From the Land Down Under

Yup, I made it. I arrived in Australia two days ago, and have been on the go ever since. Jet lag is still prominent but improving daily. I am ready for bed at 7pm, and wide awake by 3am…anyone who knows me can understand how weird that is for a night owl like me.

The long flight over went rather quickly. It was dark for much of it so I slept for quite a bit, dozing on and off to the in-flight music channels. They did actually feed us, though I think I slept through one of the meals…woke to find several people munching sandwiches, so figured it was a group thing and not a strange coincidence. Once we arrived in Sydney, I had to pass through customs and immigration. I was expecting far more probing at this point, but I was barely given a second glance. Passport please, stamp stamp, off you go. Well, alright then. I was off to pick up my baggage, and found it easily enough. My new bright green suitcase was looking less than brand new at this point, having been scuffed quite a bit. I didn’t care. I probably won’t use it again anytime soon. It was a huge beast that I bought just to make the flight over with more stuff. After picking up my luggage I had to pass through the food police. Yes, food police. They have little dogs that sniff your bags for anything organic that you shouldn’t have with you, and no I do not mean drugs. They are looking for contraband food. I had forgotten about the half of a McSweeny’s pepperoni stick in my purse so was easily busted by the hound dog who snuffled in my purse. I was pulled out of the line while the food police inspected my bag with gloved hands. She held the offending pepperoni out from her body like it carried the plague and told me she had to keep it and could not return it to me. Um, okay…no big loss lady…I had forgotten I had it in my purse…I thought I had eaten it all before we landed.

That is not to say there were not drug sniffing dogs. They were everywhere. When we boarded the flight to Australia they sniffed us all out, and when we landed in Sydney, the dogs were in full force sniffing out the luggage as it bumped along the conveyor belt. I held my breath as my luggage was making its way around, but the dog sniffed right by it and busted someone  else’s bag. The poor chap was hauled out of the crowd and questioned by the police. His was not the only bag that was pulled off the belt. I grabbed mine and was off to catch my next flight, this time to Alice Springs. Qantas domestic flights departed from a different terminal so I had to catch a shuttle there, and with little time to spare, was boarding my last flight.

Once I arrived in Alice Springs, I was greeted by a gal holding a sign that simply said JUDE so naturally I went to her, even though they had told me a man was meeting me. Turns out the manager was busy so sent office staff to collect me and my bags. We went straight to my furnished apartment, although she tried to convince me to pick up my rental car along the way…yeah, right. Jet lagged, and still partly hungover from Saturday night and you want me to jump into a car where the steering wheel is on the other side, and drive on the other side of the road in a town I have just arrived in…she agreed to collect the car for me after work and have her husband follow her to my place where she dropped it off. We dropped my suitcases at the apartment and I had a look around. I was greeted by a tiny gecko in the upstairs bathroom. I tried to pick him up but he was far too skittish and ran away. I was less impressed by the number of mouse poison trays scattered about the house…apparently Alice Springs is going through a mouse plague at the moment. Nearly every house has them. Gross. Where is Stormy when I need him. He would soon fatten up and end the plague in my apartment. I haven’t seen any mice yet, but I have found their crap…including some on my bed beside my pillow…ewwww…I sure hope they are not curling up in my hair as I sleep…

From my apartment we then drove off to the grocery store to pick up a few things. The gal paid for my groceries, knowing I did not arrive with any Australian dollars, which was very nice. We then went to ANZ bank where I had preregistered for an account, and verified my existence with my passport. I was able to choose the color of my new bank card and chose bright pink! Why the hell not? After this we made a quick stop at the main child protection office to meet a few key staff, and then she finally took me home to crash. She was wanting me to stay at the office for work but I told her in short order that I was not scheduled to work until April 14^th and all I really wanted was a shower and some sleep. She understood well enough and dropped me off. She was back not long after with the rental car.

The next day was spent running errands and getting set up, all while learning to drive on the other side of the road. I managed not to hit anyone, though I did have a police officer give me a big sideways thumb out the window to get the hell over in my own lane and stop hogging them both. It was a bit tricky to work out just what clearance I needed on the left side of the car, but I managed it.

My first stop was the bank machine to get out some Aussie dollars and then off to KMart for some basics. I was rather disappointed in Kmart…not a lot of selection, organization (sheets in same aisle as the Easter candy), or stock. I was still able to find a couple of plug adapters so happy enough about that…and then one of them didn’t work, and I found out I need something different for my computer speakers. Chore for another day. From Kmart I stopped off at an internet café to let the world know I had arrived. Then it was off to the mall to see about a cell phone aka mobile. Turns out I didn’t have enough identification points (I needed 100) and was informed the easiest thing to do was get my Australian driver’s license, as that was worth a lot of points. I also needed a copy of my visa to prove I was going to be staying here. So then I was off in search of the motor vehicle department. Once there, I found out I required proof of residence in Alice Springs, so had to drive back home for a letter from my employer stating I was an employee and where I was living. Thankfully the recruitment coordinator had prepared such a letter AND I had thought to print it off. Back to the DMV and within about 10 minutes I had my Australian driver’s license. Yahoo! No testing, just a simple eye exam to prove I was not blind. Then I took my Aussie license back to the cell phone place – Telstra being the main company in town. I first picked out a Blackberry Torch, but then found it was the most expensive phone, so was shown the new iPhone 4 and it was much better priced, so went with that. I was also looking for internet services, but the only real option was an internet stick, and they wanted $200 up front for that, and since I have yet to be paid or reimbursed for expenses, that shall have to wait.

After the cell phone, I went to Coles for more groceries, and then home. Once home I realized my speakers needed more than a plug adapter, so went back to the stores to find out what I needed. After a few stops at electronics stores, I found someone who knew what I needed, but it was going to cost more than the speakers. We then worked out that I might be able to just change out the regular power source for an Australian one. I still have to take my speakers back into him for that. Then it was back to the internet café to post some photos I had taken so far, and managed to leave my memory card in the computer and my camera on the desk. Of course, I didn’t realize this until later in the night when I wanted to take some photos in the apartment…dammit. It was sure to be gone, but when I stopped by there the following day, they had both the card and the camera – phew! That will teach me…

Once back home, I spent more time unpacking and organizing, before realizing how tired I was and headed to bed. Air conditioning in the bedroom is awesome! There is also one in the living room, also awesome! They are both on remote control too. I turned in for bed, knowing I would be up early for work the next day. Little did I know how early! I was wide awake at 3am, read for awhile, and managed a couple more hours before getting up at 6am.

Now came the task of finding the office building where my newly assigned team worked. All that I knew was that it wasn’t in the main child protection office building, and that it was a couple of blocks away. The gal who picked me up from the airport drove me by it, but I had little recall of just where the hell it was. So I parked in the grocery store parking lot and wandered around a bit, then went into the first government building I came across downtown, and they gave me directions to the wrong building. I knew soon enough it wasn’t the right one as I walked several blocks in another direction, far from what was shown to me a couple of days previous. So then I walked back, and sauntered into another office building, and asked the first office staff I came across if they could help me. Turned out to be the very building I was looking for and one of my new team members was down to collect me straight away. After a short meet and greet with the team, I was whisked off to the main office for the usual employee paperwork, swipe passes, keys, etc. My id was ordered, and I dropped off all of my receipts for reimbursement.

Once back at my office, I had a meeting with my new supervisor who quickly unloaded about 15 cases on me. Welcome to the team. Now let’s get busy. I didn’t mind it, as I had told her I was ready to hit the ground running and I knew she was overworked as the only social worker of 5 on the team currently…that is until I arrived. We had “tea” for one of our teammate’s birthday…at 10:30am. Tea did not include actual tea, but sausage rolls, wings, ‘little boys’, meat cakes, and chocolate cake.

After work I went in search of some more appropriate footwear. I had worn my nice leather boots as they went well with my skirt, but it became obvious this was not the time of year for such warm boots. I bought two pairs of flip-flops instead, which seemed to be the most popular footwear among the workers. Sure, I can handle that. I know it won’t be acceptable in court, but for regular office work, they are very practical in this heat. It has been about 32C-35C every afternoon, and sunny. I already have a tan, in just two days. I shall have to remember to bring sunscreen to work or I’ll be burnt to a crisp.

The landscape around Alice Springs is gorgeous. They had more rain this year than anyone living remembers ever getting, and the hills are green with grass that no one knew would grow there. Set against the red dirt of the cliffs and hills, against a bright blue sky, well it is just breathtaking. I plan to set out with my trusty Rebel on the weekend and get some sightseeing in. I plan to go in the morning before the heat gets to be too much. Can’t see clearly through steaming eyeballs, not to mention steaming photo lenses.