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Sydney Journal I - House Trade |
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Monday, 20 June 2005 |
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Page 1 of 2 (PRWEB) June 18, 2005 -- For over 10 years, I have been an Australian
Specialist, selling travel to Australia and New Zealand. On our fifth trip to
Australia, in February and March of 2005, we traded our vacation home in
Colorado with a couple in Sydney. Since the seasons are reversed, they went
skiing and we enjoyed summer. The trade was a resounding success from both ends.
Herewith is my account.
I thought we weren't coming to Australia at all as David melted down at LAX. You
must stand in a line hundreds of people long to get your bag X- rayed. Our
machine quit when we were next and had to be re-booted. We lost each other in
the crush of the terminal and I had Dave paged. He didn't hear the page (old
age) and we fell into each other's arms in front of the Qantas counter.
ACT II was much better. Qantas has outfitted all of business class with BEDS!
This is to die for which I was relatively sure we wouldn't as Qantas has never
had a fatality! We actually slept, I about 6 hours, Dave more than 8 due to the
stress encountered at LAX!
Arrived Melbourne bright and early on Friday morning (Thursday to you). We
didn't get lost, just couldn't get on the non-stop to Sydney after 10 months of
trying. Changed planes and flew to Sydney. The driver from Swain (the people I
use in Australia) "collected us" and took us "straightaway" to "our" new home.
Do not even ask at all where we found our house. Well, we would not have found
it at all except that this car was equipped with a guidance system! It is off of
Shellbank Street, down a very steep street into Shellbank Parade. We were met by
Pam, a friend of our hostess, who showed us around.
At this point the driver, Lee, got good news because when you open the door, on
the top level, there is the master bedroom, a bathroom and a good sized sitting
room.
Go down about 16 beautiful wooden stairs and you will find the living room,
dining room, kitchen, deck overlooking the bay and gorgeous views and sailboats.
On the lowest and next level down, you will find an office, another bedroom and
bathroom, a rowing machine, an outside lap pool (no ladder out, so am waiting to
develop my upper body strength before trying same). To get to this level, you
got it, you will go down about 12 stairs called Japanese stairs... because of
the drop, the stairs are in half, left and right, so that you only go down 5 or
6 inches instead of 10 or 12 inches at a time. Picture it, left foot on half a
step, right foot on next half a step, etc. You must be totally sober and
absorbed in your task. Very good for quad development!
Mind you, I haven't tried this yet, but if you go down 16 more steps, you will
be at the water's edge. I may just "enjoy" and never do this!
We understand that this home was designed by the architect who was responsible
for the refurbishment of the Sydney Opera House. He must be a mad genius! The
materials are magnificent. A newcomer must be very vigilant. I was hit in the
head by the garage door, as we didn't know it opened outward. But, that was
after I fell down the step into the living room.
The owners must be very interesting people because the electronics are amazing.
There is a plasma TV behind a sliding oil painting in the living room. It must
be a great TV, but so far, despite 3 pages of directions, we cannot operate
same. We will call the guy for this tomorrow.
I am now an ecologically aware Sydney housewife. This is because all products,
including the guests, are biodegradable!! They have a normal sized washer but a
wee dryer. This is because everyone here hangs out his clothes.
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