first day of work

had a wonderful first day of work yesterday! just went in for a 2 hour training session and met a lot of the people (really nice!) and learned how to use the palm pilots they place orders with (GENIUS system).

checked into a new hostel today right near work and am now exploring the new area (prahan/windsor/chapel street district) and will go into the CBD (central business district) to go to the farmers market for some fresh produce a little later!

aussie words of the day
capsicum: red peppers
rocket: arugula

Grand ol day in Melbourne!

what a beautiful, fun day today in melbourne! first stopped off at a couple hostels to find a place to stay for the next week or so and decided (very smartly, i think) on back of chapel hostel, which is about 20 feet from the job i decided to take (the one at Hoo Haa as a waitress) so that when i get off work at 4am i dont have far to go. since public transport stops at 3am this will be very key in next stop!

next was a picnic in the botanical gardens and then exploring the yarra river district - what a surprise! it was absolutely beautiful and filled with interesting places and people. after that was watching the sunset over st kildas and finding the pint size penguins just as they were finishing marching around for the night. wonderful sunny day and cant wait for tomorrow- my first day of work!

aussie word of the day
chook: chicken

Melbourne: the rain finally stops!

today, after 4 days of non stop rain and cold, it finally stopped raining in Melbourne! the next couple days are supposed to be pretty nice, and with even more reason to celebrate - i got a job! actually, i got two jobs and another call for an interview! i have a bartending job up in Kew - a northern suburb of Melbourne (half hour tram ride from the city but an hour tram ride from where i am currently staying which is St Kilda - half an hour tram ride south of the city) at a sleepy place called the Hotel Kew and also a waitressing job in Windsor (a part of town in between the city center and St Kilida) at a very trendy very cool restaurant/bar that seems like it will get verrrry busy. the interview is to do promotions, i dont know a lot about what the work would be but figured it would be interesting to go check out at least!

next step is to figure out where im going to live for the next few weeks here in Melbourne and take the RSA (responsible service of alcohol), a federally mandated course for anyone working around alcohol.

melbourne day 2: job hunt

today i managed to survive the constant rain and cold to go job hunting! it was tougher than i expected it would be, most places said they werent hiring, but i did get one call back and have an interview set up for monday to be a bartender! also got my melbourne library card today to cash in on the free internet (only thing i wish i had done differently is to have brought an ipod touch or something to get online with - i will probably end up spending the same to get online for the next few months that it would have cost!)

next step, find a flat!

Aussie word of the day
flat: apartment

aussie travel

i discovered this morning that the 'she'll be apples' philosophy of life in australia also extends to airport security. i managed to get from sydney to melboure without any person or machine checking my id even once, with a half full water bottle and pepper spray in my purse. the advantage of this was that i also managed to get my 20kg backpack on board even though the limit was 10kg without paying extra :)

i guess the one amazing thing about austrlia is that no one wants to blow them up...and they dont want to blow anyone else up! its like switzerland but without the banks

Aussie word of the day
Oz: Australia

***and Sydney is nicknamed 'the emerald city'***

Melbourne - Day 1

made it to Melbourne safe and sound!

PS whoever it was that told me that Melbourne had crazy spastic weather - you were so right! in 15 minutes today it went from 45 and raining to 75 and sunny!

Aussie word of the day
you reckon?: dont you think so? you agree? (an implied 'yes')

the blue mountains adventure/disaster (still deciding which title works better)

it was a cloudy, smoggy day here in sydney this morning (about 1/4 of the people walking around were wearing those hospital mask things), so i decided to venture out to the blue mountains, which are a 2 hour train ride out of sydney. i had heard just enough about them to know it was an enchanting place with great hiking trails and quaint villages... what unfortunately i did not research was the weather forecast or trails condition! i left sydney just before 10am in pleasant warm weather and got off in Kootoma at noon in near arctic conditions. after a quick stop in the trail outfitters to get a pair of thermal long johns, it was almost bearable, and i figured id warm up quickly once i got to the hiking trails! echo point and the start of the trails are about two miles from the train station through what is a really cute town center, so after a half hour walk, i arrive at the three sisters and echo point - beautiful views! (ill try to figure out how to get pictures on this blog sooner or later) unfortunately the trails were all flooded from too much rain so hiking was not an option. to solve both of the issues i hoped on the tourist trolley bus (with no tourists -they were probably smart enough to check the weather!) and cruised around the mountain in style, then headed back to sydney early. (only to find, to top the day off well, that the thermals must have something in/on them i'm allergic to, because my legs are covered in red splotches!)

so on that note - tomorrow morning i head off to Melbourne! (pronounced "mel-bon")

Aussie word of the day
Pom: a British person

the art of hostel cooking

one invaluable skill i have learned in my experiences backpacking is the art of hostel cooking. what can you eat for $5 a day thrown together in an old pan? michelle's tips and tricks below!

tip number 1: shop local, shop in season - farmers markets are the best and cheapest way to get produce for meals, trying to get fruits and veggies that arnt in season or native to the area means they wont be as fresh and shipping costs will drive up the price
tip number 2: remember that quantity does not always equal value - buying in bulk can make the cost per ounce/liter/etc less expensive, but since you wont be staying put for long enough to use it all, it ends up not being such a great deal after all!
tip number 3: buy in complete meals, daily - another way to reduce wasted food
tip number 4: look for store brands and weekly sales
tip number 5: learn a lot of recipes - once you get fresh, cheap ingredients using the previous tips, knowing a hundred different ways to put them together will keep meals from getting repetitive. the tough part is finding things that are easy to cook with just a pot/pan and without your usual arsenal of seasonings and condiments (just imagine trying to cook most of the things you usually make without butter or olive oil, salt or pepper, dried herbs or hot sauce)

sample day's meals
breakfast (brekkie): croissant from local bakery with scrambled eggs and oj
lunch: easy asian stir fry - mix contents of 1 pouch ramen noodles (plus seasoning, without the water) with bag of prechopped veggies (if you go to the store in the morning you can usually find day-old prebagged veggies for half price! same with breads from the bakery)
snack: fruit from farmers market
dinner: pasta - spaghetti and store brand pasta sauce topped with cheddar cheese (trust me, its sooooo good after a long day walking around!)

I need your numbers!

hi all,
for some reason, my phone will not let me access any of the contacts in my phone. i have really great international calling rates and have finally mastered the time difference, so if everyone would email me their phone numbers i would love to get them compiled the old fashion way... in a little notebook i carry around with me!


Aussie word of the day
singlet: tank top (the kind with thicker straps)

Sydney: Days 3 & 4

Sydney day 3 was my beach day! i started off with my first venture on the sydney public transportation system - one short bus ride later i was at coogee beach! coogee was really beatiful and in my exploring i saw a posting for an ammmmazing sounding place right near the water - fully furnished 2 bedroom well within my budget! i am going to go check the place out with a prospective flatmate (also here for a year on work & holiday visa from the states) on tuesday - will update then
from coogee i did the coast walk on to bronte, then tamarama, then finally bondi! it was an absolutely beautiful walk (though took a few hours!) and highly recommend doing it
in the evening, I attended my first Aussie barbie and met some new friends - everyone is so friendly here!

Sydney day 4: first checked out the Paddy's fruit and vegetable market right near me, then walked through chinatown on my way to the Darling Harbour fesitval Brazil. from there i crossed hyde park to get to the Sydney central library where i got my library card (no better way to feel like a local!), followed by a picnic in the royal botanical gardens, getting info on upcoming shows (and cheap seats) at the opera house, then exploring the market at the rocks (old historic district of sydney).

tomorrow i look into AU domestic travel and taking the RSA course so i can start applying for jobs!

Sydney: Day 2

day 2 was a little more exciting! i went on my hostel's city tour, so for the first time got to see the Sydney harbour, the bridge, the opera house (way, way more amazing in person than in photographs), the royal botanical gardens (very central park - i think i will be spending a lot of time there), hyde park, and everything in between! so i got a much better view of sydney and all of its glamour than i did yesterday just opening up bank accounts and registering for tax numbers! in the evening i met up with Will at his company's charity auction and trivia night - met some wonderful people and had a great time. i also met another friend on the hostel city tour who is doing the same thing as me - just got here, is spending a week at the Wake Up hostel, and is here for a year on the work & holiday visa and no idea what he is going to do for work/residence! makes me feel just a little less crazy for doing this :) we picked our tour guides brain and learned some good info - including that in order to get any food/beverage service job you need to take this federal 6 hour course, so i am going to look into that today. also on the agenda for today is to hit up bondi and do the walk from bondi to coogee (ive been hearing wonderful things about coogee) and then going to my first australian "barbie" (i was invited by a girl who i met last night). interestingly enough for all those worried about there being a lack of theme parties in Oz - apparently theme parties are the biggest rage here right now, and the barbie tonight is themed for the '80s' - i will do my best to throw something together with the few clothes i brought with me but would love to find a thrift store (or American Apparel) here!

aussie fact of the day
-Australia is the one country in which Starbucks has failed miserably. they opened up 130 stores here and only have about 20 left. makes me kind of proud of my new country (sorry D!)

Sydney: Day 1

its the morning of day 2 in Syd - yesterday was a great first day! i activated my westpac bank account and got some of this monopoly money that they call australian dollars, and i got a prepaid aussie sim card with GREAT international rates to the usa! (email me if you want my digits - i can also receive texts/calls for free)

i also went grocery shopping - WOW things here are expensive! i tend to track prices by the cost of a 20oz bottle of coke (average cost AUD$3.50) but i know others track it based on price of a gallon of milk (almost AUD$6 for store brand) - either way you slice it, sydney is Expensive! of course, there are always deals to be found and i was able to find some good buys... regular bread is about AUD$4 for a loaf, but a pack of pitas only AUD$1, and store brand hummos only AUD$2 - Kraft american cheese is about AUD$7 but store brand cheddar block is only AUD$2. and weirdly, pepsi max is much cheaper than all other coke/pepsi products (1.5 liter for AUD$1), sandy will be happy to hear!

today i am taking a free city tour with my hostel - will report back!

aussie word of the day
shelia: girl

here!

finally, finally, i am here! Sydney, Australia! 30 hours from GSO to SYD - including one loooong 19 hour stretch from LAX to SYD (with an unexpected stop in Brisbane because of some fog issues). it was a wonderful flight though!! read the new dan brown book on my way from gso to dulles then lax, and slept about 8 hours of the 19 hour flight on from there! only misstep was the oversight of not requesting my special vegetarian meals... so far it seems that is the only mistake i have made, because this city is great! well... the parts i have seen, at least! the hostel i love - i just got checked in now and am about to start exploring, setting up my bank account, phone, etc....

this place is just a little topsy turvey... like alive in wonderland, PRE rabbit hole. something is definitely off, from driving on the left side of the road, to the "drink driving is against the law' sign posted on the shuttle bus's window. and i was wondering why we had to make an emergency stop in brisbane instead of landing straight away in Sydney - blamed on the FOG of all things - until i saw the airport/runway landing at SYD. the runway markers begin on the water and touch solid ground only a few feet from the massive expanse of ocean.


aussie word of the day
Arvo : afternoon

Leaving... on a jet plane

heading to the airport now... cant believe today is finally here! my cell will still be domestic and working at my layovers in DC and LA until 1:35am EST if anyone wants to say farewell!

my bags are packed, i'm ready to go...

i can hardly believe the day is almost here. it is so surreal to think that months ago i woke up and thought 'it would be really cool to go to Australia for a year' - and now here we are, 36 hours from take off, bag packed, passport in hand. and now for my sanity more than your interest, my checklist:

1. Visa - check. Work and Holiday visa subclass 462, valid Sept 15th, 2009 until Sept 14th, 2010

2. Flight - check. United 8007 GSO to Dulles, United 0947 Dulles to LAX, United 0839 LAX to SYD. total miles traveled = just over 10,000 miles.

brand new Dan Brown book preordered. Earplanes, Airborne, and neck pillow purchased.

3. Hostel - check. one week booked at Wake Up Australia

4. $$$ - check. Westpac bank account set up in Sydney, Australia and money wired. credit cards notified of travel plans. exchange rate still not in my favor but slowly gaining :)

http://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=Linear&chdeh=0&chdet=1248416488833&chddm=187816&q=CURRENCY:AUDUSD&ntsp=0

5. Insurance - check. World Nomad's travelers insurance

6. Job - pending. resume changed into an Australian style CV, printed and packed.

7. Cell Phone - almost check. Vodafone SIM only plan with 6 month contract decided on, current cell phone unlocked by AT&T, now just need to walk in and purchase it!
Google Voice still pending official launch :(

8. Luggage - backpack packed full of 7 go-anywhere dresses, cardigan, leggings, sandals, and travel size toiletries. all hopefully Aussie casual chic! plus resumes and my camera, voltage converter/adapter, a towel and a couple bathing suits.

so it looks like i'm ready to go! cant wait!