Officially Sydney-siders!

I can't believe it's been over a month since we moved to Sydney! Looks like I have some catching up to do....bare with me, this may be a doozey.....

Hmmm, where should I start...well, when we first arrived in Sydney it was a little daunting. All we had was 7 bags of luggage and no where to call home. We stayed in a guest house on Cremorne Point. I was a little weary about the place when we first walked up, but it was actually a really great place to stay. Stuart and I said, 'it was our home away from home' the week that we were there. The staff was really friendly and helpful, there were nice gardens, and it was relatively inexpensive, which was exactly what we were looking for.

The first week was spent looking for a place to live. Looking for a place in Sydney was a challenge. All rentals are inspected and applied for via real estate agents and the agents are useless....they just don't seem to care. Furthermore, it's really expensive and no unfurnished units come with appliances. So you have to rent/buy your own fridge which is a pain in the arse. Anyway, after searching high and low, we finally found a place... in Crows Nest on the North Shore. It was really good to get out of the guest house and have a place of our own to live in. Below is what our apt looks like:

The first week in our new apartment was interesting. Again, all we had was 7 bags of luggage so we had to sleep on the carpet with shirts/towels as our pillows. It was a good thing my first week of work was cruisy b/c I got absolutely no zzzz's. Luckily Stuart's stuff was being delivered that weekend. When we got the mattress, I was jumping with joy! That nite's sleep was heaven. Then we also did what most new apt renters do...went to Ikea! Fair quality stuff on the cheap, just what we needed to make our place more liveable. We're still constantly getting our place in order, but each week it becomes more comfortable to live in so it's all good.

As for work, it's all going fine. It's been quite busy over the last couple of weeks. There are quite a few things that are different from ACNielsen in Canada. Surprisingly, I've had to learn quite a bit since I've started. They do things differently, have different applications, and then of course there's the Australian marketplace that I have to become familiar with. It's not as similar as one might think. How or never, I'll get up to speed soon and then it will be fine.

Right, well, sadly we haven't done too much in the way of sightseeing....just touring around the city really. We've been to Circular Quay to see the Opera house (as per the photo above), walked across the Harbour Bridge (doing the bridge climb will be at a later date), went to Botanical Gardens, St. Mary's church, and spent a Sunday at Darling Harbour with Stuart's parents for 'Fashion Exposed'. We still have plans to do so much more and this time I promise to provide updates more regularly. A few more photos before I signoff:

1) Harbour Bridge 2) The Canadian Unicef Bear at Circular Quay 3) Public Toilets in Hyde Park that you have to pay for ($.50 for 20 mins - great value!) 4) Stuart and I