I have missed this Taxi driver’s story in between.
It was a Sunday( 3rd July), and we were moving from St.Leonards to Parramatta. He was not sure of the location of where we wanted to go, but had a street map. I just helped him out in spotting the place we wanted to go, to the precise point where the apartments are.
Then he started with asking me whether I am a software professional, and whom I am working for and all. I took this opportunity to go in to his life and get his story.
I will call him Ching, a Chinese migrated to Australia some 10 years ago. He had come to Australia some 10 years ago. He struggled a bit to find a job, and then started with driving taxi. Once slowly settled down his parents in China started looking for a girl for him. He says, then, he could see the girls have changed over 3-4 years when he went back to his home country. They were only looking for money. He was telling some examples of his friends who married from China and the girl ran away with a rich man in Sydney, after an year or so !
So, Ching dropped that plan and found a girl, basically Vietnamese, settled in Sydney itself. She also came to work and almost 3 years she has been in Sydney when Ching met her. He feels that this gave him the advantage that she will be comfortable with the environment, and don’t have to worry much about her language problems or cultural shocks. He is now married to her and has got two kids.
The taxi drivers works in shifts. One person is only allowed to work for 8-9 hours only. They take one day off a week. Most of the drivers, Ching says, start by 6am or 7am and work till 3pm. Ching normally starts an hour late, and stays for an hour or two more so that he can exploit the demand for taxi around 3 pm when all taxis vanishes. The second set of people takes over to work till midnight, after that.
Ching is a Buddhist, but he was telling me he will eat fish and meat. Once a week they will fast, that is fully vegetarian. I was about to ask him why, as the followers of Buddha – the father of Ahimsa, they are eating meat, but then I realise in spite of all this wisdom and charm, this question may be too much for a poor taxi driver ! I have the danger of us been forced to get down somewhere on the roadside with all my luggage J !
I am not sure whether I am becoming a story teller from a traveller, but I think these stories are also part of the journey J.
By the by, these guys here never worry about helping you out with loading your luggage, and never worry about the tip too! If you give them a tip, they are more than happy, that is all. I am just telling this, as it is the other way in US.
Tailpiece:- About Driver's license in the Aussie Government Site J,
Whether you rent or buy, you'll need a valid driver's license. If you have a driver's license from your home country, with your photograph on it, you probably won't need anything else. In some cases you may need to carry a translation of your license if it isn't in English. You probably do not need a so-called international drivers' license - they went out of fashion years ago.
Information :- Taxi charges-
Booking- $ 1.15,
Flag off - $ 2.75( what we call minimum),
per km - $ 1.56
People don't care how much you know; they want to know how much you care !
Friday, August 26, 2005
Friday, August 19, 2005
AUSSIE WEEKENDER 6
The days are mostly pleasant here. It was rainy for one or two days in June, but it is no more like that. The temperature is also pretty consistent.
The shops normally closes around 5-5:30, except one or two like Woolworths. On Thursdays, they are open till late, mostly till 9. So, if you can plan your purchases on Thursday, weekends will be all yours!
For this weekend, we left the Saturday for sleeping, and planned for Sunday. Again, it will be 12 by the time it is morning for me J. This week, the rail maintenance was for our area, and Parramatta station was closed. We got a notice in all our post boxes notifying this! This replacement buses till Granville, the next rail junction from where we can carry on with train journey. The day’s plan was to get down at Town Hall and go to the top of Sydney Tower.
We had a downtown’s map to guide us. A 10 mins walk from Town Hall station, we came across some old huge malls on the way. A shopping complex built in early 60s or before -something like a shopping complex looking like our old government office buildings !
Then, was this shopping area with two huge malls on both sides, and from the middle of one of them goes the Tower, going up and up for some 1000 Feet – it is about 4 times our Kutub Minar, New Delhi ; 4 times the height of The monument, London ; only 81 metres less than the Empire State building Structure ! I can swear it is the highest view I have ever got from a man made structure! (I am not sure of the Fire Exit :D ). There are 4 round floors on the top, and an open terrace!
The first two floors are restaurants. You have to take $40 entry ticket (per person) and get in to another set of lifts to reach one of those revolving restaurants. Imagine sitting and eating at some 1000 feet high, and while you eat, the building is rotating slowly, to finish one rotation in an hour ! You will see the whole of Sydney!
This is told to be the highest building in Southern hemisphere. Aussies are lucky that US went in to the northern hemisphere J !
We had our lunch to finish. We settled for a north indian shop in the food court downstairs (Central Plaza), which got settled for around $15 - for rice, a curry, some pakodas and pappadams ! Then we just had a walk around, went to the entry ticket counter by 2:30. The entry to the top floor for view costs $22 per person and this comes along with a hologram show known as ‘Oz-Trek’ when you come down.
A small queue for the checking before entering the lift, for sharp objects or weapons, and here we go. The lift was fast enough to take us to the top in less than one minute, non-stop.
This floor is only for viewing. The middle portion has lifts, souvenir shop, and steps to go to the coffee & bar below. There is this terrace on top, which is open! They charge you $110 to go there, rather take you there, with safety equipments and it is referred as ‘Sky walk’.
Views from all sides were looking good. One part had the view of the sea with the Bondi beach, we had the harbour, and the main parts on the other side! We spend around an hour on the top, didn’t buy the souvenirs as a small 15cm model of the Tower cost $23!
We came down to enjoy a Virtual Reality show, which took us to an air ride above the harbour bridge, and then a lot of places in Australia ! It was a first time experience for me, have heard of such things from Brajesh and others – the shows in Universal Studios. May be it is a similar one?
We had spotted some beautiful meadows and fountains( Hyde Park) from the top, just walked in that direction and spent a peaceful evening there. Walked over to the Harbour, back to the Town Hall station, we had done with the day and back home by 8. One more weekend is over.
Tailpiece :-
Information :-
About the Sydney Tower: (taken from) http://www.sydneyskytour.com.au/tower.html
Construction of Sydney Tower Centrepoint began in late 1970 with the first 52 shops opening in 1972. The office component was completed in 1974 and the final stage of the complex, the Sydney Tower, was opened to the public in August 1981.
Ranked as one of the safest buildings in the world the design has made the tower capable of withstanding earthquakes and extreme wind conditions. 56 cables stabilise the tower, and if the strands of these cables were laid end to end, they would reach from Sydney to Alice Springs, or from Sydney to New Zealand.
The turret has a capacity of 960 persons, and contains two levels of restaurants, a coffee lounge, an Observation Deck, two telecommunication transmission levels and three plant levels.
Three high speed double Deck Lifts take approximately 40 seconds to travel from top to bottom.
The 1504 stairs, constantly monitored by security, provide emergency exit from the tower. Divided into two fire-isolated sets of pressurised stairs, they allow patrons direct access to street level.
The 420 windows of the tower are cleaned by a semi-automatic window-cleaning machine, which recycles and filters 50 litres of water. This machine takes two days to clean all 420 windows.
A 162,000 litre water tank, the tower's primary damping system, one million dollars worth of fire protection equipment and countless sprinklers add to the safety standards which far exceed normal building requirements.
The shops normally closes around 5-5:30, except one or two like Woolworths. On Thursdays, they are open till late, mostly till 9. So, if you can plan your purchases on Thursday, weekends will be all yours!
For this weekend, we left the Saturday for sleeping, and planned for Sunday. Again, it will be 12 by the time it is morning for me J. This week, the rail maintenance was for our area, and Parramatta station was closed. We got a notice in all our post boxes notifying this! This replacement buses till Granville, the next rail junction from where we can carry on with train journey. The day’s plan was to get down at Town Hall and go to the top of Sydney Tower.
We had a downtown’s map to guide us. A 10 mins walk from Town Hall station, we came across some old huge malls on the way. A shopping complex built in early 60s or before -something like a shopping complex looking like our old government office buildings !
Then, was this shopping area with two huge malls on both sides, and from the middle of one of them goes the Tower, going up and up for some 1000 Feet – it is about 4 times our Kutub Minar, New Delhi ; 4 times the height of The monument, London ; only 81 metres less than the Empire State building Structure ! I can swear it is the highest view I have ever got from a man made structure! (I am not sure of the Fire Exit :D ). There are 4 round floors on the top, and an open terrace!
The first two floors are restaurants. You have to take $40 entry ticket (per person) and get in to another set of lifts to reach one of those revolving restaurants. Imagine sitting and eating at some 1000 feet high, and while you eat, the building is rotating slowly, to finish one rotation in an hour ! You will see the whole of Sydney!
This is told to be the highest building in Southern hemisphere. Aussies are lucky that US went in to the northern hemisphere J !
We had our lunch to finish. We settled for a north indian shop in the food court downstairs (Central Plaza), which got settled for around $15 - for rice, a curry, some pakodas and pappadams ! Then we just had a walk around, went to the entry ticket counter by 2:30. The entry to the top floor for view costs $22 per person and this comes along with a hologram show known as ‘Oz-Trek’ when you come down.
A small queue for the checking before entering the lift, for sharp objects or weapons, and here we go. The lift was fast enough to take us to the top in less than one minute, non-stop.
This floor is only for viewing. The middle portion has lifts, souvenir shop, and steps to go to the coffee & bar below. There is this terrace on top, which is open! They charge you $110 to go there, rather take you there, with safety equipments and it is referred as ‘Sky walk’.
Views from all sides were looking good. One part had the view of the sea with the Bondi beach, we had the harbour, and the main parts on the other side! We spend around an hour on the top, didn’t buy the souvenirs as a small 15cm model of the Tower cost $23!
We came down to enjoy a Virtual Reality show, which took us to an air ride above the harbour bridge, and then a lot of places in Australia ! It was a first time experience for me, have heard of such things from Brajesh and others – the shows in Universal Studios. May be it is a similar one?
We had spotted some beautiful meadows and fountains( Hyde Park) from the top, just walked in that direction and spent a peaceful evening there. Walked over to the Harbour, back to the Town Hall station, we had done with the day and back home by 8. One more weekend is over.
Tailpiece :-
Information :-
About the Sydney Tower: (taken from) http://www.sydneyskytour.com.au/tower.html
Construction of Sydney Tower Centrepoint began in late 1970 with the first 52 shops opening in 1972. The office component was completed in 1974 and the final stage of the complex, the Sydney Tower, was opened to the public in August 1981.
Ranked as one of the safest buildings in the world the design has made the tower capable of withstanding earthquakes and extreme wind conditions. 56 cables stabilise the tower, and if the strands of these cables were laid end to end, they would reach from Sydney to Alice Springs, or from Sydney to New Zealand.
The turret has a capacity of 960 persons, and contains two levels of restaurants, a coffee lounge, an Observation Deck, two telecommunication transmission levels and three plant levels.
Three high speed double Deck Lifts take approximately 40 seconds to travel from top to bottom.
The 1504 stairs, constantly monitored by security, provide emergency exit from the tower. Divided into two fire-isolated sets of pressurised stairs, they allow patrons direct access to street level.
The 420 windows of the tower are cleaned by a semi-automatic window-cleaning machine, which recycles and filters 50 litres of water. This machine takes two days to clean all 420 windows.
A 162,000 litre water tank, the tower's primary damping system, one million dollars worth of fire protection equipment and countless sprinklers add to the safety standards which far exceed normal building requirements.
Friday, August 12, 2005
AUSSIE WEEKENDER 5
The Sun was shining, my first allowance is credited in my account and it is a Saturday too! What a way to begin a weekend!
There is a day-tripper ticket, similar to weekend pass in London, which allows you to travel in train, bus or ferry through out the city, except for the private services. This costs some AU$15 whereas London weekend pass costs 8 pounds. But the latter is valid for two days! I would have to say transport here is costlier than London!!!
I checked the ferry schedule and we decided to leave by the one at 12. It is just 10min walk to the Ferry from home. We reached the ferry in time; it was big enough to accommodate 100+ people. The water was stinking, but the landscape looked beautiful!
And we started by 12. It was quite sunny. We both chose to stand in the deck with many other people, enjoying the winter Sun. Imagine a single ferry takes you from a canal in English country side (with those small stone bridge, with pavements and meadows on the banks), then in to wet lands like in Pichavaram (any wetlands will do ;) ), and slowly enter the canals of Venice !!! Now you see houses with entrance to the water, and shed for the boat (like a car shed) ! Slowly the scenario changes as you pass through some vacant land - a factory, lots of ship carriage boxes near it- nearing more urban areas. A huge bridge with road and rail, and then you enter water more of a part of sea than a river. Still, the water is narrow; the hilly roads on the banks are so steep that the parked cars seem like waiting for their turns to jump in to the water!
The water starts getting widened; some schooners standing in the middle! It resembles some pictures of Norway, Greece sort of. Then the real Sydney, incomparable, when the ferry taking a left turn and you suddenly see the harbour bridge and all this skyscrapers behind it, the busy port, the Opera house….You can see a lot of big ferries crossing the water , the waves they send out hits your ferry and it sways. And slowly you cross the harbour bridge, and take a right turn, just before the Opera house on your left, the trip comes to an end at Jetty 4 in Circular Quay.
I think I am exhausted with my words now. But just will be able to say this much that it was a memorable trip for us, and the explanation I gave is not even one tenth of what it really is! But for now, let me continue.
We walked to spot the ‘India Quay’ restaurant, which we had planned for our lunch, thanks to Binish Gopal( with his reference in ‘Sydney Badaees’ I could get its map and menu too, on net). The same was spotted easily, we had just planned for a walk around and come back for lunch. But our fate had other plans ! We were just passing a small bus stop and we saw a bus to the Bondi beach ! We had never travelled in a bus in Australia till now, and this beach was on top in our list for places to visit.
We checked with the driver and boarded the bus, to start another new experience. Through the one way steep roads of downtown, and on our both sides, a lot of old Victorian style buildings, and new concrete skyscrapers, a good mix of them! It slowly became a bit less messy, and purely residential, suburb areas. In some 10-15 minutes, we could see the beach in between the gaps of houses and bushes, down the hill!
Got down at the beach – a beautiful one with white soft sand, waves not very strong, but enough to hit and splash at the cliffs on our both sides. We both forgot the lunch and started walking through the beach - watching the surfers, taking some snaps, and continued the walk climbing the cliff which was projected to the sea, and through a path for pedestrians cut through the middle of the cliff. There were some portions of rocks in front of us, which looked like they were under water for a long time. I think this walk went on for an hour or two. Krithi was excited with the sea and I used it well for this long walk J. By the time she felt that we had getting tired, we had come far away from the beach J ! The main road was somewhere behind the hill, we climbed the steps to the nearest road, it was around 3:30 !
We ended up in a residential area, which was almost empty except some cars passing by. Spotted the nearest bus stop, and checked with the bus timings. But we had no clue where this buses goes to is in the same direction. I appreciate the London bus stops, which use to have a map of the routes which ach buses from that stop goes.
I was right in my worry, the first bus turned up in a few minutes and the driver showed me the bus stop for bus in the opposite direction. Another wait for the correct bus, which dropped us in Bondi Junction rail station.
Again, we were ‘fortunate’ in finding that the station is closed for maintenance and replacement buses are running till ‘Edgecliff’. Took a train from Edgecliff to get down at Town Hall, another train to Circular Quay, it was 4:30 by the time we reached ‘India quay’ for lunch! The fortune was again with us, ‘India quay’ was closed! Biniiiiissshhh….
We had no choice other than stupid Mc Donalds ! Krithi was giving me a look, it was her first birthday after marriage ! I was planning a memorable Indian lunch after the romantic ferry and beach, and see where ‘India Quay’ left me !
Took another ferry to Darling harbour, it would have been another good experience with the sky getting dark, Opera house and the bridge getting lighted – but there was this winter breeze which forced us to get in to the ferry and see all through window glass. I still managed to take some snaps, but without my tripod I doubt whether it will come without a shake !
I went too long ? I doubt yes. Anyway, the best part is over. We waited in the harbour for the fireworks, till 7:30. The mercury was dropping, and with the freezy breeze it was impossible to keep on waiting with no idea of when it will happen. A crowd had gathered and some were saying it 8 and some saying 8:30 ! Some rock music was going on and we had no interest in it anyway. Took a ferry back to the Quay and had a good dinner in ‘India Quay’. The last ferry to Parramatta had gone at 7 itself, so only train was an option.
Tail piece:- “ Australia is the land of Kangaroo. When Captain Cook saw the strange animal for the first time he had no one but the natives to ask what they call it. Unable to understand his question, they replied "Kan Ga Roo" meaning "I don't Know"! Tree Kangaroos of Taronga Zoo, Sydney.” Taken from http://sureshgo.tripod.com/, site of my supersenior who was in REC few years ago and in Sydney as well sometime back. He got nostalgic and wrote back when I wrote about St.Leonards, as he was working there.
Information :- The plug points are different from that in UK and India, I think they insisted to keep a different configuration ! It looks like ‘ / \ ‘ compared to UK ‘ ‘ and Indian, ‘o o’. The earth pin is ‘ ‘ same as UK :D. I am not sure whether the whole Europe follows UK’s method, and whole Asian pins looks like that in India.
There is a day-tripper ticket, similar to weekend pass in London, which allows you to travel in train, bus or ferry through out the city, except for the private services. This costs some AU$15 whereas London weekend pass costs 8 pounds. But the latter is valid for two days! I would have to say transport here is costlier than London!!!
I checked the ferry schedule and we decided to leave by the one at 12. It is just 10min walk to the Ferry from home. We reached the ferry in time; it was big enough to accommodate 100+ people. The water was stinking, but the landscape looked beautiful!
And we started by 12. It was quite sunny. We both chose to stand in the deck with many other people, enjoying the winter Sun. Imagine a single ferry takes you from a canal in English country side (with those small stone bridge, with pavements and meadows on the banks), then in to wet lands like in Pichavaram (any wetlands will do ;) ), and slowly enter the canals of Venice !!! Now you see houses with entrance to the water, and shed for the boat (like a car shed) ! Slowly the scenario changes as you pass through some vacant land - a factory, lots of ship carriage boxes near it- nearing more urban areas. A huge bridge with road and rail, and then you enter water more of a part of sea than a river. Still, the water is narrow; the hilly roads on the banks are so steep that the parked cars seem like waiting for their turns to jump in to the water!
The water starts getting widened; some schooners standing in the middle! It resembles some pictures of Norway, Greece sort of. Then the real Sydney, incomparable, when the ferry taking a left turn and you suddenly see the harbour bridge and all this skyscrapers behind it, the busy port, the Opera house….You can see a lot of big ferries crossing the water , the waves they send out hits your ferry and it sways. And slowly you cross the harbour bridge, and take a right turn, just before the Opera house on your left, the trip comes to an end at Jetty 4 in Circular Quay.
I think I am exhausted with my words now. But just will be able to say this much that it was a memorable trip for us, and the explanation I gave is not even one tenth of what it really is! But for now, let me continue.
We walked to spot the ‘India Quay’ restaurant, which we had planned for our lunch, thanks to Binish Gopal( with his reference in ‘Sydney Badaees’ I could get its map and menu too, on net). The same was spotted easily, we had just planned for a walk around and come back for lunch. But our fate had other plans ! We were just passing a small bus stop and we saw a bus to the Bondi beach ! We had never travelled in a bus in Australia till now, and this beach was on top in our list for places to visit.
We checked with the driver and boarded the bus, to start another new experience. Through the one way steep roads of downtown, and on our both sides, a lot of old Victorian style buildings, and new concrete skyscrapers, a good mix of them! It slowly became a bit less messy, and purely residential, suburb areas. In some 10-15 minutes, we could see the beach in between the gaps of houses and bushes, down the hill!
Got down at the beach – a beautiful one with white soft sand, waves not very strong, but enough to hit and splash at the cliffs on our both sides. We both forgot the lunch and started walking through the beach - watching the surfers, taking some snaps, and continued the walk climbing the cliff which was projected to the sea, and through a path for pedestrians cut through the middle of the cliff. There were some portions of rocks in front of us, which looked like they were under water for a long time. I think this walk went on for an hour or two. Krithi was excited with the sea and I used it well for this long walk J. By the time she felt that we had getting tired, we had come far away from the beach J ! The main road was somewhere behind the hill, we climbed the steps to the nearest road, it was around 3:30 !
We ended up in a residential area, which was almost empty except some cars passing by. Spotted the nearest bus stop, and checked with the bus timings. But we had no clue where this buses goes to is in the same direction. I appreciate the London bus stops, which use to have a map of the routes which ach buses from that stop goes.
I was right in my worry, the first bus turned up in a few minutes and the driver showed me the bus stop for bus in the opposite direction. Another wait for the correct bus, which dropped us in Bondi Junction rail station.
Again, we were ‘fortunate’ in finding that the station is closed for maintenance and replacement buses are running till ‘Edgecliff’. Took a train from Edgecliff to get down at Town Hall, another train to Circular Quay, it was 4:30 by the time we reached ‘India quay’ for lunch! The fortune was again with us, ‘India quay’ was closed! Biniiiiissshhh….
We had no choice other than stupid Mc Donalds ! Krithi was giving me a look, it was her first birthday after marriage ! I was planning a memorable Indian lunch after the romantic ferry and beach, and see where ‘India Quay’ left me !
Took another ferry to Darling harbour, it would have been another good experience with the sky getting dark, Opera house and the bridge getting lighted – but there was this winter breeze which forced us to get in to the ferry and see all through window glass. I still managed to take some snaps, but without my tripod I doubt whether it will come without a shake !
I went too long ? I doubt yes. Anyway, the best part is over. We waited in the harbour for the fireworks, till 7:30. The mercury was dropping, and with the freezy breeze it was impossible to keep on waiting with no idea of when it will happen. A crowd had gathered and some were saying it 8 and some saying 8:30 ! Some rock music was going on and we had no interest in it anyway. Took a ferry back to the Quay and had a good dinner in ‘India Quay’. The last ferry to Parramatta had gone at 7 itself, so only train was an option.
Tail piece:- “ Australia is the land of Kangaroo. When Captain Cook saw the strange animal for the first time he had no one but the natives to ask what they call it. Unable to understand his question, they replied "Kan Ga Roo" meaning "I don't Know"! Tree Kangaroos of Taronga Zoo, Sydney.” Taken from http://sureshgo.tripod.com/, site of my supersenior who was in REC few years ago and in Sydney as well sometime back. He got nostalgic and wrote back when I wrote about St.Leonards, as he was working there.
Information :- The plug points are different from that in UK and India, I think they insisted to keep a different configuration ! It looks like ‘ / \ ‘ compared to UK ‘ ‘ and Indian, ‘o o’. The earth pin is ‘ ‘ same as UK :D. I am not sure whether the whole Europe follows UK’s method, and whole Asian pins looks like that in India.
Friday, August 05, 2005
AUSSIE WEEKENDER 4
I will have to finish this searching a house episode, it is going too long ! So, at last I got an apartment near to office, and a brand new one. I am going to be the first person to live there.
Signed a 6 month lease and walked in to the apartment complex. First, I had a tough time to find my flat, as the numbering was random, given a floor. The Lift has level, 2, 5 and 7 only. Level 5 can contain anything from 301 to 699 ! Level 2 will contain all 101 to 399 ! and so on.
That was just a tip of the iceberg. The A/c was not working( remember it is winter here), kitchen sink is stuck with the water not going out smoothly, our apartment is not connected to the intercom at the entrance( that means we will never know if someone comes to see us), and some small things like no keys to open the door to balcony !
I had not even in the wildest dream thought that I will get these issues along with a new apartment, that too in Syndey ! I am sure I am paying one of the highest rents for a single Bed room house in this part of Sydney.
Anyway, the slow people took down our complaints again and again, whenever we go there to follow up ! After one or two days of sleep in the cold, we found a reset switch after opening the A/c and it solved one of the major problem partially, even though under no control, it works ! At last they found that the remote given to us was a wrong one and replaced it!
Now to add to this, the setting up of a home also needs to be done. After some research, we found a new dining table been on Sale at 20$, and chairs for 10$ each. Along the groceries, bought this dining table! Now came the problem, we have to bring it to our place some 1-1.5 kms away !
It was around 9:30 at night (Thursdays all shops will be open till at least 9, and this one was open till 10), we tried one or two taxis but no use. Just managed to place the table on the shopping trolley, and walked back home with it ! I was amazed with Krithi, who joined me to pull a cart on this freezing night with out any protest ! Really an experience of a lifetime J ! The nearest I previously had was the great move of my fridge to and from Krishnakumar’s(97MCA) place, we both had actually loaded and transported the fridge in a Maruthi Omni call taxi J !
In the normal case, TCS people do wait for some 3-4 people to join who need the same things, visit some shops will sell used furniture, buy them and ask for a delivery. Then, it will be reasonable to pay some 40-100$ per person when 4 people combines, for delivery. But this one was ok to be carried alone, and the shopping trolley was anyway there with no restrictions. The chair business was quick, next day just carried some 3 steel chairs with cushions from the same shop.
So, all is set, rented the other appliances like fridge, washing machine, TV and microwave to avoid all these trouble. They will just install it for you after delivery and pick it back once we are done with it.
As the house problems also get fixed over two week’s time, just waiting for my allowance to come (all money is finished) for starting my travel. This magic castle got a lot of fun now. Our apartment number is 412. It is not in the 4th floor. As I told you, I have to go to Level 5 and then climb one level down. Level 4, if you can call it, has only 2-3 apartments. All other 4xx are in level 5 ! The electricity provider recognises our meter as the meter of 12th Apartment, 4th floor! To give us a ring from the entrance so that we can see you and open the gate for you, you need to dial 50, which is ALWAYS the apartment number! Again, he has given some key words. No need to dial or check. If you know it, you can get in to the apartment and till any apartment door steps!
As I have already mentioned, one of my intentions is to make sure that I am giving a clear picture of what I, as a new comer, am experiencing. That is why I am just walking you through everything, so that this gives you as much information as, you were here and experienced them all. I believe our life is very short to learn all from our own experience!
Give me a shout if I sound boring. I will just keep these write ups for my personal diary.
Tailpiece :- There are many things I am skipping for now. One of the them is the story of a chinese driver who dropped us from St.Leonards to Parramatta. Just will try to write it down sometime later. That will give a glimpse of a driver’s life in Australia.
Signed a 6 month lease and walked in to the apartment complex. First, I had a tough time to find my flat, as the numbering was random, given a floor. The Lift has level, 2, 5 and 7 only. Level 5 can contain anything from 301 to 699 ! Level 2 will contain all 101 to 399 ! and so on.
That was just a tip of the iceberg. The A/c was not working( remember it is winter here), kitchen sink is stuck with the water not going out smoothly, our apartment is not connected to the intercom at the entrance( that means we will never know if someone comes to see us), and some small things like no keys to open the door to balcony !
I had not even in the wildest dream thought that I will get these issues along with a new apartment, that too in Syndey ! I am sure I am paying one of the highest rents for a single Bed room house in this part of Sydney.
Anyway, the slow people took down our complaints again and again, whenever we go there to follow up ! After one or two days of sleep in the cold, we found a reset switch after opening the A/c and it solved one of the major problem partially, even though under no control, it works ! At last they found that the remote given to us was a wrong one and replaced it!
Now to add to this, the setting up of a home also needs to be done. After some research, we found a new dining table been on Sale at 20$, and chairs for 10$ each. Along the groceries, bought this dining table! Now came the problem, we have to bring it to our place some 1-1.5 kms away !
It was around 9:30 at night (Thursdays all shops will be open till at least 9, and this one was open till 10), we tried one or two taxis but no use. Just managed to place the table on the shopping trolley, and walked back home with it ! I was amazed with Krithi, who joined me to pull a cart on this freezing night with out any protest ! Really an experience of a lifetime J ! The nearest I previously had was the great move of my fridge to and from Krishnakumar’s(97MCA) place, we both had actually loaded and transported the fridge in a Maruthi Omni call taxi J !
In the normal case, TCS people do wait for some 3-4 people to join who need the same things, visit some shops will sell used furniture, buy them and ask for a delivery. Then, it will be reasonable to pay some 40-100$ per person when 4 people combines, for delivery. But this one was ok to be carried alone, and the shopping trolley was anyway there with no restrictions. The chair business was quick, next day just carried some 3 steel chairs with cushions from the same shop.
So, all is set, rented the other appliances like fridge, washing machine, TV and microwave to avoid all these trouble. They will just install it for you after delivery and pick it back once we are done with it.
As the house problems also get fixed over two week’s time, just waiting for my allowance to come (all money is finished) for starting my travel. This magic castle got a lot of fun now. Our apartment number is 412. It is not in the 4th floor. As I told you, I have to go to Level 5 and then climb one level down. Level 4, if you can call it, has only 2-3 apartments. All other 4xx are in level 5 ! The electricity provider recognises our meter as the meter of 12th Apartment, 4th floor! To give us a ring from the entrance so that we can see you and open the gate for you, you need to dial 50, which is ALWAYS the apartment number! Again, he has given some key words. No need to dial or check. If you know it, you can get in to the apartment and till any apartment door steps!
As I have already mentioned, one of my intentions is to make sure that I am giving a clear picture of what I, as a new comer, am experiencing. That is why I am just walking you through everything, so that this gives you as much information as, you were here and experienced them all. I believe our life is very short to learn all from our own experience!
Give me a shout if I sound boring. I will just keep these write ups for my personal diary.
Tailpiece :- There are many things I am skipping for now. One of the them is the story of a chinese driver who dropped us from St.Leonards to Parramatta. Just will try to write it down sometime later. That will give a glimpse of a driver’s life in Australia.