Advertisement
Published: October 28th 2006
Watch out for Roos.
It's a bit like watching out for deer at home. At one point there aren't any deer. And then... they are through your windscreen.Australia was always going to be the most difficult country for Helen and I. Not because of the giant spiders and killer snakes but because of something much much worse... we had to get JOBS!!!! AAARRGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!
Yes... Helen and Sam had to work! A travesty I hear you say! How could we work? We are supposed to be professional bums! We're not built to work!! But unfortunately, due to Helen's pancake addiction in Asia, we had to knuckle down and earn some money for a change.
Fortunately it proved to be the easiest thing in the world. We had heard many people say that Sydney was a tough place to find work and a tough place to save. But within a week of arriving in Sydney we had moved into a nice house in Neutral Bay, set up our bank account and tax numbers and started working.
We both did office work and had to go out and purchase new shirts and ties and things... which was a major pain for our budget... we were looking for the cheapest office wear money could buy... we were worried that the clothes might fall apart half way through doing some
A Koala
Apparently koalas aren't bears. The Ozzies get very offended when people call them koala bears for some reason. photocopying.
Helen managed to get in a company that was so big that they didn't mind whether they had work for her or not and just kept her there for the whole two months we were in Sydney. One of the days they even told her that she might as well spend a few hours out in the sun, looking in the shops!!! They even paid her for this!
I however, had many posts that all involved hours and hours of mindless data entry. Apparently that's all men are good for?? I must admit that it drove me a little insane... I don't think I want to see an Excel spreadsheet ever again.
Helen and I had our doubts about coming to Australia for the winter. The month and a half in NZ was probably enough cold weather to be honest. But we are so glad we came at this time of year because Australia's winter is England's summer! The first few weeks were wet (just like home), but for the last month or so it has been sunny skies and 25c days. FANTASTIC. The main reason we came in the winter was to get work -
The Opera House
We passed the Opera House on the ferry on our way to and from work each day. during the summer the backpacker population triples and as a result there are a third of the jobs available.
It was strange to settle, to unpack our backpacks, and to hang up our clothes. Even though we only spent a couple of months in Sydney living and working we really feel as though it was our home for that brief time. We both thought it was one of the best cities we have ever been to. We could have easily stayed there for a few years, apart from the fact I couldn't live in a country that calls football 'soccer' and doesn't have any coverage of the premier league whatsoever!! It's very strange because the sport they call 'footie' (Ozzie Rules) consists of men CATCHING a rugby ball in their 'HANDS' and running around with it!!! Very strange. They also have Rugby League, and Rugby Union - which of course are both versions of RUGBY, yet, when it takes their fancy they call them footie too!! The only thing they don't call football is the sport that is all about the foot.
Anyway... enough of my ranting... I can save that for the blog about the USA and
Road Trip
Helen and I explored the South West tip of Oz in a car for a few days. I think we can sleep just about anywhere nowadays. American Football (how many times do they use their feet in that game eh!) - I can feel the blood boiling already!
Our good friend Adam, who had been travelling around NZ (see last blog) was also in Sydney for a couple of weeks and one of the highlights of our time together involved the three of us going down to the blue mountains. The blue mountains has a few walks through the bush. Now... here is an example of what happens when you put Adam and Helen together... something very strange happens. One of the walks was called the Grand Canyon walk (because it involved walking down the side of a small canyon) and I was able to convince both Adam AND Helen that it was actually THE Grand Canyon (ie. the one that is in the middle of the USA). Neither really thought about the fact that Australia and America weren't joined together, and also that no one had mentioned to them that one of the most famous sites in the entire world just so happened to be one of these very quiet walks.
I had them convinced for at least ten minutes, until I felt
Sleeping
Due to the heat, most animals spend their time sleeping. Helen and I have thought about taking it up too. too guilty and told them the truth.
Australia could certainly hold the Grand Canyon because it is an absolutely massive country - only behind Russia, Canada, USA, China and Brazil when it comes to land mass. This means that Helen and I had to abandon travelling conventionally. To travel between Brisbane and Cairns would take about 40 hours in a car... not much fun.
Australia in many ways was the sacrificed country for us. We knew that we would only be seeing a few places because of the distances and the fact that we were having to earn some money to keep us going. In the end we only saw Sydney, Brisbane and Perth (along with a few day trips to the surrounding areas).
Brisbane was a lovely city. We stayed there for about a week with a couple that we had met and had dinner with in NZ (Natalie and Luke). We had a fantastic time with them, one of the highlights being a trip to Australia Zoo.
It was a very strange day because it had only been two days since they buried Steve Irwin. I must admit that Steve Irwin's departure from this
Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo
Some of the messages and flowers outside Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo earth was particularly strange to everyone who was living in Oz at the time. Both Helen and I deeply respected what he had done on this planet but neither of us would have expected how strange it was when we found out he had died. The country was in real shock... it really was out of the blue. It has been likened to when Princess Diana died in England and how much people just couldn't believe it. I didn't really think much when Diana died, to me it was just an odd thing... but when Steve Irwin died Helen and I couldn't get over it. I think it was due to the fact that he was Mr Australia to us. He was the icon. We had been looking forward to seeing his Zoo and seeing all the animals Australia had to offer. And I think that was it! Essentially for us, Australia is all about the animals. Simply because, as an Englishman, we hardly have any animals like the animals that live and exist in Oz. The most dangerous animal we have is the bee... sometimes it feels like everything can kill you over here... although, I will say, I
Our Anniversary
We treated ourselves to a 5 star hotel on our 1st wedding anniversary. haven't seen one spider in the two and half months I have been here. I have also only come across two snakes (I'll tell you about that in a minute). Whenever you think about Oz, you think about animals, and then you think of Steve Irwin... he was the guy that showed you that even the most dangerous of animals wouldn't harm you if you knew what you were doing. I think people over here really thought he was invincible, because he seemed to be one step ahead of the animals. What a bizzarre creature to take his life.
Australia Zoo was still one of the highlights for me and Helen. I will let the pictures do the talking rather than describe it any further.
Now... I am sure a few people are wondering why there are some pictures of us in Shanghai and one picture of us at home with our Godson... let me explain. It involves a lot of plane hours, a great deal of money and two very close friends.
On the 16th of September our friends Lara and Gavin Jack were married in Newbury. Being that Lara is one of Helen's closest and
Some Kangaroos
Can you get any more Australian than a kangaroo? oldest friends (and that Helen was a bridesmaid and I, an usher) we made the journey back from Sydney to London, via Shanghai. Mad I here you say! Well, yes... it was. VERY VERY MAD. But Lara and Gavin were only going to get married once and we simply couldn't miss it. It's just a shame that we were pretty much the furthest away possible.
However this didn't stop us. Unfortunately though, we booked our tickets with the WORST Airline on the planet. NEVER fly China Eastern Airlines. If you don't listen to another word I say, listen to that one! What an awful flight. We flew with them from Sydney to Shanghai (where we stopped over for a few days, and took in the sights) and then on to London. And then on the way back we flew to Shanghai (stopping for an hour), then to Melbourne (where we had to change planes) and then back to Sydney in one go. About fifty hours on a plane and they only managed to show one English film that cut out half way through the movie (and was probably made in the 80's). It was tough... it was hard... was
Didgeridoo
Maybe this is the most Australian you can get! it worth it? Of course, we wouldn't have missed it for the world.
We were only home for five days and then we flew back (the day after the wedding), so apologies to all the people we didn't manage to see when we were home. We did manage to meet out little Godson Joshua, who was born when we were in Vietnam (catching up with his lovely mum and dad Pete & Miri Hearn), which was lovely.
The biggest mistake involved the plans for when we got back to Sydney. Not really thinking, we booked two tickets to fly to Brisbane the following day and then five days later we flew from Brisbane to Perth (which took seven hours). In total we flew 60 hours, on 8 different planes, more than the length of the world, in under two weeks. Yes, we were very tired, and very sick of planes. We wouldn't recommend it. We were certainly glad to hit Perth and have one month before our next flight.
Perth was our last stop in Australia. What a change from Sydney! The people in Perth were so friendly. I can't think of a place where you literally
A Tazmanian Devil
Somewhat more subdued than the cartoon version. say hello to every single person you pass. Life is slower, friendlier, more relaxed... yet you still have everything at your fingertips. We were five minutes from the beach. Ten minutes from a gigantic park and about 15 minutes from the centre of Perth.
A couple of days after arriving in Perth we took a road trip. We decided to spend a few days touring the South West corner of Australia, around Busselton, Margaret river, Denmark and Albany. It was great because it reminded us of our days on the road in NZ. Although, the scenery was much different and it was not quite so cold. This time round, instead of having a fully equipped campervan we camped out in the back of a car. It was a great way to see the Australian countryside.
And now... onto the snakes.
Not far from where we were staying was a beautiful lake that we jogged around. I know what you are thinking! Helen and Sam running??? Did I read that right? You did... The biggest difference to our life now was that because we were on the other side of the world from our friends and family it
Lawn bowls!! What a game.
I know you won't believe it, but... Lawn bowls is actually fun!! You don't have to be 70 to enjoy it! meant we had a lot of time to ourselves. And with this spare time we took up running (because we couldn't afford to join a gym). It was certainly hard to start with. I almost passed out after three minutes on my first attempt.
I feel as though I should explain slightly. I can't run. I have never been able to run. On the days of cross-country at secondary school they would have to send out search parties because I was so slow. I even got sent home once because I couldn't even manage the WARM UP!!
We persevered and after a couple of months of nearly passing out we were managing to run round Herdsman Lake in Perth (about a 10km run). Instead of worrying about passing out we now had the added joy of watching out for TIGER SNAKES. On our first run round the lake we managed to spot two of them. Tiger Snakes are apparently one of the most dangerous snakes in the world and can be quite deadly. Although, they are not renowned for their aggresion and you would probably only be in danger if you either cornered one, attacked it, or most
Rhino Lizard
What a bute! likely in our case, stepped on it. Luckily we didn't step on either of the snakes, and even though they are deadly, I still couldn't resist taking a few photo's of the beautiful creatures. It certainly keeps you on your toes when you see the signs though.
I find it hard to sum Australia up because I don't think Helen and I really did the country justice. Most of the English people who live out here say that it is the weather that kept them here. And even though I would agree that the weather (even in the winter) is great, I would say it's the lifestyle that comes with the better weather that people enjoy. I think Helen and I will always remember having picnics in the park and going for runs along the beach when we think back to Australia.
But most of all, I think we will remember the diverse wildlife and always know that Australia was the Home of the Crocodile Hunter.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.12s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 9; qc: 61; dbt: 0.0575s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Roger Wills
non-member comment
Brilliant Oz Bo
Well done Sam! Another brilliant Blog. Very enjoyable. Love Roger / Dad.