Go get a coffee ... this is a long one! Our Asian adventure is over (for now) and we are heading to Australia. This time on a working holiday visa. One year working and campervanning around the country.
27 October - Kuala Lumpur to Sydney
Today is the day ... well actually we fly through the night so tomorrow is the day we start the next chapter in Australia!!! Back to the real world to find a job on our working holiday visas, but how real is it when you are living in an awesome city like Sydney! The plan is to live and work in Sydney for a few months, buy a campervan and travel across to Perth, work a few months and loop the whole way back around to Sydney! An epic journey we are sooooooo excited for! Our 3 months campervanning around Australia in 2011 were the best 3 months of our lives!
We hung around the hostel all day before getting the mini bus to the airport and boarded our late flight with Malaysian Airlines ... wish us luck.
28 October - December - Sydney
I won't bore you with a day by day account of our first few months in Sydney.
The arrival: We arrived the morning of 28th October. My electronic scan didn't work for some reason so I had to go into the manual line which I am glad I did because I got my passport stamped. With these electric passports they don't have to stamp your passport anymore so Shaun doesn't have one. I'm not happy about this. A passport is your history and I love flicking through the pages. Bring back stamps!!
We took the train straight to our hostel, The Railway YHA, along the way we were suddenly shocked by the niceties of people offering to help with my bag or offering directions (a norm at home but certainly not in Asia). Back to the hostel ... it was poop! It is called, with good reason, the Railway because it is literally on the platform. We booked into the cheapest dorm for a week which is an 8 share carriage on the platform for AU$450. I am not joking look at the photos (and yes it does resemble a prison!).
Anyway enough moaning ... the first thing we did was take a walk to the beautiful Darling Harbour and had steak (OMG it's been so long) and the VERY LONG awaited Tooheys Extra Dry Beer and a glass of wine!!! This is heaven!!
For the next 2 weeks, yup 2 whole weeks, we had to live in the hostel whist applying for jobs every single day and trying to find somewhere to live. Rent is obviously expensive in the city so we looked at everything from a bedsit (to have our own space but you get zero space to move around) right through to 2 joint houses catering for about 10 people with one kitchen and one living room ... yuk!!
Whilst on one of our first viewings we bumped into a nice couple from the UK who were also flat hunting for about the same time period as us so we decided to swap numbers and look for a 2 bed to share, in which the rent should be cheaper.
In the meantime, about a week into being in Sydney we found a perfect apartment sharing with the owners, a couple of Chinese lesbians, in Darling Harbour. The location is bang on right on the harbour with endless views over the city and the major plus was a 25 meter pool on the roof, gym, sauna and terrace! After some debating we finally decided to take the plunge and move in with them. The options were pretty skanky flats sharing with teenagers or a plush pad sharing with what could be like living with parents! We called to accept and set the move in date to be a few days later. But of course, this did not go to plan... we hadn't yet set up an Australian bank account so we had to transfer money from our UK account into theirs which you cannot do without an international transfer. I called, out of courtesy, to let them know they money would be with them the very next day but they were a bit concerned about it. Thankfully my mum went straight to the bank for us to do the transfer and in the meantime Shaun and I went to the cinema. Only, before the movie started I got a text from Abby (one of the couple) to call it off because they didn't trust us to get them the money or get the next rent payments to them! What the hell! I called them in a rage so they had a discussion and text back to call it off ... indefinitely. This was at 10pm the night before we were due to move in!! I quickly text my mum to not make the transfer, just as she was about to hit go! Phew!! We put it down to "all things happen for a reason" and maybe we were better off not living with them!
Anyway we carried on our search for another week whilst enduring hostel life and after viewing 7 flats we found a gooden! This is a 2 bed up for a 4 month rental in the same building just facing the other way to the Anzac Bridge. We called Nathan and Jo, the English couple, (by this point we had already had a beer with Nathan and viewed a few flats with them both) and we viewed the apartment and put in an application with the estate agent straight away. A few days later it was ours and we signed the lease and moved in the same day on 12 November. Again, as you would expect, there had to be something wrong ... no bloody kitchen equipment. When we viewed the apartment the agent literally said to me "everything you see here you will get". Well, ALL of the kitchen had been cleared, all the pictures off the wall, all of the bedding! We called the agent and guess what, no answer! Deciding not to stress about it we chilled out with a few beers then suddenly thought ... we had no bedding! We sharpened upand had to quickly run to the super market to buy a cover and pillows. No douvets in Coles so we got pillows and the headed back into the city at 9pm and went to Woolworths and again no douvets so we bought a douvet cover and had to sleep inside it for the night!! In the morning we managed to get hold of the agent who explained that he DID notice the kitchen equipment had gone and that the bedding would not be included. It took numerous angry phone calls every day until Saturday morning when the essentials were given to us. And then to add to this we only had 3 sets of keys for over a week so we had to share. Word of advice, NEVER rent from L J Hooker!!
Anyway life is pretty sweet in the flat and luckily we get on really well with Nathan and Jo and seem to be living harmoniously. We have a nice big sofa so we can all sit down and watch tv of an evening, our own bathroom and a long balcony with the most incredible view. It is absolute bliss sitting on the balcony, eating dinner, watching the sun set over the city.
Ok so that's the living situation ... on the job front we have both applied for our normal jobs in welding/fabrication and IT project work as well as more random jobs like waitressing, porters and baristas. We even went and took a six hour course to get our RSA certificate, a legal requirement to serve alcohol, and barista skills and coffee art! This did us little help as we never got offered any jobs using these skills! The plan is to work in Sydney for 4 months, buy a campervan and do some travelling across to the west.
Shaun did get a few job offers for welding/fabricating jobs but unfortunately nothing in the city. Shaun accepted a job at an industrial kitchen makers, not really very exciting sat welding dishwashers but they pay was ok. Although like the other jobs it is out of the city in Smithfield which is about an hour and a quarter away by train and bus (not to mention the cost). So of course ... he bought a motorbike! Yup it's been 3 weeks and he has bought a bike!! It is a Honda VTR 1000, and it even fits me on the back so should be good for whizzing around at the weekends and maybe even a camping trip in the blue mountains. Buying a vehicle in Australia is a lot of hassle and obviously stressful when Shaun is trying to buy it just a few days before he is due to start work. First off, Shauns money is still in his UK account so would need an international transfer but it was late on Friday evening so it would not clear until the next week. Luckily the bike was still available by Monday and Shauns transfer had completed. Now the trouble was the rego had expired. To get a rego you must get a pink slip from a mechanic and a green sleep which is compulsory third party insurance and only then can you register the vehicle. And in addition to this it is wise to have your own further insurance. Anyway he handed over the cash and got the green and pink slips and drove home. The next day he registered the bike and we decided to take it for a spin to see how long it would take to get to his work. We sat is traffic for probably an hour (only just quicker than public transport). We fuelled up and .... it didn't start!! The battery was dead! We tried to bump start it for at least half an hour and by this I mean I was pushing a 1000cc bike down the road! Lols!! Finally got it running and made it back to the city (within half an hour) and it stalled just as we were trying to get in the car park! It was gone 6pm so we had to leave it for the night. The next day Shaun was due to start work but he decided to postpone to the next day so he could go and buy a new battery and charge it. Probably not best practice on your first day of a new job!!
I had my first call back about a project coordinator job at a web company. I had my interview, got called back for a second interview the very next day and offered the job. After applying for over 80 jobs I get a call and bagged the job within 48 hours! I started my job on 27th November and it's pretty easy. It is an 8 week contract which they have now extended, hopefully until we leave in March. It's very chilled out atmosphere with as much free coffee from the coffee shop downstairs, a fridge stocked full of Cola and beers and a ping pong table. Also the offices are a block from the Opera House so I spend my lunch hours sat on the grass tourist watching!
And then Shaun nearly lost his mind with the repetitive boredom and quit his job and moved to another welding company, a little closer to the city, doing more similar work to home working in a workshop. Although he hates this one equally as much! Who wouldn't getting up at 4.45am everyday to work a 10 hour shift! I know we came with the intention of doing random fun jobs but in a city like Sydney it's just not feasible for the money.
In amongst all of this drama we have had our fair share of relaxing moments. We've had a couple of days at Bondi. I found a yummy looking restaurant on Instagram down in Bondi so we decided to go and check it out. Bondi Wholefoods ... it was right up my street ... coconut flour pancakes, salmon and avocado sandwiches, everything super clean and super healthy. The food was delicious and we have been back a few more times for breakfast!! We also took a stroll along the beach as packed as ever. We didn't dare swim though, they have found two sharks within 3 days caught in the nets 400 meters off the shore! We also took the bike for a spin to Watsons Bay which was a beautiful ride along windy roads along the coast. And lots of lazy Saturday nights on our roof watching the Darling Harbour fireworks with the best view in town!
We also have eaten out a hell of a lot. Sydney really is a hub for food lovers! Shaun's favourite being the pub across the road, The Pyrmont Bridge Hotel, they do a 1 kilo steak challenge and a burger as big as your head ... needless to say we have been there a few times! There is also a shopping mall just downstairs so when we are feeling lazy we have a sneaky KFC. Another favourite is the Potting Shed in Alexandria. It's sooo cute and the food is amazing!! They even have their own petting zoo with the cutest pony!
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| PBH 1 kilo steak challenge |
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| PBH burger as big as your head |
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| The Potting Shed |
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| The Potting Shed pony! |
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| Bondi Wholefoods |
A la perchoine
Jodie and Shaun x
