The past week I’ve been trying to take it easy. The drink or two I went for last Sunday turned into more like a drink or eight, then got asked to come to work on my day off the following day. That wasn’t fun. There’s been a fair bit of work over the past week, 46 hours over five days then this coming week is meant to be the busiest week ever with me working over six days. Every day bar Sunday should be around the ten hour mark, but I’m expecting to be put on at least a couple of 15 hour shifts.

Today I had a driving lesson which went alright – I think I just need a few more hours on the road and then I can take a few trips around Victoria. Around/after Christmas I’m hoping to do some trips to Phillip Island and the Mornington Peninsula, but I don’t trust myself to drive back from a wine trip to the Yarra Valley.

With Christmas coming up, we’ve had some Christmas music blaring out of the kitchen. Thankfully not the kind of music I’d be listening to on the radio, but instead I’ve had Mr Hanky the Christmas Poo stuck in my head a fair bit. With the hot weather last week, the kitchen hit the 35 degree mark, the same as what I was planting melons in. It’s meant to piss it down the whole of this week, then we’ll get some nice weather next week.

I’ve decided that I’m going to take a trip, probably for around three weeks, around some of Eastern Europe, and also Iceland before I bugger off to Asia for a long term trip. Last year I had two winters, so it’ll be nice to have two summers next year.

From now until Christmas I am working a lot more than usual, so not really up to much.

Last week I managed to burn my forehead at work, but besides that and the amount of Harry Potter comments I received, my new job is going pretty well. The job is getting prepared for functions and dinners so definitely not so stressful – I’ve had a fair few comments now from friends about how chilled out I seem compared to a couple of months back.

Apart from work, I’ve caught up with some friends – been to a rooftop bar, some places around the city and to a friend’s place. Last weekend I went out for “a quiet one” and ended up going to bed at 4pm the next day – it took me a good five or so days to recover from that one but was well worth it. During the week I saw a friend who’s going back to the UK next week so was nice to have a catch up and to have dinner in China Town with her before she goes and I’ve also been to the pub a couple of times as well. Yesterday, I went to a Spring Festival Market in Ballarat with some friends which was really nice, today I’m meeting a friend in the city for a drink and tomorrow I’m just going to chill.

 

I’m halfway through a 11 day workweek.

For Monday, I said I was going to be a tourist for the day. I woke up at 1pm so that wasn’t really going to happen. Went to the CBD instead and did some shopping for when/if it becomes summer this year. It looks hopeful though, as today and yesterday were pretty hot. Tuesday, I started working with a friend of mine who I worked with last year which has kept me busy for most of the week.

Wednesday was my second shift at the races and it was actually quite fun. For the first time since March I had to put suncream on before my shift, for which I worked at an open bar and thankfully not planting melons. It’s fun until you realise how you wish the roles were reversed – drinking at the open bar instead of working for it, but it was a nice workday. And I went home and cracked open a beer so it was all good. My social life is actually starting to pick up now as I have a fair bit of time outside of work.

As I have a lot of time off, I’ve been wondering what to do with myself as I don’t want to go back to just working and sleeping. There’s a rock climbing place around the corner which I think it’s aimed at children; despite the fact that I am still sore and bruised to shit two days later it is pretty good and I can make it up to the top of a few of the walls so I’ll be making a habit out of it.

After finishing work today I thought I’d pop to Abbotsford Convent and the park nearby – I didn’t stick around for long as I’d get sunburnt but it’s definitely a place that I’ll visit on a day off and not in black skinny jeans.

Seems like summer is finally here ☀️ . . . #travel #solotravel #backpacking #melbourne #australia #summer #traveller #backpacker #travelblogger #travelphotography

A post shared by Sarah (@onewomanonebackpack) on Nov 11, 2017 at 11:34pm PST

For the week ahead, I’m working every day until Saturday – I have the next few evenings off so I’m going to be out for a couple of them at least. Thursday morning I may climb up a few walls again before work, Friday I’ll chill before work and I’ll find something to do on Saturday.

Had a few nice shifts last week – Monday I came home from Tassie, Tuesday I had off then worked straight through to the weekend, having Sunday off and spent the evening down the pub. It’s been one of the weeks where I earn enough to cover rent/food/wine and to put some money away, but I’ve gotten myself a second job working for a friend – it means not many more days off for the rest of the year but for sure I’ll be able to take January off and to put some money aside for Asia.

I also managed to finish watching Stranger Things on Netflix. It took a good couple of days commitment but was bloody good.

The plans for January are the Australian Open and to see the Foo Fighters and Weezer. I want to do a roadtrip from somewhere in Western Australia to Melbourne, driving Adelaide through to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road, but anyone who has seen me behind the wheel would know that I need some lessons. Summer would probably be the worst time to visit Uluru but at least I won’t be planting melons in that heat, then I might go to Tasmania again but we’ll see. Between January and the time my visa expires, I want to do a trip to the Northern Territory then visit Port Douglas and the Whitsundays when the weather is good.

As it’s public holiday tomorrow, some places in hospitality pay you extra to work certain hours and days, resulting in a 100% chance of me being off tomorrow. I have a few things in mind as to what to do as I probably should do something other than sleeping but it just depends on the weather.

This week has probably been the week that’s put everything that’s going to happen until January into place. The job hunt has been successful, I’ve settled into the house and drank a fair bit of wine.

I was looking to work with the agency again but as it’s winter they’re not busy so they’ve said to look elsewhere and to keep in touch just in case. To cut a long story short, I got a job which I’m so impressed with – it’s a really respectable position in a great restaurant, the team seem to be great and I know I will be able to save a decent amount for travelling next year. It’s a lot more professional than my previous jobs – more responsibility than what I’ve been exposed to before. It seems now that the places that I’ve worked previously are starting to get me noticed and the placements and work experience that I did when I was younger are starting to pay off. My hand is still buggered from a drunken injury from a few weeks ago – will probably take a fair few days to finish healing so the next few days will be interesting.

Today, I worked a shift that I saw advertised on Facebook. It was a short shift in a cafe, not difficult at all and really laid back. I’ve mentioned before that my job pays well out in Australia, especially in comparison to the UK. I would’ve been happy with $20/hour and was expecting around $22. It ended up being $50/hour; I seriously thought they were bullshitting me at the end of my shift. This time in Melbourne I’m going to be a bit more grown up with my money; todays shift is enough to pay for a flight to Bali and still have money leftover.

Outside of work related things, I met up for breakfast with one of the girls who I met in Ayr and had a 50 day Snapchat streak with. It was really nice to see her and to be able to shit-talk about Ayr. When she’s in Melbourne for a while we have plans to get pissy on a wine tour of the Yarra Valley together which I’m excited for, we’ll probably do a fair bit together. Tonight I think I’m going to go out for a couple of beers, but as I start a new job today this literally means a couple of beers and nothing like the average night out in Ayr.

It is so cold here.

So on Wednesday last week I flew back here. It’s a long story but a few of us figured out that our money-grabbing hostel owners owe us a fair bit of money which quite conveniently took far too long for them to sort out. So now I have to keep in contact with Ayr to see if I can get like $200 back. Cheeky shits.

I spent the first night here in the same hostel as before; apparently I’m dubbed as the “super guest” as I’ve spent a lot of time there. My first full day I looked at a flat I had arranged to see last week. It didn’t look too bad on the internet, however, the only way I can describe it is something that I really shouldn’t say on the internet. It was a two bed apartment, there was no living room because there were two beds in it – the size of the two bedrooms and living room was comparable to my studio flat in London that just housed me, and this flat had I think twelve to fifteen people living there. Absolutely no chance was I going to live there.

After returning from the CBD to St Kilda, I had a look on Facebook and had arranged a flat viewing for the same day, and I’m living in it now. I’m sharing a room with two other girls, I think there’s around twelve people living here which is alright. If I were living out here full time, I’d like at least my own room, but this is better than what I’ve been living in over the past five months.

When I was younger, a girl in my year 5 class moved to Australia, and I have her as a friend on Facebook. I messaged her in the airport the other day, she invited me to stay the night round hers and have a few (several) drinks with her partner and neighbour. It was great to see her, a bit strange to hear her accent, and to find someone that can swear more than I can. I enjoyed the night and we’ll be meeting up again.

Apart from that, I haven’t done much over the past few days apart from going to buy some winter clothes because it is so bloody cold. I’m talking cold as in I wouldn’t be surprised if a penguin walked through the front door and made itself at home. One of the things that I’m looking forward to seeing in the CBD is the Wallace & Gromit expo, though it is on for a further three months so it’ll probably have to be done on a Tuesday or something in the middle of August. There’s also a Van Gough expo at NGV, but I won’t pay $30 for it.

There seems to be no work available for me this week which is a pain in the arse, and if I don’t get a phonecall on Friday for work, I’ll have to start looking to get a job in a restaurant nearby as I can’t afford to sit on my arse and not get paid for it. It’d cock up my plans for going to Japan next month if I do that, but will have to wait and see what happens.