A New Life in Australia: How Did We Get Here?

Leaving London by train

The answer to the question of how we got here is rather verbosely addressed in our Travel Blog but in short we travelled by train all the way to Beijing, through Europe and then along the Trans Mongolian railway route through Russia and Mongolia into China. In China we travelled around by train and bus (and taxi, bicycle and camel), across the border into Vietnam by train and then alternated between train, bus and boat (flying to the Con Dao Islands as it was the only real option) until we reached Bangkok. We also rode an elephant in Cambodia and while we love elephants dearly we don’t recommend them as modes of transport.

From Bangkok we were forced to take to the air more regularly that we would have liked. We had limited time to travel around Indonesia both in terms of the Indonesian visa (60 days) and the date by which I had to validate my Australian visa. Travelling around Indonesia is time consuming and the ferries can be unreliable so the overland bit kind of ended in Bangkok.

The onion domes and churches of Russia

We flew into Adelaide from Bali but even though Paul was revisiting the city where he grew up, it still didn’t feel as if our travelling was over. We stayed in a hostel in Adelaide, spent time visiting friends and family, and went on a day trip down the Fleurieu Peninsular to see the whales which was spectacular. It was early in the season but we did see 3 whales which was lucky. More and more turn up each year in Encounter Bay with their young, the females looking after the babies and the males seeing off the predatory sharks.

It was on that day trip that I finally saw a kangaroo and so finally felt I was in Australia.

After 10 days, we left Adelaide and spent 2 days travelling to Melbourne taking a detour up into the Grampian National Park and then following the Great Ocean Road along the breathtaking south coast taking in such sights as the Twelve Apostles and periodically stopping to gaze at the magnificent ocean waves crashing onto the beaches and against the cliffs, trying to comprehend the fact that the next bit of land beyond the seas is Antarctica.

The isolated beauty of Lake Baikal

We stopped off for 2 nights along the way, staying in cheap motels, still feeling like tourists.

We pitched up in Melbourne just as it was getting dark at around 5.30pm on Sunday 2^nd June 2013. We stopped off at Fitzroy Street and took possession of the keys to the apartment we had rented for 5 days. We parked the car up, and unloaded what amounted to all our worldly possessions: a rucksack each, a bag of food, a box of wine (acceptable quality in Australia and certainly acceptably priced), our bag of valuables which Paul continued to cling to day and night, and my little green bag with some other valuable stuff in. Although we were carrying slightly more than we normally did, it still wasn’t much to be starting off with and it certainly wouldn’t be enough to furnish a home.

The temporary apartment was functional with the added bonus of a tiny kitchen where we could prepare our own meals, but only just as there was only a sink, two burners, and about one foot square of counter space. However, we also had laundry facilities so we were able to clean up a bit because even with the cheap clothes we had bought in Adelaide, we still didn’t have much and found ourselves running out of socks quite rapidly.

Jiayguan Fort heading out west in China

We were very cash conscious now and could no longer afford to eat out on a whim. Australia is expensive compared to the UK, and we had just come from south east Asia where you can live like a king for $50 a day. The apartment was costing an arm and a leg as it was, restaurants and bars were simply out of the question, and even supermarket food seemed pricey to us. Beer, cider and wine (apart from cask (boxed) wine) was also crippling but we weren’t that broke yet that we had to surrender that pleasure.

Another pleasure we were in no state of mind to surrender was cigarettes which, again, were expensive but not as expensive as we were led to believe. In fact if you bought the right brand they were about the same price as back home. There is no brand packaging on Australian cigarettes but there are some rather grim and graphic health warnings which, unfortunately, don’t put us off smoking but they did put us off our dinner on occasion.

Labrang Monastery, China

We really needed to start earning the Australian dollar and we would start to see everything in a different perspective and stop comparing with the UK but at the moment we were spending our hard earned sterling and not getting a lot back for it.

We also needed to find somewhere to live. We didn’t have jobs, we had limited finances, so this was going to be interesting. Who was going to rent us a place on that basis? As usual, Paul didn’t think it was going to be a problem. I, on the other hand, was imagining that we would never find a landlord willing to grant us a lease.

In the meantime, in between flat hunting we caught a tram up to the CBD went to the Tax Office to request Tax File Numbers, got information on how to register for Medicare, and spent some time wandering about the city just taking it all in.

A temple in Dalat, Vietnam

We also spent some time wandering around St Kilda. Our apartment was at one end of Acland Street near Fitzroy Street and so we had a good old look around Fitzroy Street, and also walked around through Grey Street and Carlisle Street to the other end of Acland Street where all the famous cake shops and bars are.

We also wandered along the Esplanade, past the marina, and along the end of the pier and back. Paul passed the time of the day with a couple of fisherman on the pier and started to talk about getting his own fishing tackle.

It was cold (compared to what we were used to) but we loved the feel of the place and were happy with our choice.

Classic Angkor Wat, Cambodia

So we got here eventually at the end of an amazing journey which we haven’t yet had the chance to process properly yet, but we got here in one piece relatively unscathed and ready to start a new life on the other side of the world from where we started.

Next step, find somewhere to live.

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