Later that night we went to our local, The Eagle (http://www.geronimo-inns.co.uk/theeagle/), with all the housemates for the Aussie menu (rissoles, chicken parma, kangaroo steak) followed by an Aussie themed quiz. Questions included naming famous faces (including Alf from Home and Away) and naming Aussie songs (Jason Donovan, Kylie, Men at Work). We came 3rd!
After looking at a lot of dodgy places we finally found one. 2 Davisville Road, Hammersmith, London W12 9SJ, UK.
Newly renovated 3 storey house, sharing a big kitchen, longue/TV room, washing machine, 2 bathrooms, separate toilet and outdoor patio.
We are moving in this afternoon to the loft room, then moving downstairs when one of the guys leave in a few weeks (he is moving out into a private flat with his girlfriend). There is also the option of moving into a larger room on the ground floor with more storage space etc when that couple leave in about a month.
It is in the middle of several tube stations (Central, Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines...or red, pink, yellow & green on the map). It's half an hour’s walk from Westfield (the biggest one in Europe), close to 2 cinemas, lots of pubs & 2 other shopping centres with supermarkets etc. Shepherd’s Bush Market is within walking distance which sells fruit&vege and meat also.
These photos are just from the ad we found on Gumtree.com…will post more after we have moved in.
We later went to a Chinese buffet…it was delicious. Not 100% sold on the drinks though when the lady made a gin and tonic with more gin than tonic.
After being told I couldn’t get a bank account using an Australian Passport without having a UK utility bill in my own name I thought it would be a long wait until I got my own and Chris and I would have had to share an account.
On the 4th visit to Barclays (whilst Chris was opening his account) someone finally checked what documentation I needed being Australian and all it was, was a passport.
Chris and I both have T Mobile sim cards in the UK.
Chris: 07951 326 546
Alex: 07949 291 798
The Australian wine they sell is laughable. Wolfblass and Lindeman’s just about covers it. For a product that isn’t great and was sold for about $6 at Dan’s, it’s pretty hard to justify paying over $15 for. Oyster Bay is around $15 which is similar to home.
Spirits tend to be cheaper if not the same price as home. Absolut vodka is about $30 and scotch is a little cheaper. RTD’s include Smirnoff mixed with Ocean Spray cranberry juice in Red Bull sized cans and Schweppes gin and tonic (a far cry from cruisers and UDL’s)
They sell a lot of Cadbury products including deserts, cakes and biscuits along with regular choccies. They already have their Easter products in.
Magazines come in ‘travel size’ (about 2/3 the size of a regular magazine). Most importantly I found Vegemite…wouldn’t have survived without it.
We ended up heading back to the hotel as there wasn’t a lot to do around the London Eye while we waited for the fireworks. Many of the pubs were shutting at 6pm as the roads are blocked from cars along with some of the station exits to help control the flow of people closer to midnight.
When we headed back in at about 10:30pm the trains were packed and it was a case of getting in and hoping for the best. We got off at the Embankment and masses of people filed out (similar to protests on the news). 
We walked to Buckingham Palace, but didn’t get to meet the Queen (one of my UK must do’s, along with going to Antiques Roadshow). We visited London Bridge and walked past the London Dungeons (looks similar to Dracula’s Theatre Restaurant).
We purchased Oyster Cards which you just swipe in and out of the stations instead of buying tickets…you also get a cheaper fare by doing so. Although I was never a fan of Melbourne public transport…the tube is excellent. Trains come about every 5 mins and no matter where you are there is a station within walking distance.
Once we got into our rooms we had to battle 3 staircases with our luggage. The room was small (as most places are in London) and the shower…you may as well have showered over the toilet. Breakfast was tea and coffee, yogurt, toast and cereal.
We hopped on the tube and went to Oxford Street. Top Shop was 4 levels of shopping….quite overwhelming. Clothing is fairly inexpensive at the likes of Top Shop, H&M and Miss Selfridges. It was quite amusing to see identical things that Sportsgirl sells over here.
I was refused service at a money exchange service because I was female (you can imagine how outraged I was). When you go at Easter time June bug, I suggest you exchange your money at the post office before going or organise Travelex or an EFTPos card so you can withdraw the local currency yourself.
