A Christmas Special

The last few weeks have been spent working in the week and going out at the weekends. Most weeknights are spent sitting in the outside area at the back of the house playing poker for small pots (normally a $2 buy in). The housemates go through a lot of Captain Morgans, as shown by the bottle collection below.

 I have settled into my job now, with some aspects becoming slightly monotonous, however the people I work with are a great crowd. We had our Christmas social at a bar called the deck in the city centre, all expenses paid for with a bar and buffet, though it was annoyingly but cleverly (think of the savings to the company) put in midweek and everyone was scheduled to work the next day. Most of the work lot are quite old for backpackers, with many in their late 20’s. There are quite a lot of disillusioned teachers among them- those people going into it take note!

Views of the city from where I work

 

Robert has had a lot of work in the last few weeks for Unger, the Jewish Events Company, though he worries about the work drying up after Christmas. He says it’s horrendously unorganized, with many occasions where he has turned up at events and had to wait around for an hour before someone arrives to direct him. The business is family run, and often operating at small private events- dinners or drinks at family homes. It does also cater for larger events such as bar mitzvahs and weddings- though the events are all always jewish. When he turns up at an event there is little structure with the boss making brief appearances throughout the event to moan before disappearing and leaving the waiting staff to run the show on their own. However Rob does benefit from the lack of organization as last week he was paid extra, and it seems he is rarely monitored. Also he is always fed there, occasionally bringing some stuff back to Murray Street.

Australia has many similarities to home, many of them are quite discreet but noticeable as a sum. They love a good pie as we do at home(including at sporting events), they queue(unlike the europeans), they all stand on one side on escalators so people in a hurry can walk up the other, the queens head sits on the back of every coin. Even the shape of the 50c coin has similarities to the 50p. Walking down an Aussie high street and looking at the people, the you could easily think you were in Britain- they just look British, not European or just Caucasian, just British(which is no surprise considering they are 80% British/Irish descendents), with the same dodgey sun tans as a Marbella beach resort. Aussie culture though generally a mish mash of everybody elses(including Christmas stuff which I wish they had developed into their own to fit in with the climate- why have snow on adverts?) with the odd lazy attempt to make something their own.

No chance of a white christmas here

The perfect example of this is taking a margarita pizza and dumping a fried egg on top, then calling it ‘The Aussie’. Another favourite(which is Melbournes local dish) is taking a beautiful Chicken Schnitzel smothering it in tomato paste and cheese and calling it an Aussie Parma.

Christmas tree near Federation Square

St Pauls Cathedral from the christmas tree

Christmas day was spent as a house in the house. Four hours after hitting the hay following a Christmas eve session with Robert, a bottle of bourbon, beers and a few other housemates(most went to bed early), I drearily awoke to get turkey no 2 into the oven(having cooked the first the night before). A few weeks ago I put myself up for taking charge of cooking the meal, a job which for most people was the one they wanted to avoid. I took the reigns as I wanted to make sure I had a proper Christmas dinner. I worried if it were left to someone else it would have been a flop or it simply wouldn’t have happened. The nightmare would have been Christmas without it. Everybody chipped into the day, peeling veg, washing plates, clearing and laying tables, sweeping floors, making stuffing and countless other contributions. The meal was a beast, to borrow a phrase from Chris Sheldrick, the meat (ham and turkey) literally fell of the bone.

House Christmas Meal

We also had a house secret santa (or kris kringle to aussies) in the morning. Rob received an oven glove(which had been desperate for for weeks), a T-shirt and a travel journal.  I got beer which was whilst practical, seems like a bit of a cop out. I bought my ss a porno, boxing gloves and a toblerone whilst rob bought his some hair removal cream(he is bare downstairs), a santa outfit and chocolate.

Secret Santa @ Murray Street

Paul presenting rob with secret santa

We ate around two o’clock outside at the back of the house, everybody sitting in shorts, sandals and t-shirts as the temperature hit a warm but not irksome 25˚C. 

During the afternoon some people went to the nearby park to play some cricket and footie, but others including Robert and I, ended up slobbed in front of the Tele watching the horrendous Christmas day TV here. For many the evening was spent drinking outside-my exertions throughout the day meant I ended up watching back to back South Park Christmas specials on the tele.

Christmas was strange not being at home, though good fun nonetheless. The only time I felt homesick in the period was Christmas eve on the train back from work but otherwise the good weather, proper roast and good spirit of the house meant it was more than an adequate replacement.

I will post on the recent trip to the MCG to watch the ashes when I write my next blog.


 

                                Found this gem of an alley in the centre

A Change of Fortune

The week before last was slightly mad. Having spent over a fortnight looking for jobs, and having got nothing aside from being employed at a casual events company, I was feeling dispirited and loosing faith about the whole working in Australia thing. However the situation changed radically on Monday. I was given the contact details of a recruitment consultant by someone from the hostel, sent them an email with my CV, and was called up at 8am the next morning. I went in to see them at 11am and by 3am had a full time job sorted, working at an inbound call centre for midibank. The same day I was offered a job at an outbound call centre selling to the public and was offered a trial by a restaurant, strange how it all works out.  

 Our time at the hostel ran out on Friday and we were tired of the place so nailed a house in a day on Thursday, having looked round one sharehouse with 30 people crammed in amongst others.  

That night we took a trip to a local burger joint called Danny’s Diner before drinking in the bar with our hostel roommates. The place was labeled Melbourne’s best burger bar by an Australian masterchef and so was defiantly on the hitlist of things that needed to be done in Melbourne. The burgers there were damn good, I went for their imitation of McDonalds Big Mac which they had created perfectly with the taste of the secret sauce being so much fresher, and the burger appearing exactly as it does in the adverts. However the meat was tender, the salad fresh and crisp and bread soft and fresh meaning the burger so much better than the real thing. 

The next morning we moved the 30mins into our new house, which is in a suburb called Prahran.

St Kilda Beach House- Our Hostel for the first 3 weeks

Moving On- Waiting for a tram to take us to the new place

The internet cafe which was our 2nd home for the first 2 weeks

We live in a room with two others, in a house of 12 people, all of whom are backpackers who work or are looking for jobs. It is essentially a bungalow with three rooms each containing 4 people. There are 5 English, 4 Irish, a Fin, Canadian and two French in the house. We have an outside area to sit as well as a living room with full sports channels on TV so we can watch the premiership and champions league games live in the night. It’s great to have an oven, the internet(rather than be consigned to a café) and some storage space for clothes(amazing how you miss such simple stuff). Robert the landlord comes round every night to have a moan about something, hence has aquired the name dickhead amongst the house. Annoyingly there is only one bathroom(probably illegal) though there is no long term contract with rent paid in cash on a weekly basis(costs $130pw all bills included which is not far behind my house at uni where I had a room to myself), so we can give a weeks notice and then leave.

Kitchen with an oven!

The house from the front entrance

The room we share with 2 frogs

On Monday just gone, my Auntie visited me in the city as she is over for 2 weeks in part because of her job as a lecturer at Nottingham, but also as a holiday. She took me out for some fancy food on the Southbank(from which the following photos of the centre were taken). The area is pedestrianised with many fine restaurants following the path of the river, offering great views of the city. Its green, airy and laid back with people sitting around sunbathing on the grass riverbanks beneath the shade of the trees along the front. I had a rare steak and cabernet(that’s cooked rare, though interpreting rare as irregular is just as accurate for this description).  Recently the weather has been quite bad with rain and overcast conditions all week gone, like the UK in September. The soft Aussies are finding it freezing. However we are expecting 30 degrees and sunshine over the weekend- have to say I do miss the snow back at home. Its also weird that its December, and that watching the TV you get adverts for summer barbeques and clothing alongside Christmas adverts which depict cosy Christmas scenes with snow!-get some culture.

Saw this in town- check out the crazy price!!

My job involves working in a call centre. I have spent the first 4 days on training and worked properly yesterday. I work for Midibank and advise customers about health insurance options, rebates and do admin work. The job pays far better than any at home with an annual salary of £24K- as I’ve mentioned before wages at the bottom scale are insane here(though I cant see wages in the top jobs being much better than England) The jobs is located in a plush office on the edge of the city centre, overlooking the CBD, with views from the 16^th floor being fantastic. The job will last for 3 months till March as this time of year is really hectic for them and so the 15 of us who are employed are mainly backpackers. Every week pizzas are ordered for the employees and there is a social for us noobs next week which should be great.

I have also done a few shifts as a barman for the events company, and worked at the etihad stadium last night where Jay-Z and U2 performed. The house is planning on buying tickets for the boxing day test at the MCG, though Rob and I need to work out what we are doing for new years- think a trip to Sydney may need to be arranged(though getting accommodation will be nightmare so think we may have to hire a campervan).

Off out with the house to nearby Chapel Street tonight with the house- should be great now there is some money coming in, though need to watch out as Mickey (who incidentally comes from Kingston Upon Thames and is looking to migrate permanently) managed to spend $900 on a night out last week(though it included a solo visit to strip club).

  

Whilst I’ve been bring home the bacon, Robs been in the house most days though works most evenings waiting in various venues around the city. I have put some pics of the city taken at night below. Some call Melbourne the NYC of the South and these pics show why.

The CBD taken from the southbank of the Yarra River

 

The entrance to Chinatown

Chinatown in the CBD

A St Kilda Walkabout

Saturday last week was spent playing football with other travelers, organised by some guys in our hostel. Turnout was insane- 35 Brits met outside our hostel, from where we all marched to a local park, split into three teams, and played 11 a side. There were Aussies in the park all playing ultimate Frisbee. We laughed at them at first,playing their ‘games’ but then realized its actually a really demanding sport. The nature of the game requiring you as a team to move a frisbee down the field to score a touchdown(whilst only being able to make 2 steps when in possesion) requires insane levels of fitness. The whole team seems to be sprinting the whole time, and it looks far more exhausting than footie.

The week was again spent looking for jobs. Robert had a trial at The Meat and Wine company on Tuesday, but didn’t get the job as they seemed to expect him to know stuff, like table numbers from a sheet instantly- I have a trial there this Wednesday. It seems they have people on trial constantly as they can pay you less than the minimum wage doing that. I was rejected from a different restaurant on Monday by the floor manager even though the owner was keen.

We also got ourselves signed up for an agency called Octopus which does waiting and bar work at events. The interview was crazy, run by a woman who has serious issues, and takes questions like they are insults. A bloke asked a general enquiry about the company, and she ranted at him in front of everyone about how he was totally unprofessional and rude to ask the question. Nuts. Robert also signed up to an agency which specialises in waiting at Jewish events and so had to learn some yiddish as a requirement. He has loads of work on Sundays and often it is at private houses, I havnt applied though.

Australia seems to be in love with rules and regs, which is surprising as fosters adverts(my perception of Australia pre arrival) don’t suggest this. To work in a bar or as a waiter serving alcohol you need a certificate to say you can basically pull pints- this costs £50, and isn’t applicable nationwide- so if you go from one state to another you need a separate certificate. To touch food you need a qualification- even if all your jobs is just to wash fruit. Even labouring requires you to have a days training(though most employers seem loose with this). I guess things are like America where people sue over anything. I actually chatted to an Aussie about this stuff, and yeah apparently if you’re a bar tender, serve a person alcohol in your bar from which they get drunk and they leave and kill someone, you as the bar tender(and the bar) are liable because you served them the booze. Ridiculous!- personal responsibility anyone? 

Anyway today Rob has a job with Octopus so I went for a walk round St Kilda to take some pics(just for this blog!) and get some food.

The area of St Kilda runs at a relaxed pace, trams potter up and down the main streets whilst people lounge around on the lawns and beaches soaking up the sun.

St Kilda Beach with the CBD in the Background

St Kilda Beach

I took photos of Acland street, which is one of St Kildas well known streets. It contains a range of cake houses similar to those found in Germany (like a Konditorei) where you can choose from a range of amazing homemade cakes to have with your coffee(for which Melbourne is famous). In addition there are bars/ restaurants all of which spill onto the street. The street also has numerous specialist clothes shops and fashion boutiques. At night various nightclubs illuminate the street and 200m away is St Kilda beach. This is all 5 mins walk from the hostel.

Pictures of Acland Street

 

 

 

Konditorei style cafe

This melowly,  is strangley in contrast to what Australians have said about themselves. They believe Brits are lazy, and percieve themselves as driven and hard working- some seem a bit snappy and on edge however im not convinced of this image yet!

The Australian high street is old school. You go into one shop to buy your shoes, another for your jeans and a third for your T-shirts. If you want meat, go to a butcher, vegetables a greengrocer and bread a baker. The supermarket is just used to top everything up. The supermarkets here are physically smaller than England(in contrast to pretty much everything else, i.e. the equivilant of a ‘b-road’ turns out to be a 5 lane superhighway), with the nation way less addicted to chains and names. This lack of bulk purchase does mean its far more expensive for food and clothes here, though the quality of clothes are better.

St Kilda Road- doesnt look this big on the map!

The country has dashes of Americana about it, with the cars, roads and buildings easily placable in the US:

Theatre near the hostel and the Town hall- both look American, the latter so much so it is nicknamed the mini- Whitehouse

 We went out last night with some people from the hostel to a nearby hostel called base with the idea of going to a club. However Shep got kicked out for being to drunk so we ended up back at our hostel as clubs wouldn’t have accepted us. Most other nights we sit in the bar, have some drinks and play some pool. Im gonna try and get a job with some lads from the hostel at a call centre selling electricity. It sounds bad, but the pay is immense ($100 per day ie £65 flat rate plus $35 bonus for each sale). One of the blokes made 8 sales in one day and so earned £250-mental.

So we are still in the hostel for the next week, with rates cheap at this time (December is when they skyrocket) but jobs need to be nailed before we can start commiting to a house.

I will describe Melbourne more once I get my camera into the CBD because the centre is simply stunning.

The First Week

My head in the sand mentality towards organising this trip, meant that my final days in England were rushed and chaotic- transferring and exchanging currency, stocking up on anti-malarials (for which a trip to the doctor was needed) and buying clothes- all jumbled in with hastily organised visits to see friends and relatives, who will not be seen for very many months.

The 23hr flight to Melbourne (12 hours to a moist and foggy Hong Kong followed 40 minutes later by 10 hours to Melbourne) was fairly uneventful, though onboard movies and drinks, reluctantly provided by flight attendants, helped shorten the time before our arrival into the big new city. 

Hong Kong airport(renamed Hong Pong)

 

The next few days were mainly spent tackling jet lag(some may just say sleeping). However we did manage to get out and see some of the surrounding area. Our hostel is based in the funky St Kilda region of the city, an area known for its large backpacker and student (sniff) populations. A stroll down any of the main streets will reveal a sprawl of outdoor seating areas belonging to the numerous bars, cafes and restaurants, however these seem mainly filled with the locals and older tourists from beachside hotels. The young people tend to stay in hostel bars, as the atmosphere and prices are better there (though even then a beer will set you back a whopping £6), or they buy alcohol from a liquor store, and in the evenings gather on the nearby beach. Since arriving the weather has been mainly sunny with temperatures of 20-35 degrees with the odd patches of rain- much better than England!     

The first nights were spent in the bar, playing pool and chatting to other travellers. The majority are here hoping to get some work and stay in the city for a few months. Some, like Rob and I, are doing it for the experience of living abroad whilst others are here for a new start. We have met a group of young northerners who are fed up of living working as night porters in Southport. There is also a 33 year old bloke called Rob who has spent the last 8 months living above a bar in Cambodia and drifting around South Asia, who left the UK bored of the 9-5 office grind, and settling down of his peers into matrimony. The hostel is fantastic in all the ways a mother would want- secure, clean, tidy and with good facilities.

 

This  week has been dominated by job hunting. We have both had some limited success. I was interviewed for a bar vacancy at a 5* hotel on thursday though my lack of wine knowledge meant I wasn’t successful. To be honest though I’m English and have been a student for three years- do they think during those student years I would have had the money or inclination to know the difference between one bottle of plonk and another?!.

Rob had had an interview for a catering firm, which plus an offer from a cafe working part time.  Other than that, and the millions of ‘jobs’ offered, claiming you can earn up to $3000pw just by drinking beer/taking customers milk and bread orders/insertanyccraphere, things have been relatively quiet. House hunting has been kept on the backburner and so we have booked out another week in the hostel.

Yesterday we went to see a mate called Fran who we travelled to India with back in July 07. Fran is studying at Melbourne Uni for a year. We travelled across town to the Uni, which has tried(fairly successfully) to imitate the Oxbridge look with old looking quads and pristine lawns before heading on to the Italian quarter of the city for some quality Italian food. Following this Fran(who incidentally is Uruguayan), took us to the home of some Chilean friends of his where we had some drink, before heading out to some bars. The area is the equivalent of Camden, a bit alternative, and apparently controlled by a local Mafioso (is that word right?) though at least the Aussies here seem to drink Pints (they all generally drink half pints of beer- or pots as they call them- how lame!).

Tomorrow we are off to play a football match organised by some backpackers.

Also here is a rough outline of the trip:

4^th November 2010- Flight from London Heathrow to Melbourne 

4^th November 2010- 4^th April 2011:

Life Abroad- Working and Living in Melbourne Australia

4^th March-4^th April-Traveling up the East Coast of Australia from Melbourne to Cairns Via Road/Rail

4^th April- 3rd May- Fly to New Zealand and travel round the country using Kiwi bus tours for a month- return to Australia

4^th May- Flight from Cairns to Singapore

5^th-8^th May- Time Spent in Singapore

8^th May- 16^th May- Malaysia

16^th May- 28^th May- Thailand

29^th May- 18^th June – Bike round Cambodia

19^th June-26^th June- Laos

26^th June-10^th July- Vietnam

10^th July- 31^st July- China

1^st August-7^th August –South Korea

7^th- 14^th August- Japan

14^th August- Flight from Tokyo to London

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