When you realise that you can´t find the time
to practise your hobbies anymore – that´s a sign that you are back in your day
to day life – well, here again with a little delay – we aren´t in a rush anyway
;)
Meanwhile it´s really cold and I have to wear
gloves on the push bike. Yes, you got it right – I´m riding to work every day
(except when it is raining cats and dogs, then I take the tram). My record in
the morning (includes getting the newspaper!!!) is 15 minutes, on the way home
it is more 20 as it is uphill and with the wind in my face. That´s why I´m not
too fussed to do much other excersise beside (except tennis, of course). I´m
running around at work, too, though. I regret it a few times already that I´ve
sent home my wind- and rain jacket... I could´ve used that in Australia as well
– every day is a school day ;)
Summary after 4 month in Australia is
currently „alright“. We both can not for sure decide if we like it here or not
(at least long term). Big point is, of course, that we both are not really
happy with our jobs. Beside that we are restricted without a car and Adam
without a workshop. It´s neither travelling nor settling and therefore really
difficult to classify.
Anyway, during the last month we explored Victoria
with the help of friends and collegues. This both keeps us entertained: out of
the city – into the Wild! And most important AWAY FROM THE EVERYDAY!
But before I go on and on and loose the
track...
DAY 400 – 431
// NEWS FROM THE FLAT... OR
HOW YOU PIMP YOUR ROOM
Everything runs smooth in our „home“ so far.
Beside the fact that the house is quite dark we like our room and enjoy our own
bathroom as much as we can (it´s great what you learn to appreciate again :)). I´m motivated to do my first own lemonade
soon – at least that´s the plan – as we don´t know what to do with all the
lemons from our tree in the garden. Evan and Shaun are working quite a lot and
so it almost feels like our own place. Still, sometimes we miss Jeffersons! Not
because of all the people but somehow there was always someone playing music or
we were watching a movie together. The positive sides of company so to say. But
then on the other handside we are happy to have a good night sleep and not to
have partys on the weekend till the early morning hours – yes, I´m getting old
slowly ;) – and not to share with so many people.
I remember that I have sent you photos of the
house already but I have more for you. We set up a little atelier and bought a
sewing maching on the australian ebay (=gumtree) :) For 2 six packs we got a 2nd desk and Adam
cut a hole in one to install a light table for us – AWESOME! :) We as well bought a printer/scanner/copier
to work on our projects (more later) and to avoid going to „Officeworks“
everytime.
// THE JOYS OF WORK... OR HOW
YOU MAKE IT FROM WEEKEND TO WEEKEND
What can I say: Café job is stable, we have a
new kitchenhand from Manchester who can as well cook a little bit and the work
covers most expenses. We as well had after work drinks twice. I changed one of
our take away coffee cups to a tip piggy bank and from this money we (only
Jenny and me) went for 2 Glasses to an Irish Pub. The second time was on a
Thursday and we were invited by the working neighbours. Was quite funny beside
the point that I had to ride home slightly pissed. Miss guessed a turn (all
cycle tracks, don´t worry) and boom – found myself on the ground. Luckily
nothing serious happened!
Currently I have no applications in the
fashion industry running. I check the advertisments weekly but at the moment
they mainly search for buyers and retailer.
Adam found a job now as well where he can do
what he has done for the last 10 years. He works together with 3 irish guys and
is busy for now.
Next to our normal jobs we worked a few hours
for Sam (yes, our ex-landlord). The house where Bronya and Tim live in is his
and he would like to sell it at the end of the year. There are a few bits and
bops to do around the house (painting the fence, fixing windows etc.) and so we
both had a bit of extra work :)
// WEEKEND – ADVENTURES...
OR HOW TO ROCK VICTORIA
As I mentioned already, with the help from
friends and collegues we were able to explore Victoria a bit. It started on the
27th of april with Adam´s 32. Birthday and his wish to go to the beach and do a
sandsculpture. As Bronya offered us her car before we took her by the word and
made our way to Philip Island on a saturday. On the way we had breakfast and
passed a book outlet store where you could buy books for $3. And we even found
a few good ones! We found out that nearly all book shops in Australia are gone
by now as they couldn´t compete with the prices world wide and so everyone
started to order online. We both found that really sad! Isn´t it fantastic to
spend hours in an old book store and see what´s there… A PITY! Philip Island
was very beautiful – except from all the poisoned birds lying dead on the
beach. We both tried to do a sculpture but the sea was really rough and kept
destroying them. One wave got me when I was too slow to escape! Luckily it was
a nice and sunny day :)
In the evening we invited Bron and Tim and I
made Pizza. The plan was to go out in Brunswick afterwards but we had too good
conversations and were pretty done with Wine and Cider.
The weekend after Adam got the van from his
boss, while he spent 10 days at Fiji, and we went to an irish housewarming
party of another collegue and drove to the start of the Great Ocean Road. After
a great breakfast we checked out the beach in Torquay. Unfortunately the
weather wasn´t the best and so we watched “Oblivion” in the cinema in Geelong
on the way home.
The best trip so far we did the following
weekend. Friday after work we immediately packed our stuff, threw our bed (!!!)
in the back of the van and drove to Apollo Bay. There we spent the first night
and fell asleep to the sounds of the ocean – AMAZING! The next morning we had a
big breakfast in one of the bars and after a short visit of the markets we
continued our road trip to Port Campbell. On the way there we spontaneously
decided to visit a Wildlife park to have a look at australias animals. That was
great! You could stroke and feed Emu´s Kangaroos, Wallaby´s, Antilopes aso.
There was as well a big reservoir attached to the park where you then could
watch the animals in their natural environment and wild. I´ve attached heaps of
pics ;) Our absolute favourite was the Indian Antilope – what a fun :)
In Port Camplell we had fish´n´chips and Adam
did a sandsculpture on the beach. I´ve seen my first pelican´s in the wild and
after that we had to start searching for a place for the night already. In the
end we parked somewhere in the wild underneath a breathtaking night sky!
The next morning started early after we heard
a car driving past 2 times and we started getting nervous (as it is not allowed
to just “camp” somewhere. After a fantastic sunrise we had breakfast on the
ocean and had a long nap as it started to rain. A van can be such a nice and
cosy place when the raindrops are falling on the roof :) On the way back we looked out for wild Koalas that were supposed to be on a certain street. And how lucky – quite a
few were hanging around in the trees :) So
funny these little bears haha. We were so lucky and even saw a Wallaby passing
the streets in front of us wooohooo!
In the end we had to start driving home as we
still had to wash and empty the bus. One last stop for lunch in Lorne and the
everyday life nearly had us back. What a weekend! The best by far – so far :)
// PROJECTS, PROJECTS, PROJECTS...
OR HOW YOU KEEP YOURSELF BUSY
My projects develop slowly but at least that. I finally finished my
sheepskin vest I started in New Zealand :) It´s finally
wearable and I already love it! Picture is attached… real handwork.
Further I´m working on my own range. It´s still in it´s baby steps but
I´m absolutely motivated to do some prototypes and who knows… That´s what the
sewing machine is for :) And fabrics are
cheaper here! Unfortunately I can´t show you anything yet but as I mentioned it
now on my blog here I put a bit of pressure on myself (as if I wouldn´t do that
in general ;)).
Beside those Adam and me are working on T-Shirt prints together. That´s
the most fun! At the moment I´m still drawing them myself with the fabric
markers but we try to find a place to print some. As you might remember I
already started that in New Zealand and I just keep on designing new and funny
motives :)
//PLANS...OR HOW YOU
IMAGINE YOUR FUTURE
Well, we have a lot of plans – but no fixed ones ;)
A lot of you were asking me when I come back and how the next steps will
look like. Sorry to tell you that we don´t know either. We still try to figure
out what our options are in terms of my Visa. Of course, it as well depends on
our job situation and if we both find a stable and kind of good job (especially
me) and how it goes for us in Australia in general. We miss our family and
friends and would love to go back to New Zealand for a week (holiday) in about
1-2 month time – as well to see the difference. We would love to spend
Christmas in Europe and then stay or go – whatever happens. But like I said,
that all depends what the future holds for us.
The economy here is as well not the best anymore. The people still say
that there are heaps of jobs, you earn great money andandand… but our opinion
is that they didn´t realise yet what´s happening. I don´t know if it would be
better for us in Europe at the moment – I venture to doubt that. Well, now you
know and are up to date ;)
Already at the end again. I will try my best to answer everyone´s mail
who writes me separately :) I really
appreciate it and looking forward to hear about the news from Germany… so don´t
let me down ;)
I wish you all the best and hope it will work out that we see each other
at the end of the year – if for a visit or longer – who knows ;)
Cu in a while Crocodile,
Baba
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