We flew with Cathay Pacific (very recommended airline) via Hong Kong where we stayed for two days to break up the journey. Very worthwhile splitting the trip by stopping in Asia if you can afford it, as it helps reduce the jet lag and its a fantastic place to visit. I've been to most of the big stops such as Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Hong Kong and they are all awesome (the first two are considerably cheaper though). We had pre-booked a private room in a hostel in Sydney for a full week so we could get settled in and have a secure base from which we could work from etc. The hostel was Billabong Gardens in Newtown, mainly chosen for location as Newtown has a huge subculture community and some great bars and lots of vegan food. Guess its worth noting that this is our second trip to Australia (first back in 2007) and so we purposefully chose to stay out of the backpacker realm of Kings Cross and Bondi Beach since we'd 'been there, done that'.
As we had been to Sydney before we didn't need to rush off and pack in all the tourist sights. Our main plan was to find work as soon as possible. We had applied online for our Tax File Number before we arrived and had it sent out to the hostel. We also made sure we had our CVs printed out and bought an Australian sim card for our phones straight away. A great deal for smart phones is to get the Woolworths Optus pre pay sim which gets you a lot of credit and also 5gb of internet data for $29($27 with a Woolies card). We had already contacted a few places for work before coming, which we were interested in working for, but if you are not particular in what you want to do, the best place to look are on Gumtree and seek.com.au as there are hundreds of jobs posted on there everyweek. Hostels will also have a noticeboard for work opportunities and of course just walking into a place and enquiring- if you've got balls.
My partner Micheal was very fortunate in landing a job within the first week of arriving, at Funky Pies, a wonderful all vegan pie shop/cafe in Bondi. Perfect for him since he is a vegan chef!
Since he landed the job first we decided to centre our search for accommodation within reasonable distance of Bondi beach. Again we used the convenience of Gumtree which is great for searching for rooms and apartments for lease. However we did find it a bit tricky being in a couple, most flatshares only wanted a single in the room and obviously some people were a bit put off by our appearance and lifestyle. Luckily in the second week we came accross a large share house not far from Bondi Junction which was owned by the family next door and rented out to backpackers, usually for a 3 month lease. The room was large with two beds put together and best of all it was ensuite with a huge bath and huge built-in wardrobes. We paid a bond(deposit) of 4 weeks rent and got a signed receipt for this- don't ever give over a bond without paperwork!
I work in theatre arts, and having worked in the props department of Scottish Opera for 4 years in Scotland, I was delighted to be offered work at the Opera Australia props department. Really an absolute dream come true, and on the day before my birthday too!! Needless to say I had a great celebration on my birthday. For this we decided to do the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb- not cheap by any means but totally worth it.
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| Looking totally hot in those jumpsuits! |
We headed to the kitsch Luna Park after the bridge climb, Sydneys' iconic historical amusemnt park. I totally loved the vintage posters and ricketty rides and it makes for some great photographs.
I can't remember what we did for dining out that night, but I'm pretty sure it will have involved some vegan food in Newtown and lots and lots of Coopers Pale Ale! I will do separate posts on Sydney vegan eats and good bars.
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