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When Dawn found a job, it was down to me to find a place for us to live! As I quickly found out, in Melbourne this is easier said than done. The rental market is quite a bit different to the UK, in that there are more people looking for places to rent than there are places available!

I began looking close to where Dawn is working, and places not too far away on public transport - but every time I went to an “open for inspection”, there were at least 10 sets of other people looking at the same place The competition was very fierce, even more so for us as we had just arrived in the country and had no history of renting in Australia. So after a few weeks of this, we decided to look further afield - about 25 miles outside of the city centre.

The first place I looked at in this new location, Dawn also accompanied me. There were only 2 other sets of people looking at the house on that day, and we both felt that we could live there so we put in an application the next morning! We knew it was slightly over-priced for the area, but we needed a place and it felt like the right place to be - and we were successful in our application! I’ve got to say, the financial costs are lower in Australia when renting (no agency fees to pay, and also no council tax once you’re living in a place) but finding a place and being successful in getting it is much tougher.

We moved into this house 1 month ago - and have now managed to make this 3-bed house look not quite so empty with our belongings that were shipped from the UK, as well as some furniture from Brisbane. Now we also have a car! We looked around for a while, and were getting desperate for one as public transport isn’t so good. A week ago we took a likely car for a test drive, and bought it from the dealer - so now we also have a set of wheels!

The only thing left now is for me to find a job I did have one lined up through an agency, and attended a training day for this job. But it wasn’t due to start for a few days after the training day, and the day before I was going to start I received a call from the agency saying that the employer no longer needed us (it would have been a team of 8 people starting the following day for a 4-6 month contract). Dawn has been off work without pay the last 2 weeks because her boss was off, but returns to work this Monday.

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We were met at Melbourne’s Southern Cross station by our friends Lori and Josh (Lori being about 8½ months pregnant and looking fit to burst!). We were then whisked away for a very lavish dinner with the 2 families who were gathered and waiting expectantly for the arrival of the baby. We were to soon find out that the ‘lavish’ dinner with many desserts was actually quite normal! So we are now staying with Josh’s parents who have been so awesome in taking us in.

The job situation has been easier than I thought - after how difficult it was in the UK to find dental technician positions I was expecting a hard slog. However, after 2 weeks I had been offered two jobs! The first was in the laboratory of a dental prosthetist - I initially turned down the job to take a trial position elsewhere, as I just wasn’t sure how I would cope working with a prosthetist - unfamiliar territory and all. It became clear after a few days that the trial position wasn’t gonna be for me, so I called back the first guy and he said “come in on Monday”. Sorted! So the job has been great so far. Difficult of course, as is every new place - trying to remember how things are done and where stuff is kept etc. That all comes with time. My boss is totally mad - in a good way, so it’s quite fun, and there is never a dull moment!

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Our first day on the Indian Pacific dawned rainy and windy - not a good start to a scenic train ride! So we got on the train and found our 1st class sleeper cabin. The first thing that struck me was how old fashioned everything was - and I say that in the nicest possible way. They have totally preserved the 50’s style of the train so that your experience is exactly how it would have been back then, but with a few modern conveniences thrown in to make it more comfortable. Honestly, when I first entered the dining carriage I expected Hercule Poirot to wander in!

Anyway, after we acquainted ourselves with our cabin and the little gifts left for us by Indian Pacific staff, we explored the rest of the public areas. The lounge carriage was quite comfortable, with a bar and huge windows to watch the view from. By the way, we weren’t the youngest people there either, as there was a family with 2 teenagers, and a really obnoxious guy travelling with what looked like some elderly relatives - if you want to meet lots of young people, go in 2nd class is all I’m saying!!!

Fortunately the rain subsided as we moved away from Perth, and it opened up into some gorgeous mountain scenery. We arrived late in the evening at Kalgoorlie, where some people took a night tour of the town - we declined as we didn’t think there would be much to see at night, later confirmed by others who took the tour. The scenery soon changed to farmland, which soon changed to desert, and the familiar “red dust and saltbush” of the Nullarbor took over the view from our window. Animal sightings were of the wedge-tail eagle swooping gloriously in the distance, as well as kangaroos and some random stands of camels.

We had a couple of other stops, one being at a veritible ghost town called Cook which had about 4 permanent residents. Quite eerie

I have to say we ate well. Three course meals every time, and the food was delish. It got to the stage where I longed to have the feeling of being hungry. The worst part of the journey was the jolting - for something that boasts having the longest straight stretch of railway in the world, it certainly didn’t feel so straight or smooth!

As we neared Adelaide I had this strange sad sensation that our little “bubble-world” would soon end. Sometimes I feel like “this is what my whole life is” when going on particularly epic journeys and it feels like you are emerging from a cocoon when it ends. That’s what it was like.

ADELAIDE
I have never been to Adelaide before and we spent the time wandering around the city centre and just generally checking the place out. We also took a tram down to Glenelg which was quite fun, it’s a bustling little seaside town with lots of shops and cafes etc. and a pretty good waterfront that’s obviously had a recent and rather expensive facelift!

Well, that’s it for now - we will take the Overlander to Melbourne tomorrow, and begin the adventure of life in a new city for us both. So the holiday must end, and we must be all grown up and find jobs and a place to live

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On Monday we travelled from Hong Kong to Macau, getting some more stamps in our passports (Hong Kong exit stamp, and Macau entry stamp!) and got the hotel shuttle bus to where we were staying. The hotel didn’t look like much from outside, but inside it was very plush! We even had a room upgrade for free, and ended up in a really big room with a large flatscreen widescreen tv on the wall - quite a difference from the hotel room in Hong Kong which was very small!

The main money-maker in Macau are the casinos - Stanley Ho is the big name round here, having made his fortune through owning casinos. We actually saw him doing a press conference at the Grand Lisboa, which is a big casino he owns. Even our hotel had a mini-casino in it. Of course, most of the locals don’t have much to do with the casinos unless they work there - the main visitors are from mainland China, followed by Hong Kong. Because Macau was previously administered by Portugal, it can feel like you’re in southern Europe at times when walking around - but then you hear Cantonese being spoken, and see the peoples faces and realise you’re in China!

We returned to Hong Kong today, and would both like to visit Hong Kong & Macau again, but not in the summer! A different time of year so it would be easier to do things. Tomorrow we are off to Singapore for a couple of nights before heading to Perth in Australia.

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