Tuesday 13th March - Leaving Forster

Today we left forster after a stressful few minutes trying to repack the car. I packed most of it yesterday and was very pleased with my efforts and getting most of the stuff in...only to this morning have my pride sunk by the fact i still hadn't packed gaze's monitor...nor had i left any room for it. Whilst trying to reorganise the car gaz insisted that we leave the pillows behind but there was no way having got them this far that we were leaving ANYTHING behind so i began taking things out and slotting them back in to fit better...like a game of tetris. I eventually got everything in and drove us down south to salamander bay..gaz in the passenger seat, clenching and gripping the door handle every time i turned a corner...this is the same gaz who started driving on the wrong side of the road last week until i pointed out to him we weren't in america...and can i add...there is nothing wrong with my driving, i ws going under the speed limit...gaz is just a very pad passenger!!! But i got him here in one piece.

We are staying in soldiers point holiday park which is a load of cabins similar to what we stayed in in forster. Its very pretty here, theres lots of birds and you can see the sea which is 2 minutes walk away. It was time to start looking at the house viewings i had lined up. Firstly it was off to Mantra Aqua apartments in nelson bay...the apartment was very nice. a view of the sea, nice balcony, very posh lounge/kitchen/dining area, 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms....use of the pool and gym...very nice only it didn't have a garden and we didn't really want to live in a holiday complex...

We stopped by one of the letting agencies who were meant to have rung e back yesterday but never did and failed to ring me back earlier today when i rung so we popped in instead. Its really annoying that one of the houses advertised that was right on the beach wasn't available to view until the 'open house' event which they didn't know when that would be and the woman thought we were crazy for even asking as the tenants don't even know when they are moving out....so um, WHY ADVERTISE A HOUSE IF IT ISNT READY TO BE LET?!....this is something that frustrated me yesterday when ringing around these properties...they seem to like advertising places that have either gone days ago and they haven't updated the system or the house isn't available until 2017. ok maybe a bit of an exaggeration but still...

So it was off to Port Stephens Property Management. i had rung this place yesterday hoping to see 52A achilles street to be told it wasn't available anymore but i had managed to get a viewing for a house down by the beach. I went into the property place to pick up the keys. This place doesn't take someone with you to the house, they just give you a key and send you on your way. I walked in and some grumpy looking woman behind the desk asked 'yes? can i help you?' and stared tame with a stern look. I explained i was here for the viewing of the house. She requested a $20 deposit for the key and some ID. i gave her my drivers licence but she wasn't impressed because it was brisith. She asked for my passport. i apologised "sorry i haven't got my passport on me."
"Oh, well we don't give the key unless we have ID so ill need your passport as i can't accept the drivers licence on its own." She was being difficult!
"ok well i was hoping to see the house today. I'm a dentist, just starting work at salamander bay in pacific Smiles and we wanted to find somewhere asap." i replied.
"oh, a dentist! ok well i tell you what, ill hold on to your drivers licence whilst you go view the house. Heres the key." And with that she passed me the key and let me leave!
I mus took like a right untrustworthy scruff on first opinions! why do people think dentists are so trustworthy any way? they obviously haven't seen the dental socials in the uk!!!

We took the keys. First impressions....a row of beautiful houses and then...."oh this house looks like crap!. oh wait, this is the one we are viewing. oh dear." Inside was worse than the outside. if at all possible? it was so badly laid out...we couldn't work out why a very small lounge needed a cinema size tv?! The only plus side of the house was the tv came with the house...oh and it was literally on the beach....but there was no washing machine? gaz did ilke the ice maker fridge though.

We took he keys back a little disheartened and when i walked in the lady asked what i thought and said...hmmm you want something more upmarket don't you? let me make a phone call...
i heard her saying things like..."yes, yes, dentist, yes, she's here now, wants it asap, can she see it now?"
She hung up and sent me looking at number 52A achilles street...the house i had been told on the phone before that had gone! funny how being a dentist changes things....she even started saying "look if you don't like this house then come back, i have more places i can show you."

i must admit. this house had a serious wow factor. It was 3 stories...even had a grand piano! beautiful big kitchen, lots of space outside, 2 balconies...walk in wardrobe, onsite, blah blah had the lot. It was awesome! We left thinking e could justify the 550AUD a week to pay for it. We went back to the property place loving the house and the ladies broke the news that we can't move in for another 2 weeks but they would put us up somewhere in the meantime.

Gaz and i were on a high from seeing the most amazing house ever...and it was amazing....we still had 2 viewings from crazy samantha that showed us around the corlette house that we loved so much but couldn't get internet. She showed us 2 unfurnished properties but it became clear to gaz and i that unfurnished isn't the way to go as they houses were more like an empty shell..we would need dishwashers, fridges, washing machine etc etc...so we weren't that interested. We even cancelled our 3 other property viewings with another estate agent for the afternoon as we were so sure we wanted the achilles house.
On departing with sam she mentioned by the by..."so why didn't you guys go for the corlette house?" we explained coz it didn't have internet. 20 minutes later gaz and i got home. Phone call from sam. "guys there IS internet now at the corlette house." Gaz even checked it 3 times...a node has come up at the junction. Sh*t.

So we had to make a decision between the achilles house. or the corlette house. We were both so confused which one to go for that i even made a list and we marked things out of 10.
Location - corlette is 3 minutes drive from work as opposed to 12 from achilles. Corlette is also closer woolworths and is directly opposite the beach. Gaz does prefer the beach by achilles house but its a 5 min walk down the hill. The internet would be the same at both houses. Both houses have a good garden. Corlette has a balcony with a view of the sea and archives view isn't that great. oh and the other issue...archilles is $550....corlette $400 and we can move into corlette straight away but archives we have to wait 2 weeks. we kinda convinced ourselves corlette is the way forward.

Gaz and i had a lovely thai meal at a very popular thai restaurant in nelson bay. We ate way too much and I've seen myself in the mirror and the past few weeks of moving has not don't my belly any good!

Tomorrow gaz and i are going to have one last look at the corlette house and then get it signed over...oh and go and tell archives house people we want to decline the offer.