Brisbane

06.09.2024:

Arrival in Brisbane:
My flight landed at 5 in the morning, so I got to the hostel by 7. Unfortunately, I had a bad cold, which made everything more difficult, and I just wanted to sleep. However, check-in wasn’t possible until 2 PM, so I hung around in a café and a park for a few hours. When I finally could check in, I greeted my roommate for the next 3 nights, and we got along well. His name is Luke, he comes from England and used to be in the military. Since I was really exhausted, I laid down and slept until the next morning.

07.09.2024:
I actually spent this entire day in bed to rest and get back on my feet because I will start a serious job search in the coming days. I contacted a manager of a car wash, and she invited me for a trial shift.

08.09.2024:

I got up at 7 AM, took a quick shower, and then took an Uber for my trial shift as a car washer. I imagined the job would just require me to hold a hose and spray off a few cars or maybe clean the windows with a sponge. However, it turned out there was much more to do. I worked in a team with 28 Chinese and 2 Japanese people. Five people are always busy on one car. Everything has to be done by hand, outside and inside, from above and even underneath (which makes no sense to me since you can't see the bottom anyway, and it will get dirty again after a drive).
You wash, vacuum, clean, crawl under the cars, etc., and there's a lot of time pressure because the cars are supposed to be finished in 5 minutes.
The manager was very unfriendly; I was not asked a single question except for my name and what visa I have. She was Asian and had a very strict look. No one asked if I enjoyed it, if I had any questions, or anything else. Quite the opposite, when I asked if I could ask a few questions, she simply said no and walked away.
Two hours felt like 10 hours.
Since I was still feeling a bit sick, I was glad to be back at the hostel and able to lie down.

09.09.2024:

I thought I would start my RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol) so that I could potentially look for a job in hospitality and not have to work as a car washer. Although I was offered the job as a car washer, I declined because it really wasn't enjoyable at all.

10.09.2024:
Today I chatted with a guy named John. He runs a 2-man tree-felling company and is looking for someone to carry the logs from A to B and then throw them into the chipper. After a brief chat, he asked if I had time tomorrow, and I said yes.

11.09.2024:

I got up at 6 AM, quickly got ready, and took a train for 1 hour to Birkdale, where I was picked up at 8 by Josh (John's employee). We drove to John's place, and he explained what my tasks for the day would be.
John is 61 years old, was once a police officer, was once a pilot, was once a pharmacist, and is now a tree-feller.
Josh is 33 years old and has been working with John for a few years.
The three of us drove to the job site. We had to completely fell 6 trees and just trim 2 a bit. My job was to carry the logs to the chipper, which sounds easy but is really back-breaking work. After 10 minutes, I was drenched in sweat because the individual wood pieces weighed up to 30 kilograms. Nevertheless, I kept going and showed that I wanted the job. It's an interesting job since I don't need a gym, which I would have to pay for, and the two guys are quite nice. At 3 PM, we finished for the day, and John treated us to dinner as a thank you for being so diligent. He said he wants me to help him more often in the near future, which means I have a job for the next few weeks :D.

12.09.2024:

At 8:00 AM, I arrived back in Birkdale and was picked up this time by John himself. We drove in his truck to a client who wanted us to make his garden look nice again. Many plant leaves from palms or bushes were dried out; there was weeds, the bushes needed trimming, and a tree had to be felled. For me, this day was physically not as strenuous as the day before, but I had to overcome myself a lot. Today, at least 40 spiders crawled over my face and body. The bushes and trees here are full of spiders and insects. You wear no protective clothing here except for a helmet and normal sunglasses. So no gloves and no special shoes. It’s crazy because during the first hour I was very cautious going into the bushes to avoid touching any spiders, as you never know if they are poisonous or not. But after a while, you almost don't care what you touch. So after that, I just tried to do the job as well as I could.
When we arrived at the next client’s place and John removed a branch from a large tree, suddenly a big snake was next to me. It looked very confused, which was no surprise since it was lying on the branch that had just fallen from 15 meters.
Luckily, this snake did not fall on me because it was at least 1 meter long and definitely heavy.
After we finished there, I was driven to a train station and then took the train back to the hostel.

13.09.2024 – 22.09.2024:

During this time, I did not manage to write the blog daily because I was actually working every day and after work, I just wanted to go to bed out of exhaustion. On Saturday, 14.09.24, I met Emelie. Emelie is 26 years old and is a friend of Esra. So we already know each other from Cologne, and when she mentioned she was doing a semester abroad on the Gold Coast, we agreed to meet here in Brisbane. She was out with a friend and a few friends of hers, and we went to a sky bar together and then to another bar. However, at 9 PM the whole group headed to the train station because it takes about 2 hours to get to the Gold Coast by train. But I still wanted to do something and wrote to Luke (my previous roommate). He was out with another Englishman and a Chinese (Cameron & Hodaka). We had a few beers in a bar and then went to a techno party. The club was called “MET” and was actually quite cool. The others left at 2 AM, but I stayed there alone until shortly after 4.
The next morning I had to check out of my hostel by 10 AM. I was at the YHA hostel, which is really the best hostel I have ever been to. The kitchen is super large, and there's plenty of space for groceries, etc. I was in a 4-bed room which was also very tidy. However, when I checked into the new hostel, I entered my room (a 10-person room) and everything was cluttered. You couldn't see the floor, so I had to step over the roommates' luggage and clothes. The hostel had a kitchen that was a maximum of 15 m² large, and there was no space in the fridge. 4 pans for 140 people living there in the hostel. Due to the pan and stove problem, lines formed. You have to line up for about an hour and a half to get a pan and then rush to cook while everyone in line watches you. I did that once and afterwards said that it would be my last time cooking in that hostel. So in the following days after work, I always bought ready-made snacks from the supermarket and didn't enter the kitchen again. There is a common room there, but that is just too small too. That has been the worst hostel I have ever stayed in.
My job has expanded a bit because now I’m not just cleaning up the fallen branches, but I am also felling and trimming the trees myself. So far only the small 10-meter trees. It’s very exciting because I had never used a chainsaw before and had last climbed a tree as a child. Now I climb the 10-meter trees if something needs trimming up there. You have to concentrate hard because you are not in any way secured. I also had to overcome my fear of spiders, bugs, etc., because when you are up there, you must not panic if suddenly these creatures crawl on you.
However, I had such beautiful moments in the treetops, for example, I was 1 meter away from an owl sitting on a branch. That was the first wild owl I had seen from such a close distance. A few days ago, however, I just spent the whole day hauling wood again, and it’s fascinating how good it feels. I can already see a slight change in my arms and I'm really looking forward to going to work in the morning knowing I have to put in a lot of effort. On Friday alone, I lifted 6 tons of wood and threw it into the crusher. 6 tons in 7 hours.
Since John (my boss) is very satisfied with me, he has now raised my hourly wage from 25 to 30 AUD (which is still not enough because I work like a machine, but I am very satisfied with the whole situation). On Saturday, I went out for drinks at South Bank and then went back to the hostel. At the hostel, I had a drink with another guy and then went to bed because that was my last night in that crappy hostel, so I had to check out by 10 AM today (22.09.24). I am back at the YHA for the next 8 days, which gives me such a great feeling because I feel much more comfortable here than in the previous one. The first thing I did was go shopping and then cook pasta with spinach, broccoli, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, and pesto. It tasted great, and the feeling of cooking myself without any pressure from others was also very pleasant. After that, I did my laundry and now I sat down here and continued writing the blog.