Happy New Year!

Emily and I arrived back in Sydney today. We had to wait an extra week for our visas to process but we made it here nun-the-less. The past month has been surreal. I have spent over three years away from home and Emily has been away from home over two years. We had traveled across the United States in just a few weeks, visiting friends and family in San Francisco, Chicago, Nebraska, and South Carolina.  We saw the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, albeit both were a bit too cold to swim in. We stayed at Emily's brother's house for the majority of our time in South Carolina. I really enjoyed the south. I sampled many foods I have never tried before, such as shrimp and grits, fried okra, fried green tomatoes, she crab soup and my favorite, boiled peanuts. More spectacular than the food was the hospitality. Emily's family was amazing hosts. 

We did an extreme range of activities on our month at home. We started by riding cable cars and enjoying a bread bowl of clam chowder in San Fran. Next, we survived a blizzard in Chicago to see the Nutcracker ballet. Emily's friends in Sumter SC lived right next to a swamp we explored which had Australian swans as year round residents. We explored historic Charleston on a horse drawn carriage ride. Survived a mild bout of the flu and tried every kind of "low country" cuisine we could find in Charleston as well. We ended the trip by driving up the Blue Ridge Mountains and discovered the mountain top chapel where Emily's parents were married. 

Our flight to Sydney was delayed for one week because we had to sort out a few visa issues but we finally made it this morning. It felt sweltering once we got here this morning; the high was 31°C (87.5°F). It’s expected to be hotter this weekend.

Luckily Emily and I took the train home at the right time today. This afternoon there was a train derailment at our local station, causing mass confusion.  Both of us have work in the morning, so we hope it has been cleaned up by then. I have been forcing myself to stay up late to fight the jet-lag, but now starting to fail. We have not worked for over a month, now its time to pay the bills! 

Foodies

After living 38 months abroad I have returned home to find myself having become a snob when it comes to food,  and especially coffee.  Working the long hours at my construction jobs the past two years has made me crave good coffee to help jump start my day.  Luckily living in New Zealand and Australia has introduced me to European quality coffees.  Before my long trip overseas I rarely drank coffee, and when I did I would unload an entire packet of hot coca mix into the cup before pouring java.  I started having flat whites and later cappuccinos in New Zealand with a teaspoon of sugar but now I thankfully have kicked that habit.  The Australian version of a cappuccino is creamy enough to have a fantastic flavor combined with the proper espresso that is not burned.  Austrlians have never heard of a decaf coffee.

I have no real memory of espresso coffee in the states. I always swore to myself that I would never become a coffee drinker and I never was until I was 28.  I was especially spoiled when it came to coffee when I worked at a construction site in Double Bay.  The Double Bay neighborhood was full of small cafes with excellent coffee boasting brands such as Lavazza and Vittoria. I would tell myself every day that I was saving my money by having a cup of instant, but I would usually break down on my morning break and fork over $3.50 to get my fix. When Emily and I landed in San Francisco I was excited to compare all of the American coffee with my new knowledge of Australian coffee. 

Emily is quite a food critic herself. She was raised to appreciate fine dining in some if the South’s finest restaurants in Charleston and Greenville, South Carolina, where she grew up. She has definitely rubbed off on me, we don’t eat out often but when we do we make it a special occasion.  She introduced me to such things as tapas, confit, pâté, antipasti, and of course our best meal out ever, homemade gnocchi at a restaurant down the road from us.

Our Australian acclimated taste buds were hit by American culinary staples full force on our first week in the country.  We stepped into a café in California after we just arrived and were shocked by the prices because they were half of what we were paying in Australia. Additionally, the café was packed but it was extremely quiet because everyone was on Apple laptops or tablets with headphones, everyone!  We ordered a prosciutto pizza which I thought was extremely salty, but eatable. The coffee was strange at this café because you were supposed to fill your cup with drip coffee to your liking and have the barista add the milk. Needless to say it was extremely gross and weak.  Our first proper meal out was fantastic sourdough bread bowls of clam chowder on San Francisco’s Pier 39.  Despite the upscale interior of the restaurant we were shocked at what everyone else was ordering.  The portions delivered to the tables around us were massive enough to make up three main dishes in Oz. I even glanced to the table next to us and saw a respectable looking woman wearing a bib like a rib connoisseur! I ordered a cappuccino after the meal and was shocked when I received a cup of strange bubbly foam. I should have sent it back but I didn’t (I was tired and needed a coffee!).

 On the morning we left San Fran, I scoured the little Italy neighborhood we were staying in for a takeaway coffee only to find very few places open in the morning. One sharp looking hole-in-the-wall looking coffee stand only served drip coffee! The barista had a homemade rack setup where he poured hot water out of a tea kettle over minced coffee beans in a paper filter directly into the cup the customer was holding. I finally found a very busy authentic café but I should have known it was terrible because the bakery cabinet was full of jam donuts and gingerbread men.  I ordered two cappuccinos and was extremely disappointed with the watered down result.  San Francisco did redeem itself when we found an excellent taqueria where we shared a burrito and feasted on $1 chips with homemade salsa and guacamole.

Chicago has been just as interesting with food. Emily’s friends treated us to our first American hot dog in years at Portillos. Em and I were happy with just one apiece, but her friend ordered us two each just to remind us that we were in the land of the large again.  The Wieners were great and I was craving another all evening. We got our deep dish pizza fix at Giordano's. Emily only finished half a slice and I put way two, but I was the most stuffed I had been in years.  I jumped on the chance to order a bottomless!! iced coffee, but of course it was just a very stale glass of drip coffee poured over ice. We had leftover pizza the next morning but I had come to the conclusion that deep dish is just not for me.  The pizza seems to just be full of gunky cheese with a few veggies mixed in. I would much rather have New York style extra crispy crusts. Another Chicago night found us eating in a basement bar munching on a giant pretzel rolls that we were dipping into nacho cheese and sweet mustard. Em hated both and I went after the cheese, the sweet mustard is extremely gross. Every night this week I have wanted to scrape my tongue because it feels like I have salt oozing back into my mouth from all of the processed food we are eating.

Just about when I was about to give up in my quest for good coffee, I tried Duncan Donuts latte coffee and it has sadly been the best I have had so far. The donut I had grossed me out because I am not used to the sweetness. The lady behind the counter (I will not call her a barista) asked me if I wanted cream or sugar with my latte. I am not sure if she was being serious or just very tired. 

So far we have been terrible tippers, and always seem to loose our loose change. We are struggling with the weather and looking foreward to returning to Australia. Later today I will be in Omaha and I’m sure more shocks to the system will be in store for me.  I already have gotten my American sweet fix in so hopefully by the end of the week I can resume my regular diet that does not include so much processed foods, and hopefully some good coffee! 

Two Weeks until the USA!

Emily and I are leaving Australia for a one month break, starting two weeks from last Sunday. We are super excited to get back and see friends and family. We are stopping in San Francisco, Chicago, Omaha, Greenville, South Carolina, and I'm sure many more places in between. We have spent the past several months saving money and planning out next year, and we will be re-applying for Australian visas.  We have spent most of the past year in Sydney and next year we look foreword to finally exploring other parts of the country, including Queensland, South Australia and the outback.

Lost in the Land of Traffic Control

I quit my 60 hour a week job as a traffic controller last week. My last day was on Saturday.  For most of the past year I have worked for the same construction company, Ganellen. I am not really sure what inspired me to stay at this job for so long. I reason it's because I got along with many of the workers at the construction site. I worked at two different sites, a 22 storey condominium project in North Sydney and a new Woolworth's and shopping centre in Double Bay. The Double Bay job site was 10 minutes walk from our apartment.  At Double Bay, I was in charge, managing the entire traffic control situation around the entire site, which was as large as an entire city block. I never intended to work as a traffic controller for almost an entire year when I first came to Australia, but that is just how the cookie crumbled.  When I was first looking for a job in Oz, many other backpackers told me that traffic control is a very easy job to get and is very well remunerated. On their advice, I took a one day course that cost $250 and the next day I started working at a job I found online.  Most days I would stand in the same place from 7 am until 4:30 pm, or sometimes even later, and after that I would have to help clean the site toliets for 45 minutes. I would have two breaks, one 15 minute 'smoko' at 9:30 am and a half hour lunch break at 1:00pm.  Many times I had to wait to take a break because no one was available from the construction site to take my place.  Needless to say I had grown frustrated and weary but tried to keep a smile on my face because this was the highest paying job I have ever had, no joke.

 I could spend an entire day reciting stories of traffic management. One time I was almost run over by an impatient old lady with severe gout, she was running late to her doctor appointment(she completely destroyed my start/slow sign). Then there was the crazy guy that stood in the middle of the road brushing his teeth like he was in is own restroom.   Most days were not as interesting. Because I usually started work at 6:30 or 7 am I, would see many people from the neighbourhoods walk to a train or bus station on their way to work.  And more often than not I would see the same people return from work later in the afternoon,my entire work day overlapping theirs.  I did not mind the long hours but once I had returned from New Zealand last June, I was on a student visa and I am required to attend class for 20 hours a week.  I averaged 60 hours a week at my job, which included Saturdays, so between work and school, I was barley at home.  I would try to sleep in and relax on Sundays, only to freak out when the sun started peaking through the windows of the bedroom because I thought I was late for work, when in fact I had a rare day off.  I asked my self several times if this is why I traveled to Australia in the first place, and the answer is unequivocally no.

After finishing work this past Saturday, I worked at a bartender for one day at the Australian Hotel Craft Beer Festival for Balmain Brewery.  My girlfriend gave me one of her shifts and I enjoyed the work.  This week I have also taken a barista and latte art class, something I have been wanting to do for a long time. I'm not sure I could make a good barista, I have very shaky hands pouring milk, ha ha.

I am very excited for the upcoming summer and cant wait to get back to home for Christmas too. Emily and I are leaving Australia for the good old USA on December 8th and are returning to Sydney on January 7th.  This will be my first trip home in over 3 years.  I am extremely excited to see my family and friends again.  I just home I don't get lost in the land of the free and then home of the brave the way I was lost in the land of traffic control.

Back in the Land of Oz

My student visa was approved last week, allowing me to re-enter Australia.  In my one week in New Zealand I was able to re-connect with a few friends in Auckland, and watch the All Blacks game last Saturday night. I had the chance to return to Zippity Zoo and work for a week and I jumped at it.  Beverley the owner and host was super friendly as usual and the animals were great to play with.  The changes Beverley has made to her Creeky Bottom Farm astounded me, It was more than two years since I had visited her. I was notified by email that my visa was approved last Friday,paving way for my flight back to Sydney on Sunday.  I had just enough time to fit in lunch with an old workmate in Wellington just before my flight departed.  I did not plan any of this trip because I was informed by my Immigration agency only four days before my visa expired that I needed to leave Australia to apply for my next visa.  They had made a mistake and must have thought I was Canadian because as an American, the visa rules are much stricter in Australia than commonwealth countries.

When I arrive to our apartment, I was surprised to be whisked out the door by Emily to be escorted to a flying lesson. The flying lessons were a valentine's gift, but we had to reschedule them three times because of my visa conflicts. The lesson was two hours away in Goulburn, which was a great chance to see some of the scenery around the area that we rarely see. The lesson was simple but very informative.  I had the chance to take the controls of a Gazelle CA-25 and take my crack at a few turns. It's intimidating knowing my hand movements could have put the small plane into a tailspin.  It was a great gift and I thoroughly enjoyed the flight. Emily's flight had a inauspicious beginning when her instructor aborted her takeoff because a vacuum hose popped off of the carburetor of her plane. I was a bit jealous though because she had the chance to fly a much nicer and larger plane.  The drove home was depressing as the sun set on my unplanned holiday knowing tomorrow I start working again.

Playing the Visa Wait Game

Waiting for my evening flight to NZ I am reflecting on the past year that's been in the great nation of Australia.  I arrived in Melbourne last June, freezing cold and poor. I am leaving from balmy Sydney with the security of my amazing apartment.  I am hoping to return to Australia very soon, I have applied to be a student here, but I need to leave the country to apply for my student visa, its a quirk of the system. New Zealand I will return to now after a one year absence.  I could have my visa approved anywhere from 24 hours from my departure to 2 weeks from now, I really have no idea. My school term commences July 1st. I am returning to Zippity Zoo to help out on the farm for several days while I wait. I'm looking foreword to having a break from working in Sydney, but I'm eager to return to my life here.  I spent last past of the past week in Tasmania with my Mom who I have not seen for almost two years. It was great to catch up and see great heritage sights such as Port Arthur.  Like my Mom's abbreviated holiday, I never feel like there is enough time in a lifetime to see everything.  I have only scratched the surface of what there is to see in Australia, and I hope to do more exploring when I return.

The Extreme Co$t of Everything

Australia is a country of extremes and driving is no different.  I purchased a 1996 Suzuki Cino for a modest $1,200 last September.  I thought it would be a cheap and efficient way of getting around the country.  Problems arose from the beginning. To register the car in my name without a New South Wales license, I had to ask my boss, who I had only known for two weeks to sign a statement vouching he had known me for over a year and I had a good character.  When I registered, I lied about the sale price to save money on sales tax and ended up paying about $50 for the new title.  I thought I was in the clear but more problems arose within the first few weeks. 

Speed cameras are everywhere in Australia and it seems like they have replaced highway police with technology. I got my first speeding ticket outside the town of Berry my first week of driving.  It was a $105 fine for driving 63km in a 50km zone.  What frustrated me was the speed limit for the road changes from 100km to 50km right outside of town with little warning.  I was leaving Berry, heading south, speeding up to the 100km sigh, but apparently the speed camera caught me from behind. I was not too worried though, I paid the fine and chalked it up to an Australian learning experience. 

Australia is also full of toll roads.  I did not register my car for the toll roads until I moved to Sydney.  Before I did my mailbox was littered with several toll notices that arrived well after the due date, saddling me with extra charges.  The first toll was from my Labour Day weekend trip to Melbourne. I arrived home in Nowra and found a $22.80 fine in my post box.  Included in that fine was $11.30 in tolls and a $11.50 administration charge.  I should have known better and pre-registered with Melbourne’s tolls, City Link, but I was not planning to go back to Victoria so I did not bother. 

One month later I was caught by the Barry Speed camera again.  And again I was going 63km in the 50km zone leaving town to the south.  I was furious.  I think that the NSW government had set up this area on the highway on purpose.  It was straight, flat, and very easy to speed up to the 100km sign.  I paid my $105 fine only because I knew that I had to re-register the car in January. 

Nothing I had experienced in driving in Australia compared to the time when we first arrived in Sydney.  Every freeway and tunnel in Sydney is a toll road: The Harbour Bridge, the Harbor Tunnel, the Cross City Tunnel, the Eastern Distributor, the M1, the M4, and the list goes on and on.  The first week in Sydney Emily and I had several interviews all across town and we just drove where we needed to the fastest way possible.  Compounding the problem was the fact that I charged addresses and was not getting  toll notices sent to where we were living.  I was going to get an E-tag set up, but it required a $40 deposit and $40 initial credit, and we were struggling to keep up with all of the other moving expenses, so I kept on putting it off.  All the charges started adding up quickly.  Sydney tolls are not cheap. The Harbour Bridge is $3 southbound, $4 during peak times, and a $5 administration charge.  The Cross City Tunnel is $4.77, with a $10 administration charge.  I received at least a half dozen of these notices in the mail totaling at least $60.  The worse was still yet to come.  I drove to my job in North Sydney on my first day, arriving around 6:30am.  There is no parking provides in the construction site and only metered parking for many blocks around.  All the meters in the street of the site had a two hour limit.  I drove three blocks up and found parking with a 8 hour limit.  I paid $20 for 8 hours with my credit card at 6:45am and went to work.  I returned around 3pm to pay for my parking again and found a ticket for $99 in my window!!  The parking rangers must have just been by as there was only a 15 minute period that I did not pay for.  I worked until 5pm, so I just left the car there with the ticket under the wiper blade, hoping it would not be towed, and it was not.  There is a parking garage next door to our work site with early bird all day parking for $26, and now it seemed like a bargain for the hassle of my first day.  A few months later I drove to work for some reason I can’t remember and parked several blocks away in a non-metered two hour zone.  When I returned to the car, sure enough I had another ticket.  Maybe I am just so used to small towns but paying for parking makes me sick.  Luckily the North Sydney train station is a 7 minute walk from my work so I will always take the train. 

When Emily and I lived in Elizabeth Bay we were subleasing and a car parking spot was not available.  The street we lived on, Roslyn Gardens was a non-metered one hour parking zone.  Residents can have Sydney council parking permits for $50, but the problem was out lease was only a sub-lease, and the minimum period for a parking permit was 6 months.  Many times I freaked out about parking on out street, worried about fines but for some reason we never were checked.  I saw many parking rangers only a few blocks away, but I guess our street was always so quiet, they never checked. 

It was only a coincidence that out Elizabeth Bay sublease expired one day before my car registration was due.  When a car is registered in NSW, the entire year of liability insurance must be pre-paid and a vehicle inspection is required.  The inspection was no problem. I paid $50 for a mechanic near my work to check things over, and he gave me the required “pink” slip.  Next up was the “green” slip.  The green slip was from an insurance company certifying that I paid the entire year up front.  There are only four companies in NSW that do car insurance to there is not much competition.  The average price for one year’s insurance was around $700 give or take $20, so I was stuck with forking over a lot of money with not much of a choice.  The final step for car registration was to pay the yearly registration, which was an even $250.  The total car registration amounted to just under $1000, about the same as I paid for the entire car!  If I let the registration lapse, I would have to have the car comprehensively inspected and get re-certified with a “blue” slip.  The blue slips were very hard to pass with an older car, with things like a cracked headlight being problems.  Fines for an unregistered car on any road are $550 and every time I would drive past a speed camera I would be incurring that fine.

Australia loves to keep a big brother presence over everyone in my opinion   The amount of certifications for any job is mind boggling and driver’s licences are no exception.  When a learner driver is driving a car they have a giant ‘L’ magnet on the car. When teenagers are driving, the  are required to have a green or red ‘P’ affixed to the car.  An Australian who starts driving at 16 will not likely get their full licence until they are at least 21 or 22 years old.  When I started my construction work in Melbourne I had to take a one day construction induction class to be allowed on any job site.  The class cost $150 and all we did was watch silly youtube videos.  Wages are much higher in Australia to compensate for all of the certifications.  My first construction labouting job I was paid $21 an hour.  I make $24 an hour at my current job, but I am supposed to have 33%of my wages withheld for taxes because I am a non resident.  Australia also has compulsory retirement savings,called superannuation,where 9% of my wages are withheld from my checks and deposited into a mutual fund type account.  I really like the idea of superannuation,but its not practical in my case. I am a backpacker and need as much cash as possible.  I had two more speeding tickets on Easter weekend totaling $210, so I need money ASAP! I was wondering why everyone on Easter weekend was driving like grandmothers, double demerit points applied to NSW licence holders.  I was allegedly docked 4 points for my driving that weekend, which I considered very normal.  Don't get me wrong, Australia is an awesome country and I want to spend more time here, but man, they sure make it difficult.