Day Forty Nine

Another day supporting Oxfam, really getting into the event at moment, will be doing site visit on Thursday next week. I have however dedicated the weekend and Monday to job hunting, priorities and all that!

We did some shopping (bought a hoover - how exciting not, but amazing the things you have to buy when emigrate), had some dinner and watched the last of Spooks Season 2.

Not a huge amount to report today, does sometimes feel like the blog gets a bit repetitive but it is a good record of what we are up to.

The weekend is going to involve going to the AFL game tomorrow at SCG, job hunting and chilling out. Will do some more cycling too.

Have a good weekend all...

Day Forty Eight

Thursday...

Went into Oxfam again today, really good day sorting out equipment for the event, logging it, distributing it etc. Felt like was was really involved and making a contribution.

Nipped home on the tram (it's so convenient, our house to central station in 15 minutes - Alv its same tram system as in Dublin) and we then went out with Bill and Carol. We had a quick bit of dinner in the AB up the road and then went to the theatre.

We saw this...

http://www.ensemble.com.au/2009/Let-The-Sunshine.html

Apparently the guy who wrote it is a famous Aussie playwright. It started quite slow but was good at the end. Had some woman from 'A country practice' in it apparently, I'm sure my Crystal will recognise her.

Came home, had a cuppa and off to bed now.

Day Forty Seven

Drove out to Miranda today, a place south of the city to meet a recruitment agent. Was good to drive past airport and see all the BA planes! Had about 45 mins chatting about current job market and then all the usual what are strengths/weaknesses stuff blah blah. She seemed OK, a little remote from the city but is putting some feelers out to see if theres any jobs about.

Drove back via the cycle shop to pick up some new saddles for the bikes. We had lunch and then went for a cycle around Blackwattle Bay, Bicentennial park etc.

After that we did some shopping, cooked Mexican for dinner and then Oovoo'd with the folks.

Had a chilled evening in front of TV. Chris and Hannah also called and it was good to catch up on thier news.

It's still quite chilly here, I reckon theres a huge untapped market for installing central heating here, I think the aussies need it at least 3 months a year to keep houses warm. maybe I should become a plumber hehehehe.

And finally here is a pic of me on the bike, don't I look fetching, still at least my ex workmates who said I wouldn't get on a bike are proven wrong ;-)

Day Forty Six

to preparing a survey on A day spent at Oxfam today, I did a number of things from cleaning signs, to writing powerpointssurveymonkey. Before I got there I had to go and buy another mobile phone, we have manged to break 2 recently so I picked up a cheapo Nokia for forty quid. It's basic but does what we need for calls and messaging.

Kate cooked us dinner this evening, which was cool. I managed to remotely fix the slingbox in blighty so I can now get some decent telly again over t'internet. The Aussie telly is OK but is continually interrupted by the same set of adverts every 5-6 minutes, plus every 2nd or third ad breeak also has a news update bulletin.

Watched a bit of Tv and off to bed.

Tomorrow I meet a recruitment agent and then a chilled afternoon with some cycling hopefully. Wednesdays are our 'mid week day off'

Got a text from Hazel, she and Pete have the swine flu...get well soon!

Day Forty Five

I applied for three jobs today, all similar roles to what I was doing at Symbian/Nokia, lets see what happens. Did a few bits around the house, sent a few emails to folks I've not been in touch with for a while. Good to hear of some of the adventures.

Walked to fish market and picked up some nice fresh prawns for dinner.

Did a few more bits around house before Kate came home from work.

Not really much else to report, off to Oxfam tomorrow which will get me out of the house.

Oh and I managed to break yet anohter phone, spent 10 years with phones from work and never broke any, here I am 3 months of owning my own mobiles and broken two!

Day Forty Four

Not much to say today. Lazy Sunday....

Grabbed some food shopping this morning, Caroline came over and we watched the AFL game. Chilled out in front of telly this afternoon. The weather went bad so we couldn't get out on the bikes. Had some dinner and then had a good couple of VooDoo calls with folks and sister.

Our internet Voip phone only costs us 5c a minute to UK or effectively about £1.50 an hour, result!

Another week over

Sorry short update today!

Day Forty Three

Was awoken during the night by the neighbours doing a very loud rendition of Chris De Burghs 'Lady in Red', I'm guessing they rolled in very late from pub and had a bit of a sing song. Was odd as we've never heard them through the walls at all, but at 4am (my estimate) this morning they could have been stood singing in our room it was that loud and clear. As quickly as it started it, it had stopped again.

I also had a very sore throat last night, first sign of swine flu or man flu...who knows although I woke up feeling OK.

We collected our bikes this morning, thankfully they both fit nicely in the back of the car with the seats laid flat so that's all good.

Kate went shopping in the afternoon with her mum, I put our lights and stuff on bikes then went for a cycle for 30-40 minutes. Went round bicentennial park, the place is like Battersea dogs home, so many people walking dogs it's untrue.

Need to make some tweaks to bike which I'll do tomorrow before heading out again.

Had some dinner, watched some Spooks and they day has gone again!

Picture I took whilst out on bike today...Harbour Bridge through Anzac Bridge...seemingly I have caught the Old Pyrmont Bridge (in it's open position) perfectly under Harbour Bridge too...

Day Forty Two

A day spent at the oxfam office which was good, although was quite bitty work today. Only 5 weeks to their event, I'm going to be supporting the logistics side of the event during the weekend and also managing one of the 8 checkpoints on the Saturday.

Had a chat with a recruitment agent as well and will be meeting them on Wednesday for a 'interview' more of a chat about market and what they may have for me.

Spoke to bike shop and will be collecting our bikes in morning.

Had a quick bite to eat in the pub up the road, a few bevvies and that's about it for Friday.

Tomorrow I'll do some cycling (not that some of my readers believe that it seems) and a generally relaxing weekend I think.

Day Forty One

A good day, although was really tired this morning so reset alarm and had an extra hour in bed.

Spent the day at Oxfam, was good, they have set me up with an email account etc on their system so I feel like a proper volunteer now. Did all manner of things to help from stuffing envelopes to drilling holes to sorting out flagpoles and reviewing surveys online. it's good in a way as it gives me some routine to day and I'm also building some contacts/friends. Got some ideas about festivals I will talk to team about too.

I also walked there and back, which is good as I got an hours brisk walking which cant be bad.

Came home and watched some Spooks (did I mention how good that is, we are now working or way through DVDs of it). We then went to Kate's folks for some dinner and watched some mindless telly.

We are back now and tomorrow I'm doing more Oxfam and Kate is at work.

Oh and for Alv and Crystal we have snaffled Bill and Carols webcam so you should see us better next time.

By the way I've noticed when I do a spell check and then publish these posts sometimes this blogger thing mixes up sentances and chops bits into the wrong places, so if ever something doesnt make sense that will probably be it!

Right sleep time...

Day Forty

A day of shopping today, not much job stuff, needed a break from it.

Hit Ikea again for more furniture and then we went and bought ourselves a bike each. Got a bargain deal for 2 mountain bikes, 2 helmets, 2 sets of gloves, water bottles and lights for each bike for 300 quid. Result.

They are not ready yet but we can get them later this week or the weekend.

Spoke to the Peats Ridge people and will be helping them out in near future.

Had a good video call with folks.

Tomorrow is volunteering at Oxfam.

Short and sweet update today!

Day Thirty Nine

Another day at home applying for jobs. Got a couple of applications in and also had a long chat with a recruitment agency, I wasn't right for role I had applied for through them but she may have something else in pipeline she will call me back about tomorrow or Thursday. She was quite inspiring so I'll keep in contact with her regularly. Some of the other agencies Ive applied through have not even acknowledged me which is a bit frustrating.

The other possible spanner in works is some jobs adverts explicitly state no applications from folks on sponsorship visa's, another obstacle it seems!

The job market isn't spectacular here right now but we are just ploughing on with applications. I'm sure something will turn up soon enough. It's funny you keep going through job sites and you get to know the jobs that have been floating around a long time and spot the new ones almost immediately, does mean you get on to them straight away. I'm focusing a bit more on my previous job skills to hopefully ease me into a role suited to me.

Probably sounds as I'm a bit dis-heartened and I am a little but something I am confident something will come my way, just have to keep chasing it.

Anyone I'm connected to on linkedin, feel free to give me some recommendations!

Also I spoke to the guy at Peats Ridge Festival where I had a job interview recently, he wants me to help out on a voluntary basis in advance of festival and will prob pay for some time at festival itself. I was inclined to say bugger off after I didnt get the job I applied for but thought better of it as it could be an in.

Was a lovely clear blue day today, has been most of week, its so nice sitting there with doors open with the nice weather.

Tomorrow is shopping and then call with folks in evening which will be good.

Day Thirty Eight

resigned Had a day at home trawling the job websites, I've applied for a couple more in the telecoms Software sector. One specifically is quite closely matched to what I did at Nokia so lets see. I'm resigned to fact events sector is on hold, the existing event managers are all fighting for work so a rookie like me doesn't stand much chance, I will pursue that dream in the future.

I also didn't get that Golf events job...see above!

Its quite a drag refreshing job websites but has to be done. there doesn't also seem to be agencies you can just walk into off the street like there is in Blighty, so tomorrow's focus is standardising CV and sending to all the agencies I can find.

I wondered out and did a brief bit of shopping at Broadway and also did some house chores while Kate was out at work. Sounds like her day back at Glenwood went well. We will have a 'day off' on weds and then I'll go to Oxfam Thurs/Fri while Kate works.

Just been watching the Ashes, yeah there were some dubious decisions but hey that's the way it goes sometimes. Roll on the third test.

I looked into membership of the Sydney Cricket Ground. Thinking ahead to Ashes 2010/11, alas there's a 10 year waiting list for a seat and 2 seats cost $200000 annually...hers to hoping I get tickets from general sale!

That's it for now!

Oh one final thought, we have got into watching Spooks, I never watched it at home but it is absolutely amazing tele - a great British Export...

Oh and Nick Bryants blog on right goes on about Masterchef which I've mentioned a couple of times.

That really is it now.

Day Thirty Seven

A very relaxed day today, got up and lolled about the house for a while before nipping out to get a new router for internet, they cal it a router as in droughter her rather than router as in road route. To router as in road is to do the naughty business hehehe so you have to be careful with your pronunciation.

We now have our phones working over the VoIP which is great, we have a landline at last, I'll mail it round shortly.

We then went for a wonderful walk in the local area, as you can see from the pics in link below we are no more than 10 mins from some fantastic spots. We must get round to buying some bike to explore more.

http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=734290609&k=Z6MTP4WYQ44OUGAHQE5YSQ

Had a great voodoo call with Alvin and Crystal and then Hazel and Peter. For readers not clear, my folks are called Alan and Chris but there's a long story of how me and my sister came to jokingly call them Alvin and Crystal. If I refer to Alv or Crystal I'm talking about my parents.

We use OoVoo video streaming for a our catch up calls, this seems ot have adopted a name of VooDoo now too!

Had dinner round Kate's folks to have a night in front of Masterchef final. here it is like the Apprentice back home and is really good. I cant really cook but thought I may apply for next season.

Tomorrow is yes you guessed it, job chasing, will print up some CV's and see some agencies in town I think. Kate is doing a few days work with her mum this week which is all good.

Day Thirty Six

Ah the weekend, of course I woke up before Kate as usual (who has clearly kicked her jet lag and is back to sleep as long as possible at weekend;-)). Once we were up and about we checked out the markets in Glebe. These are held in the school playground and is a mixture of clothes, books, jewellery etc. We were checking out what was on sale and Kate bought some clothes.

We had an afternoon at home watching the Swans get beaten in the AFL. We had Bill, Carol and Beau over which was cool.

We then went over to Willoughby, picked them up as they went back in thier car and went for dinner. Last time we were here for Christmas 2007/NYE 2008 we went for a stunning meal on our last night before returning to UK. This was in a pub/restaurant in Nortbridge so we headed back there after making a booking. It seems the restaurant part of the pub went bankrupt, we should have spotted this by the fact the tables were to laid out when we got there and it was an order at the bar type place.

We upped and legged it and went to this place instead

http://www.mumugrill.com.au/

I wonder if I should rename my blog ' Ade Steward restaurant guide to Sydney' all the links I seem to add, still its a good place to look back and find the nice places to take people when we visit. I think this place was pretty good with good service and decent steaks.

I wonder if many folks are still reading my daily updates?

I hope all the folks at Latitude festival are going OK, first time in its 4 year history Ive not been there, I do miss the festies a bit but not the mud and rain!

Tomorrow we are getting up and going for a walk round local area including fish markets to give Alv and Chrystal a report!

Day Thirty Five

Five full weeks.

I decided not to go to Oxfam today and concentrate more on trying to find a job. Did some more internet trawling but didn't really find anything quite right to apply for. Kate made a couple of applications which is good, lets see what happens with it. Anyway enough talk of that until next week.

So five weeks in, probably a good time to review what we have done so far

- Caught up with everyone
- Been out lots
- Bought a car
- Bought fridge, TV, furniture, house stuff etc etc
- Found ourselves somewhere to live
- Settled ourselves down nicely
- Got ourselves sorted with t'internet giving us ability to see family and friends online during video calls.
- A whole lot of other stuff

What we haven't done
- Been anywhere near the Opera House or Circular Quay yet.

I don't think we are doing too badly so far, we get our possessions in about 3 weeks time which will also make us more settled.

It doesn't feel like a holiday, it hasn't at all really, I do miss blighty in funny ways, especially the family but they are always close on line and phone.

Before we know it we'll be planning what we are doing when we are back in September for a couple of weeks.

Right enough ramble, tomorrow we are checking out Glebe markets, watching the football on the telly here and then taking Bill and Carol out for Dinner to thank them for all the dinners they have cooked us recently!

Oh and finally all the best to ex-colleagues who have just been bought by Accenture, Good Luck!

Day Thirty Four

Internet at last, we got connected today so I'm writing this from the comfort of the sofa at Glebe. We did some shopping and had lunch here, spent some time on internet looking at jobs, and did a few jobs around the house. I sealed up some of gaps around door in our room to quieten down the traffic a bit.

We went out to the pub quiz tonight. We went here

http://www.visitnsw.com/town/Erskineville/Rose_of_Australia_Hotel/info.aspx

We didn't win alas, ah well maybe next week.

We both keep looking for jobs, it seems we get very little response form people when we apply, guess we have to up our efforts even more. Next week now we have internet all day we can push hard on that aspect, it's the only thing really to sort now.

I'm volunteering at Oxfam again tomorrow for a few hours, wont commit to more next week to focus on jobs.

It's raining again today. Got a video call with folks tomorrow which will be cool, can check out Oovoo on the Plasma too!

Day Thirty Three

Today I went back to Oxfam for the morning, I finished off what I was doing there and that took me until after lunch.

Had to dodge the tramps having a punch up outside Central station, I told a couple of coppers who I passed and they raced off down there, no one else was doing anything it seemed.

I then nipped into town briefly before going back to meet Kate in Glebe. Had to deal with a noddy ticket seller inspector on tube who argued that I had an invalid ticket despite the fact he had sold it to me a mere 3 minutes ago...numpty! We came back to Willoughby to use internet and also I did some more shopping for a webcam and monitor lead so we can plug telly into laptop for video calls when internet arrives tomorrow hopefully.

Had dinner here and will be off back to Glebe shortly.

Biggest news over here is about the British backpacker who has walked out of Blue Mountains after being missing 12 days. Much excitement in the press it seems. makes me chuckle as for 12 days the mountain rescue teams couldn't find him and he eventually found his own way out of the bush. His father is a bit eccentric too on the telly!

The bloody car has a slow puncture, will have to sort that at weekend.

Tomorrow is a day at house, sorting a few bits out, then hopefully the internet goes live in afternoon and we can carry on job search.

We are going to a pub quiz tomorrow evening with friends but assuming internet works i'll update blog afterwards, if there's no update assume internet isn't working!

That's all, cant believe we've been here almost 5 weeks already!

Day Thirty Two

Today I spent much of the day at the Oxfam office in Surry Hills. i was there to volunteer some time to helping out their Trailwalker Event in late August.

Compared to Oxfam GB they have so much stuff, but I guess they have a lot more corporate sponsorship behind them. Last year the Sydney event brought in 1.5 million pounds so this is not a small event by any means.

I spent mos tof my time drawing up maps for signage along the 100km route, gave me a good grip of the 8 checkpoints etc.

We had dinner at home and watched Masterchef. Masterchef here is like the apprentice back in blighty, not like the masterchef we know. It's been going 3 months and this is finals week where they pick a winner. I have to say its quite good!

Tomorrow more Oxfam and chasing jobs.

It seems to be warming up a little too now and a lot less rainy.

More on Oxfam here...

http://www2.oxfam.org.au/trailwalker/sydney/

Day Thirty One

Monday monday

A day spent looking for jobs, found a good lead for an event job within golf industry, I won't say too much yet but Bill hooked me up with someone related to the company and I've sent off the application this evening. Hopefully name dropping in my application will get me though to an interview at least.

Rest of day spent trawling the net on job sites.

I spoke to Oxfam folks and am spending day there tomorrow which will feel a bit like going to work, first time in 10 weeks!

Not a great deal to report really apart from that.

Oh and more on the petrol, I mentioned before its pricier at weekends, well it seems Tuesdays are the cheap day, randomly price drops on a Tuesday it seems, time to fill the car up tomorrow, its been great having said that still a quarter full and we've driven it everyday since getting it.

Finally Ive added a link to Nick Bryants blog on right. He is BBC Correspondant in Sydney and has some good insights into being a Brit here. It should automatically update when he updates.

Sorry short and sweet tonight!

Day Thirty

Apparently we live in the same town as Leo Sayer, funny as he played at our Graduation Ball or one of the May Balls at Derby University.

For anyone interested you can wiki Glebe here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glebe,_New_South_Wales

Gives you a bit of background on where we live.

Today we got up late with a hangover, we probably got home somewhere between midnight and 1am. Was a good night in the pub.

Nola and Brian kindly donated us an old gas heater which means our kitchen area will now be a lot warmer. Plus we can move our other heater upstairs to keep bedroom warm. We also moved our wardrobes around this morning to make the room work better. Does mean another trip to IKEA for more drawers though.

We went to Manly for lunch, felt we wanted a little trip out and some fresh air. Had some lunch here (best Duck and Shittake pie in the world)

http://www.whitewaterrestaurant.com.au/

We then went for a walk along the beach, lot less people than you would find in summer, but busy all the same.

We have then come to Bill and Carols to use t'internet, we get our own connection on Thursday so will not be so reliant on Willoughby.

Tomorrow is job hunting and I'll hopefully be spending some time in the Oxfam office helping them out with their trailwalker event prep. Plus I hope to hear form some of the agencies I sent my CV to.

Pictures from Manly...