Australia

December 26, 2015

Turning 24 and celebrating Christmas in Sydney

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Sydney, Australia: I turn 24 and take on the ultimate big girl challenge – cooking Christmas dinner

I have Sharon back with me now, and all is good. After two weeks of intense househunting, we move into an unfurnished apartment in Randwick with Bernie, whom we met on Gumtree. Yes, he could have been a total creep, and yes, he actually is. But in a good way. Our flat is a two bedroom apartment right by the junction, a 15 minute walk to Coogee beach and 20 minutes by bus to Bondi Junction and the CBD. We pick up a new hobby: finding free stuff on the streets and dragging it all the way home. From bar stools to heavy coffee tables, we always find ourselves hungover on a hot day, trying to carry heavy stuff home.

First night in the new apartment

Carrying a free coffee table from Coogee to Randwick

We do pay for some things, though. Like we buy our beds in IKEA, which turns out to be a traumatizing experience for me, as a staff member starts verbally abusing me for bringing a prepaid item through the store. We spend an entire afternoon in Maroubra, visiting people who’ve put up their TV for sale, only to have our phones die on us, no idea of how to get home, and no TV – but we find a free foosball table, so it’s all good.

Bondi to Coogee walk

Glebe Market

Darling Harbour fireworks

Work is going well, although I will always have a love/hate for hospitality. One minute I am chatting to regular customers like they’re an old friend, another minute I’ll be insulted by someone because I don’t remember their name.

My 24th birthday is spent in the apartment with Bernie, who’s throwing things at me while I dodge them with a cricket bat we found outside – I wasn’t kidding about the finding free stuff hobby. We fill up water bottles with goon and mimosas and carry them to Coogee beach, along with some music and much needed sunscreen. A bit tipsy and way too hot, I go into the water, where a series of waves continuously knock me over and pull off my bikini until I finally am able to stand up and cover myself up and walk back to safety. We get back home and have a nap, and then a few Mildura people come over for drinks.

The last day at work before Christmas break, one of my regulars surprise me with a really thoughtful present – a note, a candy cane and my favorite chocolate (how does she know!?) and my life it pretty much made. Guess I’m not too bad at this job after all. Later that day, a couple of people from work meet up for few drinks that turn into way too many, and then I dominate at a game of Laser Tag at the Arcade. We go in the bumper cars and play a 3D zombie game and then head off to Scary Canary (yes, really) where I lose the crowd and is being chatted up by a very aggressive Aussie who thinks having a membership to the Randwick races is a proper pick up line. We move on to Star Bar (I think?) and then Macca’s for a late night snack. I’m home at like 3.30, so I would definitely call that progress, since I am usually dead at midnight.

I enjoy a couple of days of beachy weather, resulting in awkward tan lines, before the weather turns into proper Northern European Christmas weather. I go to see the Christmas light projections at St. Mary’s Cathedral with Craig, and we even go inside and light some candles and don’t even go up in flames. Guess I’m alright with God after all.

By the way, I love Vegemite now.

Santa at Darling Quarter

Now, I’ve taken on the ultimate big girl task: cooking traditional Christmas dinner for my room mates. Danish Christmas dinner, that is. If having me running around all the shops in Randwick looking for red cabbage and making cherry sauce from scratch THE DAY BEFORE Christmas isn’t grown-up enough for you, then get off my lawn. I am putting a lot of pressure on myself, pretty much having nightmares about not cooking the meat right.

I get up early on the 24th, MY actual Christmas, and FaceTime my mom’s side of the family. They’re all pretty drunk and cheery, and I have just woken up and put on a Santa hat. I watch some Christmas movies with Bernie throughout the day to get in the Christmas spirit, before I start cooking. Even though I face some challenges along the way, we have our Christmas dinner at around 8 o’clock (because Sharon had to work late), and it tastes pretty much exactly like it should. We have roast pork with crackling, caramelized potates, red cabbage, gravy made from scratch(!), rice pudding and cherry sauce. Well done, Christine.

The empty, wrapped present we found outside our house and put under our plastic Christmas tree.

Trying to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas

Our free cricket bat, foosball table, Christmas cards and some books.

Christmas cooking

It doesn’t look fancy, but it tasted like it was

Wife material

I go to bed and pass out after eating a few Skittles, still wearing my clothes and make-up. I’m exhausted from cooking all day, and actually a bit grumpy. Christmas is stressful. I wake up early the next day to FaceTime my dad’s side of the family, still exhausted, but at least wearing make-up from yesterday. After a shower, a short nap and some getting ready, Sharon and I go down to Coogee beach with 7 ciders each, and no sunscreen.

We find a nice patch of grass among all the other backpackers wearing Santa hats. Note to self: not only remember sunscreen and possibly a tent for shade next time, get a Christmas tree and a BBQ as well. We are clearly not prepared for this. We just sit in the sun for hours, drinking ciders and talking crap, before we’re joined by Craig, Malin and her friend Hannah.

After 5 hours or so, we are sunburned and tired, so we go to Macca’s, which is the only place open for Christmas, and we eat our dinner on the way home. We bump into some guys that helped us carry our heavy coffee table home the other day, and wish we weren’t so sunburned that we could go back to the beach with them. Instead, we get home, where Bernie’s mom and little brother have arrived. We take cold showers, have a chat with them, and then go to bed around 10. We’ve survived our first Christmas away from home with just a minor heat stroke and an awful sunburn.

November 8, 2015

Spring in Sydney

christinelouise Oceania 2015, arcade, Australia, beach, birthday, Bondi, Bondi Beach, Darling Harbour, Drinking, gaming, horses, job, lego, museum, opera house, pink palace pals, races, randwick, sculpture by the sea, sydney, working

Sydney, Australia: I now live in Sydney. Holy shit.

I arrive with 40 kg of luggage weighing me down on a hot day. Despite a long day of flying and waiting in airports and fearing more cancelled flights because of a storm, I still manage to get a train to Central, find and check in to my hostel, Wake Up! once again, with minimal anxiety and loads of pride. After I arrive at the hostel, I throw my tired self on my bottom bunk bed and enjoy the Wi-Fi for the first time in months. I send off a few job applications, chat to my roommates for a while (how did I end up in an all-male dorm?) and then I go out to hang out with Sally. We met two years ago at The Pink Palace, and she’s made it all the way from Belgium to Sydney for the next few days. We walk down to Sydney Harbour and enjoy the view and a cheap dinner, which we reluctantly share with the seagulls flocking around us.

During the next couple of days, I go for a bit of shopping and meet up with Craig at my favorite George Street bar, Cheers, for a catch-up. At Paddy’s Market I buy a fascinator for the upcoming races and I finally buy a UNICORN ONESIE. Unicorns are kinda my thing by now.

Since Craig’s 25^th birthday is approaching, everyone from Mildura who’s currently in Sydney get together at the Randwick Races on Saturday. It’s a beautiful, sunny day. Craig, wearing a suit, meets up with Sally and me at YHA Central (since Wake Up! is fully booked for the weekend). I’ve been up for hours, due to a new inability to sleep in, and because I’ve had to try to look decent for this day. At the races, everyone is dressed up, wearing suits or fancy dresses and fascinators and heels. Yep, I am actually wearing heels today.

We get the bus to Randwick and find a table for the group. The three of us get a bottle of champagne while we wait for John, Darren, Becky and her boyfriend Karl. Of course by the time they actually arrive, I am tipsy. I’ve spent 20 dollars betting on horses with funny names on the machines by the food court, and we realize that I’ve accidentally put my money on a race in New Zealand instead. I don’t win on any of the horses.

After several bottles and a few snacks in the scolding sun, I put my last bit of money on a horse at the last race named Danish Twist. It ends in the final three, so I win back my five dollars, and then we head back to John, Darren and Becky’s place in Bondi. We are joined by Becky’s brothers for a few drinks, and then I pass out, way before midnight.

From then on, the weather seems to get worse by the day. Except for a few cloudy days, it’s pretty much raining non-stop. John and I go check out Sculpture by the Sea at Bondi on a vaguely sunny afternoon, but most of the time we stay in the apartment, sheltered from the rain. Yeah, I’ve moved in temporarily while waiting for Sharon to get to Sydney.

I spend my Monday morning applying for around 16 jobs in hospitality and retail – by the end of the day I’ve heard back from three places. I find myself having two interviews on the same day, 30 minutes apart. I try to contact one place to reschedule, but don’t hear back from them.

After an interview and 2-hour trial at The Naked Duck café in Darling Quarter, I officially have a job. I have good hours and nice co-workers, and I feel so lucky to have gotten my life somewhat sorted in a short time. My days of sitting on a couch, playing South Park on Xbox, are over. I now have to get up at 5.30 AM, take a bus at 6.00 and start work at 6.45. By the end of the day I am tired and my white work T-shirt is covered in grease and food and my hair is wet and sticking to my forehead, but I’m happy. I have a sense of purpose again.

On a warm and cloudy Saturday, John takes me to Darling Harbour, which I haven’t been to before, despite working right next to it. We check out the Japanese festival that’s happening there, have lunch at the food court, and then we go to Museum of Sydney for the LEGO exhibition, that’s opened that very day. In a very small room, the Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge, a cruise ship and Luna Park have been made entirely out of LEGO, even with little LEGO people climbing the bridge or going for a show at the Opera House. In addition to looking at the impressive sculptures, we get to play with LEGO ourselves. Feeling very uninspired, I only make things like hearts, trees, houses and of course, a Danish flag. I’m feeling very patriotic these days. As we leave the museum, it starts to rain, and we find shelter at the Haymarket arcade. We spend $25 and over an hour on the machines, until I’m so tired, I can barely stand up. We have dinner at Grill’d and then I take the bus home while John meets up with a friend. Even though I am struggling to keep my eyes open, I still don’t fall asleep until well after midnight.

Those are just a few of the things I’m getting up to here in Sydney. There’s a lot more to come, though, and I just can’t wait. :-)

October 21, 2015

Bye, Mildura, Bye!

christinelouise Oceania, Personal 2015, Australia, farmwork, mildura, pictures, poem, spring, victoria

Mildura, Australia: a photo-heavy goodbye to my home of 4½ months.

Goodbyes are never easy
And this one’s especially hard
‘Cause after all, there is this saying
“Home is where you leave your heart”

Whether I was deep in melancholy
Or high up on the clouds
I could never rest my head
‘cause Mildura filled my head with doubts

Now it’s time to go find a home
And leave this personal Hell
No offense Mildura, but I need to find true happiness
And maybe I’ll even find myself

Here in Mildura, I’ve made friends and I’ve made enemies, and a lot of money. I’ve been constantly drunk on gin and some sort of feeling, restlessness maybe. I’ve felt overwhelming waves of melancholia, leaving behind seemingly bottomless puddles of boredom and doubts. Doesn’t help that someone stole my money and threatened to beat me with a chair.

So now, I’m on a plane alone with my whole life in a suitcase, a backpack and a carry-on, a total weight of almost 40 kg. I haven’t been good at limiting myself.

On the way to Sydney, its familiarity comforting, its opportunities frightening. It would be so easy if everything was planned, taken care of beforehand. But then life would be too easy, and that’s no fun either… right?

Goodbye to MFC

Goodbye to Mildura Spring

Goodbye to my roommates

And just goodbye, Mildura

August 4, 2015

Making money in Mildura

christinelouise Oceania 2015, Australia, Christmas, factory, farmwork, mfc, mildura, victoria, working

Mildura, Australia: I’ve got a job and purple hair

Oh, Mildura. It’s one of those places that kind of feels like home in the “oh shit, I’m stuck here forever” kind of way. The population is around 30,000 plus a shit ton of backpackers who stay here for orange picking and vine pruning. The city center is so small, it can be fully explored within 5 minutes. In short, Mildura is really, really small and really, really quiet – but not really.

Picking mandarins

We arrive on the 5^th of June and move into a freezing house with two French guys and one Italian guy, Andrea. After a few days, our “hostel owner” Vickey moves us to the little cream house on 78 Seventh Street, right on the border of New South Wales. It’s a more centrally located and much smaller house in which Dave, John and Joe from England, and Davide from Italy are already living in. Two bedrooms turned into dorm rooms, a small kitchen and one bathroom. One bathroom for – at one point – almost 10 people.

Living with so many English people, I often forget I’m in Australia. I live in a house where people say “half nine” instead of nine thirty or half past nine. When something’s inexpensive, they might say it is “cheap as chips” – chips are fries, not potato chips, by the way. And for some odd reason, it’s all starting to make sense to me, who learned English by watching American movies.

We are here to complete 88 days of farmwork for our 2^nd year visa. At first, everyone is doing pumpkins on a farm, while I work at a vineyard.

The office

After a few days of rain, we start work in a factory – MFC. I sort rotten oranges from good ones, Sharon operates the machine that packs the fruit into boxes, and the rest of the guys stack the boxes so they’re ready to load onto trucks. I keep myself entertained by finding naughty-looking oranges.

With the days usually spent on work and catching up on Game of Thrones, not a lot of things happen in our lives. We try to keep things fun by going bowling, beer tasting, watching Magic Mike XXL twice, treating ourselves to good food, getting drunk and falling asleep instead of going to bars, and so on. Oh, and dying my hair purple.

Davide, Andrea, John, Joe, Craig, Malin and two random sluts

Goon Heaven!

Our first BIG purchase at Coles. It tookus almost 2 hours and cost us $ 150

On the 25^th of July, we decide to celebrate Christmas (it is Winter, after all) and invite the neighboring house. Sharon and I decide to go crazy with the planning, walking 10 K to go shopping for party stuff one day, and taking the hugest trolley around town for food and alcohol shopping the next. We even buy stockings and little personal presents for all of our roommates, spending over $ 100 each. On “Christmas Day”, we all eat our dinner for lunch and get day drunk on the porch, and I end up getting extremely anxious and end up sobbing in my room before crawling out of the window to go for a two-hour long walk in the park. When I come back, everyone’s wasted to the point where they decide to go out, while I pass out in bed.

Sharon and I make up for it on Sunday by getting day drunk, eating pizza on the porch and listening to the Magic Mike XXL soundtrack for the 100^th time.

So, you see, Mildura’s not so quiet, after all.

June 6, 2015

Drinking to keep warm in Melbourne

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Melbourne, Australia: We are cold and broke and I go on my first date EVER

We fly from Alice Springs and arrive in Melbourne on a cloudy Tuesday afternoon. Kirsten, whom I met in Sihanoukville last year, is so nice to pick us up and drop us off at Metro YHA, before we head out with her for a few beers. She leaves around 6 to meet a friend in town, while we stay at the bar and eat dinner and get drunk. I even manage to get lost trying to find the toilet. We get back to the room, which is full of guys, surprise, surprise. A hippie with dreadlocks from Byron Bay and a cocky English lad keep us up, talking to us until we pretend to be asleep.

The next day, we walk into town to find an H&M and a Topshop, and I end up embarrassing myself at the counter, when I try to pay $50 for a scarf and a cardigan, and none of my cards have sufficient funds, and my Danish internet bank is closed. I end up paying half in cash and the rest by card, while I have to wait another week for money to arrive in my Australian account. The walk and the shopping has exhausted us, so we don’t get a chance to see much else. We watch NSW play against Queensland in a State of Origin game and have some beers. In the evening, we sit around in the common area and watch a State of Origin rugby match, and I sit on Tinder and write creepy pickup lines to people as well, just for fun. I match a guy named Pat, who invites me out for drinks. The guys in our room decide to talk again in the middle of the night, when Byron Bay Hippie comes into the room at 1 AM, packing all his stuff. He gets up around 6 in the morning to pack again and then leaves for the day.

When we get up, we walk into town again. I have decided we need to see Federation Square, because we are tourists, after all.

We’ve ended up booking tickets for The Lion King – The Musical, so we also walk around trying to find Regent Theatre for later. We buy ourselves some flasks to bring with us in case we go out one day. We have no money whatsoever. Back at the hostel, I have a quick nap and then dinner and beers before we walk to Regent Theatre, which is absolutely packed. We have seats pretty much as far away from the stage as possible – that’s what you get for $50 – but the show is absolutely amazing! It’s beautiful, sad, funny and super nostalgic. We are completely hyped and exhausted at the same time on our walk home. Of course, our roommates repeat their success of waking us up in the middle of the night once again.

Friday we are “forced” to the roof top of our hostel to join a charity tea party. The theme is Alice in Wonderland, of course, and Johnny Depp doesn’t join us. We drink tea and eat a shit ton of cupcakes and cookies, and talk to cool people.

Later, Sharon is meeting up with Ciara, a girl from home, and I’m meeting up with Kirsten. Craig tags along with me, and we take a tram around 6 in the evening and go to Randy Dragon for beer with Kirsten and her colleagues. One by one they all disappear, and Kirsten decides we should go to the casino. I didn’t even know there was a casino, but apparently it’s a very Melbourne-y experience. Sharon meets us at the casino, and we visit a few bars before heading upstairs to a club. After a couple of cocktails and shots, Kirsten and I are told by security that we are being too rowdy, and that they’ll be watching us. This is a first for me, being told I am rowdy because I am dancing? And it’s a bad thing? Come on.

In my drunken state, I decide to agree to meet Pat for drinks the following day. I very much regret that decision all of Saturday, while I am in bed, only getting up for breakfast and dinner. Oh, and we also change hostel, so we have to pack our stuff, drag it through town and check into YHA Central. Eventually, I get up and fix myself before walking 2 km in the rain to Asian Beer Café. What Google Maps fails to mention is that it is located in a mall, not on the street like I expected. As I have been panicking the whole walk there, I have been calling all my friends (who didn’t pick up, thanks guys), so I am talking to Craig and Sharon who look it up for me. I walk every floor of the mall, but can’t find it, so I give up and call Pat, who comes to get me.

We have beers and talk, and of course I am being inappropriate, constantly sharing stories like the one about getting groped in India. I don’t really care that much about being weird, and he doesn’t seem to mind. He does however introduce me to one of his friends, and we walk around and visit a few bars that none of them really want to stay at. The bottle shops are closed, so their plan B, which is having a drink with Sharon and Craig in our room, is a no-go. His friend eventually leaves, and I’m not tired, so we go to the casino (again!) and play Black Jack and have drinks. While Pat gets us a round, a guy at the table next to ours is talking to me, and asking me to take pictures of him. I have a laugh and Pat comes back, and we continue drinking. It doesn’t feel very date-y, and I guess we’re just really good drinking buddies, so eventually we say goodbye, and at around 3.30 AM I am finally in bed, so drunk that I don’t even bother putting on my PJs.

While I die a little bit all day on Sunday, we arrange to meet up with Zakk from The Pink Palace later that day. I don’t hear from Pat again, so we decide he’s a cunt. My friends don’t make it easier, either not caring about the fact that I just went on my first date EVER, or by suggesting that perhaps I am too fat or unattractive. I solve my problem by buying some goon which I decide to force into my system, resulting in me getting very tipsy from just one cup. That’s right, we’re still drinking boxed wine out of coffee mugs. Zakk, who’s wearing his Pink Palace T-shirt, shows us some funny videos on YouTube and eventually, he leaves while Sharon is passed out on the floor and Craig and I snoring loudly in our beds.

We repeat the success the following day, when Zakk takes us out of the central area for burgers and drinks. At this point, I am exhausted. I have been drinking way too much for too many days, so I have a cider and then I’m ready to go home.

At this point, it’s officially winter in Australia. It’s raining and the temperature is around 9 degrees. It’s extremely cold when you don’t have a jacket. I am bundled up in my hoodie and cardigan, a scarf and my Brisbane Lions beanie, and I’m still freezing. Funny, you would think I’d be used to the cold, hey? It’s a bit different all the way over here, though.

Our room, a 4-bed dorm with just the three of us living in it, is badly isolated, so the cold seeps through the windows. We have a radiator that we have to turn on every two hours, so we decide to just spend our last days in Melbourne, bundled up in blankets in our heated room, eating popcorn and watching movies.

Melbourne is a pretty cool place, but Sydney still has a special place in my heart. Now we are off to Mildura for our three months of farmwork!

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