Now that things are settling down a bit, I thought I might blog a bit more about our new home/house in Melbourne. It is a single-fronted Victorian row house originally built in the 1880s when Melbourne was booming as a result of a gold rush among other things. It is very typical of the area we live in, Carlton North, and while we took a few days to get used to what it does and does not have - it is actually quite comfortable.
The best thing about it is its location. It is about a 15 minute walk from the university and the kids' school. It is about 15 minutes to the world famous Melbourne Zoo and 30 to their great museum. To walk all the way downtown is more like 45 minutes. We are close to a trendy area on a street called Rathdowne and another on Lygon Street. We are 25 minutes from the nearest large grocery store and only 5 from a great park with climbers, tennis courts, soccer fields, and the home pitch for the Carleton Blues - the local Aussie Rules Football club.
The house itself is cozy and liveable, but being a rental property we are using furniture and crockery that was made in the 70s at the earliest. Oh well. There is a nice little deck out the back with its very own fig tree - actually looks like a large palm tree - which will be more useable in the summer and apparently there are two blue-tongued lizards that make the deck home in the summer that Colin and Alex are looking forward to meeting. There are all the amenities we need - we bought a coffee maker for $20 - and the stove and in house grill are gas which is new for us. Light fixtures are different in terms of switches, bulbs, voltage (why is that?) - but light is light. It is heated by gas and rads much the way we are at home but there is no central thermostat - you control each rad individually. Amazingly, there is no concern for lost heat. There is a space of about 2 inches under the front door where all of our heat goes right outside. Similarily, the bathroom has a fixed window that is permamently open. Will undoubtedly help in Jan when it hits 45 Celsius. There is no A/C but several major fans.
We also have possums. Australia's answer to the raccoon - these apparently harmless but very noisy and dirty rodents reside in our roof and make all manner of noise - sounds like a cross between a bat and an angry cat. We haven't actually seen one yet but Linton and I saw a dead one on the side of the road - looks like a cross between a large squirrel and a fox. They are nocturnal and we awake every morning to a lot of possum poo on our back deck.
Every house has a fairly intricate security system. We have, like all of our neighbours, a steel screen door on our front door which we lock all the time. It's like a screen door but much more significant and made of heavy steel. It's not that the neighbourhood is a bad area - but this is what is the norm in this city and we are okay with being normal in this regard.
We are all set up technologically and just watched The Kite Runner on DVD last night. The internet has us fully connected to the world and I just checked out news about the Jays thinking of trading Halladay - what! The only difference really is that there are only 5-6 channels total! Not a big deal really - we're not here to watch tv - and they have some of the same stuff we do. The kids are watching Pokemon before we head off to school.
So that's our house - our home away from home. Old but comfy and in a perfect location - which reminds me - it's also great for visitors. There's room on our floors - but book early!
The best thing about it is its location. It is about a 15 minute walk from the university and the kids' school. It is about 15 minutes to the world famous Melbourne Zoo and 30 to their great museum. To walk all the way downtown is more like 45 minutes. We are close to a trendy area on a street called Rathdowne and another on Lygon Street. We are 25 minutes from the nearest large grocery store and only 5 from a great park with climbers, tennis courts, soccer fields, and the home pitch for the Carleton Blues - the local Aussie Rules Football club.
The house itself is cozy and liveable, but being a rental property we are using furniture and crockery that was made in the 70s at the earliest. Oh well. There is a nice little deck out the back with its very own fig tree - actually looks like a large palm tree - which will be more useable in the summer and apparently there are two blue-tongued lizards that make the deck home in the summer that Colin and Alex are looking forward to meeting. There are all the amenities we need - we bought a coffee maker for $20 - and the stove and in house grill are gas which is new for us. Light fixtures are different in terms of switches, bulbs, voltage (why is that?) - but light is light. It is heated by gas and rads much the way we are at home but there is no central thermostat - you control each rad individually. Amazingly, there is no concern for lost heat. There is a space of about 2 inches under the front door where all of our heat goes right outside. Similarily, the bathroom has a fixed window that is permamently open. Will undoubtedly help in Jan when it hits 45 Celsius. There is no A/C but several major fans.
We also have possums. Australia's answer to the raccoon - these apparently harmless but very noisy and dirty rodents reside in our roof and make all manner of noise - sounds like a cross between a bat and an angry cat. We haven't actually seen one yet but Linton and I saw a dead one on the side of the road - looks like a cross between a large squirrel and a fox. They are nocturnal and we awake every morning to a lot of possum poo on our back deck.
Every house has a fairly intricate security system. We have, like all of our neighbours, a steel screen door on our front door which we lock all the time. It's like a screen door but much more significant and made of heavy steel. It's not that the neighbourhood is a bad area - but this is what is the norm in this city and we are okay with being normal in this regard.
We are all set up technologically and just watched The Kite Runner on DVD last night. The internet has us fully connected to the world and I just checked out news about the Jays thinking of trading Halladay - what! The only difference really is that there are only 5-6 channels total! Not a big deal really - we're not here to watch tv - and they have some of the same stuff we do. The kids are watching Pokemon before we head off to school.
So that's our house - our home away from home. Old but comfy and in a perfect location - which reminds me - it's also great for visitors. There's room on our floors - but book early!
1 comment:
Hey Carter-Darling family -
Love the blog - I smell a book deal! Your house and area and the city of Melbourne sound terrific.
Hope James' first day of school is as smashin as the other Darling boys.
Love to all - L, D, M, H & P
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