It's been a bit of a slow week because we have been waiting to complete on a house we are buying so have been unable to go far because we need the campsite wifi to get emails. Mind you I have found free wifi in a number of unexpected places, the bank, Bunnings (like Wickes) and various shopping centres and cafes.
Property purchasing works very differently here. Unlike in the UK where all the investigations are carried out before exchange of contracts then, at exchange, a firm completion date is set, here exchange happens very early on in the piece then the searches begin and completion (or settlement as it is called) is not fixed. What seems bizarre to us is that the solicitor or conveyancer has to go to the bank where the vendors have their mortgage armed with cheques to reach final settlement, and our conveyancer has been struggling to get a date for this out of the bank. They have now agreed 23rd December. Why on earth they can't use electronic transfers like the rest of us I can't imagine!
This would all be extremely tricky if we were selling one house and buying another - how do people dovetail it all together? And how do they organise their removals?
Luckily our campsite have squeezed us in for a bit longer, this could have been a problem because all the sites are fully booked for Christmas staring tonight but ours is not completely packed until boxing day and even then they said they will find a bit of grass for us and run a power cable out there if we are still stuck.
Everyone keeps saying how busy this area will get overnight when the Christmas holidays start but I'm finding it hard to imagine. This site is on the Tomaree Peninsula in Anna Bay which has a 32km beach and leads into Nelson Bay and Shoal Bay and all three are resorts with other little beachside towns in between so I suppose it will get busy. The house we are buying is on the Tillygerry Peninsula in Lemon Tree Passage, which is only just up the road but quite a bit quieter. We are off there this afternoon for the Lemon Jam, music and markets on the front. Apparently it is on every month, I hope so!