Jill and Joseph : "Home" - 5 Karatta Dock, Port Adelaide S.A. 5015

We've been back in Adelaide for two weeks now and in that time we managed to:

- find a (wonderful) townhouse to rent

- move in

- convince friends/family to give us furniture

- visit IKEA 100 times

- sleep in a big bed again

- add 1,000kms to the Suzuki driving all over town

Entrance & stairs up to 2nd floor
our bedroom & bathroom off to left.

In an effort to "save" $$s in caravan-park fees we start our search for a rental the day after arriving back. We look at a few "open houses" - they do that for rentals here - but only for 15 minutes! Makes it a bit tricky sometimes but it worked for us. In typical Jill & Joe fashion we decide that the first place we look at is good. Almost new, small, in an apt. building with 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom (we have Cassia & Pablo coming to live with us) and a balcony with a view towards the river, access to a gym and most importantly it includes extra appliances (fridge, washing machine and drier - nice appliances -Miele and Bosch). Over here you usually need to supply your own fridge and laundry appliances so this was going to save us $$s. The rent had been reduced and the agent was having trouble finding tenants so we submitted our application and were pretty sure we would be chosen (renting is a bit like winning the lottery over here). It was a long weekend so we wouldn't find out until Tuesday. Well done J&J!!

There was one other place we looked at from the outside and we liked what we could see - but it was (a lot) more expensive with no appliances - but just for fun we texted the agent to see if we could have a look inside - why not eh?

This was all we could see on our first vist!

We saw it at 10.00 a.m. on the Monday holiday and in typical Jill & Joe fashion, we fell in love with it, submitted our application and found out at 9.00 p.m. we had been chosen! In typical J&J fashion we managed to convince ourselves that the things that mattered so much about the first choice now didn't matter and so we cancelled the first application …. and asked for a move-in date of Wednesday (2 days)!! The agent asked if they could have until THursday and we graciously agreed.

2nd floor balcony - deck above

So on Thursday - less than a week after arriving back, we moved our bed into our new "home". We didn't have any other furniture - we had a bed because we found it on the sidewalk when we were staying at Simone's parent's (Jane & Barry) house back in March. We figured they lived in a nice area so it should be OK - it was the cheapest IKEA bed but it came with a mattress!! (it was a very nice neighbourhood!!).

It didn't matter that we didn't have any chairs to sit on - we pulled in the fold-outs from the van… put down a mat so we didn't scratch the (highly) polished wood floors and Mum came over and we just sat and looked at the view…

View from kitchen
...out of the patio doors with the cement factory on the right and fertilizer plant on the left!
(river in front)

OK - we do look right at the cement factory on the other side of the river and the fertilizer factory is across from that and yes there is a freeway (one of the three in Adelaide) crossing the river right in front of us … BUT … we also step right out of our front door and the river is 12 feet away… and in the river are dolphins … and we have a sweeping view along the river and wonderful sunsets most nights. It's easy to forget about the factories and freeway...

That's us with the shade sail!
- and our neighbours
-they get together for drinks in the afternoon!)-

Well except that if the wind is blowing the wrong way the train (that also crosses the river) sounds as though it is outside the front door - but at night the factories are lit up and the bridge is outlined with a beautiful blue light and if the river is still the reflection and you might think it was … not the Port River!

Night view ... maybe it's not the Port River?

By chance I find out that my great aunt's dining room set is ours if we want it, and after years of trying to find just the right furniture to fit into our tiny house and after years of knocking my knees on the drawer handles whenever I got out of bed, we suddenly find ourselves with so much room we are having trouble filling the spaces. So we zoom out to my uncles and grab a few more things they say we can have and because this isn't our usual IKEA furniture - this table is big and heavy and doesn't fit in a box - we need at least two people to drag it up the stairs and into place and luckily Mischa and brother John can manage it.

Not what we would usually have ...
it's great-aunt Phil's and I'm glad we have the space to have it.
(they left a lot of mirrors on the wall!)

So we have a dining room table and chairs - now we need a couch and some comfy chairs.

We remember that our former employers at the apple orchard have some kind of living room furniture stuffed into their "spare" house and when we ask, they seem happy for us to borrow/have/keep it and even deliver it in their apple truck the next morning … along with some apples!

Guess we could have taken the plaid covers off of the 3-seater!
(It's a cheap IKEA rug)
there's another mirror on the wall!

Landlord left this piece behind
... not our usual piece but we have nothing else so why not?
Doorway on left is to the stairs downs to ground-level
Chair is on the balcony.

Turns out it's almost brand new and four of the five chairs are recliners! - electric recliners! Unlike our big black ones back in Ottawa - we don't even have to push these!

Stairs up to the roof-top deck.
Door at end of corridor is 2nd bedroom - 2nd bathroom on the left.

We are pretty sure we don't deserve that kind of generosity and figure we're gonna have to pack a whole lot of apples to repay them, but for now we have living room furniture and still there is more room!

Looking back to dining room (there's mirror on the back wall)
2nd bedroom is on the left of the dining room

There's a sale on at IKEA so off we go! We miss breakfast by two minutes and try as we might, and even though the boy has the the dish with the scrambled eggs in his hands, we can't convince him to serve us breakfast - gotta follow those rules! So off we go trying not to buy too much because we do have another house (in Canada!) but there are some things you've got to have - especially if it's on sale!.

There's a Malm bed in "as is" and I check with the staff to make sure it's a queen (we still can't figure out if the bed from the roadside is a double or a queen).

2nd bedroom - Cassia & Pablo's
- bed from sidewalk
it's a double - quilt cover is a single!

Cassia & Pablo's bathroom.

Cassia and Pablo need a bed so we'll take this queen and give them the one we aren't sure of and it's another struggle to get it into the van and into our bedroom and then … the slats won't fit … it's a double not a queen!

The double Malm bed - with our lovely view!
and second-hand bedside tables!
& wall screaming for decoration
(this view looking out from walk-through closet)

Urgh! We're too lazy to take it back!

Our bathroom on the ground floor - looking through to the walk-through closet.

Joseph leaves next week for "home" - don't know when he'll be back - he has to wait for his visa to be renewed. Cassia arrives in a few weeks - Pablo will come in December when (hopefully) his visa will be ready.

Life goes in circles … I used to work at the wool sheds not far from our new "home" and it's where my father also worked when he met my mum who worked on the switchboard at the head office in town. Now mum and my brother and sister all live within a 10 min drive from here and Mum is mostly the reason for me being here … unfortunately it's a much longer drive across town to Mischa & Simone and darling Jasper but for now we can work it out… I have those comfy recliners to sit in and enjoy the view … and wait for Joseph to come "home".