Feb 2007

As I haven't been updating my blog as regularly as I should have done the following is a brief summary of my stay in Oz so far (it's not that interesting cos i've just been generally drinking and working).

When first arrived I was somewhat overwhelmed by the size of the city (Sydney) but soon found my way and grew accustomed to my new envirnoment. The first day was pent getting myself sorted and had a really cool moment watching the sunset behind the harbour bridge with the opera house in the forefront and the rest of the city to the side of me.

The next couple of days were spent looking for a job and accomadation, got plenty of interviews for the typical backpackers type jobs but only one of the, have i stuck with. That is a compnay called Route 69 which is a bar crawl company, my job is to sell tickets to backpackers then socialise and make sure they're OK on nights out which means I get free booze on the nights out and get to meet loads of new people - it's probably the best job in the world (except the money is completely commission based).

check out the pics on the website www.route69.org

I got a job as a door to door salesman for a charity agency but only turned up to the trial and didn't fancy it, the job I went for was selling tickets for a paintball company. The job was a laugh but again completely commission based but after a week of not selling one and then the boss not turning up one morning meaning I got up for nothing I never went back. Instead I got an office job with an Insurance company (not ideal but I needed the money) however, after just one week they laid me off for some mysterious reason which they never actually let me know about. Since then I have managed to get a job with HSBC system testing which I should be doing at the moment!

I've been to the blue mountains, bondi, coogee, manly, the olympic park (including the telstra stadium tour where England won the world cup and sat on Jonny's changing room spot), i met Monty Panesar in a club the other night although he didn't seem too impressed with me and my mate and cleared off very quickly!

Christmas eve was spent on a booze cruise through the harbour with 4 hours unlimited drink and cos it was with my bar crawl company I got this free! This meant christmas day was spent nursing a horrendous hangover and the christmas dinner consisted of ham, potatoes and onions with pepper sauce - certainly not what i was expecting!

New years was spent in the park waiting for the fireworks, we got there about 12 noon and spent 12 hours drinking and waiting for the fireworks and the area was crammed with people, when the fireworks finally came they were spectacular, once the firworks were oevr there was no way of finding as bar but we were all pleasantly merry and was quite happy to call it a night albeit the drunken walk home took about 3 hours when it should have only taken half hour!

Had another bar crawl for australia day which is a celebration of the ozzies independence from britain, they have a massive celebration and events went on all day and ended with another booze cruise round the harbour.

The final day in Fiji was spent nursing hangovers and so when we went to the Indo-Fijian area of the island the curry went down a treat!

The day was generally very relaxed although a few brave souls went diving in the morning despite being out all night the night before. After we got everyone together and had our curry we went to the natural hot springs and mud pools where we had a massive mud fight!

The evening was spent in a sombre mood as many of our group had split up today as it was the last day of the Feejee experience on the main land but for the rest of us Beachcomber awaited.

The next day we set off for the island of Beachcomber, the main party island in Fiji and it lived up to its reputation!

http://www.beachcomberfiji.com/

Massive nights out and some great snorkelling and beach activities were the highlight of the island. The dorm we stayed in was not so much of a dorm but a large open wooden building which slept about 130 people. Fortunately I was up on the balcony and so got away from the rat race that was on the ground floor and although there were many people the dorm was actually really quiet and by the point we were going to bed we were all too drunk to hear anything anyway! I spent 3 nights in Beachcomber partying and generally enjoying being on a beautiful Fijian island snorkelling and stuff before having to make my way back to the mainland to catch my flight to OZ. The final night was a quiet one as I had a very early flight and by that point I needed a good nights rest!