Australia #4

Hi guys,

here comes the third and last email to the elite clique that receives my australia-mails, which actually have turned into germany-mails now, because well, to make the longest story short: I am back in Germany since 3 weeks.

Yeah I know, I haven't written anything in ages (Atleast to all your english speaking folk, who haven't been receiving my german newsletters...). It was too much for me tbh, and I had to draw a line: Mail to a gazillion germans and leave out the few purely english people, having the opportunity to maybe meet them online and tell them about recent achievements, or ditch the gazillion germans, having to tell them every single piece individually... Sorry english speaking folk, you were overruled :)

So I was in Brisbane, enjoying life there, looking around for jobs in the city, until I had a rather biggish fight with my hostdad there. He was demanding (not asking for, or explaining why, he was actually even shouting at me) rent, which I was fine with anyway, but the way he talked to me kind of made me think that I might be unwanted for the time being. I decided that I would like to change my location asap again. I thought that I maybe shouldn't stay around Brisbane anyway, as I had seen most of it already. The Interwebs quickly showed me my way.

I scrolled through pages where Families and Au-Pairs were advertising their places/qualities, and found this half german half australian family, that, as a necessity, did not want a female Au-Pair. This caught my interest, and I immediately mailed them. Within hours I had gotten an answer and the emails were going back and forth. I told them I'd love to come and stay with them asap, and we arranged something for only a few days later. I immediately booked a flight to Melbourne, as this was the place, they were located at, and got really excited.

On the day of the flight, I got up at 5 in the morning, because the flight was supposed to leave at 8:45am, or so I had thought. I rushed to the airport, arriving there fairly ate (8:10am), only to not see my flight on the Departures-list. I was wondering what was going on. I went to the check-in, checked my stuff in, until the lady said 'Oh this is such a good idea, checking in so early, it allows you to spend another day without hesitation in the city.'. I was puzzled. I asked her what she meant, and she replied 'Well, with the flight leaving in 21 hours, you have so much time on your hands.'.

SCREW YOU GOD, WHY DO YOU ALWAYS MAKE ME DO THESE STUPID THINGS. PLEASE LET ME WALK MY PATH WITH A FEW LESS OBSTACLES ON IT.

Anyway, back to city, a bit of doing this and that, back to airport later on, and board the plane. Yay, another episode done. But wait, this also means I will arrive at 1:15am, not 1:15pm as I had planned before. SCREW YOU GOD.... wait no, let's not start with that again, it's time to take things into your own hands, and work with whatever you got. That's right, sleep at the airport, who fucking cares :) said and done. I arrive, get my bags, get a few whoppers at Macces, eat 'em up, get sleeping and awake at ten in the morning (okay it wasn't that good a sleep, I woke up every 45 minutes, but hey, what'd'you expect...).

The next morning I ring the family, and organize the pick-up again, organize myself a coach ticket and take off towards one of the many stops before I reach their little home, far outside Melbourne. Somewhere out in Yarra Valley I get picked up by Sonja, and we drive the last few kilometers by car. No buses travel in that direction anyway. As we get closer to the National Park, they live next to (Yes, next to fits damn perfect - I could spit there) there are several warning signs about all sorts of rare plants and animals and whatnot. I get all excited about being able to hopefully take a few shots of the rare animals.

We get there, the family greets me, the kids are cute, cuddly and very nice, everything is a big pancake with maple syrup and they lived happily ever after.

Wait, wasn't this the story of Franz' trip? There's gotta be some bad thing to it, right?

Yes you are right afterall. Turns out, the mum is a total maniac, the parents are not delighted by my work (What do these guys expect. I do that stuff for free afterall, gee!) and the mum finally decides to kick me out. And when I say 'kick out' I mean 'Trick me out of the Campavan I live in, dump all my stuff outside of it very quickly, lock it up, and drive off with husband and kids, leaving me alone'-kick-out. And no, I am - sadly - not joking. That is what happened. Exactly. Like. That.

So I am standing there, packing my things in my backpack, it's a wonderfully hot Saturday, and I try to figure out what to do next. Gladly, I wasn't completely ran over, because I had planned to leave the family this day anyway, secretly, but hey, I had planned so. I pack my things, begin to walk/hitchhike my way towards Melbourne. After less than 10 minutes of walking the parents with their kids packed up in the car pass by - they had arrived back home while I was packing, if I forgot to mention that - only to slow down, and stop. I approach them, acting as if I am not mentioning them, and the maniac winds down her window only to ask me, if I want to say goodbye to the kids, so their memory of me is positive. What the heck is wrong with that woman, she just kicked me out, it's her fault if the kids take an additional hour to put to bed for a week now.

Anyway, I find someone who picks me up and drives me to the city, yay, luck is with me.
WRONG.
I find out that this god forsaken Saturday is the worst day as a backpacker in Melbourne to have no room:
- F1 Grand Prix is in Melbourne, heaps of tourists
- Swimming Championships in Melbourne, heaps of tourists
- National Rugby League Opener game, heaps of Australians
- Australian Football League Grand Final in Melbourne, heaps of Australians

Isn't that great? Yay.
All Backpacker Hostels are packed, and there's not a single bed leftover. What do I do? I start biting my way through, and finally get an adress of a friendly halfgerman halfaustralian who will give me a room for 90 dollars (+ bills) a week. It took me all day to find it though. I finally sense independence, finally I am not dependant on someone to be cool with the way of life I have - I pay for my room, and BAM that's it, no obligations to wash dishes and whatnot.

After only one single night I find out that Marcus, the person I live with, is nobody I want to stay with for longer than one week, but it is definately better than Misses Maniac outside in Yarra Valley. I start strolling through Melbourne every day of that week, organizing visits at new rooms, and finally find a place where I would like to stay. It's a nice chick and her Kiwi-friend, quite a bit outside of Melbourne, which both seem to be pretty cool. So end of the week I pack my things, and leave to Frankston, my new hometown.

Episode Frankston turns out to be yet another dead end. After 2 weeks of living in Frankston I still haven't got a job, because I am too darn far outside of the city, and my back-up money is draining. Fast. I need a new home. This time close to the city and please, god, bless me with a nice place.

After around 4 weeks of traveling from one end to the next on end I find a nice place in 'Little Vietnam' how I like to call it. A place with a very religious thai family, who boost their income with 5 small rooms in an apartement, which they rent to overseas students. My roommates are awesome. I live with 2 frenchis, a 34 year old golfcoach student at Melbourne Uni and a Thai chick which studies Design.

And this is where things get boring. I get a job, live off it, enjoy my free time, enjoy my livingplace. I start getting horribly bored. My thoughts trail off to Germany, to how things would be if I was there... Plus, my phone-sessions with my mum and my girlfriend are getting more and more frequent, and longer. Homesickness is starting to spread. My brother tells me of this uni-course, he is interested in, and when I skim through the description, I mention how this course is exactly what I have been looking for in a uni-course. Thoughts start to trail off to said Uni-course, and to ideas like whether I could take part in it, or not, whether I am qualified enough, and if that might be the course I should take.

Homsickness spreads further and further, as my objectives for the rest of the year become clearer by the second:
- I want to take study 'Knowledge Engineering and Computer Science'
- I want to have some time with my family before that
- Course starts in the beginning of Septembre, which means, I have to come home pretty early
- my scar has been getting worse and worse, and I need to get an operation done
- my drivers license still isn't finished

I decide to take an early flight home. I wanted to arrive early enough to surprise my girlfriend. I told her I would arrive 3 days later than I actually did, and prepared everything for take-off, and of course I didn't forget to get into another awkward situation.

Remember how I told you about my landlord out in Frankston? The chick? I was at her place to have a few beers and say good-bye. She gets up with the words 'Gotta go take a wee.'. I sit there, sip on my beer, and when she comes back (from behind me) I turn around, only to find her completely naked infront of me, trying to digg me.
Okay.
Pretty normal situation.
Obviously I get up, saying that I have to take the next bus home, because it is the last one I can take, and all that gibberish, take my jacket, and leave.

Two days later I leave for Brisbane, only to stay there for two days, say goodbye to the Seymours, and then finally leave to Germany.

:)

This is, how Australia ended for Franz aka rooster|sexeh aka TheRoyalty.
Stay tuned on http://www.thebadlands.de.
Cuddles and kisses to all the girls nonetheles ;)

So long,

Franz