Saturday 20 June 2009

Spend, spend, spend

The rental market here is subtly different to back home. All apartments - or units as the Aussies call them - have to have tumble dryers - to stop you drying your washing on the balcony. I guess they don't want Sydney to look like Hong Kong...But they don't come with washing machines or fridge freezers. So today we headed off to spend my relocation allowance. We went to a couple of malls that specialise in furniture and white goods in Alexandria. First stop - Bing Lee - where every price is negotiable. We negotiated our prices on the products we liked (basically the cheapest washer and f/freezer) and then went next door to The Good Guys, where we got even more off...and 6 months supply of Omo. That's Omo - it's a washing powder. Stop sniggering.

















We also needed to replace some of the other stuff we couldn't bring with us. That's the thing about a relocation allowance - you either spend it or lose it. And there is one benefit to arriving here in the middle of winter - all the sales are on. And as today was another day of rain, it was the perfect day to shop till we dropped. We needed to get sofas and garden furniture. It may seem odd to the Brits to buy garden furniture in winter - but Aussie stores stock them all year round. In fact, when your store is called Barbecues Galore, or The Outdoor Furniture Store, you have little choice. So we got a great price on a garden furniture set. We decided to buy that rather than replace the indoor dining set that we couldn't bring from the UK (wicker of mass destruction) because we reckon we will eat outdoors more than we will eat inside. That's the plan anyway - based on hope rather than our experience so far of the weather in Sydney......
Tomorrow it's off to Ikea to get the sofas.........

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