Week One in Australia

“Don’t call it a dream, call it a plan!”

Ahhhhh! Guys, I’m here in Australia! I still can’t believe after months and months of saving money, keeping the secrets & planning, that I’ve made it! It still doesn’t feel real at all! If you’ve been following the journey so far on my social media, thank you, I’m so happy with the feedback and engagement from you all! I’m excited to share all my daily updates about this whole experience. Now, let’s get into it:

The Hostels

When I arrived, I checked into Base Uptown Hostel in the Brisbane city centre. I was here for 6 nights and really enjoyed it. The staff were friendly, I made friends with a few people. There was a bar downstairs that had different activities, so there was opportunities to meet more people. I stayed in an 8 bed dorm room and I got on well with the roommates I had too. It’d really recommend trying here to start off your trip as it’s very easy to meet people here.

Yesterday, I checked into another hostel, in a different part of Brisbane. The hostel is only a year opened so it’s a very new place, everywhere is all clean and brand new! The area is a lot quieter compared to city centre as it’s located in a suburb called Kangaroo Point. It’s really nice here but there is not much of a buzz around the place. To get into the city you have to get a bus which isn’t that bad, it’s around $3 and the bus journey is approx 3-4 minutes. I’m here for another few nights and I’m still deciding on my next hostel/plan of action. I will have a more detailed blog post in a few months regarding all the hostels I stay in Brisbane.

The weather

Well, it’s winter here so the weather isn’t exactly amazing. I knew when coming here it wouldn’t be that hot which I’m glad because I can’t.m hack very hot weather. So I feel like I came at the right time of year to get used to the climate here. At the moment, the climate is approximately 20 degrees which isn’t bad for “winter”. For the first few days I was here I was wearing shorts and everyone would stare at me but now I’m wearing jeans because even though it’s warm, I feel I’m used to it now.

Jetlag

To get to Australia from Ireland, I flew from Dublin to Dubai (7 hours) and then from Dubai to Brisbane (14 hours). With a total of 21 hours on planes, I arrived last Sunday 1st July at approx. 7am (10pm GMT) so my body clock was all over the place. I sadly didn’t sleep on the planes as much as I’d hoped as I watched way too many movies! For the first 2-3 days here, I went for a nap during the day because I was so tired. For the first 7 nights here, I always woke up at 6am which is weird. It was always the same time every morning. I feel it’s a mixture of being in a different surrounding & getting used to the time difference. Last night (Sunday 8th July) was the first night I slept through the whole night

Homesickness 

The day I left dublin which extremely tough. Leaving my friends & family was difficult but to be honest, I’m not as homesick as I thought I would be. It just feels like I’m on holidays and I’ll see them in a few weeks. I think it will hit more in a few months time when I miss out on birthdays and special occasions.

Aussie Life

Australian life is so different from Ireland. I don’t know whether it’s a good or bad thing, but it’s quite a strict country. Little things bugged me at the start that I’ve just got used to but they’re just different from the Irish culture. For example, every time you enter a bar, you have to show your I.D and they take a photo of you and the I.D. So if you’re in the same bar all night, and you head outside and go back in, you’ve to show I.D. This happens in every bar I’ve been to. It’s just a bit weird and it’s only small but just not what I’m used to. Another small thing is you can’t cross the road here unless your at a zebra crossing. There are signs are saying that fines apply if you just randomly decide to walk across the road. They’re just a few things I’ve noticed that are different to Ireland.

Food

As the saying goes, “there’s no place like home”. I have only had ate out twice and both for brunch but nothing beats Irish food for me! In saying that, I’ve only ate out twice,so  I’ve yet to delve into Aussie Cuisine. Eating out here is quite expensive, especially for a backpacker myself. So I’ve most just done grocery shops as the hostels  I’ve been in have well equipped kitchens. But, I’m a lazy cook so I’m usually only making toasted sandwiches!

People

Although I’m here a week, I’ve spoke to a few Aussies when I’m in situations like getting on a bus, at a cash register and those type of scenarios. I haven’t made any Aussie friends just yet, but as Megan from Love Island would say “it’s still early days!”. I’ve only been out once since I’ve been here at it was messy but fun, backpacker pub crawl. I’ve mostly just been meetings and hanging out with people in the hostel but it’s amazing to meet all the solo travellers from different countries here, getting to know them and see what brought them here to Australia. It also cool getting to know different cultures too even thought we’re in Australia.

So yes, that wraps up my first week in Oz. To be honest, I thought it would be a negative type of post, but I hope it wasn’t too bad! As I said, I’m only here just over 7 days, in a new country, it’s still all very knew & taking a lot to get used to! 

Stay tuned for more chaos,

JB X