Category: Migration

It took me a while to motivate myself to write all this down, but as we probably have to rerun the process all over again, I better do it now.

In Australia you mainly have, in my opinion, Ford, Toyota and Holden. If you want other brands you generally pay more. Holden is the ‘Australian’ brand, which actually is still General Motors with a different brand name. So what you see driving around are Opel (Vauxhall) and Daewoo cars, but they are just called Holden. We bought the Opel Corsa pre-2005 version of Holden, which is called Holden Barina. From 2005 on, all Holden Barina’s are Daewoo Kalos.

The first choice one has to make is whether you want a brand new car or a second hand one. Of course brand new cars are much more expensive, but you immediately have a couple of years of warranty and this will cut down garage costs. Second hand cars are cheaper, but they can have hidden features ánd you still can pay.

If you want to buy a new car, just go to the ‘Parramatta car strip’. You won’t find it on any map as such, but if you take the Great Western Highway to Parramatta, you immediately will notice the multitude of dealerships. One long day will suffice to hop in at all dealers of the major brands, because they are all close together.

Second hand cars need a bit more research on Carsales or Drive. Lots of cars here. Better already make a decision beforehand which brand you fancy, otherwise it will be a hell of a search. Continue reading Buying a car in Australia

The fun part of moving is… re-decorating! 🙂
Having left our furniture behind in Belgium (the things worth keeping), we literally start afresh. No limits (I’d wish – time and money are the big party-poopers, as usual).

Soooooo, let’s start with Ikea. Sydney boasts to have the biggest of the southern hemisphere, funny enough it’s comparable to the one in Brussels and Antwerp. I say funny because all stores here seem more American size to us.
I absolutely love the combination of strong branding with clear and simple communication. Plus cheap design of course. What’s not to love? (the cheap labor maybe knocking down all honest competition… :s)

Another phenomenon here is the ‘Supa Centa’. What are the odds this name was invented by some dreadlocked Aussie surf dude smoking the grass with his reggae friends? Anyway, it’s a mall with all furniture/home decorating stores with eloquent names like ‘The Sleeping Giant’ , ‘Fantastic Furniture’, ‘Barbeque Galore’, ‘Snooze’ etc. We bought a hoover at Bing Lee (the chinese version of “Vandenborre”: always up for bargaining ;-). Also, Bram had to drag me away from ‘Howards Storage World‘, a store specialised in ORGANIZING YOUR STUFF!!! Love it!

Last but not least, Sydney is a fast paced city with people frequently moving, and immigrants and backpackers coming and going all the time. For those just settling in this means Garage Sale Heaven! You can often find ads in apartment buildings or posted on the street. Gumtree and Ebay are good online alternatives. Across the city there are different ‘op shops’ and vintage stores to be found as well.

Oh and then there’s this. A tip from one of our neighbours, yaaaaaay 🙂

And this is what our bedroom looks like now: