The first weeks in the Valley

Brisbane’s most lively party quarter is known to the locals as ‘the valley’. My first hostel away from home was Bunk backpackers, located centrally within this Valley, or Fortitude Valley if you are looking for it on a map. The hostel itself was 5 floors high, with a colourfully painted interior and typically Australian dry humour staff at the reception. I checked in with Amy into a dorm room for a week to settle in and get acquainted with the surroundings. As I’m writing this just over a year after I arrived first time in brissy I can’t quite remember all I did during my first few weeks there other than settle in with the other travelling backpackers and start hunting for a job. I managed to get a working for accommodation position in the kitchen at bunk but this was 26 hours a week, unpaid. Not enjoyable. I didn’t really get on with the main chef either, I don’t think many people did but there was a second chef, another traveller from England called Ben. He was a lot more chilled out and relatable because he had been in the same position as me. Eventually I got to know and hang with the bar tenders and glassies there that ran the place and learnt how a bar works behind the taps. I was asked to work as a glassie myself one evening eventually and got given an actual paid position doing it finally, I realised it was stupid to work for accommodation when you can work for money and pay for a room and still have left overs for food. If you’re not being paid, you’ll still need to pay for your own food and drink etc. And the main hobby that I wanted to pick up was kitesurfing, which wasn’t cheap.

Working in the bar though was a lot of fun, the music was good enough to dance to most of the time and the staff there were great. I’d not worked in a bar environment before so it was refreshing and new and exciting, nothing like working behind a desk from 8-5, so I loved it!Read more