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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!