Living in a Tent

Our journey to Australia has begun! After going through customs, we jumped on a bus that took us to downtown Melbourne. We had heard great things about the City of Melbourne, so we began our journey there, and loved it. There is a river running right through just south of the CBD where everyone comes to enjoy the great weather, go for a run, or eat at one of the many waterfront restaurants. There are beautiful beaches just a short tram ride away, and plenty of museums, culture, and nightlife to keep you entertained for years! We stayed at a great hostel and met some awesome people. We went to the markets, libraries, restaurants, beaches, and bars. Unfortunately, staying in the city is also hard on the wallet, so we decided to try to make use of our working holiday visas, which allow us to get short term jobs while traveling the country.

It wasn't easy finding jobs amongst the many other backpackers looking for work. Most jobs available in the city were door to door sales and other commission based work (not our bag, baby). We finally saw a posting on the hostel message board for work and accommodation at a Big4 campgrounds about 2 hours outside of Melbourne, along the Great Ocean Road (a popular tourist drive along beautiful beaches). After a phone call, we were all set to start work the following week!

We hopped on another bus headed to the Great Ocean Road. We arrived, set up our puny 2-man dome tent and luxurious air mattress, and were all set to start work the next morning. We tried to sleep through the sounds of wild pigs and monkeys, and midway through the night realized we were sleeping on the hard ground, thanks to the inability of the air mattress to actually hold air. We were not very cheerful upon waking in that cramped tent, but we headed down to start work and tried to put on a smile. Turns out the "wild pigs" are actually koalas (seriously, try to find a youtube of the noise) and the "monkeys" are actually kookaburras laughing. By the end of the 8-hour day, we returned to our campsite to find Grahm, a resident/employee of the campgrounds, setting up his 2-room tent for us. Our new found friends and coworkers managed to hook us up with a real mattress, linens, pillows, towels, an icebox, and a table with chairs. There was no trouble smiling now! We quickly set up our new home and converted our "old" home to the closet. We are camping in style!

The setup we have is great. There is a beautiful beach with great surf right across the street, and our coworkers are so generous and fun! Koalas live in the trees around us and kangaroos hang out in the field about 100 meters away from our tent. Life is good.