Eureka Skydeck 88

It has been a while since my last post here but I haven't been up to much, so nothing to shout about for now.
I got a couple of months office job which I started last Monday, so all I've been doing is working. To be honest now, the job is not very complicated and aussies are all very relaxed and take their time with their jobs. Just like my boss told me.. no need to rush, take it  easy and do it in your own time. As long as it gets done by the required time, it's ok.... And that was a busy week in the office!
I am looking forward to the next few weeks to see how it goes and whether I am able to find any challenges in the tasks given to me. Either way, the pay is good and plus I got a window seat with a nice view of the city.
Went to visit the tallest building yesterday, Eureka Skydeck 88. The building is 291m tall, has 3600 steps and it takes 38 seconds to reach the 88th floor.
Views of 360 degrees Melbourne below.

office from above

Kohustuslik poos

Murphy's Law proven!

So after 165 job applications I finally got the job that I interviewed for yesterday. It feels like they had already decided it before meeting me and arranged the interview just to see me in person and have a coffee. Well done me. I do not have to worry for a few months now! I will start on Monday and the office is located in a posh Southbank location in the city centre. I too can look like important now every morning going to work and looking fancy. Haha. The company is pretty big in the world so I am sure everyone has consumed some of the products that are sold worldwide. It should take me around 45 minutes to get to work. The train ride is around half an hour and a short walk from the train station to the office.
On Tuesday I attended my first volleyball training session since January. I can still feel the pain in my whole body but the pain could be considered good pain. I will try to attend the training every Tuesday if possible.

Since I have done nothing around here for the past few weeks I can talk about the weather. They aussies are saying that winter is coming. It is only 18 degrees outside. I do not mind, it is like a nice Irish summer. Probably better as it's not that windy over here. Plus most of the days are sunny anyway.
There is something about coffee in this city. People are willing to pay a fortune for a perfect coffee, what ever their preference is. Baristas are highly regarded and coffee needs to be excellent. Of course you pay an excellent price for it as well! I had heard about Melbourne coffee shops before but I thought the story was slightly exaggerated!

Any questions?

The Australian Dream

I guess every young person sees Australia as the land of opportunities. Easy money, no problem to get a job, no problem to change jobs - after all there are loads to choose from! This may be the case for people with permanent residency but probably not the case for working holiday visa holders. You have to be really lucky to bag a job immediately after arrival in this country of sunshine! Yes, there is no problem to find a job but the question lies in which job and what amount of money are you willing to work for?
It is pretty easy to earn some quick cash and work in a farm as someone's slave. If you really need some cash you will work for any amount as long as it keeps you going for a while. The farmers tend to take advantage of the government incentives for backpackers to work in the rural areas. When staying here with a working holiday visa, it is possible to obtain a 2nd year visa by doing 88 days (or a total of 3 months work) in a farm. The farmers know there are thousands of travelers around who are looking for work, so they pay the least possible amounts to people (since they are willing to work anyway). Whether you get employed through a government agency, you will have to agree on the salary yourself with the farmer and that is where the problem starts. There are also organisations called working hostels that promise you work and in return you stay at the hostel, pay for the accommodation and they take you to work. Plus the hostels charge you for transport to work as well!
Some of them are very profit orientated, so I would recommend for people to do their research before they say yes to a place that does not really look trustworthy or respectful. In general I would not recommend a working hostel but to contact farmers directly. The chances then are higher to find an honest farmer who will pay fair wages for the work done.
Going back to the "real" jobs... My search is still underway and I have not found anything after applying for 142 jobs in total over the past few months. All replies have been negative. I am starting to think is there something that wrong with me? I consider myself with pretty decent working background and the agencies have been very pleased with me. How come they are not able to find me anything? Just talk and that's all? Seriously? Anyway, I will keep looking for office jobs and parallel with that I have started looking at any jobs. I know for sure, like Murphy's Law, when ever I accept a "shit" job I will get a better offer from an agency. All the opportunities will present themselves together. There is never a chance that things will go smoothly.
Ciao

St Kilda and Port Melbourne

Last weekend was a busy weekend in Melbourne city. We met up with a couple of Australian friends who we met in Ireland and enjoyed a weekend full of wine with them! It was great as we could stay in town overnight and not go back to our place to sleep (which is pretty far away).
Spent Saturday hanging around in St Kilda. It is a lovely place with lots of restaurants and bars to choose from in variable price ranges (of course most of them were not compatible with our wallets for now until we are not working). The prices are not too different from Dublin and it is quite possible to spend just as much money here than in Dublin. If some products are more expensive here then others are cheaper. For example, petrol price per litre varies from 125.9 to 145 AUD. This is pretty much 1 EUR per litre. No wonder we can feed our Falcon that much! Supermarkets around here give a discount of 8c per litre of fuel on purchases over 30 AUD. European countries should learn to do that as well.. However, we did have the most expensive beers in the world. A pint of beer cost 9 and a glass of Leffe cost 11 - a total of shocking 20 AUD!
Back to St Kilda. There is nothing much to say about it really, I will just upload a few pics of the surroundings and what it looks like. Do not expect to see any points of interest on them. The weather on Saturday was about 26 degrees but the water was really cold. I think maybe 18-19 degrees. I still made myself get in there and cool my head down from previous nights drinking. I really needed the refreshment!
Oh yes, a picture from the street as well where we live, just for the ones who are interested :)

View from our "terrace"

Street View

St Kilda

Nothing to see here!

To the beach with an umbrella?

St Kilda graffiti

Oh yes, must mention that Melbourne has a lot of hidden street art. When wondering around in the city one can often spot some excellent and not so excellent graffiti on the walls. I will capture more in the future if I do not forget to bring my camera.

Sunday was another hot day to spend on the beach, so the destination was Port Melbourne. It has its sandy beach, fancy apartments and some nice walking route with views over MLB skyline. Absolutely beautiful on a day like that! We must remeber to go back there to get some fish & chips that looked soooo tempting!!!

Melbourne skyline from Port Melbourne

Vespa for two!

Every “no” is a step closer to a “yes”

Our job search is still on. Nothing has really come up yet. I have to say it is not easy to find a job if you are:

A)     On a working holiday visa (can only work up to six month for each company)

B)      Non-Australian national

I have applied for so many positions that thought were easy enough to be at least considered for but the response is always the same – we found a candidate with a more suitable profile..... meaning the candidate is a resident and not a “tourist”??

Anyway, I am not bothered by those kinds of selections for now. Hopefully something will come along one day. In the meantime we took a short trip to Williamstown and another trip to Mt Dandenong to enjoy distant views of Melbourne.

Williamstown is a small South-Western part of Melbourne that has its own little coastline with a sandy beach. The day was grey but quite warm and no wind as opposed to Dublin when it is pretty much impossible to go to the beach on a normal day! I would say if the day was sunny the views of Melbourne CBD would have been much more enjoyable.

Mt Dandenong is the highest hill in close to the city. It rises 633 meters above sea level. The road to the mountain was beautiful as we passed through the National Park’s twisted roads. I felt as if we were suddenly in a jungle. Unfortunately, we did not spot any wildlife.

We went for a short walk in the mountain to enjoy some more of the views of the city. The day again was pretty grey and visibility was not great. Either way, it was a nice walk in the nature.

The weather around here seems to be getting cooler. It is now in the range of 20s. Forecast shows a couple of days with 26-28 degrees but  that probably won’t last long.