DAY 10 to 14 - Catching up of the Blogging

Well as expected the blogging pace has slowed right down, this is partly due to the lack of exciting events (such as wallet loss), but also due to the time needed to write becoming unavailable. So here comes a brief summary of the exciting time that has been Saturday to Tuesday.

DAY 10 (SATURDAY) – THE DAY OF REST

As you already know Saturday was a day of rest, recovery and reflection of those events that took place on Friday. It also became the day that Adam let slip he’d seen my wallet on the floor of the train before falling asleep, but decided not to let this information come to light as he deemed it unimportant. Hindsight would say differently. Anyway, not reflecting on this to much, the day as I said was incredibly uneventful apart from the BBQ that we had in the evening, the first and no doubt not the last of our stay in Aus. It was delicious and as per usual Adam and I over indulged.

DAY 11 (SUNDAY) – COOGEE BAY – A PLACE TO LIVE POSSIBLY?

The following day Adam and I decided to head to Coogee in the afternoon, meeting up with Steve as “possibly” previously arranged on the Friday. It would also give us a good opportunity to see the area which is located just south of Bondi and experience another one of Sydney’s sandy beaches (no stones here).

In the morning we went swimming first, as usual me being a standard considerably lower than that of Adams. Hopefully though this will soon change, but I somehow think this is a tad optimistic considering his many years head start.

One of the funny things about swimming this time was that the OLYMPIC POOL had a massive inflatable assault course floating on its surface. It seemed slightly surreal and bizarre; the site of one of the most successful renowned swimming/sporting events 6 years ago is now being used as a modern day water fun fair for kids, with giant inflatable structures dominating the 5000 capacity aquatic centre. Saying that it looked like fun and had Adam and I the opportunity to use it, I'm sure we would have.

After swimming and a quick stop at home we headed to Coogee Bay. The wind had really picked up, being quite violent times whilst adding a chill to the air. Alison was a little worried about the tree in the back garden swaying and possibly falling onto the house, a natural reaction from their past experience less than a month ago. A little worrying was the bus driver’s comment when boarding the bus. Apparently due to the wind and thus high velocity sand, Coogee was empty and really unpleasant. Undeterred Adam continued on our way hoping that the wind would die down.

The beach was yet again another example of naturally pleasing sites found around Sydney with what seemed like a bit of a party atmosphere from the Coogee Bay Hotel for good measure. The place was buzzing with people everywhere, all catching up over a mid afternoon middy or scooner. Unable to get hold of Steve, Adam and I decided to brave it and head into the water which looked freezing. Firstly overcoming the onslaught of sand being picked up and thrown in the air by the wind, we made it to the beach and got straight in. Sure enough the water was cold, similar to that of the UK, and it wasn’t long before we decided to get out.

Taking a quick shower using the public facilities (wouldn’t get anything like that in the UK as it would no doubt be vandalised by pikies) we got some lunch and then headed back to the Coogee Bay Hotel where Steve and his mates were residing. They were all pretty cool and it was a good laugh to meet them all, Adam and I soon joining them in the Sunday afternoon spirits with a few scooners of Carlton. Later that after we even had a little pool competition, $40 pot for the winners, which Adam and I obliged in taking with superior table play. Maybe we should consider earning money playing pool instead of job hunting as planned for Monday. We soon after our victory called it a day and headed back to Rydalmere for much needed nourishment after a hard day at work.

DAY 12 (MONDAY) – JOINING AGENCIES and OUR FIRST JOB ARRANGED

Monday started of with Adam and I perform task such as CV updating/printing, locating temping agencies, and general discussing/arranging the days activities in finding a job. What we failed to realise was how long this was going to take and before we knew it half the day had gone before heading into the city centre. With our heart/head set on getting office jobs we ventured into some of the agencies found of George St. Some turned us away due to lack of experience, whilst others took our CV saying that they’d contact us. We soon came across Quay Recruitments who instantly offered Adam and I a joint position working for Millers Fashion, a female clothing company were by we will be performing data entry tasks. It appears that work is fairly easy to get here and both of us are pleased we have attained office experience.

Starting on Monday at 9:00 and for $18 an hour, it should be interesting to see what the job entails. More importantly and excitingly it will give us the opportunity to meet new people. As a result of attaining this job we’ve decided to move to a hostel this coming weekend so to be closer to work, as well as providing us with the opportunity to start backpacking properly.

DAY 13 (TUESDAY) - THE DAY OF THE RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol)

Adam and I previously arranged this

compulsory course so to allow us to work in establishments selling alcohol i.e. bars, restaurants etc. Hospitality jobs seem readily available and therefore it seemed a prudent action to obtain the certified qualification. Lasting 6 ½ hours, the lecture was provided by a former publican and gave information related to alcohol e.g. symptoms of intoxication. Without seeming too harsh or “up myself” this course is really intended for those of an academic level lower than our own. Now to put that in contexts, when completing the test at the end the instructor came into the examination room and basically walked us through every answer. Some what different and less stringent that those examination conditions at University.

Having passed our RSA and feeling chuffed with ourselves, Adam and I wondered towards southern Sydney to ensure we knew the location of our work placements. The last thing we want to do is turn up late and therefore felt a prudent course of action. Afterwards we headed towards Hyde Park where the Sydney Herald is holding the good food month, an event with a variety of food stalls and seating areas. Here we met Mike and Alison where we tucked into some Asian style food followed by Danish pancakes.

DAY 14 (WEDNESDAY) – Wisemans Ferry, the Old North Road and “pubbing” St Albans

After Adam and I going for another swim/run respectively, in the afternoon Mike drove us both up to Wisemans Ferry, a town/area he recommended going to as we were unlikely to visit it otherwise. Situated north past Hornsby (my favourite place!) on the Old North Road (Route 15) right next to the Hawkesbury River, it took about an hour so to reach. After crossing the river in a chain ferry, we drove towards St Albans stopping a the historic site of the Great North Road. This was a road built between 1825 and 1836 by convicts so as to link Sydney with Hunter Valley and runs over 264km.

The engineering achievement here is amazing, especially considering the technology of the time, the terrain that some of the road had to built over (up cliff faces made of what looked like sand stone), and the temperature that the convicts must have endured to complete the task. Today I was sweating just walking up to the top of the hill, and its not even summer yet!

Afterwards we headed to St Albans, a small hamlet with a pub located next to the river in between a impressive valley. Stopping for lunch and a beer, it was amazing that the pub stocked ESB on tap considering its remote location. The ploughman’s was delicious if not some different, Mike suggesting this was due to Aussie plughmen working harder than us Brits (whatever). We then headed home stopping on route to buy Alison a plant for the house.