File Number
2) find a school for the kids (this was numero uno on our list!)
3) convert our driving licence
4) get our banking sorted out
5) there must have been others but I can't seem to remember them now heh
Oh and we lost the lid of the washing machine as we were transporting it. Yeah big bummer ... free washer and I had to go mess it up. The washer wouldn't operate without a lid (or so we thought) so we tried to fool it but to no avail. For a month, we lived without a washer, hitting the laundromat every now and then as we ran low on fresh clothes - a situation that happened pretty often if you are firstly, living out of suitcases and secondly, living in Perth during Summer. We tried buying parts off gumtree but nobody was interested in selling parts ... they all wanted to be rid of their perfectly functioning washer. (More on this later) In the end, we had to order the part online, endure a 2 week shipping time (Perth as we are finding out, is in the middle of nowhere haha ... but I like it like this!). Long story short, we picked up the lid today, plopped in onto the washer and nada ... zilch. Washer still refused to work. You know how they always tell you that in Australia you have to fix things yourself? There's a good reason for that, anything here that requires labour is costly. This was as good a time as any to practise being a handyman. After an hour or so with the washer, with a good amount of cursing thrown in, I actually managed to fix it! I couldn't tell who was more surprised ... me or J. In fact, it would've worked even without the lid that we spent $70+ on. Apparently, during the move, we bumped the washer and a circuit board had come loose. It was THAT simple.
Ah well, we live and learn. First time ever fixed a washer though :)
Anyway, back to the point about Aussies wanting to be rid of their perfectly functioning appliances. There is no garbage chute here. That translates to a lot of changes in what you consume and what you throw. I kinda like it as it forces you to think about your consumption. Once a week, the garbage truck comes along to pick up your general waste. Once a fortnight, it comes around to pick up your recyclable waste. Once a YEAR, the city arranges for disposal of hard waste, think of it as items that cannot fit into the rubbish bin each household is given.
Want a new washer? Can afford one?
Great!
Know what to do with the old washer?
Oh damn ...
We ran into a similar problem when we bought some stuff for the house. At the time of purchase, we were asked a pretty weird question. Did we want to pay the delivery man to take away the cardboard boxes? We confidenty said no only to realise later that the cardboard wouldn't fit into the bins :P
We had to tear them down and dispose of them over a few disposal cycles.
Much later, we were told that we could've left the cardboard out, waited for rain to turn it to mulch and then dispose of it that way. Ingenious.
Anyway ... I've rambled ... so much more to note down before they fade from my memory but I'll leave that for another day, maybe tomorrow. Definitely tomorrow.
