The Four Month Mark

As of next week, we have officially been in Australia for four months.  It seems like a lot longer to me.  This trip has gone much differently then I had hoped.

I've done alot of thinking about the long term visa Audi is offering to sponsor us for.  Joel really wanted to go for it, as for the first time in his life he loves his job.  He really pushed me to go for it, but it is just not possible for us financially and I think it's a bad idea to go in debt in order to get it.  I am really not happy here on the Gold Coast, so even if we had the money I would be hesitant to stay in this city longer.  On our current visa, we can only work at one job for a maximum of six months, which means by August 23 Joel can no longer work at Audi Gold Coast.  There is absolutely NO work for me here (not even McDonalds is hiring) so I see no point in staying in a city that just continues to depress and disappoint me.

We've done alot of talking and discussing things over the last couple days and decided that the best thing would be to move to another city in August when the lease on our apartment is up.  Joel is set on staying with Audi (VW is no longer his true love!) so is going to apply at all the Audi dealerships in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth and we'll see what comes up.  We're thinking Melbourne would be a great choice, but we'll see who's hiring.  I think moving cities would be a positive change for me, as right now I'm feeling pretty jaded and resentful about all things Aussie.  The Gold Coast is a great place to vacation, but not so much to live.  For awhile I wanted to just cut our losses and go home, then  decided that we should stick out the year as planned because we will probably never come back.  If I can find a better job in  new city (currently I am averaging sixteen hours a week!) and we have two full paychecks to play with, we should be able to save the money we need to do the travel we want and get the full Australian experience.

Joel is still convinced that we will end up getting a longer stay visa down the line.  Who knows, maybe the next city will really feel like home and we'll have awesome jobs and I'll want to stay longer, but at this point I really want to be back in Canada.  Yes, our weather can really suck sometimes, but after being away and experiencing life in another country I've realized how good we've got it! 

Now I wish the next two months fly by!  And that we don't have any more bumps in the road financially.  Next month my parents will be here for a visit, so there's something to count down to and look forward to in the meantime.