Look at me now…..i’m flying!!!!

After 7 and a half loooooong weeks, I finally passed all 24 of my exams getting a surprising 98.9% average pass mark! Well done me!!

Group 190 celebrated getting our wings with an Aussie style BBQ cooked by our instructors and then onto a few bars for some vino’s.

Group 190

Our Aussie wings

Virgin Australia being a very organised company gave us all “buddys” for our first 12 sectors.  So bright and early on Monday morning with a spring in my step  I set off on a flight passengering to Melbourne to meet her.  My first flight was Melbourne to Brisbane return on an aircraft that holds 110 passengers (or guests as Virgin Australia refer to them as!) This was such a strange concept for me after serving 400 passengers, sorry….guests!! for the past 8 years!

As I approached the aircraft I was catapulted back in time  to my first day at Virgin Atlantic all those years ago, I started getting nervous and in a panic as I realised all these 7 and a half weeks of training where I was in a constant state of boredom I now have to put into practice! But Jules my buddy saw me gave me a massive hug and said “Welcome to Virgin Australia!”. What a way to start!

As soon as we took off I realised how much I had missed flying, it was great to be back, even if it was with the nickname “newbee” now.

The flight was just under 2 hours, a far cry from my usual 8 hour flight, and time flew by ( excuse the pun!)  The 3 other crew were lovely and the passengers…sorry guests! Loved asking me where my accent was from. I was roped into making all the annocements because everyone loves the English accent and that has pretty much been my job every flight since.

After just over a week flying I have completed my 12 sectors with Jules and have now ventured out alone.  The Australian crew are really nice, everyone is interested in my stories from Atlantic.

In 7 flying days I have been to- Brisbane, Melbourne, Coolangatta, Mildura, Cairns, Coffs harbour, Adelaide and of course Sydney.  It’s good to be back in the air but this time with Aussie wings!

Sydney to Hobart

Last weekend we had our first little holiday away from Sydney since we have been over here. As Charlotte had finally completed her (for what seemed like never ending) training we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to get away for a few days before she starts her flying.

Despite looking at various places with a bit of sunshine this time of year (meaning 25 degrees plus, which would be anywhere north of Brisbane) we decided to head all the way down to Tasmania (not so warm).

So all booked up on our flights (standby though) and hotel we headed off to the airport, which was a nice and easy 15 minute drive……too easy!! As we were flying after I’d finished work we had to fly via Melbourne and with just 40 minutes spare to make our connecting flight to Hobart we cut it pretty fine but just about made it. Charlotte was also pretty excited about flying Virgin Australia now she was an actual Virgin Oz stewardess.



 We didn’t arrive at our accommodation (above a pub – result!!) until near midnight so we decided to head straight to bed, but what I didn’t realise was how bloody freezing it gets during the night in Hobart. I woke up more than once shivering in the cold, until finally I discovered that our bed had an electric blanket!! I haven’t used or even seen one of these in donkeys years so that went straight on and warmed us up.

 Whilst in Hobart we stayed in a great historic pub right on the waterfront in Sullivan’s Cove next to the Parliament House called the Customs House, apparently it’s been around since 1846 and it had some great pictures on its walls of the Sydney to Hobart race and the Arctic fleet which sails from here.

Arctic ship

I was just slightly excited about our first day in Hobart as we had set up a tour of the local and historic Cascades brewery, which we managed to get free passes to courtesy of our hotel and of course included some free beer sampling.


Cascades Brewery

The buildings that made up the Cascades brewery were pretty cool and have been around since 1824 and despite the size and scale of the operation, the outside and insides of the buildings were still pretty much ancient and not at all modernised, apart from the bottling, packing and filling machines. I’ve also got to say the labelling process was pretty cool, I know I sound sad but the speed at which they add 3 labels to each bottle is amazing and the amount they can do a minute is mind boggling, I would dazzle you with the actual figures, but to be honest I can’t remember (mainly due to the free sampling that took place just after).

So, onto the most interesting part of the tour……the free sampling!!!! We were given 3 tokens each (which were bottle tops) and this allowed us one free beer per token, so we ordered ourselves up some antipasti as an accompaniment and set about on our first free beers. The first to try was Cascades Pale Ale, a very subtle, delectable taste, then onto Cascade Pure (which is a low carb beer, but still 4.6%) and was very smooth. As we worked our way through the beers and stacked up the empties other people on the tour started to give us their free tokens as they had had enough….what a result, more free beer!!!



Next up I had Cascades Draught whilst Char opted for a Cascades Light (low alcohol) what a waste, but her choice I suppose. As the token kept coming I had to go round again and start back on the Pale Ale etc then finished on a Cascades Stout.

 
Our beer tokens

Once we had finished all our free beer we realised it was only just after one in the afternoon, so really there was only one thing on our agenda that we should do….hit more historic pubs and keep sampling that local beer!!!


Char getting in the swing of it

After a quick change up at the hotel, we headed off to a place called Salamanca Square which was a small little open piazza type place snuggled in the midst of some shops and museums a short walk from our hotel. Thanks to our local guide (Lonely Planet) we had heard that between 530-730pm every Friday night they held something called ‘Friday Night Fandango’, so it’s gotta be good right? As we arrived we were greeted by a great scene of a Rhythm & Blues/Rock band jamming away in front of a buzzing crowd that were being warmed by open fires scattered around the square. I quickly spotted a kiosk in the corner that was selling mulled wine and beer so we got our refreshments and spent a couple of hours listening to a great band.

On the following morning we had an early start as we had booked a tour up to Mount Wellington, which rises 1,271 metres above Hobart and is frequently covered in snow (fortunately not this time though).

 Following a 20 minute drive, we reached the summit of Mount Wellington and after the lush greens of the temperature rainforest on our journey up we were greeted by a barren scene of sub-alpine flora and glacial rock formations reminiscent of the old space movies that depicted alien lands.

 
At the summit

The summit provided spectacular panoramic views of Hobart, Bruny Island, the Tasman Peninsula and surrounding areas. Whilst the views were magnificent it was bitterly cold and the howling wind was making sure we didn’t spend too much time out of shelter. After taking in the various viewing platforms we decided to clamber up to the pinnacle point of the summit where the winds gusted even harder.





View from Mount Wellington

That afternoon we decided to indulge in a spot of culture and head over to the recently opened MONA museum (Museum of Old and Modern Art), not to be confused with one of my favourite bands. 

Virtually every person we had spoken to in Hobart raved about MONA and couldn’t quite believe a museum of this stature was in their backyard, so we had to check it out.

The main way to get to MONA was via a pretty cool 20 minute boat cruise along the River Derwent, which allowed us to take in more sights around Hobart from a different angle.

MONA is the largest privately funded museum in Australia and houses a vast array of antiquities, and modern and contemporary art which is all housed in a funky building that delves underground a few levels. Alongside classic Picasso pieces and Damien Hurst modernisms could be found some obscure works presented via TV screens, sculptures and full rooms of noise and visual stimulation. It certainly was an interesting tour after which Charlotte declared that she could quite easily create something similar to that shown in the museum and make a mint ha ha.

 

 

 

Back in Hobart, Charlotte was keen to take it the famous Salamanca Market, so I let Charlotte indulge in her favourite past time of shopping whilst I found the nearest pub and watched the AFL games on TV whilst nursing a few pints of Pale Ale.



That night we rounded off our nice little holiday with a great seafood meal at a place called Mures, which was located on the waterfront. Hobart definitely has some amazing seafood and we enjoyed lovely mussels, oysters, prawns and blue eye cod all washed down with a few bottles of the local wine…yum!

After a great weekend of lovely seafood, good music and amazing food we headed back to the sunshine of home, thankfully via a direct flight this time.

Not quite grasping the Aussie winter

Not meaning to rub it in or anything but I am still not quite grasping this 'Aussie winter' thing!!! It’s touching 20 degrees and they're all moaning about the cold, coming down with flu and wrapping up in layers of jumpers, scarfs and hats. To top it all off my local bar was this weekend offering up Mulled Wine!!! Can you believe it!!!
 

Mulled wine in this weather

Mind you I have been getting some astonished looks as I wander around town in just shorts and a t-shirt. I have this week been stood in a shop (in my shorts and t-shirt combo) next to a guy in full trench coat style puffer jacket, scarf and woolie hat!!  Come on! It’s not that cold!

I guess to us ‘pommies’ we treasure every bit of sunshine that we are offered as we never know when we’ll see it again.

I am the raft commander

To say the last five weeks has been the longest five weeks of my life would be an understatement.  At times I’ve even thought I’d rather hold a huntsman spider than carry on this training course and for those of you that know my fear will know that this course must be hard to even contemplate that!!

Almost there!!!

I am being trained on two aircraft, Boeing 737 and the little E-Jet. I hear you ask how can I struggle with this after flying the bad boy that is the Boeing 747???? The simple answer….Virgin Australia is anal!

If I can give any of you advice it is, if you ever fly V.Australia don’t mess or pick on the crew.  I have learned fighting techniques that I am too scared to use!!!! If someone is kicking off, I have to approach them with my hands guarding my face and say, “please don’t hurt me, what is it you want?” while they think I am being a helpless trolley dolly I then attack…..with my 3 middle fingers, I have been trained to gorge the persons eyes until my second knuckle in my fingers is in their eye socket! All the while shouting “Eyes, Eyes, Eyes” at the top of my voice. While they are screaming in pain I quickly retract my hands and as hard as I can I kick them in the groin area or punch them in the jaw. The instructor’s advice “if you see straw like fluid coming out of their eyes and you break their jaw you’ve done your job well”.  The moral of this story….don’t mess with an Aussie trolley dolly!!

'Special' assistance after long training session at 2am

I’ve also been trained in fighting fires.  Kicking and screaming we all had to go the local “firery” to be trained by the local fire-fighters!  We had to tackle fires in smoke filled cabins which was fun. The best part of the day had to be going in the fire engines and fighting a fire by operating the water cannons. We had great fun, although my aim was a little off!

Inside the engine with a fireman

Tackling a fire

The funniest moment from the course has got to be Tuesday just gone.  We had to go to a swimming pool within the Qantas Village to do our wet drills and life raft scenarios.  We were told that one at a time we would be given a scenario- we would have had an emergency landing at sea and evacuated the passengers into life rafts and we would have to gain control of the situation as the “The Raft Commander”. I got given the worst scenario, I had to instruct all my passengers (those being my fellow course members) to erect the canopy.  Now let me set the scene…..I HATE getting my hair wet.  We have already been in the raft for an hour and we are wet and unimpressed by this point!  So I get given this scenario. All of a sudden the lights go out and its pitch black and this freezing cold water is falling like rain on us.  I actually feel like I am in the middle of the Pacific Ocean! Being completely caught up in the moment I start screaming uncontrollably because I thought that the life raft had a puncture in it and the freezing cold water was the spray from the leak! After screaming like a banshee, I realise that I am in fact “The Raft Commander” and I need to take control of the situation. We finally, after 4 long cold minutes and with dripping wet hair and panda eyes from running mascara erect the canopy.  When the lights went back on I noticed the massive shower heads above the pool where the cold water had come from rather than my make believe leak! I actually passed my assessment. My feedback was “try and take control of the situation quicker and without screaming!”

Never a dull moment in this glamorous job!

I have now completed all my 22 safety exams and have aviation medicine and service training to go. Then in a week and a half I will have my well-earned Aussie wings and will be preparing to take to the skies once again.

Mullets, tank tops and punch ups

Friday night was footy night!! This weekend I finally experienced my first taste of live and up close Aussie Rules football (or AFL as they call it), yes that weird game where a bunch of guys mostly with mullets wearing tank tops and ridiculously small shorts kick and throw an egg shaped ball around with the odd punch up thrown in.

On the lead up to the game I was quite excited as I love any live sport (well most of them) and I’d seen a bit of the old Aussie rules on the ‘telecast’ (apparently that’s what you call it over here!!).

The game in question was Geelong vs Sydney Swans (AKA the Seagulls as I call them) at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) which is a great venue for live sport. Charlotte and I had been to see Twenty20 cricket here a few years ago and it’s definitely one of those grounds with the wow factor due to its size and historic nature (even though they are knocking down a big section to renovate it).

I was accompanied to the footy game by my close friend Mickey/Oz Mick and his buddy Kooksy, who had driven up from Canberra and were in town for the footy and a few beers. As Mike was a Geelong fan, plus the fact that their ‘uniform’ as they call it (gay!) was blue I guess that this will be ‘my AFL team’…..Go Geelong!! Kick a goal!!! Plus the Sydney Seagulls play in red and white, so definitely not gonna support that bunch of scummers!!! Mind you Kooks supported the Seagulls, so it was shaping up to be an interesting game with him cheering on the Seagulls and us Geelong.

We arrived just in time for the ‘ball up’ and I excitedly watched (and tried to understand) the game. AFL footy is played on an oval pitch (hence why they share grounds with cricket teams), with 4 vertical posts at each end, with the 2 middle posts being taller than the outside posts. The game itself is split into quarters each lasting 25 minutes and the games can be pretty high scoring as you get 6 points for kicking the egg (sorry ball) through the middle posts, 1 point for kicking through the outer posts or if a ball is kicked through any post but touched by defence first or even if they hit the post (yep, they get a point for technically missing the goal – that’s why is called Aussie rules).

Me and Mick enjoying a beer with the game

To my surprise all fans (home and away) were not only mixed in together, but there was an equal mix of families, groups of blokes and groups of women. I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that you were allowed to drink beer in your seat, whilst watching the game…superb!

The Seagulls started at a cracking pace and ‘kicked 7 goals’ without reply. Not a good start for the Cats as they started so slowly and were way behind at the buzzer for the end of the first quarter. With the beers flowing and the atmosphere building the Cats managed to get themselves back in the game and took the lead with only minutes of the game left, cue plenty of jumping around for me and Mick and a glum face from Kooksy.  

Kooksy looking a bit worried after the Seagulls gave up a massive lead

But to our horror the Seagulls pulled it out the bag and kicked a winning goal in injury time just before the siren. Cue, Kooksy jumping around. The Seagulls had won 80-74, Gutted, oh well, I had seen a cracking game and it had definitely wetted my appetite for more AFL games.

So, it was off to the Rocks to commiserate (for Micky and Me) and celebrate for Kooksy.

Finally, a place to call home

Although slightly sad to be leaving the lovely Elizabeth Bay apartment and its wondrous view out across the bay (especially at sunset) we were now happy to be able to move into our own apartment, a place that we could call home and finally unpack all our stuff. I am especially eager to unpack my bike and surf board and get using them.

So, the weekend just gone we embarked on another move, our 4th since the beginning of May (including moving out of our home in UK) so you’d think we’d get used to it!

We had a fair bit of stuff to move and we needed to do plenty of running round town so we decided to hire a Toyota Hiace van from a cheap car rental place imaginatively named ‘Discount Car and Truck Rentals’ …simples!!  

White's Removals

We quickly realised that although this little van was an ideal run around, it definitely should not be driven up steep hills, especially if required to stop at a junction and go from a standing start.

Unfortunately most of our routes that we needed to drive were (you guessed it!) up hills with plenty of traffic lights and junctions. On more than one occasion we thought the old banger was going to break down or just not have the steam to get away up the hill. So after a while we ended up going round the houses just to avoid going up said hills.

Once we had loaded our luggage we had to get on the case and starting buying stuff that was going to make our home a home.

With the massive influx of people into the city that are travelling through or staying a short while there is a really good second hand market for all manner of household items that can assist people like us to setup home cheaply. So rather than forking out for brand new appliances or renting we decided to hunt down a washing machine and fridge freezer on Gumtree. We struck lucky as we managed to pick really good bargains at $140 for a fridge freezer and $120 for a top loader washing machine, hopefully we’ll get a good years use out of them and then sell them on next year.

With the fridge safely loaded, I could now rest easy in the knowledge that my beers could be kept cold…phew!!! We then headed back to Ikea via K-Mart and the Big W to pick up essentials supplies.

It was a hectic day running round, moving, shopping and picking stuff up, but we did everything and we can now start to properly settle into Sydney life and enjoy ourselves.

After dropping the old banger back the next morning, we arrived back in sunny Coogee (winter’s day of 19 degrees) to find the beach front and cafes bustling with people, what a great place this is going to be to live, so good to be near the beach.

Coogee beach

There are so many nice cafes along the Coogee Bay Road it’s gonna take us a good while to get through them all, but gotta start somewhere so we headed to the Black Pony Café. After reading through the breakfast menu, I think this one is going to be an early favourite for weekend breakfast outings. I had a delicious breakfast of buttermilk pancakes with ricotta, carmilsed banana, blueberries and maple walnut praline, while Charlotte had a fresh fruit salad with vanilla bean yoghurt and honey, each washed down by a Flat White of course.

All the cafes along the Coogee Bay Road are nice relaxed, compact, indoor/outdoor atmospheric little dens that ooze character and buzz with the chitter chatter of locals enjoying a nice relaxing breakfast, brunch or lunch by day. As night descends, all these cafes are transformed into a hive of activity and meeting spots for dinner and/or drinks. Although serving their own selection of alcoholic beverages, most cafés are also BYO (Bring Your Own), which is such a great idea.  

After our lovely breakfast we decided to explore Coogee a little more and walked down to enjoy the beach and a bit of the coastal walk. Over here there are an abundance of amazing outdoor pools which are situated at the edges of the bays and get their water directly from the sea. These ‘baths’ as they are called are like the ultimate infinity pools and have been around a fair while and even in the Aussie winter there are plenty of people in their budgie smugglers and swimming caps swimming lengths as the waves crash over the sides. There are 3 of the baths/pools in Coogee alone, so I’ll be getting myself to brave the cold waters soon, but I think it’s worth it given the views that can be enjoyed.

Wylie's Baths, Coogee

Some funnies from Oz

The Aussies certainly have some funny ways, from road signs and shop signs to product brand names. In what I'm sure will be the first installment of many, check out some of them below:

Apparrentky a popular Aussie cheese!!

Even the Aussies have to start somewhere

They love Michael Jackson so much they've got his symbol on every street corner

Sensible advice at our local beach

An Aussie institution...not to my tastes tho

Charlotte's motto in sign form

I;m sure there'll be more to follow.................................