A Solo Travellers Mind

Landing in Sydney came both a sense of sadness and excitement. This would be the first place in over 5 months that I would set up a base, hopefully find a place to live and start working as a nurse abroad (this had its own range of emotions connected to it). I was temporarily leaving behind the back packer life, and although I’m happy not to be carrying the weight of a rucksack on my shoulders, the excitement that comes with constantly moving became the normal to me, and it’ll be missed.

I was lucky enough to be able to crash at a friend of a friend’s place while he was on holiday. It was an incredibly generous offer considering the guy had never met me. The place was very central, meaning I could easily organise work and try to find myself a more permanent home. 

My first few days in Sydney involved wandering the streets and seeing what the place had to offer. Sydney is like London, if London had been on steroids for a few years and had better weather. A lot of time was spent completing online training and applying for houses. The housing market in Sydney is extremely competitive, and it’s a struggle to find anywhere. I secured a few viewings, some houses being completely out of the way of where I wanted to be, and others being completely out of my price range. Along with this, there were usually about 30 people viewing one room, lol. Somehow, after 7 days the accommodation gods blessed me with viewing a house next to central station, it was much like my second year uni house (iykyk) and has its fair share of flaws and quirks, but the room was nice, a good size and the price was good enough, so after a quick facetime with my dad to get an actual adults approval, I signed. 

A few friends were made in the first couple of weeks, including Matias’ Spanish friends, whom he put me in contact with. A group of 5 lads, who are very chilled out and cool people. The ideal vibe. I also met Josh, a Welsh chap who has just moved over, so a few days were spent together at the beach, soaking up the sun. After a few days in the new house, having not seen a soul yet, I finally met and made friends with some people I lived with. The house is a very quiet house, so I was concerned I’d never see anyone, but after deciding I’d clean to kill some time, others joined, and peace and harmony were formed.  

Obviously, another necessity to living my normal life is joining a gym. I joined the local gym (for an absolutely extortionate price, I must add! However, I did manage to get 4 weeks free after saying I’d have to look elsewhere). The gym is ideal, round the corner, very good quality, has a rooftop area and a sauna, and a steam room. I need nothing more. One session, however, did result in some laughs… Me and another chap are sat in the sauna and the conversation goes a little like this.. 

The chap: “There’s a lot of men in that steam room, there’s going to be an orgy”

Me: 😯

The chap: “This is a gay gym” 

Me: “AHH this makes more sense to me… and what does one do if I accidently walk in while this is happening” 

The chap: “Oh they don’t mind, they shouldn’t do it, I think it’s wrong as its a public space, but it’s mardi gras this month so they’ll be a lot happening” 

Me: “Well.. fair enough… I did suspect something when I came in to see lots of men not in swimmers”

I can now happily lift weights at the gym, knowing no man will be looking my way and thus the sweat and awkward faces are absolutely acceptable. 

I also signed up at the local library. Throughout my 5 months of travelling, I have really fallen back in love with reading, so utilising the thousands of free books around the corner from me was a bit of a no-brainer. With the focus of the next few months being to work, have fun, and keep healthy, I think this was a fitting move to make.

The dating scene in Sydney is rather poor. That or my type has become so niche since travelling that I can only stand to be around a certain type of person. I did, however, stumble across someone who met this niche, and thus, companionship was formed. Although most definitely not seeking a serious relationship of any form, meeting a nice fellow isn’t something I’ll complain about too much!

2 weeks into my time in Sydney, and my registration paperwork was finally organised, and I was set to start picking up shifts. This was before the cut-off date that I mentally made, based on how long I could survive on the money I had left, which was a relief! It is not complicated to move over to Australia but it does involve a lot of money and lots of little tasks, blood tests, paper work, multiple police checks, so I was relieved to have this all behind me and be able to start working. Although this was accompanied by some nerves, having been out of the game for nearly 6 months, and never worked abroad, there were definitely questions in my head. However, the act of being a nurse is the same everywhere, once you learn to navigate the system! My issue now, believe it or not, was getting shifts… Apparently, it’s a competitive game. 

Some highlights from my first few weeks include Bondi Beach, Sunset at the harbour followed by catching the first veiwing of a new movie for FREE, the bondi to coogee beach walk (6.5km of heavenly scenes), my first encounter with the Sydney night life and the ability to get a bus home at 3am, and unpacking my bag, knowing I don’t need to repack for a little while!