I am in Sydney. I arrived here a couple of weeks ago on the 8th November. Since then I have been rushing around getting myself sorted out for a long stay. A number of backpackers I know from my New Zealand travels don't like Sydney. It is because when you have been travelling for a while without any normal life stress arriving in a big city having to find work and accommodation isn't the most fun thing to do. Sydney attracts backpackers like flies this time of year and this means accommodation and work are in short supply. A group of girls I know from New Zealand were here for 2 weeks and were unable to get work or accommodation and have left to head up the East Coast and try their luck in Brisbane.
Lots of people say that there is plenty of work in Sydney but when you are actually applying for jobs you discover that that isn't necessarily the case. There may be lots of signs in shop windows asking for staff but that doesn't mean that they want non-resident Australians for the jobs. There may be bars with staff telling you that they are looking for casual staff but that doesn't mean they ever get back to you. Finding a job here is a frustrating business. Not only that but the hostels are continually fully booked and over the Christmas and New Year period they are completely booked up. I arrived in Sydney and a few nights booked in the Wakeup! hostel. It is a really big hostel. I went up to my room and was met by the '506 crew'. The '506 crew' were a friendly bunch of boys from England, Scotland and Ireland. So friendly infact that upon my arrival they showed me pictures of all the girls they had pulled and pictures of them pulling them. Plus when the door to the room was open and a couple of girls walked passed, they jumped up running over to them yelling "Good looking girls there is a party in 506". New to town I laughed at their muppet ways and went out for the night with a pal from New Zealand. I returned about midnight and went to bed. About 2am one of the 506 crew returned with a girl waking me up, the rest of the crew then returned and decided to play football in the room whilst taking photos of their mate and the girl. Needless to say I was not a happy bunny. The next day I went about town getting my aussie mobile phone, bank account, medicare card, tax number, and paper working visa.
My luck kicked in when my parents arrived that evening. They are on a tour of Oz for their wedding anniversary. If they hadn't arrived I may have been stuck in setting up my life in Sydney frustration. However, not only was I glad to see them after 4 months I was also able to enjoy eating in restaurants and doing tourists things, which meant I was able to enjoy Sydney. We went out to Manley on the ferry, hired a car and went to the Blue Mountains (truly picturesque), did the Harbour Bridge Climb, had cocktails in the revolving restaurant at the top of the Sydney Tower, and generally enjoyed the city. Wherever we went my parents would ask the staff whether there was any vacancies and how the member of staff got their job. Whilst embarrassing it did become a game of predicting when they would ask the member of staff. It is also the right attitude to have when you are new to town and looking for work ASAP. Not only was I lucky enough to have my parents in town for 5 days but a couple of days after they left my Aunt arrived in town with a friend of the family from Perth for 3 days. On one particular evening we had dinner at the opulent Sydney Cafe, with views over Circular Quay, where the creme de la creme of Sydney snobs hang out, it was very nice.
As I have already said finding a job isn't easy. Many people would assume that those who don't find work are lazy when looking for work. In some cases this is true. However, the girls I know from New Zealand aren't lazy. If you get a job a measure of luck is involved. I spent three solid days applying for jobs online and walking the streets handing CVS in. I did not get any responses to these overtures (apart from some rejections in the past 2 days to some online applications) I have, however, managed to acquire 2 jobs. The first job is telemarketing. It is cold calling, telephone headset, boredom. However, it pays well and beats working at a coal face. The second job is telemarketing again but much more sophisticated. For starters it is in an office where you can get up and have a chat, go and make a cup of tea, and where your opinion is listened to and appreciated (at least the boss lets you think this). The pay is excellent and the view from the office overlooks the harbour bridge. At lunchtime I sit next to the bridge eating my sandwich looking at the Opera House, its a hard knock life. When I went for the interview for the second job it was going very well and I thought I had it nailed on. Towards the end of the interview the boss asked to look at my CV. He then said "So you're a FitzWimarc boy then", Fitz is my secondary school and only someone local would have ever heard of it. It turned out he went to Sweyne, the other secondary school in town. He spent his childhood in Rayleigh and emigrated in his mid-twenties. I haven't met anyone on my travels from Rayleigh. I don't know what the odds are on travelling to the other side of the world to work for someone from your home town. I would get rid of the first job (and I may still do if I can't handle the boredom) but the second job only lasts for 3 weeks or so and as we have already established getting a job in Sydney isn't the easiest thing to do.
Once I got work sorted out I then hunted for accommodation. I viewed a few places, some pretty dodgy and some pretty crowded, but ended up finding a place in North Sydney (the other side of the Harbour) in Neutral Bay. I am living with a middle-aged gay impersonator. It is a bit random. It has chandeliers in the hallway and lounge. It is clean and I get my own room. However, there isn't a TV. I only realised this after I moved in. I was also given the impression by the landlord that he would beable to line me up with some comedy/acting gigs. Since I have moved in talk of this has dried up. The location is great for second job, it is a half an hour walk down a hill with a view of the Harbour Bridge every morning.
The weather in Sydney has been changeable to say the least. Since I have been here they have had the coldest day in November for 100 years and the hottest (38'C) in forty years. When its hot it is really hot, the wind feels like an oven door has been opened. The humidity means that the heat lasts right into the night. It is going to be interesting to see what it is like once we get into the summer, it was 45'C last Christmas.
No comments:
Post a Comment