August 2014
Andrea offered to pay for my flight and I chose Melbourne because a) i knew 2
Girls from the Thailand tour who were there and b) because I met some guy on the plane from Brisbane to Gladstone who said he could get me work in Melbourne and I could be paid much more than au pairing, that however didn't work out, I didn't even meet up with the guy, neither did I meet up with the girls (until later on in another city)
Budget to find work: $800
When Andrea booked my flight I was due to leave the next day so as well as packing I had a lot of job seeking to do. First things first: gumtree. Probably one of the most useful and widely used web sights in Australia. Similar to what the Americans use, Craig's list. I applied to be a charity fundraiser to about several different organizations and a small amount of sales positions as I thought these kind of jobs were the easiest to get and once I'd got through about 2-3 weeks I'd at least have money to find work in hospitality if I didn't like it. I'll be honest I was shitting myself. No security, barely any money but a credit card with a maximum spend of £2.2k on it and interest free till February 2015. I reassured myself with the fact that, I wanted to leave anyway and this wasn't all just crazy coincidence, it was all meant to happen and I wasn't meant to
Work as an au pair for 6 months and I got exactly what I wanted so I can get exactly what I want again.
so my mantra for the next 24 hours was, ''I will find a job, I will find a job, I will find a job.'' As well as '' I will be a charity fundraiser'' because actually, I was excited about this, it looked like a job I could be good at and it was for a good cause too, bonus!
on boarding my flight I received my first call regarding door to door sales position and I managed to get an interview! Easy!
When I arrived at the hostel, everything was paid for on my credit card as there was no chance I was Going to use the little cash I had (however it didn't stop from trying some of the food in a local restaurant , which was out of this world amazing, the Aussies sure know how to cook!) the hostel seemed nice, cozy, with a fire (very much needed as it was about 5'c) and a stage in the common room. It was perfect. Actually the best hostel I've ever been to looking back. Of course it was 'school canteen' scenario again so I didn't quite know what to do with myself and everybody seemed to be speaking every language but english so I went to hide myself in my room where someone offered me a malteser, and that someone was British. The 2 girls in my room were from London, Sam and Gemma. absolute god sends I'm so greatful I met these two, they have been part of the little Aussie family we all seemed to have gathered ever since. When I arrived they had also not long arrived and were also looking for work - but not in Melbourne.
I went on to get work as a charity fundraiser and they booked a flight to cairns, up north in the tropics where it was hot.
Melbourne Is a beautiful city, I don't really like city's much, I prefer rural areas but Melbournes buildings were pretty unique. Australia is also only around 200 years old (I could be totally wrong here) so the architecture is all pretty modern, something to feel greatful for back home is our history. Made me appreciate our closest small city Chester for it's Old Tudor buildings and roman relics. I went through a Jewish area on tram and a woman Infront was speaking Hebrew, made me smile. It was probably the longest I'd ever spent in a city so this cultural difference was a big change for me and I liked it. it's what travelings all about, experiencing things you never have before. Music is pretty big over there too apparently but the buskers had nothing on Ed the violin player in Chester. That man is epic. I guess the music didn't really stand out to me.
One thing I started to learn how to do is read bus, train and tram routes... Just kidding, I relied totally on asking strangers or information guides, who would actually stand at tram stops soley for the purpose of helping dippy people like me find their way around the city. i think that's another thing to consider if your ever traveling solo, people will always help you.
why the fear of getting lost anyways? Sometimes I would just take a train, tram or bus and let the wind take me... And if it's a big city, they expect tourists so they accommodate for that with information points or people to help you. if it's a smaller city it's easier and you can get to places within walking distances.
There was one point where I had to get from one side of Melbourne to another for a job interview and even after the receptionist at the hostel told me which train bus and tram to get I still didn't have a clue and I think I ended up getting all 3 plus walking 40 mins and asking about 10 people and 3 bus drivers and every single person was nice enough, I never want to Moider people but most people are genuinely happy to help. Atleast the people of Melbourne anyways. I made it with about 10 mins left to spare and used google maps to find my way for the last few blocks. actually staring at my phone to make sure my tram was going in the right direction at one point. It was hard sometimes to not panic but i really tried not to, to enjoy every single day becuase even though I had barely any money and no job, I was in Australia, I'd made it this far right?
By this point id been in Melbourne a week and new roomys replaced old roomys however most of them were coming to the end of their trip in Australia which wasn't a bad thing because I got to hear about all of these incredible things to do along the east coast. a few of us went to see the penguins in St Kilda which id done before with Gemma and Sam. Who knew eh? Penguins in Australia? I also had to repeat the trip we made to 'san churo' (nicest hot chocolate I've ever had in my life, like melted chocolate in a cup) and when it was so cold outside it was just perfect! The girls were great, as they were coming to an end of their trip the topic was quite often family and home and memory's of their trip, they all had an incredible time and it got me all excited.
There was one french girl who wasn't as social as the rest of us and she made a habit of turning the lights on at stupid o clock in the morning and waking half the room up.
Well - not me, I wouldn't wake if the world was ending but I felt it a great injustice to the rest of the room so I made a sign to stick on the outside door handle which read "for the consideration of everyone else in the room please refrain from turning all lights on at stupid o clock in the morning. Thanks. Beth - on behalf of room..." The following morning she told me she couldn't see if she didn't turn the lights on (fuck, even the Victorians figured out how to see in the dark but fortunately instead of candles there is now this amazing invention called a torch!) For whatever reason she didn't want to use one and she changed rooms too. I felt bad.
Well the girls left, one of them
Hanne I hope to see when I one day go to Sweden (which is not to be confused with Switzerland - my geography is improving!) she plays piano too, Also by ear and also listens to Ludovico Einaudi (modern classical pianist) Knows a bit of Spanish and likes scuba diving. it was too much of a brief time spent with her!
I had a fair few job offers to be a charity fund raiser, and sacked off the interview for door to door sales. in fact one woman was so confident with me and didn't want me to join any other company she was prepared to offer me a promotion after 2 weeks training. I should have gone for that company, but I didn't. If your good at charity fundraising you can get sponsorship by the company and live in Australia for as long as you are working for that company. It's actually really good if your good at it. I'll try and be as brief as possible to explain what charity fundraising entails...
Ok so you are this really positive, motivated, happy person who approaches total strangers on the street and convinces them to pay a minimum of say $60 a month for cancer council. Simple right?
No. You have to stand at 45 degree angle when talking to someone, so a) your speaking directly into their ear and b) your body language is open so they don't feel trapped, they can walk on any time
With my particular company I also had to memorize a script which involved a lot of head nodding and saying "yeah?" After everything, somehow tried and tested as psychologically effective in more sign ups...
Got to tell you though I had such a laugh with my roomys practicing this script, one girl jasmine, wasn't having any of it. "Nope, I'm bored your chilling in the commen room with me" ended up chasing her round the commen room for the scrunched up piece of paper that was my script haha. We were nicknamed "jasbeth" it was a short but epic love affair... 2 gobby midgets in a hostel. Good times.
I completely fucked the job off after 2 hours in the streets. The whole thing felt un natural and in-genuine and I was standing in the cold thinking about false it all felt, how hot it is in cairns and Gemma, Sam, nicki and ash were all there. Ok so the pay was really really good if you got the sign ups, the more sign ups the more money and on average you were meant to be earning about £2.5k equivalent - but only if you got the sign ups and pressure was on for that from the company too. I didn't even like Melbourne that much any more, everyone had left, jasmine was the only one left really and even she was going to be leaving in a couple of weeks. So I made the decision to go there and then, I took off my cancer council t shirt and my badge handed it to the girl I was working with and said sorry it wasn't for me and that night I got a flight to cairns.
all the food I had in the fridge went to waste and I'd payed in advance for 1 more night in the hostel that was non refundable but it was the cheapest flight. I left a message behind the desk for jasmine to add me on Facebook and off I went. All on credit card again Of course...
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