my first 3 months in Australia

Hey hey!

I arrived here in Perth on the 24th of October 2014, so today it is time for me to pause for a moment and look back on the last 3 months. So much has changed and yet so much has stayed the same. I left my old life and home behind to experience something completely new.

I had never left Europe before, I had never been to Australia - it was so scary and exciting to fly into the unknown.

So let's see what has happened, what has met my expectations and what was completely different from how I imagined it.

// palm trees in the city // cbd skyscrapers // view from mundaring weir // a germany brick // babe and I at Toastface Grillah //

The city

My expectations: I am not exacly well-travelled so I could only try and get impressions of Perth from Google and Jarryd. He didn't really do a good job in making me excited about moving here because he had been living here for most of his life and said it's quite boring. However I was so thrilled about moving to the other end of the world that I pictured it to be big, pulsating and exciting.

What I think now: I have explored quite a bit of the city and its different suburbs now. For a European like me it appears HUGE because the Australians here do not live on top of each other in jam-packed apartment blocks. The city spreads out wide and outside of the centre you hardly ever see buildings with more than two stories.

Furthermore it's not boring at all here, very much the oppposite. There are awesome eateries and cafes everywhere and the city if sull of art, music and events. Very popular here at the moment are food trucks and food markets as well as upcycling and handmade products that are preferably sold on little markets and street festivals.

The weather

My expectations: HOT! I expected it to be unbearably hot every day with a burning sun that would cause me skin cancer and daily sunburns. I hate heat and was really nervous about if I'd be able to cope with the Australian summer. Sweating is just not my cup of tea at all...

What I think now: I totally overestimated it! It is a rather dry heat here and luckily a constant breeze from the nearby ocean makes it absolutely bearable. There are those odd days when it's 42°C but in general I'm happy that my expectations were wrong.

As an inveterate German I however have to admit I miss rainy, cloudy and grey days a bit. No one understands, I know. That's just me...

// perth skyline // there's a beautiful sky with fluffy clouds every day // one of the many graffittis around town // iced latte from the daily at swanbourne beach //

The insects

My expectations: Horrible! I have a big fat insect phobia and that's no exaggeration. I heard so many horror stories before I came here, especially about spiders! I was so worried about not being able to handle the many big and dangerous insects here.

What I think now: The same unfortunately. I have become a bit more relaxed about the quantitiy of encounters because I do not come across yucky crawlers as often as I expected. However if yxou come across an insect here it's always either huge or venomous or both. In my first week here I already met a Redback spider, one of the small but dangerous ones. Two weeks ago I had my first Praying Mantis sighting and then at work we had the biggest freakin cockroach I've ever seen in our office. It's really not a piece of cake at all for me, I'm trying to keep my cool but the phobia just really freaks me out. I have decided to tackle it with hypnotherapy soon.

The money

My expectations: I was told everything is more expensive than in Germany. Especially Perth has the reputation of being the most expensive city in Australia due to the many well-paid mining workers living here. Then again I was also told that the wages are obviously higher here than in Germany. So I hoped these two aspects would simply balance each other out.

What I think now: Well, I'm not 100% sure because I have not lived on my new job's wages yet. I've been working in my new job for one month now and next week I'll get my first payment. However I have already calculated my cost of living and think it will be okay. I won't be rich but it'll be enough to do all the nice things I've planned to do (weekend trips, dinners at nice restaurant, a new laptop, a new tattoo etc.).

// fun at kings park // breakfast at sprolo // la paleta makes the best popsicles // swanbourne beach //

I could actually list a million other things here but this shall be enough for now. Maybe I'll do another recap after 6 months then and talk about the other aspects I didn't mention today.

Congratulations if you made it through and read it all, I know my ramblings can be a bit long sometimes. So thanks for reading!

Have a wonderful weekend!