Perth: Living and Working
Almost 6 weeks have passed by in Perth so far. We managed to get here, find a place, find jobs and settle in relatively quick. This is not to say that it was easy though.
Because our plans had changed so radically from the original layout (no, travelling for three months was not exactly the plan) we arrived in Perth with little to no money. This made things extremely stressful. Not only did we need jobs we needed them NOW. This almost always means your going to settle for some blah job that doesn't pay well and leaves you feeling a little hollow at the end of the day. Luckily, we didn't have bad luck like this but we hit a pretty hard rock bottom before getting said jobs. Paying rent and bills when you are unemployed is hard!
We both got jobs in our fields that offer us some really great experience. D is working for WA Timber Sales as their QC officer for pre-fabricated wall frames and roof trusses for people who want to build their house out of wood but don't really know how. D found it amazing and strange that carpenters in Oz didn't really ever get to build much with wood. They just don't have the resources we have back in Canada! Needless to say, there were A LOT of opportunities for him. I got a job from a contact one of my BCIT teachers gave me back in Canada. The company itself deals mainly with prospective mine sites testing the soils to see if it is worth the company's investment. One such company bought a piece of land that was completely covered with stubby needle trees. Instead of spending all the money to clear the land for sampling before they even knew if it was valuable they collected pine needles and sent them to us to be analyzed. Trees pick up all the nutrients and minerals in the soil so if there was something valuable to them it would come up in the scan. So smart!
The city is gearing up for Summer and it sounds like it is going to be interesting. 2 months straight of 35-45 degree weather. Hmm... not sure if my 30 km round trip bike ride to work everyday will be as relaxing and rewarding. We shall see. D on the other hand has an even longer bike commute but he has a nice commuter bike that he actually spent decent money on so it feels like a rocket ship!
Because our plans had changed so radically from the original layout (no, travelling for three months was not exactly the plan) we arrived in Perth with little to no money. This made things extremely stressful. Not only did we need jobs we needed them NOW. This almost always means your going to settle for some blah job that doesn't pay well and leaves you feeling a little hollow at the end of the day. Luckily, we didn't have bad luck like this but we hit a pretty hard rock bottom before getting said jobs. Paying rent and bills when you are unemployed is hard!
We both got jobs in our fields that offer us some really great experience. D is working for WA Timber Sales as their QC officer for pre-fabricated wall frames and roof trusses for people who want to build their house out of wood but don't really know how. D found it amazing and strange that carpenters in Oz didn't really ever get to build much with wood. They just don't have the resources we have back in Canada! Needless to say, there were A LOT of opportunities for him. I got a job from a contact one of my BCIT teachers gave me back in Canada. The company itself deals mainly with prospective mine sites testing the soils to see if it is worth the company's investment. One such company bought a piece of land that was completely covered with stubby needle trees. Instead of spending all the money to clear the land for sampling before they even knew if it was valuable they collected pine needles and sent them to us to be analyzed. Trees pick up all the nutrients and minerals in the soil so if there was something valuable to them it would come up in the scan. So smart!
The city is gearing up for Summer and it sounds like it is going to be interesting. 2 months straight of 35-45 degree weather. Hmm... not sure if my 30 km round trip bike ride to work everyday will be as relaxing and rewarding. We shall see. D on the other hand has an even longer bike commute but he has a nice commuter bike that he actually spent decent money on so it feels like a rocket ship!