A home at last!

When we came to Canberra we knew it would be difficult to find somewhere to live; we'd heard the stories of people lining up for inspections, offering cash to real estate agents to snag the property etc. We also knew the rents were expensive. Despite all this knowledge it still came as a shock when a week after our arrival in Canberra we were no closer to finding somewhere to call home. Then early this week, we spotted an old ad for a place that sounded just right. We assumed that it must have already been taken but luckily rang up about it anyway. We were delighted to find it was still available and even more delighted when we saw it later and it was neat and clean and came with a nice backyard. We had seen a couple of other properties during the week for the same price which had been like hovels - rubbish on the floor, food on the kitchen counter - and this was for an open inspection!! Needless to say, we signed the lease straight away and will move in officially early next week. Hurrah!

Luckily for us, our friends Tam and Andy (and their daughter Amelie) had offered to put us up, or put up with us, until we found something suitable. Without their kind offer, who knows where we would have been staying for the last couple of weeks. Even more of a bonus has been the fact that Amelie and Audrey have got on really well. Audrey absolutely adores Amelie and follows her around like a puppy. And Amelie has been great about sharing all her toys with Audrey (although she has drawn a line at sharing her milk and water cups - understandable really).

Audrey will be upset at having to leave Amelie for our new home but we'll be living not too far away so I'm sure there will be many play dates and visits in the future.