House Hunting Part Deux

      After getting in some morning exercise, we took off again with our realtor to look at three houses.  The first was in Birchgrove, a trendy area close to the CBD (Central Business District).  This house was directly on the water with a dock (Chris was already plotting boat acquistions) and had amazing views from every floor.  It's a "fairly quick" commute by ferry for Chris, close to a good school, and will allow a small pet.  Only cons are that certain parts aren't in great shape and it's not really walking distance to shops (though there are 200+ restaurants within 2 miles).


View of Birchgrove house from the dock.

Interior of Birchgrove house.

Birchgrove house as seen from ferry (later in day).  It has three balconies in center of photograph.



         Our next stop was back in Mosman, just steps from Balmoral Beach.  This area has good schools, nice shops nearby and a great beach.  The house is a bit ridiculous for us; it shares a tennis court and swimming  pool!  There are great water views, a good floor plan, and updated interior.  Very nice!



House #2 in Mosman. 



View looking down street at Balmoral Beach and North Head beyond.

View of Hunters Bay from House #2.

Interior of House #2

          Our third stop was another Mosman house, although not with beach or water views.  This house was an older home that had been beautifully remodeled and had a great backyard.  For some reason, I took no photos.  Sorry!  I think I couldn't believe how nicely re-modeled it was.  We looked at several homes a few days before that were a similar "federation" style but in much poorer condition and not updated.
        So, a much better real estate day.  Any of these properties will work for us.  Should I make you wait, like on House Hunters International, to see which one we chose?  Nah.  We chose House #2 but will be happy with any of these.  Tomorrow is Australia Day, a national holiday, so it will be Thursday before we know anything.  As we learned through our 5 offers on homes in Chapel Hill, nothing is certain until it's signed, so we're still in "wait and see" mode on whether our rental application will be accepted.
        We spent the rest of our day getting credit cards (to avoid those dreaded international fees), eating great Thai food, taking a ferry ride around the part of the Harbour near House #1, and playing in Hyde Park (a daily necessity for Sam). 

The ferry ride was our first trip under the Harbour Bridge and gave us a good look at all the people climbing up it (on quite a windy afternoon).

It also gave us our closest view at the old-timey amusement park, Luna Park, located under the bridge in North Sydney.  We're told it's modeled after Coney Island, but the clown face just looks creepy regardless.

And Sam is still Sam, so he couldn't go a whole ferry ride, much less a whole day without being goofy....assuming you consider wearing swim goggles for sunglasses as being goofy.

We don't have a "barbie", so we'll break one of the cardinal rules of Australia Day tomorrow, but we'll make up for it with some festival going and fireworks!