MELBS after 3 months

Melbourne:  July 19 – September 8, 2012

We have survived the winter here in Melbourne and the past couple weeks spring has been in the air! Not that there was much to survive compared to Canada though. Although it may seem colder than what you would imagine for Australia, an average of 10 degrees was fine by us. We experienced some crazy windy and rainy days but on the whole VERY manageable.

It’s been over the past month mark of when we said we would be posting again but we feel like there isn’t much to update, especially in comparison to other posts, because we have just been busy working and saving as much as we can.

Adrian’s job has been going quite well.  He has continued to get full-time hours and even some overtime hours even if he doesn’t get paid extra for it as he is a “casual” employee. He was even able to negotiate a better wage by going off his good work ethic and his commitment of 6 months. Still missing working with tools and using his acquired trade skills but it’s a stress free job so he can’t really complain. 

There have still been some frustrating moments but with the job agency he works through not with the actual job – missed hours on multiple paychecks, difficulty getting a hold of management, people not sticking to their word of reward for a certain number of hours worked. Overall, we are happy he has consistent work until Christmas. Christmas Day will actually mark 6 months that he has been working through the job agency and the working holiday visa has a limitation of 6 months for one company so he’ll be looking at another job for another month if possible. Unfortunately the company he works for doesn’t want to hire him on directly because it’s cheaper to go through the job agency and his commitment is too short. Bugga.

My job situation has improved immensely since we last wrote in that not only do I have a job but I’m really enjoying it too! Luckily I was only out of work for a couple weeks but it seemed like much longer! I used a site similar to Kijiji here called “Gumtree” and the posting was actually only for a day project with potential for on-going work. The project was to attach 350 USBs to lanyards for $100 with no time limit. I was able to finish in 5 hours and once I was done, the bosses treated me to lunch and we chatted about the on-going work. The company is a promotional products/branding business where I would be doing a little bit of everything – PA, admin, sales & marketing. I’ve now been there for a month and am still really enjoying it. Not only do I have full-time hours, decent pay, and can walk to and from work, but its good experience that I can add to my resume and portfolio.

Outside of work, we have been finding cheap or free ways to have some fun and experience what the city has to offer (BTW, recently awarded the “Most Liveable City in the World”). We’ve gotten our sports fix by going to a couple Australian Football League (aka “footy”) games at both the MCG and Etihad Stadium. It’s such a weird chaotic looking sport but definitely entertaining! It’s Finals time now with the first round starting last night so we might go to one more game. We’re also hoping to catch a cricket game, tennis and whatever else we can afford. 

Panorama of the Sports Precinct - MCG on the left, tennis courts for the Australian Open on the right

At the MCG for our first game with Paul & Louise

Panorama of the MCG (seats 100,000)

Massive pom poms

Panorama of the Etihad Stadium - purpose-built for AFL and just a few blocks from our place

Geelong Cats v St. Kilda Saints @ Eithad

We’ve also been continuing to spend time with Paul & Louise on the weekends. However, Louise has left to Adelaide, Perth and Uluru (Ayer’s Rock) for the next month while Paul continues to work and save up a bit more before they continue their traveling up the East Coast and then throughout SE Asia. On another friendship note, Megan has flown into Melbourne this past week and is now on the Great Barrier Reef for a diving trip before she settles and starts work October 1. 

Lunch with Meg during her preview trip

A postcard in a series to promote winter in St. Kilda

Parrots in St. Kilda

Penguins in St. Kilda

Possums in the small park near our place

Today actually marks 10 months since we left Calgary and 3 months in Melbourne/Australia. We’ve had a few people ask us if we miss home, miss our families, food, activities, etc. And ya, we sure do. We miss the flexibility of having a vehicle and getting away on the weekends. We miss spending time with our families, especially when members aren’t doing so well health-wise. We miss having our guy or girl time and going out for supper or drinks with friends. We miss a cheap breakfast at Tim Hortons. Adrian misses his plumbing job and having a say in work matters. I’m missing my organized sports. But honestly, this is an opportunity of a lifetime and while we will miss and reflect on these things, there is no way we are heading back home because of them or before we see and do everything we want and can afford. If/when we miss family and friends, thanks to technology these days, we know you guys are only an e-mail, phone call or Skype date away :)

We have started some planning in terms of when we want to take off and start our traveling again and what we can afford to see and do. As of now, we are looking at taking off early in the New Year (January sometime) to check out Perth, Uluru (Ayer’s Rock), Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), Adelaide, Sydney, up the East Coast to Cairns then fly out of Cairns after snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef and possibly going sky diving. From Cairns, we will fly to Indonesia and work our way up hopefully seeing Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Loas, Vietnam, and the Phillipines. If all goes well we will arrive home around May 8, marking exactly a year and a half since we left home.

But as you know from reading past blog updates, plans continually change so who knows what we’ll get up to!

Those are our adventures to date. Hope you enjoyed reading!

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FUN AUSSIE TERMS & PHRASES

• "How ya goin'" -  a way to greet someone, similar to asking how they are
• "No worries" / "no dramas"
• "She'll be right" - it will be alright, no worries
• Bogan - unsophisticated person, to say the least
• "Sweet as", "easy as", "anything as"
• "Spot on" - exactly
• Mate - friend, buddy, etc.
• Sheila - woman
• Thongs - flip-flops
• "Love your work" - a phrase my boss always says hoping that it will catch on. I personally like it.