The Wizard of Oz and Other Tales

Wine Touring in Swan Valley and getting on shape :)

jomppa_and_miki — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 22:42:00 GMT

Hi! Last week we spent in Perth doing the usual - working and visiting some new restaurants. Work wise it is going better since I am enjoying more and more of my job. Reason for this is that I have been able to work more in the actual shop, helping in a Cashier and assisting customers, doing product display and doing other shop duties. I have also got used to being called "Sweetie", "Darling" and "Sweetheart" at least 20 times a day. I have noticed that it is very "expensive" to work in a health shop since I have got very inspired to try all the different products and food that we are selling in the Go Vita - shop.

Last week we tried a couple of new restaurants. Eating out is really fun here for some reason, and very often we feel tempted to dine and try some new restaurant. BYO "Bring your own wine" is pretty popular here in Australia and many restaurants have this licence. Last Friday we had dinner in Vietnamese restaurant and we brought our own wine with us. There are loads of Asian restaurants in Perth, so very often we find ourselves either eating Sushi or Vietnamese/Chinese. We have tried Mexican here couple of times but both times we were disappointed for the quality. Italian restaurant we have not even tried since we arrived to Australia - probably for the single reason that all of those restaurants we have passed have been very expensive. Asian food in general is the cheapest option and some random burger/all round places. But no worries, we have cooked enough pasta at home and enough to bring to work next day.

Last Saturday we booked a Swan Valley wine tour and we attended a whole day wine tour with a good old tourist bus. The pick up was already before 10 am and we arrived to the first winery already 10:15, where we started our wine tastings. We visited five different wineries, brewery and chocolate factory. The tour was all inclusive so all the tastings were included and a lunch in the third winery. In the fourth winery they offered 14 different tastings.. We hooked up mostly with two Irish girls during the tour and after the tour they even came to our house to continue the fun day. Even the tastings were fairly small, but during the day we started really feel all the wine we consumed. The plan "to go out" afterwards did not really work out, so after we had more wine tastings at ours and had dinner out, we all just ended up going home. Some of the wineries we visited you can reach by train and taking a taxi for short way so we want to go back another time and enjoy the whole day in one place without any rush.

Sunday we spent usual Perth day, just walking around and having some lunch, surprisingly Sushi again. Yesterday we joined to the gym here in North bridge - only five minute walk from our house, so that should also keep us busy now. At the gym they also have classes, including yoga, so I am looking forward to getting back to do some yoga soon.

Photos: Perth city and surroundings

jomppa_and_miki — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 21:16:00 GMT

First 4 weeks in Australia

Back in the working routine...

jomppa_and_miki — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 22:01:00 GMT

We have been in Perth now for almost four weeks and I just started my second week at work. Referring to my earlier posting, I am working in a Go Vita shop in Southlands shopping center in Willetton, around 20 kilometers from Perth city center. Even thought it sounds far away, it is very well connected and only 12 minutes train journey and 5-10 minutes bus journey away. The public transportation works pretty well here in generally and the train stations and bus lines are well connected. You can basically walk from the train straight to the bus so commuting it's not that painful as in so many other cities.

At work I am unpacking the incoming stuff, booking the stuff into the system, pricing and general data entry and displaying the goods when ready to the store. The job is quite simple, and I feel I am really staring a computer screen a lot. There are calculations and pricing variations that I have to do but in general not very challenging at all. However the working hours are Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm so it is convenient and at least I can say my stress level can't increase because of the job.. :)the job is good for this moment. The same family has been running the store for the past almost twenty years. They also have 5-6 other employees working in a shop and everyone is really nice and friendly.

Michele isn't still quite happy with the job since it's very busy and he is all the time on the phone but he is getting more and more use to an Aussie accent so it's getting easier all the time. However Michele is very lucky to be working in a city center.

Last week we went to a gym in one of the days and had a dinner in the Chinese restaurant. Saturday we went to Caversham wildlife park, situated in north east of Perth and we saw many koalas, kangaroos, wombats, birds and many other funny animals. During the day the temperature was 25 degrees so not too bad for winter. Also Sunday was quite warm and sunny when we did a little shopping and had a lunch in town.

In general we are really enjoying our time in here. We can only imagine how it is going to be in the summer, when the weather heads up and we can hit all the nice surrounding beaches. Our plan at the moment is to stay here at least until October and then since we are already in the west coast, to rent a Campervan and drive all the way till Darwin. We also want to do little weekend trips while in Perth, but we are still waiting at least couple of more weeks the weather to warm up a bit.

Otherwise the life is pretty normal here at the moment. We are both working so during the week it's a bit more quiet. The dark comes already around 5.30-6 so after work there is not really time to enjoy the day and the sun, unfortunately. The weekends are for that now. In the house we are getting along with everyone and I guess we are getting use to the fact that we have to share again. It's not too bad afterwards. Our short-term plan is to join a gym and get our exercise level back to the normal again.

Perth - first couple of weeks!

jomppa_and_miki — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 20:36:00 GMT

It's been a while since we have updated this blog. We arrived to Perth 27th of June. First 4 nights we were staying in 2 different hostels, before we found our house in North bridge. North bridge is just next to the center of Perth - very cool area with loads of restaurants, cafes, pubs and all kind of little shops. There is also an unofficial Chinatown, street full of Chinese owned places. We are now sharing the house with 2 English guys and one English/Irish couple. The couple just moved in this Tuesday, when the Irish girls, who previously lived here moved out. The house is big, high-roofed and tall windows. We also have a backyard garden which is pretty nice when the weather is nice.

When we arrived here the first few days we were just trying to take care all the mandatory things; getting sim-cards, visiting bank, getting tax file numbers and looking for a place to live and looking for a job. Michele was very lucky with the job and he got a job already in the same week, just after 3 days we arrived to Perth. Michele is working for RAC - it is insurance company and Michele is working in a claim handling department. The job is Monday to Friday and he has regular hours. The job is also in the citycenter of Perth. It is temporary position at least for 2 months, maybe more.

While Michele has been working the weekdays I have just concentrated to look for a job. I have also visited some parks in Perth, walked across the city area, gone jogging,visited some very nice shops. Last weekend we paid a visit to Fremantle, little old town just half an hour train journey from Perth.

Last Friday, a week ago, we also had a house party at our house. The party was organized by our ex-housemates, crazy Irish girls... It was fun indeed, and they even got a guy here with a deck for DJ:ing. The theme of the party was fancy dress, so we had all kind of funny dresses in here. I had a last minute idea and I just gathered a pirate look from my own clothes and scarfs. Pictures will follow later on.

This week I managed to get 4 interviews for myself. A bit of everything: receptionist in a chiropractic, receptionist/waitress in a airport hotel/motel, general office person for family online business with health product and a trial for a nightclub. Today I got good news. The place with family business offered me a job in one their shops. So the position is not the one they originally interviewed me but something close to that. The shop name is Govita and it is based in shopping center in Willetton, south suburb. They have shops and online shop and they sell health products, bodybuilding, vitamins, weight loss, superfood and so on. Today on the phone he explained that I will be doing order entry and other tasks, so I am not the actual shop assistant as far as I understood. The hours will be Monday to Friday and from 9-17.30. So it really good we worse :)

From all the other places that I had an interview, they promised to let me know next week. The airport hotel was the one that I liked the most, cause it was very casual, kind of countryside atmosphere, little bit of tourism and the place itself was just so cute. They even have their own golf field. That job would include evening and weekend work and not sure if they would offer full hours. So I think I will stick with this job, no matter if I would get one of the other ones. So I am very much delighted now, cause we have met people here who have been struggling to find a job. Now I really can believe that things that happen the way they should happen.. And after working in big multinational companies, it's very nice to be part of smaller family business.

Tonight we are heading to drinks with Michele's colleagues and Sunday we are planning on visiting a Koala park. And tomorrow, a Finnish friend from Melbourne is coming over to Perth for a work trip, so we have a chance to meet as well. Have a nice weekend to all of ya!

Singapore and trip to Tioman Island

jomppa_and_miki — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 13:48:00 GMT

We arrived to Singapore on Thursday 14th as the plan was. Flights were operated through Qantas, but the first flight however was operated via Air Lingus. (Dublin-Frankfurt). From Frankfurt we connected with Qantas to Singapore. It was a bit shocking to step out from the Singapore airport to hot and humid climate. (30°c+ something), after not being able to enjoy the summer weather in Dublin.

In Singapore we stayed only two nights but we were pretty effective with our time planning. First night we had a walk in a nearby area of our hostel and Little India, which was just next to the area we were staying.
Next day we visited the center and the river area, Orchard road and China town.
We especially liked the atmosphere in Chinatown with all of its bustling street life
and the street food markets. I also had time for a massage while Michele had good time to enjoy the happy hour beer. Singapore is very modern, clean and safe city and easy to get around everywhere.

After two days in Singapore we packed our backpacks again and headed to a bus station to take an express bus to Mersing. Mersing is the city in Malaysia where you can take a ferry to Tioman Island. The first bus station we were guided by our hostel staff was wrong and there was no bus at this time of the day. Next bus station we were guided turned to be a right one, but the express bus was already sold out. Again, we were guided to another bus station "local one" where there is no direct bus to Mersing, but taking few extra steps you can get to mersing as well. We walked around a half an hour under a burning sun with our heavy backpacks, trying to find the right place, and we were as wet as we had swum in a swimming pool. Finally we found the place but instead of waiting 10 minutes for the bus, we waited an hour. Everything in total, buses, border controls both in singapore and Malaysia took 3-4 hours. There were so many people everywhere and it was so chaotic, all the pushy asian people pushing you and taking your way. We heard later on that Saturday was the worst day to cross the border. We arrived to Mersing finally in that late afternoon but unfortunately we missed the last ferry for the day so we took a simple cheap room in Mersing for one night.

Next day, Sunday the 17th we finally arrived to Tioman Island via morning ferry. We are staying on the ABC beach in a place called Bamboo Hill. We are staying in one of the wooden chalets, simple but nice. There are no air condition or hot water, or any other modern equipments such like TV. BUT, the most important thing, our balcony is just above the sea and the beach, and we have a beautiful view to the ABC beach area. This place is one of these places where you can open your terrace door in the morning and have your morning coffee just in there, feel the sea air and the sun.

Tioman Island itself is a quite primitive place with only few restaurants, bars and minimarkets. There are no people selling anything or walking after you or trying to sell their artisan products. Actually there aren't really anything to buy or to go shopping, so perfect place to Michele to be a holiday with me. Just relaxing in the sun,eating, sleeping and enjoying some happy hours in the beach bars. We have also found Malaysia very cheap, even though we have heard something else as well. At least Tioman Island turned to be so, maybe other places in Malaysia can be pricier. We have usually spent between 4-6 euros for a luch/dinner with beverages for 2 people. Yesterday we spent a bit more than 3 euros for a total bill. Not too bad at all.

The first day we were in Tioman in the happy hour bar we also bumped into 2 Finnish guys. And they were also from Tampere originally. They were talking to an Aussie couple and I said to Michele right away that for sure they are Finnish, as you can recognize the accent. And so they turned to be. We also found out out that they are our wall neighbours in the Bamboo chalet.

The second day we heard they are showing Euro games on the beach, where they had put a big screen. Only problem is that all the matches have been shown at 2:45 local time, in the middle of the night. On Monday we really tried to stay awake late and watch the Italy-Ireland match. We even took a nap in the evning and went out only at 11 pm. Despite of this I could not stay awake and finally we did not see the match.
The problem is that our day rhythm has been the opposite, waking up quite early and going to bed early enough.

We also rented bikes the other day and had a nice cycling trip to the next village, Tekek. In Tekek village we found also a duty free shop, bank and and internet cafe.
For today we booked a coral reef/snorkeling day trip but for our bad luck there were no other people goinf and the minimum amount of people is 3-4. They said we could have gone anyway but then we needed to pay extra, so we decided to postpone it for tomorrow. Since today there weren't people going, for sure tomorrow there are. After the trip was cancelled, the little thunder storm started and few drops of rain. So it was good that we did not go today after all. Today was a perfect time to chill out in a Bamboo Hill and check online.
The owner of the place, Ben, half English half Malaysian is really nice person to talk to. You can't see the English of him thought, because he looks and behaves like Asian and he has always lived in this Island.
The weather here has been almost unbearable hot so we did not mind too much of the fact that we could not go to the beach this morning. Or you can go, but there are more clouds today- the temperature is the same anyway. Maybe the sun appears later.
Yesterday and day before we were also lucky to spot and group of monkeys. They are going around here all wild. For our luck they stayed half an hour playing and eating next to the road.

On Saturday we are leaving Tioman and heading back to Singapore. So one full day more of paradise and then back to civilization.In Singapore we still have two more nights before flying to Perth on Monday afternoon. We are going to miss the atmosphere here and will be back another time.