Escape to the Blue Mountains

Saturday was insane, it was more than 40 degrees and I was trudging from door to door, burning my poor skin like a shrimp on the barbie and expecting any second to see a mirage of some water fountain. At one point I felt so dehydrated I could barely speak let alone explain the benefits of Foxtel IQ. However, I made a sale in the end, capping off an amazing week so who knows, I might not be bankrupt by July after all.
After work I caught a train to Katoomba in the slightly cooler Blue Mountains so called because the gum trees and some other vegetations sometimes cause this blue mist to rise up around them... apparently.
They are beautiful though, lots of little, largely undeveloped towns. In Katoomba itself are the Three Sisters, three flat-topped mountains lined up side by side, which the Aboriginies believed were three sisters who were turned to stone. I think they were probably having a laugh at the expense of the newbies, but the name stuck all the same.
Yesterday, I went to the Jenolan Caves, which was an expensive trip (30 quid is expensive on my budget) but well worth it. The guide was really interesting - the big difference between these caves and ones I saw in Halong Bay, Vietnam - and the limestone caves themselves, spectacular.
I have another week and a half of work and then it's up to Queensland. It's a shame I have to work as I would like to have seen more of Oz, really can't believe I'm going to miss the Great Barrier Reef, but can't do everything. Another time... I will upload photos for this blog soon.

A quick update

Just to let you all know, the sales job is now going much better, I've had an unbelievable three days, which have more than made up for last week's dismal effort. A lot of it is down to luck and persistence, but there are also a few things you learn with time, like how to be persuasive without seeming desperate (probably applies to a few other things in life) and knowing what problems you will have to solve. Hopefully it will stay like this for my remaining two weeks.
Aside from working and drinking (we don't start 'til one, so nights out are very much still the norm), I went to the Australian National Museum on Sunday, which was very good - much better than their contemporary art gallery. I had no idea how much the Brits messed the poor Aboriginies up since arriving here. Have to admit, this is often a recurring theme with countries I visit. From 1800 to 1969 - which is ridiculously recent for such an archaic law - Aborigine children segregated from their families by force and placed with Westerners so they could learn to be more 'white'. Many now have drink, drugs and other health problems.

No sale

Well, my work gamble backfired spectaculary. I didn't make a single sale all week and effectively worked five and a half days for nothing! It is so galling that just thinking about it drives me insane. Still, I'll just have to chalk it down to experience. There are sales to be made and money to be made, I just need to do it a little better and be a little luckier. I've two and a half weeks to go and there's no point trying to find a different job now. How the next fortnight goes will probably decide whether I come back with a reasonable chunk of debt or just about break even.
The people I'm working with are a good laugh, even if most are quite a bit younger than me. The company had their quarterly awards last night and there was a free bar in a place in Darling Harbour (so I didn't come away completely empty handed). It was good.
Aside from that my life's pretty boring at present, certainly compared to the last four months, and will continue to be that way until the travelling begins again in earnest.
I am staying in King's Cross. I did look at moving hostels - when all the women are hookers but not all the hookers are women (that's not quite true, but sometimes walking along Darlinghurst Road it feels like it), it's time to move on - however, where I am is really cheap and the people here are good, and I couldn't really be bothered lugging my stuff half way across the city - most of the time I'm out not making money anyway!

Door knocking and avoiding a head-kicking

I got started on three times last night, even by my standards that's a record. The first two were no big deal - a drunk kid in a nightclub and an even more drunk stranger on the way home - but the third just around the corner from King's Cross was a little unnerving. The guy demanded $5, I refused naturally (even if I'd been prepared to give him the $5 it wouldn't have stopped there, and getting my wallet out would have been a massive mistake), and he started shouting 'I should ******* kill you, you ****!' over and over. That's the famous Aussie hospitality, then! Actually that's not fair because most Aussies are very friendly. I just wonder how I'll fare in South America where screaming I'll kill you just ruins the element of surprise! Oh well...

I decided a night out was in order after three interviews in a day - I got offered all three jobs, although two were door-knocking and a third was selling some charity to business. I've turned down the charity, as they don't pay enough and now have to decide between one with a huge commission and potentially very lucrative (the gamble) and the other with a basic salary and smaller commission (the safe bet). Answers on a post card please

New Year and seedy Kings Cross

Well the job hunt is not going well, got two interviews tomorrow and left applications everywhere I could find, from tomorrow I could be anything from a call centre operator to a coffee house barista or maybe a data entry techician I'm flying high mamma although sadly, and most likely, it'll be a couple of days yet before I get the kind of job that will want me to end it all and by the time I leave Sydney I will have done well to have covered the cost of my visa.
On a brighter note...
New Year's was amazing. We had a spot on the north side of the Harbour, spitting distance from the Harbour Bridge and directly opposite the Opera House. I'm quite cynical about fireworks but these were very good and the whole rip-roaring 24 hours was a big success. When I came to Sydney I was a little worried I'd be on my own so it was great to be in the middle of a cracking atmosphere, etc.
I'm now in Kings Cross, trying to find work (as previously mentioned) it is ridiculously sleazy, as is the hostel, and there's only so much hedonism a good Christian (slighly lapsed, maybe now greatly lapsed) boy can take.
Hope you had a good new year, there will be pics added to this, the internet cafe doesn't accept my card reader but the one in the hostel does...