Rum & Dal

Its always difficult finding accomodation in a city that you’ve never been to before. From browsing the internet most of the places that we found were hotels but with Melbourne being a huge city these can be very expensive. We opted for an apartment with a kitchenette, as we knew we needed to save on eating out too.  Having searched and searched we found citylimits to have a reasonable price and a good location too.  We paid $48 to get from the airport to the hotel and it was a larger taxi as we had 4 suitcases. There is a cheap shuttle bus that will take you the city centre from the airport but after 24 hours of flying and with all those suitcases who needs the hassle hey?

Checkin at citylimits took minutes, the staff at reception are generally very helpful not only with your hotel needs but they have also helped answer questions about the different areas, real estate agents, newspapers, accommodation… the rooms are well cleaned and smartly laid out too.  The best feature without a doubt has to be the wireless network, enabling us to keep in touch with you guys back home and help us find out way round Melbourne using Virtual Earth or Google Map.

We have had two viewing so far for apartments.  The very first one was a complete disaster.  There were about 15 of us for the viewing we cramped into the room and it was then  that I realised that this was it!  There were no more rooms… I assumed there would be as I couldn’t see the bed, only to be told that it was a pull down!!!   AAGGGHHHHH Right in the heart of the CBD (Central Business District) the going rate was $240 per week.  So if you want to live in the city be prepared to pay city prices. 

The second viewing was so much better (even though we were expecting the worst).  About a 45min walk from the first one and moving away from the centre it had security gates and a second floor (all open plan).  Little kitchen and bathroom at the rear, very small and cosy and $20 cheaper per week than the last one. Once back home we went through more properties on the websites (The AGE, Hodges, Mondo)and found properties got so much better the further away from the centre you got unless you are loaded! Its hard to know where to buy until you have a job… first thing tomorrow we are applying for jobs.  In the meantime we applied for the second apartment we saw… can’t keep paying loads for the hotel