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Hey everyone!!!
Time to give you an update on our adventure... Thought I would give you all some time off, from all the reading, but i'm back, with lots to say!! So we've been in Australia for nearly a month now, and have already settled into our new short term routine!! We're living in a house just outside of Perth city centre, (The CBD they like to call it.) about a mile walk to our house (uphill) - But we are walking machines now, so is easy peasy!! We're only renting a room in the house, which is alot cheaper than we had budgeted for, so pleased with that, We share the house with the owners, Hugh & Julie, they're both English but emigrated about 8 years ago, and there is another English couple who are backpacking also, they leave in a couple of weeks so wonder what our new neighbours will be like??? The house is really basic but neat/clean, it's a split level house and has a Mediterranean feel to it with tiled floors throughout... There is an open plan kitchen to a dining room, but the Kitchen it small, so it's hard juggling the cooking when we all want to eat at the same time!!! The owners I think are afraid of vampires, they LOVE garlic & onion, much to Luke's satisfaction!!! Heee heee.... He isn't a fan of the smell of it & he nearly throws up every time he smells it cooking (which is at least once a day without fail!) The chopping boards smell of onion / garlic too, so our breakfast toast or work sandwiches end up having those flavours too!!!! Our room is spacious and has a lovely huge wardrobe!! It was like we had arrived in heaven the day we moved in, being able to unpack all my clothes and hang them all up!! There is also a living room, with a small TV, but that doesn't get used very often... Only to watch England losing to Germany!!!! But me thinks that will all start to change, seen as last night we had to eat in the living room so we put the TV on and Luke found Australian Top Gear.......
Our house is opposite a little park which is where the Abos hang out.... so pretty scary walking home on a night from the pub or from work! There is a certain part of the park that really smells foul, and it wouldn't surprise me if it's the Abos designated toilets!!! They haven't been any trouble to us, but have heard a few nasty stories about them... You would never want to get into any trouble with them, apparently they have super strong skulls - they haven't evolved properly... or something along those lines!! Also, if you have to walk past them they start to shout... not at you - but they obviously do it to for our benefit!... and they're always drinking goon (cheap carton wine- an Australian delicasy) they get so much money off of the government that they don't know what to do with it, so spend all day every day getting drunk!!!
So were both working now, we're both working at a market research company: www.researchpanel.com.au - Its pretty mind numbing but the pay is good!! It's like school, they only employ "backpackers" so don't have a high expectation of anyone... And treat us all like kids, my lovely friend Lucy got us the job, she told us to ring her manager when we arrived into Perth, and the manager Debbie just invited us in for an induction, and that day we started work - so she doesn't know how qualified we are or aren't, or even how long we plan to stay for... But either way it's a job, and our bank balance is going up and up again!!! The job entails us ringing people day in, day out, asking if they want to participate in surveys, the one we have been doing all week is on stationary!!! So as you can imagine its pretty hard going, getting anyone to talk - about a dull subject like stationary!! The survey lasts 15 minutes, but in order to keep your job you need to have completed surveys so I've been telling everyone they'll only be 5 mins max- and when they question to see how much longer, I tell them it's nearly done!!... The people are mainly a pleasure to talk to, I think the only people who agree to do the survey for me are interested in hearing a good Yorkshire accent, they all seem to know people from Leeds, I was chatting to a guy who's wife was from Headingley, another who's family was from Adel... This job is far greater than the job both Luke & I nearly got stuck with!! After a week of traipsing around the recruitment companies we applied for a "Sales" job from the gumtree website, we were called for an interview, so when we both went it turned out to be a Charity where the company make a 72% profit on the donations we were trying get out of people.... I'm sure you all know of the people who stand in town asking "how are you" in order to get you to chat before they plea for you to donate money to some orphaned child in Uganda.. Well this was that kind of job, only we would be targeting people in their own homes!! We both went along that day/evening and followed this English lad doing his job as the charity canvasser, in a cute little town outside of Perth called Canning Vale, He knocked on peoples doors showing them all kinds of pictures of orphaned children and hard working under-privileged kids asking people to set up a direct debit to pay monthly to this charity - but in the small print which he failed to mention was the huge profit the company made!! The first house we came to, we stood at the end of the drive chatting away for a while, eventually when started walking up the drive, the garage door slowly started opening... and slowly you could see a man standing behind the door, begin to appear, with his legs spread, first his boots, then his dirty work trousers, then a big bloke with his arms folded - I half imagined smoke to come out of the garage & him holding a hack saw, like in a horror film!! Luckily that wasn't the case (Although he did have teeth missing!!) he was friendly and chatted away about the world cup... he wasn't interested in donating to the charity... neither were the other 20 houses we went to.... It was dark by the time we had left, and the first time it has rained since being here and we were stuck outside, canvassing!!! Typical!!! So we were sodden and frozen to the bone, and went to one last house... the lad was obviously desperate for a "sale" because it was commission based only, so if he didn't get anyone to sign up, he wouldn't get paid, the way it worked was you get $100 each person you sign up... there were some people who were sharing our car back to Perth who had been working for 3 weeks and still hadn't a sale, so were just wasting their own time!! Anyway at the last house this woman answered the door, and spent 20 minutes telling us NO... then said she would just go ask her husband - came back and said No again...then she must have thought that the only way of getting these 3 drowned rats off her door step would be to sign up... so she did!! So by the end of the night, the boy was $100 richer, Luke & I both suffered for the week after that with a blooming cold, and the woman was wripped off!!!!
So we can be thankful for not having to do that every day!!!
So far I still haven't really had much of an Aussie experience, I seem to hear more English / Irish accents than Australian, (everyone seems to be from Crossgates that I meet!! - is that place deserted right now?) and haven't seen any wild Kangaroos.. despite our best attempts. There is a small island in the swan river, called Heirisson Island, apparently there is a family of wild kangaroos living there, so after being told the best time to spot a Roo is at Dusk, we set out to see some, The first attempt we waited until it was nearly dark - Nothing, The second time, a couple of weeks later, we went earlier, so we could suss out the area, and then wait!! Still no luck so we rang the wildlife ranger... he said just to keep looking... so we waited more!!! Nothing again, the closest we came to, was a set of footprints!! Oh I did go to the Museum of W.A whilst Luke was at the gym one morning, and saw a stuffed one!!!!! So that might have to count...Not satisfied yet!!
We also have been to Kings Park a few times, it is gorgeous!! A really beautiful place and I aren't the biggest fan of Perth, but the Kings Park is well and truly a fantastic place on earth!! The views are fab of the city, and it is really peaceful, even though it's busy!! There is a war memorial and lots of look out points, and also a glass walk way through the trees, and a bridge, I don't know what it is but it swings quite abit in the wind!! We met up with Celeste there, a friend from Hitachi, our old Job, so it was lovely to see a familiar face... but sadly never got to catch up with Celeste before she left to go back to Sunny England!! But we roamed around the park and all had a drink together...
Also last week we went to Fremantle, "Freo" now that's a lovely quaint little place too... Most of the buildings are really old, but full of character, and we went to the beach too!! Wooo - the Indian Ocean....Spent some time at Bathers bay, Before getting some fish and chips... ahhhh delicious, in a cute little place called "Joes, fish & chip restaurant & bah!" - Not a spelling mistake... clever!!! And because it was Millie's birthday, we celebrated with some beers!!! Lucy has introduced me to some low carb beer... it is as strong % wise of ordinary beers, but has 1/3 the amount of carbs in than ordinary beers, tastes the same too but is doesn't bloat you as much!!.. So you can drink more!?!?!? So had a mooch around Freo and went into the markets, so many delicious foods to sample, and potential buys!! And headed back to Perth on the train. Travelling within Perth is cheap, there are free busses which do 3 different routes around the city and are all day, every 5 minutes. Then the 30 minute train journey to Freo was $3.70... good going if you ask me!! Everything else is expensive... I find myself when doing a food shop drawn to the "value" cheap frill items, but even then it's expensive!! But were on a wage so like my dad says "it's all relative" but still not happy with being ripped off!!! I FOUND KANGA BANGA'S for sale in the supermarket this week!!!! So excited to finding them after hearing all about them from Hayley... but don't fancy them much - Kangaroo meat sausages, they're really dark brown - Look like a gone of sirloin steak to be honest!!
We have decided NOT to go to the Swan Valley this week - so going there next week instead.....
So that's about it for Perth so far, its definitely cooled down, but still lovely through the day - but as soon as the sun goes in, it is coooooooold!!! Roll on summer, ay???......
So for the next few weeks its going to Working hard on both our parts, I will update in a few weeks of what we've been up to on our days off, But do keep posting your lovely messages, and I emailing me too... Missing you all loads, and hopefully speak to you all soon.. Lots and Lots of Love from the Land down under, Jen & Luke xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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