Life is awesome (Cambewarra)

Where do I start this time? Everything seems like a dream and I don’t dare to wake up and face reality. I could continue like this for a very long time, although my feet’s are getting restless again and I know soon it is time to move on again.

I finally received my tax back and was overwhelmed that I got everything back from the last financial year, every single penny. I started spending that money on a booking for my next trip to New Zealand, where I will enjoy a few weeks holidays and seeing friends I haven’t seen in ages.
 

My week started as usual with a bit of work on fences, feeding alpacas and fireweed picking and the odd task in between. I continued with my breakfast every morning as well as the cooking, but I did stop to take picture of EVERY meal I have. I am getting already weird looks when I take my camera out.

 

Chapter 2 of the good life (Cambewarra)

There is not a lot to write about last week adventures. The freshness and new things turn now into the daily grind and I still live a fabulous life with Cici on the farm.

Living life my way (Cambewarra)

A few days passed again and I continued to live a fabulous life on the farm. I managed to continue with a great breakfast every morning.

When Cici told me that ‘Natalie’ is well and playing on the paddock, I suddenly realised that she named the calf after me because I attended the birth last week. How cute is that :)
 

The simple life (Cambewarra)

I arrived back in Sydney and waited for my new host to arrive at the public pick up point at the airport. I saw her coming down the road in her Landrover truck. I threw my backpack on the back of the truck and jumped into the car, joining three excited dogs.  

Still very excited we drove together down to Clifton to visit a friend and enjoy some lovely homemade dinner with family and friends. What an awesome first evening, I felt like home. The beautiful pasta dish with loads of different flavours tasted so delicious I couldn’t stop eating. The fresh fruits for dessert were fabulous. We spend some time outside on the patio talking and enjoying a glass of wine. It couldn’t be better. 
 

Saying good bye is never easy (Brisbane)

Today is my last day (hours) in Brisbane and I am already packed up and just wait for my lift to the airport. I enjoyed my last week very much and was able to see some more of the area before I left. Not sure if I come back, but never say never. 
 

Last Sunday I went on a little road trip with a friend up the Sunshine Coast. I tried to put as many activities as possible on the day, but of course there were not enough hours.
 

First we stopped at the Glasshouse Mountains and walked the short circuit around the look out. A nice view but nothing much exciting to see here.

Time to move on again (Brisbane)

I have spent the last two months in Brisbane and met a lot of really nice people. I wish I could stay a little bit longer and enjoy more of the area. But as all of you know it doesn’t always go as planned. The cost of living is definitely the highest so far. With the money I earn I just about cover my expenses and there is no space for savings. I really enjoyed my time here but I made the decision to move on to farm work for the next two months, which means I am flying back to Sydney and from there a 2 hour drive to the farm I am going to work on.

Let me recapture the past few weeks with a few comments. Most of the time here I was alone for several reasons:

1. The people I met in the hostel move on in general very quickly because it is a very quiet time for job offers.

2. I never really connected with my co-workers (for unknown reasons).

3. I am a loner.

I realised again that you can enjoy several activities alone, such as having an absolute fabulous breakfast. In this case for just 10 $ including the large coffee. The little bar/restaurant/café in Brunswick Street – New Farm called Alibi offered excellent service and the food was fresh

Six months anniversary! (Brisbane)

Here I am, sitting alone in my room and summarise the last 6 months of my life. A lot happened, ups and downs during this journey. Good and happy memories come to my mind while writing this entry and reading the past 50 entries, but also the battles I had to fight in my mind.

I am not regretting that I have made the decision to travel while thinking about what to do with my life. Every day I am asking myself questions over and over again without answers. I was hoping that certain things will come my way automatically and that I can gather enough ideas to make decisions what to do after I finish this journey. Even though I am more open minded about a lot of things, I still believe that I haven’t seen enough yet.
 

There were a few certain moments I wanted to stop and book my flight back home, thinking that all this is a waste of time and that I just should look for a stable and secure job and settle, but my restless soul kept fighting and the urge to travel was greater than the homesickness.
 

I travelled in 6 months 5 countries and 21 cities, took 14 flights, 3 trains and 1 ferry and there are so many more places I want to see and experience. I keep reading other travel blogs and envy the experience these people make and hope that I will have similar adventures one day (not the bad ones of course). I look at the pictures they take and envy the skills and talent they have, thinking again that I am completely talentless, I even suck at traveling. Too scared of making the wrong decisions I don’t make them at all and rather wait and stay put, wait things out until the unpreventable happens.
 

It’s been now over a month that I came to Brisbane, but can’t seem to make my way to see things around Brisbane, looking at different places. I met a few people around the city, went to markets, had dinner at a lovely Vietnamese restaurant, watched the Hungover 2 with some co-workers, met for coffees at Starbucks and had some delicious pancakes. All in all that sounds very very boring to me. Where is my sense for adventure? Is that the way it is meant to be? Just working and just having enough money to cover the expenses? I am sure it is not and I guess my anniversary date is a wakeup call for me to get out there again and do what I was supposed to do when I started this journey, which is learning and experience new things.
 

I started looking for a second job, because based on the calculations I made I need to save up quite a bit again to see the places that are on my list and do the things I planned to do (such as skydiving and bungee jumping). I can’t believe I still have over 3 months in Brisbane, of course this gives me enough time to do some trips around here and meet people, but right now, I am just feeling restless and want so desperately book my next trip.

I feel kind of ashamed that I don’t even have pictures for this entry....but I didn't take any pictures. I should start again using my camera for special moments.
 

I miss my friends and family and hope they are all happy and healthy, loving and living life to the fullest.
 

Happy anniversary to me…

The Brissy way of living

After a little bit over two weeks it is time for an update again. As expected not much happened so I try to keep it short and crispy.

After I moved into my new spacious room I unpacked and tried to settle. I knew it wouldn’t be for long as I have to move into a single room as soon as one is available. This happened three days ago. The new room is much smaller but very comfortable and has a little kitchen. Not that I cook a lot anyway, but it is nice to know it is available if a crazy moment occurs and I do actually want to have a lovely homemade meal.

It is difficult to describe how I feel, but I still feel restless and want to catch the next flight to somewhere or the train and move on, see more of the world, have some more adventures. Unfortunately the finance situation doesn’t allow it at the moment. I started my job and work from Monday to Friday, good hours. After I received my first pay I was happy to have some money again available, but the taxman was not very nice and deducted quite a sum of my pay. This will make it difficult to save up a large sum to keep traveling for a few months. Maybe I have to get another job just before I leave Australia. Even though I will get back some of the tax, I don’t know when and how much it will be.  At first I thought I worry about that later and enjoy my life, spending the hard earned money on Internet, nice food and other luxuries such as a large big fluffy towel, shoes and cosmetics. I will have to start at one point and calculate my way ahead, but as I said at one point, not NOW.

I was able to enjoy some of the Brisbane nightlife and went out last Friday with a co-worker. It was a fun night even so the next morning wasn’t a nice experience with the hungover.

On the Saturday I went up to the Gold Coast and saw the Surfer Paradise surrounded by construction work and the weather didn’t make it nice, but it was good to see anyway. I enjoyed some Yum Cha and a nice milk tea with jelly afterwards. In the evening I returned back to my accommodation and wasted some more money on the internet, but it is so worth it when I can catch up with good friends and see what happens in their life.

On another nice day I went down to the New Farm Park, enjoying the scenery. I like Brisbane and the people I am surrounded with, it is time to make some new friends here to get away from the loneliness, because it can get quite depressing after a while.

Today I went to the cinema and saw X-Man First Class, which was a nice movie with a good storyline. I hope that I can see the Hungover Part 2 soon, just need to find someone who would go with me. Otherwise I really don’t do much, just the usual grocery shopping, getting up in the morning for work and just let life be life.

I will update you soon again. Enjoy your life and think about me from time to time ;)

Time to settle (Brisbane)

I still can’t believe my luck. After just a week I am ready again to settle. This time I am planning to stay for a little bit longer and try to integrate a bit more into the Australian way of living.

I was able to get the job at a café and started working on Monday. Of course I needed some training first. I have to say that the team and management are fantastic. They are much organised and have a great atmosphere to work in. I just know I am going to enjoy working there (even though it might get hard sometimes). And the best thing is, I NEVER have to work on the weekend :)

Last Saturday I first went out with my host on a river tour with the CityCat (a public Ferry). I enjoyed the view of Brisbane from the boat very much and my host explained a little bit more about the area and buildings we passed. This was followed by a quick visit to the Art Gallery and GoMA (Gallery of modern art).

 Afterwards we went to Mount Coot-tha and viewed the city from a look out.

 As mentioned in my last blog my hosts introduced me to Rugby, a very interesting game, which I enjoyed watching after I (kind of) understood the rules. We went to a university match (QLD vs. Sunnybank) and enjoyed the game together; a very rough game indeed.

 The next day (Sunday) I prepared myself from some room hunting and viewed a few available accommodations. The decision wasn’t easy as there were a few factors that I considered besides the prices given that I would need to stay there for a long time. In the end I decided to go for a single room (YEY) within a shared house, managed by a very lovely lady. The area is close to work, but it is a bit pricier than expected but worth it. I moved in yesterday and had to leave my great hosts that made my first week in Brisbane unforgettable. As a little thank you I cooked dinner and dessert. I have something else planned for a little bit later as a thank you, so more to come on that front ;)

That is what I have done so far in Brisbane, not very much. But there is enough time for more sightseeing in the future.

 Now I am just going to lay back and let life go back to a daily grind. Of course this means that there will be no regular blog updates again, only when I have done something interesting. Oh and before I forget to mention it, I was attacked by a bird today on my way back from work. So far that is the only bad thing happened to me :)

I will keep in touch. Have a nice day everyone.

Brisbane – The Sunshine City

After a few days in Brisbane I had the time again to sit down and update my blog. Some friends asked me if I ever get tired of writing, but somehow I always find the motivation to sit down and type, simply because it is still a kind of diary. Sometimes I wish I could write some more funny stories or something more adventures but traveling alone isn’t always funny and adventures….So I just tell you what happened in my life even if it is boring for you ;)

My last few days in the Blue Mountain contained more walking, walking and walking. I really enjoyed the exercise. Even though I didn’t lose one damn pound….might has been because my host fed me very well.

Of course I had booked my flight 4 days in advance given that no one responded to my applications and I was given the feeling I am at the wrong place at the wrong time. It turned out that I received two days before my departure two calls from restaurants that would like me to turn up for a trial. DAMN, but as said before it was just not meant to be….I guess….

On the day of departure we drove to Richmond and Windsor and ended in Penrith where my train back to Sydney was leaving from. We stopped at a orange farm and ate THE most delicious oranges I ever had.

I arrived safely at the airport and waited a few hours on my plane. No worries, I wasn’t bored at all because the Sydney Airport offers free Wi-Fi (you got to love free internet).

As soon as I arrived in Brisbane my new hosts were awaiting me, not expected they picked me up from the Airport. Originally I planned to take the AirTrain to the city and meet them there. I immediately fell in love with my hosts, such a great couple. We drove through the city to their place and enjoyed a coffee together before I fell into a very dreamy and comfy sleep.

The next day I started again on my job hunt and some sightseeing. I was able to print some updated copies of my resume and walked…and walked….and walked. I dropped some of the resumes but no one was really looking for staff currently. I was now a little bit more demotivated than before. I mean, seriously, I am not that bad and my experience are worth something. But as always in life you only will make it if you try. So I kept trying and applied for basically every job I found on the net and was able to secure an interview for an office position for the next day.

I can’t be thankful enough for my host, in such a short time; they have done so much for me. I certainly will take them out for dinner as soon as I have a job. They phoned a relative who has a café in the city and asked him if he is currently looking and YES he was. So we agreed that I would stop by the next day to leave my resume and have a talk. So far so good I thought. Not very successful for a start but it is looking positive.

In the evening we enjoyed a Rugby Game together – New South Wales against Queensland (State of Origin) – which took place in the SunCorp Stadium in Brisbane. My hosts don’t live far away from the Stadium and you could hear the fans singing and screaming. What a great feeling seeing the game on the screen and hearing the noise from the window; a great experience.

This morning I got dropped off near the café (Thanks again to my host) and had a discussion with the manager and secured a trial shift for tomorrow. OF COURSE I will give my best and hope that I can secure the job for a few months.

Afterwards I went for the office interview and believe it was successful as well, but they will let me know on Monday if I will receive an offer. And I couldn’t believe it I received another two calls this afternoon for interviews on Monday. Now the ball is rolling and the offers come. I really hope I don’t mess that up this time and make the right decisions.

I like Brisbane, not too small and not too big. Close to the water and the people are very very friendly. At one point I was looking for a sightseeing object and couldn’t find it on the map. When I asked another pedestrian, she just said: “Let me google that for you”. And I actually found it this time (not like the war memorial in Singapore).

 The only thing missing now is a date to get some romance into the blog ;) And thanks again everyone for their support and love. I don’t know what I would do without you.

I hope you enjoyed this update and tune in again next time for some more news from the Sunshine City in Queensland.