Apartment Update

Heather and I put a deposit on an apartment just now. We didn't go with the Haight and Ashbury--we finally decided we didn't need to give up that much. We found a new neighborhood Sunday night and started looking there. We looked at three apartments today, and really liked two of them. The one we picked is a little funky layout. The kitchen is on a hallway. The whole apartment has hardwood floors, except the bathroom (tile). One whole wall of the living area is a glass sliding door to a balcony. It has a dryer included, but no washer. That is normal here, we have discovered. It also includes a fridge, which is rare, but it is a small dorm-style. We think it will be manageable. So the only appliance to buy will be the washer. It has more storage than I have ever seen in an apt. We can't move in until the 27th, so we need to arrange for something for another five days beyond what we have booked at the hotel. It is a five minute walk to Central Station, which every train in the city goes through. We are very excited to have found it. The inspection today was public, and there were four other groups to view it, all of which seemed very interested. They had a fax number for everyone to fax their apps to. I let a girl borrow my pen so she could write it down, then when she left a minute later, I told the guy, "OK, I let her use my pen, but we want it now. Where do we sign?" They still need to review our apps, but there is no reason that should be a problem, and they have accepted our deposit. We'll send some pics along in a few weeks when we get moved in.
Speaking of pics, we went to the Sydney Aquarium on Sunday and got some great pics there. Platypuses (platypi?), a salty, sharks, jellyfish, and of course, Nemo and Dory. We want to get some pics of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House, too, so be on the lookout for those pictures.
There are parks everywhere here. We walked by a golf course in one yesterday. We have seen people walking dogs, playing rugby, and flying kites. It is a very active lifestyle. We are really looking forward to getting settled in and getting involved.
I guess this has rambled on for long enough, and I think Heather is emailing some of you right now, too. I'll let you know how things go as we move in to our new apartment.