Almost there..

Our lounge, the dining area and part of the kitchen. Its really the whole apartment in a snapshot.


A closer look at the apartment- on the left is the entrance to the toilet and the entrance to the apartment.


A closer look at our lounge. Thats a LCD digital tv (contemplated really long before getting it), our sofa which we waited 4 weeks to be made and delivered)and the nice soccer ball bean bag.


The toilet, not very big but sufficient enough.


A closer look at the kitchen. The refrigerator and the washing machine in the previous picture came at a steal at 800 dollars.


Finishing up the tall boy with 5 drawers (took jem about 4 hours, phew!).


Our bedroom with the nice pillow cases thanks to our dear friends.


One of our many home cook meals, yum yum...

The works in progress

Just got the keys to our apartment and having a maccas meal there (the first meal)



Damsel in distress.


Saving her step by step.


Now for the rest of the chairs.


Done! Now for the rest of the furniture


Too much to handle?? (Where did Gie go?)

The one with the 1sts - 1st meals, 1st day @work

First grocery shopping together


Pasta meals at the service apartment


Salmon, soup and potato... shiok


First day at work

The one that could have been...

Isn't this place gorgeous!!?!!?

Experience city living at its best! Floor to ceiling glass windows, spacious balcony overlooking the city, plush living settings, modern kitchen fully equipped, loft setting with bedroom overlooking city views...

Sigh.. I think I could've been a great property agent as well! Then again, it isn't too difficult to sell this place (to people with the paper). Yes, it's the much talked about loft apartment at Market Street. At least talked about between Jem n Gie.. Haha! This place would've been our living space for a year if not for a horrendous misunderstanding on Gie's contract! Not that horrendous, but bad enough for us to back out on signing the lease for Market St.

Spot Gie in the pic falling in love...or looking sad that we can't afford it..

So sorry friends, you've missed out on a nice, big couch to sleep on.. sniff

The one with the bare house

We finally decided on this.. one bedroom, kitchen with bar-top and bathroom, and balcony overlooking some neighbours. That about sums it up! Our to-be home for the price and location.. Gie really thinks this is THE deal although Jem is of the opinion that it is still overpriced - he has never paid more than $200 per month for housing... this place is costing us more than $300 per week... pheww... But for Gie to walk 15 minutes to work... it's worth it!

Think about it.. we save on tram fares and train fares and we don't need a car (yet)... So it works out to be a fairly good deal. You pay for what you get.. and we got The Centurion!

So here are some pics of the house before it became a home.. =)

Initial nights

It's been an exhausting few days and we're finally here in Melbourne! Everything still seems surreal like we're in a dream.. and this isn't really real.. I guess it hasn't hit us yet (or gie at least!) To her, this is just another exchange programme or a study trip or a secondment.. it's hard to believe that it may be awhile before they return to Singapore. Although with the very convenient (but expensive) flights and the help of technology, home isn't very far away.

Upon our touchdown in Melbourne, we got into a cab which drove us to our serviced apartment at Pacific International (PI) (see above). Exhausted (didn't sleep much on the flight), we collapsed on the bed and fell straight asleep. For some stupid reason, the phone kept ringing by our bedside!! The housing consultant called to confirm our appointment, then the HR consultant called to check if everything's OK with the apartment, then! the reception called to ensure that the housing consultant called.... &%^#*%$!!!! They just wouldn't let us sleep in peace!! All too soon, we had to drag ourselves out of bed to begin the house hunting (with the housing consultant who called again.... sigh)

PI was nice and close to Gie's office so every morning was a short 5 minute walk and extra 15 minutes of sleep time!! Luckily Jem starts work only at 9am, so he could enjoy that lil' bit of sleep that's so precious.

In any case, all's good with the temporary serviced apartment.. now the challenge is to secure a more permanent one and our priority is location, location and location.. Opps, of course price is a factor too... heh.. I'm sure you would be able to guess who is at the keyboard at this point!

Alrighty, nothing else too exciting currently.. everyone's probably more interested in our new home... Movin' on!