New Travel Plans

Well I could bore you with the last month or so of work, but we've both been working fast food so you can guess how much fun that has been. Some things have changed, however. Instead of our epic trip through Asia we are now spending 4 weeks on a Kiwi Experience bus tour of New Zealand and 6 weeks on a West USA road trip through renting a car before heading back home.

The Kiwi Experience has always been a little too expensive compared to public transport so it's never something we thought we'd go for but thanks to some great offers (60% off) on their website, we've signed up fo a pretty comprehensive tour of both islands - see picture. I'm really looking forward to it: I've always thought of travelling as great chance not only to see the world but to exchange experiences with fellow travellers and make new friends. Sure we've couchsurfed with some great people and recieved fantastic advice about some lesser known spots we'd never have found by ourselves, but there's something reassuring about being part of a group tour and taking those famous photos that almost every other traveller has. We get both sides of the coin. We've also added Milford Sound to the trip because who really visits the South Island and doesn't go there! I think Sophie is only really interested in spotting as many Lord Of The Rings locations as possible so keep a lookout in our pictures for that.

As for the second part, we are both incredibly excited! Road trips in the US are something of legends so I've been making sure this has enough planning yet equal spontaneity to make it organised but open to adventure. We're flying to and from LAX, so will be heading on an anti-clockwise round trip through Los Angels, Sequoia NP, Death Valley, Vegas, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone NP, Seattle, San Fransisco, Yosemite NP and down the Big Sur back to LA. Those are the planned sections of the trip which comprise about 4 weeks, leaving 2 for exploring, recommendations along the way and pointing randomly on the mpa saying "let's go there today." We have made a rough route on google, which I invite you all to take a look at.... http://maps.google.com.au/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=216641271821975495319.00049f97789121f344e00&z=4. If you have been to America before and have any advice we'd love to hear it.

See you next time

Jon

Living in Australia

Well we're fully settled in now and into routines. I work evenings, Jon works daytimes and some evenings and occasionally we get a day off together :) Life is pretty good. So Burger King isn't the best place to work and it's not doing so much for our careers but the work is fairly easy, time goes quickly because it's busy, the pay is very good and the people are nice and in a temporary job you couldn't ask for much more. It's annoying that I haven't been able to find a second job yet (my dead cert interview last week still hasn't called) because we'd like to be saving more money but we're having a good time and it's a really good experience. I've started to really like Australia now which I never thought I would but things are just good here. The weather is so lovely and every day sunshine just puts me in a good mood. We still don't really know what we're doing when we leave here or even what kind of date we'll be leaving, we're sort of drifting along. We've applied to Uni in England next year (or we're trying to apply but both our applications are stuck at the moment) so we're waiting for people to get back to us to un-stick things and then when we hear whether or not we've been accepted I guess we'll decide what to do. The fees are the main decider because next year it'll be a ridiculous price to get our PGCEs and I'm in enough student debt already. If we don't get in for this year we have so many other options that it's hard to think about them. We could become English teachers in Japan with our current qualifications, we could become permanent residents of Canada and study there, we could get English teaching jobs in South Korea or the Middle East, we could do TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) courses here before we leave and then go on to pretty much anywhere - maybe South America or Asia... And all of these sound so much more attractive options than going home to England where everything is a struggle and the weather is bad and there are very few prospects. So really I don't know. I'm very much enjoying living abroad and I think it'd be fun to move about a bit more, see some more countries and teach. We'll just see what happens.

Today, today...

We went to see 'West Side Story' today at the Adelaide Festival Centre. Jon got free tickets from work and I wasn't particularly excited because I have no interest in theatre at all but I hadn't seen 'West Side Story' so I went in with an open mind... It was okay. The second female was brilliant but the rest were all a bit dull. They sang and danced pretty well but their acting was a bit patchy and the Australian/American/Latino accents were not so good. There was this weird long dance scene where everyone wore white and at the end the two men that had died came on in blood-stained whites and there were flame-lights lighting up all their clothing and then the happy music stopped and everyone ran away. It was a bit secondary school. And I came out still not really liking the theatre. But it was really nice to spend a day out though, doing something different and free. I've been a bit down lately and maybe 'West Side Story' was pretty appropriate really. It's because I realised that when it comes to working in Australia it doesn't matter what I've done, what experience I have or how many qualifications I have. Finding work on a holiday visa is like wearing a sign saying "I am not worth anything, you can ignore my applications even though I have years of experience because I am not Australian". It sounds silly and dramatic but it's true. I'm in the second-choice bin because of my nationality and as an English person it's something I never considered would happen to me. I think in England we still feel like Australia is ours, something we built and engineered, they have our monarchy and until recently they had a lot less money, power and influence than us. We thought of them as a younger sibling but they think nothing of us. To them we exist so they can beat us at the Commonwealth Games and the Ashes (although not this year...) They don't need us or want us. They don't need or want me either. I thought it would be so easy, everyone says it's easy to come to Australia and find work but you know what, the Australians don't like it. To an Australian I am the foreign worker, not the English comrade. I am coming over to earn some money and then take it home with me and they don't want that. And it makes sense. I don't like that people move to my country and do that. But right now I don't know if I'm a Shark or a Jet. So I'm applying to the jobs the Australians don't want and it's difficult to do, especially when the interviewer asks why I want the job because I don't. But we're muddling through regardless. I'm getting more interviews, Jon is now starting at Burger King too (a different branch) and the money is slowly working its way to us. And I know how it feels to be an immigrant. It's such a strange world.
But today was a good day and they are making more appearances now. Still, roll on the next eight months, I cannot wait for the next flight out of here! Ironic how I'm working at the airport...
Sophie

Things are looking up :)

Ok, so the obvious place to start is: WE BOTH HAVE JOBS!!!!!

Sophie is starting at Hungry Jacks (Oz's Burger King) next week, which she is actually very happy about. Not just because we have no money and have now been forced to transfer some more of my hard earned savings across from the UK, but because it looks like she'll actually enjoy working there. Her manager is in a metal band, there are no under 18s working there and she gets paid more than most Hungry Jacks workers do because it's a franchise store at the aiport and is owned by a different company.

I, on the other hand, am working in the Adelaide Festival Centre (basically a huge theatre/arts space/dance studio/indoor & outdoor venue) doing merchandising and sales. The only downside is that it's casual so no guaranteed hours although it should be around 10 a week on average. This does mean I'm unfortunately still applying for jobs as we need to be on about 35 hours a week each to manage our savings target of $2000 (£1300) a month between us. The beautiful thing about this country is that Hungry Jacks pays over £10 an hour thanks to pound being damn awful so when we've earned enough we'll be heading back home via New Zealand and (at the moment) the USA.

Yes, we we're supposed to be going over Asia after Oz but it's... just... so... hot! I'll mention more about it in my Singapore blog, which I promise won't take me as long to write as this one did. And who can miss the opportunity of seeing the US over thanksgiving, christmas and new year. It's going to be epic!

Jon

Hungry Jack's Rejection

Well well. We're in the new house now and it is an epic house. We have a pool that we haven't used because it's so dirty, a massive TV that we barely watch because it's next to our landlord's room and no door. Well, the house has a door (with a keypad!) but our room is just up a flight of stairs. It seemed adventurous when we moved in but now it's just annoying because of the noise. Last night I was coughing a bit and this morning our landlord offered me some cough medicine. His room is a floor down and on the other side of the house.
Everything's been a bit gloomy today. I must have applied for over thirty jobs by now. Jon has been rejected by Hungry Jack's (Australian Burger King) but I've heard nothing so maybe they're considering my application. Part of me hopes not. It's been cold today too and we've worked out that the washing machine didn't actually wash our last load, it just made them wet as it flooded the outhouse so they all smell a bit still. But they only start to smell after you've left the house and you're on the way to chat to someone about a job. It's like they know...
More job applying tomorrow. Fun fun. We're employing a tactic of walking up and down rows of shops tomorrow instead of applying by phone or online. Maybe it will change our fortunes but so far I want to ditch Australia, write it off as a loss and head on to Asia. But it's not been all bad. While Jon's been online I've had plenty of time for computer games. Bad day.
Sophie

Singapouring

We are in Singapore. So far we have been very hot, got snappy with each other, not slept (jetlag), re-planned the entire trip (again) and had to tackle with a toilet that is a hole in the floor. We did sleep in the end from around 4am until 1pm which wasn't ideal (especially as there have been loud drilling sounds coming from the next building for hours) but it was sleep and now we're up and raring to go and it is bucketing down with rain and the thunder is actually louder than the drilling. Earlier today I imagined nothing could be louder than the drilling. I was wrong.
Aside from this rant I have high hopes for Singapore. We're going to a local market for dinner tonight and we're staying with a guy that plays guitar and wants to jam with Jon so that will hopefully get me some reading time later. We're also planning on going to Universal Studios, the zoo, lots of air conditioned malls, a wave water park and lots of other cool places. There's like a tourist island full of stuff to do so we won't get bored. Oh, and we're going to a pub quiz tomorrow night with our next host. And he has a bed for us! JOY!
Life is alright.
Sophie

Welcome to couchsurfing

Hi,

For those stumbling upon this blog from a google keyword match, we encourage you to read on and to come back anytime to check out where we happen to be in the world. This is a travel blog telling the story of my girlfriend Sophie and I as we work, travel and couchsurf our way around Australia, New Zealand and Asia until the money runs out and we are forced to book that final, depressing flight. We'll be spending 7 or 8 months working in Adelaide before surfing New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, China and Hong Kong. Last month I won 1st prize in the STA Travel 'Where's Your Head At?' photo competition - a week long trip to Egypt - so we'll be sticking that on the end of our tour. If we've still got something left after that a mini tour of northern Africa would go down very well, but thats far to far away to be considering right now.

For those friends who are actually reading this - wow, thanks guys. We hope you enjoy.

But it's late and we have a flight tomorrow. We've been in Abu Dhabi for 3 days now and it's onto Singapore before returning to Australia in a week or so - stay tuned for our thoughts on the Emiratis, Grand Mosques and surviving some of the most dangerous pedestrian crossings in the world.

Jon