Settling in.

We had expected to take about a week to settle in. So while we sort of had a good idea of the administrative stuff we had to do, we gave ourselves a lot of buffer time for the unexpected. Boy, was I glad we factored in a generous amount of buffer time. 

We sort of knew that there was a rental shortage all around Australia but we didn't expect it to be this problematic. Or rather, given that we did not have to face such issues in Singapore, we did not factor our context (short term rental, budget, preference of whole place but no need multiple bedrooms) into the equation. Actually it is the first point that was the most problematic for potential landlords. No one seem to want to deal with the hassle of finding new tenants again within 2 months.

Over the past 5 days we had to do at least 2 weeks worth of research and were faced with so many big decisions to be made. I'm glad we had saved up prior to this adventure - for the flexibility to be able to adjust our budget by 10% or so here and there gave us more solutions and options. As we wind down from this weekend and Singapore prepares for the 3rd day of a long weekend, two of our big ticket admin items have been resolved. (1) We found and locked in accoms until at least the end of August at about 10% above our initial weekly budget - but also having more than what we needed. (2) We bought a car that fulfilled most of what we were looking out for + within our budget (excitez, this is my first car ever!). 

Tomorrow we start the day by registering the new car in my name and I will officially own this chunk of metal. My biggest concern is that it is not a lemon, but during the test drive, it seemed to drive well and  I didn't hear any sounds that I shouldn't hear (granted, it was with my untrained ear). My other concern will be if we are able to sell him at the end of our adventure at not too much of a loss. Lastly, looking at the various fb marketplace posts, it seems like I should name him. I'll think of a name as we go along.

I had initially thought going to a dealer to settle this (instead of going to a private deal) might resolve much of the car admin; this was not to be. We have to physically make our way down to the Department of Transport tomorrow to deal with this administrative nonsense. 

Speaking of administrative nonsense, I received an email reply on Thursday asking if I have already left for Australia. Notably, in literally my last email, I informed them the date in which I was leaving and had explained what I had planned for and made arrangements for, in consultation with other stakeholders. Someone has not been reading their emails properly, if at all. I would have assumed it was an honest mistake, had it not been from the same person who had ignored my multiple urgent emails to them in the weeks leading up to my intended departure. So since you don't seem to be able do deal with email correspondence/ threads nor urgency well, I will wait until I have all the info before responding.