Round The World

At the moment, when we go out, we usually only go as far as the Coogee Bay Hotel (CBH) as we don’t want to spend too much money. I have ventured into a couple of other places in town but only once or twice so I will leave all the pub crawling for the Christmas period when Ken is over.

Coogee is absolutely gorgeous too. We are now living on Coogee Bay Road which is the road leading straight onto the beach, its only 5 mins away. The sun has been shining mostly here but there has been quite few days of rain and thunder storms thrown into the middle. All in all, it’s a really good spot, like a really nice holiday destination, which is all I really want it to be.

That’s my blog up to date now folks, hope you haven’t fallen asleep!!

Check out my photos on Bebo if you wanna see what I've been talking about..

http://dufflecoatsunrise.bebo.com

The job scene was a whole other story. Every day since arriving in Sydney, we had been on the internet sending off CV’s to any job we could find. We must have sent hundreds between the three of us, all looking for different types of jobs, and only had about two call backs between us.

It was very frustrating. Then Jason got a number from someone he knew over here and he sent his CV in to that person. She worked really hard to find him a job. He got a half days work first but then she found him something in Insurance full time. I gave my CV to Jay to give to them and they passed it onto their Finance section and now a girl in there is looking for work for me. She seems to be making an effort and said things are looking positive.

Jimmy, who has no money left at all, is having just as much trouble looking for work. He has had a couple of days of furniture removals but nothing concrete yet and we are due to pay two weeks rent on Monday to cover the Christmas period.

We had booked a night for us in Base Backpackers again, we had our own room as there was originally supposed to be the four of us. We contacted the lads in Coogee the next day, again to see if we could crash with them for a few nights until we got some accommodation and they let us no problem. The three of us managed to crash there, and then went looking for accommodation. It was not going to be easy to find as a lot of people who were going to be in Sydney for Christmas, were already there and settled in their accommodation.

By a stroke of luck after 3 days of looking, we got a number from someone and he had a twin and single room available so we went to meet him straight away. When we got there, he told us it was a mistake and the rooms were not available but that he had a twin room available somewhere else if we wanted to have a look at it. We did, and when we got there, it was lovely. The room itself was pretty small but the apartment was really nice, on the top floor with a nice balcony. The living area was huge, much better than what we had in St. Kilda so we took it. Unfortunately that meant Jimmy was still homeless but we knew at this point that we wouldn’t be able to get somewhere for us all to live.

Within a few more days, Jimmy had found a room in a house with 4 Irish girls and another Irish lad. He was going to have his own room so we were all sorted.

Once the races were over, and myself, Jason and Paul were unemployed, we all decided that we were going to leave Melbourne and go to Sydney for Christmas. Jimmy was the only one working but he decided he would come with us too.

We had a look at the various ways of getting there and decided the train would suit us best. The day we were going to book the tickets, Paul had a change of heart. He decided he wasn’t coming to Sydney, he was going to go home instead. I understood how he felt, he was only 20 and he had run out of money and missed home so I went into town with him and he changed his flights and booked one home for that Friday, the day we were going to Sydney.

We all went on the piss quite a bit then in our last week in Melbourne and we were all looking forward to something new in Sydney.

We gave the landlord notice that we were leaving and so on the day we were packing up, we were waiting on him to arrive so that he could give us back our bond. When he arrived, he started complaining that the house was dirty and that Paul owed him money. Paul did owe him a small amount of money, but the dirt in the house was from the two girls who were still going to be living there so we didn’t want to clean that up. He told us we would not get our bond back and then that after all deductions were taken out of it, we were only getting $50 each back anyway.

He left the house for a while so instead of cleaning it up, we grabbed our bags and headed off.

We got the train on the Friday evening, we met Jimmy there as he had been working that day. The train was an 11 hour journey so we would be traveling overnight. When we got seated on the train, we took out the deck of cards and had a few games. One of the guys working on the train noticed that we couldn’t play comfortably across the middle aisle of the train so he got us a different seat where we were facing each other and we had a proper table too. It was great. We then took out the poker chips and turned it into our own little poker den.

As we played away, a couple of Aussie guys noticed and wanted to join in. We had a couple of games against them while Jay went to bed. Before we knew it, it was 6am and we were almost at our destination.

Here it was, Sydney. Now all we needed was accommodation….and of course….some jobs.

After Joel was kicked out of the house, we did see him quite a bit in St. Kilda. As the weeks went by, we found out more and more about him and the scams he had been trying to pull off. We found out that he was not Irish, he was a kiwi. We found out that he had stolen money from two Dutch girls as they were traveling the east coast and he was staying in their room. We found out that he had been telling stories about us to other people and that he had basically tried to bum money or free stuff from everybody he came across in his travels. With all of this info coming out, quite a few people wanted his head. Not surprising then that he disappeared all of a sudden.

He had gotten money from Paul & Jimmy so they wanted to kill him too, but once he left Melbourne, he hadn’t been spotted again.

Melbourne city centre was very well organized. It was all set out in blocks so it was never that difficult to find your way around. The transport system was pretty good too. There were trams that went everywhere close to the city centre, and where trams didn’t go, there was trains providing the service.

There were a good few pubs and clubs in Melbourne, most of which we didn’t get to see as they wouldn’t let us in, but they were all fairly well spread out too so there was a bit of walking involved from one place to the next.

It did remind me of Dublin quite a bit, but admittedly it was cleaner and better organized with a much better transport system.

Crown Casino, is the biggest casino in the Southern Hemisphere, so of course, I did manage to visit there a few times. They had a whole floor dedicated to Texas Holdem so I was in my element when I walked in. They had a few 1/2 cash tables which is all I ever sat down at. The minimum and maximum buy in was $60 so that was all you could lose in one sitting. I had a go 4 times here and kept a record of my winnings and losings and by the end of my visits, I was about $350 up.

They also had another game called Casino War, which was quite simply High Card. The dealer dealt you a card and then he had to beat it with a higher card himself. Really simple game but it got a little interesting when you both had the same card because then you had to double your money to try to win on the next go.

The top floor of the casino was a nightclub. Below that was the cinema. The floor below that had a couple of pubs and shops, with some gambling tables, and of course all the fast food restaurants too. The ground floor had most of the gaming tables and a massive bookies located inside with huge screens. The poker floor was below that again.

As you can imagine, the whole place was huge and would have to be seen to be believed.

So Jason’s dad arrived and took the bed that Stephen had been using. We were all set now, we had no problem housemates, at least not for another few weeks. We had tickets for the four race days so it was gonna cost quite a bit of money. Paul had since been let go from his job as there was no work for them, so he was living full time in the house with us now. Of course, he still wanted to be drinking all the time so the weekdays were getting just as expensive as the weekends. Jason’s dad had brought over our suits for us to wear to he races so we were all set.

The first day at the races was great. It was a Saturday, and the sun was shining. There was 130,000 people there, but we managed to find a decent enough spot for watching the races and getting our bets on. We had tickets for the Banks enclosure too for that day so we could get away from the big crowds and go in there for a while when we wanted to.

We had a few winners that day, the one in the first race and in the middle and then the last race too so we all finished in profit for the day. Of course there were thousands of women walking around us, all done up in their finest so sometimes it was hard to keep your eye on the horses.

After the races we went into P.J. O’Brien’s for a few more drinks but then headed home early enough to St. Kilda. The next race day wasn’t until the Tuesday so there was a few days off in between.

The Tuesday was Melbourne Cup day so that was the big one. Unfortunately though the weather had not been as kind that day and there was a good bit of wind which meant it got pretty cold at times. We weren’t having much luck on the horses that day either, with Irish horses losing in big races that we had all of our money riding on. We went straight back to St. Kilda that day and had a few drinks out there.

Paul decided he would come with us on the Thursday, so after using my trousers and shirts, all he needed was a suit jacket to make up a suit. He managed to get one just in time and so the four of us went racing on the Thursday which was Ladies Day.

This was probably the best day. The weather had picked up again and the ladies were out in their droves. There was a really good atmosphere at the track that day and we started on the beers a little earlier than before. Roisin met us at the races that day so there was five of us having a laugh but only four of us losing our money. Roisin happened to have a few winners so she was laughing in profit. Again, that night we hit P.J. O’Brien’s and while we were there we bumped into all the girls that had been on our Whit Sundays trip. The place was really buzzing that night and we had a fantastic time in there, arriving home in the early hours of the morning.

The final day’s racing was that Saturday which was known as Family Day. There were a lot of sideshows on that day to keep the kids entertained. There was a lot less people at the races that day too so it was much easier to get the bets on and get the beers in. Paul came with us again that day. The weather was really good again, but the horses were not coming good for us in most races. In the second last race myself and Paul had a big winner and so we were cheering and roaring him home down the home straight. We had watched that one from trackside so it was great when our horse came in first.

That night, for a change, we went into P.J. O’Brien’s again. There was not nearly as many people in there that night from the races so we spent most of the night playing cards at the table. We did manage to get a little gambling going but the bouncer was continuously checking to see that there was no money on the table.

Myself and Paul went into the city centre that night thinking we would get in anywhere as we were dressed up in suits and not looking like riff raff but no that was not the case. In Melbourne on a Saturday night, you need to be on a guest list which is done by booking a week in advance. Completely stupid if you ask me but ah well, we went back out to St. Kilda and had a great time in the Elephant & Wheelbarrow instead.

Now that he was gone, Paul took the bed that Joel had been using but as he wasn’t there during the week, we all chipped in a bit of money so Frank wouldn’t give the bed to someone else. A Swedish girl called Sofia then moved into the small bedroom at the back. Yes, she was really good looking but she was seeing an aussie guy the whole time we were there so no, she wasn’t with anybody from the house.

Things were going well again, but there was still the problem of no job. Jimmy had run outta money completely so I was subsidizing him for a few weeks. The job then phoned us again and told us that there was another delay for another week. This was pretty bad but didn’t really give us enough time to find something else. We got one days work doing furniture removals. It was really hard. We were clearing a 2nd floor apartment in 35 degree heat. Then moving it to a first floor apartment on the other side. We nearly gave up half way through cos we were sweating so much. We got paid 120 for that days work so it was pretty good and tied us over for a few days.

Then Stephen arrived. This was another Irish guy who had decided to take the other bed in our room. He was 32 and he was a butcher. At first we just thought he was a bit quiet, but it turned out that he was just a bit strange. He used to sit in the living room with his portable DVD player with big head phones and watching Manga on it. He would laugh out loud from time to time while watching what to us looked like children’s films.

He had been living with us only a few days when Jay decided his snoring was too much. Jay had been in bed early as he was working and I hadn’t so I didn’t have to put up with it yet. It was unbelievably bad. I suffered it a few nights but there was absolutely no way you could sleep through it. Another night while we were all in the living room, Stephen had polished off a full bottle of Vodka while watching the cartoons on his DVD player. He was really pissed and then he changed the cartoons for Porno. While sitting at the dining table, he was pitching a tent in his pants. We were all feeling pretty uncomfortable about this so we decided we would move over to the table to play poker as this should make him stop. But it didn’t. He kept going and he was now gyrating in his chair, and saying things like “Yeah, stick it in there, give it to her good”. We were all laughing our heads off but still it was seriously weird.

So again, we decided it was eviction time in the house and it was Stephen’s turn to go. We sat him down the next day and told him that what he was doing that night was seriously wrong but that it was his snoring that we couldn’t stand and that he needed to find somewhere to live. He didn’t take it very well but after Paul had a drunken go at him, he decided he was going to leave. He found himself a one bed apartment about a week later and he moved out.

It was just in time too as Jason’s dad was arriving that week and we needed the bed for him. I had been working in BEAT for 2 weeks at that stage, well one weeks training. It was a call centre and I was only given four hour shifts which I wasn’t happy about so I was thinking of leaving the whole time I was there as I had been promised 40 hour weeks. The Melbourne festival was starting the following week and I wasn’t happy in the job so I packed it in and decided I wasn’t going to look for more work until after the races.

So things ticked along fine for the next week or so. We noticed that Joel hadn’t got any money though and was quite happy to take anyone else’s stuff. He drank our beer and ate our food and in the beginning we thought nothing of it cos we knew we were gonna be starting work soon and he would have money and he could pay us back. However, that was when we got the bad news. The job that we were starting was delayed by two weeks. Jason had started work so he was ok and as I still had some money I decided I would wait for the job to start but I kept looking in the meantime as did Jimmy. Joel was quite happy to let us do the looking and then jump on whatever jobs we came across.

Joel was quite the character, he always had a story to tell. There was a bunch of girls living next door to us, some Irish and some English. They came into our house a lot of the time, and Joel would tell us stories of how he had been with them and what he had done to them etc.. There was a few days passed before we started to notice all of his stories were crap and none of the stuff he ever said had really happened. Then there was the night we’ll not forget.

We all went out to The Elephant & Wheelbarrow in St. Kilda. The girls from next door came with us too. We were all having a great time and we were all getting pretty drunk. Then later on, Joel was asked to leave by the bouncers. Paul got all annoyed because of this and he left with him. But for some reason Joel kept saying that it was Paul’s fault that they got thrown out. We stayed in the pub and those two headed home, Jay was already at home. Apparently, this argument went on all the way home and Paul was getting really annoyed with Joel.

When they got home, it got even worse. They were screaming at each other and then Joel picked up the iron and told Paul he was gonna smash his face in with it. Of course Paul didn’t take this too well so he head butted Joel. He didn’t hit him too badly but then Joel went into the kitchen and it all went quiet for a while. This was when Jay decided to go to bed thinking it was all over.

Myself and Jimmy then made our way home from the pub. Nobody really knows what happened in between Jay going to bed and us arriving home but when we got there, Joel was holding a knife and they were screaming at each other again. Without thinking, Jimmy grabbed the knife from Joel’s hand and I grabbed Joel by the neck and threw him onto the bed. I held him down while Jimmy forced Paul out to the back garden to calm him down.

Then we had to decide what the hell we were going to do. We decided pretty quickly that we didn’t want Joel living in the house if he was going to be pulling knives on people. We couldn’t leave the two boys together now so we stayed out the back with Paul and told Joel to stay in the bedroom. We agreed we were going to ask Joel to move out in the morning so I went for a few hours kip and then Jimmy stayed up with Paul.

Jimmy woke me in the morning telling me that we were kicking him out now. We all went into the living room and told him that we wanted him to go. Of course, he then said he wasn’t leaving and we couldn’t make him go. So we called the landlord and asked him to come over that there was a major problem to be sorted. When he got there, Joel was insisting that he was going nowhere. It took a while to explain to the landlord what had happened and he was saying that Irish people do stupid things when they get drunk and that it would all blow over. We weren’t happy with this so we told him we were all going to leave if he didn’t kick Joel out. He took ages but eventually he realized we were serious and that he was going to lose money, and he told Joel he would put him in a different house.

Finally he was gone and we could all be a little bit more relaxed. While he was packing his stuff, he hurled abuse at all of us calling us scumbags and all sorts. He was crying as he left which was strange because he was being a prat and slagging us off, and then saying he couldn’t believe he was losing his friends. Frank then took him off in the car and brought him to a house in a different suburb.