We're here!

Well as you can see by the new title of this blog, we've now officially left Malaysia and we are one week into our new life in Sydney.

So far so good. We've found a great neighborhood in the inner suburbs - Artarmon. It is leafy and green with a handful of good restaurants, a local butcher and vegetable market. It's just 20 minutes via the train to downtown and just 15 minutes in the opposite direction for Ian to get to work.

Housing here is incredibly expensive and competitive ($525-650 a week for a smallish 2 bed, 1 bath place), so we've been on a bit of learning curve. The process for renting here is not dissimilar to buying a house - for most rental properties a short open house is arranged on a given morning and then anyone interested can turn up and submit an application.  Competition can be fierce so it isn't uncommon to offer more than the asking rental price to increase your chances.

Otherwise things are going smoothly, prices are high, but aren't quite as bad as I imagined - and things actually go on SALE. Nothing ever, ever goes on sale at the supermarket in Malaysia (largely because so many foods are subsidized by the government).

In between house-hunting we've been getting out to explore our new city. The sheer amount of things to see and do here is overwhelming (and wonderful). Even though we've both been here before, we couldn't resist the temptation to race down to the harbour and ogle at the bridge and opera house. We've explored some of the northern beaches and today plan on checking out our closest (and by close I'm mean 10 minute drive!) to Lane Cove National Park.

There will literally be a national park in our backyard. We are very happy people.

Oh, did I mention the wine? My god, it doesn't taste like vinegar here - it tastes like, wine! Nice wine.