Back to the CBD

The new year has started well, but there's been big changes. Again. 

Our lovely house in Epping lost Annie and Brita in December, and this week we also said goodbye to Alex and Kai. They picked up a campervan and headed off into the wild for a 3 month adventure. So then there were 3.

And then there was 1, or 5, as 'backpacker' became real. (turns out you can't stay in one place for long, who knew?!) Will and Marcus are planning to stay in Sydney for longer, while I am leaving on Feb 1st, so they were looking into other accommodation - 3 people in a house that previously held 7 (plus 3 more German boys and 3 Malaysian women over New Year) was not going to work. After a scouting mission they came back having paid a deposit and with 5 days until they moved. A very nice long term hostel type house, minimum 3 months, so I'm out. 

Cue panic and freak out.

Wasn't ready to say goodbye to the boys yet. And even more, wasn't ready to find somewhere else to live. But I wasn't going to stay there by myself. AND our Landlord told us a family of 4 was going to move in on the same day they were moving out. So that would have been weird!! Started hunting in between very long days at work and finally found somewhere that looked decent back in the CBD - exactly where I was trying to stay away from!

So we packed up and cleared out. The hardest part was leaving my poor broken backpack. I brought it my first year of uni and love it so much. But the zip had broken and I couldn't actually use it anymore. RIP backpack =[

I'm going to miss our adopted cat, Billi, and the view from our indoor/outdoor patio area. We spent many great evenings out on the back deck talking, drinking and having a laugh.

I'm not going to miss the little (GIANT) friend Marcus found when moving his things!

While I didn't want to move back to the city, it is good to be nearer to where things are going on. Epping was a 40 minute train away, and once you are there you are surrounded by suburbia. Giant palatial mansions with nothing in between. But I now live a lot closer to work, so that saves time and train fares. And there's things going on everywhere. I am in Sydney for Sydney Festival, my work friends are nearby, there's places to wander and sit in the sunshine, and my hostel has a pool.

I now live in the YHA at Railway Square. And the coolest part about that is not the great included breakfast, or even the sun deck, but the fact my room is a converted train carriage!!! It's very well insulated so it's very quiet inside - except the humm of the much needed air con - but from the shower you can hear "The next train to arrive on Platform 1 goes to ..." 

I'm spending long, hot days working at Luna Park and coming home to make plans. In less than 2 weeks I will be meeting my beautiful momma in Melbourne, we will be picking up our campervan and driving the coastal road to Brisbane. Heading West first to drive the Great Ocean Road of course. There are so many beautiful places out there it is hard to figure out which are the most essential!

Christmas in the least Christmassy country

Christmas in Australia is just strange! There was no snow, no cold weather, no wooly scarves and hats and gloves. Instead there were short shorts (some massively too short!) and sunglasses. But I covered the walls with wrapping paper and played Christmas songs at deafening volume. We did lots of Christmas baking. Our first gingerbread house attempt turned into the dilapidated gingerbread barn, but the second came out pretty well and got smothered in icing and smarties. Will also made a raspberry meringue roulade for Christmas Dinner desert.

Although, Christmas dinner this year was nothing like normal. Forget nut roasts (or turkey!) and cranberry sauce, in fact forget the actual date; I am outnumbered by German and part Swedish housemates. So my Christmas dinner was on Christmas Eve! And as it was led by our resident Swede he cooked up a festive feast of meatballs (for the record Quorn mince does not roll into balls easily!!), potato gratin and vegetables. I fought to get a bit of Britain in there, and eventually he let me make some roast potatoes and parsnips and some gravy. We got some other friends over and had a delicious 2 course meal - we only have so many pans/hobs/oven space.

And then Secret Santa and Dumper-Truck-Driver-Santa delivered gifts. Dumper Truck Santa was dumping loads from a games warehouse and returned with Just Dance t-shirts, sunnies and mini boom boxes. 

Dump Truck Santa was also my Secret Santa, and I got a mini longboard! 

Christmas Day was spent in true Australian Backpacker fashion; On Bondi Beach!

 We caught up with other friends, and the rest of Australia it seemed. But there was still space to do a bit of acroyoga and lots of diving through the heaviest waves I've ever been in.

Bunny and I are having a GREAT time! He loves the beach, our house, and the coolest job in town. Luna Park is a lot of fun. I operate a ride called The Rotor, which is an old school ride, designed like a washing machine drum. The drum spins around and the centrifugal forces push people back against the wall and holds them in the air as the floor drops out. I also work in Coney Island, the 1930s Fun House with giant slides, spinning barrel tunnels, a mirror maze, a spinning floor, wonky walkways and moving walkways.

 I was working on New Year's Eve, until 2am. It was over 18s only, and most of them got very drunk so it was a really funny night, even if they didn't listen to any of the safety information. I told them, they didn't listen, not my fault if they die! Grown ups have far more fun than the kids do, maybe because they don't get chance to be silly every day.

I got to see the insane fireworks display off the Sydney Harbour Bridge. People que-d for hours to get a spot on the waterfront to watch them from. My housemates went the the botanical gardens at 11am to find a 6hour long que to get in!! And people were camping overnight. But I just stopped working at 11:55pm, hopped upstairs to the balcony and got paid to watch the display. Bonus!

And the freakiest part of the night by far was meeting up with Matt Woodfield, a guy I went to high school in Market Bosworth with. And even stranger, his girlfriend, who he met while travelling, is a girl I was friends with at uni in Plymouth!! And because that wasn't enough, on my train home I sat opposite Rich Ball, another guy I was at High School with! He'd also been at Luna Park, but completely separately from Matt! It's a small world out there!!