I've begun searching for my next home. Anneli is returning sometime in August, and I suppose she will want her room back. I'll be sad to leave this place as I've become so accustomed to my routine (location, commute, grocery shopping, the neighborhood). I'll miss Phill, the beach, and my prostitute friends (KIDDING!). After visiting other neighborhoods, I'm excited to step it up a little from grungy/dodgy to funky/swanky. I look at this venture not only as a search for lodging, but also as a search for friends - ingenious, though so far less rewarding than hoped.
There are a couple websites I've been using to find potential housing, mostly flatmate finders. However, I discovered Gumtree (Australia's version of Craig's List) after going to lunch with some people from the 5th & 6th floors on Friday (I work on the 3rd floor, so I withstood a little grief from my group about disregarding group loyalty). Readings, a local bookstore on Lygon Street in Carlton, is renowned for posting available house shares. I stopped by their postings windows around noon today, along with a crowd of other home-seekers. There seem to be far more people searching than places available. Yikes! After taking down contact info for a dozen or more places, I went to lunch with Alex, a friend from work who lives only a few minutes from there. We went to a great cafe just a couple doors down from Readings.
So, here's a run down of the places I've seen so far:
#1 - Prison with project neighbors
The first place was a house in St Kilda, a 5 minute walk down the road from where I live now. The house was located on a dark street with overgrown grass parkways and bars over the windows. The house interior was well kept with an open floorplan, a large kitchen and dining room, two courtyards, and a decent sized bedroom. Alex was a mechanical engineer with a great Aussie accent, who openly admitted that the neighbors across the street could be a little dodgy and wondered if it was project/low income apartments or something of that nature. Ummm, I'm going to go ahead and pass on that.
#2 - Slick salesmen in swanky maze
I visited the second place on the same night, and it couldn't have been more different than the first - thankfully. As I walked along Chapel Street, then Toorak Road, I passed swanky well-lit shoe stores, cafes, and other upscale shops. One of the shops was named Digbys (Jack's given name), and I passed by a dog park shortly thereafter. It was fate! Surely this place would be great. It was located between South Yarra and Toorak, two of the richest, snootiest neighborhoods in Melbourne. Wouldn't you know I just loved it? The apartment building is on a tree-lined side street with easy access to the trains and trams. It's on the fourth level, with a maze of stairs to the top. There is a fountain in the center of an atrium, with the stairs all stacked on one side of the atrium, with a ring walkway encircling the fountain on each level that must be traversed before reaching the flight of stairs to the next level. Can you picture this at all? I felt like a gerbil completing the maze before I reached the apartment on offer. It was adequate, but not exceptional. The bedroom was smallish and the closet was in the hall!! However, it was filled with two good looking men in suits, both in real estate and easy talkers (dressed for the occasion - ya right).
#3 - Large screens in beach-side retirement villa
The third place I visited was a townhouse in Port Melbourne, a block from the beach, and probably only 2-3 km from the city, a pretty amazing location. Adrian stumbled to the door to give me the grand tour, a great feat for him after a big night out for his best friend's birthday. He was showered and trying - I gotta give him credit for that. The townhouse had wood floors and a huge courtyard with a great barbie out back. There were two MASSIVE flat screen tv's - one in the living room and one in the dining room/kitchen area. The room was a good size with a giant closet, with more closet/storage space in the hallway. The other roommate Mike is moving to France in three months, and Adrian was only convinced he'd be there for the next six months or so... not sounding too permanent. I decided to head over to Bay St, the main drag in Port Melbourne, since I hadn't explored the area yet. Granted it was noon on a Saturday, BUT it felt like a retirement community/beach resort. I saw a slew of older people, all very well outfitted and groomed, with upscale shops around every corner. It didn't have the youthful edge I'd enjoy.
#4 - Garage sale dump site in Little Italy
The fourth visit was to a large apartment in Carlton, off of Lygon Street, where all the Italian restaurants are located. It's location is PRIMO, directly across from a park and only a couple blocks from the northern edge of the CBD. I could walk to work in 20 minutes from this place. I would have an average size room with a large closet and my own bathroom (they call this ensuite here). There was also a balcony off the room, with one side facing into the living room, and the other 2" from a brick building wall (ooh la la!). The entrance seemed promising, with marble floors, which led to a gigantic lounge area FILLED (overflowing) with junk furniture - FIVE older-than-old couches with holes and stains and uck oozing out of them, three crap tables with unbalanced, peeling tabletops, and other piles of junk everywhere. I felt like I was in a thrift store or garage sale, not a home. Uck!!
I'm so OVER the house hunt. PLEASE, let me find something soon.
