Oz I - Sydney, Lucky Number Steve

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.

10th November - Sydney

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.

New Zealand X - Christchurch

I was lucky enough to stay in Christchurch with some pals of Ralph (mate who I stayed with in Wellington). Considering that they had never met me before they were ridiculously hospitable and friendly. It made a great base for me to enjoy my stay in Christchurch. Not only did Ralph line up a place for me to stay but he also lined up a gig for me with the Court Jesters www.courtjesters.co.nz - Christchurch's premier improv troupe. I arrived on Thursday night and performed with them on Friday night. They have got a great theatre space and have built a strong audience following (for the show I was in it was an audience of 160+). They have a number of very experienced and talented performers, whilst at the same time bringing through new talent. I was impressed by their professionalism. I only met them an hour before the performance which wasn't the best preparation for a show. It was fun to be back playing short-form. I was a touch nervous beforehand as I was going in cold and only there based on Ralph's reputation. I think I did a pretty good job in the circumstances. I nailed one particular scene and people seemed pretty happy with the show in general. Quite a few people I had met along the backpacker route came along to watch and enjoyed the show. I also taught a workshop for them on the following Tuesday. I decided to teach the Improv Olympic Harold and concentrate on openings and games. The Jester's seemed to find it all quite bizarre, not surprising as they had never seen an iO Harold before. I wanted to teach them something completely different and show them what other things are going on in the world of improv. I think they enjoyed it and we covered a lot of topics so there should be at least a few things for them to take away from it. If you are in Christchurch on a Friday night make sure you go along and see their show it is well worth it.

I really liked Christchurch as a city. It is said to be the most English city in New Zealand and in many ways it is. There is a river running through the city centre, which is pretty, and there are big parks and old buildings. In the evenings Christchuch really reminded me of Essex with cruisers in their modified cars pounding the streets, drunk youths fighting, lads in stripey shirts and jackets, and ladies wearing very little. The weather was great during my stay (I was even able to get the shorts out), it set the city off nicely. Jarv (one of the guys I was staying with) was kind enough to drive me down to the Banks Peninsula (south of Christchurch) and to Akoroa a picturesque town in a sheltered bay (the French part of New Zealand).

Ralph came down to Christchurch for the weekend and drove me up to Waikari, his home town. I stayed at his parents place. Unfortunately the clouds rolled in, so while it is meant to be surrounded by snowcapped mountains I can't corroborate this. We drove to Hanmer Springs and spent an afternoon relaxing in the spa pools (its a hard knock life).

New Zealand IX - On my God I can't believe it I have never been this far away from home

1st November - Mountains enroute to Milford Sound

I spent a few days in Queenstown and then got on the Bottom Bus trip around the tip of the South Island. It is the furthest you can get from Blighty without heading to the Antarctic. It was similar to the Eastas trip I did on the North Island. However, a big difference was that a group of people from the bus I was on into Queenstown also came on this trip. It was a quiet trip after the frolics of the West Coast but it was enjoyable. The weather was cold, rainy and windy for most of it which didn't help. The first stop was Dunedin. Dunedin was modelled on Edinburgh and is known as the most Scottish city outside of Scotland. It lived up to it with overcast skies and grey buildings. There were some nice parts to it, but it didn't capture my imagination. We went out in the evening and couldn't find anywhere even remotely busy, it was a Sunday night and it was raining. The next day we headed down through the Catlins to Curio Bay. We had a series of walks off the bus to see different things. It was OK but again the weather made getting off the bus not particularly pleasant. When we arrived at Curio Bay the weather improved and I went on a good guided walk around the area. The guide showed us how to make a bouncy ball from seaweed, a plant that tasted of celery, natural insect repellent and nearly led us into a Sea Lion hiding amongst the bushes. We also had a look around a petrified forest. In the evening we went down to the petrified forest and watched yellow-eyed penguins coming back to their nests. The next morning we stopped to make a paua shell necklace and had breakfast in Invercargill (the Southern most city in the Commonwealth). We then spent a couple of hours on a farm where we fed a lamb, watched sheep being rustled and sheared a sheep. I had a go at shearing and was surprised by how docile the sheep was, I expected to jump about but it was just lying their thinking of New Zealand. The nice thing about the farm excursion was that the guides were real farmers and not just tourist guides, they weren't particularly good at public speaking but they were the real deal. The overnight stop was at Te Anau. It is on a massive lake which makes for another pretty view.

The next morning we were picked up for the day trip to Milford Sound. It was a great trip. The weather was perfect, blue skies with a few clouds. The driver was a really fun guy called Jason. The drive to Milford from Te Anau and then back via Te Anau to Queenstown has to be one of the most beautiful in the world. It was stunning driving past snow-capped mountain ranges. The ferry trip on the Sound itself was very good. It wasn't particularly busy so we were able to enjoy the views. Underwater World was a bit pointless, but it was included in the ticket. You may not have heard of Milford Sound but you will recognise it from all of the tourist brochures and adverts for New Zealand. Once we got back to Queenstown we met up with some people who had stayed there for longer and again went to Altitude and World Bar.

New Zealand VIII - Queenstown

26th October - Queenstown with the Remarkables in the background

Queenstown is the Bemuda Triangle of the New Zealand backpacker circuit. People get drawn in and never leave. It is set in an amazing location, on the side of a huge lake with snowcapped mountains surrounding it, a great nightlife, and masses of activities. By the same token Queenstown itself is not a pretty place. It feels like a naff alpine village. The buildings have been thrown together without any consideration of how they might look together. In saying that Queenstown does have a certain charm to it. I really enjoyed my stay there. It is a great place to catch up with people you have met earlier in your travels. I spent most of my time going out in the evening and recovering the next day.

The luge is the best value activity that you can do while in New Zealand. There is one in Rotorua and one in Queenstown. Concrete tracks snake down the side of the mountain and you race down them in plastic go-karts. It is amazing fun with a group of you going down the track together. I did it in Rotorua and twice in Queenstown. On the second day in Queenstown we were getting pretty aggressive with our blocking tactics on each other, ramming one another into the walls. In the penultimate race Chris managed to ram my kart so hard into the wall that I ended up rolling it. I only grazed my wrist and bumped my head, but apparently my facer mid-roll was a picture. I am hoping that someone builds a track in the UK. I also climbed Queenstown Hill which doesn't sound particularly impressive, however, if this hill was in the UK it would be a mountain. The climb is steep but worth it for the great views.

I stayed at Discovery Lodge for my first couple of nights in Queenstown. It is OK but expensive and the kitchen isn't great. The price is supposedly justified by the central location but Queenstown isn't a big place. I moved to Alpine Lodge, which was about a 5 minute walk from the centre, and much cheaper. It felt homely and had a good lounge and kitchen. Alpine Lodge isn't listed in the Lonely Planet Guide which I thought was a bit strange (I heard about it from other travellers). I chatted to the guy who runs it and he told me that Lonely Planet have sold out. They have a deal with the VIP backpackers chain to promote those hostels above all others. Not only do they promote the VIP hostels but they fail to list other hostels in places at times. Apparently the Rough Guide hasn't sold out.