22 Grand Job

Monday 5th June 2006. It was to be Sydneys coldest maximum temperature on record for 11years. 12 degrees Celsius, relentless pouring rain (that wouldn't ease up for over 48hours) and gusting winds that would welcome me in to my first proper job in 7 months. Better than a sunny day while being stuck in work I guess.


So, now I'm working full time (at least until the end of July anyway) as I recharge my bank account before moving up the Australian East Coast. I'm in a similar IT support role to those that I've been doing in the past, except this time with a Financial Advisory company based in Circular Quay, Sydney (indicated by a little red arrow on the photo above). Just a short walk from the Opera House (a desk view too!), Harbour bridge and the swankiest eateries & drinkeries that the city has to offer.

Rat Race

Bells Line of Road to Mt. Baker

After an amazing day previous, I got up extra early to catch the train. I travelled North through the mountains to Bell Station. Remote was the feeling I got of the place as I hopped off on to a platform made of sand. The station itself was deserted, and strangely, there was no town or much sign of civilisation nearby. After I got my bearings, I headed East down the Bells Line of Road – famed for having the best road views of the mountain range. They were certainly good, however I had to make my way down 15kms of this road before I made it to Mt.Baker. I really did fear for my life as tankers hurtled past me at speed. I quickly perfected the “jump off your bike and hide behind the steel crash barrier” technique.

I eventually left the tarmac and started to circle Mt.Baker. Some nice views, especially of “The Wall” – cliff faces similar to typical canyons you may have seen.

The weather however, had been far harsher than on the Oaks Trail. Winds had practically blown me down many of the Easterly roads, and when it was time to get going – I had double the work to do. So back West along the Bells Line to Bell Station, with a stupidly strong headwind to battle. As I neared the end, rain began to fall – but only as I reached the sandy rail platform. I was relieved to a point, except for finding out the next train was 75minutes away. After 5 minutes, the boredom became too much.

I found a truck weighing station – the only civilisation anywhere. The guy there informed me the next rail station was 8kms away and had a host of cafes etc. As much as my shocked, overworked leg muscles didn’t wanna, I put one last effort in, with the hope of a warm café in my sights. A gruelling last uphill nearly had me crying as the trip for the day topped 50kms.

Finally, I passed Mt Victoria station and got my bag of Kettle chips and can of Coke. The rest of the afternoon back in Katoomba was bitterly cold, and wet. I hadn’t enjoyed the day too much and was wishing I was home. I fell asleep at 9pm hoping the weather would improve for my final ride.

7.20am, the crack in the window blind of my hostel room was bright blue which gave me the boost I needed to get up and out for the last time. I arrived in Wentworth with the view to looking at the most prized attraction; their falls. I got as far as I could on my bike, chained up and followed the Japanese tourists down the beaten track.

Some great views of the falls (helped massively by last nights rainfall) and some more of the mountains huge cliffs and I was just about Blue Mountained out.

Back to Sydney for Saturday lunch, with 36 hours to prepare for my first proper job in 7months.

From the Ritz to The Rubble

The Oaks Trail

The Blue Mountains are a couple of obvious things. Firstly they're Blue, well - the Gum (or Eucalyptus) trees which populate the majority of the forests give off a vapor which makes everything over 1km away look Blue. Second, they're mountains - which for some reason, I failed to realise that they would be cold like all other mountains I'd ever been to. I awoke to Zero degrees C. I boarded the train as I saw a couple of snowflakes float past me. Thankfully that didn't carry on and by the time I reached Woodford, the air temperature had warmed enough for me to take off my hoodie.

I began cycling and soon found the beginning of the 28km route to Glenbrook. The trail was only suited for 4x4s, Bikes and walkers with some pretty huge inversions that I generally had to ride down rather than up. After all my time in the city being deprived of anything natural to shoot, I stopped quite a few times to take some pictures. By the time I was around 7kms in, the cloudy sky had broken up and the horizon was blue again. At one point I could see through the haze to see the Sydney city skyline 66kms away.

I had come to the Blue Mountains in absolute off-season, which meant that during the whole day, the only people I saw were the occasional park rangers driving past. Quite a contrast from the MPB last Friday night! After a while, the trail became decidely more 'road-like' and I was able to cruise through the trees at a quick pace. I took a detour to an old Aboriginal Cave - a 4km detour - which I would have to ride back (completely uphill). When I arrived to see the 'ancient paintings' I was treated to a dozen handprints under the overhang of a rock - thoroughly underwhelmed, not really what I was hoping to see. Regardless I pushed back up the hill (which incidentally had been the best part of the ride that day (at least, the going downhill part).

I eventually hit tarmac again, made it to 50kms per hour before having to stop for a while as my brakes were overheating. One killer final hill of the day took me back outside of the Blue Mountains national park and back into civilisation. I'd been a little dissapointed to have seen very little wildlife, though was treated to a one off as I rode downhill toward the train station; an Eagle (at least I was about 75% sure it was) perched up ahead took flight at about the same speed I was travelling - so for about 3 seconds I was riding with an eagle about 1.5metres in front of my nose.

My day was capped as I reached Glenbrook train station exactly as the once hourly train arrived at the platform. Including my detour, 36kms completed. Bonza

Little Sister

Back in work, I had to quickly come to terms with having the smoothest leg in the office, once one person had found out they would tell 2 friends, and they'd tell 2 friends and so on, and so on... I carried on about my daily life, though waiting till after dark to go jogging and generally being seen in shorts as little as possible.

On Friday night, I hit the Martins Place Bar (MPB) after work, along with the rest of Sydney so it would seem. I bumped into the first Australia Big Brother 2006 evictee (which was about as amazing as you're guessing), before some friends and the girls minus Trish showed up. We went on to our private karaoke room. What followed was pretty interesting - and surprisingly not quite as similar to the first few weeks of Pop Idol as I thought. After belting out 'Bittersweet Symphony', I did backing vocals to 'Don't You Want Me Baby' in the style of Frank Butcher... Pretty soon our time was up and we fell back home.

The start of the week was to end my stint at 'Select! Recruitment' and herald the start of a short sebaticle before starting my new job the following Monday. My time there doing what was a pretty mind-numming job (sorry Lisa/Jodie if you're reading!), was actually a nice introduction back into the civilised working life and has at the very least got me back into a routine of being up before 7.30am each day.

Wednesday finally arrived. I took the bus into town and into Clarence St Cyclery to pick up my new best friend. A Mountain Bike which would be my gym membership, my 'thing to do when bored' and the first posession measuring over 75cms in length in over 7months. I rode it straight to Central Station and hopped on board the 12.03: Destination: Blue Mountains.

Things on the journey were spiced up immeasurably when a tramp (somehow with a valid ticket??) decided to crowbar his way into a conversation I was having. He rightfully guessed that my face wasn’t very ‘English’ looking, I mentioned Austrian as one of my parental ancestories, to which he claimed “We are brothers!” in an Eastern European accent. Turning out to be Slovenian, it damn near killed me. He asked me to help him and his stuff off of the train at his stop – I was only too happy to help, to remove the smell… it was taken a bit too far when he gripped my arm in an act of solidarity between us “European Brothers”!

A little later, I pushed my new bike off the train at Katoomba - my home for the next few days. I dropped my things in my room, and got pedalling (not drugs!).

I quickly arrived at the 3 Sisters viewpoint, took 20minutes to make some pictures with all the other tourists, checking out Queen Elizabeth viewpoint and then the decidedly inferior Prince of Wales viewpoint (named after there visit during the 90's). I considered this my warm up as I completed around 6km's of cycling for my first day. The following day might be a rude awakening!

Torture Me

As much as I could try not to mention it, the girls finally remembered to buy some wax for my forfeit. So Sunday evening for me was spent on the couch with everyone taking turns to whip off the paper strips. I kept my pride ( as much as was feasibly possible) and didn't let out a peep, as much as I wanted to, when the strip on the back of my knee was taken off. So now I have one leg with, and one without hair. Which has kinda scuppered my jogging plans for the next few weeks as I try to train for the City to Surf run in August... As part of the deal the other leg has to remain hairy for 3 weeks. Though it has given me quite an insight as to what women do in the pursuit to avoid looking like a big hairy yeti.

Once the sting had subsided, the girls gone to bed, Flee & me headed off to Kings Cross, pretty much Londons equivalent on most levels - the only reason for this - late night opening in the sports bars. Having only seen Leeds Utd once on telly since leaving the UK, I couldn't wait to see them play Watford in the playoff final - with a place in the Premiership up for grabs. With Leeds form average of late, and Watfords much better - I kept a level head and didn't expect to much of the mighty whites. 90 minutes on a chopped up pitch, 3 goals without reply and the most pathetic/comical referree substitution later, Leeds were condemned to another year in the Championship league while Elton Johns hornets have moved on up and outta there.

One of the most memorable days of my trip - but not for any particularly great feelings. The cool mornings were all the cooler behind one trouser leg compared to the other.
There's a moral to this story, don't drink and make silly bets kids.

I'm Forever Blowin' Bubbles

After some fruitless job hunting, I was finally rewarded with a quick break; a one week contract updating some content at a recruitment firms intranet. However I wasn't to start that for a good few days so I was left with a few problems to solve in the mean time.

The weekend came and we hit the town pretty hard. I had for some reason agreed to a bet earlier in the week whereby I wasn't allowed to dance for 3 weeks. If I suceeded, Flee would have to grow a single arm pit of hair, and wear all the sleeveless tops she had. If I didn't succeed, I would lose all the hair beneath my right knee.

I made it through one night of dance music, chatting with some mates but still finding it difficult not to tap my feet. 3 days later, half way through one beer, I was caught doing an impersonation of Dr Evil in Austin Powers 2. I was to be half hairless. More of that to follow.

Nick made it into Sydney after his trip around the Australian South Coast. Lucy, Nick and I met up and I gave the now legendary "Luke-tour" of Sydney. This time with an extended walk through the Botanical gardens. A beauty of a day really helped set off the cities highlights.

So then, FA Cup fever took agrip - well it didn't really, but I knew it was on and was hoping to be able to give some support from the otherside of the world to the valiant Hammers for getting to the final with Liverpool. Sadly, sharing with a flat full of girls has its draw backs too. The time they had gotten ready, and we'd gone to a first pub for warm up drinks - the flow of taxis was in hot demand, so by the time we made it to the city it was half time. Alas, I wandered into the Irish bar, where stood a few dozen paddy Liverpool fans - I was to be the only Hammer rep there. Most of you will know what happened then - Stephen Gerrard scored a wonder goal, and then penalties, the Scousers were victorious - and I had an Irish ale shower.

On Tuesday 16th I started the day with a job interview, a stones throw from the Sydney Opera House and ended it somewhere completely different. For some really annoying reasons, I had to fly into New Zealand before the end of May else my work permit would become invalid and I wouldn't be able to obtain another. So I booked a quick return trip to Silver Fern country. Departing at 6.45pm I once again took the skies. As I flew in I was given a brief look at the snow capped mountains; illuminated by the moonlight. A good buzz ruined only when I arrived and virtually immediately got taken in by the Customs squad. I was a suspected drug runner... only for the fact I had no suitcase, and was staying for only one day. An hour later (and thankfully no rubber glove treatment), I was free to go - not that I had anywhere to go since my bed was to be in front of the check in counter.

5 hours later I awoke and checked in. A swift flight back across the Tamzan sea and I was back in Sydney. The beauty of these trips I always thought - would be having no luggage, and no waiting to get the aforementioned stuff. Wrong. As I bowled on through to Customs, I was again stopped and given a grilling as to why I had no bags, and why I'd only been gone for about half a day. Grrrrrr. Ah well, I arrived back at 11am and used the rest of the day to sunbathe.

After visiting an agency again, I met up with the girls, Tom, Nick & Lucy at the Orbit bar - for more drinks as we watched the city rotate past us. Nick stayed around for a beer as we clinked bottles for the last time in Australia until New Zealand. He and Lucy left for the East Coast that evening.

The following day I finally did my first days civilised work. Although a little dull, as "Intranet PDF Administrator" (which still makes me chuckle) I got used to being in an office, and indeed being located smack in the middle of an awesome city. I took this job; provisionally 5days to get some rent money rolling in before I get a decent position.

With myself and the girls only just re-entering the world of work, free entertainment was certainly a bonus. I'd spotted an add for the Surry Hills Street Festival. So on Saturday afternoon we trundled off to check it out. Being the festival hound I am, I wasn't sure what to anticipate - with it being located inner city and without a big *Insert Huge Name Sponser here* to pay the rent. There were hundreds of market stalls packed with anything from T-shirts and sunglasses, to Lebanese food, airbrush tattoos and Krispy Kreme donuts. The music was surprisingly good, with a DJ stage, rockers stage and a Jack Johnson wannabe chillout stage; which is where we found ourselves munching the delights we'd found and supping beers or coke. The Australian East Coast Winter chill finished the fun at sundown.

Autumn Shade

As most people reading this will presumably be enjoying some improving weather, things are of course moving in the opposite direction here. The leaves are falling, the temperatures have started to force jumper wearing on a regular basis and pretty soon I'll probably be in the mood to go Christmas shopping.

Though after around 6½ months, I finally had somewhere to put my things and call home. I've now settled into a routine of cooking, grocery shopping and cleaning my clothes myself. The routine has also come at a cost of being what seems like a million times less active (in terms of sight seeing/venturing into the great unknown). However I've had my time taken up by job hunting. A little more effort than I first figured it might be, I have now secured my first work (not in a chicken factory this time!). I was offered the position yesterday, though in my spare mornings/afternoons I've also managed to cover most of Sydneys Central Business District and a little further afield too:

The Sydney skyline is just about dominated by the SkyTower. This construction has various tourist attractions including a bar which rotates giving 360 views of the city. However, for some reason it closes at 4.30, so when we arrived at 4.20 we decided not to bother. As consolation, we found another tower (maybe 40metres shorter) that has its own spinning bar. The views as the sun set were quite amazing, and of course - for 2 beers to literally make the room spin, the value for money was great too.

The great thing about living so close to the beach, is the options the coast gives you for some great Sunday morning walks. We live at one end of the infamous Bondi to Coogee walk. The other direction gives a shorter walk toward South Coogee, though this is more fun as you have to cross boulders with the waves beside you threatening to soak your clothes right through.

In Coogee itself, I'm spoiled for choice with 2 great pubs, a small supermarket and a videoshop (not to mention more eateries than I care to mention). Five-O's has become a tri-weekly institution offering a 300g Steak and Mash for $5 (about 2.30 Stirling) - it's surprisingly good too. Of course there is the beach, coastal walks, natural baths and rugby/cricket oval but what Coogee specialises in - is hills. I'm not joking - for anyone who has selected "hill-walk" on the tread-mill in the gym - and wandered where on earth would be so hilly; it's Coogee. Never mind buns of steel, my buns have already surpassed that and are headed for the diamond level of toughness.

I've also made trips to the Botanical gardens, had tea and scones by the Opera house, visited the NSW Library, holding the World Press Photographic exhibiton.

I was getting close to tearing my hair out after so much time floating the world free; suddenly constrained to the system of job hunting and being firmly routed to the same residence. So I decided to take a trip to Sydneys humble beginnings - now the second Central Business District; Paramatta. Flea and I took the RiverCat and headed up stream and inland for an hour. My Lonely Planet described the main sites and gave a heads up on what to expect. We saw one of the first European residences still standing, and the old parliament building (not much bigger than a medium sized house) dating back through all of Australias short history. The most fun was an Aboriginal pathway however. 800metres of riverside decorated with Abo artwork which actually tells a story as you walk it (It would seem that the Mods made it on their Vespas here too). After a walk through the park, I had a stroll around the shops before catching the train back into Sydney Central.