Und es geht los – we are moving today and this weekend

I might not be online for a few days…we still need to order internet for our new address and until then I will probably use the internet at uni, which is unfortunately now not around the corner anymore; more like a 30 minutes drive. Well, I will see. Don’t miss me too much. Haha!

We have been to our new home today, not really moved stuff in, we rather inspected it, took photos for the property condition report and so on.

Papa, Nathan carried me over the threshold, as you suggested. Felt very good….so -like.

I already met the opposite neighbours. A very nice old couple. Bob and Claire. Could be my new Australien grand-parents. *g* Very cute and friendly…Bob talks very strong Australian accent, but his smile is just to-fell-in-love-for-gorgeous. They drove with their camper van through Europe (also Germany) on their honeymoon…and when Bob told me that he smiled all over his face, so that it just reminded me of Nathan and me traveling all over the place, camping and….yeah. Well, I’m sure we will get along very well with Bob and his wife Claire.
Our direct next door neighbour (I didn’t understand his name) is very Australian, too. His car number plate says he might be from Queensland. He is over his 50ies, Australia’s sun gave him a good dark colour and he is very relaxed, mate. Very cool drauf, would I say in German. No worries here either.

When I picked Nathan up from work today to drive with him to our new house, we saw two cars parking in our front yard (on it). When we were inside the house Nathan saw that someone was getting into on of the cars and he jumped out to let them know that this is now our front yard. I heard them talking very almost over-friendly to Nathan, it was a woman’s voice….when Nathan came back inside the house I only said “don’t tell me you just met the American woman living opposite left of us?” and he nodded, wondering how I could know that?! Bob. He told me earlier this morning. This is a neighbourhood where everyone knows each other. Cool, that’s how I like it. Having a chat with the nieghbours over the fence or over the road.

What a great feeling we already have about our new home, before we even moved in really.
Tomorrow will be our main moving day. We will have the ute (small truck) from a good friend of mine. We probably only need two loads, because we only have two bulky armchairs (the green ones), one wardrobe that we transport in one piece, a bed frame and a small but heavy table.

It is almost ten at night. I have a headache, haven’t eaten dinner yet, and still need to pack all my clothes in a box to put what we can in the car, so that we can leave tomorrow morning early.
Nathan wants to be at Ikea at 8am. To avoid crowds. We will see if he really will leave his bed so early, because he has only slept 3 hours last night, and he is still at uni at this moment. We also plan to cook dinner and watch a movie…okay guys…the night is young….cya soooon!!!!

Nov 28, 2008 • Australia & English •••• 1 comment »

Email Subscription will be removed, please subscribe via RSS

My poll finished with the result that five from five voting people prefer subscribing to a (or to my) blog via RSS feed. 5:0 for RSS feeds.
That was easy. Thanks guys!

Please note that I will remove the email subscription plugin and you will no longer receive my blog post alerts via email. Please switch over to my RSS feed which is at this address http://planetcola.com/feed/ or click that orange RSS icon at the very right end of your browser’s address bar…and you’ll be able to add my feed from there by adding it to your preferred feed reader.

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A “Feed Reader” is required for using Web Feeds. This tool works like an automated e-mail program, but no e-mail address is needed. The user subscribes to a particular web feed, and thereafter receives updated content, every time updating takes place. (…)

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Other web-based tools are primarily dedicated to feed-reading only. (missy adds: such as Bloglines or Google Reader, the last one is great if you already use a gmail account).

Opera, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer 7.0, and many other web browsers allow receipts of feeds from the tool bar using Live Bookmarks(…) to integrate feed reading into a browser.

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[via Wikipedia]

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me and if you’re annoyed that I am going to switch off the email delivery…well…get in touch with RSS feeds and you’ll learn something new. You will love it anyway!

Sooo, this was the last post deliviered to my email subscribers. If you wonder where I am, type http://planetcola.com in your browser.

Nov 26, 2008 • Blog & English •••• 2 comments »

To do list before we move into our new house

This morning we signed the lease (the six month’s contract) for our new home in the suburb Wembley Downs! How exciting, we are one step closer to our new home! We cannot wait to move in!
We met with the property manager from the Real Estate agency and she went through all details with us. She is a very nice person and we are happy to have her as our property manager. It gave me a good feeling and I think I can speak for Nathan as well.

So now we need some furniture and home ware stuff:

• a refrigerator/freezer (this is priority one)
• a queen size mattress (at least priority two)
• two pillows (well, we can sleep on our pullovers first)
• a tall boy (zu deutsch: eine hohe Kommode mit zahlreichen Schubladen)
• a dining table with chairs
• a washing machine (urgently needed, I hate public laundry places)
• pots and pans (yes, we need to cook with something…anyone experience with IKEA’s pots and frying pans???)
• cutlery (Besteck..)
• lamps
• a 3 seater couch (maybe as a sleep couch, if not too expensive / anyone experience with IKEA sleep couches such as BEDDINGE??)
• a lawn mower and some garden tools for trimming and maintenance
• curtains maybe (there are vertical blinds, but we don’t like them; feels like being at a doctor)
a home phone

Another thing that we need to manage is getting our new home hooked up with Internet as soon as possible. Yeah, I know everyone from home is awaiting us having fast internet so that we can finally skype and do what we want, because the traffic is not shared!

So far friends recommended the internet provider “iinet” and “amnet” to me. Most people mentioned Iinet though. Amnet would be interesting only, because a friend said they have student discounts, what I could not find out so far.

I wasn’t sure if we shall have a fixed phone line, so that our families and friends from Germany and the States have a better way to call us cheap. But the phone lines are quite expensive; it would be $30 just for the phone line plus the calling costs. Internet will be around $60 to $80 already.
Now, that I found Sven’s blog where he explains how he uses a German phone number in Sydney, I’m curious if I can set up the same for us here. I must admit that I need some more deep readings to fully understand how it works.
I just shipped my Fritzbox WLAN 7050 dsl modem over from Germany, hoping that I can use it here. I have never used my Fritzbox modem together with my regular phone as VOIP phone…so I might need some help from experienced guys/girls out there! Ha, so far we don’t even have a phone…I guess, this need to be put on our “house stuff list” as well. Which phone should we buy? Do I need to choose a special phone that supports VOIP? Any help is very much appreciated!!

I think I already have a SIP account with my GIZMO account (a similar tool as skype). Will this work?

Okay, I have to decide soon if we want to go with iinet or amnet for our internet.
Both are ADSL 2+:
*AMNET > $60/10GB peak + 15GB off peak | or naked dsl $80/10GB peak +15GB off peak
* [Amnet peak: 6am to 11:59pm | off peak: 12:00am midnight to 5:59 am]

*IINET > $60/10GB peak+20 GB offpeak including iinet’s VOIP (15c local+national calls, 7ct/min to Germany/USA) | without iinet’s VOIP plan $60/7GB peak or $70/15GB peak | or naked dsl at $70/15GB peak + 20GB off peak or $60/8GB peak+ 8GB off peak.
*[Iinet peak: surfing from 12am/noon to 2am | off peak: surfing from 2am to 12am/noon]

Am I right that we need a previous phone line with Telstra to be able to get the naked dsl? I don’t really get the difference between the ADSL2 and naked dsl. For iinet’s broadband plans, I can choose “no phone but Voip” and then there is also the “naked dsl“. Is this not the same?

If there are any Perth people reading this, and if you have an advice, please chuck it into the comments below.
We are looking for no fixed term contract (if possible) and need probably about 10GB traffic (off peak)?! How can I find out how far our home is away from the company’s closest DSL reception point or whatever it is called?

EDITED marked as *

Nov 25, 2008 • A-life & English •••• 19 comments »

House hunting stories special edition

There has happened so much in the last days and weeks that I don’t know where to start.

You remember my last post about our house hunting? If not, I advise that you go back and have a quick read here.
Oh, I wrote that entry in German. Well, then watch the pictures, because I will talk about two of the presented houses.

The second house (with the most photos) was not in the best shape, but we fell in love with that place. We filled out the application and then Nathan stopped and all of a sudden had a bad feeling with the policies of the contract, because it said that “The Applicant acknowledges having inspected the Premises and if the Option is exercised, will accept possession of the Premises in the condition as at the date of inspection”. That means, we would accept the condition of the house without any changes, e.g. renovation. But there was a little bit of mold on the ceiling in the bathroom, which we wanted the owner to remove. And the lady who made the viewing said that the butterfly paintings in the second bedroom might be painted over by the owner. Might. Yes, and also these were just words, not written on paper. I’m very careful with this…Nathan, too. But still, I wanted the place and went two days later to the office of the agency to have a personal chat about the conditions of the contract.
First I spoke to the woman who made the viewing and she immediately said that I’d better speak to the boss/manager, because she is his assistant only. Okay, that already means that all things she has said during the viewing are worth nothing. The boss came and I mentioned my interest in applying for the house, but beforehand would like to know if the owner would renovate the bathroom with the mold and the flaky wall paint and maybe also overpaint the second bedroom. He was very nice (for a real estate agent/manager) and said that he supposes not, because the house will be only available for a six months lease and it will be demoished right after. DEMOLISHED! Arghhhh! I said things like ‘oh no, they can’t do this, it is such a nice place, just a little renovating and it’s fine’, he said ‘yes dear, I know, it is not in my hand, the owner decided to do this’…and I had to close my open mouth and try to find my voice, because I was very surprised to hear this. The house wasn’t that bad from its condition. Well, I was thankful that the boss told me the kind of hidden 6 months lease fact, because as soon as you apply for it (would have cost $300 for the Option Fee), and they chose you, you need to move in or you loose your Option Fee.

Okay, on with the second favourite house. The one in Glen Forrest. If you check the last post (see link above) you will find the photos at the end of the entry.
We already drove around quite a bit to viewings or just to see houses from the outside and the neighbourhood to see if we would like to live there. We got a good feeling for the suburbs, which we liked and which we didn’t favour. Glen Forrest was quite a bit too far away and we decided to rather move closes to the ocean than closer to the hills and the wild forrests, where it is supposed to be very hot in summer as there is no wind.
Still, there was the viewing and we were close to that area that day anyway, so we wanted to see it at least (well, my will was stronger than Nathan’s, but my convincing always wins).
When we finally, after a long day driving around and already have seen other places, reached the Glen Forrest house, we couldn’t believe what we saw. There was a paper sign on a tree in the driveway that said “Viewing cancelled. Owner decided to sell. Sorry for any convenience.” !!!!!!!!!!
We gasped and I was angry that they didn’t mention it on the website, where they advertised the viewing already for weeks! I thought about all the other intersted people who probably also drove a long way up in the hills to see this place. Well, Nathan was kind of relaxed while I was still disappointed. I just wanted to see what it looks like and how nice one can live in the woods here, even when we already decided not to live there.
A few minutes later at the local shopping district we saw the office of the agency from that place. We talked to one agent and she said that the owner contacted them the night before to let them know that he sold the place on his own. The agency lady seemed to be quite furious.

Summary: One house with only six months lease, then demolishing, the other one not for rent anymore, because already sold.

Then we saw a nice house in a suburb called Eden Hill, which is close to the river, but not close to anything else. We missed the viewing and could only see the outside (house and garden).

I arranged a new viewing where I could only go alone, because Nathan had to work. The house was not as nice as it looked from the outside. It was very dark inside, the wooden floor was in a very bad shape, the kitchen and the bathroom gave me a depressive feeling. The house was probably from the time around the early 20th century, and it seemed that the people who lived there or the owner hasn’t really taken care of the place. I thought about things that could be changed to make it more livable, but as the agent said, the owner needs to agree to all my wanted changes (paintings, renovating, fixings, etc.).
On the photos the place looked better than it was. The flash makes everything look fine. Nathan still wanted to see the place and said he would even move in straight away. We had quite a few arguments about this place, because it didn’t like it at all. It was cheap rent, that’s all. I also didn’t like the neighbourhood and other things.

Before we already have seen other houses in Dianella, Nollamara, Scarborough, Stirling, Bassendean, but nothing seemed to be to our liking. There was this townhouse
in one of our favourite suburbs close to the river and close to a train station, but at the viewing (where I again went without Nathan) the agency lady said that the price online is a mistake, it is actually $20 more a week. Argh…! And there was no garden, just a small outside sitting area, which wasn’t very special and also right next to the road (behind the fence) . A nice two storey house, but the bedrooms were very small and the house was sitting in a secure complex of 10 houses close to each other and with an electric gate what made the whole living atmosphere weird (prision-like). I knew Nathan would not like it. Not much privacy, no garden, great bathrooms, nice kitchen, but every room quite small and too expensive if we compared it to other places we’ve seen.

A lot of places were overpriced. Some suburbs didn’t attract us. Some contracts would not have got a signature from us.
I was kind of down that it wasn’t as easy as I thought. There are more people who look for a place to live than actually places to live in, which makes the market though. We would have loved to rent from a private owner, but we could not find places in our price range and in our preferred suburbs. Maybe we didn’t know where to find the private advertisements? There is the Quokka and gumtree. We didn’t check the daily newspapers. Too much of a hassle…life is nowadays ONLINE.

House hunting goes on. Who said it will be easy? Sigh…

We started looking for houses in the beginning of November, so no rush (I said to myself to calm me down). I looked almost every day for new advertisements or open homes (viewings) online, and it seemed that there are not many new good places. I knew we are not in a rush, but I also knew that our lease for our room in our shared house will be up in less than six weeks, which means either we are out by then or we sign another lease for six months. Breathe in, breathe out…

Then we had a viewing for a house (duplex) in Wembley Downs, which is a beautiful area close to the beach and right in the middle of many parks. A good location! They call the house an older style home, but compared to the first house we looked at (the one with the wild garden and the red kitchen in Inglewood), this was new.

A lot of other interested people turned up for the viewing last Monday.
Yes, it was was a beautiful place, the perfect living area, cheapest rent we’ve seen (especially for that popular well-located suburb), nice neighbourhood…so we took an application with us (forms that one needs to fill out).
We also had a chat with the tenant who was there during the viewing. She lived there for more than two years and very much liked it. Her reason to move out: she is expecting a baby and needs more space as she already has one child and the house is a 2 bedroom only. She also said that the neighbours are nice, the neighbour usually mowed her front lawn, the agency is good, no problems at all. She looked for a new place in the same suburb and couldn’t find anything similar for the same price. Seems to be a bargain, she said. Everything sounded very good. Except that the house has carpet, what Nathan didn’t like that much, but I guess you cannot have everything. At least the bathroom had a shower and a bath and was clean, the kitchen had lots of cupboard space and was in a kind of retro style (dark wood, but ok). And then there was a large fenced backyard and enough parking space for two cars in the drive-way or under the carport.

Back in the car I called another house that I’ve seen online and that was only a few minutes away (suburb Trigg) to ask the tenant if we could have a quick viewing (this is how it was advertised online, normally only agencies do the viewings). Ben, that was the tenants name, said we could come, so we did. What a nice villa! We were amazed how cozy and homey it was. Very Mediterranean style. No garden , but a cozy outside sitting area. Ben said we were the first viewing people, which encouraged us even more to apply immediately.

The next day (last Tuesday) we handed in our application for the house in Wembley Downs at about 10 o’clock in the morning. The agency lady recognised us and said she already has 3 applications, and another man just popped in, so it we were the fifth application. Uh, the house was popular. Until the afternoon or the next day there would be probably many more applications. I thought this will be tough or even impossible.

Then we drove to Cottesloe, a suburb where the other agency from the Trigg house has its office, to get the application papers, fill them out right there, give them our copied files and the application fee. But again, Nathan hesitated when we were so in a rush to fill out the papers, because he was already late for work and he didn’t feel comfortable not having read the conditions in a quiet moment. We decided to take the papers home and bring them in early the next day.
In the afternoon Nathan called from work and said he changed his mind and asked me to drop off the application “right now”. We both knew that our chances with the Wembley Down place were not the greatest, because of the many applicants. With the Trigg-place we are the first applicants and they said that they immediately check the first application. Most agencies wait until they have a few, which they can compare. In a hurry, I drove back to the agency in Cottesloe and dropped off the papers and the money.

The only bad thing that can happen, is when both agencies accept us as the new tenants on the same day/at the same time, which means we would loose one application fee (around $300), because if you are accepted and you reject the application then, you don’t get your money back. Of course you can only move into one house. It is better to apply only for one place at a time, but who is actually doing this? It’s all a big gambling…and it stresses me out but in the same moment it is sooo exciting!

Puh, that day was very hectic and now it meant waiting for the phone calls.
The next morning I had a missed call and it was the office from the Trigg house. Waaahh, in my excitement, I drove up to the uni’s hot shop where Nathan was blowing glass and asked him if he got a call. Yes, he did, but he didn’t hear it. They left a message on his phone.
Guess what…they (the owner) took the house off the market! The application fee will be transfered back into my account by this Friday. Pardon??!! They can’t do that! We were sooo close! We would have got it…DAMN!!!! It was such a great place. Another disappointment.

Well, the Wembley Downs will be a hard one…too many applicants and Nathan and I only have one previous rent reference in Australia, which is the place where we rent at the moment.

Then, last night, Nathan got a call from the agency for the Wembley Down house. The lady said that we are shortlisted (which means we are under the best candidates) and she wants to know how soon we could move in. Nathan agreed that next week, the 28th (as they would like it) would be ok for us. This put us under the top two applicants!!!! The lady said that she will now hand us and the other applicant over to the owner and it is out of her hands. She said it was very tough. She had six applications, but we had very good references. Besides our landlord we also had to give personal (character) references. We don’t know if they contacted them as well. We only know that they contacted our landlord and Nathan’s boss from his work in Scarborough.
The agency lady also said she will give Nathan a call about the decision later that night (how great is that service?) or the next morning, which would have been today.

To finalize our house hunting stories in one simple sentence:
Nathan got a call this morning and: WE GOT THE HOUSE IN WEMBLEY DOWNS! The owner chose us!

Unbelievable, how we really did succeed in this hard case as we thought.
Honestly, it was our first application that we handed in and they really chose us from all the applicants. Even with only one reference. Wow! Speechless. House hunting is over. Puh, relax, breathe…

Here is a map from where we live now (marked as B) and where we will live from next week on (marked as A): See our old and our new home now on google maps

We reached our goal to live closer to the ocean!!!
Now we can even walk to the beach. And the new home is close to one of our favourite parks (Bold park) and many others that we still need to discover. Also close to Nathan’s work (Scarborough Beach) and close to Osborne Park for the industry park (shopping). Close to almost everything. Better location than where we live at the moment. Yeah, we are very happy!!!!

The best is, we only pay $50 ($25 each) rent a week more (compared to our room in the shared house) for having our own home/house!!! The bills (water, electricity, gas) are extra, but as I’ve heard it is around $25-35 a month. Ridiculous. Nothing compared to German bills. We will see.

Now we need to buy a fridge, a mattress, a washing machine, some lamps, pots and pans, cups and mugs, plates, cutlery, curtains, etc. Ikea, we’re coming

Oh wait!
What I forget to tell you. In the middle of the ache of house hunting, this good stuff happened:

We are the new owners of this

queen size bed from Ikea (looks like new), complete with slatted frame and every single screw:

and these cosy pals:

These two green armchairs are so comfy and huge! When Nathan is sitting in it, he looks very tiny.

All three items were free !!! because Nathan found them on the side of the road a few houses up the road with a sign that said “free”. We carried everything over to our house. The bed was not taken apart, so we we’re running with the whole bed in our hands down the road. Must have looked funny.

Nathan is good with free furniture findings.
We already have a coffee table, a nice leather arm chair, a DVD player, a radio, …I probably forgot a few things.
He also recently got 10 Bistro chairs (nearly new) from his work, which are great for the garden and a beautiful heavy terracotta steel table also for outdoors.
Today, he said we might get more stuff since his boss knows that we found our new place and we don’t have much furniture. Yay yay, how great is that? The world means it good with us! *relieved*

Australia, I you!

Ah, I almost forgot. We will move into our new place on Friday the 28th, which is in 8 days!!! EIGHT!

Next Tuesday at 11 o’clock in the morning we will meet our real estate agent to sign the contract (lease) and pay what we need to pay.

As soon as I have more photos from our new home, I will post them.
I already have some pictures from inside the house, but they have the private belongings from the old tenant on it, so I should not publish them. The place will look much nicer with our stuff anyway.

Nov 20, 2008 • Australia & English •••• 4 comments »

Congratulations to Mau

…for leaving the thousandth (1000!!) comment in my blog!

Merci beaucoup, danke vielmals und bleiben Sie mir (und alle anderen natuerlich auch) wohl erhalten.

• Blog & English •••• 1 comment »

The Australia Post stinks

In other words: the Australia Post sucks very bad!!!
I can’t believe that their service is even worse than the German Post’s. It has nothing to do with laid back, they are not laid back, they are just totally unprofessional!
I just spend $12 on my mobile for a call with their customer service to leave a complaint. I hope they recorded me (as they said they might do), so that it might reach the manager or the responsible person for an eye opening regarding their bad service which hopefully leads into a big warning or even firing the postman responsible for our address.
Sorry, but I’m so upset because I already wait for my 20 kilogram package (from Germany) to arrive for more than 3 weeks, and AGAIN the Australia Post delivery person cannot be bothered to ring my bloody house bell to deliver the, I know it is heavy, fatty you should get some exercise or you might have the wrong job if you’re fit but you have the ‘i don’t care mentality burned onto your forehead’, package! My house bell is so loud that even the neighbours must hear it. I was sitting in the living room at home at the time you wrote on your little notice card, and could have even carried the package into the house myself (as I did last time, when I was sorry for the guy not being able to lift up my packages).
Damn Bloody Australia Post!
Check and recheck your employees, who are the lazy unprofessional people working for you who made you loose a customer today! I was fighting myself through your service helpline, which only cost me a lot of money. They want ME to call the helpline again this afternoon. No, they won’t call me back, that’s not in their service plan. What the f*!
Well, you don’t really think I’ll throw another cent into your company and call you again to even hear that they won’t deliver the package again, that I have to pick it up myself, because after 5 days the package will be sent back from where it came to my costs? No! I explained the lady that I’m having the flu and that I can’t leave the house to drive to the next post office to pick up that heavy package myself. I thought it was already paid for the delivery, but it has not been delivered yet. The postman didn’t even ring the bell! He only stopped to throw in the notification card. Is this all you can do, Australia Post???? Australia Post, you didn’t do what you already get paid for! Shame on YOU!

DELIVERING means deliver the item (package) to the customer, not just filling out a card, getting out of the comfortable car, make one step to throw the card into the mailbox, to quickly get back into the comfortable car. Yes, I’ve seen how you guys work; last time when I was watching it by chance from my window. If you don’t know it yet, your package delivery SUCKS, dear Australia Post!

And because I don’t pay for bad service I won’t use Australia Post to deliver my packages from international any more. I’m done with it!!!!!!!!
It mostly is “you pay what you get”…next time I’d rather pay more, if I need to, to get my package delivered. And to be happy with it.

Nathan could also write at least one entry about the Australia Post as well. And I’m sure we’re not the only people being annoyed by the Australia Post service.

Goodbye.

Mom, Dad, as you now know, the package arrived today…it’s not in my hands yet, but at least I know it is in Perth somewhere.

Nov 12, 2008 • Australia & English & Well-informed •••• 5 comments »

Wir suchen eine neue Bleibe – we are house hunting in Perth!

Wir wohnen ja bisher, seit Ankunft in Perth, in einem grossen Haus in Mt. Lawley sehr zentral gelegen, aber leider teilen wir uns das schoene Haus mit drei anderen Bewohnern. So langsam sind wir immer mehr genervt vom sharing und wollen nun unser eigenes Reich.
Seit ner knappen Woche sind wir also ernsthaft damit beschaeftigt, uns nach Haeusern umzusehen.
Eine gute Seite fuer Kauf- und Mietgelueste aller Art fuer West Australien ist reiwa.com. Hier sind alle Angebote aller Real Estate Agencies samt google-map und street-view gelistet. Sehr komfortable Seite.

Wir haben bisher gehoert, dass die “Real Estate” Agenturen (Immobilienfirmen) hier nicht so dolle sein sollen. Man hoert und liest sehr viel Schlechtes. Privat mieten ist natuerlich immer besser, aber erstmal was von privaten Vermietern finden?! Es gibt perth.gumtree.com.au, aber der Immobilienmarkt ist dort sehr schlecht organisiert und man findet zu viel Muell, durch denn man sich durchwuehlen muss.

Wir versuchen unser Glueck also mit den ach so boesen kommerziellen Agenturen und hoffen, dass alles gut laeuft.

Das erste Haus, was ich mir angeschaut habe, war dieses:

Bassendean ist ein schoener Stadtteil von Perth und nah am Swan River, dem breiten langen Fluss, der durch Perth fliesst gelegen. Von dem Haus aus war es nur die Strasse runter und man haette sein Boot zu Wasser lassen koennen. Leider sah das Haus von innen eher nicht so schoen aus. Es war recht runtergekommen und die Immobilientussi hat nicht mal Hallo gesagt und uns Besichtiger auch sonst ignoriert. Sehr unfreundlich. Ich hatte ueberhaupt kein gutes Gefuehl. Das Haus war zerwohnt und recht dreckig. Nicht mal der Muell wurde bisher entsorgt. Man wundert sich, wer vorher dort gewohnt hat und warum die Immobilienfirma das Haus so vorzeigt.

Letzten Samstag sind Nathan und ich dann durch Perth gefahren und haben meine angefertigte Haeuser die in Frage kommen Liste abgearbeitet.

Nach kurzer Zeit wurde aus einer langen Liste eine kurze Liste, denn vieles kam schon von der Gegend oder vom Haus an sich nicht in Frage. Wir hatten an dem Tag auch zwei Besichtigungen, die sich auch als ein Streichen aus unserer Liste eruebrigten. Viel zu ueberzogener Preis, fuer das was da geboten wurde. Und ich wuerde nie in ein Haus mit fast durchweg Linolium Boden ziehen. Gifitg und haesslich und klebt unter den Fuessen.

Eins unserer momentanen Traum-Haeuser ist dieses verwunschene Haus:


Ab hier sind die Bilder von der heutigen offiziellen Besichtigung:


[die ersten drei Bilder habe ich mit meinem Handy gemacht, die folgenden drei Bilder sind die Bilder wie es online dargestellt wird, die letzten Bilder sind von der Hausbesichtigung HEUTE!!!]
Die Beschreibung verheisst: “Neat & tidy 2 bedroom house in quiet avenue. Lounge, kitchen/dining all on full size block. Pets Considered.”

Negativ: ziemlich verwohnt, viel Gartenarbeit noetig (es hiess der Besitzer kuemmere sich darum), Beschreibung stimmt nicht so ganz (neat&tidy), Kueche ist in rot und einigen anderen Farben gestrichen (rot ok, aber der Rest muss uebergestrichen werden), die Online Fotos stimmen also nicht so ganz, die Regale fallen fast auseinander, das Klo ist eher naja hat wenigstens ein Fenster (Nathan meint, eventuell Schimmel an der Decke des Bads, Wandfarbe muesste in allen Raeumen erneuert werden (macht evtl. der Besitzer).

Positiv: ‘full size block’ heisst, dass man ein grosses Grundstueck hat, es gibt hier ja auch diese eingezaeunten Grundstuecke ohne Garten, nur mit Platten, also: viel Flaeche, besonders toller Garten und Veranda, Dielenboden, Kamin/Feuerstelle, tolle Wohngegend (teure beliebte Wohngegend, nah zur Uni, Bushaltestelle direkt um die Ecke, ruhige Strasse mit tollen gepflegten Haeusern [man vermutet also auch vernuenftige Menschen drin wohnend), Garage und Vorgarten mit viel Straeuchern und Baeumen, die Schatten spenden, altes Haus mit viel Charme, Badewanne, grosse Kueche, Haustiere erlaubt (juchhu, somit auch ein Hund, was bei dem bereits recht zerkratzten Dielenboden also kein Problem ist).

Fuer nur 20 Dollar weniger die Woche koennten wir auch in einer Wohnung in einem sehr gepflegten Komplex aus 10 Wohnungen wohnen, dafuer aber direkt am Fluss (Swan River; man kann fast vom Balkon in den Fluss spucken) und in einer guten Wohngegend nahe zur Stadt mit diesem Ausblick:

[Bild vom Garten ist mit Handy gemacht, leider etwas unscharf, sieht in Natura viel besser aus]
Es gab bereits eine Besichtigung fuer diese Wohnung, aber nur eine Bewerbung, und wenn diese nicht durchgeht, werden wir angerufen und duerfen von innen besichtigen. Mal sehen, ob wir dann noch wollen…da wir ja lieber ein Haus fuer uns alleine haben…fuer den gleichen Preis oder $20 die Woche mehr.

Und auch sehr schoen, am Rande Perths, ein Haus direkt am John Forrest National Park, den wir ja so lieben (wir besichtigen es morgen!!!):

[Die Beschreibung verlautet Folgendes: "Colourful 2 bedroom 1 bathroom cottage on half acre, floorboards through out, slow combustion heater, gas cooking, gas hws, built in robes, shower over bath, garage, patio, above ground pool, tree top vista. No big dogs. 6 or 12 month lease. Available 29th November"]
Nachteilig: ca. 45 Minuten mit dem Auto bis zur Uni (fuer Nathan + momentan auch fuer mich und falls ich doert angestellt bleibe auch fuer laenger), im Sommer sehr heiss, weil kein Wind (Wald), sehr weiter Weg zum Strand, eine halbe Stunde mit dem Bus zum ersten Train Stop, von wo aus man dann nach Perth reinfahren kann.
Gut: viel Platz, Heizung, Dielenboden, Gasherd, Badewanne, POOL, keine grossen Hunde (also mittel geht…passt schon), schoener Garten sieht gepflegt aus, country-feeling.

Morgen wissen wir mehr. Gleiche Miethoehe wie bei der Wohnung am Fluss, dafuer muss aber viel Herumgefahre eingeplant werden, da man weit ab vom Schuss wohnt. Mal sehen, ob es uns morgen ueberwaeltigt.

Dann haben wir heute noch zwei wundertolle Haeuser direkt am Strand von aussen besichtigt und haben uns wieder verliebt.
Einmal hier klicken fuer den Stadtteil CITY BEACH, 3 bedroom house
[Zur Erklaerung: A= wo wir jetzt wohnen B= das neue Objekt unserer Begierde]
und einmal hier klicken fuer ein 2 bedroom Haus in dem Stadtteil FLOREAT.
LOCATION Leute! Wer wuerde nicht gern so nah am Strand wohnen! Wir brauchten auch nur 15 Minuten mit dem Auto vorn dort zu unserer jetzigen Bleibe um die Ecke der Uni.
Mehr Bilder zu diesen Haeusern, wenn wir sie besichtigt haben.

So, ich hoffe, ihr freut euch mal wieder ein paar Bilder gucken zu koennen. In letzter Zeit war mein Blog ja sehr textlastig und es gab nicht viel ueber Perth direkt zu erzaehlen. Ich gelobe Besserung.

Fuer morgen haben wir zwei Hausbesichtigungen und gleich morgen frueh wollen wir noch ein paar Agenturen anrufen und auf einen Besichtigungstermin draengen. Das Bloede ist, dass die Immobilienfirmen anscheinend immer erstmal Interessenten sammeln und dann einen Sammen-Angucktermin machen. Wenn man zu diesem Termin nicht kann, hat man Pech gehabt. Sowieso finde ich die “Abwicklung” der Immobilienfirmen hier gewoehnungsbeduerftig, oder sagen wir unprofessionell. Aber dazu mehr, wenn wir mehr erlebt haben und einen besseren Nenner ziehen koennen.

Puh, “house hunting” wie es heisst, ist ganz schoen aufregend!!!

Nov 11, 2008 • Australia & Deutsch & Visuelles •••• 8 comments »

Kleine Umfrage: E-Mail Subscription oder RSS Feed?

Wenn ihr Blogs abonniert (vor allem meinen), benutzt ihr dann den post rss feed, um neue Beitraege in einem feed reader eurer Wahl zu lesen, oder habt ihr lieber immer eine E-Mail, die euch erinnert, dass es was Neues (z.B. in meinem Blog) zu lesen gibt?

Ich frage, weil ich am Ueberlegen bin, ob ich mein E-Mail-Abo Plugin (ich nutze das subscribe2 plugin) deaktiviere. Fuer momentan zwei E-Mail Leser brauche ich es ja eigentlich nicht laufen lassen.
Also? Bitte kurz mal mit abstimmen! Dankeeee im Voraus!

I’m thinking about de-installing my email notification plugin, which is sending you (if you’re a subscriber) an email when I wrote a new post. I only have two subscibers in it…It seems that email subscription is not very popular any more? Everyone just reads blog posts in feed readers or direct?
I try to minimize my plugins list…to run my blog a bit more smooth and faster.
Therefore, please answer my poll! Thanks a lot in advance!

Nov 10, 2008 • Blog & Deutsch & Well-informed •••• 3 comments »

Beaching

Ein kurzer Nachmittagsausflug fuehrte uns letztens an diesen schoenen recht menschenleeren Strand etwas noerdlich der Stadt – Burns Beach:

Hier war unser Platz, windgeschuetzt zwischen den “rocks” und weit uns breit keiner neben uns. Ja, ich bin noch ganz schoen kaesig auf dem Foto, was sich aber in der letzten Woche schon geandert hat. Der Bikiniabdruck ist schon vorhanden.

Die Promenade mit Blick auf den Teil Strand, wo wir waren:

Und zwei glueckliche Strandlover:

Es war nur ein kurzer Ausflug, aber sehr erholsam! Die Fotos sind uebrigens mit Nathans neuer Canon Knipse (Modell A470) gemacht. Fuer so ne billige Cam (in D um die 90 Euro) recht ordentliche Fotos, wie ich finde. Ich brauchte nicht mal was in Photoshop editieren.

• Australia & Deutsch & Natey&Cola •••• 0 comments »

Und es hat mich wieder erwischt

Gestern spuerte ich ein Kratzen im Hals und bereits wenige Stunden spaeter fuehlte ich mich schlapp. Seit heute morgen bin ich wieder krank. Dazu hole ich kurz aus.

13. August: die erste Erkaeltung, seit ich in down under bin, bahnt sich an. Sie bricht aber nur halb aus. Ich bin nicht bettlaegerig, fuehle mich aber trotzdem krank.
27. August: ich hatte meinen Frisoertermin, denn ich vorher nicht buchen konnte, weil ich vorher immer wieder kraenklich war.
13. September: wir waren Schlittschuhlaufen in der Cockburn-Eisarena. Ein paar Tage spaeter, naemlich am…
16. September: …ist mein Mund entzuendet und leicht geschwollen. Es bahnt sich wieder etwas an. Hatte ich mir etwas weggeholt beim Schlittschuhlaufen?
17. September: ich fuehle mich gar nicht gut.
19. September: ich starte einen Halbtagsjob und verspuere ein typisches Kratzen im Hals. Oh nein. Ich werde wohl nicht wieder krank? Ich teile mir eine Tagesschicht mit einem Maedel an der Rezeption eines grossen Autokonzerns. Das Maedel ist bereits krank. Wir benutzen dasselbe Telefon und dieselbe Tastatur des Computers…wobei diese Dinge anscheinend schon ewig nicht gereinigt wurden…oder vielleicht sogar noch nie. Bazillus, spring mich an.
20. September - 6. Oktober: es ueberkam mich in ein paar Stunden. Ich bin krank. Diesmal so richtig mit Flachliegen und Medikamente nehmen, ohne die ich einige Tage nur mit viel Aua ueberlebt haette. Die Medikamente nehme ich nur 5 Tage und die haben auch nur die Schmerzen unterdrueckt und nicht geheilt, wie ich spaeter feststellen musste.
7. Oktober: es geht mir etwas besser.
Dennoch habe ich seitdem das Problem mit meinen trockenen Augen und dem aufgerissenen Mund (wie ich ja bereits berichtet hatte). Nathan meinte immer wieder, ich haette bestimmt irgendwie so einen Virus. Meine roten Augenlider und der entzuendete Mund kam mit der Erkaeltung im September.
Ende Oktober: Nathan wird krank (auch zum wiederholten Male, diesmal aber richtig dicke). Er nimmt nun (doch) Antibiotika (fuer 5 Tage), goennt sich aber keine Bettruhe, sondern arbeitet fast jeden Tag. Typisch Mann.
5. November: Es geht Nathan besser.
6. November: Ich verspuere ein Kratzen im Hals.
7. November (HEUTE): Es hat mich erwischt. Ich bin (wieder) krank. Diesmal kam es aber wie mit der Holzhammermethode. Hals geschwollen, Nase laeuft, Ohrenschmerzen und Hoerprobleme…

Ich war heute morgen beim Arzt, denn so kann es ja nicht weitergehen.
Ich war noch nie so lange am Stueck krank. Nathan war in den letzen (mindestens) vier Jahren nicht krank. Nun stecken wir uns gegenseitig immer wieder an. Ich komme um Antibiotika wohl auch nicht herum. Ich nehme es ungern, vor allem ist es bei mir als Allergikerin immer schwierig, ein passendes Medikament zu finden.

Die Aerztin hoerte meine Lunge ab (war ok) und schaute in meinen Rachen (sehr rot und geschwollen) und schaute kurz in mein linkes Ohr. Dabei hat sie gleich die Temperatur gemessen (wie cool war das denn; eine Sekunde ins Ohr halten und sofort die Temperatur gemessen!), die leicht erhoeht war. Nathan war dabei und erzaehlte von seinen kranken Phasen und ich dann von meinen.

Die Aerztin meinte, es sei weder eine bakterielle noch eine virale Infektion. Es sei etwas dazwischen. Sie selbst habe diese Infektion zwei Monate gehabt und ist sie fast nicht losgeworden. Sie empfahl ein Antibiotikum, das ein besonders breites Spektrum behandle. Nathans Antibiotikum war uebrigens gegen bakterielle Infektionen, weil sein Arzt (der in der gleichen Praxis arbeitet) meinte, es sei etwas Bakterielles. Das war allerdings im Oktober. Vielleicht hat es sich doch als etwas anderes entpuppt. Wer weiss das schon.
Ich habe also schnell noch meine typischen Hinweise “das Medikament muesse gluten- und laktosefrei sein, sowie darf kein Penicillin enthalten, weil ich darauf allergisch bin” geauessert und siehe da, das empfohlene Antibiotikum war “clean” fuer das empfindliche Fraeulein Cola.

Nach einem kurzem Besuch in der Apotheke und 20 Dollar (ca. 11 Euro) weniger in der Tasche habe ich mir die erste Tablette reingeschmissen. Sieben Tage bin ich nun also auf Droge; jeden Tag zwei Tabletten.
Bitte drueckt mir alle die Daumen, dass ich diese fiese Infektion endlich loswerde!!!!!
Dann wird das mit meinen Augenlidern und dem Mund bestimmt auch besser.
Die Aerztin meinte naemlich, dass es von der Neurodermitis sei, die ausbreche, wenn der Koerper durch Infektionen geschwaecht sei.

Und sonst so?
Es hat die ganze letzte Woche mal wieder geregnet und es ist auch wieder recht kuehl geworden, doch seit heute ist das Wetter besser und am Wochenende soll es wieder richtig warm werden. Beach weather. Ich koennt mich echt schwarz aergern, dass ich schon wieder krank bin. Vor allem jetzt, wo wir gerade mit dem House Hunting angefangen haben. Dazu aber im naechsten Eintrag mehr.

Nov 7, 2008 • A-life & Australia & Deutsch •••• 0 comments »