What we've been upta
So after an emotional goodbye to whats-her-face (Amanda) we caught the short flight from Christchurch, New Zealand, to Sydney, Australia. The journey was painless, a short 3 hour flight was nothing in comparison to the 14 hour rocky bus journeys of Bolivia. Saying that... the pilot was seemingly terrible and almost crashed upon landing! We jumped into a shuttle that took us into the heart of Sydney's city centre... and more specifically to our Hostel... which was an absolutely dump! Highlights included the hapless staff (I asked one for a paperclip and she genuinely didn't know what a paperclip was, claiming English was not her first language) weird guests... and complimentary cockroaches! We stayed a couple of nights here and had a few very unsuccessful nights out. The first night out.... Michael and David were still in New Zealand mode so wore flip flops to go to a bar... but the bar had a strict shoes only policy... and despite Me lending Michael my socks to put over his flip flops as a genius disguise, we were turned away! The other night out involved being ejected from a bar for cheekily drawing an F on my hand and claiming that it meant I was owed a free drink. Bouncers in Australia are apparently more uptight than the Kiwi ones!
Fed up of the hostel, the seemingly weak nightlife and the cloudy weather... we were all but ready to pack up and move onto Melbourne. However, after a trip down to Bondi Beach on our third day, and the first sunny day of our time in Oz, we realised we had found our true calling! Bondi Beach is a wonderful place my friends, great views, great weather and great women... poyfect! We realised the error of our ways in staying in the centre of the city and quickly moved to a new hostel by the beach which was much more chilled out... and began our search for jobs, cheaper accommodation and a decent night out! Also... we have met back up with Jonny who flew into Australia a few days after us.... more on that later! (below... Bondi Beach)
Business Ventures
Given that the average price of a cadburys Dairy Milk here is about 1pound50, money is sure running out fast and we have become inventive in new ways of saving money (using mcdonalds for free wifi and free ketchup, eating peoples left over food etc!) - also stepped up the search for job.
- However, Before resigning ourselves to the working world Myself and Michael got a bit entrepreneurial and decided to try and make a quick buck by making and Selling Sandwiches! We bought a load of ham bread and mustard from the supermarket, swiftly made and wrapped 50 sandwiches and places them in our cool bag, made a sign... and headed out into the streets of Sydney to get selling... $2 a sandwich, the freshest and cheapest in town... surely we were onto a winner!? Apparently not... we broke even on our 30$ costs and made about a 10$ profit each. We discovered that nobody really wants to buy sandwiches off of bearded travellers... and also that people ended up just giving us money out of sympathy! On the plus side, we got a lot of exercise walking around and also saw a lot of tourist attractions including the opera house and the harbour bridge... both of which are no different in real life as to what they look like on google images!
- By chance I was standing by reception at our second hostel when they got a call from a tree surgeon saying that he needed some assistance for the following day... essentially labouring for him by carrying large trees, branches etc to his trailer once he had cut them down. For 20$ an hour, I bit his hand off and the next day I began working for Pip, The Tree Surgeon! Pip, aged around 35 is a big man who carries his tiny dog on a pink lead with him to work every day. Pip, cuts down trees using chainsaws. Pip is skilled at his job. Pip has a funny name. I have never done a days gardening in my life. I am small. I have a normal name. So the next 5 hours were pretty hard work as I schlepped heavy trees and branches over many metres and lifted them into his trailer, occasionally having to cut them down and do some raking and leaf blowing in the process. The work in the sweltering heat was extremely tough but i got through, and he even hired me a few more times after which was most delightful. Theres even whispers of me being nominated for young rakesmen of the year 2012 (I already beat David to it this year despite his work helping an old lady renovate her house and garden)
- Pip only can give me occasional work, so I have now scored myself a full time job... Holding a sign for a shop! I get paid 50$ to stand (or sit) holding a sign for 4 hours a day. Its the easiest money I have ever made. I don't have to do anything but exist, and hold a sign. Simples! (Family... I know you are really proud of me!)
Apartment
Due to the extortionate price of hostels, its actually cheaper to rent an apartment! So very quickly, we found and moved into one right next to the beach, on Bondi Road... and its absolutely awesome! Me, Jonny, David and Dan are the occupants, with Michael just crashing on our couch for the week until he heads back home. We have quickly made the place our own, and it is great not to be living out of a suitcase again, if only for the next 5weeks or so! New Apartment, 'Cassa De Gringo' shown below!:
Birthday Week
The much anticipated Birthday Week is under way! Jonny celebrated his birthday on Saturday night and we decorated the flat accordingly.... banners, hats, balloons, cake etc etc! Michael's Birthday is on Tuesday, and Davids on Wednesday... so the messy week looks set to continue!
People
- Australians - haven't met very many yet! Everyone around here seems to be travellers! Hope to find some real ozzys soon!
- Thomas - staff at our Bondi Beach hostel. French. Extremely good at table tennis. Extremely bad at doing an English accent.
- The Kaizer - or captain of 'Team Ireland' - the hostels group of travellers who took over the kitchen every night. We despised her for many reasons, not just that she was fat and ugly!
- A tramp... in a bid to save money... we slept on the beach with a many a tramp the day before we moved into our new apartment as we did not fancy spending another 100$ collectively on one more nights stay at the hostel. Michael and Dan chose a nice concrete floor next to the tramps, whilst me and David opted for the softer sand. It was uncomfortable and got freezing at about 5am.... but money well saved and another life experience gained!!
- Michael Rhodes. Lad. What a man. He is going home on Thursday after an extremely enjoyable and memorable 4 month stint with him. He will be missed greatly by all. The rumours are true.... Rhodes does indeed know the roads... and his navigation skills have pretty much single handedly got us to where we are today. I will not however miss his Kurdish beard.
- Ricky Lawrence - true legend. Fact.
Aims
So looks like going to be in Sydney for the foreseeable future.... have a couple of publishable things to tick off my checklist:
- See an Ozzy Rules Footy game
- Have a good night out
- Rid Michael Rhodes from our lives
- Have a BBQ on the beach
- Find a nice Australian Girl to marry
- Get a great tan (yes i am using factor 50 sunblock mum)
- Find another job to save some money so that I am not a tramp in Thailand!
Until next time... Byeeeee!
x
