Settling In

A few days ago we moved into our new apartment! It's in a great little neighborhood between Rundle and Grenfell, two major streets, and about a hundred meters (I said meters!) from East Terrace. Adelaide CBD (Central Business District) is just a grid surrounded by parks that separate it from the other parts of the city, so we live right on the East end near a park. Here's what it looks like outside:




^ That's not stopping anyone. I want to do a video walkthrough of the apartment, so for now I'll just post 2 pix of the living room:



Australia posts rentals by weekly rent, which can throw you off because there are more than 4 weeks in a month. This place is more expensive than it should be, but it's in a nice area so we're making it work. Back to money:


Everything is colored, like in Canada and I think most of the world, so it makes things a lot easier. For some reason, though, the five dollar bill is shorter than the others. Depending on which side of the bill you look at, there could be a governor, an aboriginal figure, or the Queen. As I posted before, the $2 and $1 are in coins. The $2 has an aboriginal guy on it, and is smaller than the $1 coin, which has several variations. I've collected over 5 now that all have different designs, such as kangaroos, the 5 stars of Australia (I'm still trying to find out what they are), or other interesting artwork related to the country. It's only been 3 weeks and it's already feeling like a home away from home.


^ The quintessential Australian sandwich: 1 slice of ham, 1 slice of cheese, and 5 lbs of bread.. $7.


^ Across the street are the botanical gardens, which I'll take a picture of and post soon. The greenhouse looks like a UFO that crashed into the ground! Just before you get there, Adelaide is having a carnival in the park called The Gardens of Unearthly Delight. We went last night but are going again tomorrow night, so I'll save the pix for another post. We're going back to Henley Beach tonight so more soon!