On Flat-hunting

The property rental market in Melbourne is decidedly a seller's one at the moment. To the extent that, of the 12 properties my relocation consultant had yesterday arranged to see today, 5 had gone by the time we set off this morning, and another one after we'd seen it during the day.

So of the 6 that we saw, there was a fair amount of variety. 2 very new flats, one with only one bedroom and the other really nice and very central but far too small. 4 flats in reasonably old buildings - these were all very good. As seems traditional with Australian housing, each of them was totally different from the others.

So I've put my name down for one in Armadale - fingers crossed (the back-up is one in South Yarra that I'd be just as happy with). It's slightly further away from the city centre than I'd originally planned, but it's 100 yards from a tram stop, 200 from a local train station and half a mile from a supermarket. Google Maps says it's 2.3 miles from work, so walkable at a push, but it'll probably be a tram. It's totally unfurnished, though, which is a small stumbling point - means I will need to rent some furniture and make use of one of the bits of my employment package I thought sounded a bit funny when offered it.

I really have to start getting my head round this metric system!