Wow... In 8 days, I'm officially for one year in Australia! Time flies... so fast! This year has been so awesome and learningfull in so many ways. Eventhough I write a lot about my experiences on my blog, some things can't be explained unless you were there ;-)

Anyways, back to my last story. So after my 3 months roadtrip and weekend to Sydney, I've been working every day untill last Friday. Days were long, stressfull and sometimes really frustrated. I've basically worked on 2 projects only, both of them were like the biggest projects of this year at OLA. Stress usually came up because of the short deadlines and frustration because of some people who couldn't make their promises in schedules. I was planning a short trip to The Netherlands two times, 10 days in November and 12 days in December, but because of schedule changes every day, and my way of saying 'If you start with something, you finish it!', those plans went back to the garbage. It already came to my mind that I couldn't work too much longer in this way, that I was having doubts about staying at OLA with a sponsored visa. I don't want to see myself becoming an overstressed office boy in a suit (like everyone else in Melbourne CBD). Travelling again would've been a great option, before going back to The Netherlands.

Out of the nowhere, I got a phone call from a recruiter who offered me a job in Adelaide. She checked my background before she called me, and she found me a perfect candidate for the role as Interactive Developer. Eventhough I was making plans for my new trip, I was interested and asked for more info. It looks like a great opportunity in my carreer, and since they'd like to sponsor me as well, I decided to go for it. The plan was to get 2 job interviews over the phone, but just one hour after my first job interview, they accepted me! Although, I was not that surprised, since the job interview went very well and I really had the feeling that they knew what kind of person they were looking for. I can start there in the first full week of January! That also means relocating to Adelaide. I've been in Adelaide for about 4 days during my roadtrip, it's a lot smaller than Melbourne, but still a lot bigger than Amsterdam. Start of a new life again!

And then the next phase started: getting my visa ready. Together with my recruiter I've been working on gathering and filling out so much paperwork. Some is nonsense, but seems so necessary. And everything had to be done in short time, since my current visa expires on the 2nd of January already! After 2 weeks, beginning of December, all my paperwork was finally ready and lodged at the department of immigration. I may have to do an official English Test and Medical health check before I'm getting my visa, I'll find out soon enough. But in the meantime, the Australian government already granted me a bridging visa (like an temporary visa) so I can start working in Adelaide in January!

The whole new job and visa thing came pretty hard to my bosses at OLA, because they didn't expect that I would leave again. Since I made myself indispensable (once again...), they hate to see me leaving, but they understand that I'm taking a new step. So anyways, last Friday was my last day at work in Melbourne, the stress and frustration is finally gone.

And ofcourse, I've had enough free time in the weekends. The weather got a lot better since I got back in Melbourne. It's still typical Melbourne weather according to the locals. Last week it was 39 degrees in a Sunday, but in the evening it dropped back to 21 degrees just in one hour. From 39 to 21 in 1 hour!!! It didn't even rain, just wind! Officially it's summer here, but the weather can be really different every day. Almost every time when the temperature went up between 30 and 35 degrees, it was beach time! I was usually accompanied by my housemates or friend of them. I've got a lot tanner again.

For a couple of times, I've also been out of Melbourne for a day, to go to a few National Parks in Mornington Peninsula, Yarra Parks and Yarra Valley wineries. Funny thing about wineries is, that wine tasting is usually free. Typical words for backpackers: free alcohol! The day I went to the wineries with my housemates, everyone came home completely drunk (except me, I was driving...), and they only spend 5 dollars that day.

And finally! I've spend xmas at the beach! I was looking forward to that for so long! I miss the snow a little bit, but sure as hell I don't miss the cold weather! With my Santa hat in the water, I felt a big smile on my face :) Yesterday I had an xmas eve diner with my French roommates, and later together with Justin we went to the midnight Mass in church. I even did my communion in the Australian way.

Today I'm not doing much, I'm packing my stuff and preparing my car for my new roadtrip. I'm leaving Melbourne on the 27th, heading to Sydney around the Southeast coast. I'll spend my New Years Eve at the Great Harbour bridge in Sydney, hopefully I can find a nice spot over there. I currently have one person who's going to travel with me, I hope to find another person to reduce the travel costs a little bit more. After Sydney, I'll head together with Susanne, a friend from home, though the outback to Broken Hill (to see the filming locations of Mad Max 2) and finally arrive in Adelaide one day before I start working there. I'll stay in a hostel when I get there, Later I'll find a place to stay longer.

Once I got my place and went around for a few weeks at my new job, I'll come back to Holland for a vacation. I keep you up to date!

Merry xmas everyone, and have a nice New Years Eve!