And so another week goes by! I have officially been out of the country for longer than I ever have before.

I have a lot I want to talk about this week – but not so many pictures to share. This week has mostly been about maintenance, building connections, and settling roots in a new city.

When I first arrived in Perth, there were a few things I needed to do. Most importantly – get an Australian SIM card, a TFN number, and open up a bank account.

When I was in South Africa many years ago, I tried to put a South African SIM in my phone, but to no avail. Little did I know at the time, you have to make sure your phone is “unlocked” in order to do this. If your phone is paid off, it’s simple enough. You google “unlock phone” + your service provider and follow the steps. It’s pretty simple. Once I had arrived, I went to a Vodafone store, which is an Australian phone service provider. They helped me get set up, which was a simple process. Now I have an Australian phone number, which is ideal for having access to internet & phone calls in case of emergencies. I connect with friends and family back home through WhatsApp, to avoid international charges.

I had set up a bank account with ANZ prior to coming to Australia, but I still had to go into a store branch to verify my identity and receive my debit card. It was a very simple process and now I have a bank account which is essential for getting paid out here.

A TFN number is also pretty easy. It’s a Tax File Number, which you apply for online and receive within 28 days. I haven’t received it yet, but once I do, I’ll be able to give it to my employer so I can then get most of my taxes back once tax season comes around.

More important than all of these items, though, was finding accommodation. Before arriving in Perth, I decided I wanted to spend three nights in a hotel to get my bearings together. I went with Tribe hotel which was located right next to Kings Park (which I’d mentioned in my last post). The hotel was quite nice… and was probably my last time having space to myself for a LONG time.

After my hotel, I knew I’d be jumping into the hostel life. While anything but glamorous, hostels are often very cheap and allow you to meet people from all over the world. There’s no way I would be able to afford long-term travel without staying in hostels. I went with Perth City Backpackers in East Perth. It was very affordable and was originally called Koala City Backpackers, which I thought was a cute name.

Now… it has been a WHILE since I’ve stayed at a hostel, to be clear. I think the last time was in Hawaii, pre-pandemic. I have to admit, I was a little thrown when I first got here. After living in an apartment by myself for the past few years, it’s been hard to adjust to a communal kitchen, communal bathrooms, communal bedrooms. In hostels, some people snore. People sleep in until noon, so you have to be quiet in the room and use your phone’s flashlight if the lights are off. You can’t leave your toiletries in the bathroom or shower because there’s no space for it. “Free breakfast” equates to cornflakes and milk, and it’s only served from 8am – 9am. And maybe worst of all, there’s nowhere for me to exercise in private!

I hope the above doesn’t make me sound miserable, because I’m not. I am simply adjusting, is all. And I want to be honest about my experience, and not sugarcoat.

On the flip side, you get to meet people from all over the world. I had two roommates from Estonia, both sharing the same name, which I find quite humorous. Another roommate was from Fiji. There are people here from Spain, Italy, France, various Asian countries, and Canada. I am the only American in this hostel as far as I’m aware. Perhaps the only American in Western Australia at the moment haha.

The interesting thing that I’ve noticed about this hostel is that a lot of people do FIFO mining work. FIFO is Fly In – Fly Out. Mining is a huge industry in Western Australia, and various agencies pay to fly workers out from Perth to some random mining town, where they pay them well and provide them free accommodation and food. The downside is that the work is two weeks on, one week off. For their week off, they’re flown back to Perth to do what they please with their time.

I couldn’t understand it at first. I thought – why would people want to come here to work so much? I then realized that I was clueless to the answer as a result of my privilege as an American. People come here to make money from countries where minimum wages are much lower. Sure, they may explore in their free time, but they also come here as an opportunity to make lots and lots of money, something they couldn’t do back home. A man from Spain told me his wage back home was 7 Euro an hour. OOF.

Speaking of wages… Australia has a really nice system set up. The national minimum wage is $21.38, which is $14 in the US. This includes service workers. From what I understand, everybody gets a “base rate,” but then they get what is called “penalty rates” or “loading.” If somebody is working on a Saturday or Sunday, they automatically get a penalty rate. For instance, with a company I interviewed with, the weekends get 33% loading rates, which is nearly 1.33x for both Saturday and Sunday. I believe the idea is that you’re working on a weekend, so you should be compensated extra for it. In addition, if I were to work before 6am or after 7pm, I would also get 33% loading. This system is not like overtime in America, where you work 40 hours first before overtime rates kick in. I could work only on a Saturday and Sunday and still gets these rates. How cool is that?

If you are a full time employee, you also get four weeks vacation to start. It’s sad to hear when coming from America, where most people only ever get two weeks of vacation. My Australian friend gets six weeks vacation. Can you imagine? It should really be like that everywhere.

My plan while in Australia is to find work so I can use that money to pay for my time here, and then spend the money I originally saved for travel once I go to Southeast Asia (where I won’t be working). My ideal plan is to work as a deckhand on a whale-watching boat, but I haven’t heard back from the company yet.

So… Earlier this week, I spent a few hours applying for other jobs. Any and all jobs, honestly. I ended up landing three interviews. One was a sales-y job, one was a retail job, and one was a deckhand job. The sales and deckhand interviews were both on Thursday and they both offered me the job. While the sales job paid a little better, it didn’t feel like the right fit. It was a German company and was basically door-to-door sales. The deckhand job is closer aligned to what I wanted to do out here. It’s an Australian company, I’ll get to be on a boat and learn deckhand/hospitality experience. And I’ll get to go on cruises around Swan River that people spend lots of money to join!

I’m still hoping to hear back from the whale-watching company, but after thinking about it… It’s based in Fremantle, a town which I didn’t particularly love. And they only do a single two-hour tour a day, which wouldn’t be enough for me to make ends meet out here. I have really come to love Perth’s CBD and am making friends here, so I think this is the area I want to put down roots for the moment.

Speaking of friends… I’ve made two Australian friends since I’ve been here and they’re really quite great. They’ve told me a lot about Australia and that’s where I’m getting a lot of the information I’m sharing. They have been very friendly and have certainly gone out of their way to make me feel welcome.

One thing I keep getting asked by Australians is “Why Perth?” Why have I picked this city, instead of Sydney or Melbourne, Brisbane, or Adelaide? Well… for one reason, it was the novelty. Perth is the farthest one can travel from Chicago. It is the most “isolated city in the world.” It also is known for its beautiful beaches, for lovely sunsets over the ocean. It has far less people living here (1 million). When I was choosing where to go, it felt like a great place to start… and having been here for two weeks now, it feels like I made the right decision. With one exception… I recently learned that ALL the snakes in Western Australia are venomous. LOL. So I have that to look forward to.

I know this post is turning into a novel, but there are some other things I wanted to share. Before I do, I’ll break it up with a picture of my FAVORITE bakery around here.

Breadtop bakery is THE SHIT. These delicious treats are all under $5 USD, which is insane to me. It’s so delicious, so it’s been my brunch spot the past few days. It is perfect for a snack when on a budget.

Eating alone has been an interesting development for me. I’ve eaten alone while traveling before, but I always felt kind of weird and self-conscious. Most notably was when I went to New Orleans many years ago. Since arriving in Perth, I’ve been eating out a lot and most of the times it’s by myself. It’s been cool to feel more comfortable. Even with other things, too. I’ll think to myself, “Oh, I shouldn’t stop to look at that sign, or take a picture of that thing, I don’t want to look like a silly tourist,” or random things like that. And then I’ll be like – hey, it’s okay. I AM a silly tourist. I’m allowed to do things that might make me feel a little embarrassed or self-conscious. Like eating out! I think this travel journey I’m on is going to teach me a lot of things about myself, and shape me to be more confident in general. It’s pretty cool.

Before I wrap this up, I also wanted to mention Australia’s plastic initiatives. Plastic straws have been banned, as have plastic bags at the grocery store. They have a lot of green movements here, it seems. My friend was telling me that if the government doesn’t listen to the people when they want change, a lot of times big businesses will start inciting the change and the ball gets moving that way.

There is also free overnight parking and free bus (and train?) services in the evenings/on the weekends to discourage people from drunk driving, which I think is really cool.

And last but certainly not least… Queen Elizabeth II has died. She had reigned for nearly 71 years. As Australia is part of the Commonwealth, they have been mourning her, in addition to many others. The 22nd of September will be Australia’s National Day of Mourning for Her Majesty. The flags out here are raised at half-mast. I think I’m going to have to start watching The Crown!

That’s it for now. Again, I know this has been A LOT of information. I’m going to go see some penguins at Penguin Island tomorrow, and will be going on a hike with my friend on Wednesday, so hopefully I have some cool pictures to share by next week!

Until next time!