It’s funny that every time I get around to blogging about a
place, I’m usually leaving it. Canberra has been a fun city to live in, but now
it’s time to move on. After I left the Goondiwindi area, I bussed to Brisbane
airport. I then flew to Sydney, and then flew to Canberra. It was cool right
away when I got there. Nicola (my new host mom) was there to greet me with a
cart for my bags and a moose dressed as a Canadian hockey player so that I
could identify her. She was quite excited that I was Canadian, as her kids are
half Canadian as well. Nicola is extremely nice and friendly. The first week I
spent at the house was filled with meeting the family and learning the kids’
schedule. The house was nice, and I definitely fell in love with my bedroom right
away. It was big and cozy. The heat also got trapped inside there, which was
great at night. It’s kind of funny how I started in Melbourne where it was
cold, moved to Goondiwindi where it was warm enough that you could wear a
t-shirt, and then moved to Canberra where it’s cold again. Most mornings it’s
around -4. My head is still confused by this, as it’s July and it’s supposed to
be summer (it is in Canada). I’ve seen leaves on trees changing colour and
falling too. It looks like October here!
Anyways, my job was taking care of the kids, playing with
them outside to work their fine and gross motor skills, doing the grocery
shopping, cooking dinner, and helping with bath and bedtime. I was able to warm
up to these children a lot faster than the ones at the last place. Oh by the
way, I was nannying for 7-year-old twins (boy/girl). Although they had their
moments which were not so nice (all kids do), they were often really funny and
sweet. The kids were usually better behaved when separated, which makes sense
really. My older sister and I used to fight like cats and dogs for years
growing up. Ty and Lexi were the twins’ names. Ty had a bit of autism, so that
made him a little more behavioural at times. He was a sweetie though and great
with numbers. I’m pretty sure he’s an accountant in the making. Lexi was so
funny all the time. She’d do hillarious impressions and dance and sing almost
all the time. She and I usually read together before she went to bed and
laughed a lot. I’m definitely going to miss those kids. At the same time
though, I think I’ve come to realize that I don’t really want to nanny while
here. This trip is supposed to be my vacation, but it’s hard to fulfill that
when you’re constantly taking care of kids. Also, being an au pair is fun, but
can also be stressful. Even if you like the family you are with, it can be
tough to just get your own time. Even when you’re not working you sometimes
still feel like you’re working.
Anyways though, back to my telling of Canberra. Some people
warned me that it would be a boring city because it’s the capital and mostly
has government buildings. I was a history major, so I in fact really enjoyed
this. I find that Canberra is extremely similar to Canada’s capital, Ottawa. It
has parliament and some cool museums. It has malls and bars and restaurants,
but just the right amount. Goondiwindi hardly had anything. Canberra has it’s
main city core smack dab in the middle of the ACT called “Civic.” Oh by the
way, the ACT is a territory (Australian Capital Territory). Although most
people think Sydney is the capital of Australia (I did once), it’s actually
Canberra. So there’s the main city core, and then branching out in different
directions are the little suburbs. Mine was called Curtin. After making a visit
to Parliament, I quickly realized that most if not all the little suburbs
around are actually named after past Prime Ministers. There’s your history
lesson for the day! But yeah, it’s pretty easy to get around in Canberra. I had
a GPS in the car, so that was really helpful. I was extremely grateful to be
driving an automatic vehicle as well. The lanes are really wide on the roads,
so it’s really easy to drive as well. I think I’ve really gotten the hang of
this driving on the other side of the road and other side of the car thing. It
feels like it’s going to be weird to go back to Canada after this trip and
relearn the other side again.
Since I’ve been here, I’ve made a few friends. On Canada Day
I happened to meet an American who runs the Canberra Cavalry baseball team. He
works for MLB and is here to help grow the sport. Thom is a sarcastic and funny
guy who loves being American. It’s been great having another North American to
hang out with and laugh about stuff that is different in Australia. I was even
asked to dress up as the mascot for the Cavalry at a rugby game (Brumbies vs.
Blues) and partake in a 100 metre race with other mascots and children during
half-time. It was basically a relay where the kids were on one side of the
field running towards us (we were partnered up) and then they had to tag us.
Once they tagged us, we ran with the child across the field to the other side.
For anyone who has not worn a mascot outfit before, it’s hard to run in them! My
head was almost flying off and I had big boots on my feet, so it was really
quite hillarious. I ran as hard as I could though and although we didn’t finish
first, we didn’t finish last either. I was pretty exhausted by the end of it,
as it was quite the workout. The guy in the Viking outfit and I had been trash
talking before we went out, saying we were going to battle each other. He
popped me in the head from behind. I swung around for our battle, and then my
kid started battling him to defend me. I knew I liked that kid! After lots of
waving at the crowd (over 14,000 in attendance), and pictures with some
mascots, we ran off the field while the players ran back on. I have to admit
that was a really fun and hillarious experience overall. I’m really glad that I
can put that one on my bucket list.
Another one of my friends is Rhiannon. She is a really great
person and friend. I was introduced to her by Nicola’s brother, as he goes to
the café where she works daily. She’s my age and a really sweet girl. I could
tell from the first time I met her that she’s really genuine. We got together
for a number of lunch dates and have also gone out for dinner and such. It’s
uncanny how much this girl is just like me. We are always laughing about how
alike we are, yet we come from complete opposite ends of the planet. I love
hanging out with Rhiannon and just laughing about everything. Her family is
really great too. I was invited for dinner one night, which of course I didn’t
turn down! It was the first real home-cooked meal I’ve had in Australia. I’ve
been living with Rhiannon and her family for about 4 days now, until I head out
on my next adventure. I had to leave the family I was nannying for because a
member of the family decided to hit on me and act inappropriately while Nicola
and the kids went on a 10-day vacation. It was really awkward and uncomfortable
for me, so it was time to leave. Anyways though, I am so happy to have met
Rhiannon and her family. We all believe that everything happens for a reason.
It’s been really fun to have a girlfriend to hang out with and talk to again.
She and I have had some crazy awesome adventures together. We went to
Tidbinbilla, a reserve where we stood about 5 feet away from kangaroos in the
wild. We also went to this place called Corina Recreation Centre, where we
actually went bobsledding! This was one of the most fun and hillarious things
I’ve done to date in Australia. Basically you get on this sled thing and then
this pully takes you up the hill for a long time. The sled is in this long
silver slide thing that is the bobsled track. When you get to the top of the
hill you push the lever forward to start your ride. You really do fly down the
track! You are supposed to break at the turns a bit, but we rarely did. We were
flying around the track so fast. It was so fun! I wish we had that in Canada.
Yesterday, we went out for breakfast at a café with her boyfriend, and then we
went to the market. We sampled lots of tasty foods and bought lots of treats.
The chocolate covered strawberries were the best. We came across a stall that
was selling friendship bracelets. We knew right away we had to buy one each. We
bought one for each other, then gave them to each other. We did a whole skit
where we pretended we didn’t know and acted surprised. It was really funny and
cute. I’m really going to miss her when I leave Canberra and when I finally
leave Australia. I’ll be back to visit the family while I’m here in Australia,
and I’ve already been invited for Christmas dinner if I’m still in the country
by then.
My third friend (last but not least) is Charlie. He’s
another American that I met out here. I joined this group online on meetup.com.
This is a great website for meeting new people, and apparently it’s worldwide.
There’s a group called “The Best of Canberra” social group. You just need to make
a short profile and you can join for free. I did this and then found tonnes of
neat meetups that I wanted to go to. My first one I went to was a trivia night
in a suburb called Mawson. Basically you get together with the people in the
group and form a team to do 5 rounds of trivia against other teams. A lot of
the trivia was Australian, but Charlie and I knew the answer to some of them.
I definitely enjoyed my time in Canberra, but decided it was time to move on. The blogs that will soon follow will be about my 2 day trip up the East Coast with 3 other backpackers, and also about my time thus far in Brisbane!
