(Day 7) Illness

(Day 7) Thursday 8^th March

I woke up today feeling like I had been in a car crash, all the exposure to the elements from Mardi Gras and putting down my deposit had come at me at once and I felt like shit.  It was also probably due to living with so many different people in the hostel.  I heard a lot of coughing so there was probably something going around the hostel.  The person who brought the cold to the hostel is probably long gone but the cold survives by going from one new person to the next new person.

This morning I couldn't even get up to go down for the wonderful free breakfast.  Instead I just spent all day either sleeping, watching Australian TV or blowing my nose.

Australian TV reminds me of American TV, it is all very dramatic.  There were adverts for programmes that exposed “evil people”.  One of these programmes I watched was about a shipping company that refused to rescue 12 men from the sea during a storm.  Another programme was about a bank that was firing or paying staff very low wages whilst people high up in the bank were having champagne parties and business trips to Fiji. 

During these programmes you are made aware of who the good people were and who the bad people were.  The good people always come across sincere and speak very clearly, there is a warm filter lens over the camera and simple slightly upbeat music is played in the background.  However when the bad person comes up on your screen, the camera lens is dark and grey and the background music becomes moody and sinister.

It is interesting watching this kind of TV.  Programmes like this in the England are always more neutral where these programmes really get your emotions going.  You really start to feel for the good people and when the bad person comes up your like “there’s that fucker!”

Another thing I noticed about Australian TV was how commercialised it was.  There were just adverts everywhere!  TV programmes would stop abruptly and some dickhead would come up talking about car insurance.  Even the programmes themselves had adverts in them.  I was watching some live sports programme (think it was rugby) and a slow motion action reply was shown.  At the end of the reply the commentator said “This action reply was brought to you by Freddie’s Autoshop, the autoshop you can always count on” (or something like that).

Anyway I have had quite enough of TV now, hopefully I will feel well enough to leave my room tomorrow.  Not the best way of ending my first week in Australia.

(Day 6) The Second viewing

(Day 6) Wednesday 7^th March

I went on my second viewing for a place to live today.  I found this place off the same website as the first place and it was for the same price so my expectations were incredibility low.  I wasn’t sure if I could even be bothered going after yesterday’s fiasco.  But I did go in the end, probably out of curiosity more than anything.

The place was only about a 20 minutes’ walk and I arrived at the house at the same time as a Japanese girl, she was here to see the room as well.  I joked that we were going to have to fight it out over the room.

The guy who was selling the room opened the door and showed us around.  The front section of the house looked nice but the further we followed him the more dilapidated the house got until we finally arrived at the room (just like going through the classes on the plane coming out here).

The room was small and dusty with bits of clothing thrown everywhere, he clearly had not bothered tidying the room for viewing.  There were different scraps of odd fabric on the floor overlapping each other making some kind of makeshift carpet.  There were no windows in the room, instead there was a blanket pinned up in the door frame so you could leave the door open whilst maintaining some privacy. 

He then showed us the back garden which was the communal area for this house and the house next door.  The garden had several old armchairs and settees placed around a big table.  There was a large TV in the garden that was sheltered under a wooden panel.  The chairs and table were also shelter by a large blanket that was strung up by several metal wires.  There were cigarette butts and empty beer bottles scattered all over the garden. 

The guy showing us around said that people from both houses chill here and the atmosphere in the house was very good.  There were about 10 people living in the 2 houses, their ages ranged from about 20 to 30 and they were all different nationalities, no Australians were living in the houses.

When it came to making a decision about the room the Japanese girl said that she was not interested at all, which was great for me because I was very interested.  The house reminded me a lot of the student houses I used to live in back in England.  The houses weren’t nicely furnished or very clean but living in a house with like minded people who are doing the same thing as you is great.  I told the guy I was interested but I had one more place to look at tomorrow.

I managed to get back to the hostel using my map without much difficulty.  I started to worry about the house; I knew that other people were looking at the house that night and that the room would go very quickly because of the low rent and the house’s proximity to the city.  I had a viewing tomorrow for a place that I thought looked very nice (from the photos), although the rent was more expensive.  But by tomorrow I was worried that the place I had just seen would have been taken.  Holding off to see the place tomorrow was a big gamble, I phone the guy who showed me around and he said that the other people who had seen the room were also very interested and I would have to make a decision quickly so I told him that I would take the room!

I had to go straight back to the house to drop off a deposit before someone else beat me to it.  By this point it had started to rain heavily, I managed to make it to the house and drop off the deposit okay but the walk back to the hostel was terrible.  I thought if I walk back really quickly I could avoid getting too wet but my map by this point had become illegible in the heavy rain and I ended up getting lost.  I had been around this area before so I knew roughly which direction I needed to head towards.

I managed to get back but getting lost added about 20 minutes onto my journey.  When I got back to the hostel people where giving me funny looks.  I was so wet it literally looked like I had just walked out of the sea.  I didn’t feel well at all, I had felt a cold coming on in the last few days and getting soaked made the feeling a lot worse, so I went straight to bed.  I didn’t bother looking at the board to see what night out was planned for night, I was just going to have to write this night off and hope that I feel alright the next day.

(Day 5) The View

(Day 5) Evening, Tuesday 6^th March

This evening I was getting pizza with the girls from the hostel next door and eating it on their roof terrace.  There was a special offer on at a pizza place nearby where you can get a pizza for a very cheap price.  We got our pizzas and headed back to the hostel to sit on the roof terrace.

Because I wasn’t a guest at their hostel I wasn’t supposed to be on their roof terrace as it is for hostel guests only.  I think all hostels don’t allow visitors in most of the building for security reasons.  It was quite funny walking past lots of massive signs telling me I was not allowed in this area and that I would get kicked out or arrested if found.  But I really didn’t want to eat on my roof terrace on my own.

The views from the roof terrace were incredible.  The sun was just setting and to see Sydney light up whilst the sky was darkening was just awe-inspiring.  It was just a perfect evening in Sydney and I just can’t put into words how awesome being on that terrace was.  It was just epic!

I took this picture on my phone and I really
doesn't do the view justice.  Imagine this, just
a million times better.

Future accommodation

Day 6

My week here in this hostel is nearing its end, which is a shame because I am starting to like this place.  I have started to get to know some of the people staying here and some people who are working here.  The feeling of loneliness from the first few days had gone (like I knew it would).  I enjoyed coming down to the kitchen every morning (expect when I was ill) and seeing new faces.  But my stay here was always going to be temporary until I found a more long term place.

Sounds tempting from the advert

I have been chasing up some adverts for places during the last few days and I had a viewing today at a place across town.  I am still not familiar with Sydney and I misjudge distances on my map very badly.  What I thought looked like a 30 minute walk across town actually turned out to be a 1 hour 30 minute walk across town.  After the frustratingly long journey I was hoping that the place would be worth the journey, but it really wasn't.

The entrance to the property was a small door hidden between 2 shops; it was so hidden that it took me 3 walks up and down the high street to find it.  I walked inside to see a mattress in the living room, seeing a mattress in the main communal space is always a bad sign.  I asked the woman who was showing me around how many people lived here and she said 10 people.  10 people!  Where the hell were these 10 people staying?  The only way you could have 10 people staying in a place this small is if you stacked them on top of each other.  She said that there were 2 bedrooms of 4 people and 2 bedrooms of 1 person.  Oh, and in case you are wonder who the mattress in the living room was for?  That was for her 2 children.  She also showed me the downstairs toilet which had a massive turd floating in it.

Nothing says "welcome home" more than a creaky mess front door

I know the rent was cheap for this place but you would actually have to pay me to live there.  In fairness the single room I would be staying in wasn’t all that bad, but overall I think staying in that house would have driven me mad.

After viewing that terrible house I had to walk all the way back across town to the hostel.  The journey getting there was bad enough but I had lost my map, I think I left it in somewhere on the way to the viewing.  Trying to find your way in a city you are not familiar with on a hot day is not fun.  I think the point where I realized I was totally lost was when I walked past an abandoned car with no wheels.  After about 2 hours I finally stumbled into an area I knew and managed to find the hostel from there.  By this point my feet felt like they were on fire.  I have only seen one house but already I think I need to raise my budget if I am going to find a place that is liveable.

The noise!

Day 6

They are doing building work in the hostel at the moment and the noise levels are close to unbearable.  The builders like to start making noise at the bright and early time of 8:15 in the morning.  I think they are laying drop new carpet but it sounds more like they are trying to demolish the building.  All this noise makes writing difficult.

This is not my phone number; this is my phone number’s Australian cousin (part 2)

(Day 5)

I walked into town again this morning to get my sim card sorted.  I had tried to buy one online but I kept failing the credit check, and once you fail once you cannot reapply for another 3 months.  So instead of getting a contract I just got a pay-and-go sim (known as prepaid here), and to be honest this was probably a better idea than getting into a contract.  I had changed the welcome message on my phone before I went into the shop; it now reads “Hey” which is a much friendlier welcome message than “fuck you”.

Much more welcoming

Whilst I was in the shop some aussie guy came in and started talking to one of the sales girl, his opening line was “Can you guys tell me what the fuck you are doing about my internet?”  Apparently he was a business owner and his internet had been down for 5 weeks which has been costing him a lot of business.  What was funny was he kept apologising saying “sorry if I sound pissed off by the way” and then he would proceed in using the f-word again several times in the next sentence.  It seemed in his mind that by apologising he could use the f-word a few more times again.

Anyway, I finally have my phone sorted which is great.  It is a nice feeling to be contactable on the phone.  Not having a phone on a local network made me feel isolated.  I can now look for future accommodation and a job.

Another glorious day in Sydney

And this is supposed to be one of the roughest areas

Sorry about the lack of updates

The internet at the hostel is just too bad to keep this blog up to date at the moment, I am moving into a house share which has internet that works tomorrow, so expect a lot of new content this week.

Thanks

First night out

After getting back from the Mardi Gras and leaving my soaked clothes to dry (which doesn’t take long in this hot climate) I heard that people from the hostel where going on a night out.  The venue was the Kings X (cross) Hotel.  I have read that a lot of drinking venues in the city are actually hotels as well.  I think having a night club as a hotel is both a great and terrible idea.  It’s great because going from your room to the club could not be easier; this is also very convenient if you pull someone.  However if you have no intention of clubbing then you will be staying in the world’s nosiest hotel.
I was quite excited about my first night out in Sydney.  I waited under the whiteboard (whilst using one of the computers) until some people who looked like they were going on a night out showed up.  I tagged along with them and headed off to the Kings X Hotel.  On the way I heard that this place had 6 floors, each with a different theme.  After we got in it wasn’t long until we got separated.  I decided to have a look at each floor.  As far as I can remember there was the main bar, the retro bar (which was empty), the games bar (with pool tables), the balcony bar (which was awesome but very crowded), the live music bar (which was $10 to get in) and the dance / rave bar.  I met up with the guys a few minutes later on the stairs; they were discussing what they were going to do that night and which floor they were going to hang around on.  After a quick conversation they scattered off with two of them going downstairs and one of them going upstairs.  I was left on my own like they didn’t even know I was there, this was humiliating.  I was in two minds about just calling it a night but I had paid $10 to get in and this was my first night, plus the club was pretty awesome.  So I thought “fuck it, I will find some other people”.  I looked through the floors until I saw a group of German and Finnish girls who I recognised.  They weren’t from my hostel but I saw them chatting to the group of guys from my hostel who had left me.  I went up to them and asked one of them if they had seen the guys, I was not interested in finding the guys again I just said that to start the conversation.  The girl I spoke to said that they hadn’t seen them but I could hang out with them instead.  I spent a good few hours going from floor to floor with his group and I had a great night overall.  I had to leave before they did because jetlag was catching up with me but overall I met a bunch of really cool people and managed to salvage a good night out. 

Mardi Gras

I knew that the Mardi Gras carnival was soon, but it didn’t realize it was actually tonight! I got talking to the guy on the reception desk who informed me that people from the hostel were meeting up and going to see Mardi Gras at around 6:30.  He also pointed at a white board near the front door and said that every night when the hostel were going on a night out the time people should meet up and the venue will be written on the board.  Hanging around underneath the whiteboard at the prompted time might be a good way for me to meet people in the hostel.
I had a few hours until Mardi Gras so I went food shopping.  I haven’t eaten a decent meal since I got here and I was starting to feel it.  I went onto the internet to find what Australia’s equivalent to Tesco or Sainsbury’s was.  I actually did a bit of shopping the first night I got here at a local convenience store and got completely ripped off.  So I definitely didn’t want to go back there again.
 
On the internet I googled Australian supermarket and I quickly found what I think is Australia’s biggest, and I was very surprised.  It’s Woolworth’s!  They didn’t go bankrupt in the UK they just emigrated to Australia*.  
(*This is almost certainly not true)

After buying food at Woolworth’s I met up with people from the hostel bound for Mardi Gras.  During the walk into town the weather quickly turned from cloudy to rainy.  I really wasn’t expecting rain in Sydney, I had it in my mind that it only rains in the UK and everywhere else in the world enjoys never ending sunshine.  We got to a point along the route of thecarnival only to find that the streets where already packed full of people.  Some people were even standing on boxes to get a view.  As for us the only way we could see thatcarnival was via a big tv screen mounted high up on a street corner.  It was weird seeing what was happening on the street just behind me through a tv screen in front of me.  Thecarnival kicked off with the “dykes on bikes” where loads of lesbian and gay motorcyclists drove slowly along the route making as much noise as possible.  After they past there was a long gap until the rest of thecarnival caught up, I think there was some sort of delay.  By this point the rain was getting heavier, one of the people I was with kindly shared her umbrella with me but it didn’t stop me from getting soaked.  Everyone around had umbrellas and they were just bouncing and dripping water onto me.  The umbrellas also kept blocking the tv screens.  I had to keep moving my head in order to see the tv screen.  After nearly an hour I felt like I had seen enough of Mardi Gras, I was soaked through and thecarnival was becoming a bit boring.  It was just the same thing over and over again.  A lorry would drive by with a DJ and some amps blaring out music followed by some people in fancy dress waving and occasionally doing a cart wheel.  Some parts of thecarnival felt more like a demonstration than acarnival with people walking by with signs saying the law needs to be changed or saying “God doesn’t make mistakes” referring to the whole religion vs homosexuality debate.  Overall Mardi Gras was alright, but I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I hadn’t got soaked and if I could have actually see it in person.

Not a great view.

This is not my phone; this is my phone's Australian cousin

Today I walked into Sydney on a mission to get an Australian sim card for my phone!  I needed to get an aussie sim because using my UK sim was costing me a lot of money.  I spoke to my UK phone provider last night to change my sim from contract to pay and go, this way I can keep my number without having to pay £20+ per month for a sim I was not using.  This seemed like a good idea and the phone company agreed with me but there was one small problem.  They can only change my contract when my sim card is in the UK!  So basically to change my contract I have to mail my sim card back to the UK, get someone to put my sim into a phone and then turn the phone on before anything can be changed.  I think this is stupid, I bet if I asked them to upgrade my contract or something that involved me paying them more money they would have found a way of doing that whilst my sim was in Australia.
After a bit of research and the recommendation from the girl in the estate agent across the road I had decided on an aussie sim provider and I found that they had a shop in downtown Sydney that was within walking distance.
As I walked into the city I saw the rainbow flags of gay pride hanging off some balconies, there was even a guy with a stand giving them out.  I had heard that the Mardi Gras carnival was coming to town soon.  I had noticed a few guys eyeing me up on the walk into Sydney, for some reason gay men seem to be attracted to me, though I am not gay myself.
I reached the phone shop where I was greeted by a tall sales guy, I told him what I was after and he talked me through some of the deals and offers they had.  I found one that suited me well although he said that I would get a better price if I bought it online.  One other thing I went to enquire about was if my phone would accept an aussie sim card.  This involved turning my phone off, putting a test sim card into it and turning it on again.  At this point I was in a very chatty mood, I haven’t really spoken much since I got here and I had a lot of words built up, I was telling him about my UK phone provider making me mail my sim card back to the UK amongst other stuff.  The conversation was going great until the sales guy looked down and saw the welcome message on my phone.  I can’t believe I had forgotten about that welcome message again!  I apologised and said that “uh sorry, one of my mates put that in and I don’t know how to change it”.  He didn’t seem too bothered though.
I left the shop knowing what sim I was going to get.  I really need to get that sim asap so I can start chasing apartments and job vacancies.  I need to change that welcome message also.

Martin's Place

I arrived at a pedestrianised street called Martin’s Place, It looked like a normal street from the map but it was a steep downhill boulevard of marble and massive buildings.  It seemed all of Australia’s banks have a ridiculously big and expensive looking buildings on Martin’s Place.  The bank I was going to was slightly different, instead of a massive glass skyscraper they had a huge grand looking building made of giant bricks and columns.

This photo doesn't do Martin's Place justice, all around me are huge builds

Are those columns just for show?

The inside of the building was just as grand as the outside, the inside was a huge open space of decorated columns and Victorian no expensive spared styling.  The marbles floors were as clean and shiny as a surgeon’s scalpel.  I learnt that the building is classed as an important heritage building and is at the same level as The White House.  Unfortunately this being the inside of a bank photography was not permitted. 
Seeing a bank with such a grand building made me slightly worried when I was giving them all my money to look after.  Were they going to look after my money or just spend it on polishing up their priceless marble floors?
I opened and transferred money into the account in the UK but I had to have an appointment with my new bank account advisor to verify my identity and to proof that I actually existed, only then would my account be unlocked.
My bank advisor was a very friendly woman, she felt more like a friendly old neighbour than someone who worked in a bank.  Although she did push a sale or two on me during the appointment.  She said that when my parents move to Australia they should open up a bank account with her.  I found it funny that she already knew more about my parent’s future plans than I do.  She also pushed for me to take out home insurance and she did the classic old salesperson trick of turning a large sum of money into a small one by saying “well it is only a few dollars a day”.  But who could blame her?  At the end of the day she was a business woman, and a very friendly one.
Everything was going great until she tried to send me a confirmation message to my mobile.  My phone had no signal when it should have had signal.  So I turned it off and on again and laid it down on the desk to boot up.  When my phone boots up a welcome message is displayed, now this would normally be fine but the welcome message on my phone is very offensive.  I must have been messing around with my phone settings one evening many years ago and I thought it would be funny to change the welcome message.  Instead of saying “Welcome” or “Hello” my phones says “Fuck you”.  I only remembered this after we were both watching my phone boot up and the offensive message came up.  I quickly grabbed my phone and said “uh, hold on, let me just check if that message has come through”.  I am not sure if she read the message, but she was still happy and friendly like before, despite being told to fuck off by my mobile phone.
After I left the bank I headed back to the hostel.  I had a great morning, and I felt like I had judged everything too quickly.  The hostel made sense now, it was just a place to sleep, eat and wash.  It was just a base for me to go out and live in this amazing city.

Oops...

The walk into Sydney

I woke up this morning feeling pretty miserable, I just did not like where I was at all.  I got up at about 7:30 as breakfast was running between 7:30 and 9:30.  This morning I had an appointment at a bank in Sydney to open up my aussie bank account.
I was quite excited about the idea of free breakfast, I was expected some cheerful chef to be in the kitchen cooking up scrambled egg and sausages for everyone and you could have as many as you want.  The actually free breakfast wasn’t anything like this.  Instead I came downstairs to find 2 boxes of cereal, some cartons of milk, some stacks of bread and some jam.  There was a sign blue tacked onto the wall saying this was breakfast.
Naturally I was disappointed by the lack of scrabbled egg and sausages but what I think was worse was the atmosphere in the room.  It was that kind of atmosphere where you enter a room where there has just been a massive argument.  Everyone had a face like thunder and seemed only interested in eating and sodding off up to their rooms.
After breakfast I packed up my bank stuff and left the house of sorrows to head towards Sydney.  Since I arrived last night when it was dark this was actually the first time I could see Australia in the light, and it was awesome.  The architecture was amazing; all the buildings look like they haven’t changed since the 1800s.  Many of the houses I walked past had this Victorian era look about them and they put new modern houses to shame.  It is the attraction to detail and the brass work that make them so fascinating.  The number of trees and bushes growing on the streets was also amazing.  It was like something out of Jumanji (Robin Williams film).  All around me I could hear sounds of exotic bird, the kind of sounds I have only heard whilst watching David Attenborourgh or when I went to the zoo.  It was all amazing.

After walking down some streets a gap in the trees emerged and I saw Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge and Opera House.  To see these for the first time in real life was just inspiring.

There they are!

After walking down a steep hill downtown Sydney came into sight and it too was also an amazing sight.  I knew Sydney was a big city but I wasn’t expected anything on this scale.  The city came into view so suddenly; it felt like there was a distinct line from where the suburbs stopped and downtown Sydney started.  One thing I noticed when I got into the city has how clean Sydney was.  There was just no litter anywhere, and it wasn’t like there were a million bins scattered around either, it was just tidy and clean and makes Manchester (where I am from) look filthy.  The bad mood I had from the morning and night before had completely gone.  I felt like “this is why I am fucking here!”

I bet you are glad you are not here Vicki :P

Touching Australian Soil

Getting through Sydney airport took a while, I have lost count of the number of times I have had ID checks and have had my bags scanned.  I am surprised they are not glowing radioactive green by the number of times they have been put though those machines.

From the airport I took the train to Kings Cross which was near where I was staying.  I had already planned the journey in the UK.

The train stations in the airport was quiet (because it was 10:00pm) and very clean and tidy.

When the train arrived I was surprised to see that trains in Sydney are double decker, I think double decker trains are a great idea, although they don’t really cater for people with disabilities.  The outside of the trains are made from corrugated silver coloured metal and they look more like American diners on wheels than trains.

Arriving in Kings Cross didn’t take long and I was surprised when I go there.  It looks just like Ayia Napa, full of drunken people and neon signs for shady strip clubs.  The only cars on the road were either taxis or police cars.  I have heard so many good times about Sydney, about how classy and modern it was.  But at the moment it just looks like any 18-30 club holiday destination.

I found the hostel with not much difficulty (again I planned this journey from the UK) and that to was crammed full of drunk people.  I managed to check in ok but the reception guy came running up the stairs after me, I had done my usual old trick of leaving important documents on the desk again.

I think if you ever want to find me just follow the trail of important documents and valuable items I leave lying around.  In my defence the flight and getting through Sydney airport had made me very tired.

After spending a few hours in my room unpacking and writing I decided that already want to go home.  All I can hear around me is people talking and chatting.  It feels like everyone here knows everyone else apart from me.  I think I am the only person here on their own in their own room and it is lonely as hell.  I am writing this listening to music because I am trying to drown out the sound of the people in the next room shagging.  I know that the first days, weeks or even months of this will be hard and so far I am right.  I am currently not having fun here.

 I know that I have just got here and I will make some friends in the next few days, so I just need to get on with this... things will get better.

Against the clock / arriving in Singapore

This flying against the clock is really getting to me now.  Time has always been reliable to me and the days and nights have come and gone when I have expected them to.  I haven’t ever looked at my clock to see that it was midnight then looked out the window to find it sunny outside.  But that is what it is like at the moment and it is messing with my head.

The sun had just come up when we started to approach Singapore and the view out of the window was amazing.  The bay on the approach to Singapore is littered full of tiny islands, all of them looked like little tropic paradises.  The water around these tiny islands was a very bright shade of blue showing just how shallow the water around these island were, really the islands themselves were just the tip of the land mass.  Some of these islands had a house built on them, and some had a house built next to them, so the house actually looked like it was built on water which was a very odd sight.  No doubt these houses are owned by stupidly rich people.

After we passed the maze of tiny islands a wall of large skyscrapers started coming into view, this I assume is the city of Singapore.

The large bay outside Singapore is full of hundreds of boats.  And these aren’t just small boats but massive cargo ships, and there are hundreds of them, all just sat floating there, and they were all facing the same direction.

After we passed the bay we quickly descended and landed at Singapore airport.

The first thing I noticed whilst getting off the plane was the heat.  The sun may have just come up but it already feels like the hottest day of the summer back in the UK.  I dread to think what it will be like late afternoon.

After leaving the plane and looking around the large modern clean airport of Singapore I suddenly started feeling super excited.  The feeling of nervousness and regret I had on the plane has been replaced by a huge amount of excitement.  I just feel like shouting “I’m in fucking Singapore!”  I really want to phone all my friends and family and tell them how I am in Singapore and how awesome it was.  I know I am just in the airport but still...

I have two hours before the final part of my journey starts and I head off to Sydney.

Backlog

By the way, because of internet issues I am working through a backlog of posts.  I have actually been in Sydney for a few days now but I want to post everything in chronological order so I will post 2 or 3 posts a day until the backlog is gone and then I will be posting once a day.

The Journey (part 1)

I managed to make it through the airport in one piece.  The woman on the check in desk called me back saying “you might need this” referring to my passport that I had left on her desk.  A woman standing behind me near the departure gate tapped me on the shoulder to say “you have dropped this” referring to my plane ticket.  I can’t believe I had left my passport and dropped my plane ticket!  It is a miracle that I even made it onto the damn plane; I think sometimes I live a very charmed life.

Whilst waiting to board, First Class and Business Class people were invited to board first, it was interesting to see these odd few people stand up and walk to the gate past all the economy (normal) people.  They must have felt so smug.

As I got onto the plane I was greeted by very exotic looking stewardesses, they were oriental and dressed in very oriental and silky dresses. The other times I have been on a plane all the stewardesses were orange and had Geordie accents but those flights were only going to typical destinations like Ayia Napa and Magaluf.  This may sound a bit stupid but seeing these stewardesses was the first time I realised just how far I was travelling, and this made me somewhat nervous.

Walking through the plane was interesting as well because we entered at the front where first and business classes were but I was in economy class, so I had to walk through the plane watching it slowly degrade and get worse until I reached my seat in economy class.  I felt like the airline were rubbing it in a bit, like “this is what you could afford if you got a better job”.

In fairness my seat isn’t too bad but it is a stark contrast from the massive leather beast in the higher classes.  You could probably fit at least 3 economy seats in the space of 1 first class seat.

My seat (like all others) has a small TV screen in front of it with a wired remote control.  Here I can access the in-flight entertainment including films, TV shows, music and some very dated looking games.  I think I will be making the most of these as the flight is very long.

At the moment I feel a bit nervous but not much else.  To be honest I am just relieved to be on the plane.

Departure Lounge (29th Feb)

When it comes to Australia and trying to imagine what it would be like to live there, I come up with a blank.  Sydney is over 10,000miles away from where I am from and I just can’t imagine what everyday life out there for me would be like.  Since I announced to people that I was going to live in Australia for a year I have been given many guide books, all of whom claim to be “insider” guides that know everything there is to know about Australia.  However after reading the majority of these books I still have no idea what to expect.  I have picked up some important information like the locations of places of interest, but I still don’t know what Australia, or Sydney to be more precise, is actually like.

An example I can give you is that I once read that Tunisia is a nice place to go on holiday, but I have been to Tunisia and it is not a nice place to go.  Whenever you go out anywhere you need to take a stick or something with you to beat back the locals and to stop them from trying to grab you.  They are very touchy feely and as soon as they learn you are a tourist they swap you.

Or maybe they are all just really friendly and nice and I’m a horrible person with deep seated issues with personal space, who knows.

Another issue with trying to imagine what a place will be like based on what other people have said it that people see the world through different eyes.  Two people may witness the same event and have completely different opinions and emotions about it.

But really none of this matters, because I will be in Sydney in a few days and I will be able to find out what life is like there myself.  Until then I am keeping an open mind.

A formal introduction

What is this blog about?

Basically, this blog is about my experience whilst I spent 1 year living in Sydney.  This isn’t just a long holiday, I am here to get a job, get a place to live, get a car and basically become a fully integrated member of society.   I am also writing up a list of things I have to do whilst I am here.  This list includes all the standard touristy things like learning to surf, visiting Uluru (Ayers rock) and eating kangaroo meat, but also other more ambitious things to do like meeting the Australian prime mister and to appearing on Australian television.  I want to make the most of my time here down under and to see what I can achieve in just a year.

So, who am I?

Well, my name is Mike, I am 24 and my professional background is in Civil Engineering.  I also have ambitions to write stories and comedy material and maybe one day do stand up comedy, maybe.  I also enjoy photography and travel which go hand in hand.

And why am I moving?

The initial reason for me moving to Australia was to seek work.  Since my last Engineering job ended my former work colleagues and some of my university lecturers highly recommended Australia to me.  They told me that Engineering is very popular out there at the moment.  Or maybe they all just don’t like me very much and want me as far away as possible.  But ever since they recommended Australia and I started talking to people about the idea of going off to Australia I always got positive feedback, it seemed everyone I spoke to about Australia has either been there themselves and loved it or knows someone who has been there and loved it.  So in the end, I am going out there to find an Engineering job and to find out what all the fuss is about.

What does this blog mean to me?

I want to try and record as much of my Australian experience here, I want people to be able to read this blog and feel the experience of what I will go through.  And most of all I want this blog to be entertaining throughout.

If I get a bit of a fan base going that would be great.  You guys could give me some ideas of thing I should add to my “to do list”.

I also see this blog as motivation, if I just went out there and sat around all day drinking I wouldn’t have anything worth writing about.  But by committing to this blog I will be motivated to get off my arse and to go out and do stuff worth writing about.

If you want to contact me, my email address is takingthemike@hotmail.co.uk


Cheers

Open

The time is 12:32am on Monday the 27th of February 2012, and I officially declare this blog open!