I was pretty lucky when I first arrived at the hostel. I’m not sure whether it was because Mel and Steff were on friendly terms with the manager or not but I certainly wasn’t complaining. I had a female only dorm to myself for my first three nights. The girls who checked in after that were quiet, clean and considerate. Perfect.
The same couldn’t be said for Mel and Steff though. As a couple, they have no choice but to stay in a mixed dorm. They’d been moved around a few times and each room seemed to get worse and worse. It was the final straw when they had to share a room with a smelly guy and someone who went to bed ridiculously early and complained when Mel and Steff came in on a night. Mel had no choice in the matter when she finished work late and I felt sorry for her when she had to root around in the dark with only the light from her mobile to guide her. The girl in my room was the opposite as she left the light on for me when I came in late one night. I kindly returned the favour too.
Although my room was weirdo and B.O free, the same couldn’t be said for the other dorms on my floor. The girl’s toilets, sinks and showers were often left in a diabolical state. I felt like I was living with apes! I honestly don’t understand how people can live like this!
People put their shoes and, in this case socks, outside their doors. I guess this is considerate as not to stink the room out. Instead, the odour hovers in the hallway instead. Lovely
This guy didn't have Odour Eaters to hand so thought a tower of cookies might have the same effect. Hmm.
Seeing the dire situations that people were living in didn’t make me warm to any of them. I kept myself to myself. It also didn’t benefit that people were helping themselves to my food in my cupboard and fridge. I’ve had small things taken like cheese, milk and sausages. My flip flops were taken from me too which hurt as they were decent ones I bought on the cheap in Thailand. One cheeky git opened my pack of bread and took one baguette and helped themselves to my cooking oil. My yoghurt was taken too. I think that hurt the most. It was damn good yoghurt and it wasn’t cheap. Thieving bastards.
My temper was flaring but, before I had chance to plot a poison attack on the next food thief, Mel and Steff had a proposition for me. Their idea was for us all to move into a trio room and push forward our search for a house share or short term apartment lease. We wanted to be out of there before Christmas preferably.
Unfortunately we took to our search in a rather naïve manner. In England you either have furnished or unfurnished housing. In Australia, a furnished rented property is very odd. “Free furniture? Why would you give someone your furniture for free?” This was the general Aussie consensus. Making phone call enquiries resembled the moment in Cool Runnings where Derice tries to get sponsors for the first Jamaican bobsled team. Plenty of laughing and pointing.
We finally thought we’d gotten somewhere when we saw a property being leased for up to three months. Mel and I went to an open viewing and were the only people who showed up. To our wonderment, not only was there no furniture (which we expected), there wasn’t even a flipping fridge! We would have to start from scratch and buy everything. Yes we could buy things off of Gumtree for knock-down rates. We could even go all pikey and scavenge off the discarded items left on the lawns of local residents – a common occurrence where the council shifts any unwanted items away. The Aussies take spring cleaning to a new level! We saw people leave TVs, cupboards and couches. Obviously they’ve not heard of eBay! You certainly wouldn’t get that in England!
Our dreams of snuggling on a couch sipping tea whilst watching a movie on a proper TV were slipping away from us. It dawned on us all that we will be staying in a hostel over Christmas and New Year’s which is what I feared would happen but hoped it wouldn’t!
If that wasn’t enough to bum me out, I was in for a bigger shock. I awoke one day and dragged my sorry ass into the dining area for a change of scenery. I tapped away on my laptop whilst listening to some Kanye West to lift my spirits. One of the hostel workers tried to get my attention. I paused my music and confirmed that my name is Danielle Lee room 30(whatever it was). I was told sternly and without any compromise that I needed to check out and leave the hostel immediately. I was literally told that there were no beds left and that the hostel was fully booked all the way up until 2012. Holy moly.
I objected once but was already embarrassed after I was cornered in front of everyone. I didn’t want to make a scene. I picked up my things and ran over to Mel’s room. Mel was already in a stress about something or other and started chattering away to me not realising that I was sobbing my eyes out. I interrupted Mel and started telling her the story but somehow my words weren’t coming out. I had no job and my soul was depleted from the hermit life I was leading. This was the last thing I needed. I usually let things build up until finally something gets to me and I can’t quite internalise it so all my emotions burst at the seams. Mel comforted me then stormed off to find out what was going on. Mel shouted at the hostel worker who brought me to tears and then stomped down to reception. For added context, Mel was still in her nightie. If I didn’t feel like my whole life had come crashing down, I’d probably find the situation quite funny. Five minutes later, everything was sorted. Technical error. I didn’t get an apology.
A few days after that trauma, I safely settled into our new snug trio room which consisted of a double bed for Mel and Steff and a single bed on top for me. Most people will probably think that that might get a bit awkward but we’ve become like a family as cheesy as that sounds. Mel feels like my big sister as she’s always got a philosophy of some kind when it comes to problems and has had a fruitful life for such a young age. Steff is definitely the younger brother. We’re always scrapping, name-calling and ribbing each other. He can be so excitable and giddy one moment and turn on you the next. Steff likes a good tantrum which can usually be pacified with candy but it’s not always to hand. Instead the poor lad has me and Mel to deal with.
Cosy. We’re certainly not paying for two!
Steff and Mel see me more as a Grandma since learning my age. I’m sure I told them how old I was in Phuket but it was a long-ass drain of a day so it didn’t surprise me that they’d forgotten. Well that was it. They couldn’t stop laughing as they each took it in turns to poke fun at me. Any joke you can think of about old people, they threw it at me. Now it’s a running joke that crops up at the most random of moments. I was sat on a bench at the bus stop once and Mel and Steff were elsewhere nibbling on Subway cookies. Mel burst out laughing and Steff grinned mischievously. “What’s he done now,” I thought as it’s usually something daft he’s said. Instead, the joke was on me as there were two elderly folk sat on the bench both with their hair tied back, both with glasses and both leaning over like me. I fit right in then!
We’re all as bad as each other for ribbing and it’s all in good fun (I think!). It didn’t take us long to get comfortable around each other. Obviously with it being such a small room it makes getting changed rather awkward. Cue hopping-whilst-holding-the-towel-and-simultaneously-hoisting-up-underwear shimmy dance. That got rather tiring and, in each of our lazy dispositions, we grew to either flash our good neighbours across the street or each other. Thankfully there is one part of Steff remaining that I haven’t seen and I do hope it remains that way! Ha!
That is one unlikely perk of having a balcony. We thought we’d use it to chat and chill out but there are more creepy crawlies roaming around on that thing than I can handle. I’ve already had two encounters with fat hairy huntsmen.
Steff heroically sprayed this beast with bug spray and flicked it off the balcony with a dining fork.
Not to mention the cockroaches that zip about. I’ve already burst the eardrum of one friend whom I was speaking to on the phone when one scuttled across my foot. Another evening a possum leapt out of a nearby tree. Mad.
I do often ponder as to where I would be or what I would be doing in Australia if I hadn’t met Mel and Steff. I might have met more people and moved around a bit more or even become a city bod and blend in with all the other suits. I definitely don’t think I would have lasted as long in Sydney without them. There’s enough here to drive me insane but we’ll get to all that soon enough. Despite the odd moan, I am truly happy and still have no regrets so that can’t be bad eh?
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