"I live in a land down under...."

• Pads17's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Sydney

Trip Start Jan 25, 2008 Previous
Entry Trip End Jan 25, 2009 Next
Entry

  Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Hello sorry it's been a while since my last entry but the last weeks haven't been as action packed as previous ones. So anyway i arrived in Sydney back April on the 22nd after our flight from Christchuch, NZ. We first stayed in a hostel in the kings cross area called the Blue Parrot, nice people but not that nice a hostel so we thought if we were going to stay somewhere for a bit of time we would rather stay somewhere nice. So after two nights there we found another hostel called Wake Up which had lots of good reviews and booked in there for what we thought should only be a week or so. So On the 24th we decided to move to Wake Up it was more central and a lot nicer As we were both planning to get work here we had to get various things like a tax number and medical card and bank account set up so for the next few days we spean a lot of time doing this so we could then get applying to get a job. We were also looking for a place to stay that wasn't a hostel so that was kind of happening aswell. I had decided though that chances are i would end up doing work like i had been back home , in construction, so decided that i would want a flat before getting a job because we were staying in a 8 person dorm and the thought of getting up a 5-6am when thats when most of the perople in my room were probably getting home didn't appeal really. So the days went by and it was proving pretty hard to find somewere that would suit, money and location wise as kev had gotten a job in a local internet cafe and didn't want to be too far from it. As the weeks went by i had to find ways to entertain myself during the day as i would get up and there was only so much job/flat hunting i could do. So i did a lot of walking, walked evry where i went in the city as the weather was mostly really nice all the time. I did have an interview with a lanscaping company and signed up with them but by the time i had got my green card (you need this to work in any sort of construction or building site) i didn't hear from them so guessing there wasn't much work around as i had signed up to another labouring company but didn't hear much from them. So i spent my time visiting the art museums and reading in all the various parks there are in Sydney, i also built up a bit of a habit of falling asleep in these parks as well in the sun??too many late nights i think.
On one of the weekends in the hostel thay organised a trip to see an Aussie rules football game, must of been one of the hottest days so far and got pretty burned as sittin right in the sun but there was about 50 people from the hostel and it was a good laugh. Sorry for anyone who may enjoy AFL but i personally thought it was rubbish and way too long so we all just tried to start mexican waves, i don't think the locals appreciated this though. Funny that.
On another day i went with a couple of guys from my room to the aquarium, just for something to do as i don't think i would have gone if they wern't but was really good, especially the big shark tank, you walk underneath it and there are some huge fish in there so money well spent there. I also that week walked over the harbour bridge, not the proper tour but just walked over it like you can with the Forth Road bridge. Once on the other side i had a bit of a wander then realised i had to walk all the way back so decided to turn round.
During these few weeks we had decided to look for a flat with a couple of girls who were in the same boat as us and stayed in our room in the hostel for about a week or so. We viewed a few places but nothing we all agreed on so went back to looking for just me and kev. One morning while kev was looking online at his work (he has a very hard job!) he came across a flat one bedroom but to beds that we got to view a day later. It was to stay with 2 irish girls and we found out later that we could move in in just over a week as we had to wait for others to move out. Don't know what other candidates were like but glad they pick us. So thats were we live now. In total we stayed in the hostel for bout 6 weeks, enjoyed it a lot but enjoying more having my own space and not sharing room with 8 others! So now we have been in this flat for 3 weeks i think and working out well apart from the toilet breaking once for a couple of days and having to use the facilities down at a local supermarket! Also Teresa who i live with got me a job at her work in a call centre which is a 10 minute walk from my flat. Not an ideal job but good money and getting used to it now. It's not commition based either which is good as im selling accidental loss of life insurance. Now i have been told if i can sell this i can sell anything as it's not as if people wake up in morning thinking " gee i hope someone phones me today to sell me some sort of insurance that will cover me if i was to accidnetally die" but im doing ok! Only got another month or so till we have to leave our flat so think i can stick it out till then. I work with a lot of other travellers so this makes it better as nobody takes job too seriously.

Anyway i hope this all makes sense as it was kind of jumbled up but thats what happens when you try and round up 8 weeks or so in this amount of space. Hope all is well and will try to keep up to date more often, also no pics as my camera got broken but will hopefully have one soon, px

Print this entry Share

Previous Entry Next Entry