We ♥ PERTH

So Gorski and I have been settled into Perth now for a few months...and we are both very happy with our decision to move to the West Coast.

Brad got an interview in a lab called SGS - which is known worldwide (there is even labs in Mississauga, London, Sarnia, Calgary & a bunch of others)
So we were pretty ambitious when we first moved, Brad pretty much had the job in the bag.. however finding accommodation was not so simple...in fact, it was a completely stressful time & a struggle at most.

So, as our journey begins in Perth, we started off living in a hostel..not even a private room at that..since the hostel 'gave it away' - even though we booked a private room since we would have all our belongings and whatnot.. anyways, that didn't make the situation any easier.. and of course, we get stuck in a room, shared with 2 other bunk beds..and of course the AC is not working... at this point.. Perth was going through a heat wave of +40 everyday... it was brutal!

We spent just under a week in the hostel, spending our days, trying to remain sane and cool.. mainly applying for places to live or rent online... the way they do things here...is quite the mess!

I understand 'housing' is hard to find... but I didn't think it was going to be THIS difficult.  We had set up a few appointments to go see some places for rent.. most of them would text us or call us like 30 mins before we are about to leave..just to notify not to bother coming out.. because its already been rented.  Now, the only thing that really pisses me off about the whole process, is that here they set up like an 'open house' kinda concept.. so you have a few people coming at once to see the place.. (most the time.. throwing themselves, money..or whatever else will work because they are desparate for a place to live THAT BAD)
So its pretty much a competition, but thats not what really grinded my gears.. it was the fact that we would call and set up an appt, 'because they will only show it as an open house blah blah blah' yet half the people would contact us back and be like..sorry its rented.. well then what the hell is the point of having an open house- geese.. such a time waster.. needless to say, another pet peeve about the whole thing is that people advertise the place as a 1 bedroom... but really its a 1 bedrm in a shared accommodation...sneaky sneaky!  My favourite piss off was when a housing/rental agency called me like literally 2 minutes away from the apartment, to tell me not to bother..after I had taken the train and spent like 30 mins commuting to get there.. SUCH A PISS OFF! So, you can see from my housing rants, this was not a fun process for us..

Needless to say, we contacted this guys who rents his house out.. kinda like a hostel, shared accommodation.. but its a house instead of a hostel...It was a better place to call home for the meanwhile.. but it was in the real suburbs, just residential housing around.. about a 20 min walk to restaurants..and a 15 min drive to the grocery store... we didn't have locks on our bedrooms, but the others who were staying there were very nice, and we just needed to get outta the other hostel.  Plus this place had a sweet backyard chill zone, there was no contracts, no bonds just pay weekly for rent.. so it was cheaper to do this move rather than stay in the hostel.

These were some of our roommates.. along with a sweet Uk couple, a great Zambian/Irish guy & another Belguim/China couple (who were the strangest people I think I have ever met)

sweet chill zone in backyard with built in 'mist'er'

Dodge- the Papillion & Brigette the Aust Sheppard

Right before we moved into this new place near East Victoria Park in St James, we went to check out an apartment about a block from the hostel we were staying at...and from the outside it looked so nice and located right beside a park!  Again, we went into the place thinking it was just a 1 bedrm but really we would be sharing with 4 other Brazilians... we were the first ones to see the place, and afterwards, we told her, 'we want the place, what do we do, can we fill out an application'... back home.. it would be.. first come..first serve right... well not here.. she had 20 other people coming to look at it after us.. so we thought.. ohh shit.. they are never going to pick us.. wrote down our names & numbers, thanked her for the viewing and left having little to no hope in actually getting the place...she told us that she would be making her decision in a few days and move in date would be one week from then.  So much to our surprise, being Canadian came through for us once again!  She had called us and told us that they had picked us Canadians to move in if we still wanted it!  We were pumped, gave Nil our notice that we were leaving.. and trekked all our belongings back to where we originally started in the first place...the clouds couldn't have come out for 1 hour that day... thankfully the bus had AC.. and the free BLUE CAT service is right outside the apartment in Northbridge...Shenton St became our new home...

In the meantime, Brad had been working at the lab.. 4 days on 4 days off.. and I was still applying for work..and trying to occupy myself while he was gone..

NORTHBRIDGE

A very cool area, a 10 min walk from Perth Stn (train) a hop and a skip away from tonnes of restaurants... the Western State Library is down the block along side the Perth Museum.. the Northbridge Piazza was a big screen set up right in the middle of it all.. with umbrellas and bean bag chairs everywhere, playing local news, documents, movies, and all for free!

The great things also, the BLUE CAT picked us up right outside our apartment..and will get you downtown to the main City Business District in about 10-15 mins.. where you have access to Murray St & Hay St Malls (which are all outside..kinda like the market downtown Ottawa)

the view of the CBD from our balcony

Northbridge Piazza

Western Australia Museum

So, we enjoyed our time here.. we spent an afternoon going to Kings Park, right on the other side of the CBD..where you can gock at the amazing water views.

war memorial on hill

CBD Perth

South Perth

We also spent some time exploring around near neighbourhoods...and one of our fav's was Claisebrook!
Kinda reminded me of Amsterdam style.. houses located on the edge of a cove.. a pretty lil part of Perth..hidden from the rest located at East Perth.

looking back at the CBD- Perth

amazing homes along Claisebrook Cove

Our Brazilian roommates were great!  Nathalia is the youngest at 21, studying and working 2 jobs.  Taichi is the same age as us also studying English and working, Tiais we didn't get to know as her visa had expired and she had to leave the country...and Zeca is 32, a little more quieter..barely see him much as he's also studying english and working at a car wash. ..his english was probably the most difficult to understand.. but overall we could communicate great with them, and I went to some parties with them when Brad would be working.. very easy to get along with. 

SUBIACO!

Currently, we just made our (hopefully) last move!  The U.K couple we had met from our first place, they were looking for a house to rent.. because they are planning on staying here long term for a few years.. asked us how we would feel about moving in with them should they find a place... and wow.. did they ever find a beaut of a place or what! 

Located right in the heart of the city - Subiaco.. so 2 train stops from Perth, Northbridge, where we were.. but in a beautiful located area, clean city.. kinda reminds me of MTL..cobble stone main street full of cute little shops and stores.. belgium chocolaterie's ...grocery store 2 blocks away..everything is convenient where we are.. we are also closer to the beaches now!!! However, last week there was a 'shark feeding frenzy' that happened on the beach.. where one great white shark and several tiger sharks went to town on a school of tuna... crazy! You can youtube it.. glad I wasn't at the beach that day! 

So, make a long story short! We said yes and told the Brazilians we were moving out.. I had already set up a few appts for people to come see the place so they could choose who they wanted to be their new flatmates.. and we moved in March 10th, with the UK couple and the Zambian/Irish fella... so we are all now reunited again but in an amazing 3 bedroom, 3 bathrn HOUSE- 2 levels, AC, full furnished, appliances, laundry, parking, storage..back private patio, front street view patio..and the one of the best parts... BBQ-- not just the shitty oz style 'hot plate' but half hot plate, half charcoal... now were cooking with gas! 

Anyways, now that I'm done bragging.. the place is amazing and we are really happy here.. it feels like more of a home for us.. we can take our shoes off and relax.. literally.. the last place we always wore our shoes in the house... it was shitty...and always dirty and whatnot.. plus, our roomies are a lot like Brad and I..and we are all very similar and get along great!  

Ill try to upload some pictures once I take a few.. as for the job front for me, I'm still looking..and applying.. I went for an interview last week for a balling cartographer position & a GIS analyst position.. but I was 'runner up' and didn't get the job.. due to lack of experience..great..(sigh) so I'm back on the job hunt again...

Other than that.. not much else is new.. my new obsessions are: olives, avocado's & TimTam's

St Pattys Day here was pretty much non existent in terms of how we celebrate back home.... we celebrated hard for Brads bday at our place which was great.. Jameson Rye.. pints, green jello shooters .. but not a lot of green.. NO where sold decorations...hats..nothing :( ... we went to an Irish bar at midnight and were gutted when they told us they were closed...?!?!? R-E-D-O-N-K-U-L-O-U-S!! crazy Perth and their shutting down at early times and what not.. GAHHH

That is all!