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Published: December 21st 2007
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Santa hats
Christmas down under! Hi again everyone, we thought it would be a good idea to give you all an update on how things are going here in Sydney and to let you know how the first few months have gone. So here we go.
The first couple of weeks were actually quite stressful - the combination of no money, no jobs, no home, no friends, no family and no idea where anything was all proved to be quite a potent mix. We had arrived on the overnight coach from Brisbane and had immediately checked into a hostel near Central Station and had a quick cat-nap. The first couple of days followed a pattern - basically having to run lots of errands - the list of things to do seemed to be endless. Everything felt very strange in these first few days, it was proving difficult to get settled which I suppose was only to be expected. We were still living out of our backpacks and were missing our recent trip.
After one week in the hostel we needed to find longer term accommodation and we managed to find somewhere in a place called Ashfield, which is a suburb in the inner West
of Sydney. It wasn't long until Catherine arrived and it gave us the impetus to do a bit more around the city and we had day-trips to the Blue Mountains and Manly so we started to feel a bit more settled. We next had to find somewhere more permanent to live so we began the task of flat hunting. We had decided that we wanted something in a suburb called Potts Point. There were a few places that caught our eye but the competition was very strong and we weren't in the best position to win as we still were without work, had no Australian references and no documentation. Apart from that we were dream tenants! We lost out on a couple of places but eventually secured a lovely one-bedroomed flat in St Neot Avenue (thanks to certain people in the UK giving us references - you know who you are! Many thanks!). We loved the place and were soon going to Ikea and other home shops to buy stuff for the flat.
At the same time I was putting in a lot of effort to find a job and Jenny was getting herself back into the groove with
Ashfield front room
Our flat in Ashfield. the Performing Arts plans. I was spending a lot of time on job websites and scanning the job boards and Jenny was going to a number of dance classes at the Sydney Dance Company. After a couple of weeks of trying, I got an email from a company based in Bondi Junction asking if I would like to come in for a chat. To cut a quite long story short, they ended up offering me a job and I accepted. It would be cool working in Bondi Junction as it was near the flat (only two stops on the tube) and close to the beach if I ever fancied going there after work (;o). In the meantime and as a back-up plan if the performing arts didn't work out, Jenny had decided that she needed a job as well. So she started to go to recruitment agencies and got some good leads. The best one was actually in Kings Cross (suburb next to Potts Point), where we saw an advert for an Assistant Manager at a travel agency. Again cutting a longish story to blog length, she had an interview and got offered the job! She has been really enjoying
the work (it's a little more fun selling holidays rather than software!) and the people in the office are really cool. Plus, there's the added bonus of free travel around Australia, which will come in handy for our incessantly itchy feet ;o)
I had a couple more weeks off before I started my job so we did a couple more day trips and started to get a good feel about Potts Point and Sydney in general. We were having a lot more fun now that the pressure was off to find jobs, flats and bearings. The area we live in is great and there is a lovely vibe about the place, lots of bars, restaurants and shops. Plus, we can stroll for one minute from our front door and see the Opera House and Harbour Bridge which is a pretty cool thing to walk past on the way to work.
Around this time, Jenny was going to her auditions for the Performing Arts courses. The competition was really strong and the first two went very well but she didn't feel the courses were quite right for her. The last one she had applied for, Australian Institute of Music
(AIM), was a lot better for her and she got a really good feeling about the place. The location was very handy and the course seemed to really suit her. So, we were very pleased when she got a letter last week to say she had been accepted onto their course starting in January. She had done very well and I was very proud of the big monkey.
And that's about it. Things are going well, we are looking forward to our first Christmas in the sun and have already bought a tree and decorations (although it is proving difficult to feel very Christmasy with all of the blue sky and lack of snow!). It's been a really exciting two months, difficult at the start, followed by a nice feeling of achievement and excitement now that we have got the important things sorted. We are really loving it in Sydney. We have booked ourselves into a restaurant on the harbour for New Years Eve so we will be able to see the fireworks first hand. Of course, it will be 1pm for you guys when we are celebrating the New Year - they usually show the Sydney fireworks live
Sydney at night
The view from near our flat... on the news so make sure you think of us then, cos we'll be thinking of you all.
See you soon.
Happy Christmas and New Year!
P.S. Here is a little something to leave you on...
click here... Jay and Jenny.
xxx
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Nicky
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Oh my god, it's like the end of an era...can you just start a regular blog now please?!