How to Find an Apartment Part II

Week 2 of apartment searching. This time there is a strategy. The local paper on Saturday’s comes out with a classified section that lists all apartments available, often including a time for one showing during the day.

7am: we pick up with paper and map out a plan. Because the area of choice was already decided, it would be easy to see several places because they were all near each other. Though we missed our first showing, there were several more to come.

And thus it began. It was as if we were a herd of animals being directed in each and every direction. We quickly realized that we weren’t the only people in the city looking for an apartment. We had competition! We’ll, it was more like beggars fighting for the leftover scraps. Though some of the places we saw were significantly better than the original 8, it was still no Shangri la. Several places had bits and pieces of what we want but it was very difficult to find an actual place that had it all!

A full day of searching and the pressure of needing to make a decision quickly, we decide to pick our top 3 and see what happens. We did have one other slim lead that was the showing we missed first thing in the morning. As I am unemployed, I was able to secure a viewing early in the week to see if we really missed out on anything or to justify that it was worth the extra 20 minutes of sleep over the weekend that made us late.

It took no longer than 30 seconds to make the decision once I entered. Not only was this the most fully furnished place I have found so far (which includes a TV, stereo, A/C, dishwasher, and all the furniture and kitchenware), it had the most amazing view I had thus seen (see below).


As the photo show’s (yes, that is the Opera House and Bridge on the right), I am no longer homeless or squatting in our fellow Canadians living room but finally we have something to call our own.

Lesson of the day: (follow the 3 p’s) being persistent, patient and pretty damn lucky will help in being successful in anything you do..

-lone asian

How to Find an Apartment in Sydney

“Where to start?” is probably the first question you want to ask as we are completely foreign to all the different areas and suburbs. Criteria for residence is that I would like to be close to the action, not far from amenities, and preferably have a furnished apartment near the beach. That’s not too much to ask for right? Oh yeah, and I don’t want to pay the inflated prices here.

As I soon found out, this was not an easy task. The beach idea quickly died as it was not close to the Central Business District (CBD) which would make commuting a problem. My search therefore led me to an area called Potts Point. Though it is about 5 minutes from the red light district, it is a completely safe and posh area (so I’ve been told) that houses several upscale restaurants, is close to the ocean and the downtown core. Now the secret was to try and find a furnished place.

When I first started looking at places, I really didn’t know what to expect. What came to mind in several of them were, “how do people live in these places”. I was lucky enough to experience my first ghetto apartment. The price was too good to be true, in a little rougher part of town but hey, how bad could it be right?

As we enter the building, I turn to my left and see some dude urinating across the road in what seemed to be someone’s doorway (this is in broad daylight by the way). I enter the building to hear shouts and screaming from one of the apartments only to be reassured by the agent that its normally a quiet place to stay. When I finally get to the apartment, I discovered that it was furnished, HOWEVER with what appeared to be furniture that was straight out of a movie in the 80's (this is not a good thing). It was as if I entered into a crime scene and the white tape had just been taken out. Needless to say, it was a no go…

The next place I saw was a bit better. (I use “bit” very loosely here). Area seemed nicer and it was a high rise that placed me on the top floor. The good news was that there was a roof top that overlooked the city. The bad news was that the apartment probably hadn’t been renovated since it was built in the 60’s which left a nice white “shag” carpet in the whole place. It definitely gave new meaning to the word SHAG TOWERS! (see picture on left). As I am living in a county that has the worlds deadliest animals and insects I decided against taking the place due to hygiene purposes.

After looking at these places, I’m beginning to wonder if I will ever find something livable.

TO BE CONTINUED….

Back to Sydney

I guess coming back to Sydney where my adventures first started wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. On the other hand, after close to 2 months of pure pleasure it was back to reality and needing to find a job and place to stay. SUCKS, I know…

Again, a big thank you to our gracious hosts (S&G) for putting us up while we are homeless! Don’t worry, it won’t be for much longer… I promise.

My first week of looking for residence as well as employment was definitely an interesting experience. Since Sydney was the biggest city in Australia, it wasn’t hard to find interviews straight away as I was able to secure 3 in a week’s time. Without boring you with the details, interviews ranged from head hunters to small businesses looking for a little help. The most interesting one came from a resume I sent out. Without any interview or questions about myself, her first question was “can you come in tomorrow and start working”. The only information I had was from the ad that explained it was a sales role, no cold calling involved, in a “fun” environment with lots of incentives and party atmosphere.

Interesting, but probably not for me. The search goes on but I am now relieved to know that I won’t have to settle for sheep sheering or fruit picking just yet. I can always turn to the “party atmosphere” job if all else fails.

Or I can simply take up the profession seen to your right. Take a closer look and let me know if its the right job for me?

House Party's in Oz

So I am now winding down my trip along the east coast and I decide to stay one last weekend before heading back to Sydney, the logic is simple. One last night to party it up with Alana and Jules before they leave and one more week to esape the fact that I should be looking for work.

House party's here are something else. First off, people really like to dress up for any occassion and when I say dress up, I don't mean black tie, suit, or even dress clothes. I mean costumes. The night before the party, we spent close to 2 hours at the "fancy dress" shop looking for the most appropriate attire.

When it was time for the final choices, it came down to being a Wookie, a storm trooper, a Gladiator or a Jedi knight. (I know, where does Gladiator fit into all this?) In the end, due to economics and being practical, I ended up choosing the Jedi knight. It was a fine costume that allowed me to create several props... one of my favorites being "use the forks" but enough about me, let's talk about the party.

We begin by spending the entire day prepping for the party by buying the usual items needed. Things such as drinks, food, music, smoke machine... that's right SMOKE MACHINE to get us started. Why stop there though right? Well, we didn't. As it turns out, our impulse buy of the day was the light machine to complement the smoke machine. Once the stage was set, the drinks were next and the party was on full motion! I was surpised at how late the party went without any trouble from neighbors or police considering we were on the top floor of a two bedroom apartment.

Definately a nice end to my journey down the east coast of Australia. As this leg of the trip closes, there is still half of the country I still need to get to. Unfortunately due to the lack of funds, I am now forced to go back to Sydney and earn a living to save up for the next adventure... until then

- the lone asian