Has it really only been six months since I left home with just myself and a backpack?
I feel like I have lived another whole lifetime in the land down under! Living in Sydney has been an extraordinary experience. I have never been away from home this long without taking at least a visit back home, but this city has significantly helped make me feel like I’m in my second home.
Although I’ll never have the family and friends here that I do back home, Sydney is such a fascinating place to live with so many different people and cultures that I don’t feel alone.
Sydney is not only the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia, but it is also the most populous city in the entire continent of the Oceania.
Although Melbourne is closing in on the gap, Sydney is expected to be the first city in Australia to reach 5 million people within this year!! Furthermore, Sydney is the most multicultural city in Australia and one of the most multicultural cities in the entire world.
In the 2011 census, Australia’s population was at an estimated 4.6 million people with about 1.5 million of that total born overseas and representing many different countries around the world.
With more than 250 languages spoken within the city, I have been exposed to so many different people who speak so many different languages, especially having worked here in the service industry where I work mainly with foreigners due to our visa restrictions. About one-third of Sydney residents speak another language than English in their homes and I find that to be absolutely incredible. Never did I ever imagine Sydney to be so multicultural with such a vast amount of people here from all over the world.
I spent my first month in Sydney living at my mate Craig’s house in a suburb to the west of the city, called Kings Park. Then, once I settled in, I got hired to work at Manly Wharf Bar in Manly Beach where I lived for two months in an apartment with two Australian girls, just steps from the beach and wharf in a peninsula type setting. The address was 6/6 West Promenade Street, Manly, NSW 2021.
In my first month at Craig’s house, it was the perfect way to be introduced to life in Australia and I could not be more thankful for Craig and his fiance Carly’s top notch hospitality. They spoiled me with a very comfortable bedroom, the most delicious home cooked meals, and helped immensely in my mission to get around town and explore Sydney. I honestly, could not be luckier than to have had them there for me and make my first experiences in Australia so incredible. I didn’t want to over stay my welcome and needed to move closer in the job I got in Manly Beach, so about a month after living with Craig and Carly, I moved to Manly Beach, thanks to Craig’s help in transporting all of my luggage.
The following is a status update from when I moved out of Craig’s house:
“For the past month now, (as I’m sure most of you already know due to me going travel post happy… again) I’ve been living in Australia and have had the greatest fortune to have the most awesome & most generous friends Craig Gordon and Carly de Pyper, welcome me into their home and make me feel right at home until I was able to get up on my own two feet! There have been times of struggle & doubt, trial & error… but one of the many valuable lessons that I have learned throughout my life, is to never ever give up and do whatever it takes to be persistent, persevere, wake up everyday telling yourself you can do whatever you set your mind to, and then to go after it with every ounce of your heart.
Unfortunately, life is short and you truly never know when it can be taken from you, your loved ones, or anyone for that matter. With that said, I’ve come to realize that you really need to make the most of life while you have it and just follow your heart’s desires.
I have now started working in the most beautiful place, which has forced me to move & continue making changes, but I have fortunately found a place to live steps from the Manly Cove & Manly Beach… (Sort of like a big peninsula)
I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunities that have come before me & am beyond fortunate to have found myself taking yet another leap of faith by pursuing my dreams of traveling the world while experiencing the best that life has to offer.
With that said, if you go to bed at night not completely satisfied with what you are doing, make a positive change. Just do it. Sacrifices will have to be made, but in turn, there is no greater feeling than going to bed with the feeling that you are living your dreams. Cheers!”
In the next couple of months, through the core of summer, I lived in one of the best locations anyone in Sydney could live in. I live on third/top floor of the apartment complex and had my very own private rooftop with a BBQ, tables and chairs, lounge chairs, a washer and dryer, and the best view of the beach and the wharf. I was literally living the dream and absolutely loved it there. I quickly made a few good friends in the neighborhood and my good friend from home, Sarah, lived very close by, as well as my former high school football teammate, Jordan, who lived just the next street over from my apartment. It was a perfect set up, but almost too perfect. It started to feel a bit too much like home. That is when, I decided to move on.
I quit my job at the Manly Wharf Bar after 2 months and moved to the Sydney suburb named Paddington, which is a really nice neighborhood between Bondi Beach and the CBD (Central Business District). My house was 3.5 stories with 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a living/dining room, laundry terrace, spacious kitchen, and big backyard with a BBQ! In total, I lived with four different Australian guys, 1 Australian girl, 1 British guy, 1 British girl, and 1 American girl. It was quite the lively house at times and I will have both good and bad memories of 49 Elizabeth Street, Paddington, NSW.
Once I moved to “Paddo”, I got hired to work for Fresh Catering as a service waiter and logistics runner. Working for “Fresh” was an incredible experience as the job exposed me to all over Sydney as I got to work some awesome events in amazing venues throughout the city and beyond. The job I worked the most was as a logistics runner for the Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour event that gave me 6 days a week of work, for 6 weeks. I got to work near “Mrs. Macquaries Chair” in the Royal Bontanic Gardens on the water and overlooked the Opera House everyday. I worked on a team with a Brit, Australian, German, and Swede! It was an extraordinary experience working on a team where everyone was from a different country! Although we had our cultural differences, we all worked really well together and had an incredible experience.
Located on Australia’s east coast, the metropolis surrounds one of the world’s largest natural harbours, and sprawls towards the Blue Mountains to the west.
Sydney has an advanced market economy with strengths in finance, manufacturing, and tourism. Its gross regional product was $337 billion in 2013 making it a larger economy than countries such as Denmark, Singapore, and Hong Kong. There is a significant concentration of foreign banks and multinational corporations in Sydney and the city is promoted as Asia Pacific’s leading financial hub. In addition to hosting events such as the 2000 Summer Olympics, millions of tourists come to Sydney each year to see the city’s landmarks. Its natural features include Sydney Harbour, the Royal National Park, Bondi Beach, and the Royal Botanic Gardens. Man-made attractions such as the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge are also well known to international visitors.
Living in such a historical city and meeting so many people on a daily basis, Sydney is easily one of the top 5 cities I have ever been to and I will always have a special place for Sydney in my heart. I could have spent my entire time in Australia living in Sydney, but that would have been too easy and not nearly as adventurous. Therefore, on May 7, 2015, I took off for the Whitsunday Islands in the northeast region of Queensland, Australia, where I spent the next couple of months exploring the rest of what Australia has to offer.
TROY MUENZER 