Days 143-145 Setting up a new life

So on Wednesday I landed in Sydney. I was immediately taken aback by how cold it felt. It was crazy cold. It was 7am and I had cleared customs and immigration on no sleep and was ready for a bed. Good news, I had a hostel booked! Bad news it was another 30 minutes on the train. I navigated my way around this new city in a complete daze. I had written this day off weeks ago. Realising that I would be getting in at early hours of the morning on no sleep would mean that it would be impossible to get out of bed and do anything touristy. I was also incredibly homesick. I was alone in a big city, had no idea what I was doing. I knew I needed to find work to support myself. It was all too much for one day. A day in bed was required. I woke up around midday and looked over to see two of my roommates looking at me. They were so friendly. Fernando and Seamus were so awesome to me. Whilst I was in my slump they made me laugh and feel included and like I belonged there. These two beautiful humans helped me so much that day. I managed to muster the courage to go to the shops. I needed some food and some basic jumpers (it’s still cold). After a brief hour out it was back to the hostel. I had done all that I wanted to by this point. That evening Fernando asked me if I had ever ordered uber eats. I replied with I don’t think so, turns out that Fernando had a coupon for $15 off your first order. We decided on pizza. We sat watching black mirror eating pizza.

Thursday 

I had been applying for jobs over the last few days. I wanted to be ahead of the game so I had started applying on the Monday whilst still in Bali. To my surprise I woke up to a missed call and text asking me for a telephone interview. I jumped out of bed and called back. I spoke to Rachel who runs a dairy farm about 6 hours west of Sydney. I had decided I was going to try and do some touristy things after the interview. I went to the library where they had an awesome photo exhibition. 

As I came out of the library I was going to head to the botanical gardens when I got the call saying that I had been offered the job and could I travel on Saturday. I cannot tell you how excited I was. I am so grateful for the opportunity. It seems to be a lot of backpackers are struggling to get work at the minute. The drought has meant that fruit that would usually be in season isn’t ready yet. I think there is also just a huge volume of people competing for the jobs. So I was incredibly happy that I had secured a position. This did however mean that the race was on to get everything I needed.

First thing I decided I needed was more jumpers and joggers. Off to the charity shop I went. In Australia they call them ‘Op shops’ and I don’t quite know why but Australians have some weird names for things. I arrived back at the hostel with two massive bags of items and a pair of wellies. That evening Fernando, Cameron, Seb (roommate number 3) and I decided to go and visit Seamus at work. Seamus works at a super cool bar called the Soda Factory and they were having a 00’s women theme night so of course there was Britney,  Beyoncé, Rihanna and many other classics. We loved it and genuinely had the best time! 

Friday

Today really was a buckle down and GSD (if you know, you know). My day started with a visit to the lovely Fraser. Fraser is a friend of my mums who very kindly as looked after some clothing I shipped from Bangkok. After this it was to the Medicare branch to get the relevant form for the medical entitlement card. I then went to the bank to open up a bank account. This was followed by a doctors appointment to get the rest of my Hep A/B jabs. Before I came travelling I had the first 2 jabs but this was the last set needed to complete my course of vaccinations. It was then back to the Medicare branch to drop of the form and talk through with the advisor. By this point I got back to the hostel at 4pm having not even eaten all day. That’s why when the lovely Seamus suggested dinner in Chinatown I was more then keen! It was great. After dinner it was back to target for some more last minute bits for the farm. Finally at about 7:30 Fernando and I decided to head out, we wanted to go and support Seb who was working his first shift in a pub. We got there and started chatting to people and just having a great time. 

This is a new chapter in my life, I have gone from travelling to now setting up roots in a brand new place. I’m not sure how long I will be in Australia but I am definitely working on the farm for at least 4 months. It’s so strange that even if just temporarily I have technically moved to a brand new country. 

So now that my situation has changed slightly so will my blogging schedule. As much as I’d like to upload daily it’s just not realistic whilst I’m working and also I am not going to have that much variation in what I’m doing. I still want to keep everyone posted with how I am and how I’m feeling so I will try to upload twice a week going forward and then maybe more if I do something exciting.