Finding Somewhere to Call Home

The view from the balcony of our new home

We had 5 days booked in our temporary accommodation and Paul seemed to think that this was ample time in which to find somewhere to rent and be moved in by the weekend.  He is ever the optimist whereas I, on the other hand, given our lack of income, references and other such nonsense honestly didn’t believe this was possible.  As it turned out, however, the market favours tenants at the moment and lots of places were empty and ready for occupation.  Ever the pessimist I still had my doubts.  I like to think our relationship is a balancing act.


But the fact was we weren’t working and whilst we had some cash in the bank, not limitless funds and certainly not enough to pay rent for a year (by any stretch of the imagination!).  We still had to go through the procedure of applying and competing with other tenants and if I were a landlord I would favour tenants whose financial situation appeared a tad more stable than we could demonstrate.

We did agreed that we urgently needed somewhere more permanent (and cheaper) to live otherwise if we continued in temporary accommodation it would be a massive expense and drain on our diminishing reserves probably resulting in us ending up destitute rather more quickly than we had anticipated.

In order to start the hunt for an abode we really needed access to the internet and this had already begun to present itself as a bit of a problem in Australia. 

Lunar Park and the Theatre viewed from St Kilda Pier

In the UK and almost everywhere we have been along the way through Europe and Asia we have had free and uninhibited access to free internet.  Indonesia was the only place we either couldn’t get internet (generally places where you couldn’t get a mobile phone signal, power was provided between the hours of 6pm and 10pm by a generator, and running water was considered a luxury!).  If we did have access it was usually limited but available free.

In Australia however there does not seem to be any such thing as free WiFi anywhere apart from McDonalds (and even then I have read reports that they can be a bit arsey about it!). 

In the hostel in Adelaide we reluctantly paid for 5 days internet and it wasn't cheap.  At the temporary accommodation in Melbourne, having resigned ourselves to the fact that internet access is now an actual expense and not a right, we attempted to buy 3 days' access but due to technical issues this never happened.

There is, apparently, free WiFi in Federation Square in the CBD but when we tried that out it was unreliable, inconvenient and totally impractical.   Not to mention it was cold that day and we decided we just couldn’t go on like this and we would have to sort out something as a priority when (if) we found somewhere to live.

I did have internet access on my phone but again, that was proving expensive and it was very fiddly trying to look at places on a mobile with a screen the size of the thumbnail but we were at least able to do some apartment hunting. 

By Tuesday morning we found 3 places we wanted to view.  Two of them were close to each other and had open viewings at around 5.00pm that day, and we arranged for a third viewing for a slightly more expensive apartment on Wednesday morning.

We were ideally looking for a furnished apartment which tends to be slightly more expensive but would save us having to buy furniture to begin with.  We were looking at between £250 and $350 per week.  That would get us a furnished studio or a small one-bedroom apartment.

Tuesday afternoon we trotted off down to the first place on Grey Street where we hung around with another guy who was obviously there for the viewing.  An estate agent turned up and showed us into apartment 7 while Paul and I and this other guy kind of looked at each other until one of us piped up to say we were actually here to see number 12.  The miserable agent hadn't even bothered to tell us which real estate office she was from.

The three of us trotted back outside and waited to see number 12 which actually turned out to be really lovely (tiny but it had everything we needed) but it was obvious the other guy was going to go for it.

We then trundled off down Grey Street to Burnett Street where we were shown another studio which we actually really liked quite a lot.  It was still very small, a relatively large living area with a bed and sofa, and kitchen area behind a breakfast bar but the front door opened straight outside (rather than to an internal common area so more convenient to pop outside for a smoke) and it also had secure parking.  It was also very cheap at $300 per week and we could also rent 3 months which would give us the option to move to somewhere slightly bigger once we had found our feet.

We had a chat amongst ourselves, then told the agent we wanted it and cancelled our viewing for the next morning.  The agent was confident we would be able to move in by Friday, as long as our application was approved so it was all, in the words of the Wooky, “Appy Daze”.

We submitted our application the following morning with all the documents they needed and waited.  We were a bit nervous as it was obvious we had only just pitched up in the country, neither of us yet had a job, we had no rental references, just a bank statement showing we could pay for at least 3 months (so long as we weren't intending to eat much!).

The urgency which we had impressed upon the agent who showed us the property was clearly not passed onto the manager who dealt with the property and no-one got back to us with any feedback and by the time we spoke to the manager it was made absolutely clear our application was not going to be treated with any urgency.

Our new neighbours - Rainbow Lorikeets

In the meantime, we came across another little place for the same rent, on a little road between Acland Street and the Esplanade.  It was a one-bedroom apartment with an open plan kitchen/living area, wooden parquet flooring and a balcony but unfurnished.  Obviously I fell in love with it immediately without setting foot inside it.   It had more room but we would have to find some cheap furniture

We discussed what we would do, the studio would be perfect for 3 months and afterwards we could move on to somewhere else but if we didn’t get the studio we would be wasting time not looking for something now.

We actually went to see two other apartments before finally seeing the one I already wanted near The Esplanade late Wednesday afternoon.  All the while we agreed we would take the studio if we received confirmation that we had been approved but it didn't seem that this was happening.

Paul, it has to be said, is the practical one and the priority was getting somewhere to live quickly to avoid temporary accommodation costs.  Furnished would be preferable because we didn’t want to have to spend money on furniture but if it came to it there was always Gumtree.   I, on the other hand, wanted the little apartment with the wooden floor and the balcony so I could make it our home.

Iconic Melbourne tram

The minute we walked into the little apartment we both knew it was perfect.  It was newly painted, lovely wooden floors, a lovely open plan kitchen/lounge area and from the balcony we could see the sea.  Although it was hardly a seafront property, we didn’t need to perform any contortions to see clearly down to St Phillip Bay and watch the trams trundling past along the Esplanade at the end of the road.  

To his credit, Paul loved it as much as I did.  We had a quick chat with the agent who said he believed it was definitely possible for us to move in by Friday.  Well, we had heard that before but we completed the application form, delivered it to the agent’s office and then waited.

And the waiting was unbearable.  There was nothing we could do.  We spent a bit of time at our temporary accommodation and just waited for the phone to ring.

It took 24 hours and it was, at that time anyway, the most excruciating 24 hours we have spent but finally on Thursday afternoon we received the news that we had been waiting for, that we had been approved for the one-bedroom apartment and could move in by the weekend.  We were more relieved than anything but also really happy.  An appointment was made for Friday at 5.00pm for us to sign the lease and take possession of the keys.  We now knew we wouldn’t have to worry about the expense of temporary accommodation, we just needed to find some furniture but we could do that at the weekend.

We also heard from the agent about the studio to say that we had been approved and we politely told them that we had found somewhere else and were moving in the following day. At the time of writing, a month later, the studio is still up for rent so if the manager had pulled her finger our, her client would have had tenants and the place wouldn't still be standing empty.

We still had to wait another 24 hours to move in and the following day checked out of the temporary accommodation and settled down to wait some more.  Not actually having a base made it worse and the whole process was incredibly tedious.  Although we didn’t have the uncertainty, we were limited to what we could do.  We were at least able to purchase some essentials but even that came with its own headaches.

Finally, 5.00pm came and we signed on the dotted line, handed over two huge cheques for the first month’s rent and the deposit and finally moved in.  It didn’t take long with our two rucksacks and a couple of bags of shopping and food. 

We no furniture apart from a fridge and a washing machine, and we had nothing to sit on except for a couple of cushions I had picked up from the charity shop.  On the first night we slept on the floor under a duvet which was nothing more than a mattress protector.  It was winter in Melbourne and the parquet flooring, although lovely to look at, was cold, hard and extremely uncomfortable.

But we loved the apartment, it was perfectly situated 2 minutes from the beach and the trams, and 5 minutes from Acland Street centre one way and Fitzroy Street in the other direction.  The balcony was a real bonus and the view in the mornings was lovely, watching the trams pass along The Esplanade while yachts and ships passed in the distance.

Now all we needed were a few more essentials before we would be able to go back to living like normal people.

<<Previous

>>Next