Sydney Life

No blog posts for a while largely due to the fact I haven’t actually been travelling.

I am now living and working in Sydney and will be here until Christmas to meet up with my parents who are over for three weeks. I have been out of the hostels for just over a month now and I am house sharing. I am living in Newtown which is a pretty cool part of Sydney (Hello obviously- ahahaha). Seriously though it’s a great place to live lots of bars, pubs and eateries and it is minutes from the station which is good, as I catch the train to work every morning.

Arrgghh WORK back to grindstone it is and with thanks to Claire I am working for Downer who are a large Australian Contractor. I am working as a QS on a road maintenance contract covering the NE of Sydney and the job itself is great there are differences regards the working culture but the actual day to day QS roles and responsibilities are still the same (a bit like being Robin Hood stealing from the rich and giving to the poor).

In terms of doing stuff it has been an eventful few weeks with my birthday which was spent in Coogee at great restaurant before throwing shapes in a few bars. I have also been to a Bledisloe Cup match to watch Australia get hammered by New Zealand although we left at half time to watch the start of the football season as the atmosphere was that bad… well compared to the lions anyway.

I have joined a rugby team St Patricks and have been to training and played in the last five games of the season initially starting in the fifth team before being promoted to the thirds. I am all for the way they do things out in Australia regards local rugby… Each club has five teams and the fixtures are arranged so all five teams play the opposing clubs team one after another on the same day e.g. fifth team then fourth team and so on…  once the match has finished each team creates a tunnel to clap and cheer on the next team while they run out to play. Therefore rugby takes up the whole Saturday and everyone in the club watch’s all of the team’s play which is pretty decent.

One difference which that is a bit cringe is that before kick off the team gathers and we do an American Football like chant where the whole team place their hands in the middle of a huddle before the coach gives a call of “pats on three then break” which let’s be honest is tad G-A-Y! Certainly different to Coach Bicknell shouting the orders with or Steve Dono yelling “It’s just another fifteen men boys lets f**king do these…” Pahahahahaha However the great weather and pitch side beers and BBQ’s certainly make up for it!

A trip to Luna Park (a theme park) to watch the Sydney Darts Masters made for a great night out and crossing the harbor at night by ferry to get the venue was really picturesque, a massive contrast to the darts itself. Basically pissed up POMMS everywhere largely in fancy dress… It was a great night and Phil the Power didn’t let me and the other stokies in the crowd down with a fantastic win against MVG. The weekend just passed was spent in the Blue Mountains taking in the fantastic scenery with a great 3.5hr trek following the “National Pass” a manmade walk cut out of the rock face of one of the many mountains which make up the region. The sheer size and vastness of Australia can be seen when walking around up there and is truly breathtaking. Thanks to Bob for the lift up to Wentworth Falls where we started and finished our walk!

Future Plans:

I am going to be in Australia until February next year when I then fly to New Zealand before returning home. In between that I have some plans to travel around Aus more and hopefully see Ayres Rock and the Whitsunday Islands. I also have tickets to the Ashes so I can’t wait for that.

Anyway until next time….

Pics attached.