These last couple of weeks have been busy, but rewarding. On top of au pairing during the week, I picked up another job as a waitress at a café on the weekends. While I don’t ever really have a full day off now, I keep telling myself it will be worth it in a couple months when I have saved up plenty to travel all over Australia and other countries nearby. Minimum wage here in Australia is great compared to our 8 dollars an hour or so, hourly workers in Australia can make up to 22 an hour! Not a bad deal considering how expensive things can be. To think I thought food and drinks in America were expensive; An average drink at a bar here is between 10 and 20 dollars. Crazy to think considering how close the American and Aussie dollar are right now.
The infamous Bondi Beach
Even with staying busy working I have managed to do some adventuring on the side. This past week I made a trip up to Manly, which is suburb north of Sydney by 7 miles. Right on the beach Manly has some of the best views and is a great place to go to get out of the city for a day. The 30 minute ferry ride to Manly is probably the best part as the views of the Sydney harbor with the bridge and Opera House are amazing. I have also made sure to check out all the main tourist attractions in Sydney including the Sydney Tower with views of the whole city, Sydney Wildlife which is a mini zoo housing all the native Australian creatures and Madam Tussauds-who doesn’t love wax figures of some of the best looking Australian athletes! I also went on the Sydney Pub Crawl a few weekends ago and had a great time meeting new people!
My all time favorite wax figure is of course the lovely Audrey Hepburn
… which that is probably the most important update that everyone keeps asking me-yes I have been making friends! While its been a bit more challenging than I thought it would be I have been making sure to meet up with as many people as possible through Au Pair groups and other Facebook groups. While meeting people in any new city can be hard, I think it is especially hard for Au Pairs since we work with children all day rather than working with people our own age, but I’ve learned its not impossible it just takes time, learning who you get along with best and the willingness to put yourself out there and get out of your comfort zone.
On the way to Manly!
Australia has already taught me so much about getting out my comfort zone and taking a giant leap of faith in a country I came to knowing no one. In just a months time I have already made life long connections and learned so much about other cultures and myself, I cannot wait to see what the next 11 months have in store!
Good day mates!
Au Pair Down Under 