Furnished apartments are hard to come by in Melbourne.

I was kind of banking on getting such a place, as I intended to only stay a year. But the places we saw were dingy and all of the carpet and the couches smelt like wet dog. So we didn’t move there.

But even more of a shock to the Canadian apartment-hunter is the fact you are expected to provide all “white goods” (appliances)! Usually, not having to buy a fridge is one of the perks of renting!

Apartments in Australia often do not include:

• fridge – you always provide your own, and there are a variety of sizes.

• stove *unless the apartment is gas in which case there will be one—newer apartments only

• dishwasher – Melbourne dishwashers are much better than the Canadian clunkers–far more energy efficient, and they are only one level, so you can run it often enough that you don’t have to go looking through dirty dishes to find your favourite mug.

• laundry machines * new apartment buildings often have dryers but not washers…

Regarding Australian Toilets:

Thankfully, apartments do come with their own toilets! 😉 which are also more energy efficient. If you buy a toilet in 2006 Canada, 13L toilets are the preference, whereas 6L are not recommended.

However, in Australia, a 6L toilet is the largest you’ll ever see. (10 years of drought and building a country in a desert will do that to toilet policy.) These toilets are great. They are even better for water conservation, when you use the recommended “half-flush”, you are only using 3L of water.

If You are Determined to buy your own on a Teacher’s Salary:

Between Ikea and the Salvos (“Salvation Army”) you can furnish for less than $5000. Probably a better deal is to get someone online who is doing a “moving sale”.

Useful Second-Hand Places for Furniture:

• Craig’s List
• Gumtree
• Salvation Army
• The Op Shop
• ‘Factory Seconds’ stores