Moving in, getting around

These photos are from circa early August 2005, starting from the day I moved into my own apartment (after having bummed off a fellow aussie and former PhD colleague for almost 2 weeks...), and following with photos from initial explorations to get to know the surrounding area. At this point I had been working at my new job at the EBI for about one week.
Move in day, August 2005. Me with a celebratory brewski. "move in" is actually a bit of a misnomer in this case because I had nothing of my own to move in, except for my suitcase. The extent of my furniture at this point was a measly double bed, an office table, and a chair, supplied by the landlord. The bulk of the furniture in my "fully furnished" apartment was due in the next 2 weeks. Suffice to say it took about 2 months to get all of the furniture I requested. I had nothing to amuse myself with, or even sit on, for almost a month - just the bed, the table, and the chair.
Prior to moving in, I had been staying at Brett's place (a fellow PhD student from Macquarie Uni is Sydney). Brett and I had just come from a huge shopping spree at one of the biggest Tescos in England, to buy basic housewares - plates, cups, cutlery, tea-towels etc etc. Note the nice flowers from the landlord above the fireplace. Nice touch.
Heading into the heart of Cherry Hinton for the very first food shop. This path leads from the end of our street to the main road through town. It's nice because this is quite a busy road and we're only a couple of hundred metres from it but can't hear a thing because of the bush buffer.
Just down the path is the main road and a cute little gastropub just across the road. Sure it's a fairly character-less family-style pub (with a pretty decent beer-garden), but least it's handy... we've been there a couple of times.
Alternative view. The main road into Cambridge runs tranverse to the photo, and the main road into Cherry Hinton is where the bus is coming from. And yes, Cambridge has an airport, but it's a tiny freight & enthusiast affair.
The road into Cambridge, replete with bicycle path along the right side of the road.
A little way down the road towards Cambridge is a fairly large & beautiful park with lots of walking & cycling paths.
More park...
The park even has a little lake/river.
with ducks and geese...
At the heart of the park is Cherry Hinton Hall, which is a heritage listed historical building. It is also the approximate venue for the renowned annual Cherry Hinton folk festival, which sounds twee but is hugely popular with all age groups, with tickets selling out weeks in advance.
The park is really quite huge... big enough to cycle around for a couple of hours.
Heading into town now we have yet another pub...
...and then the main shops -- a Tesco express, couple of hairdressers, a medical centre and dentist, bakery, booze shop, DVD store, £2 junk store, bank, a chinese takeaway, fish&chip shop, and indian restaurant. All the basics really.