House hunting down under

We had just one month to decide in which part of the big, wide city did we want to move to, shortlist a few apartments and go inspect them on Saturdays. Since house inspections happen only (or mostly) on Saturdays we effectively had just 4 days to make a decision. 

Choosing a suburb was the hardest part. We weren’t even sure what exactly we wanted but we eventually decided Atarmon to be that suburb – closer to office, on the train line and with a multi-cultural population. If you are coming from Mumbai where houses are generally pretty small and the vicinity stinky and dirty, chances that you will like everything you see here is quite high. I felt like that star-struck teenager who had accidentally run into Brad Pitt! 

As always, Prashant was more reasonable and grounded. He declared he didn’t like Atarmon and that wasn’t really where he would like to stay. I will admit, I was slightly miffed at that declaration after a week of internet searching and a few hours of walking in the sun. I wanted a closure very soon. 

While we were waiting for our train back home, it struck us that we could probably take a de-tour to another close-by suburb -- Macquarie Park. I quickly checked on my phone if there were any inspections planned and luckily found one about 1.7 kilometres from the Macquarie Park railway station. Having no idea of bus service, and with no cab in sight, we decided the best way to do this was to walk. 

It was an exceptionally hot day and the suburb was not as leafy, lined with glass buildings on both sides of the roads. Given that it was a weekend, the place was eerily deserted. Chances that we would say yes to this far-flung, remote property were diminishing with every step that took us closer to it. 

Once we reached there, a massive park welcomed us, the house was spacious with a big balcony and a backyard. I fell in love with it instantly. Prashant reasoned it was too far, inconvenient and remote. If I was working late or odd hours he didn’t want to be left worried all the time. Made total sense. We decided to look at more houses in the same suburb the following weekend.

But the following week was an utter disappointment. We didn’t like anything that we saw in that suburb. The question of it being too far always came to haunt us.

 When looking for a house in Sydney, it’s very important to be sure of the transport connectivity. Sydney’s transport system is appalling. The trains are hardly as efficient as Mumbai’s rail network, buses are often late and taxis are so expensive that they are out of reach. Then, some suburbs can be really remote and if you don’t drive you can be left feeling quite helpless. Although our two weeks of hard work went down the drain we are quite happy we followed our instincts in rejecting these places.

We zeroed in on ‘Lane Cove’, which is pretty well connected to the city by road, has a nice Indian store owned by a very helpful and chatty lady, and is pretty multi-cultural. 

I surprised many colleagues by preferring to be near the city, not on the beach. “The reason you are in Sydney is so you can live on the beach. It’s just another life. You can go surfing in the morning before you come to work,” a colleague suggested.  Sounds inviting, indeed. I would love to live on a beach in Sydney and the choices are galore. But, I also have long years here to enjoy the best of both worlds! 

Sydney’s cheap eats?

After about two months of working in Sydney, I went out for my first official lunch meeting in late May. I must admit I haven’t seen much of the city or CBD as it is known, although I lived my first 40 days here. I didnt visit many restaurants either as I preferred to cook at home. So, I was looking forward to this one – some intelligent conversations around (hopefully) delicious food.

And, once again, Sydney did not disappoint.

I was the only one on the table with a vegetarian meal – Spaghetti semi-sundried tomato with cheese and chilli, while others had grilled Tasmanian salmon with tomato and strawberry sauce. The latter looked so tempting that I have promised myself to try a salmon soon. (For those interested, a kg of Salmon is for A$33 at supermarkets, probably among the more expensive varieties. I don’t know how much they cost back in India or anywhere else) I don’t know much about fish varieties either, the only one I know is probably the freshwater Rohu which holds a special place in my heart. My granny made the best ever rohu fish in rich mustard gravy and she would lovingly remove every tiny, thorny bone off it, mix with plain, steamed rice and feed me out of her hands. That used to be my favourite dish as a kid. But sometime during my growing up years I completely gave up fish and meat, although I am trying to reconcile to it now.

As soon as I returned from King 143 Restaurant I looked up the menu online. (We weren’t offered a menu there) The Spaghetti I had cost $25 while the salmons were for $28. They also served hot breads for $3 followed by the most delicious baked pear with vanilla ice cream for $13. Not very expensive for the service, ambience and taste, I say. I looked up the internet for Sydney's best cheap eats.  And boy, what did I find? Well, when in Sydney, don’t talk cheap! :P

Debut on Australian sands

So, two months after moving to the land of Kangaroos we finally decided a beach visit was overdue.  We set out one Friday afternoon for a 6-km coastal walk from the world famous Bondi beach to the not-so-famous Coogee. We were dead sure we wouldn’t cover the entire stretch so we carried along a change of clothes and towels for when we venture into the clean blue waters instead of marching ahead.

Most things around the world are over hyped. You hear so much about them but when you go to visit they surely disappoint you. But, the Bondi-Coogee coastal walk more than lived up to our expectations. While the beaches by themselves are so scenic, the walk along the ocean is even more pleasant and gets you to some of the most picturesque locations in Sydney. There is a cemetery on the way and it is apparently one of the most beautiful in the world. And, rightly so!

In hindsight, we should have left earlier for that would have given us some time to get into the waters. Sun sets early in this country and at least during this time of the year it starts getting dark by 5 pm. We should have been mindful of that. So a good idea would have been to start early, hit one of the many cafes lined along Bondi beach for a sumptuous breakfast, end the walk at Coogee around lunch. Thank god for next time!

No tips, please!

The first Wednesday in Sydney was my birthday. I wanted Prashant to do something special for me. He ran through some Sydney guide books and decided we could go ferry riding to a nearby beach – Manly, have a nice dinner out and crash back home. I couldn’t wait to leave office that evening. I took some videos on the ferry to share with folks back home, the picturesque views all through the 20-minute ride was quite enjoyable. 

Unfortunately, we got our timing completely wrong.

By the time we hit Manly it had turned dark so we couldn’t really do much but take a stroll along the ocean.  In the dark.  Soon, we hit an ice cream parlour. Ice creams, I must admit, are delicious here. I loved the ‘Ben & jerry’s’ brand in Europe and Singapore but the gourmet ice creams that Australia offers is difficult to find elsewhere. Prashant who is a gelato fan was disappointed with his ‘Gelatismo’ ice cream though. I found it so bad that I advised him to bin it!! We found out later that a certain Gelato Messina brand is the best ever gelato in Australia. We are yet to try that out. More here - Gelato Messina

I also had one “whopper vegetarian burger” at a seemingly popular chain called ‘Hungry Jacks’. MacD wont do veg burgers in Australia. Even in the more Indian and 'pure vegetarian' Gujarati suburb called Parametta the MacD didn't offer a single vegetarian burger. Rather surprising! Nevertheless, food, in this country, has never disappointed me. Cost has.  A colleague told me recently -- “There may be a hundred things wrong with this country but you will never complain about the food. The food is always great.”

 I can’t agree more with her.

And, generally, Australians do not tip. “The cost of food, and the costs generally are so high because they are paid really well. So, you don’t have to tip them on top of the exorbitant rates they already charge,” my colleague explained. Makes total sense. :P

Oh so expensive dollar!

My daily food allowance from the company for the first month of my stay in Sydney was about A$50. It took me no time to figure that Sydney was more expensive than to have good meals (for two) in that budget. For starters, coffee costs about $3.30 and ice-creams are nothing less than $6. The cheapest sub-way is probably $6, and with a cookie and drinks for two you get close to $20. One regular-pizza costs about $25 and sandwiches and salads at the most modest of places are for anywhere between $12 and $20. Meats and hams can get even steeper. Bottled water will cost you $4.5, but of course unlike in India you can drink out of the tap here.

The quality of food is great, of course very hygienic and except for a couple of places in the last 60 days I’ve not been disappointed with the taste either. If you were to buy greens and fruits at stores, you will be spoilt for choice. The variety is humongous. I had never come across so many types of fruits before. I have never liked French beans as much as I love them in salads here. The milk tastes great and talk about bakery… ah, delicious!

Back home, we always questioned where are veggies came from. Some friends advised against buying from near railway stations in Mumbai for they would have grown near the tracks in filthy, toilet waters. Not surprisingly, they even lacked any real taste. You had to put heaps of spices and tomatoes to dish out tasty stuff but I don’t work that hard in the kitchen here and the food has always turned out fine.

The Aussies take care of your food alright, but they think of public toilets as well! ;-)  This was my pet peeve in Europe where you had to shell out at least 1 Euro (mighty 75 rupees) just for a 1-min pee! Arrgghhh. Public peeing, if I can say so, is free in Australia, and unlike in India the toilets are almost always clean.

On our very first Sunday in Sydney we went to an Indian store so we could buy our one week’s provisions. In hindsight, that was a really good decision because I was getting tired of eating the same salads, sandwiches and subways outside. If you get home-made food, and lots of love from your husband chances of feeling homesick diminishes widely! We were enjoying our meals every time. I developed a penchant for cooking, soon I was returning home during lunch breaks to make food at home so we could both enjoy a good meal. Now, I am on an experimental binge dishing out everything from veg biryanis to English pancakes and I can say cooking has never been so enjoyable. Bon appetite! 

... And we move out!

Nervous, excited, jittery, elated, confused, enthused, nervous and afraid --that’s how I felt in the run up to my move to Sydney. It was a big decision, indeed, a life changing one. My sisters were home to see me off, my father-in-law with whom my husband and I stayed in Mumbai and my brother-in-law were all there to see us off at the airport. The previous night was emotional. My sisters celebrated my birthday, which would fall the following week. There was cake cutting at midnight, a fire-cracker candle was lit on top of the cake that burned noiselessly for a few seconds, offering beautiful photography opportunities but leaving the top, white creamy layer of the cake with tiny black dots of char.  Never mind the carcinogenic burns, we merrily enjoyed the cake! After all, being in India we are subjected to heavy doses of the poisonous green house gases anyway.

Several relatives called to say their final good byes to us (As if we were dying ;-) LOL) Earlier, my mom insisted to giving me a birthday gift. It was all very touching, and I must admit in those final minutes I did get second thoughts about going. Unfortunately, it was too late then to look back.

The trip to the airport was fun and the flight was good, yet exhausting. We were flying Malaysia Airlines. By god’s grace not MH370, otherwise I wouldn’t have been writing this! Duh! For all the negative press they have got in the last month, I found them pretty decent, lot better than many other carriers that I have flown in. Anyway, we reached Sydney in the morning, after almost 19 hours of leaving Mumbai, and were greeted by a lovely sunny weather. 

While still at the airport, we had some food items to declare, and the officer (probably in a good mood) let us go. We immediately regretted not getting more Indian food, teas and spices.  I found out later that it's always a good idea to declare. Always. Point noted.

Soon we were on big cab – station wagon - with a massive boot, tucked in our luggage and took off to the city. Half way through our journey, we decided we had to take a small detour to collect keys of our apartment. My husband got off the cab to locate the ‘eezymart’ store which had our apartment keys and soon enough I realized he was on a completely opposite track. He didn’t have a phone on him for me to call. Fatigued from the long journey I didn’t think twice before storming out of the cab and chasing after him yelling ‘Prashant’ all the way. Sounds really hilarious now, and I can imagine the Aussies around, the cabbie included, must be thinking I have gone nuts. Never mind all that drama, I found Prashant. Needless to say, I gave him a piece of my mind for walking the wrong road without seeking directions from passersby. “But there is nobody to ask to,” he said. I looked around. The city was indeed deserted. Welcome to Australia, girl!

We reached home alright and that same evening walked down to the harbor to take in the fresh air. For me, it was nothing less than nirvana. Somewhere in my mind, it still didn’t feel like I was there for work. It felt nothing short of a fully paid holiday!