September, October, Movember

Familiar faces in an unfamiliar heat

Written by

Dieter

Published

December 5th, 2019

In

Sydney, Australia

You're right. It's been too long.

The good news is, I haven’t been eaten by a spider. And almonds haven’t killed me either (you did pay attention last time, did you?). So you can safely put those fears away. In my defence; the combination of living the dream, making enough money to support it, creating qualitative content for the blog, discovering Australia, getting my body ready for Summer, and curating a gentleman’s moustache is not to be underestimated. Was it worth the wait? I’d say so. But I’ll let you be the judge of that. So get comfortable, pull up a blanket or two (for my fellow Europeans), put the fan to the maximum (for my Aussie friends) and put on your swimmers, because we’re about to dive right in!

September

I know it’s not a competition. But if it would’ve been, my family would’ve easily won. As they are clearly the best family in the world. It had been 165 days since I had seen them, but they somehow had managed to track me down, hop on a plane and fly to the other side of the world to see me. Thanks to their early arrival, they missed my perfectly drawn “Welcome, best family in the world”-sign and, even worse, no tears were shed (although I was fully prepared to go for it).

Luckily, their discomfort vanished easily as I showed them around the city, made them wake up early to show them countryside Australia, and forced them to stay up late as I took them dining in Chinatown. And by now, I’m pretty sure they’ve also forgiven me for the bird attack they so graciously walked themselves into. Although it didn’t feel like I hadn’t seem them in so long, it was a real pleasure to see them amazed by the many trees, scared of the dirty ibis, overwhelmed by the ridiculous amount of choices in a Chinese menu, and blown away by the cuteness of baby kangaroos on the beach. Watching them struggle (and fail) to open the famous pie-ketchup was almost as funny as hearing them try (and fail) to pronounce Kuring Gai Chase National Park. I had a blast, and it felt weird and sad to say goodby to them again after their visit.

More September

Around the same time, my contract at Club Med was nearing its end. And I had not nearly as much money on my account as I had hoped for. What followed was a classic horror story all job hunters go through; boy expresses sadness due to lack of extension of contract, boy gets advised of job opportunity by co-worker, boy has interview at this new company, boy is hired immediately. You read that correctly. The only actual question I was asked during the interview was “When can you start?”. Easy as. Within 24 hours I had learnt of (and landed) another job with a better pay, less responsibilities and more spare time. Once Club Med found out I was leaving, they also suddenly offered me an extension of three more months. Was this really the same city where I had unsuccessfully looked for a job for five weeks? It was a valuable lesson in trying not to worry too much about the future, as things tend to go unexpected ways anyway…

So now I’m working for a restaurant group, taking calls for all their venues – making reservations, helping people find their lost property,… It’s not a very grateful job (if you received a pizza when you ordered a pasta, you’re entitled to insult the person on the other line, and call him the worst person in the world, right?), but it pays good money.

October

With my family gone, the weather decided it could finally start getting better and warming up a little. Spring had arrived! This provided the best opportunity to go explore everything New South Wales had to offer.

The first trip took me to Wisemans Ferry. Hidden in a valley two hours northwest of Sydney, you could only reach it via a winding hilly road. It’s a tiny village, with beautiful vistas and hikes around. And the local pub has excellent fish & chips!

The second one took me to the Blue Mountains – again. These “glorified hills” as I heard someone call them recently, are only a two hour drive away and offer so many hiking opportunities. Looking to avoid as many tourists as possible, I chose a tougher track that would involve going down 900 stairs. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever been that impressed with a walking track before. The views were literally breathtaking and so incredibly beautiful (pictures don’t do it justice). Sure, the Ardennes are nice, but they’re nothing compared to the vast ancient cockatoo filled landscapes this mountain range has to offer. Walking through the rainforest by myself, with no other people in sight, and where every slight rustle could mean venomous snake or worse, was admittedly pretty scary. But life starts where your comfort zone ends, right?

More October

The 8th of October marked the exact 6 month-anniversary of my arrival in Australia. Since my enthusiasm about doing farm work hasn’t changed yet, that day also meant being halfway of being kicked out of the country. Where, before leaving, I was partly afraid of the adventure and convinced that I wouldn’t last longer than a couple of weeks, I now started dreading the day it would come to its necessary end. But a glass that’s half empty, once was full. And it’s been really delicious (like espresso martini-delicious). Below is a little flashback, aptly titled Right Where I’m Supposed To Be. Just make sure the sound is on!

Even more October

This past couple of months have seen almost more “firsts” than I’ve had seen in my entire life before coming to Australia. First time living in another country, first time owning an SUV, first time seeing a wombat, first time camping on my own, first (and last) time eating Vegemite. And near the end of October, I also celebrated my very first spring-birthday. Waking up was slightly disappointing, as due to the time difference, most of my friends and family didn’t realise it was my special day yet. But it was clear the sun had thought about it. It was a beautiful day with almost no clouds and a wonderful warmth. The first activity was a cruise along Sydney harbour with complimentary tea and coffee – and some old Australian lady that told us all about the history of the city. I was the only one that wasn’t an American or Australian pensioner, but because it was my birthday the cruise was free – so I didn’t complain (something about a given horse…).

Next on the list was a visit to the zoo, that only costs you $1 on your birthday. And they even got me this awesome badge! It was Monday, so it wasn’t too crowded, and I saw so many animals. Even the rare and seldom spotted platypus. Did I stand there looking at it for thirty minutes with my face pressed against the glass and my eyes twinkling from excitement? Yes, I did! To top it all off, I had dinner with two of my best (and only) friends in this city. It was such a perfect day.

The celebrations were still not over yet, as I had to celebrate with the other half of my best (and only) friends in this city as well. So I dressed up and met them at a rum bar where we tried all the cocktails on the menu, ate three bags of banana chips, smoked cinnamon sticks, and took so many flash-lit pictures that the eyes of all the patrons in the bar must’ve been hurting from the light. I’m most definitely turning 27 again next year!

November Movember

You read that correctly. Movember was the perfect excuse to start doing one of the few things my body is actually good at; growing facial hair. Where donating money for good causes isn’t really my strong suit, being quite in need of it myself, I planned on grabbing every opportunity, and every mocking comment about it to talk other people into it. Very soon, however, it turned out all attempts would be futile. Because contradictory to my entourage back home, Australians seemed to love my mo. For real. So instead of the expected jokes and mockery, I received compliment after compliment (even words like sexy and majestic were used). I’m afraid my good intentions turned out be failures, but I can promise you that my self confidence has received some serious boosts. So it wasn’t all for nothing, I guess?

I also reunited with the friend who basically convinced me to come to Australia. After he made me fall in love with Melbourne six months ago, it was my turn to show him Sydney. Crazy to think how we met a little over a year ago in a bar in Brussels, and just now casually strolled alongside the Sydney Opera House – on the other side of the world. If somebody would’ve interrupted our drinks in that bar, and told me that this would happen, I would’ve told him he was crazy. So does this mean I’m the crazy one?

More November

Talking about crazy, it clearly runs in the family. To celebrate his 18th birthday, my cousin decided to go wild, and fly from Brussels to Sydney, spend about 26 hours over here, and fly back to Belgium. In order to avoid any more bad family-reviews, I made sure to be on time at the airport this time. So I spent my Sunday morning in the arrivals hall, amidst a bunch of drivers holding up signs – one more ugly than the other, and none as pretty as the one I made for my family – but I wasn’t late! When he finally arrived, I took him on an express guided tour of the city, which included the Opera House, a ferry ride, a bushwalk, Happy Hour beers, a bus ride over the Harbour Bridge and some tanning on Bondi Beach. All in all a very nice short little weekend!

Even more November

After having lived next to it for almost half a year, I finally decided to drive the 300kms down to Canberra and spend the weekend there. Halfway through however, my steed started to heat up more than she should. I checked the engine, called my roadside assistance and after they confirmed it was just a small irregularity, continued my path. Yet, a couple of kilometres later, her temperature went so high up that I had to get off the road and call the roadside assistance again. The guy they had sent the second time could only call for a tow truck, since Alexa refused to start. So my weekend away ended 400kms later, and one day earlier than expected, at a mechanic near my place. When he mentioned that it was just a case of “bad luck” and how much it would cost me to make her roadworthy again, I felt myself hitting the lowest low since I arrived. It’s only money, but after having spent a more than decent amount to fix up some other issues, I wasn’t ready to spend half of my earnings on her again. I’m not on my way back to Belgium, in case you’re wondering, but I got pretty close to giving up. All thanks to a bunch of “It could have been worse” and the help of some of my friends, I made it through.

Alexa has been repaired in the meantime, but I’m still having a hard time fully trusting her. So if you happen to be around a church or a winning lottery ticket the coming weeks, please light a candle for her (but by all means, don’t use that ticket to light it!).

December

Ending on a more positive note, with some pictures of a beautiful harbour track I did in Sydney Harbour, and a picture of my name in a Belgian newspaper. That’s right, they don’t have snow or cold around the holidays here, but they do provide an all day long fireplace-smell, including atmospherical orange light, throughout the city! No seriously, there’s good days and bad days, but there’s no immediate concerns for my safety (apart from burning lungs and eyes) – which is still a treat, compared to what other people in this country currently are going through.

My car is fixed, Summer has officially begun four days ago, and I’ve got a date with Tasmania later this week. Those three unrelated things mark the end of this post. Please pray my trip to Tasmania doesn’t end like the one to Canberra did, and, as always, let me know how you are doing! Love, D.