6 Days in Auckland

Ok, so I've had a few days to adjust to my environment and I'm ready to share what I think about Auckland without getting too focused on specific things that annoy me.

Lets start with my job. Firstly, it's a lot of work. I feel like a toddler asked to learn quantum mechanics; there's so many programs I need to master, forms I need to fill out, and acronyms I need to remember. There's also a lot of HR stuff and legal and financial shit I need to sort out due to my adjustment to NZ which is making things a tad overwhelming. On the bright side, I think I'm on top of the theory so that's good. Oh yeah, I'm also in the smallest division in the company: acoustics. It's just me, a slightly experienced genius, Nick, and my manager, Clair. Nick is in his late 20's and is so on top of his game. He arrives before I do (8:30am) and leaves after I do (5:45pm) and is constantly powering out work. He is genuinely a human Machine. Even on 'casual Friday' - or as I prefer to call it; 'formal Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday' he still wears a full suit. He's a well lubricated cog in the machine and it's making me anxious that I might not fit that well. Clair is a Scottish woman in her late 30's who is also super smart. She seems to have infinite patience with me which is nice, but I'm also anxious that I may never have the powerful Scottish accent she has. My first project I've been assigned to is about controlling noise from Tesla batteries (yep! How cool is that!?) that are being placed in a sub station. If I fuck up the project, I hope nobody hears about it (pun intended). Umm what else? Oh yeah, I feel myself gradually get increasingly more unfit. Sitting down for so many hours a day is really taking a toll on my body. I feel a lot more out of energy and I'm starting to gain weight already :(. It's made worse watching young fit people run along the harbor as I catch my bus into work in the morning. I had an after work drinks on Friday which was awesome! By far the best thing I like about NZ so far is the people - everyone is super friendly. I'm honestly extreemly relieved that the NZ hospitality lived up to it's expectations. I can't wait to move out and live with some great people!

Ok, so what do I think about Auckland as a whole? Well there is still a whole lot left to experience, but what I've gathered so far is that it's tiny. The buildings are very spaced out and small and there are hardly any people anywhere. I'm sure the city isn't as quiet as it appears to be though, I'm pretty sure everyone is hiding in some super popular area of town I just haven't discovered yet. I haven't seen much going on yet, but on the website MeetUp there seems to be quite a few things happening. I'll give it a proper go next week and see what I think. I went on a coastal walk today which was nice, but I think I'll have to try something a little more interesting and challenging next weekend.

Lastly, living with my grandparents has been awesome. I thought the lack of independence would be getting to me by now, but it's not at all. Being made lunch and dinner every day and having my laundry done regularly is a luxury I've really missed. I smell clean and I'm not hungry! Yippie! In return I help them out with 'technology issues' like opening Facebook on an iPad and turning on NetFlix. It's a pretty sweet deal.

New Zealand day 1

Ok, let's do this.

I got a job with AECOM in Auckland and flew into NZ last night. I'm currently crashing with my grandparents, which by the way are incredibly hospitable. Free food, free rent, free lifts everywhere and a free public transport card. Thanks Nana and Granddad, you're awesome. I'll repay you shortly once I sort out my bank shit!

Ok ok ok. First day at work after being an unemployed bum for 3 months. How was it? In a word: ''meh". In a few words: "I think I like pretty much everything about the job; the people are nice, the work seems interesting and the facilities are great. The only downsides are; work attire and working hours". 

So before I start a powerful rant that I'll probably regret somewhere down the line, let me clarify a few things you probably already know about me. 1) I HATE formal clothes 2) I HATE the 9-5. 

So first things first, in the induction we were told that the working hours will be quite flexible. This got me incredibly excited until the inductor clarified to the inductees that that 'flexible' mean't we could arrive 10 minutes late as long as we left 10 minutes late too. That's not flexible! Arrgh!

Why in 2016 is work determined by time and not by merit? All this does is encourage the illusion of productivity and ironically makes things inefficient! We've enlightened ourselves so far to believe (correctly) that it doesn't matter what colour, nationality, gender, or sexual preference you have; all that matters is your ability to do the work. This is good, society! Good job! Why can't we go one step further and say it doesn't matter how long you work at something or what you wear while you do it, all that should matter is your ability to do the work! I promise you in 50 years from now people are going to look back at this generation and laugh at how remarkably intelligent CEO's and business managers managed to convince themselves that they can measure the performance of an employee by measuring the % of cotton the employee wears while timing how long that person stairs at a screen. Eargh.

Rant over. 

In other news, I'm still quite optimistic about my job. 

Oh yeah, New Zealanders are extremely friendly :) That's a talk for another rant. 

Australia day 9

This was my last day before going back to Sydney. I was relieved to find out that the sun was shining and the water was perfect for swimming! A good send off.

Australia day 8

We all woke up sore, grumpy and in desperate need of a shower. We decided the $125 campsite was worth it for tonight.

The first thing we did was buy a tent for $50 from a guy 40 minutes out of Byron. Out of pure sympathy he decided to give us extra blankets and pillows too.

The others had an afternoon nap in the tent while I decided to do the lighthouse walk! The view was amazing; I wish my phone hadn't been on charge so I could have taken photos.

Later on that night I went out again and socialized with a bunch of Canadians and Australians. Another great night with awesome people. The only downside was that lockout forced us to leave at midnight

Australia day 5

New years! Wooh!

I made a bunch of friends with a bloke from Denmark called Mathias, a new Zealand guy called Tenaki, and a guy from Norway called Bjørn (pronounced 'yaarn' for some reason), and two other British girls.

We all decided to go to the beach for a couple of hours and then see a '7D movie'. 7D was just a small 3D cinema on a platofrn that rocked which sprayed water at you at particular parts of the film... Yeah, I know, that's not 7D.

While we were in the city center we decided to check out the venue for new years. It looked good except we noticed our hostel was illegally selling tickets for $60 when we could buy tickets directly for $40. We all purchased the $40 ticket and hoped that police wouldn't shutdown the hostel or the venue to investigate the illegal markup pricing.

For new years I had plenty of wine (not goon) and a bunch of beers. New years was great. The people were friendly and there was no clubbing! The fireworks sucked and all 400 of us in the venue only caught the last 3 seconds if the countdown. None the less it was a really enjoyable night.

I stumbled into my bed fully dressed at 4am and fell asleep instantly. I was so glad I didn't have the energy to put away my phone or wallet or clean my clothes up from the floor (which were hiding my passports) because I found out the next morning that every room in the hostel had been robbed. Dozens of phones, wallets and bikes which were resting in plain sight had been stolen. Not mine though :)

Australia day 4

After I crawled out of bed and ate my free double breakfast I said my goodbye to my German and American friends. I told them they could crash on my couch any time. Now I just need to find a home that has a couch.

At 10:00am I left to go hitchhiking. I wrote "gold coast" in capitals on my notebook and held it with my left hand while I put my thumb out with my right hand. In literally 60 seconds I had a local stop by the side of the road in a beaten down thing with 4 wheels. He said he could only take me half way there, so after I politely declined he offered me a shot of tequila instead. Literally 5 minutes later I got another offer by a middle aged Italian couple. It turns out that the couple were both neuroscience professors who were doing research on sleep. It was awesome talking to them, they strongly recommended I do a PhD.

I arrived at surfers Paradise without any problems whatsoever - I wasn't even stabbed once. When I arrived at my hostel I met a bunch of Canadians who were a lot of fun. We all went out to drink heavily. Having so much alcohol the day before new years was not smart :+(

Australia day 7

The 4 of us decided to rent a car and travel down to Byron bay! The cost of the car for 5 nights was only $400 - a particularly good deal since we were planning to use it for accommodation and transport.

During the day we decided to look around town. It's got such an amazing hippie vibe here! I love it. People walking around with singlets, no shoes and massive sunburn everywhere. The "falls festival" was also happening so the place was completely packed. I'm a little scared at how easily I managed to fit in.

During the evening I decided to go out drinking and talk to the "locals". Sadly I only managed to find Canadians or Australians from other parts of the east coast. None the less, the relaxing atmosphere was contagious and made talking to people a complete breeze. At this point I can't say I like the people from Byron, but I can say I like the people in Byron.

We had a look at a bunch of campsites and found out that camping was $125 for 4 people! Outraged, we decided to sleep in the car for the night. The Danish bloke had to sleep in the boot of the car; poor guy.