Starting in Sydney

Nearly two weeks ago, I made my way from Queenstown to Sydney. Upon landing, I learned that Australia does not have a permanent summer? And has seasons? I don’t know why I thought seasons here were fake. While high 50s isn’t too cold, it isn’t the short-sleeved weather I had been looking forward to after a couple of chilly weeks in New Zealand.

The first week in Sydney can be best described by exhaustion. Mainly onboarding between opening bank accounts, getting SIM cards, and lots of exploration just to get a further understanding of the area.

In Sydney, I’ve met up with my friends Charlotte and Aiden, fellow Working Holiday Makers. As we’ve made our way through the city between tours, sightseeing, and apartment inspections, we are beginning to learn more about the various neighborhoods. We are trying to “vibe check” the areas as best we can before deciding on which location to try to find housing in. Although regardless of location, housing is a bit tricky to come by

The vacancy rate for housing in Sydney is currently 1.6%. For context, that in New York City is currently at 3.0%, the lowest of US cities. Any apartment inspection at a decent place for a reasonable price has 20 other applicants. Living in a hostel has its pros and cons, but I would like my own place so I can buy things like a surfboard and skimboard and have a home for them. Everything I buy at the moment I have to be able to carry with me. I just bought new pants and a shirt for a job trial and I have no room to pack them when I leave my current accommodation.

Having housing up in the air has also made the job hunt a little more difficult, as we don’t want to commit to working somewhere that could end up being a 40min+ commute every day. Sydney is built more as many neighborhoods rather than a cohesive city. Therefore when job hunting in person, it makes more sense to go door to door along the main street of your neighborhood. Which requires…living in one neighborhood.

It seems that this is the experience that most backpackers have when moving to Sydney. The few weeks of onboarding and running around are exhausting and can at times leave you with a bit of a bleh feeling when you don’t feel like it’s going anywhere.

The housing/job hunt situation has been a bit all-consuming so far. As for an overview of what we’ve done, we began by staying at a popular hostel in the Central Business District (CBD). Across the street from the main train station in Sydney, this proved convenient for seeing the popular sights near the city center (Opera House, Harbor Bridge, Botanical Gardens, etc.) as well as accessing other neighborhoods.

Our favorite place visited in our time in CBD was the well-known Bondi Beach. It is a trendy spot, particularly for backpackers and it shows. It’s a place that’s always lively and, dare I say, hip with the youth. We stayed a few nights there and enjoyed the beach as the first warm weekend came around. Which by the way is unlike any beach I’ve ever been to. The life guards take their jobs seriously with beach cruisers, jet skis, and helicopters consistently patrolling. The highlight of this stay was the walk from Bondi to Coogee: a 6km walk with gorgeous coastal views. During our stay, I ended up landing a couple of interviews across the harbor, which gave me the excuse to finally make my way up to Manly.

In my decision to live in Sydney, there was never a question that I wanted to live near the beach. I see the urban area more as a fun place to visit/work and the beach as a place I want to spend every day. With regards to beaches in Sydney, there are two ways you can go: to the Eastern Suburbs with the well-known Bondi, or to the Northern Beaches with the well-known Manly. You can’t go wrong either way, but you also can’t do both as the harbor runs through the middle

Manly has less of a buzz than Bondi: a little more laid back and has a bigger beach. I knew pretty quickly I wanted to establish my home base in Sydney here, or at least nearby. Since Bondi I’ve been staying at a hostel in Manly, continuing the job and housing hunt. It can get discouraging at times, but for the time being, I’m living a block from the beach with other travelers. My daily routine consists of morning yoga and a surf lesson at the beach where the first World Surfing Championships were held, so things could definitely be much worse.