As much as we had enjoyed Melbourne it was time to move on. Cities (especially in the western world) are expensive, and although Melbourne wasn’t the most expensive city we had visited it wasn’t exactly cheap either. We’d mainly come to Australia to top up our travel funds and staying wasn’t going to make it easy to find a job. You might argue that cities mean work, but with many backpackers thinking the same thing, the job market is astoundingly competitive. Plus, if we got a job in the city we’d have to pay city level rent - not exactly a strong position to save from.
So we left. Hopping on a midday train to Geelong, a smallish city a hours ride away from Melbourne. We picked Geelong for two reasons, firstly there was a whimsical house we could rent fairly cheaply, and secondly, they had immediate appointments available at the bank we wanted to join. Luckily for us, it's far easier to set up a bank account in Australia than it is in NZ - just need to fill in an online form and bring along a passport.
I’ll be first to admit that we didn’t really make the most of our time in Geelong. I'm sure it is a lovely city, but the only time we ventured out was to join the bank. We did see a fair amount of the city suburbs, our whimsical house was sequestered far away from anywhere convenient giving us an hours walk to the city centre. Sight seeing wasn’t really why we was there, we just wanted a quiet, affordable place to job hunt from or to work out a different plan if we weren't getting anywhere.
So when we weren't admiring the stain glass windows, or soaking in our private outdoor bath house we were scouring the internet, applying to any job we thought might hire us and a few that definitely wouldn't. A dingy pub in a middle of nowhere, apply; a strawberry and dairy farm in an area prone to flooding, apply; a hotel estate in Tasmania, apply; a nightclub in a town along the great ocean road, apply apply apply. Surprisingly, we were getting quickly getting responses. From all that I’d seen online getting a job as a backpacker in Oz was hard these days. All the online groups are filled with people complaining that they applied for months before landing a job or they couldn't get one at all, and we had several offers within a week.
Now that we had some options we decided to think things through a bit more, maybe not all of the jobs were the "right" job. We wanted a job for at least six months, and six months could feel like six years if we chose poorly. One job, the night club job in Warrnambool, was only a three hour train ride away and they were requesting an in person interview, so we jumped on a train to go check things out.
We once again managed to rent the most out of the way airbnb imaginable. It was in a gorgeous rural area on a cliff overlooking the sea, it was also an hours walk away from the city centre and out of range of the public transport links. The weather finally brightened up whilst we were in Warrnambool, just in time for our walk to get to our interview. I wouldn't say we were the freshest after traipseing around under the blistering sun, but our interviewers didn't seem to notice - or were too polite to say.
The town itself was fine, full of all the things we could need (baring widespread public transport), but it didn’t seem to have its own identity. Perhaps we just didn’t get to know it well enough, but it felt like any town, any where and it didn’t seem like somewhere I'd want to stay for long.
Our interview went brilliantly, the bar owners were lovely and it seemed like a really great opportunity but I felt dread when thinking of it, rather than a sense of excitement. The next day we had another interview, this time for a job in a hotel in Tasmania. With a lot to parse out, we needed some time to think things through.
So we did what we often do when making a hard decision, we made a spreadsheet of pros and cons. The country pub job would be easy, but the accommodation was a small room above - too big a con, take it off the list. The strawberry dairy farm sounded fun, but working outside in the Australian heat? No thanks! Two jobs down, two to go. Nightclub in a town or country estate in Tasmania? If we went by the pros and cons the nightclub should have won. The money was better, it was far cheaper to get to (we literally hadn't left the area yet) and there was options for further employment past six months, but we just couldn’t convince ourselves that it was the right choice.
We kept being drawn back to Tasmania and that said it all really.
Decision made we set off immediately the next morning. First, we ordered a taxi to the station, when that didn’t turn up we decided to walk - managing to get there with just five minutes to spare - although we were pretty sweaty by this point. While on the train we booked flights for that evening, hoping that the train wouldn’t suddenly stop for an unexpected delay. As soon as we got off the train in Melbourne, we raced to the airport shuttle (which then got stuck in traffic) that got us to the Airport just in time.
Okay, to be completely transparent my just in time and your just in time probably aren’t the same. So although it might sound like we were racing down the airport hallways, just managing to get through the gate as it was closing… that wasn’t quite how it went down. Just in time for me is arriving perfectly on time, two hours before the flight, just as is recommended. We had plenty of time to mooch about, grab some overpriced food and for Ben to moan at me about how much time we spend in airports with my penchant for punctuality
After all this, the flight - predictably - was delayed.
After what felt like a never ending day of travel we finally made it to Launceston, Tasmania, where we jumped into to first cab we could find to take us to our airbnb for the night. It took us a few days to get things organised, hunt down some references, buy a car, obtain a RSA cert, but soon enough we were driving away from Launceston towards the estate that would become our home for the next six months.
October 2023
Have fun in Tazzy you two xx