the moving Cost

Ohhh I hope this is the one and only moving we need to do here in Brisbane. Besides the exhausting period, there are some money that we need to set aside for this purpose. Here are the rough figure:

Hire movers = $40 on wkdays, $50 on wknd (we hired them on wkend, for 3 hours)
Utility moving/reconnection fees:
Telephone/fixed line = $59
Electricity = $28.70
Broadband = $99

Apa lagi ek...... hmmmmmmm

Oh yes!! Tu tak masuk cost peluh dan keringat....ahaks......

the NEW Crib..

WELCOME to our new crib. A bit smaller, but cosy. Windy, shady, cheaper (a lot cheaper). With some defect, but tolerable. And we LOVE the new place.

Rumah nie sejuk sikit, nyaman je rasa...terutama masa summer nie. Remember the movers that I wrote about in previous entries, the man said, "you have a good apartment here, because the old tenant was a good person, and now you move in here, so it has a good vibe". By coincidence, the movers also helped the old tenant to move out to a new place. Atang knew the tenant, a muslim indian or bangladesh family. Muslims, maybe that was what the mover refer to as a good vibe.

And, remember in some of my old entries, I did mentioned about a malaysian couple who live one level below us. At the new apartment, there is also a malaysian family living nearby, on the same level with us. Another good vibe ya...

more pictures in our fotopages

we have to say Goodbye...

It is so hard to say goodbye to our old apartment. So many memories, sweet and sad. We have hosted so many event. My parents, my brother and his family, came and stayed. It has been 21 months. But, nothing last forever in this world right. Kalau tak kerana sewanya yang ridiculous, we would definately will stay on until I complete my study......




So long, farewell, old apartment....may the new tenant take good care of you....


p.s. In the bus, on the way to my office, I will pass by this apartment. Masih lagi sayu bila nengoknye...

it's Cleaning time

On Sunday we came back to the old apartment for clean up. We were given a list by the rental agent of things that we need to do before vacating the property. Banyak benda nak kena buat, tapi kena buat, because it is one of the requirement to claim back your bond. Lagipun tak nak ada bad record, mana tau lepas nie kena pindah rumah lagi.


We completed all the tasks; scrubbing, mopping, vacuuming, wiping, reinstore or changing, etc. We started at 9.30am, ended at around 3pm. Actually, the initial plan was not to immediately vacate the old apartment. Our contract ends on 17 of January. When our application on the new apartment was approved, we don't mind paying the rent for both apartments, bleh la kalau nak cover for a few weeks. Sebenarnya boleh kalau nak break lease, but we want to keep everything simple, yela kalau nak break lease nak kena carik orang for replacement. End up if you couldn't find any, still you have to continue paying the rent. So we have plan our budget, and we can afford for a couple of weeks, jadi takpe la kalau pay for both apartments. Maybe we could make the old one as a transit accommodation for the newly arrival.


However, there was a last minute change. Our agent called us up one day and asked us whether we could vacate the property as soon as we want too, so that he can move in a tenant. Our new apartment is also under the same agent (we assumed this was one of the reason our application was approved immediately). Apparently, the agent need to remove the tenant from the place he was currently renting due to some renovation work. We agreed to that. Tu yang terus bersih segala tu, except for 1 thing. We couldn't hire a carpet cleaning service because they were already booked up until new year. Carpet cleaning by professional cleaner is one of the requirement for vacating, it applys to all rental agency. Kalau ada pet, kena hire professional fumigation lagi. Since, there were non carpet cleaning professional available, and because the new tenant need to move in before Xmas eve, jadinya, carpet tak dapat dicuci laaa... The agent will arrange for carpet cleaning service later.

So, when all the cleaning activity was done, sedih pulak nak meninggalkan this old apartment. Banyak kenangan weh....

(It's Cleaned and Empty......)


sobs.....

the busiest weekend

....it was busy and tiring weekend, but the payoff overcomes the fatigueness we had. On that Saturday, I woke up early, made scramble eggs, just eggs no toast no sausages, for breakfast. We have stop stocking up food to make the moving more easier. Itupun dah berbakul-bakul of food we kept in our neighbour's refrigerator (tumpang sat, nak pindah fridge kene tutup kan). After breakfast, we went to Kmart to get some new light bulbs. We need to change some of the burn out light bulbs before vacating the unit. We came home, and continue packing while waiting for the movers.

Exactly at 10am we heard someone calling at the door. I opened the door and saw a couple, a man and a woman, beaming at me. The man gave salam, but I didn't hear it, so he repeated the salam, and then I asked him, "Sorry, are you a muslim?". Oh, at that time I didn't realise I was harsh. Tengah kalut-kalut nak pindah, my brain can't process faster. And with that kalutness, I forgot to reply his salam correctly. So I just ignore it, but luckily no offense taken by the other party, but instead he continued by saying, "I read the Quran". Semoga terbuka la hatinya iya, InsyaAllah. Sib baik la atang layan dia ngan soal jawab pasal Islam sikit2.

Anyway, this couple worked, I tell you, damned quick. They came inside the house, looked around, and figure out how to fit our things inside their van. Yes, they transported our things by using just one van. Our bulky items include washing machine, dryer, fridge, a sofa bed, a queen size bed, mattresses, bookshelf, 4 tables, 1 coffee table, a few side tables and some chairs. Plus, we have tens of boxes. Both of them were talking to each other, planning what will go first and what will go last. Took them 3 trips to have everything moved. The lady is so exhausted after the second trip, mind you we lived at 2nd floor, luckily our new unit is only located on the first floor, and has direct access from the road. Penat seh!!.. Me and atang also made a number of trips to move small things like plates, clothes, food stuff etc. Dengan panas terik lagi, it is summer, we drank glasses and glasses of cold water.

(furnitures yang berteraburan..... during this time the movers were on their way to our new apartment...the first trip)

Even when the couple finished removing all the bulky items plus all the boxes, we still have some unpacked items. So atang called up a friend for help. It was ended at 4pm. Ohhh masa tu dah tak larat dah. Sengal, semput, denyut-denyut semua ada. But I can't see things unpacked, especially clothings and kitchen stuff and food. So I continue unpacking, and finally I called it a day at around 10pm...... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....tido mati malam tu.....

(nie kat apartment baru....)

Prologue: The moving

Alhamdullillah, we have settle down in our new place. Phewww... what a day we had, opppsss 3 days actually, moving, unpacking, cleaning, rearranging, shopping, discarding, yadayadayada .

Am still feeling tired and sleepy while typing this... got to have some coffee..... planning to spend the day writing some stories for next week....bilo la nak abis tulis report nie oiii!!.... well can't do that right, my brain refuse to work today ahaks.... Anyway, will be in the office even on Xmas day (dah bukan hari kita kan, buat ape nak cuti) only.... but not on boxing day, yeah!!

I need some caffein right now (mana kupi aik cheong ku?!!)......

BRB

(update @ 11.28am : alamak baru perasan, tinggal sorang2 kat ofis, pagi tadi ada sorang minah, la nie dah ilang.... ofis nie aku yang punya...yah yah!!)

We are moving...

...to a new apartment this weekend. Yup, we have found a new place, 2 bedroom apartment or known as a unit, a bit smaller than the current one, but a lot cheaper. We could save about AD100 p/w with the new apartment.

So we are now busy packing. We have packed almost 60% of our stuff, sold and gave away some of the unnecessary furniture.

This is Yaya's room, there used to be a queen size bed in this room. We bought it last year for mak and abah when they came to take care of us during my confinement.

We have already made arrangement with the movers. Oh am a bit emotional of leaving this apartment, our first home in Brisbane.

Will be very busy this weekend and probably a few days after that. May have problem with the internet connection due to the moving. Regardless, I have created some entries for next week. Have a great weekend kengkawan. Jaga diri, jaga kesihatan.

The killer storm

Maybe some of you knew about the storm that hit Brisbane last Sunday (a week before this recent Sunday). Heavy rain, strong wind, lightning and thunder are normal occurences during Spring in Brisbane. But this year, storm came and brought disaster to one suburb called The Gap. It is about 10km from our home.

On that Sunday, 16th of November, I heard rolling thunder (kat sini la baru faham apa maksud rolling thunder, macam lagu A-Ha. Seriously, it sounded like a full barrel rolling down a hill), at around 4pm. I was ironing clothes at that time. Lightning struck, followed by thunder, and repeating. Then came heavy rain. Strong wind, hollowing, it was scary.

I managed to take some pictures.






I only knew about the disaster at The Gap when one of my colleague mentioned about it on Tuesday, 2 days after the aftermath. It was pretty bad, roof blewn away, people became homeless, many loses, flood, and worst the storm has claimed 1 life. Alhamdullillah nothing bad happened near our house.



Remember the entry about my kitchen floor that was flooded last week. Apparently another place called Ipswich was hit by a storm that night, and it was also bad. According to weather forecast, another storm is coming soon. Just hope it wouldn't bring disaster again.

House hunting

For the past couple of weeks, me and atang have been looking for a new place to call a home. Our contract with the current unit is going to end in January. We are not going to renew the contract because of the rental. We now pay $350 per week. Yes my friend, you are reading it correctly, $350 per WEEK. With that amount of money, you can pay mortgage for a semi-D house in Malaysia. But it is nothing ordinary with the rental price here in Brisbane. Especially if you want to find a house that is closer to university. Not that it matters to me, because my university is right in the city. So technically I can live where ever I like. However, when we moved in at our current home, we want to be near with other Malaysian, plus there is also a musollah (surau) nearby. Furthermore, at that time our option were limited, in fact we didn't have opportunity to enee-minee-mainee-moe, because it was difficult to find a rental unit in vicinity. I have wrote about our difficulty in house hunting in this entry.

Our rent started at $300 per week. At that time, we didn't bother much about the price. The unit is big, with 2 large rooms, a laundry room inside the unit, separate bath and toilet, 2 balcony, a garage that can fit 2 cars and a spare room for storage. In addition to that, it is just a short walk to a bus stop or I can also walk to citycat jetty. We have renewed the contract 2 times, and have been living for 19 months now.

Property in Brisbane is getting expensive. The mortgage price hike is unbearable. And that was why our rent increased from $300 to $320 (1st renewal) and $350 (2nd renewal). So atang and me decided to look for a new, smaller and cheaper place because we knew the rent will increase to maybe $380 when we renew the contract.

So looking for a new place is currently our agenda. Here are the steps that we go through for house hunting:

1. Search for available rental unit via websites (there are a number of websites that provide this service).

2. Before that you must know suburb you have interest in, and your max rental price. You must also take into consider number of rooms, say if you have 2 kids, you can't rent a 1 room unit. They have some rule that you have to abide.

3. Once you have find a property of interest, write down the particular or print out the brochure.

4. Call the agent to arrange a visit to the property. You MUST visit or inspect the property before applying. Sometimes the agent has indicated a date for inspection in the brochure.

5. Visit the property as scheduled.

6. If you are interested with the property, fill in the application form. And you also need to supply some documents to support you application. Documents include photo ID/passport, bank statement, utility bill, your rent ledger, pay slips/fund script etc. You have to meet a specific points (determine by agent, and it is varies across agents) in order to be eligible to rent the property.

7. Submit your application and wait for their call.

8. Repeat this action, until you have succesfully obtain a rental unit.

How tiring right? So far we have call out to ask about 8 units, and visited 5 units (the other 3 have been taken up). And we have only submitted 1 application (1 application for 1 unit). Why only 1 application?.... You have to wait for another entry, my friend.

The carpet is clean now

Yesterday, the property agent called me and inform, that a carpet cleaning service will come at around 7 pm. At half-past 7, atang called the carpet-cleaning-guy, and we were told that he will be arrived at 9pm. So while waiting, atang watched a movie, while I did some reading. Then a lightning has forced atang to switch off the TV, and he dozed off immediately after that.

I felt sleepy too, couldn't stand it any longer, I called it-a-day, woke atang up and said I am going to bed. It was already past 9 o'clock, assumed that the carpet-cleaning-guy couldn't make it, and postponed the schedule.

I might have been dozed off about 10 minutes when I heard atang calling me from the living room "nie, kunci mana... dah datang dah..." Adehh.... I woke up, found my keys and gave it to atang, and went back...to sleep. While dozing off, I heard, "hey mate....yadayadayada..... how did the water get in....yadayadayada...... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

And I woke up this morning, the carpet is clean....hoorayy.... still a bit damp, need some airing. Anyway, the carpet is clean. I don't know what time did the process ended. And don't know what time atang went back to sleep. But I know that he had finish watching 2 movies last night.

Thanks carpet-cleaning-guy. And thanks to the agent for pronto response.

"Sekali air bah, sekali carpet ku berubah"

Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I will wake up at 2.20 am, to prepare Atang's very early breakfast and some sandwiches for him to eat during his shift. Atang works as a cab driver in Brisbane. His shift will start at 3 am and ended at 3 pm. It is normal, during this early hour, I would practically drag myself, with my eyes half open, into the kitchen.

Once I reached the kitchen, I felt water on my feet, soaking my socks. I was shocked, and the brain immediately sent signal to the whole body, to completely waking me up from my half-conscious state. I switch on the light, and saw water all over the kitchen floor.



I thought at first, my fridge was giving the problem, so I open the freezer door and expected more water coming out from the freezer. But everything is perfectly normal inside the freezer. And then I realised, the carpet is soaking wet.



It was raining heavily that night. Another heavy rain in Brisbane (I planned to write about that great storm that claimed 1 live in Brisbane last Sunday, but will write about it later). Even before I slept that night, the rain sounded like bucket-by-bucket of water thrown onto the house. But looking at the roof, there was no indication of leaking. Only the carpet, near the dining area, was affected. And because the carpet was totally dreanched, the excess water, that couldn't be contained by the carpet, leaked into the kitchen floor.

Atang was taking his bath at that time. Once he was out of the bathroom door, I shouted, "Atang, sini sini....". With shocked, he stepped all over that soaking carpet (tu yang gambar sebelum entry ni penuh ngan tapak kaki, tapak kaki atang la tu...alahaiii). And later we realised that the water came from our neighbour home, because the whole perimeter of the carpet at the wall that divided our home from our neighbour home was drenched. By chance, my neighbour has moved out from the house on Monday. Maybe he moved out because there were some leak in the house after that Sunday storm, we don't know that. But actually we are aware that he is moving to a new place since we got back from Malaysia. Maybe by coincidence.

Anyway....after preparing Atang's meal. I start mopping.


Half an hour later....


I finish draining the water from the kitchen floor at nearly 3.40 am. Subh pun dah masuk. Total volume of water, 2 bucket full (almost to the brim). About the carpet, I can't do anything about it. Need to call the agent in the morning.

Oh yes... not just the kitchen and dining area, one part of the living room was also affected, near the sliding door. And my only Malaysian neighbour, who live right under my neighbour's home is also experiencing the same problem. Hmmm...not exactly the same, because unlike us, water was dripping from the ceiling, but almost all over the living area, dining and kitchen area (macam ada swimming pool aje kat rumah neighbour sebelah nie, jangan2 air bertakung)....

Am waiting for the agent to come and look at this mess. Damp carpet, faham-faham aje laa..berbau....

More pictures in our fotopages.

Stay home today, I must

I have to stay home today. Need to call the property agent to come and look at the mess.

Splish splash @ VSP

Last weekend we stayed at VSP. Nothing can be more pleasure than staying at home. We have live at VSP since end of 2002. Yaya was 4 months at that time. The atmosphere, the ambience, the surrounding, makes us never wants to leave it, and it fits the definition of "Home sweet home". Even athirah was so keen with the house. On the first day we arrived at the house, she quickly adapted to it, explored the house without any hesitation. We were astonished by that. She was so restless and crankly at my mom's house, till she couldn't stay away from me. But at VSP, upon arrival, I put her down for awhile to get settle, expecting her to cry her lung out. But nothing came out from her. What she did was, exploring the house herself. I think she too can sense that this is 'our home', a safe place for her.



Arrghhhh.... whenever I think of this... I feel like I dont want to leave Malaysia.... sob sob...




Anyway, my story today is about spending quality time with loves one. We live in an apartment that includes a swimming and a wading pool. That was where yaya n I spent most of our weekends together before we went to Brisbane. Yaya is a water baby. She and water, tidak boleh dipisahkan. So last Saturday, I took yaya n thirah for a deep. We went to the wading pool first for a splash time with thirah. Thirah was so scared, she didnt want to leave me, clinging on me all the time (terasa macam kaola ngan baby kaola la pulak). Unlike yaya, thirah has never been exposed to a pool. Maybe that is why she felt uncomfortable.










Yaya, tak payah citer laa, persuading me to go into the big pool. Later thirah started sneezing, she was getting cold. I gave thirah to babah to take her home, while I took yaya for a swim. It has been 1 year and half, I managed to swim just 100 meter, lepas tu pancit. Yaya pun dah lame tak swim, so she was bit scared to let go of my hand. At 10 we went up, to get ready to go out.

Our home at Douglas St. St Lucia

As at 19 of March we have sent in 10 applications to rental agents. So far almost 7 applications has been rejected. Bengang jugak la bila dengar news tu. Sometimes the agents called, to inform us that our appointments has been cancelled because" ....there has been an application submitted..." an application submitted!!!. But why when we sent in our application we have to wait for others to submit before they process the applications. Why we are not the only eligible applicant? Why is it we have to wait for others? Why???

So on the 19th, we kinda have a break from house hunting... we have done our best... 10 applications... more than 20 house viewing appointments.... Hours, days are spent looking for a house.... so now we leave it to Allah... Because Allah knows what is best for us.... And He does... because today, when we took our day off of house hunting...without our knowing of coz.. Allah has answered our prayer... but before that let me tell you what happened before we received the good news...

Rewind.. on sat, 17th, we have 4 appointments... The first is at Douglas St, St Lucia... Actually our appointment for this unit is on Monday, 19... But the agent called us on that Sat morning, asking if it is possible for us to come on the Sat. We agreed, and that was the 1st house we saw that day. I fell in love with it immediately... honestly... and I kinda have a hunch that Allah is showing me that this is the house. Although the rent is the max that we can afford ($300 pw), but with a 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom with separate loo, kitchenette, 1 laundry room, spacious living room that could be split into two area, dining area, 2 balconys, 1 store room located at ground floor and 1 garage that could fit in 2 smaller cars... we are more than satisfied. Plus no pet allowed in this unit. So we dont have to worry about dog's hair. So we submitted our application to Ray White (the agent) . Then we have another appointment at Bank St, West End. It is a Queenslander. Very nice, very clean with new paint job, polished timber floor. The rental cost is $250. I like the layout. But I like the Douglas St much better, in terms of space, easy access, location. But we submitted the application anyway, who knows our luck right. We didnt want to miss any chance that we got. Our last viewing is at Barnsley St, West End. It is a nice town house, but far from public transport.

So comes Monday the 19th, as I said before, we kinda take a break from house hunting, and we went to RTD to register the car. A Daihatsu Curoe that we bought on the 14th, from a private seller in Gold Coast, yup we went to Gold Coast to get it. Back to the registration story, because we dont have any permanent address, so we couldnt register the car. But we managed to get our 18+ card done. Then we went straight home. It is 3 something in the afternoon, both of us are exhausted, yaya were sleeping, then my phone ringing. As I was lazy to get it, I just let my voicemail recorded the message. But I couldnt help wondering who it is from, so I dialed the voicemail #, and listened to the message left by Fabio from Ray White...and it is not a bad news... at first I thought it is... but listening carefully...what... our application has been accepted....wow..... and at that second, atang's phone rang.... Guess who's calling, Fabio, and confirming what I have heard before.... We were soooooooo happy....Alhamdullillah..... hey I cried.... Thank you Allah......

So we have live here for 4 weeks now... we have paid 2 times 2 weeks rent.... so see pics taken of our home at http://fazidelias.fotopages.com/
Our bond will last on Sept. But I really hope we could continue living here until I finishes my study. But if the rent increases unreasonably, we have no choice but to move out.