Week 1 (July 7 - July 11)
I have been here 5 days now, byt it seems like longer. It seems like I have been away from home for weeks. I guess that is just hte result of a very long day of travel and the persistent jet lag.
I am living in an apartment in South Perth with 2 other girls. One is from Calgary and the other is from the UK. Our place is nice and has a gym, pool (unfortinately unheated) and sauna. I have been quite frustrated at times though getting everything organized. We were menatto have a phone hooked up when we arrive, but it wasnt. What should have been an easy fix has turned into a big hassle to try to get the EY housing team in Sydney to get it hooked up for us. Its a freaking phone, why has it taken nearly a week to get it hooked up (its Sunday night, it still isnt done). Our internet we get with our work computers comes with an aircard, but a lot of sites are blocked (like hotmail, and skype - luckily not facebook), so its been really hard to call home. I have a calling card which is super cheap, but no phone to use it on. So frustrating. We had a few other minor issues as well, but those have sorted themselves out.... its just the phone is not working. I always find when I am traveling, that the first few days are the toughest and that is when talking to home is the most helpful; so it has been frustrating to have limited communication
So with no phone and no internet for the first few days (before we started at work and got our computers) it was very difficult to figure out where everything was; we are in a residential area. The first morning on our way to work, we took a ferry across the water to downtown, because that was the only way we knew how to get there. It was a pretty ride, but it took us about 40 minutes to get to work. The next day, after researching the transit system we found a bus that takes 5 minutes.
Other than the two girls I am living with, there are 4 other secondees here. Two girls from the US (San Antonio and Arkansas) and two guys (one from NYC and the other from the Netherlands). The Dutch guy has not arrived yet due to visa issues, but the rest of us are getting on really well.
The EY office here is very different than in Vancouver. The office is new and pretty and has a nice view of the water. Things seem more organized and people seem to not hate their jobs. Its hard to explain, but its just a different vibe. Every Friday there are drinks in the common room. Kind of like what we do once every two months... On my first day I think about 10 different people eagerly explained the friday drinks. Everyone is really nice and helpful
We are finding things very expensive. Since the Canadian dollar is stronger than the AUD I was expecting things to be similar prices to at home, if not cheaper. Turns out that is not the case. Food is sooooo expensive. Wine and beer is similar price to at home, however a martini is on average A$18. Granted they seem to have 2 or 3 shots in each, but that price is insane, and they dont taste very good. Liquor from the bottle shops is priced quite similarly to home, and some restaurants do BYOB, so when that is the case, its easy to have a bottle of wine at a restaurant for dinner for less than $15.
So we went to the Friday drinks after work and went out with a few people after (when I say we, I mean myself and the 5 other secondees). We went to a few different bars, and had a fun night.
Saturday we all caught up on our sleep a bit and had a lazy morning. In the afternoon we all met up and went to the Perth zoo to see the kangeroos and koalas (its only about a 5 minute walk from our apartment). It might be a few weeks until we can do a weekend trip out of the city, so everyone wanted to go see native australian animals. Im not a big fan of zoos, but this one was pretty decent. All the displays were natural looking habitats. In the evening we went out to a tasty Italian restaurant for dinner and then came back to the apartment for drinks.
Today, despite the fact that it was pissing rain when I woke up, we took the train out to Fremantle (which is a suburb on the ocean about 30 minutes by train). Once we got out there, the weather cleared and it was cool but otherwise fine. Fremantle is a port town, but it was really quite lovely. There was a nice pier area that we walked around and where we had fish and chips. The main street was lined with cute coffee shops and restaurants, and we stopped at a weekend market. I wasnt expecting much from the market, but it was quite good. There was a wide variety of stalls, free samples of different foods, fruits and veggies (I LOVE free samples) and I had what was maybe the most delicious donut I have ever eaten (It was piping hot, covered in cinnamon and suger and had hot dark belgium chocolate in the middle).
We also went to the old prison in Fremantle. Once again, I was not expecting that much, but it turned out to be absolutely fantastic. Our tour guide was great and it was just so interesting. The prison itself closed in 1991, but originally was built by convicts from the UK in the 1850s. So it was shockingly primative. It was closed in 1991 because of sanitary reasons; when it was built in the 1850s, no plumbing or electricity was installed (obviously), so up until its closure, there were no toilets.... two inmates per cell had to share a bucket that was only emptied once a day. They said once it was closed, it took over a year for the smell to leave the building. Electricity was only installed in the cells in the 1980s. I have done the tour at alcratraz and this jail may have been worse. Other than the extreme cold in San Francisco in the winter, the Fremantle jail was definately more primative; they just didnt update it at all as technology improved.
The weather is supposed to remain poor until thursday or friday. After that I think the sun is supposed to come back. The temperature doesnt bother me, but just my luck, they hadnt had rain in weeks and weeks and as soon as I show up so does the rain.
That is all for now. I am going to try to post once a week. We are thinking of doing a weekend trip to Margeret River next weekend (which is about a 3 hour drive south and has many wineries).
- Siobhan
I am living in an apartment in South Perth with 2 other girls. One is from Calgary and the other is from the UK. Our place is nice and has a gym, pool (unfortinately unheated) and sauna. I have been quite frustrated at times though getting everything organized. We were menatto have a phone hooked up when we arrive, but it wasnt. What should have been an easy fix has turned into a big hassle to try to get the EY housing team in Sydney to get it hooked up for us. Its a freaking phone, why has it taken nearly a week to get it hooked up (its Sunday night, it still isnt done). Our internet we get with our work computers comes with an aircard, but a lot of sites are blocked (like hotmail, and skype - luckily not facebook), so its been really hard to call home. I have a calling card which is super cheap, but no phone to use it on. So frustrating. We had a few other minor issues as well, but those have sorted themselves out.... its just the phone is not working. I always find when I am traveling, that the first few days are the toughest and that is when talking to home is the most helpful; so it has been frustrating to have limited communication
So with no phone and no internet for the first few days (before we started at work and got our computers) it was very difficult to figure out where everything was; we are in a residential area. The first morning on our way to work, we took a ferry across the water to downtown, because that was the only way we knew how to get there. It was a pretty ride, but it took us about 40 minutes to get to work. The next day, after researching the transit system we found a bus that takes 5 minutes.
Other than the two girls I am living with, there are 4 other secondees here. Two girls from the US (San Antonio and Arkansas) and two guys (one from NYC and the other from the Netherlands). The Dutch guy has not arrived yet due to visa issues, but the rest of us are getting on really well.
The EY office here is very different than in Vancouver. The office is new and pretty and has a nice view of the water. Things seem more organized and people seem to not hate their jobs. Its hard to explain, but its just a different vibe. Every Friday there are drinks in the common room. Kind of like what we do once every two months... On my first day I think about 10 different people eagerly explained the friday drinks. Everyone is really nice and helpful
We are finding things very expensive. Since the Canadian dollar is stronger than the AUD I was expecting things to be similar prices to at home, if not cheaper. Turns out that is not the case. Food is sooooo expensive. Wine and beer is similar price to at home, however a martini is on average A$18. Granted they seem to have 2 or 3 shots in each, but that price is insane, and they dont taste very good. Liquor from the bottle shops is priced quite similarly to home, and some restaurants do BYOB, so when that is the case, its easy to have a bottle of wine at a restaurant for dinner for less than $15.
So we went to the Friday drinks after work and went out with a few people after (when I say we, I mean myself and the 5 other secondees). We went to a few different bars, and had a fun night.
Saturday we all caught up on our sleep a bit and had a lazy morning. In the afternoon we all met up and went to the Perth zoo to see the kangeroos and koalas (its only about a 5 minute walk from our apartment). It might be a few weeks until we can do a weekend trip out of the city, so everyone wanted to go see native australian animals. Im not a big fan of zoos, but this one was pretty decent. All the displays were natural looking habitats. In the evening we went out to a tasty Italian restaurant for dinner and then came back to the apartment for drinks.
Today, despite the fact that it was pissing rain when I woke up, we took the train out to Fremantle (which is a suburb on the ocean about 30 minutes by train). Once we got out there, the weather cleared and it was cool but otherwise fine. Fremantle is a port town, but it was really quite lovely. There was a nice pier area that we walked around and where we had fish and chips. The main street was lined with cute coffee shops and restaurants, and we stopped at a weekend market. I wasnt expecting much from the market, but it was quite good. There was a wide variety of stalls, free samples of different foods, fruits and veggies (I LOVE free samples) and I had what was maybe the most delicious donut I have ever eaten (It was piping hot, covered in cinnamon and suger and had hot dark belgium chocolate in the middle).
We also went to the old prison in Fremantle. Once again, I was not expecting that much, but it turned out to be absolutely fantastic. Our tour guide was great and it was just so interesting. The prison itself closed in 1991, but originally was built by convicts from the UK in the 1850s. So it was shockingly primative. It was closed in 1991 because of sanitary reasons; when it was built in the 1850s, no plumbing or electricity was installed (obviously), so up until its closure, there were no toilets.... two inmates per cell had to share a bucket that was only emptied once a day. They said once it was closed, it took over a year for the smell to leave the building. Electricity was only installed in the cells in the 1980s. I have done the tour at alcratraz and this jail may have been worse. Other than the extreme cold in San Francisco in the winter, the Fremantle jail was definately more primative; they just didnt update it at all as technology improved.
The weather is supposed to remain poor until thursday or friday. After that I think the sun is supposed to come back. The temperature doesnt bother me, but just my luck, they hadnt had rain in weeks and weeks and as soon as I show up so does the rain.
That is all for now. I am going to try to post once a week. We are thinking of doing a weekend trip to Margeret River next weekend (which is about a 3 hour drive south and has many wineries).
- Siobhan
Siobhan the photos look really interesting -I had no idea Freemantle was so far away from Perth. The apartment looks nice and looks new. It's amazing that it takes so long to get phone and internet ....
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