One Mans Odyssey

The longer I stay in Sydney I think the real experience will start when i leave the city. Life in the city center feels very international not truly Australian, whatever that means. Sydney can be expensive and it is so hard to find somewhere to stay over Christmas. Not that I've looked much myself but form what i've been hearing, i just keep ignoring the fact I'll be homeless from Monday.

The Internet is also pretty expensive out here. Only $2 for an hour but this adds up and if I keep updating this site etc I've projected that it will cot me about $1400 before I leave. Looks like that job is sooner than I'd thought. Global Gossip is the best place I've found as it stands and you get a membership where you earn reward points. 

Staying in hostels has been more fun than I thought. Being an only child I figured that it would take a lot of getting used to and originally booked in for a 6 person dorm. A week on and I'm staying in an 8 person dorm and asked for the biggest room they had. You get to meet a ton of people and it saves money too.

I have spent so much time hanging around with people from the hostel as well. It's like the centre of my social life as things stand. Constantly meeting new people and making new friends. Wake Up Hostel also keeps running activities which always seem to bring people together. Latest ones were a Free BBQ and a poker night in which I lost on the first hand.

I have spent so much money it's unreal. I had planned to budget etc but it's kind of confusing, Is this a holiday or day to day life. I'm trying to find a happy medium. With $700 spent in my first week, I'll probably need to make a few tweaks. At that rate I will be broke pretty soon. Food is my biggest vice at the moment, once I find out about the supermarkets etc then it should change quite a bit. At the moment I'm stuck with these convenience stores and eating out roughly 100% on the time.

I've now been to a few more beaches and have found that I like probably Coogee and Manly more than Bondi. I still haven't got around to surfing yet though so will probably hit up a surf camp soon. Hanging on the beaches is cool but it's the one place I don't find as easy to meet people. I think it's more of a personal thing but hey I got a year to deal with it.

If you are heading out here then I'd say its best to go with the recommend minimum of $5k or more. I'm sure you could survive for a while with less but there is no point in just surviving and it's nice to have a period where you don't need to go straight into finding work. This is also slightly odd getting used to. The feeling of just doing nothing. At home I'm always working or enjoying my spare few moments in a mad rush to cram everything in before working again. At first when I sat on the beach I kept feeling like I should be doing something.

My initial goal was to have a pina colada on the beach on christmas day bit I can't even find pina colada in this city let alone near the beach. I think I'm going to leave that one out and be a bit more fluid with my plans for christmas. I don't really have anything solid planned for christmas yet but I'm sure I will work it out. It's so different from christmas season in England. I keep chuckling as I walk along the streets seeing posters of parrots wishing me a happy christmas than some snow covered robin.

Pies are a big thing here. Fast food wise there is a lot of places that sell pies. I've picked up a bad habit of eating them probably a little more than is healthy I will cut down on that one. Though if you want to experience the best i've found so far it's Jesters on Pitt Street.

Over all things are going well and now that I've recovered from the jet lag and am not waking up at 6AM every morning for no reason at all, updates may not be daily as has been up to this point. Don't worry things will still be frequent just not every morning at 8AM exactly…

OK so last night I typed up some huge update for this place, I was in an cyber cafe for an hour at least and just as I went to submit all the changes I closed it all without saving by accident. Why am I telling you this? Well if you ever keep a blog, learn from my mistake, just because it's not a typical word processor it doesn't mean you shouldn't save your work often. Usually I do, call it laziness or tiredness but I didn't and regretted it!

Anyhow back to the topic at hand, Australia! Headed out to Bondi Beach in what was my first full day of sun since I got out here. Took the "Bondi Train + Bus" option which takes you out to Bondi Junction by train. From there you can explore a little and then get a bus down to the beach. As it was my first bit of sun I decided to just head straight down to the beach.

Hung around on the beach for a while and went for a swim. In future I must remember to bring as little as possible if heading to the beach alone as I had to keep an eye on my bag whilst swimming and kind of took a lot of the fun out of it. Either way it was still cool to finally get a chance to relax on the beach.

After a while I got some swordfish and chips. They actually have all the fish siting there fresh and cook it to order in front of you. Kind of cool but have forgotten the name of the place. It tasted great and the flies seemed to agree. Took me about 10 minutes to find a spot where they wouldn't bug me non stop.

Instead of just heading straight back to the hostel I decided to take the coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee Beach. I got some really great pictures along here and it was a generally nice relaxing walk in the sun. Got a little sun burnt on my legs though even with 30+ Suncream.

After about 7 hours beach time I caught a bus back to central where I got changed from my sandy clothes. Met up with a room mate and we headed out to a cool dutch cafe that I found the other day. They sell all the authentic greasy fast food that I know and love from Amsterdam.

We headed on to the Opera House where the Australian idol final was being hosted. For those that don't know it's a kind of talent show to find pop stars. It was properly packed out so couldn't get too close but got a couple of great night shots of the Opera House on my camera. Unfortunately I left before the fireworks as I didn't realise. It sounded like a bomb was going off in the harbour. Overall it was one of the most laid back days yet where things just seemed to work. Isn't the sun great?

5.30AM What kind of sick joke is it that you wake up at 5.30 in the morning and can't get back to sleep? Well considering the world was asleep at this point I decided I might just go out for a walk and take some pictures. Up I get and off to Darling Harbour.

The camera is unveiled the sights are within touching distance and it begins to pour with rain. I will have to admit this was not what I was expecting when I came to Sydney. Managed to squeeze in a few photos before the rain became too much. I didn't want to risk ruining my new camera so just ended up strolling around the empty streets for a while.

9.30 rolls around and the rain has subsided so I decide to head to the Chinese Garden of Friendship, or something to that effect. If I remember correctly from the tour on my first day it was given as a gift from the Chinese Government on one of Sydney's Bicentenary. When venturing in it is weird how separate you feel from the rest of Sydney. There were only a couple points where I would notice a building looming over in the distance and would remember but for the most part it was like you had been taken to another world.

I took a serious amount of pictures walking around in the Chinese Gardens (Still haven't sorted a camera cable since I left mine in UK) and even managed to drain the battery completely dead. The first hint I've had of the slightly more intrusive pests in Australia was here. At several points throughout my walk, I guess as I was one of the first to enter that day, I would come across huge spider webs. These were nothing like the spider webs I see in London, it was half my size and actually put up a slight resistance as I cut through it with my flyer. Luckily I didn't get to meet the accompanying animals for this day. I may do next time though as I have to go back because there are a few things I didn't get pictures of that I would have liked to.

After heading back to the hostel to charge my camera I decided that as I have barely even started looking for further accomodation yet that I would book myself in for another week at Wake Up! I've decided to go with a bigger room this time. More chances to meet people and cheaper, you can't loose….Roughly. 

One thing that you absolutely must not miss whilst in Australia is the chance to meet a living kangaroo. Hey, let's face it that's why millions of people visit every year isn't it? Even if you are dubious then a trip to Taronga Zoo may still be worthwhile. It's a short ferry ride from Circular Quay and it is where I ended up about midday with a few people from the hostel.

It was really cool walking around the Zoo. Met some kangaroos, too many Koala Bears amongst other things. One of the highlights actually was getting to see a Komodo Dragon, I always used to like them when I was younger after I saw one on TV. Other animals worth a mention were the Meerkats, Sleeping Tazmanian Devil and glimpse of a Platypus.

We actually ended up spending about 4-5 hours wandering around the zoo and it was growing progressively warmer throughout. It was great to actually catch some sun after the recent batch of weather. I really did end up getting trigger happy with the camera today. Including the Chinese Gardens and pictures of the animals I racked up a total of 270 shots in less than one day. At that rate I'm going to need a few portable hard drives…

Cut to the evening and a big group of us went out to a Spanish restaurant for pizza and sangria. It was one of the girls last night and it was decided that we would go to Star City casino. It is week one of my time away so I was not going to risk my savings and only spent 5 dollars on the slots, mainly in 1 cent bets. Big spender, maybe not but it kept me entertained and probably saved me more in the long run.

After this everybody headed back to SideBar at the hostel and hung around for a few drinks and a dance before I decided to call it a night and head off. I think today was one of the first days I could actualy say I was fully awake and appreciating the situation rather than the zombie like state of going through the motions like I'd felt on the previous days. Turns out jet lag really isn't great, people havn't been lying to me all these years 

Until Next Time,

Daniel McClure

So yesterday began with another tour courtesy of Wake Up! A  huge group of us got the bus down to Coogee beach. A couple people went swimming but I hadn't bought a towel or anything so decided to give it a miss.

Went for a wander on my own and found a Pro Dive store where I discussed the diving courses they have to offer. Turns out that if I want to learn to dive in this area it would cost me $300 and if I head up to Cairns for that same course it would cost me $600 which was my original plan. Now I'm caught as to whether I should learn here and just do a couple leisure dives up north or just leave it all for up north.

We all gather with lunch after a while and then headed off to continue our walk. We visited several quite empty and unfortunately quite cold and windy beaches. Not the best weather for a tour of the beaches but hey you can't always pick and choose. As always though this tour gave a great opportunity to meet a few new people staying in the area at the time.

A couple girls I got chatting to had been travelling all over and I think are the first people that I've spoken to who have actually completed three months of regional work (You can extend your working holiday visa for a year if you complete this). They both agreed that their time doing regional work had been a laugh. Might try and do some of that sooner rather than later to get it out of the way. Just in case I need to extend my visa later down the line.

The tour concluded on Bondi Beach which was pretty empty and to be honest a slight disappointment after all the build up that the world has given to the place. To be fair the weather probably did play a part. Didn't really have time to explore the surrounding area much as we jumped on a bus and headed back to the hostel for a nice free beer.

A drink or so later everybody was convinced that the way forward for the evening was the local Camel Racing that the hostel was also organising. It's not like this is something you see in everyday in London so for me this was obligatory viewing. The biggest group I've seen yet all gathered in the Hostel Lobby and we all took a tram out to Jubilee Park.

Apparently the reason for this madness was that there had a been a local outbreak of horse flu meaning that no horses could race so in their place they had arranged for camel racing exhibitions. We arrived and saw the Camels in their full glory. Each geared up with their own selection of glittery robes. Eagerly awaiting we all sat freezing in the cold stands of the race track.

Bets were taken for a free drink and before anybody knew what was happening they had started, the camels were stumbling down the track in a very uneven break for the finish line. Whether it wasn't really bothered or was just incapable I'm not sure but the camel I had backed just seemed to stroll down the course at it's own pace metres behind the others. This whole process repeated a couple times over before everybody decided that the moment of the camels had passed.

Back at the hostel I headed up to a friends room and had a drink there feeling dead to the world. Yet again I headed upstairs earlier than I would have liked. This has ended up with me getting up at 6AM yet again. However bad I feel I think I need to stay awake as long as I can tonight to try and get a slightly more hostel centred sleeping pattern.

So yesterday was the day I'd allocated for getting all the official bits sorted. Everything went pretty much to plan. Headed down to a company that specializes in helping people on a working holiday visa get their things in order for free. I now have an address, mobile, and official working stuff sorted.  It's all pretty simple actually. I've added a couple new guides under the essentials section of this site if you are interested.

Headed into China Town to get some food. I was advised on my initial tour of Sydney that if I wanted to eat out in Chinatown that you can go to the food courts which are below the street and get food which is basically of the same quality as the restaurants but cheaper. Not really feeling the need to splash out I took this advice and had one of the Best Chinese Meals I've had in quite a while. BBQ Pork with rice dish, highly recommend these food courts at least once, probably a lot more!

Not the best weather and still a little tired so just decided to chill out and explore a little bit. This little bit of exploring ended up me lost out of town for about three hours before I managed to find my way back to the very end of one of the main streets… 45 Minutes from my hostel! When I eventually made it back I decided to head up and try and get rid of jet lag for good…

Cut to this morning and I'm still waking up at 6am! Oh well you can't win them all. Spent a little time sorting out my web stuff and I'll be heading out for a tour of the beaches with the Hostel later. I'll let you know how it goes soon…

If you plan on working on your travels to Australia then you will definitely need a Permanent Australian address. The address will be required for things like setting up your tax file number, bank account and if you qualify for medicare. If you have friends or family in the country this could be a little easier. Otherwise for those of us that don't and have to travel between many different locations there is an answer.

A company I discovered in Sydney can actually provide you with an address for your time in Australia.They charge you $50 for the privilege but if you can find someone to register with you then this is lowered to $45. This is marketed as a special deal for couples but you do not have to be in a relationship. In fact when I registered I just signed up with a guy who happened to be applying at the same time as myself.

The beauty of the address they provide is that it is unique t you and can be  used for the duration of the trip. But Also you are notified whenever post is delivered so that you can pick it up from thier office or even have it forwarded to a specified address of your choice i.e. your hostel or similar even if you are on the other side of the country.

If you are interested in this service then you may find the details here.

If you are planning to work in Australia you will need to get yourself a Tax File number (TFN). Not only is it compulsory but will bring the tax that you pay down from 49% to a slightly healthier 27-29%. Even as a non-resident if you are working it is a requirement to pay tax. There is some light at the end of the tunnel though. If you are going to stay for over 6 months then you may able to claim some of this tax back. I won't go into the details in this article but do know that it is possible and might give you a reason to stay a little longer.

Back to the topic at hand. Getting an Australian TFN is not that much trouble. In fact if you are reading this online now you could be applying for one within 10 minutes or even less. Your application is made online and should only tak 10-20 minutes. Below is a guide for sorting your TFN(Correct as of Nov 2007):

1. Visit www.ato.gov.au and select "Apply for Tax File Number" under the Individuals menu.
2. Select Online individual tax file number (TFN) registration and click apply.
3. After reading the information presented on the next page press "Next" until you can begin the application.
4. Enter all of your details and provide a permanent address within Australia. (If you don't have one Click Here for the Service I use)
5. Once this process is complete then you may print of the final page as prrof that you've applied. From this point it will take between 2-4 weeks for the TFN to be sent to your permanent address.

You must keep the document that is sent to you as it is an official document and may be required for legal purposes or claiming tax back etc.

Wake Up! The hostel that I'm currently in runs a Sydney Orientation Walk on  Wednesday morning and as it happens my first full day in Sydney fell on the same day. Perfect timing.

We all gathered in the hostel lobby just before the 11AM start and I got chatting to a few people. Shortly after the two tour guides met up with us and we began. I won't bore you with the full details but it was great fun. We got taken around Sydney and give information on the best locations and their history and current usage.

Even if learning about Sydney isn't your thing if you are a solo traveller I'd recommend taking this tour or something similar. It is a great way to meet people and I'd probably spoken to over half of the people on this guided tour by the end of it. At the end everybody headed back to Wake up! and headed into the bar for a Free Beer! What more could you want…

…In my case sleep! I was still very jet lagged at this point so I arranged to meet a couple of folks from the walk later on and headed up to my room for a couple hours sleep. The walk and beer had taken up 5 hours in total and the best part was that it was all absolutely free. Yet another great reason to stay at Wake Up! for your introduction to Sydney.

I met up with the guys that I'd got chatting to on the walk later on and we all headed down to a place named Scruffy Jacks or something similar. Steak and a beer for $10. You can't go wrong! A few jugs of beer later we took a walk down to Kings Cross where one of these guys had been recommended a bar.

After much walking we arrived at Empire. The stink as you walked into this place was foul but I believe this could be a one off. That evening there was a surf competition going on(much like a bucking bronco but whilst standing on a surfboard. For this you had to remove your shoes and socks. Not a good mix with drunken travellers. The one plus to this place is that we all got Free Pizza! Note to self: When money runs out this is the bar to head to ;p

Got talking to a girl in Empire who said that a club called Dragonfly might be good. So we all headed off in search of pastures greener. Only once in my life have I been more let down. We walked in to find one Chinese woman in the centre of the dance floor "dancing" in a way that can only be described as walking back and forth.

At this point we gave up the ghost with Kings Cross and headed back to the Hostel bar where there was live music and people actually dancing. I stayed for maybe an hour or so before heading off to bed. Overall not bad for a day that started at 6am completely and utterly jet lagged.

I can't recommend Wake Up! enough for people that are new to Hosteling in Sydney. It may not be the best, I haven't explored fully. Though it has won awards for that very matter. The truth is though it is a very clean and safe feeling environment for when you are just starting out with a load of activities throughout the week that get you talking to people even in a state of complete tiredness.

Until Next Time,

Daniel McClure

After a weekend with far too little sleep and far too much flying I've finally made it to Australia! Sydney to be precise. Let me tell you having only flown a maximum of 2 hours at a time in the past this was a whole new experience for me. There were films and food as standard. Long gone are the days I used to spend as a budget traveller.

If you're looking for comfort they had it all! The problem was even with all of that I still found it hard to relax on the plane and in 23 hours only managed to get 1 hour of sleep. I watched more films than I would care to mention and the food schedule was truly confusing. I felt like a glutton and seemed to be eating every few seconds. They do this, I know, to try and adjust you to the local time of the place that you are visiting.

I finally found out the stop off after checking in. People have been asking me for months where it was and I haven't had the slightest clue. We only stayed there for an hour. I spent the whole of that time walking backwards and forwards like a mad man… Anything to escape the monotony of an entire day in the same seat. In fact there even came a point where I was looking forward to my next toilet break so that I would be able to stretch my legs a little.

When we were finally approaching Sydney the air crew got a message through that there was congestion at the airport and that we would have to circle a local race track for a while. Exactly what I didn't want to hear but hey. We spent about half an hour in total being able to feel the plane go round in circles whilst watching a distant flight screen as my In Flight Entertainment unit had been shut off.

Touchdown in Sydney! By this time I was far too tired to truely appreciate this point but was happy to know that I'd arrived and a small grin arose upon my face. We moved into the airport and went through customs. I was really expecting this to be some huge ordeal especially with all the restrictions that are placed on people even going on holiday for a week but it was really simple for much of the process. I filled in a landing card on which I had nothing to declare and from there my passport was checked and a working holiday visa label stuck to the inside of my passport.

It was dark but very warm upon leaving the airport. and the shuttle bus I was told to get was easy to find though a little less official looking than I'd expected. Some random guys just tell me to wait with three others and runs off to find a van. We all pile in and are taken to our destination. I tried to make small talk with these guys and failed miserably. I think I was in far too tired a state to communicate properly. They were doctors if I remember correctly though and on the way to a convention.

I recognized my hostels building as soon as we began to approach it from the pictures on the Internet. It seemed very surreal actually seeing it in real life after all the excitement planning this moment for months. Check in was smooth and the reception was so nice. I am so happy with the accommodation I couldn't be happier in fact. This is one area I've been slightly worried about as I have always had my own room and had visions of sleeping in a dirty room with some old man with malaria next to me or something.

Wake Up! Sydney There were a few reasons this made the shortlist. Main things being that these guys offer free assistance setting up Tax Files, bank accounts etc and even run a free orientation morning for guests. Not only this but they apparently have one of the best bars in the city and I had heard of them previously in my research. I assure you the bar had no sway on why I chose this hostel for my first week in Australia

I met the guys in my room. A six person dorm with three lads and two other girls. Even through my over tired state they seemed like friendly people. An English guy, two Danes and the girls were Norwegian I think though they seem to be slightly better adjusted to the sleeping patterns so I haven't spoken to them as much.

I have rarely had such a hard time sleeping as I did on this night. Everybody had warned me about jet lag, of course I knew best and wouldn't get it! Unfortunately this turned out to be a fantasy and to this point I've still only had 4 hours sleep. So please do excuse me if I seem to ramble more in this post than others.

Cut to my first morning, though I try in vain sleeping in is just not an option so I head down and sit with the Danish guys for breakfast. A well deserved egg and bacon roll with a Hazelnut Mocha. Pure bliss! We are all planning on going to a "Sydney Orientation Walk" with the hostel though what that actually includes is anybody's guess. I have also found a leaflet that offers Free help getting your Australian Bank Account tax file and similar. Everything is looking good. From what I've seen so far there really isn't that much of a need to go with a gapping company unless you really just can't be bothered planning it yourself. Nothing seems to challenging so far though I havn't entered the job circle yet.

So here I am sitting in The City Hunter Cyber cafe in Sydney writing to you all. I've finally made it the months of waiting in anticipation and I'm here. In the following days, weeks and months the story will unfold. The world my friend is truely mine!

Until Next Time,

Daniel McClure

Finally found out my stop off…