Harbour Bridge
I’ve been approaching Sydney with some apprehension because I’m not a big fan of large cities, but it was now time to dive in. Chucked the backpack in the boot, kissed the dogs and drove my rattling old Bella straight into the heart of Sydney. Mamma mia! The traffic was horrendous, I couldn’t follow Philippa (that’s my sat nav, I got fed up of Bruno) because I was simply trapped in a sea of cars, so I carried on with the flow and somehow I managed to find myself on a 4 lanes motorway heading straight for the harbour bridge, leaving my hostel further behind me. Not a bad start, to get lost even with a sat nav!! Still, I went over the bridge and enjoyed the views of the harbour and the famous Opera House on a great sunny day.
Eventually I found the hostel.
Opera House
I chose to stay at the YHA in Glebe because I was told this is where most long term backpackers come to stay. They were right. I’ve been here almost two weeks and I’ve met some stinky old timers, some of whom have been longer than the staff members!
So, what does one do in Sydney? Well, to be honest I haven’t done much so far, mainly because I don’t have my camera and don’t want to see the sights without being able to take a few photos. In the meantime, I’ve sussed out the bus system (got a student 10 journey blue ticket for $7.20); walked around the CBD (central business district) to get my bearings right; got a library membership and found that I can use free internet all day in any library in town and I spent some serious time looking for work. The idea was to stay in Sydney for around 4 weeks and get any casual job to top up my bank account. Easier said than blooming done!!
Please sir… can I have a job? Please?
I thought there were going to be loads of jobs in Sydney for a healthy young worker of my kind, what I failed to realise is that there are also loads of healthy young workers of my kind looking for work! Competition? Balls!!
My first approach was to look up the message boards in all the biggest backpackers’ hostels.
Anzac Bridge
I found some interesting jobs but unfortunately I was too late. Then, I searched the internet, hours on end. The best sites are seek.com.au and mycarreer.com.au. I applied for a dozen jobs, a variety of positions such as office all-rounder; factory or warehouse general hands; pick and pack; cleaning and even CAD Draftsperson (or CAD monkey like we used to called them). As a result of my efforts I got three interviews: one with a recruitment company called Employ, specialising in office and admin temp jobs; the second with Exact recruitment, for warehouse pick and pack labour; and the last one with Commercial Design, CAD work. The last interview was very interesting and gave me a good idea. Apparently 90% of CAD systems used in offices around Sydney is AutoCAD, there’s not much 3D modelling at all. If you are competent with any release of AutoCAD, jobs are aplenty and the salary is fairly good, from $35 to $55/h. Unfortunately for me, I haven’t used AutoCAD since I left uni, 8 years ago, so when the consultant slapped me in front of a CAD terminal to see exactly how rusty I said I was… well, let’s just say he wasn’t overly impressed and threw me out of the office. In any case, yesterday I went to the library and took out a copy of ‘AutoCAD 2007 the Bible’ with a 30 days trial version of the programme and I’m keen to brush off my skills, although I hate AutoCAD.
Circular Quay
Meanwhile, Employ game me a call yesterday, for a week job making phone calls. After careful consideration I decided to decline the offer because I would have had to spend all day ringing people up to sell them useless products. I hate those kinds of calls, so I couldn’t be the one making them. Snobbish maybe, but true to my principles.
This brings me to today!! I can’t believe I’ve finally managed to catch up on my Blog. Wawaweewa!! I might even be able to fill in the gaps for Singapore, Penang and Bangkok.
Darling Harbour
Anyway, better make a start on that CAD Bible, with a mere 1211 pages I have a lot to reed!
