The Interim Week - Chores Spectactular!

So, before I get to lose my weekdays from now until the end of time in perpetuity... forever, I enjoyed a week off in which I could do chores and wear a Polar Bear head for Optus. You know the normal crap.

I went shopping for work clothes, I got the car fixed and got my suit dry cleaned, I really was living the dream!

Actually I might back track and explain the Optus Polar Bear thing. I wore a sports jacket and took photos (instant polaroid-esqe photos!) with randoms at the Moonlight Cinema in Centennial Park. My colleagues Bianca and Angus were stuck talking to people about amazing Optus deals while I just had to deal with having no peripheral vision and the over heating all while attempting to knee (..or not. I have not decided yet) children in the face or step on people's olive platters.

Oh... and I did a reconnaissance ride. From Carlingford to Cremorne where I would be starting work on Monday. Turns out it was quicker to ride than take public transport. Yay...but then I had to ride to Polar Bear (over the famous Sydney Harbour bridge...WOW!) duties and I got a bit lost.... kinda blew the ride out to 55 km.

My last chore before work was to look for an apartment, something that I was immensely excited about till we got to the first location, a property that we were so keen on...only to find that some other schlub had put an offer on already. I hate property. We saw another place....maybe the one we will get... not sure.....*sigh*.

I was a little disappointed with the properties but Milana and I had a nice walk around neighbouring Newtown. It was then time to take Milana to her job as an ATM....we have weird jobs.

I went to Bondi Junction to waste some time before my character work, getting lost looking for a car park I went through a no entry zone (only Taxi's and buses were allowed) having never driven through the area, I missed the sign as I was to busy trying to dodge people who were walking across the road (this was before the "no entry zone" don't be that person) and the taxi's who were crossing double white lines to get around those pedestrians......ANYWAY! A parked police officer took offence to my getting lost (and driving slowly) in the no entry zone. He didn't care that I was lost and had no idea...if only the film crew was there I would have gotten away with it, the police are nicer on TV.

The finale of the week in all fairness was pretty damn cute. We went and visited Mark and Amy in Penrith....well I say we visited Amy and Mark to be polite because the real star is the newest edition to the family, Miss Eloise Babian! What new baby isn't heaps of fun! Watching them gain control over basic motor functions and trying to determine whether they are eyeballing you or they concentrating on evacuating waste. Twas a lovely day with strong tea and good laughs, my thanks to the hosts and to the entrainment!

So that was the.....a rather boring/eventful (depending on if you got past the opening sentence or not) week sorry kids. I start work soon.....soooo hold tight as I walk through the door for day 1!

The Road Trip - Part 2

A much quicker, brisk and all around briefer blog about the end of our trip.

Suffice to say much of what was expressed in the previous post was much the same, except we left from a different location, and visited a different detour location and ended up at our planned destination. But the company was still fantastic, the music was ever present. The other cars got slower. The scenery was still fascinating...ish kept us entertained.

Our detour took us to a Buddhist temple just outside of Wollongong. A terrific place of worship for those who subscribe to the Middle way and the philosophies of Siddhartha or the Buddha.

While I am not a practising...anything I do love the tranquillity of a Buddhist temple and was extremely chuffed when we were able to squeeze this detour in. (Our previous engagement cancelled on account of being a cranky new born baby who does not like to receive visitors later in the day!) 

 We walked the gardens, took in some literature, even stopped and indulged in what most might call praying.... considering I was talking to myself I would think it doesn't qualify as prayer in the common sense. All in all a wonderfully relaxing way to make our way into the suburbs of Sydney and the job that lies before me that I think will be anything but tranquil.

 Again the pictures will convey more than I could hope with words. Hopefully I will have time to write some more about Buddhism in future posts but for now I will bid you farewell.

The Road Trip - Part 1

And so starts the journey into the system.








But before that all happens I must be off on a road trip to get me, my car, half of my worldly possesions (you know the important stuff clothes, PS3 etc.) and my fiance up to Sydney where my new vocation and my foray into living life like an adult must start.








We set off from Melbourne (Boronia to be precise in the dark south east below the ominous....well they are pretty average mountains) via the scenic route, or what we hope to be a more scenic route than the boring trip via the Hume highway. We take the National Highway, A1 for most of our journey to Sydney with a few little stops that we would like to make on the way.





As you can imagine not much can be elucidated in great detail when you are trying to describe sitting in a car for hours on end looking forward to other (infuriatingly slow) cars and obstacles and back to.....well pillows and the handle bars of my road bike...there was no rear view to speak of such was the mass amount of nonsense that crammed into the back of my Subaru Outback (which will be henceforth be known as Sansa).

But the joy of this trip was very much in the company that I kept (Milana) and the music that was a constant companion as well (we started off with the Doors, a sound I felt befitting a road trip).

I honestly enjoyed in the drive particularly with the notion that we the opportunity to take in some interesting sites which Milana had taken great pains to research for all of 15 minutes the night before.

Detour

Precisely what a Subaru Outback was built for

We reached our first proposed stop, a climb up a mountain to Genoa Peak. A 1.5 kilometre trek to the summit and a purported 2 hour return trip. We got to the start of the climb at about 16:30 (I don't much like 12 hour time) and tackled the climb led by my trusty Sherpa...Milana up the winding track. We made terrific time, the bush land all around was rustling in concert with the fierce wind that obviously became more and more prolific as we neared the summit of this monstrous 1610...feet climb (that's 490meters, most of which Sansa drove us up no doubt).

Pfft moderate fitness!!

The views overlooking Eastern Victoria were a sight to behold and rather than trying to get all Banjo Patterson and trying to explain the glory of the vision before us, I will let the magic of photography set the scene for you.

Look out number 1

Not long to the top now!

That's right 1607 feet climb - with NO tools!!! hahaha I should stop hyping it.

Look out 2

Our hastily snapped photos do well to convey the landscapes but not the fun of the ascent and decent. The little jokes, the stumbles and the realisation that we are the only people in this area made for an absolutely perfect detour on our trip up north.

Peek-a-boo!

How's the serenity

Airing out the stinking hiking feet.

As we returned to the car (immensly impressed that we bested the suggested return time for the climb by 45 minutes) we realised that we were fast running out of time to make it to Sydney on the day we set out. So after some quick hotel searching we decided to try our luck at finding a vacancy at Merimbula during the silly new years holiday period....it wasn't easy.

Stop Over

We finally found one place and some shrewd negotiating let us talk down the owner from the lofty $150 for the night to a more reasonable (though barely) $90, so that we might partake in the offerings of this lovely little town on the Sapphire Coast.


If nothing else the sunset behind the motels were enough to keep us satisfied.

We quickly left our.... moderately appointed lodgings for dinner where we found a tasty Italian restaurant and a rather terrific meal. A little bit light headed from the wine...light weights we are, we headed home to brave the rubbish bed and get a good night sleep for the conclusion of my migration north.

Yes people probably get murdered here regularly

Stay tuned for part 2.

INTRO Post!

If you are reading this, you have, for some reason, to much spare time. Or conversely I left with such haste that this is your only means of keeping up with what I am doing, or most shameless of all I have berrated you into reading this by sheer guilt. I realise I am not very forthcoming with what I am up to generally so I will try to redress the balance with this blog.

This blog will try to track how I get on as I descend into the darkness of the "real world" doing a real job, paying a real mortgage and doing all those grown uppy things that seems to have made everyone so bitter, cynical and depressed.

I have named whimsical blog and its anecdotal nonsense, "Into the System I Go", it is named as such because that's what I am doing, following an all to familiar path and becoming part of the greater system of our society. I don't mean that as a negative (pay no attention to my favourite books) hippy "oh mannnn the system is getting me down", I don't mind being part of the system in fact I look forwarding to chronicling my immersion into said system.....and here we are at the crux of this post.

This blog will, I hope, be an avenue for those I know to get a glimpse into how I am getting on with my move to Sydney. How my foray into to full-time work, the pressures and challenges that come with paying for property and my own life and the fun and stupid crap I get up to in the process.

I am sure the structure and topics will change often, I may use this forum to vent my pure and utter loathing of things that annoy me....the condition of Sydney's roads for instance.

This week I will tell the riveting tale of my migration through the Victorian wilderness to the big city... or something like that.

If you do read this nonsense and you have feedback, then comment, if I have hideous grammar/spelling please  send me a personal message (I don't take criticism well damn it!) otherwise ENJOY!

Oh and if you do like - then follow or share with others.

Cheers

Adam