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?
Part 1: Settling In and Adjusting
Part 2: Checking In...
Part 3: House Hunting
Part 4: Best and Final
Part 5: Gazumped!
Part 6: School Worries...
Part 7: We did it!
Part 8: Travelling to and Remembering Sydney
After living for so many years in such a small country with decent bike and public transport infrastructure that was networked with other countries in Europe with fast trains and easy cheap flights, it is a bit of a shock to the system to return back to Australia where having a car is almost a necessity.
In Europe, we had a little shopping cart of a car, the tiny little Peugeot 107... and yes, it really is slightly larger than a shopping card... but with a motor, a tiny motor but one none the less! In a flat country like Netherlands, the motor was adequate... but when we traveled to other countries with hills, well... sometimes we were being overtaken by loaded trucks... But the small size for parking and fuel economy made it all worthwhile.
However, as our girls started to get bigger we started to realise that we would need a bigger car... but we held off, as most of the short to medium length trips could be done by bikes. As the girls got bigger, they also got faster on their bikes!
In Australia... some of the distances are just a bit too far for bikes... and more to the point, the infrastructure even in Canberra is just not quite up to standard. Thankfully, we don't live in Sydney... where it seems like a death wish to even consider riding a bike!
For most of the past month or so, we have been borrowing cars at short notice from family. It has generally been fine as we all live relatively close together, and with some family members working from home or not working due to new babies there has also been a surplus of idle cars. However, when we move out into our new place in about a month... this won't be possible. Apart from the fact that we also just don't want to keep doing that!
So, this last week has been filled with hunting around for used cars that are relatively decent and not too expensive. Our needs for a car are pretty simple, we don't need or want a big car... so, a hatchback or a small sedan would be more than enough for our needs. Something that is relatively cheap to run and easy to source parts... The Kia Ceranto has been popping up quite a bit, and lots of reviews do recommend it as a decent basic car.
Unfortunately, due to all the supply constraints worldwide, new cars are hard to come by... which means that lots of people are hitting up the used car markets. Now, we were always going to purchase a used car... but with all the additional buyers, it is no surprise that the used car market is more expensive than normal. Hmmmm... this is a bit of a recurring theme everywhere!
We had a look a few Cerantos this last week, and in the end we put down a deposit on a sedan version yesterday. It still has a year left of the original manufacturer warranty... and has the right licence plates on it (ACT and not NSW). We did have a look at some auction yard ones... but the fact that you weren't able to take them for test drives and the lack of seller warranty really turned us off it. There was one Ceranto with a ridiculously low mileage (I think it was an ex-government fleet car)... but it was cracked in the body... and it was still selling for quite a lot.
In the end, we did find a nice independent car yard that had decent customer reviews. When we dropped by, the owner was sorry that he had just sold the car that we were coming in to see... but he would have a couple of used Cerantos coming in the next day if we wanted to come in and see them. We did... and we liked one of them. He had to complete the road-worthy stuff and clean and detail the car... so, it looks like that from next week, we will be independently mobile with a car.
... now we just need our bikes to arrive on the sea shipment. We are in two minds about that... we like the delay, as that means that it might be possible to move everything straight into the new place... however, our electric bikes are in the container, which means that we can't get around with them! Sigh... which is better?
I can also be found cross-posting at:
Hive
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Handy Crypto Tools
Ledger Nano S/X: Keep your crypto safe and offline with the leading hardware wallet provider. Not your keys, not your crypto!
Binance: My first choice of centralised exchange, featuring a wide variety of crypto and savings products.
Kucoin: My second choice in exchanges, many tokens listed here that you can't get on Binance!
FTX: Regulated US-based exchange with some pretty interesting and useful discounts on trading and withdrawal fees for FTT holders. Decent fiat on-ramp as well!
MXC: Listings of lots of interesting tokens that are usually only available on DEXs. Avoid high gas prices!
Huobi: One of the largest exchanges in the world, some very interesting listings and early access sales through Primelist.
Gate.io: If you are after some of the weirdest and strangest tokens, this is one of the easiest off-chain places to get them!
Coinbase: If you need a regulated and safe environment to trade, this is the first exchange for most newcomers!
Crypto.com: Mixed feelings, but they have the BEST looking VISA debit card in existence! Seriously, it is beautiful!
CoinList: Access to early investor and crowdsale of vetted and reserached projects.
Cointracking: Automated or manual tracking of crypto for accounting and taxation reports.
Stoic: A USD maximisation bot trading on Binance using long-term long strategies, powered by the AI/human system of Cindicator.
StakeDAO: Decentralised pooled staking of PoS assets.
Poloniex: One of the older regulated exchanges that has come into new ownership. I used to use it quite a lot, but have since stopped.
Bitfinex: Ahhh... another oldie, but a goodie exchange. Most noted for the close affiliation with USDT and the Basic "no-KYC" tier!
