19th Aug 2006 - Slow Down and Take a Breath
Nearly 8 yrs ago we first started thinking about living in the city centre and finally after our wonderful European Vacation we said "It's now or never!" We did it - we've moved into the city centre of Melbourne about 3 weeks ago.
When we got home in February, we thought we'd check out what was available, not really expecting any miracles. At the same time, we decided we'd organise to put our own house on the market, after doing some necessary fixing up first.
The shock of all of it was that we found our dream place, which we actually bought after weeks of uncertainty with the house settlement, on the very first weekend we looked. It turned out that Mark had seen this place approx. 2-2.5yrs ago when the previous owners had bought it. At the time it was apparently 'way out of our league' financially and so he never showed me.
Well good things come to those who wait, but don't wait too long!
As you saw from the previous entries, we put our house on the market and although we hit a bit of a lull weekend for our auction, after the announcement of 2 interest rate rises, we still got a good price for our East Malvern place.
At the same time that all of the searching, buying, preparing for sale and actually selling of houses, I was looking for work and eventually found a role with an IT recruitment firm as the manager of their Victorian Contract team.
Amazingly its only 2 mins walk away from our new city pad and you can see our rooftop sun deck from one of the meeting rooms in my office! There goes the nude sunbathing and skipping work to stay at home on a hot day! [Only teasing, with the ozone hole above Australia being so bad, there is no nude bathing - in fact, I haven't been sunbathing for over 15yrs - which anyone who has seen my extremely white skin can attest to].
This last 3 weeks since arriving in the city has been absolutely crazy as we've been trying to unpack and make it feel normal at the same time that both of our work places are extremely busy. Mark has his biggest series of events for the year between late July and late August. It seems that even with all of his great planning and organisational skills, everything that could go wrong did.
He had clients show up at the wrong venue for exams, he had video tapped interviews be taped over by the following participant (in error), and heaps of little annoying things which add up to serious re-work when every second counts!
At my work, we had a 12-week incentive program which culminated on July 28th and it was a mad-house trying to get everything done. We achieved the team goal and as a reward, the boss organised for the whole office (approx 12) to go in a hired bus to Daylesford, have a 1-hr facial/ massage/ spa treatment and have lunch at the Lakehouse restaurant. It was a glorious day of approx 18 degrees, despite being the first Saturday in August! The food was amazing and the wines beautiful too. A few of us indulged in a hand-made chocolate or three from Sweet Indulgence before lunch and boy were we full on the bus ride back.
I've really enjoyed being able to get up in the morning and go for a 40-mins walk around the city centre or along the Yarra in the mornings. I still need to sort out a gym locally. Mark and I have also enjoyed random free entertainment, bands and street performers in Federation Square and along the Yarra, as well as walking to our Melbourne Theatre Company shows that we booked at the beginning of the year.
Another brilliant advantage is that a few of our friends are now locals - Southbank, Docklands and Spencer St, City - which is wonderful.
The extended family, whilst thinking we were crazy initially to buy in the city, have enjoyed their first chance to see the place and the roof top lights by night.
We'll wait till the weather is warmer (although it's been an extraordinarily good winter, almost no rain or snow - unfortunate for skiers and farmers alike) and a bit lighter at night for our housewarming party.
In terms of exploring the wonders of cultural Melbourne, in the last 3 weeks we've:
Wonder if the wallet will survive all the opportunities for galleries, innovative jewellery and clothing (women's particularly), excellent tapas bars, wine bars and restaurants in general!
When we got home in February, we thought we'd check out what was available, not really expecting any miracles. At the same time, we decided we'd organise to put our own house on the market, after doing some necessary fixing up first.
The shock of all of it was that we found our dream place, which we actually bought after weeks of uncertainty with the house settlement, on the very first weekend we looked. It turned out that Mark had seen this place approx. 2-2.5yrs ago when the previous owners had bought it. At the time it was apparently 'way out of our league' financially and so he never showed me.
Well good things come to those who wait, but don't wait too long!
As you saw from the previous entries, we put our house on the market and although we hit a bit of a lull weekend for our auction, after the announcement of 2 interest rate rises, we still got a good price for our East Malvern place.
At the same time that all of the searching, buying, preparing for sale and actually selling of houses, I was looking for work and eventually found a role with an IT recruitment firm as the manager of their Victorian Contract team.
Amazingly its only 2 mins walk away from our new city pad and you can see our rooftop sun deck from one of the meeting rooms in my office! There goes the nude sunbathing and skipping work to stay at home on a hot day! [Only teasing, with the ozone hole above Australia being so bad, there is no nude bathing - in fact, I haven't been sunbathing for over 15yrs - which anyone who has seen my extremely white skin can attest to].
This last 3 weeks since arriving in the city has been absolutely crazy as we've been trying to unpack and make it feel normal at the same time that both of our work places are extremely busy. Mark has his biggest series of events for the year between late July and late August. It seems that even with all of his great planning and organisational skills, everything that could go wrong did.
He had clients show up at the wrong venue for exams, he had video tapped interviews be taped over by the following participant (in error), and heaps of little annoying things which add up to serious re-work when every second counts!
At my work, we had a 12-week incentive program which culminated on July 28th and it was a mad-house trying to get everything done. We achieved the team goal and as a reward, the boss organised for the whole office (approx 12) to go in a hired bus to Daylesford, have a 1-hr facial/ massage/ spa treatment and have lunch at the Lakehouse restaurant. It was a glorious day of approx 18 degrees, despite being the first Saturday in August! The food was amazing and the wines beautiful too. A few of us indulged in a hand-made chocolate or three from Sweet Indulgence before lunch and boy were we full on the bus ride back.
I've really enjoyed being able to get up in the morning and go for a 40-mins walk around the city centre or along the Yarra in the mornings. I still need to sort out a gym locally. Mark and I have also enjoyed random free entertainment, bands and street performers in Federation Square and along the Yarra, as well as walking to our Melbourne Theatre Company shows that we booked at the beginning of the year.
Another brilliant advantage is that a few of our friends are now locals - Southbank, Docklands and Spencer St, City - which is wonderful.
The extended family, whilst thinking we were crazy initially to buy in the city, have enjoyed their first chance to see the place and the roof top lights by night.
We'll wait till the weather is warmer (although it's been an extraordinarily good winter, almost no rain or snow - unfortunate for skiers and farmers alike) and a bit lighter at night for our housewarming party.
In terms of exploring the wonders of cultural Melbourne, in the last 3 weeks we've:
- Walked to a friend's place in Docklands for an engagement party on the 33rd floor with amazing city views
- Tam took her clients to the Telstra Dome for a footy match
- Been to Comme restaurant (previously Mietta's) for a beautiful meal with some friends
- Attended a film from the MIFF - Melbourne International Film Festival (much more next year)
- Taken a weekend away to Warbuton to see some friends who made the "tree change"
- Had both sets of parents and several friends over for informal drinks here and
- Seen 2 plays at MTC
Wonder if the wallet will survive all the opportunities for galleries, innovative jewellery and clothing (women's particularly), excellent tapas bars, wine bars and restaurants in general!
posted by Most Liveable at 3:35 PM
1 Comments:
Wow that's so cool that you can see your rooftop from work - must be crap on a sunny day though!! Living in the city sounds cool from all the stuff you've done - keep up the good work!
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