G’day g’day. How are you?

It’s been a while that I posted something, and it proofs that travelling is all about the unexpected adventures. I planned to stay for approximately three months in Brisbane and guess what? I am not there anymore!

My flight from New Zealand was to Brisbane, I got straight to Breeze Lodge Hostel in Kangaroo Point where I had my job interview for the position: “Social Media & Event Coordinator”. The people who know me, knows’ that I was studying “Organizing Events” back home and that this sounds like the perfect opportunity for me. I got the job and started with full excitement. I came up with activity ideas, learned more about the surroundings and explored the city. I stayed with lovely people in the hostel and later on I got my own bedroom. This was the first time in six months that I had my own bedroom and I was as happy as a child. The job was for free accommodation, so I needed to find a paid job next to it. Applying for jobs was like a day job, because you could apply for so many jobs without hearing a thing back! Eventually I found a job in a new venue as a barista, I was happy and it sounded like they could offer a lot of hours. But of course it was different in real life: I started with 8,5 hours, then got 6,5, then 4,5 and finally just 2,5 hours a day. And they gave me 6 days off. Do you believe that? I couldn’t and wasn’t happy with it at all! So I quit this job.

Then the manager of Breeze Lodge wanted to talk to me, and I kind of knew where the conversation was going to. She was really busy and hadn’t enough time to coordinate my job. So she and her business partner decided to stop with the Event Coordinator job for now. So all lines where open again. I didn’t have to stay in Brisbane, because I had no job at all. I started applying for jobs in whole Queensland and in one day I had a job offer. I received a phone call: “We are located in Montville, we can offer a lot of hours when you are good in your job, you got $26 dollars an hour and can stay in the staff house for $104 a week.  Let me know by the end of the day if you take the job, otherwise I will give it to someone else”. I couldn’t even believe what was happening, but what I did know was that I had to take this opportunity. I want to save money in a real short time of period so I can travel as soon as possible. So I called him back and told him I wanted the job. I had to leave Brisbane in five days and I still had a lot of activities on my bucket list. So I was really busy in the last couple of days. I visited the City Botanical Gardens, the Mount Coot-tha Botanical Gardens, the look out from Mt Coot-tha, and the sunset at Kangaroo Cliffs. And something I wanted for over six months.. hold a koala. You can do it in Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, so I had to visit it. I did this together with my lovely friend Miku, I met as my co-worker in the hostel. We had an amazing day together and the koalas are soooo cute. To celebrate my last day in Brisbane I decided to go out and have some fun, and believe me that was what I had. Maybe one beer too much, but hey it is all about enjoying your life, right?

And here I am, in Montville. It is a small town at Sunshine Coast but a bit further land inwards. It is in the middle of nowhere. The owners have two venues, the pub and the restaurant. I work at both. I already knew that every time you start a new job it takes some time before you feel comfortable. Yes, there is again much to learn for me. But I will do the best I can, so I can start making a lot of hours pretty soon. The staff house I live in is kind of old and not the cleanest place I have ever been in, but the people I live with are great! I have my own bedroom again and upgraded my boring room with some personal pictures. Let’s say a perfect place for me to live right now because there is no opportunity that I can spend a lot of money. All about saving money and get more experience in another company. And of course, improving my English!

In the last three weeks I work in Montville now, I met a couple of locals. Some where customers and offer me to spend a day or night with them, other people tells me that their daughter loves driving foreign people around and show and tell them a lot about the Sunshine Coast and others are co-workers. Absolutely a great hospitality the Australian people show me, absolutely amazing and I will take the offers.

Next to that, I am still travelling. So when I had two days off I decided to go two Noosa with one of the people I live in the staff house with. We did the Coastal Walk and it was absolutely amazing and stunning views. I was so relaxed and calm and we were lucky with the weather, it was so good. After that we took a couple of beers and watched the sunset at Laguna Lookout, wow! What a beautiful spot is that and it was such a clear nice day for the sunset. Eventually we arrived in our hostel where I walked into someone familiar; I met him at Breeze Lodge so it was good fun to meet him again.

The next day, Ralph and I wanted to do something. At the hostel you could rent a kayak for free (I love places where they offer you things for free) so we jumped into the kayak on the river. It was good fun and we saw army’s off crabs on the sand bars. In the beginning of the afternoon we went to the beach. I literally enjoyed every single second of it. Noosa is great, Noosa is like holiday, what an amazing weekend!

I will do more often some trips like that in the next weeks. Tuesday I will go on an adventure with the couple I met in Brisbane. They have a campervan and we are going to camp for four days. I am already really excited for that.

So even when you haven’t heard from me in a while, I am still doing really well. I am still enjoying this beautiful country and the amazing hospitality from the people they live here. I finally can save some money and start making plans how I would like to end this wonderful year.

I would like to say, thank you again for reading my blog. It is quite a long story and there is so much more to tell. So please feel welcome to text me in person if you want to know more about anything. Enjoy your day and the nice weather you’ve got now!

Lots of love, Kirsten!