Labouring Down Under

No updates for a while since the Lions i have been living in Bondi Beach which is about 45 mins outside of Sydney's CBD. I have been in Australia now since the 4th July and have spent a lot of money and over the past few weeks I have been applying for QS positions on fixed term contract positions. To say its been hard has been an under statement and to cut a long story short i have been labouring for a small builder. The bulk of the work has been digging and shoveling and TBH its been brilliant and i have really enjoyed it.

I must admit the health and safety side of things is nowhere near what i have been used to whilst working for Skanska back home, but needs must! I have also brushed up on my Strallian and after a few, days learnt that a tea break is known as a "Smoko" and my name was very quickly changed to "Jacko" The Aussies have a knack of putting the letter "O" onto the end of every word!!! My Bsc certainly came into use when the boss gave the tutorial on how to fill a skip and use the wheelbarrow BRILLIANT!! Aahahah

I have managed to get out and about around Sydney and have obviously visited Bondi and walked around the coast to the other lesser known bays and beaches. A brilliant trip out to Manly using the Ferry to cross the harbor taking in the bridge and opera house was also pretty decent! Most nights usually involve drinking goon in the hostel and then i always seem to end up in Kings Cross! This place reminds me the most of a night out back home so not a great advertisement but loads still loads of fun!!!

So now i am sort not living the life of a traveler but i am still using hostels as accommodation to keep costs down and maximize drinking opportunities. For the first time in four months i have had to get up at a certain time and do a days work its a hard life!

Pics FYI.Peace and Love, JH

Bondi Beach Boozing

A special thank you to Chris and Gaz who had given me the heads up on where the Lions would be spending there Sunday after the test victory. This really capped of the tour for me boozing with the lions it was mental. They were all in good spirits even Adam Ashley Cooper who had some good banter and even posed for a picture. At one point was stood having a wee with Leigh Halfpenny, Tom Croft and Ben Youngs ahahaha Brilliant. Anyway pictures speak a thousand words.

Sydney; The 3rd Test

Arriving in Sydney you could really feel the vibe centered around the rugby. Lions fans everywhere and Aussy flags and advertisements of the wallabies claiming to be "Lion Tamers." The first day was spent with Adam around the Rocks area in Sydney where restaurants and bars look out over the harbor and the view of the opera house and bridge are truly awesome. I decided to tag along with Adam and some the of Eccleshall RFC lads to the Lions Legends game and bumped into a pissed Jeromy Guscott and massive Steve Thompson. The game was pretty decent (until the power cut) but the pub after was a brilliant night. Loads of booze and rugby songs including my new favorite "We all dream of a team of Tommy Bowes!!!" Friday was spent over in Bondi Beach looking out over the ocean watching the whales in the bay before returning to meet up with one of the welsh lads i met in Melbourne for a session in Scary Canary bar.

The day of the test was AMAZING!! Pre drinks in The Rugby Club in Sydney with the Welsh who kindly let me display my St Georges flag. I have never felt so nervous watching a sporting event and i really did not know what was going to happen during the game. I had been winding up Gareth and Chris over how bad i thought Toby Faletau is... and i followed this theme for the whole day... (only joking boys hes is a great player). A few more beers around "The Rocks" and then over to the stadium which was rammed 83,000 people.... MENTAL.

I wont bother describing the game but as you can imagine it was AMAZING in the ground! Afterwards i met up with Gaz, Chris and some others and headed to "The Orient" hotel and partied until 4.30am before some miserable Aussy doorman asked me to leave!!! Seriously though asking me "are you drunk" Erm let me think i am miles from home and the Lions have just smashed Australia for their first win in 16 years. Please point out a sober lions fan at 4.30 in the morning you bonehead. Anyway what a day and what a night.

Thank you to Chris, Gaz and Dan for sharing a few beers with me for such a monumental occasion!!! LIONS LIONS LIONS

Pics FYI

Melbourne; The 2nd Test

 

  

Pics from the 2nd Test in Melbourne FYI.

Melbourne

I really enjoyed my stay in Melbourne the city is very cool! Its like a blend of Soho, Shoreditch, Manchester's Northern Quarter and San Francisco all in one. The city has lots of small lanes with cool shops, eateries and loads of graffiti (some areas are designated for this). A free walking tour from the hostel allowed me to get my bearings of the city quickly and i was soon getting around with ease. The main form of public transport are trams which i used to explore St Kilda. St Kilda is Melbourne's beach area and it was very picturesque with its large beach and lighthouse situated on the headland.

Federation Square is the focal point of the city and sits opposite Flinders Street station and hugs the Yarra River. The only productive day was spent in the ACMI (Australian Center for the Moving Image) which documents the history of film and media through the ages. The free exhibition was pretty cool and had lots of interactive areas with retro video games and TV shows. The paid exhibition focused on importance of costumes within the movie world. My favorite part of this was the display centered around Robert de Niro as they had costumes on display from Casino and Goodfellas.

Most of time was spent in the hostel bar where i met loads of welsh people (seriously there cannot be anybody in Wales ATM). Friday night was spent in the hostel bar taking advantage of the happy hour before heading to a pub in Fed Square then i had the pleasure of pulling my trump card which certainly impressed my new found welsh friends. Basically i had a Facebook invite to a club night which upon entry if you had the correct password you could buy beers for $1.... Guess who had the password yours truly!!! So Friday evening was spent dancing the night away in some small club full of "cool" kids and me and my new rugby buddies!!! Ahahaaha a brilliant night was had by all. Special thanks to Emelyne who i met in Thailand who sorted me out with the password.

The day of the test was spent with Phil and Adam (Trentham Rugby Club Friend) who both had tickets for the game. Adam had kindly agreed to bring me some warm clothes from the UK. Special thank you to Adam for this i know it would have been a complete ball ache!!! THANK YOU. We again ventured to St Kilda and had lunch before heading back into Melbourne for the game where i had agreed to meet a friend from back homes Sister and her Aussy Partner Chris we shared a few beers and banter before walking to the ground.

My seats were on the front row and the steward would not let me hang my flag up and viewing the game was also hard work but the atmosphere was electric... the stadium roof was closed for the game and this definaltly helped towards the atmosphere, shame the game was terrible! (I will upload pics from the 2nd test on a new blog entry).

After the mad weekend i basically had a chilled few days to save money for Sydney and look for jobs to try and boost the traveling monies for New Zealand. But i did manage to have a browse around Carlton and Fitzroy again all very cool areas where you are surrounded by fashionista's and blokes riding folding bikes!

Pics FYI.