Day 274! Welp, it’s time to start working… and let me tell you, it was no easy first shift! But I made it through and had a lovely rest of my day hanging out with my new friends Tia and Paris!

My alarm went off at the perfect time 4:45am… why? I had to get up for my first day of work!

I got ready and headed down for breakfast. There was another early worker eating breakfast already, but otherwise it was just us two.

I made myself a quick bowl of oats with honey, peanut butter, and cinnamon sugar and two pieces of toast. And around that time, Lewis joined us as well.

We ate our breakfast and then 5:45am rolled around, which meant it was time for Lewis and I to head out for work.

Lewis started with the laboring contractor a week or two before me, so I was very happy to have him along on my first job! We had about a 20 minute walk to our gig. It was at a bar The Provincial Hotel, I haven’t been to it yet, but I’ve heard good things about, so I was glad I was getting a chance to see it!

One of the best parts of being up this early, is I got to see my first sun rise in a very long time!

We rolled up to the bar and met our point of contact, Jermey. He brought us inside and told us what our job was for the day…

The start of his brief was “it’s going to be a quick one, but tough work.” I knew we were in for something other than just setting up a marquee. The job this morning was actually the exact opposite, taking down the marquee. But Lewis and I weren’t really helping take it down, not at the start at least. Our task was to carry the weights holding the marquee stable down two flights of stairs.

6:15am hit and we were a go!

My guess is that each of these weights weighed about 20 kilograms… and there was a lot of them. Jeremy told us about every 10 blocks to take a break, but we lost count pretty quick and also weren’t sure how long these breaks were allowed to be. So we kind of just kept chugging along, taking quick sips of water and breathers.

It was a paid workout! I’m glad I didn’t do leg day anytime recently… this was freaking tough.

It started out fine and I even had half a thought to carry two at a time. But I’m glad I didn’t because these weights felt like they just got heavier and heavier.

Eventually we were told to take a breather and we all chatted for a bit! There were a handful of us helping with the take down, 3 of us from the contractor and the other 5 or so from the company we were working for. One of the guys was actually from Wrexham and we chatted about the show for a bit. The rest were a mix of Australian, English, Brazilian, and Peruvian.

The orange weights were mostly carried by Lewis, myself, and the other ARC hire. But everyone helped out. It honestly bonded all of us together as we seriously labored away.

Throughout this job I went through phases of what am I doing, I’m not doing this again, to I’ll do this for a few weeks, this has to be the worst of the jobs, oh this is actually kind of rewarding. It was really nice doing work that had a start and finish, and with how physical it was, I was very happy that I was able to handle the job! But at the same time… it was pretty grueling at some points.

Even so, I actually had a smile on my face the entire time. I found it quite comical how tough this first one was and what I had gotten myself signed up for. But it was also a really good workout, a nice day out, and I was surrounded by very nice guys. I did choose to be here after all, might as well keep a good attitude.

Eventually we finished carrying all the weights (thank goodness) and we switched to helping move the metal structure to the truck. But throughout it all, we all chatted, took some breaks, and made sure to hydrate.

Just over 3 hours after we began, we were finished! The nice thing about contract work, is we have to be paid for 4 hours minimum. So even though we were done early, I still got paid the full 4 hours.

I was covered in sweat, my hands were cramped and had some small blisters, and my body was sore… but we had done it! The first laboring shift was complete. I’m really hopeful the rest aren’t anywhere near as bad, but if they are… I don’t think my career in this field will last long (but for now, it’s a way to make some quick money to enjoy the city)!

Lewis and I set back on a nice walk back to the hostel. We had a nice laugh about the job and Lewis confirmed it was the hardest one he’d done yet.

When we got back it was around 10am… which wasn’t late enough to have lunch, but I was hungry. I had already been up for basically 6 hours. So I got out of my sweaty clothes, showered, and had a second breakfast, pretty similar to my first.

I sat outside with my new friends Tia and Paris. They were planning on going to the beach later today, so I said I might join them.

I then FaceTimed my Bubbie and Zeidie! It had been far too long since I spoke with them and my Zeidie had a fun story to tell me about his time starting out as a construction worker… sounded a bit similar to my first experience!

My friends Immy and Q were finally awake too, so I joined them for a bit. They needed to go grocery shopping and I tagged along! I ended up getting a few things, ground beef, more clementines, crackers, and a one kilogram tub of hummus… which Immy inspired me to get with her tub of hummus (for only $5 AUD too, I’ll be SNACKING)!

But after this trip to the store… it was time for a much needed nap.

I actually didn’t nap very well. I was exhausted, but my brain was wide awake. So I spent 30 minutes with my eyes closed, lying in bed, and I woke up feeling slightly refreshed.

When I came back down stairs, I decided it was time for lunch. So I made myself some leftover pasta and of course devoured a lot of hummus.

Tia and Paris hadn’t left for the beach yet and asked if I wanted to join. I had nothing to do and it was a beautiful day… and I really hadn’t been to the beach yet. So I decided to join them! On one condition though.

As long as we could walk to the book store so I could try and exchange my old book for the second part of the same book that I knew they had.

Unfortunately this book store didn’t accept and exchanges or buy backs… so I decided to take the book back to the hostel for someone else to read. But they did still have the second part, so I snagged it for $9 AUD.

We then walked to a nearby tram stop and made our way to the St. Kilda Beach.

We walked around the breezy beach and I of course had to touch the water… which was frigid. And also the temperature was quickly dropping (and I was wearing shorts).

So after sitting around chatting on the beach, we made our way into St. Kilda to find a happy hour to enjoy a drink at.

I found a nitro amber ale, which I don’t believe I’ve had before. It was a nice beer and we had even nicer chit chat! I always love hanging out with new people. It’s always great conversation but it also just reinforces how wonderful people are in the world and how easy it is to connect with new people.

The drinks were nice, but we were on a mission, so we had to hop back to the beach. St. Kilda Beach is known for having spectacular sunsets. So we made our way over to a good spot to watch the sun dip down.

I’m not sure when the last time I saw the sun rise and set in one day, but it was a really nice treat! It definitely wasn’t the most spectacular sunset I’ve seen whilst traveling, but it was still really nice.

By this time, it was pretty cold out and I was wearing my sandals… so I was getting antsy to get back to the hostel and get warm.

We hopped on a tram back and sat next to a man who originally was on his phone. I’m always talking about how I wish more people would just chat on public transportation… and lo and behold, we sat next to Jake who was one of those people as well.

He’s a chef from Thailand, so we chatted all about one of my favorite countries. He’s been in Australia for 12 years and we chatted for about 30 minutes before he got off the tram. It was another nice experience to add to the day!

We got back to the hostel after a brisk (in both ways) walk. It was time for dinner, so I had more leftover noodles just so I didn’t have to cook anything tonight.

During dinner, I met another American in the hostel. I haven’t met many so far in Melbourne, which I’m not that opposed to. But it was nice to chat with someone who has a similar culture… and funnily enough, lived in St. Louis! His parents are Mizzou fans (University of Kansas’s oldest rival)…

I then joined my friends in the TV room and we watched a movie called About Time. I’d seen this movie a while back but I didn’t remember it fully. It ended up being a phenomenal romance movie that pulled at my heartstrings a bit! It even made me shed a couple tears.

I stayed up wayyy later than I anticipated and was down right tired. But I knew I was going to sleep well and since I didn’t have anything planned for tomorrow I could sleep in!

It was a nice and interesting day today and I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of this laboring goes. But only time will tell!!

– Elie