Well, I have skydived for the first (and not last) time in my life and I must say that it was AWESOME.

I have done my skydive in Wollongong (NSW), about 1.5 hours from Sydney, Australia. The company who operates this “adrenaline provider” is Skydive The Beach Sydney. The instructors are great and very professional and last but not least they know exactly how to chill you out.

Once we got at the check-in and received the proper clothing we were transported to the airport (approx. 20 min). The flight to the 14,000 feet (4.2km, terminal velocity 200km/h) lasts about 25-30 minutes. Thereafter, as soon as a small green light turnes on, you jump out! The free fall lasts 60 seconds (for me were like 10 seconds) and as soon the parachute is open, you still fly for about 5 minutes before landing.

It is very difficult to describe the emotions, sensations, fears, speed and the adrenaline rush you get it, with only words. Therefore, some pictures and the two videos below suit perfectly for this purpose.

Well it is time to stop using powerless words… enjoy the videos and the pictures.
See you on the next update from Downunder.

Sydney Skyline at sunset

It’s time to upload more pictures from Australia, check them out (some by Tommy and Antonio) here….

Afterwards we took a shuttle bus to Surfers Paradise (approximately one hour South from Brisbane). The weather was not so great when we arrived but shortly after the sun came out and after settling down in a nice room on the 20th floor of the Esplanade road in Surfers, we went straight to the huge and amazing beach where we stayed a couple of hours.

Surfers Paradise is a typical touristic town: many shops, quiet dirty, many pubs, night clubs, restaurants, entertainment parks, etc… One or maximum 2 days are absolutely enough, but as said, the beach was awesome (here some pictures).

We left Surfers Paradise on Sunday 25th and went back to Brisbane. Such a beautiful city. If it would have a proper beach (according to the Australian standards), it would be my favourite city in Australia. Clean, green, not too big, modern and very “tropical”. It has very nice promenades for astonishing walks and jogging.

The same evening we booked a tour to Fraser Island, about 3 hours driving North from Brisbie. The best decision: in Brisbane was raining and on Fraser we had blue sky all day. The Isalnd is about 120km long and 20km wide. It is all of sand and has the biggest rain forest that grows on this kind of terrain. The coolest thing is to drive at 100km/h on the main road on the beach! It’s llike an highway but on the shore for many kilometers. We bushwalked in the rain forest and after we had a picnic and a bath on the breathtaking lake McKenzie (pictures). We visited further unforgettable spots before going back to the mainland and driving from Hervey Bay to Noosa and then towards Brisbane. Time passed so quickly even if we woke up at 5.30am and returned at 9pm!

The last evening in Brisbie was a short one unfortunately, the flight back to Sydney was at 5am!!!

Some pictures of the unforgettable journey to the Gold coast have been already uploaded and can be found here. Enjoy.

By following this link you can watch some of the pictures.

In Australia is amazing how things are easy: everything rolls on week time, that means, I pay rent, insurance and receive my salary weekly. The apartment has only two weeks bond and two weeks notice and so on… pretty easy going. Furthermore, I had the job interview on a Friday and on the following Monday I started working and on the Sunday of the same week I received my first salary with superannuation included.

On December 22nd I flied to Adelaide for the X-mas holidays with my relatives. The flight carrier was Jetstar, but you can also find cheap flights with VirginBlue, Quantas or TigerAirways. Webjet.com.au is a great website that helps you find the cheapest flights here in Australia. I stayed in Adelaide one week and I had wonderful time, met great people, tasted very good South Australian wine, visited wonderful parks and wild parks and last but not least enjoyed the amazing South Australian beaches (no tourists, plenty of space, beautiful sea). I’ll definitely go back to South Australia. Here some of the pictures…

Today, on New Year’s Eve I’ll go to the beach and then, with my flatmates we’ll go downtown to watch the party near the famous Sydney Harbour bridge.

Before I leave for the beach, I want to say that Australia is giving me more than I was expecting, which was already a lot and so far I haven’t regret to come downunder! It’s damn worth to come here!

Yeah, it took me some time to write the first post from downunder, but I’m trying to take it easy…

I’m here with the so called Australian Working Holiday Visa, applied with the Italian passport (for Swiss people there is no such kind of Visa). I’m allowed to work six months for the same company and then change job or get sponsored from the employer. This Visa allows me to stay on Australian soil for one year.

The second most important thing that you have to do is apply for a Tax File Number that allows you to work and do many other things as:

• lodge a tax return
• apply for income assistance or support payments, such as pensions or benefits
• claim family tax benefits
• change job
• join a superannuation fund
• …

Furthermore, if you want to be reachable from your friends you left in Europe or you have to exchange/give numbers it makes sense to buy a prepaid SIM card if you already have a phone. Only a document like the passport is needed. There are different providers: Telstra (the biggest, most reliable and also more expensive), Optus (3g coverage not so good as Telstra and Vodafone), Vodafone (cheap and with good coverage), 3 (not so good coverage) and Virgin Mobile.

I’ve opted for Vodafone: 29AU$/month Cap (recharge 29AU$ mandatory every month) and you get 150AU$ traffic included (really not bad!). Friends can see my new mobile phone number on my Facebook profile.

The next step is to open a bank account: it is very quick and easy to open one, you just need a passport. It costs 5AU$/month, including online banking and a debit card.

Once your health insurance expires or you don’t have one covering you worldwide, it is mandatory to get insured. There are many companies providing tailored made insurances for working holiday visa holders. It costs about 170AU$/month (less than in Switzerland) and you are privately insured.

In the case you are not already rich and you want to earn money to pay your bills, then you have to look for a job as I’m doing right now (onejob interview already and the next one tomorrow). I have to tell you that this is actually not the best time to look for jobs, because is during X-mas period and the economic crisis hit Australia as well.

The best websites to find a job are listed below and there are also many agencies where you can upload your resume.

• www.seek.com.au (definitely the best one)
• www.mycareer.com.au (very good)
• www.careerone.com.au
• http://sydney.gumtree.com.au/ (good source for backpackers’s jobs and for houses, apartments, shared apartments)

Looking and applying for jobs in Australia is done mainly over the web.

Life is generally cheaper than in Switzerland and apartments are really a lot cheaper.

At the moment I have a furnished room in a place called North Turramurra, about 20km north from Sydney center business district. It takes me approximately 1h hour to get downtown. In the rent I have food and everything included (internet broadband as well). Once I get a job I’ll move to the city for sure.

On the 22nd December I’ll fly (1,400km from Sydney) to Adelaide to spend X-mas with my relatives in Brighton and Adelaide downtown. I’ll fly back on the 29th for New Year’s Eve in Sydney where I’ll catch up with some friends.

Cheap flights can be bought over the Internet at Flightcentre or in one of their thousend shops all over the city and suburbs.

Well, it took me some time now to write this post, it’s time to relax again before the interview tomorrow. I have already some pictures to show you, click here to see them.

Take care mates and I’ll keep you updated from time to time.

Peace and love,

heho

Follow this link for pictures or hit the Photos tab in the navigation tab menu.