| "Houses, kids & jobs!" |
| Hello! Hope you're all well! It's been a while since I last wrote, so thought I would update you all on what's been going on with us down under in Oz. After just over a week in Sydney, we have managed to start establishing ourselves in the city for a while. The last week has been really hectic though!! We stayed at a hostel when we arrived here, and were hoping, (rather ambitiously!) to find a place to live in our first three days! We didn't manage it in 3, but 5 days wasn't too far off! After scanning accommodation noticeboards, covering the local newspaper accommodation section with far too much biro, too many phonecalls and trudging around Sydney in the rain (yes, except for yesterday EVERY day since we got here it has tipped it down!) and looking at countless apartments and rooms, we finally made a commitment and moved in on Monday of this week! We're living in Darlinghurst, which is still classed as the "city" though it's a 20 minute walk or so to the main streets of the CBD. What to say about Darlinghurst?! Well, its an "interesting" part of the city, with lots of flamboyant male boutique shops and countless male hair salons and cafes - if you catch my drift?! It's a cool area to be in though, and a couple of friends live close by, so it's all good! Our house is a big old 3-storey Aussie house, and me and Sharon share a room, though it's fairly big, so we can keep out of each other's way when we need to! There's about 12 people in the house, mostly all backpackers, so that's always a good thing. Have had a few teething problems, as most do, but we've managed to get those sorted now. Only one cockroach drama to date (as it's warming up, tend to get them wherever you are), but armed with my can of "heavy-duty industrial bug spray" we're armed and ready to destroy!! On the firing end of that can of magical stuff, think I'm beginning to conquer my cockroach fear! Been busy working my butt off with the Rugby World Cup Opening Ceremony rehearsals, the job I managed to land before coming out here. My job, and that of the other Cast Marshals is to look after the 1500 cast (of which around 1100 are kids!) at their holding area, "Cast Central" and then, when it's their turn to travel the 20 minute walk over to the Stadium, to escort a group safely across, and inside the stadium to their correct Vomitory entrance to go onto the field and do their bit, then accompany them back. Except being backstage we don't really get to see anything of the show on the night - the world will see it before us events staff do! This week, the rehearsals have been in the stadium, so in between marshaling cast, we've been able to sit inside and watch what's going on - had never been in the stadium before, but it's a fantastic venue, and just huge! To stand on the field looking up at all the 80,000 seats is breathtaking! Beneath it is a 2 lane "ring road" around the entire stadium large enough to fit a full size coach! So far, it's been really good fun, even though our legs ache from the 12 hour days on our feet the whole time! And have to admit, some of the cast have been more challenging to keep under control than others - trying to move 700 tired restless, kids at 11.30pm can be hard work! The full Dress Rehearsals took place last night - out last chance to correct anything before the show, which goes live worldwide at 7.30pm Aussie time tomorrow!!! Obviously I cannot reveal any of the details of what's gonna be in the show, so set your video recorders, people!! It's been an eye-opening experience to work with professionals who organise these kinds of spectaculars for a living, and travel all around the world doing the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, theatre tours etc - it's difficult to realise how much work goes into these types of events when you see them on TV! Well, as that job finishes tomorrow, just been busy also trying to line up some interviews for early next week, so that I can actually get some dollars rolling in. Have some leads to follow up, and some contacts from working the World Cup, so keep your fingers crossed for me! :o) Well, gotta go. Take care, Tracey.x |
| 9 October 2003 |