Its been a few days since I have updated the journal. I have been pretty busy every day since.



Today, I just got the last of my paper work done - my bank card! Yay, now I can use the atms to take out money, or use eftpos. Today was also a killer day at work for me, I didn't get out until about 1:30, so my boss said I could come in an hour later tomorrow morning which is good I guess. I don't have any plans today, just to update the journal and post the pictures from my amazing time last night.



My plans for this weekend are finally coming together. It tunrs out that a whole gang of us are going. The same gang that I went out with last night. I told them I was going to the Blue Mountains this weekend, and they thought it was a great idea. Tonight and tomorrow night are going to be the big planning nights, get together and find out where we are going to stay and what we are going to do.



So what about last night you ask? Well let me (re)interoduce you to the people I have started to hang out with. There are three other people: Fiona, Jason, and Anna. Fiona and Jason are a couple from the UK and Anna is from Isreal. We all decided to go do something after dinner, so we headed out for a walk to the Botanical Gardens - we never made it there, got somewhat lost. We arrive at this bar in the part of town called "The Rocks". This place was amazing! It was packed (and this was on a Tuesday Night) and the atmosphere was really cool. It also had a hotel on the upper floors as well as conference room. So we stayed there for about 2 hours all the meanwhile chatting it up. We then decided to head up to the Opera House to take some pictures.



The shoppes and restaurants along Darling Harbour, The Rocks , and Circular Quay are the most beautiful things at night. Since the weather here is warm all the time, everything is so open. The patio and the inside of the restaurant are one ententy. In most cases more of the restaurant is outside than inside. I just love the way the landscaping and lighting look at night. The pictures do not do justice to actually being there. I think what also adds to this atmosphere is the fact that most plants that are here are tropical. So they look more lush and vibrant, plus they never die!



Anyways, this is a shorter entry. I hope you like the new pictures. I am also lookig for a place to stay, next journal entry (before I go to the Blue Mountains) will be all about my search.

This is going to be a super long entry, so grab a cup of coffee and sit back and relax



Let's start of with what I did last night. A bunch of us were sitting down in the kitchen, just talking about how different each country is and stuff. Here is a run down of the characters:



Fiona and Jason are a couple from the UK. They have been here for two months so far, and are leaving in four. Nice people with a great sence of humor.
Cole is my roomate, from Isreal. He is a little on the weird side, but not so werid that he freaks you out.
(H)anna is also from Isreal. A pretty talented girl as well. She can speak English, Hebrew, Dutch, and French. She is pretty funny, not as uptight as Cole - she also thinks he's weird.



We all decided to go to go to a bar at Cogee beach. Brenden offered us his car. What he didn't tell us was the condition the car was in. This thing was a peice of shit, it had this permanent smell to it - it was just sad. Everything was backwards, the spedometer didn't work and it rattled pretty badly. The only good thing was that it got us to where we needed to go.



Everyone had a few beers, I just stuck to coke. We also played some pool, it was Fiona and I against (H)anna and Jason. For some reason Cole was being weird again, so he was no where to be found. By this time it was about 1 in the morning, so we decided to head back home.



On the way home, we stopped for pizza and started driving around to find a place to park. We drove, and drove, and drove. Finally Jason pulled up to a police man and Fiona said "Is there any place we can park legally here?". Being the prick that all cops are he shouted back "NO!". So we decided to get Brenden to help us find a place. He knew the perfect spot. So we followed his directions to a private underground parking lot. We came to an intercom and heard a "Hello Mate!". Brended got out of the car and pressed the button (he has had a few too many drinks himself): "Eva's One-Four-Three". The man replied "Uhh, that's the wrong number". Brended repeated "Eva's One-Four-Three". "Sorry mate, wrong number". So we pulled out and spent another 10 min trying to find a spot to park.



On our walk back to the hostel, we had to climb up a set of stairs. These stairs connected to two streets together. The hostel was in the next block over, but it was much higher up. On the way up the stairs we encountered an opossum (yes, the correct spelling is with an "O"). They are really cute looking, but dangerous. They have really sharp claws, and if provoked will attack people. They are actually considered to be a pest in Australia. Their claws are so sharp that they tare off the bark on the trees, killing them. I wish I had my camera to take a picture of it, maybe next time.



So that was last night, what about today?



I got up at around 9:30am by a call from Kristen. She just wanted to say hi and to tell me to come online. So I got up, took a shower, got some food and headed over to the internet cafe across the street. It's pretty cheap, $2 per hour. I can get free internet because of work, but I don't have a phone line that I can plug my modem into. After I talk to Kristen for about an hour, and reply to email, and post the new pictures I decided to head back to the hostel. The other Canadian dude was there, so we talked for about 2 hours. By this time it was around 1 pm, so I decided to head out to Manly Beach.



On the way to Circular Quay, the train stops at Martin Place. I decided to get off at that station because I wanted to take pictures of Martin Place. Why you ask? Well, Martin Place is where they filmed a part of the movie The Matrix. If you remember the scene when the main dude is training and they are walking down the street, when that girl in the red dress walks by? Well that was Martin Place. The thing was that it was being used by a lot of people. Something was going on - a Greek War memorial thing. It must be rememberance day for the greek soldiers. I took some pictures anyway, and you can see them in the photo archive section of my site. In anycase, I headed back to Circular Quay.



I hopped on to the ferry, and headed for Manly. The wharf for the ferrys are right next to the Opera House. So I was able to take snaps of it along with other neat stuff in Sydney Harbour. Which, by the way, kicks ass. Here is my goal in life right now: Live on the coast of Sydney Harbour, either in Sydney or Manly. Own a skidoo so that I can zoom from my house to the city without having to take a ferry. I will have a killer view, and I can go scuba diving or skidooing in the harbour anytime I want.



The ferry ride was about a half an hour, after that I headed for Manly Beach. This beach is reputedly(sp) the best beach in Sydney (only after Palm Beach). I would have to agree, this place rocks hard. I bought a nice cold mint chocolate chip ice cream cone (which was $4 by the way) and sat down in the shade. No matter where I looked, palm trees, grass shade! This place was so leafy and cool. You can see some pics in the photo archive as well. I spent about two hours walking the streets and buying some stuff for Kristen. I didn't find anything for my parents, and I am still looking for a Didgeridoo. After my shopping I headed back, I didn't take any pictures this time, because I had everyones head in the way.



By the time I got back to the hostel it was almost 6 o'clock. I had my dinner, then headed up to the roof with my camera. I wanted to take a picture of the sunset against the skyline. I was a little too late, but the picture still looks pretty good. (Hint, take a look at the photo archive).



All in all, this was a pretty good weekend. Sunny and warm, I was finally able to get out and enjoy the Australian weather. Tomorrow, after work, I am going to call this tour company that had an ad on one of the walls in the hostel. For $50 you get two days and one night in the Blue Mountains. All expenses payed, food and admission to the park. Transportation is included as well. I have only been hearing great reviews about this company. And its perfect because I get back Sunday night!



I am having a great time here... I am already planning my skydiving adventure. I am also sorta planning my trip to Alice Springs, to see Ayers Rock.

Today was a pretty uneventful day - it started at 12 pm. I didn't get up to early, it was the weekend so I decided to sleep in, nice eh? My cell phone is working great, and I can accept international calls... whee! If you want to call me (which would be nice) my details are in the updated "contact me" section of the page, do try to remember the time difference if you want to speak to me and not my voice mail.



I took care of my laundry today, so now I have some nice clean clothes. In the picture of me against the skyline, I was in my pj's waiting for my clothes. I asked Wataro if he could take a snap of me. I am going to try to take some pics of me with other people I know. Some targets I have in mind are the fellow Canadian (can't remember his name), the three girls from the UK.. Jo, Beth, and Nicole (I think). I am also going to take a picture of my room, so you know what it's like to share a room with four other people. Humm.. my power converter is making a really loud buzzing noise - not good!



The clocks go back an hour tonight. I think the oppsite happens in the Northern Hemisphere, so the time differece should remain the same. If not, then keep an eye on the welcome page about news of the different time difference. If in doubt, the time on my website should remain correct even with daylight savings time ending. So that means it's going to get dark at 7:30 pm instead of 6:30. Nice... but I wish it got dark at 9:30, like it will be doing soon back in Canada.



I just had a great idea, I might go to Bondi Beach and take some snapshots of the sunset. Now I hope the sun will be setting in the direction I am predicting otherwise this wont work. In anycase I am going to go to either, Bondi , Manly, or Cogee beach tomorrow. While I am at it, I might as well give you a little lesson on how to pronounce these names:



Bondi = Bond-EYE


Manly = Man-lee


Cogee = cou-gee



The Australians prounounce I's hard, all the time. Like the name Nokia is prounounced (by aussies) as knock-eye-ah. Wiggy indeed.



My power transfermer thing is buzzing even louder now.



Work has been good lately, it's so nice getting payed $300 a week, yet only working 15 hours a week. The whole delemma of me working full time and staying in Sydney plagues me every day. I really want to stay here, and if I can get a work visa (which is pretty hard) then I probably will. The hardest thing for me would be to let go of Kristen. She is the only thing that is stopping me from staying here. I guess it wont be so bad if she can make it here during her summer break. Then we can say goodbye for good. I really do want her to come here. Her mom said it was ok, she just has to get a job to pay for her plane ticket. I agreed to help her out by paying for half of it... so I will have to save up $1k. I think it's worth it though. It will only take me three weeks to save up. If she can't make it, then I will probably use the money to either purchase a car, or find a better place to stay.



Anyways, I better get going. Going to start planning my trip to Katoomba (the Blue Mountains). Hope you like the pictures! Trust me they can only get better :)

Hello Everyone!



I got payed today... nice indeed. I did have some trouble cashing the cheque though, these Aussie banks are wiggy indeed. Firstly, interest is calculated daily, but it is only payed out monthly. If you owe money to the government because of taxes, they can take it from the interest the bank owes you. Secondly, you cannot cash a cheque that has been drawn on another bank. So in my case, I use Westpac, but the cheque was drawn on a Australia National bank cheque. Normally I would have to go to a Australia National bank to cash it, but this cheque says "Non Negotionable" on it, which means its for deposit only. Dumb eh? So what I ended up doing was depositing the cheque, then withdrawing the cash.



I took the money and got my self a nice pre payed phone. I am going to put the phone number on my contact page as soon as I figure out if I can receive incoming international calls. Otherwise, it's just for my use for people here in town to get a hold of me. Since it is a GSM phone, I can do some pretty cool things with it. One I can see if I have e-mail wating. I can send e-mail to anyone, I can get other info like weather and traffic reports. I can even send ICQ messages to people.. sweet eh?



So while the phone is charging, I am going to do some laundry. The laundry facilities are on the roof of the hostel, so I don't have to go very far. Its $3 per load, which seems a little expensive, but then again a lot of things are here. Like my cell phone is charged in 30 second blocks at $0.50 / 30 seconds... eeek! I am so used to paying $0.10 / min. Chcoloate bars are expensive too, $1.25-$1.40 is the norm. And gas (petrol) well, the cheapest I have seen was $0.98 / litre. I get about $255 / week from work, so I can manage to stay here indefinately. I also spend about $40 a week in groceries. A cool thing is that the deadline to file for taxes is July 1st. So when I file for my taxes I will get everything back because I will make less than $5 100. So in the end everything works out great!



I havn't been able to get a hold of Lisa... so I am giving up. She was supposed to get in touch with my via phone/icq - that never happened. I am going to call her cell phone and leave a message stating my NEW phone number. That way she can call me when she feels like getting together. It would seem like a waste of time even to come here if I don't see her, since like I have known her for three years.



Everything is still on for next weekend. I am going to do some research as to places to stay, and costs of tours and such other wonderful things. It's sunny outside now (yet a little chilly, about 15 C), so thats always good. Just hope the weather stays this good all week long.

I am soooooo bored right now, so I decided to head on to the net - what else to do?



Work today was pretty quiet, so I had a chance to catch up on some e-mails and talk to Kristen. Finished up my food, so I have to go food shopping tonight. I do have butter, spagetthi and some cheese left. I need to get bread, sauce for the spagetthi and some cold cuts for sandwhiches. Also going to get some soup as well as some fruit. All in all I have been keeping up with healthy eating. Speaking of which, I went into McDonalds yesterday. They have something called a McOz (yeah typical) burger. It's like a quarter pounder, except it has beets in it. I don't know how throwing in some beets makes it Aussie like, but anyway. They also have a line of foods called McCafe. Where they sell cakes and cappucionos (sp) and stuff. Actually the carrot cake isn't that bad, at least they use a real creamed cheese icing.



Tomorrow I am supposed to visit Lisa - yay! She said she was going to get a hold of me via ICQ when I am at work tomorrow... I highly doubt that is going to happen. So I am going to give her a call tomrrow after work. I don't know what we are going to end up doing. Probably go out to dinner and chill with her boyfriend and stuff. As long as I get to meet her I am happy. While I am there I am going to talk to her about places to stay. I know she wanted to get an apartment or something, so maybe we can split a place - doubt that will happen. I am going to take some pictures of us together, so they should be up this weekend.



I don't have any plans tonight, I was going to go out and take some pictures, but it just started poring rain out there. I mean like really coming down - just started. Looks like its another day/night at the hostel... wheeee!



I called Kristen today, and I am going to call my parents sometime next week. I havn't gotten any e-mails from them in a long time, so I hope the internet is cool overthere. They are totally lost when I am not around to help them.



Maybe I am will go to the post office to see if my tax number has arrived. Humm.. I think I have some laundry to do as well - tasty!

I know I know.... where are some pictures with you in them? In anycase, the following entry is pretty long... which is going to be an indication of entries to follow - nice and long.



Today it rained again, and according to the word on the street its supposed to rain all week and weekend, oh poo! I posted two more pictures. I was bored that day (and as you can see) it was raining so I took some snaps of the most famous corner in the Cross. There are actually 4 differnt roads that interesct here. The picture is looking down Darlinghurst Rd. (the one with all the strip clubs), to the left is Victroia Rd. (the street my hostel is off). To the far right is Bayswater Rd, and below me (I was on a bridge) is William St. The second picture in the series is looking down William St. towards the CBD, also know as the Central Buisness District (or downtown).



Work has been good, I have started working on the webpage while I am there. The phone isn't ringing off the hook, so I have some free time to write some e-mail, talk on ICQ and of course work on the company webpage. I really like only working the three hours in the morning, that way I can do neet stuff in the afternoon. Speaking of which....



After work, Joanne and I went down to Sydney Aquarium. Joanne is from England, so she has that funky English accent, she has a great sence of humor though. I am definately going to get a picture of us two together sometime soon, before she leaves. Anyways, it was about $15 to get in and we saw some pretty cool stuff. Half of the aquarium is outside, but still covered so the rain didn't bother us. They had the usual fish of course, but the coolest thing was the sharks. You go outside then head down some steps, the next thing you know you are underwater. Now I am not sure if this is a tank, or just a spruced up ocean bottom, but it was pretty beautiful down there. Jo and I spent about 45 min under the water just admiring the sharks. In one of the tanks back on land, they had my favorite fish - the puffer! You know the ones that blow up like a ballon when they are scared or threatened. In anycase, I was trying to get one to do that, it never happened. Guess they are used to all these weird humans staring at them through glass. After that we walked a few blocks to the Centerpoint Shopping Centre. There we had lunch, then took the train back to the hostel where we vegged infront of the television for about an hour. I don't know whats going to happen tonight, someone was talking about Karioki (sp), so we might go there. Apparantly there is a $1 000 prize to the winner - that would be nice in my pocket.



I have two postcards to send out. One to Krista Wells, she sent me her address via ICQ and the other one to my parents (oops). I totally forgot to write them one. I had everyones address in my palm pilot. So I assumed that was everyone I had to write a postcard to. Then I realized the reason why I didn't put my own address down was because I know it. I am going to mail those out tonight, just to get them out of the way.



So I didn't come to Australia to hang out in a hostel for a year - here is what I have planned for the next month or so:



Next weekend (April 1st Weekend) I am going to be heading up to the Blue Mountains. There is a town called Katoomba at the base of the mountains is where I will be staying. "The image most associated with the Blue Mountains is that of the Three Sisters, a trio of towering stone blocks crumbling away from the cliffs down into the dark blue-green velvet of the silent Jamison Valley below". Nice eh? The town is a little touristy, but I am only there to sleep. Most of the time I am going to be spending hiking around the mountains. The main attraction that I want to see is the Three Sisters. Legend has it that the father of three daughters that was at war put a spell on them to turn them into rock to keep them safe during the war. The father was killed in action, and the three sisters are still as rock waiting for someone to break the spell. Sounds pretty cool eh? Since its about 150kms west of the city, you get killer views of the sunset and the stars... *drool* I also want to see the Blue Mountains, so called because of the eucalyptis (sp) oil in the air, giving it a nice blue coloured smog. It's supposed to be good for the respiratory tract :) All this is going to happen from Friday night, to Sunday Night. So I only have one full day, but the two half days should make up for lost time.



Within the next month or so (Next two pay cheques), I am going to go skydiving. Here is the deal: I fly from Banktown Airport, which is about 15 km south west of Sydney. Cough up the $250, fly up to 4300m, strap my self to my instructor, then plummit to my death. The view must be amazing from 4 kilometers up in the air. I wonder how long I will be free falling for. One crappy thing though is that I can't bring a camera with me to take pics on the way down. I will definately get someone to snap a photo of me while I am all suited up and getting ready to jump. I am excited already - I think it will be great.



I don't really have any dates for what I have planned next. What I think I am going to do is work for three months. Then head up north to Cairns, where I can go scuba diving in the great barrier reef. I will probably spend a few weeks there (or longer if I can find a job) then head west to Darwin. From then on, I really don't have a clue as to what I am going to do. I might head south to Alice Springs and take a look at Ayers Rock (Uluru to the natives). Then again I might do that instead of heading up to Cairns.



I am having a great time so far, getting to meet new people (yes, yes, pictures coming soon) and having a blast together. I still miss Kristen and the rest of my family a lot. According to Jo, that will dissapear soon :) Sounds cruel I know, but I really don't want the homesickness to hinder my trip. I also want to thank everyone who has been coming to my site on a regular basis to read my journal and sign my guestbook. Please let me know when you get your postcard.



Expect some great photos this weekend, otherwise you can come down here and shoot me.



Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I was talking to Kristen today via ICQ and she was saying how she might be able to visit me during the summer time. All she has to do is save up $2000 for her plane ticket, and her mom will pay for the rest. Nice eh? So if she can get her butt down here for a few weeks that would be AMAZING! I have so many ideas of things to do with her when she's here, this place is a real romantic country, you just need to know where to go.

Rain rain, go away, come back again another day!



Been raining for the past two and a half days, but I did start my job. So thats good :) I am writing this journal entry from work. Been a quiet day here. I got a hold of Lisa via ICQ actually and we are going to finally meet on Friday.



Other then that I don't have any more plans. Going to take some pictures either today or tomorow. The rain puts a hinder on most things. I do know how you guys want some more pics so I am definately going to take some.. and this time with me in them :)



After work, I am going out with my fellow collegues for lunch. So that should prove interesting. The hardest thing is getting used to how things work around here. The fact that there are only 5 people on staff makes it great to get things done. There is not this big corporation and paper work you have to go through, like Clublink.

I have some really good news! My job interview was a sucesses, and at the same time I got a mini tour of the city from Andrew. The interview was conducted in the always nice Royal Botanical Gardens, which by the way, has a great view of Sydney Harbour. I hanged out with him for the whole day, and just came back from seeing a movie (The Hurricane).



Here is the story: The company I am now working for is called First Link Internet. A small company that has been around since '95. I would be doing tech support in the mornings as well as doing some web design - two things I love to do. The pay is great and if Andrew is an idication of the rest of the staff that works there, the staff is really nice.



SO what do I plan on doing tomorrow? I think I am going to head back to the botanical gardens and take some pictures. I will also be posting them up on the net, so stop complaining about me not posting pictures! I am also going to finish up writing my postcards to everyone.



Things can't get any better... I have a kicak ss job, I am in a wicked city, the weather has been great. I am just soo happy. One thing that I do miss though, is Kristen. I wont be seeing her for a while now since I have a job. If I can get a work visa, then I don't think I will be returning home. I really want to stay here.



I found out an interesting fact when it comes to flushing Sydneys toilets. There are two push buttons. One does a full flush, while the other does a half flush. I am assuming that you only use the full flush, for those really big droppings.

WHat a flight. Being sick doesn't help as well. In anycase I arrived in Sydney fine and dandy! I would like to thank everyone who signed the guestbook, and yes Rob. Pictures are coming soon, probably later tonight. My hostel is nice, quiet and the facilities are good. Private bathroom and the room has 2 bunks who I am sharing with some really nice dudes:



Cole is from Isreal, and is 24. He is doing the same thing as me, staying a year and trying to find work.



Wataro (sp) is from Japan, and is 20. Can hardly speak English, but a nice guy overall. He also has a working holiday Visa. Staying a year as well



There is this other dude, but I didn't meet him yet... a lot older, like in his thirties.



SO what am I doing tomorrow? I have to file for a tax number, and call that Internet Dude. I also tried calling Lisa today, but there was no answer, I am going to try agai n later tonight. It would be nice to meet her finally tomorrow or something. I am also h eading into the city tomorrow so will take some pictures. This cyber cafe I am using is looking for help, so I am going to apply tomorrow as well.



Overall things are going nicely. I am a little scared on what this place is goin g to look like at night. WIth all the strip clubs and all, but I think I can manage. No different than wa lking on Yonge St.

I am writing this entry from the good 'ole London, England. It's overcast, and light drizzle is falling. My flight was pretty crappy, some stupid German bitch who couldn't speak english was sitting in my seat and I didn't have the heart to kick her out.



Is about 9:30 am London time, and I still have another 12 hours to kill before I have to head back to the airport for the dreaded 20 hour flight to my final destination. Which I am really looking forward to.



I took some pictures, going to take some more later today. I wont be able to upload them until I get to Sydney... or someplace that will allow me to hook up my laptop to their Internet connection (Lisa?!?! :)) Things look weird with the traffic being the way it is (on the other side of the road). "The Tube" is pretty cool, most of it is ouside though.



Now if I can only find someplace to sleep!