Perth

We arrived in Perth in the morning and settled down at McDonald's to go on the internet. We had no real plan except that we wanted to find jobs. It turned out that some of Annina's relatives that she wanted to meet lived less than 5 minutes away. They came and met us and took us back to their house. We were offered a place to shower, wash and sleep and it was a wonderful and welcome change from living out of the car.

That evening a huge storm hit. Apparently it had not been raining the whole summer and this was the first rain in a long time. First the clouds went totally dark, then it started to pour down and the wind also picked up to the point that it was raining sideways. They told us that in the center of Perth it was hailing as well. Then suddenly the power went off! The next day after 20 hours of no power we could finally watch the news. Over 150.000 houses had been without power and thousands of cars were damaged or destroyed from the hail. There were flooding everywhere as well. There was just to much rainwater and no one was prepared for it. It was a crazy first 24 hours in Perth!

We all wanted to find work in Perth and as soon as we settled in we started to look. It quickly became clear that finding a job would not be as easy as we first thought. We signed up at the job agencies and it seemed for a while that they would have something for me and Annina at an olive farm. But as time passed we didn't hear anything back and we gave up on that. Krista, the mother of the household works at the nearby petrol station and she has also been helping us look for work by asking the customers if they know about something. So far we have had no luck, but it seems as though it may change. More to come in my next update.

Krista has two teenage boys, Navarre (17) and Karsten (18). We have been doing stuff with them as well. Karsten has the same music taste (metal) as me and Matthias and also plays in two bands. Navarre is an apprentice chef. He showed me how to make homemade pasta from scratch. We had a lot of fun and I took some pictures of the process. Me, Annina and Navarre also went to see "The Hurt Locker" at the cinema, it's a really good movie!

We have also been exploring Perth. We have gone to the beach a couple of times, Krista has taken us to different restaurants and me and Annina has done some cultural activities. One day we visited the Perth library. They had an exhibition about Alice in Wonderland and also a photography contest on display. Especially the photographs were really interesting. Another thing we did was going to the Art Gallery. It was for free which was nice since I'm generally not that interested in art. However one cool thing they had was the old courts. The old court room was turned into a gallery, but the furniture was still there. You could also look into the holding cells where the prisoners were kept.

Kings Park is one of the biggest parks in Perth and a sight to see. There is a huge wilderness with walkways trough that makes you feel like being in the middle of a deserted forest. Then next to that are botanical gardens which are very beautiful. In the middle is a tree walk which gives you a wonderful view of the city and surroundings. We spent a few hours walking around and relaxing. On the way back we discovered a spot with an even better view of the city.

The Maritime Museum in Freemantle, a town just south of Perth, has a wall with the names of all the people who immigrated to Australia in the last decades. Annina's great aunt and her husband are on this "welcome" wall so we went down there one day to find them. It took a while since there were thousands of people to look trough but in the end we were successful.

We also celebrated Easter with Krista and family. The Easter bunny left bowls of eggs and chocolate bunnies for everyone and Navarre cooked a wonderful roast on Easter Sunday. After dinner we drove Matthias and Kristin to the airport. They were flying to Cairns. Because they could not find work and because of Matthias' psoriasis they decided to do the east coast and then go back home. It was sad to say goodbye. With that it is only me and Annina left with the car. For now we are staying at Krista's house while we find work. And then the plan is to keep traveling up the west coast.

Last days in Sydney

A few weeks ago Work and Travel asked me if I could write something about my trip in Australia for them. Every month they feature one backpacker in their monthly newsletter that they send to partners around the world. So I did and as a thank you I got free entrance to the Sydney Tower, the tallest building in Sydney. Normally people go there one of their first days in Sydney because its one of the must do tourist attractions and its impossible to miss. I don't know why I didn't go before, but I am really happy I didn't. Looking out over Sydney from the top is a magnificent sight, but it was so much cooler when I knew the places I was looking at. I could see my old Backpacker hostel, Bondi Junction, the Airport, Darling Harbour, the bridge and opera house and Luna Park behind it. In addition the ticket included a virtual tour of Australia in a motion simulator. The quality wasn't that great, but it was a nice bonus.

Since I already was in the top of the tower for free, I decided to pay the extra 40 dollars to do the sky walk. The skywalk takes you outside the tower along passageways and viewing platforms. If I don't remember wrong it was 268? meters up. One of the platforms extended outwards so that if you looked down through the glass floor, you looked straight down to the street. It was very cool! The instructor was cracking jokes the whole time and also talking about the different landmark's. She also made us jump up and down on the platform so we could feel it sway. When thinking about it afterwards it was way less scary than they made it out to be and probably very overpriced, but it was still fun.

Valentines day fell on a Sunday this year, which was perfect since Annina had the day off. It was also on the same day as Chinese New Year which meant Chinatown was full of activity. I got her some nice chocolate, then we went to Chinatown to have a look. We saw dragon dancing and went to a market with loads of food and products. Afterwards we went to see Invictus at the cinema. It was a good movie! Then we + Kristin and Matthias went out for dinner. We went to a Italian restaurant. It was a good day.

I had to work 3 hours on my birthday, but it was in the morning so I was okay with it. However the bastards at work kept me there for 40 minutes overtime without pay. When I got back Annina had baked a cake for me. That was really nice! I got presents from Matthias, Kristin and Annina! Thank you! Also thanks to all who commented on my facebook and I haven't forgotten you Pappa, Tante Inger or Bestemor either! After cake we went to Hyde Park to relax and eat fruit. In the evening me and Annina went to a famous German Restaurant in Sydney called Löwenbräu. We had German food. It was expensive but delicious.

Big Update!

Finally I have time to update my blog again. I know I said I would do it like a week ago, but time flies past to fast and I have had so much to do. Anyways, here is some news about me from Australia.

Its now a while ago, but I didn't find time to write about it before now. As the school summer vacation came to an end so did my time at Luna Park. Luna Park was a great place to work thanks to all the wonderful people working there. What I really liked was the combination of locals and backpackers, student and travelers. I got to know so many people from different cultures and countries. As a thank you for our help in the school holidays, the management put on a barbecue/party for all the employees. There was free food and drinks and the best party game ever! They had a big water tank filled with ice water, above the tank was a seat and next to it was a aiming board. If you hit the middle of the board, the seat was released and the person sitting there fell into the icy water. The best thing about this was that all our bosses were the people that had to sit on the seat, and all us normal employees could try and hit the board so they fell into the water. It has been a long while since I had that much fun! After the barbecue we went to a nightclub called Star Bar. I had a great night, but ended up a bit to drunk, as this picture shows :P (under the stairs at McDonalds + Tired)

Another thing me and a group of other rides workers did one of the last days at Luna Park was get our faces drawn by the parks cartoonist. He was once a normal worker like us, but his drawing talent was discovered and he got the job as a cartoonist instead. He told us that in the 2 years he had worked as the cartoonist we where the first people from the rides department (100+ employees) that got their face drawn. Anyways, his pictures made us all laugh and the resemblance on the pictures were fantastic. I have included the one he made of me. Its up to you readers to decide if you see the resemblance. :)

Moving on to about a week ago. We have been slowly planning our trip around the country and to do that we need a car. So after looking at some campervans on the internet we went out to have a real look at one. It turned out to be a piece of crap, but while walking back a group of 3 girls stopped us and asked if we were looking for a car. They had a 4x4 for sale and we soon realized that it would be the perfect match for us. They were Dutch and had traveled around the country with it just like we also want to do. The same day we took it out for a test drive and decided to buy it the very next day. The car is a Holden (known as Opel in the rest of the world) Jackaroo Deluxe 4x4. Hopefully it will get us safely and without trouble around Australia.  Stay tuned for another update coming today about our first trip with the car!

After Luna Park I have had a few random jobs to keep the money supply from diminishing completely. I have waitered on the Captain Cook cruises, the biggest cruise company in Sydney that does daily lunch, dinner and sightseeing cruises of the Sydney harbour and surroundings. I have worked in the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Center serving drinks to 2800 dentists and I have packed TV's in plastic bags for 8 hours. There are so many ways to see Sydney and working is a great way to do so. There are also jobs I never even considered existed, like the TV packing job :P Thanks to all who read and comment on the blog! You are the reason I keep writing!

Christmas

23. December

I had to work at Luna Park this day so I did not do anything special.

24. December

Our plan was to go to the beach in the day, but the weather was gray and cold. In stead we went to the park and relaxed. My mother called me and that was nice! Thanks mom! I have to admit I did not have much Christmas feeling even though we had a Christmas tree and everything. But it was very sweet when we opened our packages from each other. Our polish flatmate is a great cook and had made some wonderful food for us. And me, Matthias and Kristin made potato salad for everyone. We had no recipe and I was surprised at how good it turned out to be. Our plan was to go out to a disco after dinner, but we never got that far due to feeling way to full of food plus to much beer :). It was a very different Christmas eve, but I had a good time.

25. December

Again the plan was to go to the beach, but the weather was still shit so I was just chilling in the apartment. In the evening we went out to a restaurant to eat dinner. It was very nice to do something a little bit special. The plan was to go out since we never got that far the day before, but apparently nothing can be open on the 25th in Australia. We had to go disappointed back home.

The rest of Christmas was pretty much normal. I had to work the 26th and 27th, but I went out and partied with my friends and had a good time. Sadly the weather has been like crap from Christmas eve until now so, there hasn't been a lot of beach time :P As promised I have included a photo of me in my working uniform.

Avatar 3D IMAX and Luna Park

On Wednesday I went to a pre screening of Avatar in the IMAX in Sydney. The Sydney IMAX is the biggest in the world and the perfect place to watch a 3D movie like Avatar. The movie was 2:40 long and one of the most amazing pieces of technical film making I have seen in a long time! For a full review head over to my movie blog! Fatsheep's Movie Reviews.

As I have mentioned to some of you I have found a semi consistent job. I work in an amusement park in Sydney called Luna Park. So far I have guaranteed work until the end of January, with the possibility of working to March if I am on time and do a good job. Right now I am not sure how long I want to stay in Sydney, but it all depends on how much money I can save. Right now I am very low on cash, but the job should get me back up again.

I plan to take some pictures of the park and myself all dressed up in the Luna Park uniform. I will make a new post when I have done that :)

Work!

I know people have been asking about my working situation. So far I have had a few day jobs that I get from the Work and Travel agency, but nothing consistent. Today for example I worked at a paper factory in the outskirts of Sydney. Its easy work and pays decent, but it's only once or twice a week and it's hard to save any money this way.

However I have been sending out some emails to companies and today it finally paid off. Next Tuesday I have a training session at a market research company in Sydney. They also have offices in Melbourne and Canberra. If everything goes well I hope I can start working there. I will know on Tuesday!

Back in Sydney (Again)

I realize people are requesting updates from me and I am sorry I haven't written that often in my blog. I have been in Sydney the last 3 weeks, staying at the hostel I was in last time, the Harbour City Hotel.

I have been partying every other night and making tons of new friends. I also met two Norwegian girls that have been staying in Sydney for a while. I have had some great times, but I can feel that I need to slow down on the nightlife soon :P

I also have had two day jobs while in Sydney. The first was working as a bar useful under the Melbourne Cup. The Melbourne Cup is a large horse racing event in Australia where everybody dresses up in nice cloths and gets drunk while they bet on horses. My job was to keep the fridge at the bar stocked and I also was in charge of ordering new products when we where running low.

Two days ago I also had a day job. I had to unload two containers with organic food for a food company. It was a lot of heavy lifting, but it was good exercise and the people where nice.

We also celebrated Halloween and almost everybody in the Hostel were dressed up as something. Me and my friend Matthias where pirates. It was a great night out.

I will try and keep you all updated more often from now on. In 2 weeks I move into an apartment with Matthias, and on Tuesday I am going to a job interview for a "real job"!

Brisbane and my first job!

My first impressions of Brisbane where mixed, the city looked gray and boring and the hostel looked only okay. However as all places it grows on you faster than you know. The hostel we stayed at, named Tinbilly Travelers, turned out to be very friendly and I soon found myself at home. In the first floor they had a pub and every night we got free shots. For some reason though the place was always packed in the afternoon, but when the evening came it was only half full.

Brisbane does not have any beaches in close range, but they have a river that runs trough the city and next to the river is a fake beach that was called Streets Beach. It's basically a swimming pool with sand, palm trees and picking areas. We spent two days there trying to catch some more color and just relaxing. The water was very warm and it was a good place to chill. On the way to the Laguna (as it was also called) there was a Asian tribute building of some sorts. We took some pictures outside it.

One of the days we visited an old bell tower, they still had the old lift intact and usable. There wasn't that much to see though, a few big bells and a small place to walk around and look at the view of the city.

We also took a trip to Brisbane's Chinatown which was about 30 minutes walk from the hostel. On the way we saw at least 5 different churches, some massive and some very small. Brisbane has old and new buildings all mixed together and it is a strange sight to see.

Brisbane is filled with Lizards. Anywhere there are some rocks and some water you are guaranteed to see heaps of them. I have at least seen 25 different ones in my two weeks in Brisbane, from large scary ones to small cute ones.

I was going to Brisbane to find work, but I soon found out that it was easier said than done. There are tons of backpackers here and not that many jobs. However we still managed to get a one day job unloading a container. They guy I spoke to (while having a beer with him) told me about his company, his life story, that it would take five hours and we would get 100 dollars. We where 12 people unloading furniture for a hotel that was renovating. The whole process only took 2.5 hours, but we still got the full amount of money + a free breakfast. It was a great job, but sadly it was only that one time.

About 10 minutes from our hostel was Brisbane Casino. I went there two times, the first time I lost 20 bucks, but the second time I won 43 dollars playing roulette. I am not a very big gambler, but it was good fun. We also went out a few times to a nightclub/bar called Down Under Bar. It was always packed with backpackers and I met some Norwegian and Danish girls there + heaps of Germans and English people.

One guy in our room told us about a place called Kangaroo Point which was supposed to be a good place to relax. But when we went there it was one ugly park and the rest houses. The only nice thing about Kangaroo Point was the view to the city. They had a place where you could get a good look and take some amazing pictures.

Since there was a river running through the city one of the public transport options was the ferry system. We took one day and bought a day ticket and cruised up and down the river. The boats looked more like speedboats than ferries, and where very fast. When standing in the front you could feel the wind ripping at your clothes.

After two weeks we decided to go back to Sydney to try and find work there in stead. We booked the cheapest flight back, which meant we had to spend the whole day doing nothing while waiting. We went to a very beautiful park and I spent a hour walking around taking pictures and relaxing. Then we took a taxi to the airport and slept there overnight until our flight left 5 AM in the morning.