In Canada, July 1st is an important holiday. It’s Canada Day, the day that celebrates the unity of our country! In Darwin, July 1st is also a holiday. It’s Territory Day! I think Territory Day is supposed to represent when the Northern Territory was given a certain amount of independence from the rest of the country, it being a territory and all. I’m not totally sure, but it has something to do with the way the territory is governed. But the important thing to remember is that it’s the only day in Australia that people are allowed to buy and use fireworks! And wow, do people go all out! Hillary and I heard fireworks all night, from the second it was dark to the time we went to bed. At least we didn’t have to go ... read more

Hi, it’s Hillary! That’s right, I’m doing a blog entry! I thought I’d write a short entry on my work experiences here in Darwin. As Kevin mentioned in an earlier entry, I ultimately had no problem finding employment. Initially, after arriving in Darwin, my plan was to find a job outside of health care. You know, for a change of scenery. I quickly learned, however, that employers in the hospitality field will only hire people (especially travelers looking for short-term employment) with hospitality experience. Well, that counted me out! And so, with my only experience being health care, I quickly found a job at ITEC Health, an agency, as a Personal Care Assistant. I couldn’t work as an RN here in Australia because I do not have an Aussie nursing licence, but I thought working for ... read more

Up to this point, I had worked about a week at Charles Darwin University (CDU, the only university in the Northern Territory) as a custodian. I wasn’t guaranteed work for our entire stay in Darwin, but they said they’d need me for a couple more weeks at least. The work consisted of a lot of small jobs around the university. I worked with John, who was a full time employee at CDU. Those first few days I also worked with Gill, who like myself was an employee of Julia Ross, a temp agency. Most jobs at the uni were what you’d expect as a custodian: moving furniture, setting up for functions and removing useless items. The university has other staff as cleaners and maintenance employees, so we were basically the heavy lifters. A good way to ... read more

Monday was a quiet day. We still hadn’t made much progress on finding an apartment, and I wasn’t having much luck with finding work. It was getting a little depressing. But Tuesday, Hillary and I both had a good reason to cheer up. Star Trek! Awesome movie! We both loved it. Action packed, great effects, and laugh-out-loud funny. Zachary Quito made a great Spock too! Could have been a tad longer though. Now that I think about it, this might have been the turning point for us. Wednesday Hillary and I saw the house that we’d eventually move into! And you know what the funny thing was? After all the hard work and toiling I spent trying to find a place for the two of us, the first place that Hillary found in the newspaper and ... read more

On Monday April 27, we began to take our job search seriously. In fact, we spent that morning looking for jobs on the internet, and then pulled out our good clothes and went handing out resumes! Ironing in a hostel is not the easiest thing to do. Lol Hillary and I focused on job agencies around the city. For myself, it started out well, with some companies seeming pretty interested in my experience. But as things went along, it didn’t seem to be getting me anywhere. Hillary on the other hand started out terribly, with some agencies not even taking her resume due to her experience being solely in health care, but later in the day she was offered a job on the spot! This agency specialized in health care aids, and Hillary took it. It ... read more