Bikes (and houses)

on monday, we decided that we needed to make our first major purchase: bikes. those of you who know us well enough know that for the past 2.5 years, our bikes were our lives. not much has changed. we made the all important purchase after we took a cab out to see a potential apartment (well, it was a potential when we went to look, but immediately not a potential when we saw it). it was a solid 30 min walk back into town. we realized that if we wanted to look at a lot of apartments and villas, then bikes would make it easier. so, we bought them. they are matching his/hers bikes. and the only way you know who's is who's, is that mine has a rack and my seat is lower. that's about it. the pics will tell...when i can post them. *sigh*

we've been very busy on the housing front. perth, as we have discovered, is currently on a housing boom. it was recently rated one of the 10 most expensive places in the world to buy a home. buying a home is not even an option as this point as it would run us into the ground financially, with the average price for a single bungalow being approx 400 000$. the rental market is hot hot hot. many places are posted and gone within the same day. thankfully, we managed to find a place. we're dropping our application off this morning (it's a rigorous process) but the property manager hasn't shown it to anyone else. i'll keep you posted on the official news, but so far, it's looking good. it's a small 3 bedroom villa in a little villa complex. it's about 10 minutes by bike out of fremantle. it's fully furnished and a short term lease (6 months) which gives us time to procur items, get to know the area and decide where we want to look for a more permanent abode. so, you can start planning your trip...we have room!

we also did a nice cycle to murdoch, which is where john will be going to school. it's quite far from this area, but we can deal with that for short term. it's a large campus and his building seems nice. it will be a bit of a hike out there, but he's willing to give it a go.

a few more interesting tidbits:

-perth is amazingly hilly (my quads can atest to that)
-going barefoot is quite common (around the hostel AND the city. it's kind of gross)
-australian rum smells and tastes like cigarettes
-hostels remind me of residence...and john and i are the RAs (or dons for some of you)
-google maps makes places look deceptively close
-everything seems to grow UP here. it's odd, and cool at the same time

thanks to those of you who chimed in on crazy 8's. wouldn't mind hearing a few more answers though, because it appears that crazy eights is like a regional dialect. same basics, but certain differences.

hope you're all doing well!
fyi- we like comments...
xo