The hazards of a new house...part 2

I am, without a doubt, so glad that I have the Other Half who knows what the hell is going on in this country. I may have mentioned that the house is not actually IN Bowen itself, but about 5/6 ks outside the centre of town. This poses some problems that I had not even thought of. Water Before I came to Australia water was such a simple thing. When you moved into a house you turned the tap on and hey presto! there water was. Unless you live in London that selfsame water from the tap was for bathing, drinking, you name it, you could use the water for it. I now am having to learn the differences between - town water (drinkable but not really tasting that good to be honest) which is available, oddly enough, in town. bore water (definitely NOT drinkable) which is what those of us daft enough to live outside the available town water have in our taps tank water (drinkable) which is basically rainwater from the roof. Not the best plan to survive on it given the amount of rain Bowen has grey water (urgh) which is our waste washing machine water etc for watering the garden. I'm also not sure what happens when we go over our water allocation (fingers crossed we won't) I suspect that we get charged a lot. Rubbish You would think that rubbish collection is a given - or I do, being British, where you may have to take your rubbish to the end of the drive but collect it they do - but noooo. Once again, out of the town boundaries your rubbish is your problem. The Other Half and I had a fun time emptying our fire bin last night because the previous idiots..sorry, tenants...had filled it with things that do not burn - like glass bottles - or things that need a really hot fire to burn - like cans - which they did not have. Food scraps will go to the chickens when we get them but until then we're throwing them out and I have to remember to bring them into town to dump them in a public bin* Post Once again, I know that being British I have certain expections regarding my post - that is, it will be delivered to my door or post box at the end of the drive. However, here, those pesky town boundaries come into play again. Australia Post do not deliver out to where we live. I have to organise for the Post Office to keep my mail for me until I can pick it up or they just return it to sender. Grr. I'm getting there though, I've changed the electricity to my name, got the Post Office to hold my mail and applied for a PO Box (2 month waiting list - useful) although I'm still not sure if I have to ask people to write letters to me c/o the post office or if they just keep it with the address. I think that given it's a redirecting service, just my address will do. The rubbish will have to wait until this afternoon or tomorrow and I'm going on a beanbag hunt in a minute** I'm getting there, I'll be an Aussie yet (although I'm feeling like a wee bit of a traitor as the Other Half is a rabid cricket fan and wanted talking Boony and Beefy figurines to watch the cricket with so I said I'd do it online which involved joining the Boony Army. I'm still supporting the Poms though, I promise!). *which I completely forgot to do this morning **they're a lot cheaper than a lounge suite...