• Eminem 8th Dec at Sydney Football Stadium: I said I wasn’t going to go and see him, but in the end thought ‘why not?’.  Not normally the type of music I like…and he did nothing to persuade me otherwise.  Shouldn’t have bothered, glad to have heard ‘Stan’ live and “Lose Yourself’ was good, but otherwise it was bit shit.
• Fleet Foxes 2nd Jan at Sydney Opera House: Acousticy/folky shenanigans in a great place.  Just my cup of tea.  Slowed down some of their songs, but overall I enjoyed it.
• Arctic Monkeys 12th Jan at Hordern Pavilion: 7th time I’ve seen these and they didn’t disappoint again.  Stood in the middle with the kool kidz…jumped about more than a hyperactive kangaroo.  Great gig and the Hordern is a great place for gigs.
• Arctic Monkeys 13th Jan at Enmore Theatre: Tickets went on sale for this months after the previous gig sold out.  Decided seeing them in a smaller venue would be ace. Decided my hyperactive kangaroo days were behind me and stood to the side this time.  They were still good, but atmosphere was a bit more calmer than previous night.
• Noel Gallagher 23rd Jan at Enmore Theatre:  As a big Oasis fan I couldn’t miss the opportunity to see him here.  Played mostly his own album and the tunes come across great live.  A handful of Oasis songs were, as to be expected, mass sing alongs – a slow acoustic version of Supersonic was fantastic. I’m biased…but a great gig.
• Kasabian 24th Jan at Hordern Pavilion: After overindulgence the previous night at Noel, last thing I wanted to do was go and see these (bring out the small violin), but  I soldiered on.  The Vaccines were good as support band and Kasabian thankfully woke me up when they came on.  Probably the 5th time I’ve seen Kasabian and they do as Kasabian do and got the crowd going.  Great finish with ‘Fire’ at the end.
• Big Day Out 26th Jan: One day festival on Australia Day and spent most of it wandering around watching bits of bands.  Crowd was weird, not really the type of crowd I’m used to at festivals.  It wasn’t a bad atmosphere and I didn’t see any trouble, but something wasn’t right.  Maybe just because it was a mostly younger crowd than what I’m used to (16-25 ish)?  Anyway; seen a few bands I’ve no idea who they were but I know I seen Boy & Bear, Grinspoon, The Living End, The Vaccines (again), My Chemical Romance, Kasabian (again), Soundgarden, Kanye West (poo), and Noel Gallagher (again).  Was glad I’d been to see Kasabian and Noel earlier in the week as they only played for about an hour.  Had a great view for Noel too, about 5 from the front as the kids were watching Kanye’s rap/r & b nonsense, or whatever it is.

A small break from gigs now. Next up is Roger Waters in 2 weeks in an Arena and then Bon Iver in the Opera House in the middle of March.  Looking forward to both immensely.  Waters playing the Wall in full (not playing an actual brick wall, the album: The Wall) and Bon Iver doing his accousticy stuff in the Opera House…what more could you want.

Once the festival season kicks off in Europe I’ll be gig starved for 6 months, so I’m thinking about going to see Elbow (again) in March and maybe Lenny Kravitz (even though I only know 2 of his songs..but Wolfmother and the Cranberries are supporting – and I’d like to hear them sing Zombie).

Still haven’t found any good Australian bands.  Still looking and listening.  Oh and just as an aside…Australian TV and radio is shit.  Shit with a capital S.  So shit they make ITV look good.  Every radio station still plays Adele – Someone Like You what seems like once an hour, it won’t be long before this tune triggers someone going postal in work.

What is good though, is having people come to visit you, albeit briefly.  Over the past month a couple of cousins have made (literally) a flying stop in Sydney and I’ve felt brilliant being able to show them around and show them where I’ve made my home.  After not seeing a familiar face for over a year it was very surreal to see people I know here too.  But it highlighted how far I’ve come – and not just in terms of distance.  I still laugh to myself that I can say “I live in Sydney”.

However, the distance plays a part when the one thing I’d love to do is show my family around; especially my dad, brothers and sister – just to be able to show them what I’ve done.  Emails, photos and phone calls aren’t enough to explain how, or why, Sydney makes me happy.

Unfortunately getting to Australia isn’t easy and certainly isn’t cheap, but hopefully I’ll be able to help towards the cost if they do decide to come over.  Especially for my Dad…the last I heard state pensions don’t help towards the cost of travel to the other side of the world!  Either I’ll have to help towards the cost, or they max out a couple of credit cards, never pay a penny back and move to the other side of the world like some people do *cough*.

I knew I’d get there eventually…I just didn’t anticipate it taking as long as it did.  But it was probably worth the wait, as the place itself is the best place I’ve viewed (and I’ve lost count of the number of places I’ve viewed over the past few months).  It’s also in the city so handy for everything that Sydney has to offer!

My two new housemates seem pretty decent so far.  They at least go out and are pretty social (unlike the last place I had the misfortune of living in – they got nosebleeds if they were out past 8pm).  So social wise, I think it will be a good move for me as I don’t know many people to go out with over here.  A house-warming night out already took me to several pubs/bars places I hadn’t been in before.  So things are looking up.  I can see myself being here for the long run.

I had to buy a few things to settle in though, top of the list was bedding.  So at the weekend I went to buy a couple of pillows and a duvet: goose down, duck down, feather & down, latex, memory foam, wool, cotton.  Too many options, all with different permutations and expense.  You need a degree in bedology before you attempt to buy this stuff.  How on earth are you supposed to know what’s what?  Who teaches you this?  Are you just supposed to know…and why is it so expensive?!

I’ve never had to buy this stuff before.  I remember only finding out that there was such a thing as a Tog rating about 6/7 years ago from a ditzy girl in work who said she had put her ‘summer duvet’ on the bed.  I looked at her like she had 2 heads…until I realised this was the norm:  I’d had 1 duvet which had done me through countless summers and winters.

Anyway, I came back from the shops with a pillow, a fitted bed sheet and duvet cover (I decided spending money on a duvet was a step too far and I just couldn’t bring myself to spend that much money in one go, so I kinda bottled it).  I need to do some duvet research first, but it’s warm enough over, it’s not like I’m waking up with frostbite.

I got home from my shopping expedition and put the bed sheets on…they were massive…I’d bought stuff for a king size bed, not queen size.  D’oh.  I decided I didn’t like the pillow after I tried it properly either.

No problem thought I, I’ll take them back and exchange them.  Only, someone somewhere…quiet rightly (probably)….decided you cannot exchange bedding/pillows.

Sigh.

Anyone need king size sheets and a high-profile pillow (used once…minimal slobber)?

I’ve seen Kings of Leon 3 times previously – but it was a few years ago now, so I was interested to see if they’d go through the motions or not. Unfortunately, initially at least, they did go through the motions for most of it. Four songs in and not so much as a ‘Hello Sydney’.

I’ve never been one who moans if the band doesn’t speak to the crowd, I’d rather do without the fake “[Insert city name here], we love playing here/this is our favourite place” etc. But give them their due, they did seem to get into it half way through. They weren’t exactly mind-blowing (I think I knew what to expect as well), but they were pretty solid.

Boy & Bear – Enmore Theatre

A few months ago, an internet stranger recommended Boy & Bear to me because they were of similar ilk to Mumford & Sons (who I like) – they actually supported Mumford & Sons when they toured in Australia. They’d also sold out the Enmore Theatre for the previous day on the Saturday, so I was intrigued to see what the fuss was about (hoping I could tell my mates about my new ‘tip for the top’ discovery down under).

Acoustic guitar – check

folky sound – check

As good as Mumford & Sons – Nope.

Will they make it big – probably not.

Yours,

Mr S. Cowell

I like their song ‘Feedling Line’ though.

I spent most of the time looking around wondering how good the Arctic Monkeys will be when they play in there in January (somewhere that isn’t a huge 10k capacity arena). My conclusion, with the hairs on the back of my neck standing up: “immense”.

Harvest Festival

The inaugural Harvest Festival. A one day, 10k capacity festival, with a line up which included Portishead, The National and The Flaming Lips surely couldn’t disappoint, could it?

You could walk from one end of the site to the other within 5 mins and with minimal band clashes you could mostly watch whole sets before moving yo-yoing with the crowd inbetween stages.

I managed to catch This Town Needs Guns, The Family Stone, The Walkmen, PVT, TV On The Radio, Bright Eyes, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Mogwai, The National and Portishead.

I’m just disappointed that I didn’t stick around for Flaming Lips (but I’d seen them a couple of years ago at Glastonbury) – opting instead, to get a couple of beers and a decent spec. at the other stage for Portishead.

I wasn’t sure how Portishead’s music would go down at a festival. When it was announced they were playing over here I was hoping they’d also play at the Opera House. But alas, they didn’t…they didn’t need to.

I’ve never heard a crowd that large be so quiet during songs. The best behaved crowd I’ve seen; no cheers in the quiet bits, no screams, no stupid yelling out…even the singer commented on at the end “thanks for being quiet”.

I never thought I’d get to hear ‘Roads’, live, so that was a personal favourite. As was the chest thumping bass of ‘Machine Gun’ and the hauntingly quiet ‘Wandering Star’.

Side Note:

Crowds at gigs seem to be a bit more civilized over here, not least because I’m still yet to see a plastic cup of beer/piss get thrown. Normally, in England at least, Kings of Leon would be enough to bring all the knobhead beer throwing tools out in force.

Enimen plays here in 2 weeks, I’d like to see him, but I’m not willing to pay nearly $200 for the privilege. So, it looks like the next concert will be Fleet Foxes at The Opera House on 2^nd Jan.

Which way?

That lot will keep me going, for now.

The only problem is, it’s not easy to find somewhere I like – which isn’t paying silly money – in Sydney.

I’m currently living in the middle of the city now and ideally I want to stay in the middle of the city (or as close as). The place where I am now, location wise, it’s perfect.  But I live with twats.

Actually that’s probably a bit harsh. Let’s just say they’re…different.

I could rent a place in the suburbs, but I didn’t move to Sydney to live in the sticks. So that means I need to rent a shared place again – which I don’t mind doing – I can afford to live in the city. I just can’t afford a place on my own.

Plus, I can count the number of people I know here on my fingers so I want to be in a shared house. If only to try and find people I can go out with now and again.

It all seems straight forward enough “just go on the internet, there’s loads of rooms”.

There are loads of rooms, but they’re either filled with non-english speaking people, or the proper places are few and far between and they are snapped up more or less within a day or two of being advertised, or they’re just too expensive.

I’ve missed out on 4 places in the past couple of weeks, 3 because I was too slow (I spent 48 hours contemplating if I could afford one place, before eventually deciding yes…only to find it’d gone. Sigh).

As the house hunting goes on and on, week after week, I keep telling myself ‘something is going to come up, anytime now’. Then nothing does.

I’m not sure what I’m waiting for – the ideal place isn’t going to materialise. But then, neither do I want to pay similar rent to live a bus/train ride away.  I know I’d move out to the suburbs but look longingly at the city like a love sick teenager. I wouldn’t be happy.

The (tiresome) search continues.

Since I’ve been in Australia and on a 12 month Working Holiday Visa, I haven’t been much of a backpacker.  That’s because I had one goal.

My goal involved coming to Australia and trying to get a decent job which would provide me with a sponsorship to stay here.

Maybe I set my sights too high, it wasn’t exactly easy to do with no ‘trade skills’ or even experience in an occupation on the skills immigration list.  But I thought ‘what have I got to lose?’.  In my opinion, at the time, it was worth giving it a go.  At the very least I’d get to spend time in Australia and get to do and see things I’d always only dreamt of.

After a few dodgy jobs I finally landed a decent 3 month temporary role in Sydney CBD, which eventually turned into 6 months.  I liked the job, the people and the place, and at every opportunity I asked my boss if they would keep me.

My boss did want me to stay, but said there would be no chance of being sponsored for a visa, so it never went any further.

Then one day, about 6 weeks ago, my boss called me into a meeting.  Either I’d bugged them enough about wanting to stay or I’d proved I could do a decent job – maybe it was both as they were going to look into the sponsorship thing.  But at the same time I was told firmly not to get my hopes up.

A few weeks after that and after various powers that be gave the go-ahead.  I then applied for, was interviewed and then offered a permanent job – on condition of an employee sponsorship visa being granted.  The job and offer, was better than I had even anticipated and hoped for (which was a bonus)!

Today, my 4 year employer sponsorship visa was granted.

GET IN THERE!

It’s been over 10 years since I first mentioned to family that I wanted to go to Australia – it took a while, but I finally got here and doing my best to make it last!

The Plan:  it was never very detailed.  It didn’t need to be, I knew what I wanted to do:  Go to Australia.  Get a job in Sydney.  Stay.  Easy (ish)!

(Next mission: find somewhere decent to live!)

Alice Springs was kind of what I expected, a small-ish town/city, with not a lot to do there. Although we did visit the Flying Doctors. As a tourist, any longer than a week and I think you’d struggle for things to do. But I did have a didgeridoo lesson…Rolf Harris is quaking in fear.

Whilst we were there they also held the Henley-On-Todd Regatta – a boat race, without water. In fact it was called off one year because there was too much rain. Apart from running up and down a dry river bed with home made ‘boats’. Amongst the highlights were sand skiing, sand shovelling and a bath tub derby. It all sounds a bit yokel-ish, but it was actually good fun.

We started our 3 day camping tour to the rock, bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6am on the Sunday morning and after a few hours drive walked around Kings Canyon. After getting up so called Heart Attack Hill, it was a nice walk with some amazing views.

After a brief stop to collect firewood at the side of the road, we arrived at where we would sleep for the night – it was just in the middle of nowhere, no facilities to speak of. The good thing about that was that I’ve never seen so many stars in my life. Looking up at the sky was like being in a planetarium – (or is a planetarium like being out in the Australian outback?).

Our sleeping facilities for the next 2 nights was inside a swag – basically a big canvas sleeping bag which you put a normal sleeping bag inside. At this time of year it was needed as it got down to about 4 degrees at night. Getting to sleep wasn’t easy though as there were jumping mice running all over the place. Just as I’d start to nod off, one would be running up the side or across the top of the swag.

Next day we went to Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), which was an amazing walk. I didn’t know what to expect as I hadn’t looked into what The Olgas were but again, some of the views were spectacular

After that we went onto Uluru, done a small walk around the base and then off to aviewing point to watch sunset.

Uluru at sunset

A few beers where had whilst trying to pose for typical tourist pictures. We stayed at a different camp site that night, one with proper toilets and showers (I quite like roughing it, so I was disappointed I could get washed). Another early start the next day to see sunrise meant not a lot of sleep again, but seeing the sunrise come up just to the left of Uluru was fantastic.

My mum passed away 10 years ago and whilst I was at Uluru it was her birthday. So that was kind of weird given it was a big thing for me to be there.  To be there on what would’ve been her birthday was odd.  Even more of a coincidence that it was my friend who picked all the dates we went, without knowing it was significant to me. I’m sure my mum would be proud if she was still alive “look at the state of him at Uluru..Ayers Rock…or whatever you call it…”

For me, it was quite surreal being there, even now a week later, I’m still looking at the pictures amazed I was there. People keep asking me if it was spiritual experience or anything like that. I don’t know. I didn’t feel anything like that, but like the TV series Lost, I feel like I want to go back, but I’m not sure why!

This was going to be my first sentence. I’d be wrong, as I’ve done quite a bit recently, but as I can’t think of a more suitable first sentence that one is staying.

A few bits:

• been to a few Aussie Rules Footy and rugby games
• watched Celtic play with a hoard of Irish and Scots (although that’s not surprising as there is quite probably more Irish people in Sydney/Australia than there is in Ireland)
• been to see Elbow and Gomez
• viewed more apartments and houses than I care to count
• moved house (and now looking to move again)
• booked a trip to Alice Springs & Uluru (I go in 2 weeks) with a girl I’ve only met once, for less than 24 hours…and not seen for 7 months…
• winter days being just as hot as an English summer
• laughed at colleagues wrapped up like they are going on an Arctic expedition when it’s 18 degrees outside
• started swimming lessons
• been chatted up by a bloke who looked like an 18^th century French mime (complete with twirly moustache). Twice.
• Put my tourist hat on again and went whale watching
• Salsa dancing (I have the dancing skills of a weird drunken uncle at a wedding)
• Sang karaoke for the first time ever (I have the singing skills of a tone-deaf weird drunken uncle at a wedding)
• Shouted at by a shoe shop assistant – I’d apparently been wearing the wrong size shoes for the past year. Still not sure why he was so angry at me.

But in the main I have just been working and trying to save as much as I can. Work  extended my contract for another 3 months (which would take me to the maximum time allowed to work with 1 employer on my visa – 6 months max). This will take me towards the end of October.

My 2 immediate bosses want me to stay and I’d love to stay, so I asked if they’d sponsor me – the only way I’d get to stay in Australia longer.

As with a few other meetings I had separately with immigration agents, they think any application would be ‘borderline’. I’ve since had a couple of meetings with HR and had to submit them a re-jigged CV to fit the job spec. a bit better, and given them copies of all my certificates. HR people aren’t convinced at the minute a sponsorship application for the job role, would get through immigration. But at least they’re looking into it and speaking to whoever they need to speak to.

One of my bosses admitted that it’s gone a lot further down the line than they thought it would get, so we’ll see. I expect to find out in the next week if the company will do it *crosses fingers and toes.

If they don’t go for it, then at least I should have some money to do some travelling again before having to head back to England – although I’m trying not to think about that.

I’ve managed to pay back my mate for the money he borrowed to me when I came over here, so no debts now (apart from the thousands I left and stopped paying off on my credit cards…but shusssh, I won’t mention it if you won’t). Which means I can start doing stuff (whilst I have income again), ticket has been bought for a few gigs: Elbow and Gomez – thinking about going to see Glasvegas too – but like the buses, you wait for one to come along and they all come at the same time – they all play in the same week. Plus Pulp are playing over here at the same time too. Spoilt for choice…if I was a fan.

I haven’t got to make new mates as such yet though, I’ve sort of gone back into my shell a little bit and I’m finding it hard to meet people.  Although I’m getting on with everyone in work they don’t seem to do much like after work drinks, which is kinda what I hoped would be a regular occurrence to make some out of work mates. But we’re out next week after work so we’ll see.

Aussie Rules Football…I went to watch Sydney Swans a couple of weeks ago. I used to always watch it on Saturday mornings on Channel 4 as a kid and I’ve always wanted to go and see a match. I ended up with a ticket in the members pavilion at Sydney Cricket Ground after someone offered me a ticket outside. If there was anywhere to feel like you don’t belong it was me in there – but not for any reason other than ‘fucking hell i’m sat in the members pavillion’ I felt like I was going to get kicked out any second. I didn’t really have a clue what was going on, but it was a good experience, I’ll probably go again in a few weeks anyway. C’mon the swans!

Vivid Sydney is on during the next few weeks around the harbour. They have light installations beaming 3D projections onto the Opera House and a few other buildings and other ‘oooo good lights’ bits around there. It’s quite impressive if you’re the type to get easily impressed by lights.  Like me.