August 2008 Archives

So the ludicrous happened... we got a place before we had to move out. And it didn't really have anything to do with my resourcefulness (unless you count my friends as human resources). This is how it went down...

The Friday before we had to move out (the date I posted my last entry), I saw a flat that was about two blocks away from where we were living. I filled out the application before I even saw it so that I could be the first applicant if I liked it. The place was good enough, so I went down to the office and turned in the app. The real estate office said they weren't going to process applications until Monday (remember, we had to be out by Wednesday) so it didn't look promising that we'd get it in time (and that's assuming that they'd pick our application over everyone else).

So, on Monday at 9am, our pastor, Neil, and I went to the real estate office and we asked to speak with the owner. Neil has lived in Maroubra for many years and has been involved in real estate, so he knows a lot of people in the area. He explained the situation to the owner and asked for them to push our application through. Basically it was a "do this favor for me" kind of thing, and the owner did it. By Tuesday at 5pm, they had processed our application and handed us the keys.

So Tuesday night was spent moving all of our stuff from Maroubra Rd to Boyce Rd (as we had to be out by 10am the next morning). Neil helped us move some of our furniture, then he had to head home to teach his Bible study group. He lent me his van so we could continue boxes and stuff, and then he came back later to help me move the bed.

That was all a week ago... We're mostly settled into our new place, though there are still some random unpacked boxes laying around. We really like the new place, it has a big balcony and lots of big windows so we get lots of sun. The layout is nicer and rent is even cheaper!! The only drawback is there is significantly more street noise from our bedroom, but it's not terrible.

We don't get internet hooked up for another week, but by coincidence I found out about a guy that was looking to sublet his wireless modem (runs over the cell network). So, we even have temporary internet while we wait for our DSL to get hooked up!

Life is good!

Some tidbits from our New Zealand trip:

• I drove about 375 miles on our trip. Driving on the other side of the road feels pretty natural to me now.
• We stayed at B&Bs and had the chance to chat with the owners of each place. It added a whole extra layer of fun exploration to talk to locals about the places we were visiting and their lives in the area.
• We saw dozens of wild New Zealand Fur Seals along the coastline near Kaikoura. So cute!! And even better, we saw 15 or so baby seals playing in the pool beneath Ohau Waterfall!
• I think I saw more sheep over these 4 days than I had over all the rest of the days of my life combined.

We bought our tickets home today... I'll leave it to you to determine where exactly home IS. Here's our itinerary:

December 4th: Sydney -> Honolulu
December 8th: Honolulu -> Maui
December 15th: Maui -> Portland

We don't know how much actual beach time we'll be able to get with the newborn in tow, but the cheapest flight we could find was through Hawaii, so we figured we'd make a thing of it! We've got friends on Maui and Oahu now, so we'll be making the rounds showing off the little one.

Oh yeah, and for those who only read my blog and not Kara's... Kara is pregnant and the due date is October 13th!