Christelle in Australia

October 18, 2004

Baking a Cake and Planning a Trip to Canberra

Yesterday, Sunday, was a slow day. It was not nice weather outside so I did things inside: TV, Internet, etc. At around 13h, I went out to browse at a few shops. I really love A2B, click here to see their website. They sell clothing, bags, travel accessories, etc. Their items all have a special touch to them. I'd spend a fortune in that shop if I was rich!! After, I went to Woolworths to buy a few things including peaches, vanilla yogourt, Nutella, shoe polish, cup-a-soup and the best: CHOCOLATE CAKE MIX! I stopped by a store which sold flip-flops and they were 17$ (compared to the same ones in the city which sold for 40$!!!!!!!) so I bought a pair of white flip-flops, or thongs as they call them here in Australia. Back home, I baked a cake! It was the first time I used a gas oven but it went very well. They also had the icing in the pack so I put that on after the cake had cooled down. I decided to keep the cake for desert. Andy's mom got nice pizzas from Domino's for dinner and I got to order one with the topings I wanted: pepperoni, capsicums (as they say in Australia... also known as paprika/green peppers/piment vert... so many names!), mushrooms and oinions. It was delicious! The cake as desert was even more delicious! I watched television, it was the ARIA awards, going out to Australian music artists... silverchair were not there, but they had a video with the singer Daniel Johns and Ben Gillies was there to present an award. I was tired so at around 22h, I went to bed.

Today I did not get called in to go to work, so it was a pretty relax day. In the morning, I decided to watch a bit of the Something For Kate DVD. And then I decided I could not pass on that trip to Canberra to see them. I decided to go from Friday October 29 to Sunday October 31 to make the trip worth it. So, I started looking at the closest cheapest accommodation to the University where they would play at a festival. I found that the YHA was the closest, about 3km away. So, I booked my bed there. I waited for the confirmation that it was available and when I got that I booked my bus with Greyhound. I'll arrive in Canberra at 13h and leave the Sunday at 18h to get back in Sydney at 21h15. Next, I went to Fish Record Store in Balmain to buy my ticket. It cost 51$ (allows me entry to 2 days of the festival). So! Something For Kate here I come!! After that, I successfully finished planning my other trips. I still had one hostel and one tour to book. The hostel in Darwin rang me back within 5 minutes to confirm my bed and the tour I wanted to do in Coffs Harbour is not being done anymore, so I will plan something else to do for that day later on. I am excited now that it's all planned and booked! I am really happy I will get to see so much of Australia and I am proud I planned it all myself. We'll see if I have planned it well after I put my backpack on my shoulders and begin the adventure!

October 20, 2004

Long Rainy Day & Funny Comedy Evening

Yesterday, Tuesday, was a long rainy day. It made me miss home a little bit. I just watched television and played around on the computer. I also went out to print out pages with thigns for my trips on them (booking confirmations, e-tickets, itineraries...) at the IP Shop here in Balmain. At first I did not know if I should make a bus trip to the city or just do it here in Balmain. In the city where printing is cheaper (20 pages x 10 cents per page) + two times bus (3,95$), that would have cost 5,95$. Here in Balmain it was supposed to be 45 cents a page so about 9$, but it cost me 7$! I guess the guy decided to charge me less because I printed so many pages. So it was good I just went here in Balmain, saved a lot of time and energy. Back home, I put all the correct pages together and seperated it into my 3 trips (Canberra, Darwin/Alice Springs and the Coast to Cairns). I am ready to go! In the evening, Andy, his girlfriend and I took the bus at around 19h to go to the city. We walked around to The Domain to go to some noodle night or something and eat nice food. But once we got there it was cancelled (due to the rainy day probably, although by then it was not raining anymore!). So we walked towards Circular Quay and looked at the restaurants along the way. We finally decided to go into Sh1p One. We ordered food, I asked for a lasagna. We had a nice meal and then when we were about to leave, the cook came out and he was clapping. I did not know why at first, I thought he was congratulating us for eating everything, but it turned out he was an old co-worker of Andy's when they both worked at a restaurant in Balmain! We then went on to the Opera House (The Studio) and had to wait a bit before going in to see Tom Gleeson's comedy show. It was funny, although sometimes Aussie jokes were a bit tough to get. He joked about his orange hair, growing up on a farm in the country, Melbourne and Sydney, driving, etc. He also asked where the tourists in the audience were from. Almost everyone was shouting out American cities/states, so I thought I've got to mention Canada, I'm no American!!! So, I did! And then he joked about Canada not being important and shite like that!! Grrrrr! He said after it was not true but there were more Americans in the room so he had to make sure he was on the good side with them... After the show Andy took a pic of me near the Opera House model in the Studio's lobby. We then went to Circular Quay and went on the ferry at 23h30 back to Balmain East wharf. It was a boat called "The Golden Grove". At 00h, we were back home and 15 minutes later I was sleeping in my nice warm bed!

This morning at around 7h, I could not sleep anymore so I just got up. I wanted the temp agency to call me to work but no phonecall... Oh well!

Work in After School Care with Children for the 1st Time

At around 12h, I got called in to work by the temp agency. They had a job for me from 14h30 to 18h in a school in Erskinville. I went to the city with the bus number 442 and then took the train from St James station to the Erskinville station (about 10 minutes away). I think the guy at the kiosk sold me a concession ticket... Usually that ticket would cost 5,60$ but it was only 3$ something! I arrived about 20 minutes early at the school and just waited around until it was time to work. The children arrived at 15h. There were about 20 of them. Then came another 10 or so from another school, so there were like 30 kids aged 5-12 years old running around like crazy.

October 20, 2004 Continued...

It was rainy outside so they could only play in a little part of the yard (or inside) and I had to make sure they did not go in the wet area. It was a bit long/boring because you did not really play with the children, but just watched them. The other lady stayed inside and talked on the telephone a lot. The children all wore uniforms and had hats which I thought was typical of Australia. Most of them were also very rude to each other, kicking, swearing, etc. I can't remember it being that way when I was younger!! It was still 4h of work and I can use the money right now so I did enjoy my afternoon. On the way back, I took a different train (ran a different route) so I got off at the Town Hall station (before St James) because it was closer to the bus stop. I was home by 18h50 all wet from the heavy rain outside.

October 21, 2004

Opera House Tour, Museum of Sydney and Encounter with Dutch ladies

This morning at around 10h, I decided to use this rainy day to do some indoors sightseeing in the city. I was on the bus by 10h10 and at the opera house at 11h. I had to wait for the 11h30 tour. I got the concession rate ticket for 16$. I sat outside at a table by the meeting point for the tour. A few minutes before 11h30, a lady was asking her friend in Dutch "where are we supposed to get the tickets?" They looked confused, so I answered in Dutch "you get tickets there, in that shop". They looked at me surprised I spoke Dutch. They sat with me and we chatted a bit about what they were doing here (one lady lives in Oz now, the other is visiting from Lisse, The Netherlands) and what I was doing, etc. Just before the tour started, the lady who lives in Oz gave me her name/phone number. She lives near Cairns so when I go up North, I know I have someone to go to if something goes wrong! She was very nice! The tour took us to the Studio/Playhouse foyer where I was just a few days earlier for a show. Then we went to sit in the Playhouse where we got a bit of the Opera House history. Then we went to the Concert Hall foyer. We also went inside the Concert Hall. It is the biggest theater there, seating more than 2000 people. The nice thing was that the Orchestra was in rehearsal for the night's performance of Phillip Glass Concerto Fantasy. We were allowed to watch for 5 minutes! It was beautiful. I really like the design of the room also. After we went to the North Side foyer with a view on the bridge and the harbour. There, the guide gave us info on the Concert Hall. Then we crossed over to the "other set of shells" as the guide said, to the Opera Theater. We sat and she explained all kinds of little things about the theater, like the seats designed by a doctor and the net above the orchestra pit because a dancer almost fell in it once. After the visit, I went to the Sidewalk Cafe (part of the Opera House). The ticket allowed me a drink of my choice. I got a hot chocolate (value of 3,50$ for free, one of most expensive drinks to choose from!) and a fruit tart (with cream and a bit of fruit for 4$). It was nice, I ate/drink with a view on the Harbour Bridge. With the free drink, the tour does give you your money's worth I think. After, I went to the Museum of Sydney. With my Ticket Through Time I bought earlier, it was free. I saw many neat things. My favorite was the temporary photography exhibition in the Focus Gallery: images of Sydney by Max and Rex Dupain. Also saw a lot of old Sydney/Australia, the first fleet ships models (which I noticed alot of the Sydney ferries are named after!), model streetscape of King Street and a lot about the trade in Sydney. After, I went to Billabong store in George Street and got surf shorts and a baseball cap. The cap is essential! The sun is usually shining and I get headaches if there is nothing on my head. I could have brought my Cadet cap from home but I did not thing that was appropriate! After I took the bus number 442 back home and was here at 16h or so.

October 23, 2004

Do Nothing at Home, Bluebottle Kiss Concert & Laundry

Yesterday, Friday, I did not do much. At 9h, I ordered 2 tickets for the new Tea Party concert on November 30. I called Ticketek because the website only allowed me to choose best of seated (and they say it was downstairs) but I wanted the first row or 2 of the balcony. So now, I am going to the 2 gigs, one on November 29 and the other the next day! After that, I watched some television, surfed the Internet, etc. In the afternoon, I took a short nap from 14h to 15h and then showered and had lunch. I had a nice dinner cooked by Andy's mother (chicken, potatoes, vegetables and gravy) and then at around 20h, Andy and I left to go to the Hopetoun Hotel at a Bluebottle Kiss (BBK) concert. I have seen the singer of Bluebottle Kiss (Jamie Hutchings) many times, but not the band as a whole. The opening bands were alright, nothing too special and the second opening band only played like a few songs. Then at around 22h30 BBK came on. I recongnized a few songs from Jamie's solo gigs. I can't remember which song it was, but I remember thinking: "This sounds much better with a band!!". From when they played Sisters Head On (mid-set) I really liked the concert. Before that it was good also but I was not enjoying it as much. It might have been because I could see almost nothing on stage. Or maybe because I was not feeling too good, might be because of the smoke! It is always so full with smoke at these venues! So, when Sisters Head On was played, I thought: "I want to see!" and I moved a bit out of the way of this guy's big head/hair. I tried to take some pictures, but there was not enough light. After the gig, I asked the soundman behind me to give me the setlist he had. I had a nice evening, my first BBK experience!! I was back home at around 0h.

This morning at 8h30, I saw the bright sun outside and the blue skies so I decided to get up and do some laundry! It had been rainy for a long while so I could not hang it outside. Today is the perfect day! I had 2 loads to hang outside and one for the dryer. Whent that's done, I'll go to Darling Street to do a few things (pick-up papers from the travel agent, buy a bit of food, etc).