September 7, 2004

Arrival

The flight went well. I had a whole row for myself and used it to sleep for approx. 4h30. It is a shame that it was clouded outside, I wanted to see the desert and the Australian landscape! Upon arrival, I found the passport control and had to wait about 5 minutes to get through. The Chinese poeple in front of me were asked about 5-6 questions, but when it got to me, the lady just said hello while taking my passport and asked nothing. I asked her where to get my work-holiday visa and she gave me the info. I went there at the little desk right after passport control and within 2 minutes I had the visa sticker in my passport. After, I got my luggage. There was a sniffing dog with his master. It was neat to watch the dog at work trying to find things in luggage. The last security step was to scan my luggage. I waited about 10 minutes outside in the terminal for Andy to arrive. We walked to the car where his mother was also waiting. Upon arrival, I found the house very nice! It is a very old house, 144 years old. My room is on the last floor, in the attic, so I have a very nice view. I see the city skyline as well as the Sydney Harbour bridge. After, I went to walk around Balmain with Andy. I saw a lot of the houses with the iron work which is so pretty. I also stopped to get some Australian money. Their money is very strange, it is made out of plastic!! Back at the house, I slept a little bit, from 15h to 18h. I saw a huge spider in my room on the window! It was about 10cm diameter. Andy made it go out of the window thankfully! We had dinner, I watched a bit of television and then went to bed at about 22h because I was falling asleep.

September 8, 2004

Orientation

Yesterday, I woke up at about 5h because of the strangest bird sounds I had ever heard. I just laid in bed for a while, then got some stuff ready for the day (papers, clothing, etc) At around 8h I showered, had breakfast and it was time to go. I had an orientation session at the IEP office and Andy had agreed to take me there with the bus so that I could see how it works. We wanted to get the bus from 9h07, it was 9h, and we still had to buy tickets. It cost about 20$ for 10 times in the bus. The bus ride was about 20 minutes so that was quick! We got there with 30 minutes to spare to we walked a bit around downtown. At 10 minutes to 10h, I was there, ready for the meeting. It started with a bit of a delay, at 10h15, but in the meantime, I met a girl from USA and we talked a bit about what we were going to do here, etc. We got a lot of useful information in that meeting. They also applied for my tax file number so that saved me some time and energy! I filled out a little questionnaire for a lady there who can help us find work. Andy was there waiting for me at the end of the meeting. We went to see a few sights of Syney: George Street, Opera House, Botanical Gardens, Domain, Hyde Park, Circular Quay, Chinatown, etc. We walked all the way to the UTS (University of Technology Sydney) where Jamie, the singer from a band called Bluebottle Kiss, was going to play a solo acoustic show. We sat outside with Toohey Extra Dry beer (pretty good tasting). When we saw that Jamie was going to play inside, we went to fetch the last two comfy seats to be sure to have a good view on him. We went to take the bus but missed by 1 minute the last of the bus we needed. So we had to wait a little while for another bus to come. The other bus stopped further on Darling Street, so when we walked past the gelato shop we stopped to say hello to one of Andy's friend. Back home, had dinner, watched tele and went to bed at around 22h30 very tired from a long too informative day!

September 9, 2004

Adjusting

Today was a relax at home day. I just watched television, put pictures online, etc. I did get one thing done: set up my bank account. I choose the Commonwealth Bank. Took about 20 minutes and I was all set there.

September 10, 2004

Beaches & AFL

I saw beaches! First Andy had to go to his workplace, an hardware store, so I came along and just browsed through the different aisles to see what they had. After, we drove to La Perouse (the fort used in Mission: Impossible 2 movie!) It was very ncie there. We went on driving going North along the coast. I saw beaches including Coogee, Bronte and Bondi. Very nice! Too bad I did not have my swimming gear! Then we went to South Head, the beginning of the Sydney Harbour kind of. From there, we got a very nice view on the city and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Back home, we sat outside on the patio with instant noodles and New Zealand beer (Steinlager). Andy arranged the evening: Aussie pub, friends and AFL (footy). There I met some of Andy's friends, had a cheap but tasty meal and watched Sydney Swans get crushed by Saint Kilda 107 to 56. I tasted two new beers, Toohey New and Calrton something... It was a nice evening out, too bad Sydney lost!