Melbourne, Day 1: It's Hot

Today temperature in Melbourne reached a ridiculously hot 43c at its peak where we were but word is from Andy that one of his mates was somewhere else in the city were it reached 47c.

Although this is almost incomprehensible heat to imagine unless you actually experience it yourself first hand it didn't seem as hot as I'd or imagined it to be, although at times when reaching a cross road throughout the city it seemed like you were standing in front of a massive hair dryer due to the wind being channelled down the vast straight for the eye can see roads it still wasn't unbearable.

I'd checked out of my other accommodation and successfully checked into Industry hostel and to my surprise got given $21.40 back as apparently they'd over charged me the day before.  From working it out in my head however I don't think they did as now ultimately I've only paid $101.60 for six days, only just under $17 per night and for that price I've got an awesome room too with an On-suite bathroom including (one of the nicest) shower ('s I've ever had) and fan.  Although the fan has to be on rotation to satisfy the other room mates its defiantly better than nothing and I do pity the poor buggers throughout the rest of the hostel who have none at all.

Helena and Kicki decided to go the St Kilda beach for the day were as I stayed in the city and explored and just tried to find my feet.  The general feeling of Melbourne from people back in Sydney is mixed, some say you'll either love Melbourne and hate Sydney and vis-versa, some say you'll love both and some people reckon both are shit but for me, so far, I'm a fan of both.  Sydneysiders did get one thing right about Melbourne being very spread out and open but this is largely due to the tram lines going down the majority of the streets resulting in the roads having to be bigger which probably just gives a general feeling of a more open planned city.

There also does seem to be allot more actual Australians in the city and I've successfully heard my first Aussie say 'no drama' even if it was in a passing telephone conversation.

Helena then came and met me at my hostel to which she was disgusted at just how shite hers was compared to mine thus prompting her and Kicki to hand in a transfer request and have even hinted they will leave All-Nations on a free transfer should they not get there own way.  Tomorrow is D-day and they will find out in the morning whether or not they are allowed to leave amid controversy and un-approval from there fans.  Whatever happens, Christine, a girl Helena worked with at Bar Luca in Sydney will be looking to book into Industry as she flies out here on Saturday and is also going to be watching the tennis.

In the evening we met up with some friends of Kicki's from back home - all 11 of them, who were staying in a shared house in near South Yarra train station - Kicki knew one of the lads through her boyfriend and from there has got to know the rest of them in due course. 

We all went out for a meal and and a drink and then they went back to the house for a bit whilst Andy and I went to see a friend he'd made during his time down the East Coast.  Hello's and Goodbyes were said and bye this time i was absolutely goosed and ready for bed, we headed for the station and let the Swede's know we were there only for them to get lost and try and describe to an increasingly frustrated Andy over the phone where they were and what they could see.  Roughly an hour and a half later they found the station, we headed back, i left them at St Flinders Street station while i headed up to Central Melbourne's stop and by which point i wanted nothing more than to be in bed.  All fun and games.

Today I'm just sitting in the library until the sun doesn't decide to melt me as a I walk, its free 

(but slow) t'internet and I'm taking my time finding out about the football (someone please tell me why we sold Mullins?) and getting syked about a Federer vs (Nadal) final on Sunday!!!

Sydney To Melbourne

Things worked out really well in terms of getting to the airport in the Sydney, by pure coincidence John’s (assistant manager at the pub) girlfriend Victoria and a mate were getting the exact same flight.  Because of this John offered me a lift to the airport in the morning and couch to crash on overnight so that he didn’t have to drive back into the city just to pick me up.  So, when work finished at 1am my bags were at the pub and all we had to do was load them into the car – with the flight at 6am and check in an  hour before we had to be up at 4.30am in order to get ready, well, I say get ready – for me this consisted of just getting dressed and slumming it with a fragrance of new leather sofa as my aftershave, the time was allotted for the girls so that it gave them time to do whatever girls do to take so long getting ready.

I managed all of an hour’s sleep at most as the night air was 4-second routinely interrupted from various courses of snoring throughout the house.  We get to the airport at 5 and check in, no hassle, no fuss, got on the plane and all was good, smooth flight, hour and a half tops – in fact the whole trip from Sydney to Melbourne was plain sailing, even when I got a lift from Avalon airport to Melbourne with a random Chinese family I’d met all off....1 second beforehand.

Basically I was in the mile long queue for the Shuttle bus from Avalon to central Melbourne (It’s about an hour’s drive) when before it was too late I saw a sign saying they don’t except efpos or credit cards meaning I would have to get money out.  The ATM in that terminal was currently out of use so I had to go to terminal 2 to get out the cash, upon returning the daughter of the family simply approached said ‘You go Melbourne?’ to which I replied a simple and slightly raised ‘Yes’ (We all know how it works, you go to a foreign country and don’t speak the language so we simply say everything in English only a little bit louder than usual and low and behold it...just....works!!), anyway, she understood, countered my answer with ‘Want share petrol, my family drive, $15 $15 $15!!!’ and I just thought why not, in fact, on recollection, I don’t think I even thought about it, I was so tired at that point the words just came out and I was lead in my zombified state to a car they had just rented.  I do remember thinking the family was just what I’d want any Chinese family to be like, the daughter would of obviously have been into furbie’s, tamogotchie’s (sp?) and any other electronic big craze that came/comes about.  The Mother was a small lady, spoke no English and was obviously full of wisdom, her grey hair tied back in a tight bun and the Father, who also spoke no English was a happy proud man who obviously couldn’t drive.  I had a sneaking suspicion he may well have been more suited to driving a Yak Yak or Puk Puk or whatever they’re called in the crazy hustle and bustle that is the Chinese streets than that of an open motorway.  The daughter told me that in China they drive on the other side of the street (which, for some reason, I think she thought was reassuring to me) and that she had to tell her father everything the sat nav said as well as road signs such as STOP.  I wanted to fall asleep but I also thought that if we were going to crash I wanted to be awake so that I could brace myself for impact or perhaps squeeze the old lady in between me and the on-coming lorry to help cushion the blow!  I mean the fact that at one point we stopped completely dead in the middle of a motorway while deciding which way we had to go and that on the other side of the road a lorry carrying a stack of smashed up cars drove by didn’t strike me in any way as ominous.

Sometime later I wake to see that we’ve reached Melbourne CBD and that I was on the required street which my accommodation was to be found.  Booking in there was a whole different kettle of fish.  Turns out my reservation was never confirmed and that upon trying to charge me there and then to do it just wouldn’t work either but because my name was on the booking sheet I would have to be charged for standing in there lobby for all of ten minutes.  I was so tired, hot and getting ratty that I just didn’t care and it did also mean that I would be able to stay there for that night at least.  Upon getting that mess sorted out I went out to find accommodation for the rest of the week and decided to take heed of my mistake of venturing away from Nomads hostels and booked into one of there’s just down the road called Industry.  So for the remainder of my trip I’ll be staying there for the remainder of my stay in Melbourne.  Once my bed for the week was sorted I could really start to relax and sweat my tits off in comfort – for those of you who don’t know I arrived in the middle of a heatwave here in Melbourne with yesterdays temperature reaching 40c and today’s expected to reach 43c.  I got a call from Andy, the good mate we’ve made back in Sydney who’d been staying in Melbourne for a while and is here until he goes back in a few weeks time, and we arranged to meet up and then later we met up again with the Swede’s once they were sorted with accommodation.

A few quite drinks and promised tour of the city from Andy later and I was all about ready to crash and prepare myself to wake at silly O’clock in the morning (8am) in order to check out and check into my new place.  I did myself justice with the continental breakfast they had on offer and ate my weight in melon, toast and apple juice.

Right now I’m just chilling in the hostel, having chucked my bag in my room and waking all three of the lads who were in there I’m giving them some space before I go back in so I’ll be deciding what to do today that involves not going into the heat and see if I can last the whole day without drinking any water or using any sun tan lotion (right Mum, that’s what you said isn’t it?)

Short 'n Sweet!

Sorry about the lack of updates people but to be honest there's not a great deal been happening, I've been saving my money for when I go to Melbourne in three days.

Works going fine and the hours have picked up again which is good, this is a combination of both the rugdy season starting up, the Australian Open being on the TV's and also Australia Day on the horizon (26th Jan) were they celebrate the first fleet of of British ships touching down on these shores.................in other words it's a good excuse to crack out a barbie, a few stubbies and lounge around getting a tan and getting drunk!

The Pub has a BBQ upstairs at the back of the function room and this to will be cracked out with a few hundred sausages on the menu, all in all its the reciepe for a fun day to be in the pub, even if I will be working.  Staff get to wear Australia t-shirts or something with green and gold - the Austrlia national colours, which is find by me as it also means i can wear shorts and singlet and basically not have to sweat my way through another shift!!

The last two days the temp has succesfully managed to reach 40c with the first day failing to drop below 25c - the first time for 150 years, and although i didn't know this till reading it in the newspaper the day after we definatly picked a good day to go to the beach (and i only got marginally burnt!!)

Oh, also Helena's friend from back home in Sweden, Kicki, arrived on the 22nd and will be staying with Helena in her apartment, and my mate Dan Craaaaaaaaaaaaaabbs landed on the 24th and I may be meeting up with him today.

There will be a better and more intresting post to read upon my return from Melbourne, or, unless there's internet access there, maybe a day-by-day blow, along with pictures.

Hope England is still coping without me, I see from my tempurature gauge on the comp that its 7c and raining so I'm sure you'll be able to find a space on the beach today!

On Your Own Son!

Ok, i admit it, this has nothing especially to do with being out here in Australia although i guess in someways it also does...good start ey, anyway, it's true that i never truely realised the amount of 'things' that were provided and you, well I, took for granted whilst at home and living with Mum.

I rarely paid rent back home and even so food was always provided, clothes washed, taxi service provided and allot more besides, but being out here obviously none of those things are done, my Mum's good but she ain't THAT good!

So basically what I'm saying is that I'm on a drastic learning curve on how to manage money and spend it only on essentials...such as food and rent.

I stupidly, along with a vast number of other backpackers i wouldn't be surprised, got sucked into the whole 'hostel organised cheap nights out' were they will entice you in with carelessly used 'free drinks' and other deals, its only when you wake up the morning after that you realise after using your cheap/free drink vouchers you then continue to stay at the bar/club and spend your own money, more often than not moving on from that destination to a club or somewhere else were they thrive on fresh meat from abroad who all think aaah $100 is only £50, its nothing reeeealllly, suddenly 2 weeks have passed and somehow in those 14 days you've managed to spend nearly £700 dollars just on alcohol and late night kebabs, again, I can't speak for everyone but from my one and only hostel experience to date, I know I'm not alone!.

I realise now that money really doesn't grow on tree's or through my mum via the Internet and although she is still willing to put money into my account not only is it not fair for her to do so but also it shouldn't need to happen in the first place. So, with my Australian bank balance wavering, rent due, plane tickets yet to be booked and accommodation yet to be sorted for Melbourne (i think i can go without food for a week, it'll be a challenge but I'm not a quitter!!!!) I'm seriously riding 'i hope it'll work itself out' wave - i tend to do that allot anyway, but usually there's no 'hope' in there and instead i tend to go along the lines of just 'it'll work itself out'.  I've always seen being laid back and chilled out about things as a good things, it means very rarely little things that will constantly play on the mind of others i don't even want to bother thinking about but money i suppose is kind of an essential way to..um.....survive.

To add to the niggling niggles in my head my 'Chief' took read my note that i left him the other day explaining my visit to Melbourne at the end of the month and somehow managed to understand it as I'm moving out of the apartment on the 19th of this month, turns out he's already had people come by to check out the apartment! In a way it could help my situation in one way, no place to stay means no rent......but seriously, I'm lucky i found out otherwise come the 19th I'd get back from work at 2 in the morning and would go all Goldilocks on there ass enquiring as to who's sleeping in my bed!

Also not helping the money epidemic is the serious lack of shifts that I'm now getting at the pub, i know being the new kid its obvious that the older staff will have prime time when it comes to meeting there requirements but the thing is....besides three other people, one of which is leaving soon, everyone else there is either management or new, employed after me! I know January's internationally a quiet period what with it being just after Christmas and people need to save up again, add to the the (also) international recession its not looking good for moi, i don't want to be selfish and expect to just HAVE shifts but it still kinda sucks that I don't.  I've just gotta hope that things start to pick up and I've been reassured that come February things usually do.  The pub is often referred to as the 'finest rugby pub in Australia' and although it appears to me that although it now likes to simply provide a quality service the memorabilia and souvenirs situated around the walls still remain and with Feb the start of the rugby season out here business tends to pick up.

Saying that, from what Helena says there may be some work going at her bar in the city, not only is she leaving soon but also a couple of other employees have left over the Christmas period and there positions are yet to be filled, I'm all for at least having a look to see if Vino, Helena's manager, would employee me and if it means selfishly asking Helena to put in a few good words about me, so be it!

Whilst writing this blog and having a wee catch up with the Mother at some point in the conversation we got onto studying out here and it does sound quiet appealing in some ways, I mean mean when you break it down its just like going to University back home, only my Uni's situated on the other side of the planet and I'd be studying with any people from any number of the 150 nations that currently study in Australia....still, the idea sounds good and the course's that i would be interested in studying are cheaper than i initially thought they would have been, hmmmmmmm

I've decided that what ever my future is going to hold i need to have some money behind me to do it so, as a delayed resolution, I'm determined to keep on top of my expenses and manage my money allot better than i have been for the past 7305 days I've been on this earth!

Blah Blah Blah....

The publishment of this latest entry into my ongoing blog was written in The Dunkirk pub, a nice and comfortably airy pub situated almost exactly half way between my apartment and the Harlequin.   I’m writing this not only to oblige to my mothers persistent requests to keep her updated while I’m out here but also to pass the time until, yet again, someone is able to let me into my apartment – it’s not a great situation to be in having none of my flat mates phone numbers let alone a working phone in which to call them from anyway – it’s also moderately expensive and defiantly not healthy for me as obviously because I’m in a pub I’m not going to sit there drinking a coke or coffee, this isn’t some beachside cafe ya know, so I easily give into my English heritage and dutifully order a scooner of Coopers (Green Pale Ale) to accompany my time wasting blog entry.

Going back to the apartment situation and the lack of keys per person who stays there I have decided to get back amongst the hustle, bustle and damn right ruthless travellers house market again and fight to claim a viewing date and time that is both in my interest and the apartments ‘chief’ squatter – this isn’t as easy as it seems, because of my work I’m generally working late so usually from  4-5pm in the afternoon onwards my time is being spent wooing the female Australian bar population with my un-scouse-harsh English accent and even the occasional not UN-wanted but defiantly not wanted in THAT way male Aussie who, at some point or another has been to England with the most popular destination outside of London is for some reason unknown to me or any other pom is Basingstoke...yer...everything foreigners see and hear about or associate with England is obviously in its prime and full glory there....Anyway, back to the paragraph starter, when Chief Squat has displayed that viewing times are from 6-9pm I’m a little stuck, thus competition to fill the last top bed in the bunk has the upper hand – I have yet to find a way around this and the only day I seem to have free consistently is a Monday as these seem to have regularly fallen as a day off .  Add to that the problem of looking for an apartment for two people I’m more like to see Carlton Cole score a hat-trick in my life time.  The second person is Dan Crabb, one of my best mates from back home who will be arriving here at the end of the month and we have both unanimously decided to room together, he’s hoping to stay in Sydney for about 3 months but with opportunities and chances arising daily this may become less when he finally gets out here.  However, the time spent with him will at least give me some peace of mind as I’m allot less fussed about ringing him at 2-3am in the morning and waking him up than four people I don’t really know, he’ll probably still be annoyed but meh, ....it’s Crabbbbbbbbs!!

So, over the last couple of days I’ve been increasingly logging on to the internet to look at apartments and possible accommodation for our joint time in Sydney – to throw a further spanner in the works though, as you already know I am off at the end of Jan to Melbourne to see the Australian Open final and, well, I could be leaving around the same time Dan’s turning up – the way I see things working out is if Dan stays in a hostel for a week or so until I return, I move out of my apartment the day after I get back (having already told my Chief that I will at some point in early Feb be vacating the room), move into a hostel as well until we both find a place we agree on – in theory its fairly simple but  I’ve learned seldom do things turn out how there meant to.

Besides things happening on the apartment front I’ve been increasingly aware of trips and ‘outings’ to places along the East Coast and Southern Australia that will take anywhere from two days to a month and in that time you get to see a great deal of things that were all included within the original price.  They range from surfing trips up the East Coast and back down again to Sydney, trips inland to a few hotspots and more besides, by doing this and while I’m still (kinda) saving to go ultimately to the other side of Australia to Perth via Alice Springs it will give me the chance to see Australia away from Sydney in small doses and mean I’ll also be able to come back to Sydney to my job and continue working and save for the next mini adventure – obviously this could be a bit daring in itself, I don’t want to test my managers resolve by booking these small but numerous holidays all over the place, I’m pretty sure he’ll lose interest and I’ll lose allot more as a result.  But I’m still sure it can be done, recently I had from Saturday to Tuesday off, as I’ve mentioned some of these trips can be just four days so I could potentially go and come back without anyone batting an eyelid, it may just cause a bit of a stir if they ask what I’d been up to and I said something like swimming with whales off the coast of Byron Bay or something.

I do find it a little weird, slightly unnerving and also a little comforting at the same time how my plans can and do change almost daily, I like the fact that I’m not tied down to anything and that I can bounce ideas around like extending my visa, possibly studying out here on a relatively boring course just so it gives me an extra four years out here and ultimately enough ‘points’ to be able to apply for citizenship should I wish to.  I mean I’d obviously been planning to come out here for quite a while but booking the plane tickets two weeks before departing was a little full on, a then quickly drafted plan as to what to see and do and were to go out here was concocted in my head with it originally leading to me leaving Sydney in January sometime, in a way that’s still happening but I didn’t originally intend to come back again and after only a week!  Allot of the changes are down to the people I’ve met and the comfort and ease I feel  from being in Sydney, I’ve mentioned before but the people I work with are sound and always up for a laugh and there are numerous places and things to see, some of which I’m still yet to do!!  Just the other day I went to the casino which is situated all of 5 minutes from my apartment.

I’m also really pleased at just how well Helena and I have got along and continued to get along.  I mean ever since we first met we’ve been really good friends but over the last couple of years we haven’t spoken so much on msn and when we did it’s not like we used to and I basically just had thoughts that things might become awkward after a while in some way, thankfully that just hasn’t happened and we’ve gone from strength to strength as they say.   I’m pretty sure she’s sticking to her plan of moving on after the Australian Open with that either meaning she’ll stay in Melbourne for a little while or go on somewhere else, possibly back up the past Sydney to the delights of the East Coast.  Whatever happens I’ll be losing one friend but gaining another in Crabb’s and I’m still on a mission to get a couple more of you guys back home out here, Stef, I haven’t given up on you yet and Sophie’s going to be my latest conquest – All I can say is that if you’re not tied down and feel like getting away for a while, come here, it’s awesome!

 

P.s, it’ll be cool if you guys could leave a comment once in a while and help reassure me that I’m not just writing this for my own entertainment!