It has been 2 weeks since my last blog. Although most of you only got it a week ago. A lot has happened, I went to Mardi Gras, started my new job, looked for a flat and some other stuff in between.
Mardi Gras is pretty much like Pride in London. Even though I have never seen the parade at Pride, I can imagine that it is very similar. ALOT of rainbows everywhere, a really great united atmosphere and just a couple of drag queens! Now for anyone that is thinking they would like to go to Mardi Gras a little tip for you: if you wish to see the parade properly, you need to get there at about 5pm (parade is at 7pm). Even though I was made aware of this, I went with my hostel and they didn't leave till 6.30 so I got there at about 7, and there was a crowd at least 3-5 lines deep throughout the whole parade route. I was then left with a dilemma of do I pay the nice man $10 to get a plastic blue stool so I can see over the crowd or do I just look at the back of people's heads! Well I bought the stool because it seemed stupid to get all that way and not see anything. What did I do with the stool after? I hear you all say. Well I left it there as I went to a pub and saw a man (pretty sure it was the same man I bought it from) pick them all up and take them home. So basically I RENTED it! Lol! Anyway enough about that. The parade was wonderful, anyone that has my Facebook has seen all the videos and photos so I won't repost them all here, just a select few. It went on for about 3 hours and even in the rain people's spirits were high. Singing along to the music the floats were blasting out, which was mostly Katy Perry 'Roar', they like that one! You can even have a drink in the alcohol free zone, as long as you do it without drawing attention to yourself.
Before I started work I had one more outing, I decided to go to the Botanical gardens. It was magnificent. All the different types of plants, areas and views, I would recommend this to anyone coming over here. The majority of it is completely free. I went to Mrs Macquarie's chair to get the obligatory Sydney opera house photo. I got there just before a tour bus arrived!! I went to a special exhibition that they put on called The Sweet Addiction. Now I had a little look at the leaflet beforehand and it said it was all about chocolate and there was a picture of a kid with a tub of melted chocolate with wafers and stuff. This was very misleading. It cost me $15 to get in and I assumed that it would be something akin to the Cadbury factory on a smaller scale. I was wrong! There were a few plants, a nice but slightly dull headset commentary and no melted chocolate. A few pieces of dark, milk and white, but nothing like the picture! So basically don't bother, better off sticking to what is free and amazing!
This amused me, as I did see them in the right order.
Really since then all I have been doing is working and looking for apartments to move into.
The working part I think is going quite well, it's a little different but the people are nice.
The apartment hunting is more tricky. The first thing I had to do was look at what I can afford, the rent is always advertised weekly. This fooled me once, because I looked at a really place, doorman, indoor pool etc and it said $500. Now I was under the assumption that was a month. It was then pointed out to me that I was wrong, very, very wrong. Currently I am looking for a place between $250-$330 a month, depending on if bills are included and what the features are. I think this is a good range, any lower and you could expect bed bugs, cockroaches and all those fun things. Any higher and I won't be able to afford it. I wanted to live with someone for 2 reasons really, one is the social aspect and the other is to have someone to get rid of spiders!
There are a few different ways to look for a place, I put a profile on flatmatefinders.com and joined a few different groups on Facebook. Some of the people at the hostel helped me find some good ones, like Sydney rent rooms and apartments and inner west apartments.
I then contacted the ones I liked and arranged visits. This was a great way for me to get fully acquainted with the public transport system and how that works as I had to travel all over by train or bus. Its not too bad, the only real problem came when I got on the bus and found they didn't tell you what stop you were at. So I had to either ask the driver or follow myself on google maps. I always told someone that I was visiting these places, mainly as I am paranoid and have seen "Taken" too many times! So I gave them a time I had to text them by and if they hadn't heard from me they had to call the police. 😊
I've seen 4 flats, in 4 very different places. As I work at Bondi Junction Westfield, I wanted a place that was an easy commute. I saw a place in Bondi, St Peters, Vaucluse and Randwick. Very different areas with different pros and cons. Some where just not my cup of tea, some weren't close to any shops, restaurants etc. Two I really liked and now I am just deciding between them (if they want me).
Here are a couple of pictures of me at Vaucluse, it's a lovely residential area with awesome views.
A couple of nights ago I decided to treat myself to a meal out, as I've been mainly eating in the hostel. I had some penne pasta, meatballs, garlic bread and a glass of wine. It was glorious!
I forgot to take a picture when the main arrived. I was too hungry!
