Day 31 – Sunday 5th December - “Goon”

Woke up with an absolute horrid hideous Henry hangover of hell. The headache was so bad, it could have only have been due to one thing…..Goon.

It was the first time I’d had a real Goon session. Goon is infamous amongst travellers in Australia; it’s a cheap ‘wine’ in a box for $10. Cheap as chips, fairly horrible yet tolerable. It has the power to get you incredibly drunk for cheap, hence why travellers drink so much of it. I imagine it’s not very good for your body in general either. Maybe might even take a few years off your life. I don’t make a habit of drinking it that often; especially after the hangover it’s served me. Didn’t get up in the end until 1pm.

When I had sorted myself out a bit and got myself in a better state we said about going down to the jetty because the weather had picked up again. Just before we was about to leave we remembered that we were meant to be moving rooms today to a 6 bed dorm just one room down the hall so that it could fit Me, Aaron, Lesley, Hannah & Jess all in. The new room is massive, so much bigger than our last room and seems much cooler as well. Lots more windows facing outwards, which’ll mean it will be louder but that doesn’t really bother me because I’ll sleep through it.

The jetty was a great chance to air my hangover; going in the sea woke me up a bit also. Played ball in the sea as well. 

Day 30 – Saturday 4th December - “The boys all looked like idiots”

Togas

I went to bed pretty late so didn’t wake up until quite late. Put the cricket on and dossed about the hostel as usual.

Aaron & Lesley had gone out to get the material for tonight’s toga party to celebrate Hannah & Aaron’s birthday.

Even though I hadn’t done anything for the day I felt so tired. I was working on a chilled out mix when I suddenly fell asleep whilst doing it. Had an impromptu kip which did wonders before having to get ready to go out.

When everybody got back from work and town we all got making our togas. Predrinking at the same time, it was a good laugh. When we were all ready we headed downstairs and gathered everybody to do a cake for Aaron & Hannah.

We all looked jokes, the boys all looked like idiots to be fair. Very airy attire. Danielle had sorted us all out with a VIP area at the club called The Gaff.  As a collective we got some strange looks. It was a really good night. When we all walked back to the hostel from The Gaff when we got some even stranger looks.

Day 29 – Friday 3rd December - “I’d totally forgotten that it was a Friday”

Didn’t have much to do today apart from wait to hear back from Foxtel hopefully. The 2^nd Ashes test from Adelaide started today so that seemed to be the majority of my day sorted.

The day was getting on and I still hadn’t heard anything back from Foxtel yet. It was a bit disappointing because I had kind of half expected to definitely get the job. Oh well!

Basically watched the Ashes all of my day. It had been such a great start to the game for England as well.

At 6pm I got an unexpected phone call from Foxtel, I was very surprised but I’d got the job. Training was starting Monday morning.

I’d totally forgotten that it was a Friday. Me & Aaron decided we should definitely go celebrate. We gathered up everybody and we headed down to a local pub called The Old Fitzroy. Had a great night, the pub has a really English feel to the place. Especially as they actually served pints unlike most other places around Sydney.

Day 28 – Thursday 2nd December - “I had the most legible accent out of anybody there”

Woke up to the sound of my alarm going off at 6am, only to be also confronted with quite an odious hangover.  I’d had to set it for that early to wake Aaron up so that he could go meet his mate Lesley from home who was flying in to Sydney today. I threw a few books at him but he didn’t give off much response. In the end I was happy that he was up and going out the door so I went back to sleep.

Only to find later on when I woke up for real that he had actually gone back to sleep again and then arrived an hour late to meet her. Clown.

When Aaron finally got back I met Lesley and then Aaron said about watching some Idiot Abroad. I watched it for a bit but then I had to get ready and shoot off to this last minute job interview that I’d signed up for doing door to door sales for a company called Foxtel. It’s obviously not my favourite choice of a job but I’ve done it before and I did pretty well at it when I did it, plus I need money.

I had to be there at 3:15. Decided to leave stupidly early because I wasn’t too sure about how to get to Burwood (out towards Parramatta and the Western Suburbs) or how long it would take either. Turned out that it was actually quite simple. Just had to get a train to Central then change to a train where the first stop is actually Burwood. Easy as pie.

When I got there I met another candidate who told me that he’d heard it was going to be a group interview. That’s not cool. Hate that sort of pressure.

When everybody had arrived it was pack-out. Room full of about 50 very multicultural candidates. Had no idea how many spaces for jobs they had going but it certainly did pile on the pressure somewhat.

The bloke running it gave his half an hour bit about the company, the product and then most importantly the pay. The base of the job is basically the same as the job I did back home but it seems a little more organised and involves a brand that already speaks for itself whether it that be positive or negative rather than a new company like where I worked beforehand.

Turns out Foxtel is basically SkyTV but rebranded out here. All the equipment looks exactly the same. Even a lot of the content is British.

During the interview we had to stand up and say a little bit about ourselves, including our history with sales. I told them exactly how it was, I’m English (I was the only one) that I’d basically done this same job back at home before so I would be perfect for it.

We don’t find out until tomorrow whether we have the job or not. Obviously I would say this but I think they’d be stupid not to give me the job. I’d done the job before and I had the most legible accent out of anybody there.

To be honest I wasn’t really sure what I made of the job on first impressions. The fact that its only $40 a day wage and then commissions on top of that makes me a little sceptical about making money at all.  I’d happy to give it a go though. We’ll see what comes of it.

Hannah text me on the way home about doing a BBQ. What a country.

Day 27 – Wednesday 1st December - “Deli, $10 Steak, Beer – Consistent link to each day”

Aaron & his Presents

Today is Aarons 22^nd Birthday. When I woke up he’d already gone to work so didn’t even get to say Happy Birthday.

Today also being the first day of December it was time to see what was behind door number one on the advent calendar. Jess had bought me & Aaron one each. I got a chocolate tractor just to let you know. Seems insane that its now December and its so insanely hot still. Just doesn’t feel right to my body.

Had some left over Dominoes for breakfast in bed. Lovely stuff.

Advent Family

I went downstairs to see what everybody else was up to. Jess wasn’t feeling the full ticket so was having a day off work. Nobody else was around so we had a brew and then went and got a Deli Sandwich.

The Deli is incredible, it’s just like Subway, but a million times nicer. I always get Chicken Schnitzel, Bacon, Cheese, Lettuce, Mayo & Sweet Chilli. It comes to about $8.20 which is like £5. Pricey but mind-blowing. Its run by Russian/Polish women, I’m becoming a bit of a regular now, she knows what I want even before I walk in. Took a walk to the shops afterwards, Jess needed to get some things and I needed to get some contact lens fluid.

Sat about in the hostel for a while until Aaron came back. Wished him Happy Birthday and then went and Skyped home. When everybody was back from work we got ready and went over for a $10 steak for Aaron’s birthday. As per usual the steak was a dream, can’t go far wrong. We stayed for a couple of drinks but then everybody that had work the next day went home. Danielle (Entertainment Manager) had brought the rest of the hostel over for the night out in the club level above Sugar Mill. I wasn’t even aware that it even existed. Me & Aaron stayed in there all night. Had a really good night. Drank far too much beer though.  

Day 26 – Tuesday 30th November - “I need to start eating healthily soon or I’m going to be a thousand stone”

Another absolutely diabolically lazy day. Its almost like I’m starting to turn into what I was like back in England. I must have been sitting in the kitchen for about 4 hours or more.

I ended up finishing 3 minimixes in that time and also talk to everybody around in the kitchen. One advantage of a day like this though is that I was already extremely far behind with my mixes so now I’m back up to scratch again.

When Aaron got home from work he suggested getting a Dominoes Pizza. Dominoes Tuesdays is a bargain. $5.90 for a Medium pizza. Considering I had no other food I couldn’t really turn it down.

I need to start eating healthily soon or I’m going to be a thousand stone.

In the evening we all watched some episodes of Idiot Abroad. Such a funny series. Can’t get enough of Karl Pilkington.  Also watched a couple episodes of Spooks before bed. 

Day 25 – Monday 29th November - “He wanted $100 for it to be done”

Again today I didn’t really have anything to do. Jess said about going to the City to get presents for Aaron’s birthday on Wednesday because it was her only day off. I’d been thinking about going to the City anyway so that I could get my iPhone unlocked.

I was still feeling rough and spaced out. I really want to feel better by now.

We ended up buying Aaron some flip-flops (or as they call them here, Jandals) and also a wallet. Two things that he doesn’t currently have. Afterwards we went to Myer (which is basically like a Debenhams) Jess bought a toy for the little girl that she nannies for, for her birthday.

I found a place to unlock my phone but he wanted $100 for it to be done. I said no way mate I’ll go elsewhere. After walking around for a bit I found another place that would do it for $45 at the cheapest. That wasn’t too bad but they wanted to keep it for a week and I wasn’t keen on that.

 

When we got back to the hostel we’d all said about going to the cinema to see the new Harry Potter film. We weren’t back for long before we had to shoot out again to meet Hannah & Bex who had just finished work and were meeting us in the city.

Got a KFC before dinner for ease. I said I wouldn’t eat fast food again because I’d been eating so much of it lately. It’s so hard when socially everybody else is though.

The cinema was really plush. It was actually good in the sense that the room was actually dark, the volume was loud, and the seats were big and didn’t fold. Unlike back in England where health and safety has got the better of a good viewing experience it seems. The film was really really good. Annoying now though because I really just want to see the last part of the series.

Day 24 – Sunday 28th November

Lazy day today consisted of watching the Ashes for a large portion of the day. We saw Colin and quizzed him about last night’s antics. He did not remember a single thing. The last thing he remembered was getting into the minibus back at the hostel to go to The Gaff. When we were in The Gaff we saw a man buy him a drink so we were all thinking that maybe he was spiked because he really didn’t drink that much.

Unintentionally in the afternoon/evening we watched both Ali G In Da House & Borat.

Day 23 – Saturday 27th November - “It reminded me of being 15/16 again in the local Greyhound pub”

Jetty

We didn’t really know what to do today until midday when somebody suggested going down to a jetty in Rushcutters Park. Some of the girls in the hostel had already been down to it in the week and said how good it was.

It wasn’t too far to walk to but although it wasn’t one of the best days of weather we’ve had it was still really humid.

The jetty was really choppy because it’s just a floating walkway. It was starting to make me feel quite seasick. Got in the water which was fairly freezing, but it wasn’t too bad after a while of being in it.

We swam out to a little dingy in the harbour until we started to take on too much water. Considering it wasn’t our boat, we didn’t want to sink it so we scarped.

Headed back to the hostel at about 5 just in time for the BBQ. It was a little later today because the geezer cooking it had woken up late. We were absolutely starving already so some people went to get a McDonalds before 7 o’clock.

Jess & Hannah wanted to go to a BritPop night near Central tonight. I wasn’t particularly keen considering it’s not my sort of night or music. I said I would anyway.

We all went to a club in Kings Cross called The Gaff first with the hostel. The hostel has its own Entertainment manager who is our mate Danielle, so she had sorted us out with free transport for everybody and 2 free drinks as well when we got there. Can’t say no to a free pre-drink session.

Dinghy

I actually really liked it in there. A lot of people call it The Gash as it’s meant to be a bit rubbish but I was having a good time. Especially as I’d worked out how much bigger it was than I had thought when I had been there before. It had a massive basement dance floor that I had no idea about.

Jess & Hannah’s room mates Brett & Colin came with us. When we were ready to leave to go to the BritPop night we’d lost Colin somewhere. Brett rang him and we eventually found him outside pulling people off the street to listen to 2 random busking boys. He was trying to convince them to give money. He was off his face drunk. We dragged him into a taxi and we were on our way.

Both taxi drivers were absolutely clueless about where we needed to go. We had no idea either so it’s not like we could have helped.  After a lot of walking and confusion we finally found the place. To be honest it looked like an absolute shit hole out in the middle of nowhere.

Colin was in front of me in the queue and posed absolutely no chance of getting let in. To nobodies surprise the bouncer made him stand on one leg. Standardly, he fell over.

From the moment we set foot inside it was truly awful. There were so many people around that I hated. I couldn’t have been any further away from the type of music and people that I like. It made me sick to think that I had spent $10 to get in and all the money on taxi’s etc just to hate it.

Me & Aaron decided to make the executive decision to leave, cut our loses and go back to The Gaff to try and salvage the night from disaster. I felt bad for scanking the others but I really wasn’t enjoying it. It reminded me of being 15/16 again in the local Greyhound pub on Thursday nights for Jam Sessions.