Advertisement
Published: February 13th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Hey all!
So, just to clear up the blooper on the last entry, i said that the crazy drive was into Sydney, but it was definitely the drive into Melbourne. So that is where i will take this one from....
Melbourne was completely different then Sydney. We noticed it right away. The best way to describe it to another Canadian would be similar to the difference between Toronto and Vancouver. Melbourne resembling the later. I found Sydney to be a lot like Vancouver in the cities location, lay out and coastal placement. But when i say Melbourne is more like my home city i am almost solely talking about the people. A younger more hip crowd, not appearing to be so career driven and professionally dressed. My first impression was that this city was going to be hard to leave. I was right.
We settled into a Hostel that was called the Elizabeth Hotel. A VERY inappropriate name except for the fact that it was on Elizabeth street, hotel was the worst possible description. Since there was 5 of us traveling together the other 4 took a 4 share room and i ended up in
a dorm of 10. One roommate i knew from my hostel in Brisbane.
The top floor seemed to house "permanent" residents of the sketchiest variety. They would all sit in the common space with endless beer and no doubt some local narcotics..... it was VERY interesting running by them in the middle of the night to use the washroom... haha. (sorry mum).
Melbourne was hosting the Australian Open tennis tournament and all the city was filled with fans. Passing one die hard fan in the halls at the hostel was always interesting because they would ask if i was excited for the tennis that day, and i would have to reply with "i'm not going...". they would peer at me in disbelief and continue walking faces painted with sunscreen.... The closest i got to the tennis was sitting out on the grass of the stadium, but even there the energy was intense. (similar to a hockey game but with a lot less beer and beer bellies)
After a week there, Hope (my friend from Vancouver) and i left for Perth. A close old friend i know from when he was living in Vancouver picked
us up from the airport and let us sleep in his family room for the next 2 nights before inviting us to drive down to Dunsbourough for the weekend. It ended up being 30 of his close high school friends all camping in the backyard of a cabin on the most beautiful beach i have ever seen. EMU is the local beer and at 30 bucks for a 30 pack, i have NEVER seen so many red cans fill up HUGE garbage bins.. it was the beer of choice for the weekend. The entire trip was to celebrate the single most important day of the year for Aussies. Australia day. My observations that are much argued with here whenever i make and accusation is that Australians are just as if not more so, patriotic as our American neighbors. Each friend that was camping with us had on at least one article of clothing with the nations flag printed upon it.
Another highlight of my weekend down south was the wildlife. up until this point i had felt it only existed in my imagination. i had not seen a Kangaroo, or anything else that seemed remotely Australian. But i
was proven wrong! i saw 2 kangaroos, 2 possums lived in our cabins rafters and came out at sunset every night, a stingray in the water while swimming and an emu from the car window driving home.
Because i was talking about the Tennis earlier i have to finish off by saying that the final 5 days the tournament was on i was glued to the TV...it was so exciting to watch all the final matches...
After a couple days back in the city, Hope and i had already spent endless hours searching for a work. This has continued up until today actually. The economy crisis has really hit Australia hard and all the company's here are feeling the pain of a failing economy. Lots wont even accept a resume and the ones that do warn not to expect a phone call because they are so slow and can not afford to hire anyone. We have tried EVERYWHERE and every sort of job with the same answer given every time.....
Then, yesterday when we were starting to give up and trying to think up an alternative, we ran into an American guy in the
mall who gave us the name of a couple Promotion companies that are always looking for contract workers to hand out different things at sporting events or festivals. I have 2 interviews next week...so please all of you who read this before then keep those fingers crossed for me.. toes wouldn't hurt either!
All in all Australia is a great country. the mindset compared to north America is completely different and i don't think ill adjust in the time i am here. everything is the way people say it is. laid back and very casual.
the heat wave from back east that has fueled the horrific bush fires has now headed towards Perth. It hit over 40 yesterday, and although it was much cooler today, the weeks forecast is above 40 every day...
its hot. but beautiful, and with the beach so close by its very bearable....
thanks for all who read this😊
i will write again soon.
much love.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.089s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0565s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Charisse
non-member comment
Hey Dan! It sounds beautiful, I love getting these updates. Be safe and good luck with the interviews, you are very missed.