Welcome to the two season state in Australia!
Autumn was just started and the temperature was down to 9-14°C at night when I left Perth. There were days when I wished the toilet seat had heater lol. On April 27th, I said bye bye to the cold weather (it wasn’t even that cold because it wasn’t even winter!). I left Perth wearing t-shirt, covered by a sweater and it didn’t take 10 minutes to have my body sweating from the heat in Darwin lol. Darwin was so hot and humid!
I went straight to my new place, hungry, and a kind housemate appeared and shared her lunch with me *cryinghysterically*. Thank you Okta! My place was located not far from the CBD and omg Darwin CBD is so small xD. I remember Han was astonished when we went to Perth CBD and he said: I feel like coming from the jungle, there are no tall buildings in Darwin CBD like this. LOL. I felt like downgrading myself but who cares! I’ve got a job hereeee!!! Actually, Darwin is not that pathetic; speaking of tall buildings, I think the hotel where I work at is high, 26 floors tho! But yea, you can barely see other tall buildings here, you can only count with one hand lol! And whoever said Perth is quiet, Darwin is much much more quieter to me T^T. And it’s a good thing when the centre is small, you can walk on foot to everywhere. I only have to walk for 25 mins from my place to the hotel 😉
I completed all application documents on my first day in Darwin and I got accepted right away; would start working on May 2nd! I also remember Han suggested me to print out my resumes, take a day to walk around the city and drop them to restaurants, cafes, etc. The dry season had just started in Darwin and that means more tourists will come, good business, and more people to hire. Han also said finding a job in Darwin wasn’t hard therefore he insisted me to move here ASAP. What he said was right. The day after I came to Darwin, I dropped my resumes and one restaurant called me and asked me to work starting on THAT DAY. *cheers to a new good life xD*
Exotic North Indian Cuisine is practically the first job I had in Darwin. It’s located in Cullen Bay and it has a beautiful view of parked private boats in Cullen Bay Marina area. Many customers said we have the best Indian foods in Darwin, some of them also said, the best Indian foods they had ever tasted. I agree tho, the foods there are super delicious! I got accepted there as a waitress and all the people there were soooo kind :'( Especially other waitresses; they taught me everything and molded me from nothing to be a waitress that receives appreciations from customers. All the kitchen staffs are Punjabi people and most of the waitresses are Nepalese. They are soooo kind, love them :’).
Working as waitress became my second job and I only worked in evening. My first job is of course working as housekeeper at Oaks Elan Darwin Hotel.
My first 2 months there was hard! Housekeeping was haaaaaardddd! You rooms need to be (almost) perfect: clean, nice, tidy, and presentable. To make a very nice room is not hard but the problem is you need to get it done within a limited period of time. My manager, supervisor, and workmates are nice and kind but I was stressful because of myself lol. I always came late because I wasn’t get used to the routines. In the end, I still often finish late but as long as the rooms are clean, it’s tolerable. What I like about working at the hotel (especially in Australia), they are fair to you. Everything is money (not to mention the pay rate here is good xD). Weekdays, weekend, and public holiday have different rates. In Indonesia, I will not be happy if I have to work on weekend or public holiday but here, I happily welcome the roster because those days mean mooore money lol. Another benefit working as housekeeper is that you can keep the items that the guests left; we call it SHOPPING. Like recently, a big group of Singapore Defense Army stayed at our hotel. There were 2 batches, each batch stayed around 3 weeks. Those Singaporean bought so so so so so many things (especially foods) while were staying at our apartment rooms. They liked to cook by themselves. Whenever we did their check-out rooms, it was like two sides of a coin: felt so crazy and tired to clean the super duper messy room but at the same time, you’ll find so many items left that you may need. It saves you so much money xD. The leftover things you can get: foods, spices, rice, fruits, instant noodles, ice creams, beers and wines, mosquito repellent, shampoos, liquid soaps, vapes, even household items, and of course, money :v
I’m still working there now and everything is better. Love being there <3
As WHV holder, we tend to get more physical jobs in the field that are seen lowly in Indonesia. There’s no way I have experience as waitress or housekeeper in Indonesia therefore it was kinda hard to apply the job here unless you have a good connection (so the employer can be more rest assured to hire you coz some don’t care about experience because they will train you anyway) or you’re one of the LUCKY BASTARDS (that’s how we call lucky whv holders here lol). The key to survive is to have the can-do attitude and maintain good relationship with workmates.
I think I am so lucky, I met so many good people here from many nationalities. And I am so thankful because I made new good friends here, with Indonesians. With friends, life becomes so much easier and enjoyable. Because of them, I become happier. You’ll find the story soon 😉