I am so happy to say that I finally got a JOB! After about 2 weeks of looking, I landed a gem that is perfect for me!
I now work at Peter Pans Adventure Travel, a student and backpacker’s travel agency. This company is located throughout Australia, and gives backpackers and students amazing deals when they book tours, excursions, accommodations, and flights. Peter Pans will even include some bonuses when you continue to use them, when you sign up for their Gold Card. (Which you get free once you book one excursion). 
They offer free internet for those who have previously booked with them, and they also offer a job package, which helps backpackers find a job, print their resume, and get their bank and tax accounts sorted out.
My job is to help promote packages to backpackers, and to also get to know them a little better by talking to them about their travels. This basically is the best job I could have asked for, as I am able to learn about cool places to visit in Australia, and I get to talk to backpackers, like me, all day about where they have been, and where they are going. So far I have been able to get so many helpful tips on where to go, and things to see.
On Wednesday nights we assist with a bar night. At the bar we get to talk to many backpackers about their travels, as well as letting them know about what Peter Pans has to offer. We also assist in games, where backpackers get the chance to win some amazing travel packages, such as a surf trip, a trip to New Zealand, or a weekend trip to Fraser Island.
If you want to check out more about this company, feel free to visit their website: www.peterpans.com
Melbourne is filled with many gardens and parks surrounding the city's edge. The other day I went for a walk through Melbourne's Fitzroy and Treasury Gardens, which we absolutely stunning. They are located at the edge of the city, and both are filled with acres of trees, plants, and gardens.
In the middle of Treasury Gardens, they have this huge memorial area for John F. Kennedy.
It is surrounded by a huge pond, and many flowers and plants.
This is Captain James Cook's House, which was imported from Europe and rebuilt in Fitzroy Gardens. This is an important part of Australia's history as, he was the one who discovered Australia. 
The house was built in 1755 and was brought out in 1933. Last year Melbourne celebrated it's 75th Anniversary.
I came across this secret little garden. It was so cute, and very peaceful to sit and rest in.
There is this miniature town that England donated to Australia in thanks of helping to support them during food shortages during World War 2. 
This tree is called the "Fairies Tree" and was craved by Ola Cohn the author of the children's book, "The Fairies Tree" as a gift to the children of Melbourne.
Melbourne is very different from Sydney. Sydney was like Toronto or New York City; very busy, lots of people everywhere, and everyone always in a rush. Here in Melbourne, it is very peaceful, no one seems to be in a rush and everyone is extremely nice! It is a quiet little city, and is surrounded by a beautiful river and many pretty parks and gardens. This city sort of reminds me of Chicago. 
The State Library of Victoria is our home base, as it is where we get our free internet. Our hostel does not provide us with internet, so every morning we have to walk about 10 minutes to reach the library. It is the first time that I have missed internet, only for the purpose that my friends and family seem that much more far away, as I am not able to skype or e-mail them when I please.
Federation Square.
There seems to always be something going at Federation Square. On weekends and special occasions it is home to outdoor concerts, festivals, and markets. It is also surrounded by many bars and restaurants, some even have an amazing view of the Yarra River.
On Sunday, we went to St. Kilda. It is a beautiful little beach about 20 minutes out of the city.
It seems like a nice place to go sailing or kayaking as it is just in a little bay. 
St. Kilda seemed to have everything. Here you can find many trendy restaurants and bars, and an amusement park called Luna Park right at the edge of the beach. 
Melbourne is a very artsy city. Throughout the year, there are many art and music festivals, and we have already run into a few very talented street acts. After we walked through Luna Park, we watched a street performer for about an hour, while he attempted to juggle fire in the air and use a fire whip.
We have also stopped and watched a group of talented break dancers, Santa mimes and musicians.
A tribute to all my boys at home participating in Movember.
I have finally come across "Movember" in Australia. If you are not familiar with Movember, it is a month long event (in November) where men grow out their moustaches in order to raise money for prostate cancer. It is a great cause, but I cringe at the site of a moustache on some of you boys as most try and make them look super creepy.
Happy Movember and keep up the good work'!
Yesterday I woke up, bright and early and started my job hunt. I walked throughout the malls, the downtown, and even into coffee shops to apply for any position that was available. I am trying not to be picky with what sort of position comes my way, as we are only here for a month and want to bank as much money as possible.
The first thing you need to do before you start applying for jobs in Australia is a bank account and a tax file number. You need a tax file number, so you your employers don't take 44% of your wages away, and you need a bank account in order for them to directly deposit your wages into your account. To get a tax file number, we just had to fill out a few forms online. For our account, we opened one at a bank called Westpac. We also opened a savings account, which offers 5% interest! (It's about time a bank gave me something back!)
Automatically, your employer takes away 9% of your income and puts it in an account called superannuation, also known as a pension account. Since we are not Australian citizens, once we close this account, we will then be able to finally take that pension out of the account and take it home with us.
The minimum wage here is about 20-22 an hour, and the average job runs from about $20-$25 an hour. This seems really generous, but the cost of living is quite high, so once you make this amount it sort of equals out the same.
The Australian government seems pretty smart, but has recently sunk to a new low. While I was on the Blue Mountain tour, our guide informed us on a skeleton in the government's closet. Aboriginals of Australia have been suffering for many years from alcoholism. This has been quite the problem and the government has found that they cannot hold their liquor, and become quite violent. In an attempt to solve this problem, the government has decided to cut their wages in half, so that they no longer can afford to buy alcohol. The average aboriginal now is set to make only a cap off of $8 an hour, compared to the average man's $22. To make matters even worse, the government has yet again split their wage in half and they are only allowed to receive half in actual wage and the other half is automatically transformed into food stamps. Now if I were an Australian Aboriginal living under these conditions...wouldn't this make you umm...drink more?! This was just something I felt I needed to share, as our tour guide seemed to be extremely passionate about it, and wanted more people to be aware of it.
So far, I have one trail meeting with a call center for a gas and electric company... hope it works out. Wish me luck!
We spent 2 weeks and a day in Sydney and decided we needed a change for a bit. We have headed to MELBOURNE! We have made sure to book a hostel for 2 weeks from Dec 21-Jan 2nd in Sydney so we can secure a spot for Christmas and New Years.
In Melbourne we plan to work. So far I have applied to many promotional jobs and to some office work. I would also like to try serving or bartending, I just need to get my RSA which is like a Smartserve, but instead of doing an online course, you are expected to pay $65 to sit and learn in a classroom for 6 hours…something I am not looking forward to doing anytime soon.
So, Wednesday night we took a 12-hour Greyhound bus ride to Melbourne. After tackling the 22 hour plane ride from Toronto to Sydney, we figured 12 hours on a bus would be a breeze....boy was I wrong.
The seats were so tiny and we had little to no legroom...there were people all around us who smelled like they didn't shower for the past week, and it was incredibly uncomfortable. Thankfully as people got off after the first 3 hours when we stopped in Canberra, we were able to have our own seats, and we got to lay down and "try" to sleep. This was probably the worst sleep ever. In the middle of my beauty rest, another passenger decided to place his FEET on my armrest where my head was laying, and when he was sleeping, he KICKED me in the head!!! Not only am I incredibly disgusted, and afraid of feet, I was horrified by the entire event...WHO PLACES THEIR FEET BY SOMEONE'S HEAD?! Honestly...who raised this guy? On top of that, our bus driver made our 12 hour bus ride an extra 2 hours long as he kept stopping to go to the bathroom. I know this because he had no shame in standing right beside the bus and relieving himself.
As soon as we arrived in Melbourne, we were both quite grumpy, and not looking forward to pulling our luggage to our new hostel 10 blocks away. Thankfully we were blessed with a clean, friendly and relaxing hostel where we just spent our first day taking it easy, and reading up on things to do in the city.
For the next few days, we are planning on starting our job search. Our hostel unfortunately does not have internet access, so at the present moment we have to rely on The State Library of Victoria to give us our internet fix.
Now I am sure you are wondering what we eat. We mostly eat takeaway (what they call take-out), which has consisted of McDonalds, cheap Asian food, kebabs (Turkish wraps), or pizza. Don't worry...This is not all we have been eating!
Most of the hostels that we have been staying at have offered free breakfast, which includes cereal, toast, and coffee or tea. Having the free breakfast really helps as it takes away an extra food expense for the day. For the other meals, we buy some groceries every couple of days, which makes it much cheaper. My food supply usually consists of fruit, Mr. noodles and lots of salami sandwhiches!
Since living in Sydney for the past two weeks, we have been able to discover some tricks and secrets. At first we were SO obsessed with getting gelato's. Gelato shops seem to be everywhere here, and their flavours are so creative and so hard to resist when they are staring right at you through the window. 
However, trying to be cost-effective, we have discovered that McDonald's has a 50 cent cone (way cheaper than at home)! Even though gelato's initially captured my heart, it looks like McDonald's takes this round.
I miss ketchup chips more than anything in the world! Their flavour is called "Tomatoe Sauce". I cracked and bought a bag. 
They have a hint of ketchup taste, and were quite tasty...but nothing compares to Lay's Ketchup chips!
I finally found my favourite kind of M & M's!!! The crispy one's! 
They also have this really cool one called "M&M's mix-ups" which is a mix of ALL the flavours, peanut, plain, and crispy! 
Their version of a Redbull..."V"
Tuna to go? YUCK!
A lot of things come in tubes, such as yogurt, juice, cheese, chocolate, and smoothies.
Tribute to my family back home...who frequently like to order "the lot"
We have yet to go out for an expensive nice dinner, but we have found that so many places offer really cheap steak! We found this beauty down the street that offers a $5 rump steak, with mashed potatoes and an oil and vinegar salad. As most of you know, steak is my favourite meal with mashed potatoes! This is possibly the greatest thing in the world we could have come across...what else could a girl ask for?!
Yesterday I took a solo excursion to the Blue Mountains. It was an extremely hot day, but was the scenery and view was worth it!
First we went to a native site where they showed us drawings in the stone that have been there for thousands of years. This is a picture of a Kangaroo.
The story of the Kangaroo is that they made an illustration of the way in which they caught the Kangaroo. The illustration tells us that they killed it with a boom-a-rang and then had to pierce it through the heart. The direction in which the tail is facing is the way that the tribe travelled from, and the direction where the head is, is the direction in which the tribe decided to travel. Native tribes would make these markings so that they can remember what they found in each area, which helped them to get back to food and water sources.
We then headed to Wentworth Falls. They were beautiful. The tour guide informed us that in the winter it is easier for people to travel down to the bottom of the waterfall to take a dip, as the summer months become too hot and humid to climb all the way down. It was already quite the sweaty morning, I could not imagine climbing down it in the summer months.
After the falls we headed into a little town for lunch, and then proceeded on our journey. After lunch we finally made it to the Blue Mountains, where they have three different excursions in a park called "Scenic World". I got a chance to take a cable car across the mountains, then down the mountains then a scenic railway ride up the mountain again. This was an amazing experience.
These mountains are called the "Three Sisters". The story behind their unique formation is that the three sisters fell in love with three brothers from an opposite tribe, which was forbidden and the tribes began to fight and the three sisters became in great danger. The Witchdoctor transformed the three sisters into rocks in order to protect them. Now they watch over their tribe in the valley for all of eternity.
Here are some statues representing the "Three Sisters" and the "Witchdoctor".
When we looked over one of the cliffs we saw crashed cars.
The tour guide informed us that this was a popular place for criminals to dump their runaway cars. It was quite chilling.
After the Blue Mountains we travelled into the provincial park where we went on a search for wild Kangaroo. We searched for about 20 minutes and couldn't find anything. We did however come across a flock of Parrots, and a Laughing Kookaburra.
After about 30 mins of searching for the Kangaroo we sadly had to return to the bus and head back. We all got into the bus and started our journey back. Me, being the eternal optimist and determined to see a Kangaroo before we left, went on a crazy search. Through a small path I found one starring right at us!!! I yelled to the driver "THERE'S ONE!" and he quickly stopped the bus and we all got out. We came across a mother with a baby joey in its pouch and another baby who was hopping around. It was such an incredible experience! They were so cute, it was amazing to watch the hop around!
Mother
Baby
After about 20 minutes of fawning over them, we headed back to Sydney. We took a ferryboat back into the city, which was really exciting. 
When I headed into the harbour, I noticed on the stairs of the Opera House they had a bunch of ladies with signs being videotaped. These ladies were being videotaped for the Oprah Show, as she will be doing two shows in the Opera House on Dec 14th. It was pretty funny to watch these Australian women go nuts for Oprah! I really wish I could win tickets to the show, that would be the coolest!
They offer free internet for those who have previously booked with them, and they also offer a job package, which helps backpackers find a job, print their resume, and get their bank and tax accounts sorted out. 
On Wednesday nights we assist with a bar night. At the bar we get to talk to many backpackers about their travels, as well as letting them know about what Peter Pans has to offer. We also assist in games, where backpackers get the chance to win some amazing travel packages, such as a surf trip, a trip to New Zealand, or a weekend trip to Fraser Island.
