My New Accommodation

Hey guys..! This is the place where I’ll be staying for the next 6 months or maybe longer. Why I said maybe longer, is because during the 2nd semester of my course I’ll be posted to one of the race course on an attachment with a trainer and I’ve no idea which race course. So, we’ll see how things go.

The front of the house and there is no gate at all..!

This is a lane located beside the house (see picture on top - just on the right) towards the back yard and also towards another room, just two steps of stair. And it's where I'll be staying.

It's a big room. A heater at one side of the wall and it'll be very useful during winter.

Once you step into the room you saw a small kitchen equipped with a stove plus oven for cooking, a kitchen cupboard, a sink and a fridge.

A attached bathroom and a sliding door towards the back yard.

This is the back yard. There is a washing machine on the left side of the picture. After investing some money and sweat, this is how it's look like......

A single mattress with a pillow, a small table and a midback cushion.

I'll be doing my homework here.

My little kitchen is now full with foods and kitchen utensils.

I've bought a small cupboard, a gament rack and a fan as well.

It’s kind of cozy and free. You have your own privacy and the landlord won’t disturb you unless you didn’t pay them the “RENTAL”. Well, my landlord is a lady who is married with one very cute little girl which is two years old. This reminds me of my little son who is in Malaysia. This couple is very kind and helpful too. I’m quite comfortable with this place at the moment.

My Campus @ Epping, Melbourne

This is my campus at Epping (NMIT Epping Campus). It’s about 13kms from my current place (Bell Street, Preston) and it’s about 22kms north of Melbourne Central. According to the offer letter from the NMIT International Office, my course was supposed to commence on 9th February 2009. But, when I visited my campus at Epping, the program coordinator officer Mr. Phil Jones told me that my course actually starts on the 23rd February 2009.
But there is an International Student Orientation which was held on 6th February 2009 and it’s meant for international students only. Guess what, I missed the first half of the orientation because I thought it was held at my campus (Epping). But somehow it was held at Preston and I wasted my time travelling here and there. However, there is another important orientation which will be held at different campuses according to the specific course and commencing date. So, my orientation at my campus is on the 20th February 2009.
I have had a very good conversation with Phil during my visit to Epping campus. He’s really helpful and he briefs me on the course timetable and the career opportunities involved after my graduation. My course starts on the 23rd February 2009. The course is actually separated into two semesters. During the first semester, it’s mainly on theory and basic horse handling. On the second semester, it will be an attachment to trainer. You will apply the theory into real practice. I’ll be attending school four days a week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday). The time will be from 9am till 5pm. Well, I’m looking forward into it.

Banks

Commonwealth Bank

NAB Bank

ANZ Bank

Westpac Bank

In Preston, you can find quite a number of banks and the most notable one is Westpac Bank, because they are the only bank which operates on Saturday and in-terms of service they are one of the best. I’ve open 3 accounts at Westpac Bank. Why 3 accounts? Well, the banking system in Australia is a little bit different. For an overseas student like me, we need a bank account to safekeeping our money. To keep your money safe with interest and have access of the ATM then, you need a main account (Westpac eSaver Account) for you to keep your money with interest but there is no ATM service for this account. Then you need another account which can let you withdraw money whenever you needed (Westpac Choice Student Account). And since you are doing a lot of withdrawal with this account so, they don’t provide interest for this account. However, you can transfer money from your eSaver to Choice account online. The 3rd one is the fix deposit account (Term Deposit Account). They provide short term and long term fix deposit account. Well, I manage to get a 4.200% interest rate for a period of 4 months and that’s pretty high.

Melbourne Special

Preston City Hall

Preston Market - Most of the items that sold in the wet market are meat (beef, mutton and pork) and all types of cheese. You hardly find any fish or vegetables. The only place will be the supermarket.
Preston Post Office
Mail Box

A Church at Preston

One of the major supermarket in Melbourne - SafeWay. It's similar to Giant in M'sia. The only difference is they are in a smaller scale while Giant is a hypermarket

Melbourne police car
Taxi

A Jumbo Truck where you can't find in M'sia

A very common electronic wheel chair for the disable

Surprise that fuel price here are cheaper than in M'sia. Oh...my god!!

One of the street in Preston. You hardly see any people on the street because most of them drive.

Surprisingly, you can find such a grand chinese restaurant in Preston - Gold Leaf Chinese Restaurant. Because there are a lot of immigrant from China
A normal advertisement board....wait until you see the content. You definitely can't find one in M'sia but it's very common in Melbourne and even in TV

No wonder there are so many cars on the road than people. It's dxxx cheap. If not mistaken, a brand new Mitsubishi Storm cost less than A$40k. Guess what....I saw my dream car Mazda CX-9 in Preston. I wonder what's the price is.....but the price in M'sia cost more than RM290k!!!

Public Transport @ Melbourne

Melbourne has an automation ticketing systems which operates on all trains, trams and bus services in the metropolitan area, with electronically-encoded tickets called Metcards. One ticket gives you flexible travel between trains, trams and buses.

The ticket fares in Melbourne are based on zones. In Melbourne there are 2 zones. Zone 1 includes Melbourne and surrounding inner suburbs including Carlton, Footscray, Prahran, Preston, Richmond, South Melbourne, St Kilda and North Melbourne. While Zone 2 are the area surrounding Zone 1 and extending out in all directions including Box Hill, Craigieburn, Cranbourne, Clayton, Dandenong, Frankston, Greensborough, Hastings, Hurstbridge, Lilydale, Melton, St Albans, Sunbury, Warrandyte and Werribee.

In Melbourne there are various types of Metcards, but the most special one will be the Sunday Saver Metcards. What’s so special about this Sunday Saver Metcards? This cards allow unlimited train, tram and bus travel across Zone 1 and Zone 2 on Sundays. It only cost you A$3.10 per card and it’s a great value compared to the normal day card which cost you A$10.60 per card.The trains systems in Melbourne are fantastic. They have a total of 228 train stations in Zone 1 and 2 not to mention other parts of Australia.

A Train Station at Preston

A Train Station at Bell

When road meet with railway

A Train

Inside the train

Underground station at Melbourne Central

A Tram at Preston

A Public Bus

Inside Bus