Thoughts on the End of the Season

Before I went to Sydney to visit my friends at the beginning of September I did consider not returning to the mountains. There was a severe lack of snow and I wasn’t sure how much longer I would have a job for on my return. A few things made me decide to return: 1. I was promised that there would be some work for me on my return 2. I had promised my manager I wouldn’t leave until she told me to and 3. I wasn’t ready to leave the friends I had made there. I loved spending time in Sydney with my friends but I knew they wanted and needed time to explore it on their own so leaving them wasn’t as hard as you might think. On my return to work I got to catch up with my friends and it was great to see them again as I did miss them even though I was only away for a few days. I can safely say I am glad I went back to finish the season.

Being one of the last people to leave the snow is very odd. For one thing there wasn’t much snow left. In our last couple of weeks we wore shorts on our days off and on one memorable occasion spent a few hours sipping wine on our balcony in shorts and t-shirts soaking up the sun as if it was a summers day instead of early spring near the snow fields. Sadly the lack of snow meant an early end to what had been a pretty poor season snow wise but pretty awesome otherwise.

I took the job in the mountains because it paid. It was something to do for three months where I would have a guaranteed income, accommodation and be able to afford some half decent food and eventually some half decent wine. I didn’t go up there with any expectations I really was just passing the time of day until I went to Melbourne in the spring. Luckily it didn’t stay that way long. I made a number of good friends during the season and actually enjoyed my time working in the snow and enjoyed my time relaxing away from the snow even more.

Strangely one of the things I liked about staying until the end was that I got to say goodbye to people as they left. Usually I like to be the one leaving but it was nice to see my room mate off on the bus; though that could have been because I knew I was seeing her in a few days. I enjoyed seeing everyone outside of work and just hanging out. In my final week I worked only 2.75 hours. I was meant to work 3 but I was 15 minutes late as I had been out the night before. Typical me that I wait until my last week to make it to the local night club and that it makes me late for work on my last day. Luckily I wasn’t really missed hence it being my last day. I did try and clean but there wasn’t much for me to do and I was happy when my lovely manager told me to go home and not come back, especially since we were allowed to stay in our accommodation for the weekend.

Nothing momentous happened during my stay in the mountains and I still miss Jonathan every day. There was no big flash of light or loud voice from the sky but somewhere between arriving in Jindabyne and leaving it I have lightened up. I am interested in my life once more and curious to see what I can do with it. When I arrived there the thought of having to go home terrified me but now it doesn’t. I know that if I have to go home I’ve had a good time out here and I have learned a lot about who I am. I also know that having started to travel here I would work two jobs day and night and save, save, save so that I can travel more! I have well and truly caught the travel bug and thought I am sad to be parting with the friends I have made whilst I am here I am once more looking forward to the next part of my adventure. Tallyho, as some friends of mine would say ;-)

Sharing Sydney

Before I came over to Australia many friends told me how they would love to visit me and a few of them even said they’d try. Well Australia is a long way away so you can imagine that I wasn’t counting on anyone coming over whilst I was here. Which is why it was so extremely awesome that one of my closest friends’ partner was asked to speak at a conference in Sydney and even more awesome that my friend decided to join him for two weeks afterwards for a holiday. Obviously they were anxious to have a holiday together as they have both been working very hard over the last few years but they were able to share a few days with me as I travelled up from the Snowy Mountains to see them.

I am slightly embarrassed to admit that though I spent six weeks in Sydney when they asked about things to do I was rather at a loss. The opera house, aquarium, tower and bridge came to mind but in hindsight I spent an awful lot of my time in the hostel just passing the time with my friends. This time though it was completely different. With only two weeks to see as much of Sydney and the surrounding area as they could our day together were much better organised than I had been.

On my arrival we went to find me some food as I had been on the bus for seven hours. From our afternoon snack we headed to the botanic gardens with a bottle of wine to toast our reunion and watch the end of the sunset. We had planned to watch it all but choosing the wine and finding some plastic glasses took us longer than anticipated. We then made our way to Darling Harbour to meet up with a friend of mine from my previous stay in Sydney.  I really wanted us to eat there at least once as I love Darling Harbour; which I am sure makes me very touristy indeed but I don’t care, I think it’s fabulous. After dinner and some more wine it was time to call it a night as it had been a long day for all of us. However I was distracted on my way to my hostel room by another old acquaintance from my previous stay. One of the nicest things about being in Sydney was getting to say hello to the people who made my arrival in Australia so fabulous, though on this occasion I was struggling to string words in to sentences more than usual so after a quick hello I headed off to bed.

Day two was supposed to start with me doing some necessary shopping but my body seemed to realise I was on my day off and decided I would sleep in instead. After a lovely long lie I met up with my friends again and we headed in to the centre of the CBD in search of sushi for lunch and a touristy wander round the various shops and arcades. My friend and I then headed to the Chinese Garden of Friendship without her partner who decided his hayfever would probably be better if he avoided the garden and headed to the aquarium instead. I must say as much as I like my friends partner it was nice to spend time with just her and the surroundings were beautiful. We spent over two hours exploring the garden fitting in tea and scones at the end of it and much girly chat along the way.

Garden well and truly ‘done’ we then went to find my friends partner at a brewery pub he had been keen to visit. My friends had kindly bought us tickets to go to the observatory in the eveing so we walked to the Rocks where we visited the Lord Nelson Pub before having the most delicious meal at Fish on the Rocks. The best thing about dining with close friends is that we were able to sample on anothers meals so I can confirm that every dish we had was as superb as the service. At the observatory we checked out some amazing night photos from a recent competition before heading our side to get a tour of the Southern sky which of course included pointing out the Southern Cross which I had so far failed to recognise. We were then introduced to a 150 year old refractor telescope which was kept in mint condition and worked perfectly allowing us to have a look at the moon before we moved on to a less retty but more powerful newer telescope. Sadly the clouds were moving in on us so we opnly had time to look at one binmary system before it was tio cloudy to see anything. The tour ended with a few short 3-D presentations which turned out to be much more interesting once we realised the polariser in the projector was the wrong way wrong and turned our glasses round to compensate.

My third day in Sydeny with my friends started early as my body clock seemed to be stuck on the idea I was only allowed one long lie a week. This allowed me plenty of time to pack and do some much needed shopping before I had to check out of my room. Check out complete I stored my bags and headed to Circular Quay where my friends and I took a very scenic ferry ride to Parramatta. I was very excited to be going to Parramatta as my room mate is from there. On arrival we decided to wander until a nice place caught our eye for a hot chocolate before heading back towards the centre and the train station.

We caught the train to Town Hall and went to the Queen Victoria Building for afternoon tea, an experience I highly recommend. The surroundings were pretty enough but it was the afternoon tea that made it worth the visit. Tiny delectable cakes and rather large scones with proper cream and a mind bogglingly large selection of tea and my friend was in heaven, as was I. I am always surprised at how filing afternoon tea is, even though we finished everything it was a struggle and none of us felt like eating much for the rest of the day. Though still relatively early the sun was getting low in the sky so we walked to the Shangri-La and took the elevator to the bar at the top. We didn’t quite make sunset but we caught the end and stayed for one drink to enjoy the view of Sydney harbour by night. Lovley though the view was we didn’t feel it was worthy of more than one expensive drink therefore we wandered slowly up George Street towards the hostel managing to stop for one last leisurely drink along the way. However as all good thing do my time in Sydney was coming to an end. Before I knew it we were back at the hostel and I was waiting for my bus and it was time to say goodbye again. One overnight bus ride later and I was back in Jindy with just enough time to get home showered and get ready for work exhausted but with some fantastic new memories of Sydney to get me thought the day.

Checking In

Well it’s been a whole month since I last posted so I thought I should pop in and say hello. Really though there isn’t much to say though no doubt I shall use a lot of words saying it.  I am still working six days a week though my social life has more or less disappeared due to me catching a cold a few weeks ago which turned out to be a bit of a stubborn bugger. I am only now feeling more like my old self though I am glad to say I only lost my voice for a few days. I know that the folks back home will be gutted to hear they missed the chance of laughing at me as I tried and failed to speak in anything louder than a whisper for almost three days.

For me the last couple of months has really been about the people I’ve met rather than the things I’ve done which has made it rather hard to blog as I have a no gossiping about my friends policy which definitely extends to this blog. I can say I am still loving hanging out with my friends and still enjoying my ration of daily hugs at work. My room mate and I continue to stay on good terms despite occasionally working alongside one another as well as living in the same room and sharing a bathroom.

On a personal note I realised that as well as almost missing one friends wedding, actually missing another friend’s wedding not to mention a wedding anniversary and a few birthdays I also missed my own blogs birthday. I thought that I started blogging last August but it turns out that it was in July so I well and truly missed that boat. I cannot believe that I’ve been blogging about my random adventures and plans for over a year now!

I did write up a ‘proceedure’ of what I do every day as I am about to take three days off but I am fairly sure there is something in my contract somewhere which would mean I would get in trouble if I posted it, which is a shame because I was really tempted to edit it and post it here for your amusment. For anyone interested think of MacDonalds but more expensive with alcohol, better food and nicer surroundings and your more or less there as to what I’ve been doing over the last two months.

That’s my ramblings for now. I am off to Sydney tomorrow to meet up with one of my closest friends who is over with her partner for a holiday. Hopefully I shall be posting again sooner rather than later to tell you about all the fabulous things we managed to squeeze into two and a half days but until then, ttfn (as my mum would say).

What a Month

So it’s been a fairly interesting month. On the surface it’s been fairly standard. I’ve been working a lot racking up the hours in an effort to save as much money as possible for the next part of my Aussie adventure. Work has been fairly consistent: I’ve been training new people every week as apparently I’m a terrible person to work with and I keep scaring them off and it’s been busy enough that the days pass quickly. I did get one really good person but the poor girl got appendicitis and is now off work recovering.  On the up side because none of the floor staff will stay then woman in charge of the deli section has been stepping in and she is fabulous. Therefore I have no worries about being off for the next two days as I am sure she can do my job better than I can.

Outside of work life has been a little strange as a little stressful. We’ll start with strange. Normally I don’t like to socialise with the people I work with. I like having a work-personal separation but here if I stuck by that I wouldn’t have any friends at all therefore it’s unsurprising that I have become good friends with some of the girls I work with. They are all younger than me which is weird because most of my friends back home are either the same age as me or older. They are all completely lovely and it is nice that I have been getting almost daily hugs at work though as I said, strange. Also there was an ‘inquisition’ in my section recently as peoples curiosity finally got the better of them and I was asked questions about my private life so I told them about Josh which was a bit awkward but it’s nice as now I can mention him occasionally without feeling too awkward. My new friends and I have been out a few times in Jindy since I last posted. We’ve been for dinner a couple of times and out drinking once or twice. Mostly I’ve been taking it easy as I am tired after working and I would like to save as much money as possible whilst I am here.  The strangest thing about life at the moment is that it’s more like ‘real’ life and not like a backpacker life at all. I pay rent, I have friends, I cook almost every day and on my days off I clean and bake. Also it’s very cold and I am living in jeans and jumpers so it’s like being in the UK except  without all my wonderful UK friends and family. It’s a lil’ bit weird but it’s all good and I am enjoying it which is a lot strange considering how much I work!

OK so that was the strange now the stressful. As I said work is fine, now I’ve come to term with the fact I’m not indispensible. It’s stressful to be on the other side of the planet from your friends and family when things happen. I knew it would be hard but I don’t think I understood just how hard it could get. I thpught I would be sad to miss all the birthdays and other occasions and I was but hard as it was to miss these expected occasions nothing prepared me for finding out that my dad was going in to hospital. It turns out he had a growth on his bowel which they are pretty sure was cancerous. If it sucks to miss the good times then there isn’t a word to describe what it’s like to be so far away when you know your family is suffering. All I wanted to do was get on a plane and go home and be with them. I didn’t though. This is my new dream and there is nothing I can do at home. At home I am an unemployed bum here I am a backpacker on a great adventure. I came out here to get away. I couldn’t live the 9-5 life so I thought to come over here whilst I still could and have a look. What I have discovered is that I love to move around. I thought long and hard about what I would do if the prognosis wasn’t good and I am sure no-one would be surprised to know that I knew if it was bad I was going home. Fortunately it looks like he’s going to be hanging about for a good few years yet so I’ll keep wandering a little while longer.

The UK will always be my home and it remains my final destination but I know now that I love to travel. I am saving as much money as I can because I know that If I don’t then this will all be over and I’m not ready for that yet. It may be crazy but as well as aiming for my second year visa here I’m already considering applying for the New Zealand one. If NZ works out well then there’s Thailand and Japan and Asia and India and Canada and I’ve always said I’d love to go back to the USA, I think this could be a good life if I can make it work. I love travelling. I love meeting new people and hearing their stories even when those stories don’t always have happy endings. You all know about my friend who died recently well today is his funeral. Today we say goodbye and I am sad because I wish I could have known him longer but I am happy that I knew him at all, even if it was just a little bit for a little while. RIP Sam x

Snowy Snowy Mountains!

I’ve been in the Snowy Mountains for almost a month now and am settling in nicely despite the fact that I have picked up the inevitable round of winter colds. At work I’ve been moved from the floor into the kitchen. Not the kitchen proper thankfully but just the front service counter where I am chief pie lady. Yup, I serve the pies and nachos. It’s not very exciting or difficult but at the end of the day I feel like I’ve earned my money and I can leave all the pies behind  for the evening and head home to enjoy a quiet night in front if the tv or laptop. I’ve still only got two flatmates but we are expecting more tomorrow and I have been repeatedly threatened with a roommate of my own though one has yet to appear. One advantage of being chief pie lady is that I am now working six days a week which should be good for the ol’ bank balance. Also good for the bank balance is my unwillingness to venture out in to the cold even if it means going to the pub, and unwillingness helped by my winter cold I’m sure. At this rate I’ll be able to make it all the way to WA without finding another job!

You’d think that working six days would mean I would be lazy on my day off but in typical Lynne style I managed to keep busy on most of my days off. I think it is a diversion technique as though I would like to explore Jindy more it’s very cold out there and doing chores inside and baking muffins keeps me toasty warm. I have made it to the cinema a couple of times and there are tentative plans with some friends to look for a decent restaurant and head there for dinner one night so I may pick up a little bit of a social life yet. For now though that’s all I have to report. Obviously staying put is nowhere near as interesting as moving about so I’ll probably blog less often over the next three months but I’ll be sure to check in if anything interesting happens along the way. At the moment the most interesting thing I have to report is that though Jindy is still snowless we have real actual proper snow up the mountain at Thredbo where I work!