plane to Melbourne from Brisbane, 18 December 2010
is now over a month since I am in the Australian land ...
are landed in Queensland, one of the most popular areas of the country. His fame is due to the largest coral reef in the world that travel thousands of miles of its coast, ranging from Cains to the Gold Coast, this is the only coral reef that you can see with the naked eye from space.
Queensland (literally "Land of the Queen") is also one of the states with the highest rate of population. Brisbane is the capital, and is the third largest city in the country after Sydney and Melbourne.
The plane lands precisely on the Gold Coast, a place famous throughout Australia for its popular beach for surfers and promenades filled with bars, restaurants and clubs, where the people love ozzy beach during the summer. The plane that brought me to Australia from Malaysia, is the company's AirAsia, one of the low coast in Asia which allows travel between Asian countries for very little money, do you think the ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Gold Coast has cost me only 110 €!
The arrival at the airport already makes you understand how things work in Australia ... the passage of immigration was the longest I've ever had since I started traveling ... After the usual passport control, walk along a corridor with a dozen police officers will control practically all the luggage in search of objects that can not possibly get in Australia, of which there a huge list, including any food or drink that is not a pain in the Australian ... chestnuts!
After all steps must, go out to the airport, I find the bus stop I need to go in and take a train station after an hour's journey will take me up to Brisbane.
Here, I have a contact, Victor's ex-boyfriend Piluca, lives in Australia for more than a year, working for a English transportation company, is with him I had made contact before you arrive, it's always handy to know someone when you get a place to live in an era that is long or short ... but unfortunately Victor on the very day of my arrival had to leave for work in Melbourne, then the day before taking the plane tried couchsurfer.com temporary accommodation for a few days at the home of an unknown person but provides a sofa to those who require accommodation for a couple of days. You know Pans, an Indonesian boy who studies and works in Brisbane and they kindly gave me the opportunity to stay in her home. I've been home for almost a week of Pans. The first few days, those of adaptation, helped me to know a little about the city, understand how Australians live, learn their habits, schedules, lifestyle ... To tell the truth, the impact suffered by Asian countries through the new continent has been nothing short of shocking. The feeling was to feel suddenly catapulted from third to first world. Roads
perfect, clean, tidy, organized, public spaces spread like wildfire throughout the city, all equipped theater districts, cultural workshops, libraries, cinemas, gyms and some of them even free. Artificial beaches, pedestrian bridges, bike paths that run throughout the city, public transport and split the minutes of punctuality, shop windows perfectly and originally prepared. I went from perfect to perfectly organized chaos, from the streets to clean the dirtiest most impeccable, from the hellish traffic on roads perfectly organized, from abject poverty to luxury and the good life. The first day I felt completely lost, too much organization, too clean, too much perfection made everything, (and still make it for me) in some sense, false. Probably if I came to this earth directly from Europe, the impact would not be so strong, but having lived for nine months a very poor country economically first, but so rich in culture, history, philosophy and styles life totally different from Western on the other hand, have meant that now I see with different eyes to everything that is globalized and westernized.
prices, this was one of the biggest shock I suffered.
Life is very dear in Australia for the first time ... When I walked into a supermarket I could and wanted to buy anything, it all seemed very dear, from $ 2 (€ 1.5) a bottle of mineral water , the least expensive, at $ 6 a kilogram of bananas. Can not find the rent of a room, unless you want to share a room with 2 or 3 people, less than $ 150 a week. If we want to stay in a modern apartment with comfort and rest, do not go for less than $ 250 a week. € 550 per month rent for a room in a house with at least 3 other people.
Luckily I managed to find a job now, after ten days, I took as a waiter in an Italian restaurant: dell'Ugo, one of the more expensive restaurants in town, fashon in the district of New Farm. Of course I had several years experience as a waiter in college where I worked from Savoretti in Rimini for several summers, or other experiences in France and Ireland, but I had never worked in a fancy restaurant, with impeccable service and where the forks and knives, except of course the glasses, were glittering splendor. It was not easy at first, especially when it sometimes happened to have to talk or listen to orders beverage never heard before and of course the Australian accent does not help at all. My
appear, however, was not to take orders, do what the manager, I made the runner, the guy that is leading the dishes, and appliances clears, fills the glasses, the dry and sometimes is covered in the counter when the barman does not work, in short, a handyman ...
I'd forgotten how hard the work was in the restaurant, always moving, standing for hours, get home with your feet on fire. But in the end the reward is $ 18.9 per hour, not bad when after 35 hours worked in a week you find yourself almost $ 600 in checking account. In a month, working every day for 7 hours a day and doing this type of work, which is one of the lowest paid, you get to take almost $ 2,500 (more than 2000 €), imagine the office worker or executive levels.
This explains why Australia is a country dear.
After living six days at the home of Pans, find a room in a house in the fashionable West End, one of the hippest neighborhoods in the city. The owner, Carol, is a woman of 67, who lives alone and rents a house in the middle of his backpack travelers, students or foreign workers who decide to stay for long or short time in Brisbane. The house was a typical Australian house with a garden behind a combined barbecue, prepared with a garage to accommodate another person in need of accommodation, in a kitchen, a bathroom and three bedrooms, two to rent and live where the "old" to stay around for her.
A first impression that made me Carol was a little strange. Sixty-seven years, with poise and hippy clothing of another era, long dyed blonde hair with shimmering pendants that fall from the hair, make-up super rinforzado, especially clothing and sometimes a little risqué for a woman of that age. The idea I had was that of an old woman to her young age could be a great steal hearts for a fee.
However, my room was nice, a beautiful picture of a wall filled with Buddha and the other played a large mirror with the size of the room making it seem greater than what it was. The price then was not bad, $ 165 per week, compared to other listings of homes and proximity to the center, they did a good option now that the hostel I was hosting for over 5 days.
From Carol stayed two weeks, until that fateful day that I told her I was going to live in Melbourne after 2 weeks.
At that very instant, with no opportunity to respond, literally drives me out of the house, leaving me homeless and stealing $ 100 for "breach of contract."
The fact is that when I entered the house, the witch made me sign a paper saying that I would stay up on January 15. The release date was naturl thought something there at that time, but she knew that that date was approximate. Also when she asked me to come over at 2 weeks in advance, the last 2 weeks before leaving, as collateral. Were not used to anything my proposals to help her look for a replacement or want to give her one week additional guarantee that if he had not found anyone to replace me I would have given up everything to take them back ... Absolutely a waste of breath. How
un'indemoniata, completely changing personality at first told me that I should go away if someone had wanted to take my room after 10 minutes tells me that the next day I had to leave at 9 the room, and after another 10 minutes in an hour telling me that he wanted to see all my stuff, and me, out of the house ... There was no way to change her mind, moreover, two days before had happened stessisima the thing to another boy, who kicked of beauty and goodness of home because he did not want to sign his "contract". Just as if we had plastic bags that you throw away when you are not comfortable.
So, with the help of Ajit, managed to find the home of her friend, whom I had met a week ago, Donna, and that would let me live in his house until today.
Ajit is a young Australian, originally from Sri Lanka, I knew just the weekend that winged home of Carol. He lives in Melbourne but that weekend was in Brisbane to celebrate the 40th anniversary of one of his best friends. After having chatted online a couple of times, that weekend I send an sms telling me that he was in Brisbane and wanted to see me. So that Friday evening, we met.
I was with Manu, a German boy like me he came to Australia to travel and work. We met at Wichlam, a local historic environment of Brisbane. From there the next day he invited me to party at his friends Andy and Sarah. It was the day of my move to Carol's house that night I was really tired but decided to go, it would be a good opportunity to meet new people and then there was food and drink for free, why do not you go ...
It was a really fun party, friends of Ajit very nice, welcomed me as if I were one of them, and ate and drank all night ... Andy and Sarah have a house with swimming pool, two beautiful children, seem to the typical Australian family happy ... I was sleeping in the couch, lying outside the home and away from public transport and none sober he could accompany me, I had no choice and I was there.
After the party, Ajit he returned to Melbourne and continued to talk via Skype almost every day. During that period grew stronger in me the notion that Brisbane was a city made for me. The superficiality of the people, the coldness of the city, the climate, which should have been the best of all Australia. Just this year is to pass through the Pacific "La Nina" weather phenomenon opposite to the El Nino current that brings heavy rains and the Australian continent. During the whole time I was in Brisbane, I never got to see the sea. Even if you think that Brisbane is on the coast, is not exactly so. To see the sea have to drive for an hour or take trains or buses that will cost at least $ 20.
The beautiful beaches are two hours away and, given the unstable climate, there has never been a day that I could arrange to get there.
So two weeks ago I decided to leave Brisbane, to abandon the idea of \u200b\u200bworking there during the Christmas period and leave immediately after, because the restaurant where I worked was closed for the holidays and I should look for another job. Also began to make serious relationship with Ajit and his plan to go camping in the new year in a hippy kind of community lured me particularly. So now I'm on the plane, just at the time of this writing, I'm leaving Brisbane to start another adventure, this time to Melbourne, where I feel that I expect many good things. Melbourne, everybody says, esssere a beautiful city, very cosmopolitan, full of travelers, foreigners, open people, easy to find work in the most at this moment I have a extra edge, waiting for me someone, someone I know for sure that I will never feel bored, or just misplaced. A new adventure is about to begin and I am more than ready to live like all the others that I have experienced so far.
