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This is my series about trying to find our footing in Australia. It will no doubt be a series of joy and sadness and struggle... Things will turn out alright? Won't they?

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We are finally out of our isolation period due to the travel from overseas, and we are free to go about and roam around freely in Canberra. However, there are a crazy lot of check-ins here in Australia for the Coronavirus... something that I'm not particularly keen on, and at the moment, we can generally skip the QR code thing due to the fact that we don't have a phone that has internet access.

It has been a bit of a strange first week... not being able to meet family whilst in isolation... and just hanging around with jet-lag as our main friend. Our little one had a really bad time of the first week, coming down with a bad cough and vomiting... which thankfully wasn't coronavirus, but ended up making her quite miserable in the first week. Which also led to her missing her old place and friends in the Netherlands.... so, a week of generally feeling down for her. This week has been much better for her, being able to meet and play with the cousins that are her own age... she's had fun screaming around and generally causing chaos for the parents and grandparents along with the boy who she is closest in age to.

Meanwhile, the older girl had a much easier first week... but this week has started off with a bit more crying and missing of her old life in the Netherlands. She is generally a more optimistic and happy character, but she has been struggling on and off this week. Normally things are okay... but then a small little thing can trigger a barrage of waterworks and misery from which it is a bit tricky to distract her out of. I do worry a little about both girls...

... and then there is the post move shell-shock for the two of us (my wife and I). We are both freelancers... and freelance musicians at that. So, moving country means starting a new base again.. thankfully, we aren't starting completely from scratch with some job offers already there... but our work is also highly dependent on the restrictions that are being brought in effect by Coronavirus... and sadly, Australia is now suffering the outbreak of the Omicron variant. Although there are new restrictions start to come in... I have a little bit of hope that this Omicron version will start to spell the end of the reactions to the Coronavirus in general as the fatigue of the general population appears to have been tested to near breaking point. Hopefully, that will lead to less drastic and disastrous counter-reactions to outbreaks and the general progress of the virus. At the moment, things appear to be a bit extreme on all sides...

Anyway, my wife and I have started exploring the real estate market... wow, if we had thought that the market in Netherlands was red-hot... well, here in Australia things are completely fusion-white hot! It is unbelievable how much places are selling for... or not. I am starting to wonder if people are going stop with the FOMO and places will end up not selling... or as interest rates start to rise and the Coronavirus restrictions make people lose jobs, hopefully people will start to lose the drive to bid crazily high values on their homes.

I'm hopeful... but at the moment, it might be misplaced. Thankfully, we are in a better position than most.. and we could feasibly put in decent bids without overstretching ourselves, but the problem is more a matter of whether or not we are putting in bids that actually reflect the underlying asset! I'm not particularly keen to just splash money around for no reason... I guess that part of the Netherlands has stayed with me!

We have visited three places already in our quest to familiarise ourselves with the real estate landscape here... we aren't actively looking, just exploring and reconnoitring. Two of the places... well, one was definitely being priced much much more than I would consider that it was worth... and the other was priced high, but wasn't really the sort of thing that we were looking for. Meanwhile, the third... was priced higher... and will go to an auction, but it was pretty much PERFECT! It is possible that we might be able to bid on the lower end of the expected price... and we probably will give it a try, just to see how it works out!

Still... we are fortunate enough to have a place to stay... so, we aren't being rushed into a purchase. But the task does seem currently quite daunting! Find a place to purchase... and somehow, bring in enough future cashflow to keep things above water! Sigh.... remind me again why we left?

I can also be found cross-posting at:
Hive
Steem
Publish0x

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