Melbourne

What is Melbourne? Its a city with various suburbs in it. The main city or CBD, as they call here,(Central Business District) is small. You can check it for yourself from

the attached word document. This is a map taken from the google. The actual CBD starts from Spencer St., in the left to Spring St., in the right. And from the Flinders

Street to the La Trobe street in the top. From the day 1 I have been going through all these streets to understand the CBD and now I can say, to some extent, where what

things will be available.Infact, now that I know much about CBD I can move around all alone. Thanks to my friend and colleague Atanu. He showed me most of the places and

gave me an idea of what is available where. But still we are exploring.

Just opposite to the Flinders Street station there are three Indian Restaurant where you can get everything from idlies to Chole Batura, at a decent price. If you need to

understand the price range just a small example. A kilo of surf is priced at say Rs. 60 in India, you will get the same here at 2.5% high. Initially I was converting for

each and everything. Then learnt and understood that I shouldn't. Then was worry free. Now, I dont convert for all. Incase I am checking a bigger product like washing

machine or something of that sort then I am tempted to convert and see. But since I was looking for a furnished house I didn't have to buy it necessarily. I need to mention

here about the conversation I had with my father before leaving. Since I don't know the city structure, before arriving I was saying him I will take an unfurnished

apartment and buy all things. He was for furnished apartment. I put forth an arguement like I need to buy these things only once and so why do I need to pay extra money for

the rest of the months. Both of us forgot the valid point of disposing the things I buy here.

There is a website gumtree.com.au in which you can find all the second hand products. But you need to pay extra for the transport. So, ultimately it will be almost the same

price we get in the market. And we also donno how much they have used the product. They might say it is in good condition, but how can we ensure. So, after arriving here

and doing few researches I understood having a furnished house is far better than an unfurnished house. In a furnished house you dont need to worry about getting a cot, a

mattress, pillows, tv, fridge and all day to day used items. With this understanding I refined my search. I also informed my agent that I am ok with the furnished apartment

but should not exceed a limit. He said, if you want a furnished apartment it is easy. Because most of the people buy things here and they dont even bother to dispose it

off. So, most of the house we can get good things.

In the first week after landing, I was roaming around the CBD and was checking with my agent whether any house was available. But didnt seriously do any house hunting as I

was enjoying the foreign land. I started getting tensed when the second week dawned. I haven't got a house and the 14th day is also nearing. What if the hotel guys forcibly

asks me to move out and I need to be in streets. I made up my mind and left the ideas of exploring melbourne and got into serious house hunting. Saw around 8 houses which

were within my budget and decided to go for 1 among the 4 I liked very much. Applied for all the four. Wondering what I mean by applying. Here in Melbourne you cant get a

house as easily as we all do in India. Infact when you like a house we need to fill up an application with the copies of various documents like passport, company photo id

etc.,. Then the landlord will accept or approve that we can stay in the house. Then we need to sign a lease. Then we need to apply for getting the connections for

electricity and gas and water. Then the first month rent is paid in advance and we can get the keys.

Ok coming back to the house hunting, out of the 4 houses I liked three were of walking distance from my office. 1 was 4 kms away from office. Even though it was a bit away

it was wonderfull spacious just like our indian houses with seperate room for kitchen. In all the other houses it is a open kitchen. I had a dilema whether to choose the

one nearer to the office or the one I will be comfortable. House is something where we need to comfortable relaxed and worry free. So,I decided to go for the one a bit far

away. I have signed the lease today morning and paid the advance also. I will be giving the rent and collecting the keys on Saturday and I have planned to move in on

saturday. Let me see how well I can manage everything. Its a test for me and I hope with Bhagawan's blessing everything should go well.

Now I need to hunt for groceries and other items so I can start cooking at home. Even though everything is available in CBD I dont get any Indian Masalas in the

supermarkets here. There are few Indian grocery shops near a market which is famous for fresh vegetables. Need to go there and check. Let me move into the new house and let

you know the experiences in the next mail.

Check the photos of my house in this link - http://picasaweb.google.com/guruswaminathan/UnionStreetHouse?authkey=hLJiIagS7bg#

Melbourne Map