Southern Exposure

Howdy ho!

I pretty much went through with my Melbourne Ultimatum (see what I did there?) and did what I had planned to do on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I won't bore you with too many details because it's the Holidays but I wanted to assure you I'm doing very well.

So, the weather on Thursday wasn't as nice as it had been on Wednesday. There was no going back though, so I went to the Eureka tower and got my Sun and Stars package to get up twice in one day. I took pictures of every place I had visited and could see, before returning back to street level. I had twenty minutes before the next river cruise and I had to have lunch so I went across the river to have a nice whopper on the go. I found a cruise on the north side of the river so I forked over $25 to get on the next one.

First part of the cruise took us to the harbor and almost to the West Gate Bridge still more than 80 km away from the open sea. I learned some new stuff about the city (especially the newest riverside developments) and took some photos of the city. Ninety minutes later we headed upstream to see another side of the city. Again I took some pictures and learned more facts about Melbourne and Yarra River.

After the cruises I headed in to NGV at Federation Square to check out some art. There wasn't anything mind-blowing and I almost ran through the exhibit cause I arrived am hour before closing time. Then I retreated to the hotel to do my packing. After dinner it was time to go back to Eureka SkyDeck again.

I arrived in time to take some good pictures around sunset. I also wrote some postcards and mailed them from the highest mail box in the city. I waited around for the lights of the city to come on and took in the scenery at dark.

When I got out just before ten PM I was too excited to go to the hostel just yet so I headed over the river to grab a drink (a coke) and check out the city one last time.

Friday morning (Christmas Eve) I checked out of the hostel and left my luggage in the luggage storage. Then I took a tram to St. Kilda. Once there I walked to the end of the St. Kilda pier and took photos of the city skyline. After that I checked out the very busy township of St. Kilda and had some lunch. St. Kilda was a very natural, classy beach town, unlike Airlie Beach in Queensland which was just a tourist entrapment.

Again I stepped on the tram and hopped of at Albert Park. Albert Park is home to the Melbourne F1 Grand Prix. In the middle of the park there's a big lake. I walked along the shore of the lake and took pictures. The sun was shining and I did a lot of walking, many hours, during the day and when I got out of the park I realized that I should've worn a hat and some sunscreen. My head was already itchy and I realized why I had had some light headaches. There was no rest for the weary though so I kept on walking around the lake and then toward St. Kilda road close to Maria's office where I caught another tram into the city.

Once there I visited the National Gallery of Victoria. The only thing I really watched there was old black and white photography from different cities. A lot of the pictures were from New York, London and Paris but there was one picture from Helsinki. It looked very familiar and I guess it was of a rooftop in Kallio.

I took the straightest route back to the hostel, grabbed my stuff and headed towards Southern Cross. I barely missed one train to Frankston, but the next one came five minutes later.

When I got to Maria's I was the first guest. She was still cooking and Ben and Elouise were in their rooms. I watched some TV but then the guests started pouring in. I went to the beach for a walk with Lisa and Leon. Leon's mother and Lisa's cousin Bergen stayed at the house.

I had already had enough of the sun and of walking but while Leon ran of with one of the dogs I had a nice talk with Lisa. Then we got back a little before dinner. That's when all he'll broke lose.

Back in Finland Christmas dinner would have been a quiet affair with five of my relatives at the table, with Bing Crosby and the streetlights of Mannerheimintie providing a classical relaxed mood. Out here we had eleven people at the table surrounded by two horny dogs and two cats. The sun was still up at seven PM and before eating we literally popped open these gift wrappers that made a loud bang and included a small toy (like the ones found in Kinder Easter eggs) and apparently a Chrismas Party paper crown. Everybody screamed and laughed and put on the party crowns. I sat next to Ben and I felt embarrassed for the behavior of the grown ups. He said he felt it forty times over.

We got through dinner with my sanity still intact but before long I had to bust out my Late Pick Chardonnay, my last free wine bottle, and start drinking that. I ended up drinking the whole bottle by myself and spending the rest of the night talking with Ben and Vanda and Gavin and Fisk, a young Irish fella.

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Quick note. A new occupant just arrived in my hostel room and apparently he's blind. That's pretty crazy...

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On TV Bam Margera was looking for Santa Claus in Finland with The Dudesons and I told everyone how I had met two of them. The snowy images of Finland made me feel good about Christmas and the buzz provided by the wine made me not miss the place too much.

The next day I awoke to have a piece of toast, to shower and to watch some TV before getting a lift to the airport from Maria. We arrived at the airport exactly an hour before my flight and I left a little more stuff for Maria to mind before thanking her for her hospitality and everything else.

Once inside I saw an unexpected amount of people standing in line to check in with my airline, Jetstar. I was a little worried that I should've come earlier but I found my zen quickly realizing that was the past and nothing could be done about it. Standing in line for forty minutes was still annoying but I wasn't worried. The jetstar crew were actually pretty smart and they took people who had the earliest flights off the queue and to the front. After the people to Darwin and Perth had all dropped off their luggage it was my turn.

I got through security quickly and bought a Whopper jr.-to-run and headed for the gate. From then on everything went pleasantly and the flight was as short as any flight I've ever been on.

I didn't see much of Tasmania from the plane as it was cloudy but what I saw looked pretty tranquil. My suitcase was the first one on the conveyor and I hopped on a shuttle bus to the city for $8. I had checked out my hostel actually on the plane before take-off on my iPhone.

I got a room at the hostel for $23/night, $2 than I had expected. Because it was Christmas Day it was almost dead quiet in the city but I found some fish & chips for dinner at the harbor. I walked around a little and looked at store windows to see if there were any job opportunities. But I was too tired to keep walking all day again. I checked my bank account and still hadn't gotten my last paycheck. At the hostel I used the free Wi-Fi for a while but then I settled down in to my room and watched DVDs until getting too tired.

I wasn't feeling very good this morning and I stayed in bed for two hours just listening to Bill Simmons' podcasts before getting up. I knew there was going to be sales in the biggest stores so I wanted to check them out even though I had budgeted myself $10/day if I remained jobless in Tasmania.

JB Hi-Fi was full of life and almost everything was 20% off. Buying the two final seasons of Six Feet Under seemed tempting. It would be ten dollars saved. It would also be forty dollars spent, a little over per day for the next five weeks.

Next I headed around the corner to Murray street (second to last picture) because I had seen a job notice on the window. I kind of wished the store wouldn't be open so I wouldn't have to do anything today but I also wished it was so I could start my job search (and perhaps end it) right away. The store was open, so I headed inside. Then I decided I would apply today. But first I needed to shave.

I have a secret. I was actually growing a beard until today and I had been for more than three weeks, ever since I knew my job at Rochford had ended. But it was itchy and my moustache was growing into my mouth so I had to get rid of it. Besides, it was pretty ugly.

After shaving I headed back to the store and told the clerk I was the person for the casual job. She told me that she was a casual too and that I should bring a resume which they could send to the head office. So now it's my first priority (after blogging, of course) to make my resume look like I have retail experience and to get it printed out tomorrow.

I walked around and checked out the Salamanca markets next. I wasn't going to buy anything but I just wanted to enjoy the atmosphere of the city.

Hobart is quite unlike any place I've ever been. Actually it's a little alike many places. It's basically the same size as Turku. But it's mountainous and at the sea. It feels a little like Oulu and Rovaniemi. It's by the sea, it's colder and it's more natural. I think the closest equivalent would be somewhere in New Zealand. But it partly feels like northern Finland cause I think I want it to feel that way. Oh, and the day is longer here during the summer. It's 9:30 and it's almost dark. Sunlight is more than 16 hours and a month from now it'll only be an hour shorter. Still longer than the longest day of the year in Melbourne where it was completely dark before nine.

After lunch I went to check on my bank account again. I had finally been payed. But instead of getting 30% of the $1000 paycheck I had gotten more than $600 ballooning my estimated daily budget after accommodation to over $30. I felt so secure that I went to JB Hi-Fi and "saved" $10 buying the last two Six Feet Under seasons. Later I held on to my eating budget by going to Woolworth's for some cheap lasagnas, toast, salami and soft drinks. As I ate my lasagna at the hostel I got into a conversation with three traveling girls, a Canadian, a Swede and an Aussie from Melbourne. The conversation made me feel very smart (the Swedish girl seemed especially oblivious, knowing less about Sweden's history than I).  Then my mom called.

My mom is going to come to Sydney the last Saturday of January and I'm probably joining her as soon as possible to save on accommodation expenses (as well as eating expenses) and just to be able to live in Sydney, still my favorite place in Australia, for a couple of months. It will also take away all possible home sickness. The cheapest flights are actually on the same day so I might buy my ticket pretty soon. I just have to make sure that I am able to see Tasmania properly. A few weeks of full-time work or several weeks of part-time work would go a long way to help ensure that. I've already payed for the hostel until the 2nd of January so I have 27 days after that in Tasmania to pay accommodation (or car rental) for and 33 more days to eat (with two dinners already in the fridge). More than anything else, a job would give me something to do so I don't get bored. A boost in the budget is almost secondary.

It's pretty cold at the moment, my fingers are freezing just slightly but it's okay. I feel optimistic about my job prospects and very good about Hobart and Tasmania in general. I actually hope that my five weeks here don't go too quickly.

Keep enjoying Christmas and I hope to update you once more before the year is over. Ok, thanks, bye!