First Week

So I have been in Sydney for just over a week now and it has been non stop!!!
My flight with Cathay Pacific (which feels like a lifetime ago now) was very seamless and I thankfully wasn't too jet lagged when I landed.
So the Hostel, Wake Up! Is nice, and people are friendly, I've been fortunate enough to have met a few people who are all lovely and who I spent some time with before my Introduction week started.



Beach walk



But the main crux of my week was taken up with my Introduction Week run by Ultimate Oz, we literally haven't stopped! We have an awesome group so I think a lot of people will keep in touch from it whihc is nice. On the Monday we had a walking tour around Sydney visiting Darling Harbour, the Botanical Gardens, the Opera House and then we went to the Hostels bar, Side Bar for dinner and drinks in the evening. Tuesday we had the working / travelling low down talk and then in the afternoon went on a beach tour, walking from Coogee beach to Bondi.

Me and Josie

After this a few of us went for drinks from the group and then 3 of us decided to get some beers and sit on Bondi Beach watching the lightning storm out at sea and the waves crashing and just generally larking around into the late evening, its was fantastic, if a little chilly! Wednesday we headed off to Basecamp which is in Port Stephens and about a 4 hour drive from Sydney. It was so peaceful here, we stayed in cabin type accommodation. At Basecamp they have a tame Kangaroo Josie who has been raised here since she was a joey.

On the Thursday we did sandboarding and f*ck me was it scary, it was literally a sheer drop from the top of this steep sand dune! I did it once but couldn’t go again, most of the group however went a good few times, which was fun to watch from the safety of the bottom of the dune. We spent some of the day on the beach and then went on a walk to Tomaree National Park – the views from here were simply magnificent. It was beautiful and probably my favourite part of the week. The evenings were spent eating and drinking – I was clearly well behaved as you would expect ;0) On the Friday we went on a Dolphin cruise which was COLD!!! but amazing to see them, on Saturday we went on a Harbour Cruise, unfortunately I was ill after the cruise so missed out on the party bus #gutted but I heard it was awesome!

Some of the Ultimate Oz group

Sydney is a lovely city but I think for me the Centre of it is too busy, like a slower paced London, I'm looking forward to seeing what else Oz has to offer! But I'll be back here over Xmas and New Year.
Next week I'm off to Surf Camp for 5 days and then the following week I am planning on head up to Cairns to start my trip down the East Coast! Exciting times!!

The beginning

Right ho so I’ve only just started to write a travel blog and thought I would put ‘pen to paper’ a few weeks before I leave to get into the vibe.

I haven’t really done any serious travelling ( the usual holidaying, a 3 month stint in Estonia and a 3 week stint in Peru which I heart so much! is about it) so I guess I’m what you could call a novice…oh dear,  but ‘I laugh in the face of danger’(whilst screaming and running away)…and  generally laugh in the face of most things really so I’m sure I’ll be fine, yes?...well I guess we’ll see!!

So I decided after having this never ending nag about the need to leave these dismal shores that it was a now or never time for me to take the plunge and head off for warmer climates.

I had always wanted to do the years Working Holiday in Australia and so this is what I set out looking into.

The timing coincided well with my career as well, as an Actress. I had always been wary of leaving London in fear it would be detrimental to my working towards becoming an established actress. I was constantly working on no and low paid fringe productions and short films and basically any projects I could get my hands on over the last four years and recently finally secured 2 commercial jobs. However, I felt that I was starting to become resentful of the take take take of the industry and London in general and that I needed a bit of a ‘time out’ from the industry (not the acting), this coupled with my confidence in knowing I would be able to slot back into it when I returned led me, once again to the conclusion that now was the best time to embark on my adventure. So I did!

So the research began. Where do you start these days researching anything? Google of course, I must say if in doubt ‘google it’ is prob one of my more overused phrases! So I compiled a list of a variety of companies and sat down to sieve through all the information and have a think about what it is that I wanted from my trip.

I came to these conclusions:

·         I wanted to meet new people

·         I wanted freedom and flexibility to kind of go where the wind took me

·         I wanted the possibility to work as and when I needed to in whatever industry I fancied

      ·         I wanted to see and work in the acting industry in Australia and ultimately base myself in the best city for this (my assumption being Sydney or Melbourne)

After receiving various brochures etc I thought it would be best to speak with someone who knew what they were talking about – cue my (now friend) Pj at STA. Being an Aussie himself he had a  good insight into the land of Oz (omg I’ve just twigged that the Wizard of Oz is about Australia?! Is this right…? How did I miss this for most of my life…) and so he offered helpful hints, suggestions etc and gave me some brochures to have a nosey through.

I decided for me the best first step was to book my flights, so I pondered the exact dates I needed to leave and once I had made this decision booked my flights via STA (they price match and offer a £20 money off voucher if you book an in-store appointment with them so they’re quite good to consider booking flights with.)

After this I looked at and continued to compare the Working Holiday packages on offer by a variety of groups. If you are considering doing this it’s good to look around and also have in mind what it is exactly you want to gain from doing an intro week. For me it was being in a group so I had some ‘ready made’ friends and also ensuring I went with the company that provided me with the best job pack/opportunities. Other factors that influenced my decision were the Hostels each company were using (general reviews, safety/location of area based in etc) and the activities (if any) that were included.

 

After spending way to long making a decision and a few nights dreaming about it I finally settled with the 7 night Sydney UltimateOz, which I upgraded to the 10 night package as I will be arriving on a Friday. I can let you know if it’s any good when I complete it in November!

Visa wise I went via STA for this too, although you can do this yourself slightly cheaper online, I just didn’t like the whole officialness of it and wanted help being guided through the process to ensure I got it!

I have a rough idea of what I want to do when I first get there, after the intro week I plan to go
up/down the East Coast and then back into Sydney for Xmas and New Year...but until I land I'm not making too many set plans, after all this is an adventure!

 Oh, a heads up for those looking to be in Sydney over Xmas and New Year – I booked my hostel accommodation over this period in May! As some hostels were already fully booked/only the expensive or crappy ones left! I booked this before my flights, I’m sure you could find stuff last min but just a word of warning there.

 

(if you would like to read more about me as an actress you can visit my blog at…. and my website www.laurenwigmore.co.uk)