12 - Gatton: 1st week

I hadn’t heard the name Gatton before coming here in this huge town. Actually, this little reality lays at 90 km far from the well known Brisbane, it has got almost seven thousands of citizens and some shops and pubs (two); so the use of the noun “town” to refer to Gatton has been worthy.

This will be my house for the next 3 or 4 months. After Perth, where I had been for 6 months, and Brisbane, where I lived for 2 hours (basically, I didn’t see it), it’s the turn of Gatton. I moved here only for one and important reason: I want to stay in Australia longer and, in order to do that, I need to get my second Working Holiday Visa which allows me to extend my life overseas.

The decision to put all my effort to get the second Visa was born a few months ago, when I was still in Perth, and day by day was growing, becoming day by day bigger and stronger. Finally, the last helping hand was given by a clear and sharp picture which is still in my mind: in short, nowadays I can’t imagine my life in Italy, working as Engineer in the same office and with the same people who I used to collaborate with. I miss my friends, I miss my family and the beauty of Italy, but something inside of myself is telling me that now I should stay here, I need to let me go and live this experience deeper, trying to understand if this place, this vast island, can really become my next Land, my Nation.

Here I am. After 1 month studying English in a school, almost 5 months spent working as a cleaner, now I’m a farmer. A new experience is about to become real, actually has already began. At the get go everything seemed simpler, given that I was going to live with other foreigner people in a new house and, above all, I was going to start to work with a hourly pay which means almost 20 dollars per hour per 8 hours every day. But this is not going to happen. Not in the next days at least. Because the situation is more complicated that I thought. First of all, here in Gatton, just a few people have got a job which is paid 20 AUD/hour; second, it’s not so easy get a well paid job even because I’ve just arrived, so there are other people before me who can justly pretend to have a better occupation, since they arrived one or two months ago in this town; third, I’m living with two English guys and other three Italians and that doesn’t sound really good for my English; third, but I already knew before coming here, I should cope with some indignities or “injustices” as long as the people around you, who can decide if you’re worthy for a good job, will learn to know you and, hopefully, to appreciate you

Until that moment, I need to make an attempt to attain a better situation regard to my job and my accommodation, trying to do not be overly worried about the circumstances that surround me. So far, basically, I paid the rent for two weeks in advance (and the bond) and I started to work picking and cleaning the spring onions in a farm not so far from Gatton. My standard day become with the alarm, put at 4.50 am (yes Louise!!), and a fast breakfast; thus, I go to the office, which means the office of one of the Contractors (I’m gonna explain what a Contractor is in the next post), and I get on in a van that drop me in the spring onion’s field. After 5-7 hours, the same van pick me up and drop me home around 2 o’clock. As long as I concerned, this kind of job is literally (a) shit, but I even know that is not compulsory; nobody put a gun against my head and force me to do that. It’s my choice, I’m aware of the fact concerning why I’m here and why I’m working as a farmer. And I strongly believe that I’m going to complete this step of my life in Australia, to achieve this attainment, in order to get my treasure: the second WHV.

11 - Let's start another life

Here I am. After 6 months in the beautiful, nice and laidback Perth, I decided to have a go along the East coast, trying to find a job in a farm to extend the period overseas. Despite of my degree, I’ve worked in Australia as a cleaner and nowadays I began a new challenge in the agriculture field. I need this second WHV and, because of that, I should work in a farm for 88 days as established by the Government of the Kangoroo Land. At the get go, after just two days, everything seems still hidden and I’m about to discover a new world, still unknown.

I left Perth a couple of days ago. I left something that finally I’ve felt mine, a city which day by day was becoming a part of me, cause I used to live it every day, exploring every corner and enjoying every moment with my new friends who I met in this country. When you arrive alone in a other world, a surviving spirit comes up from you, tending to grasp everything that surround you because the first sensations that you’re engaged with, it’s a huge excitement for your new experience but even willingness to meet new people. In other worlds, I was really sad to leave all I built in 6 months nevertheless I think was the right moment to do that. After coming in this Country, I met hell of a lot of people, and this help me to keep going day by day, overcoming the difficulties that every day you can come across. You couldn’t stand the pain and the problems alone, particularly in a country where you can express your idea properly, because of the language, and where you don’t still know how to get along “administrative” situations such as taxes.

Finally, it’s like if you rebuild a little new world around you, making a effort to surround yourself of people who make you happy and comfortable. I believe that most of the travelers, as I am, when they arrive in a completely unknown world, they try to create an environment as much as possible similar to their native town or city where you are from.

It was the perfect moment to make a breakthrough in my Australian experience, trying something different, something which could challenge myself again. Even if I left, as I said, my first Australian world in Perth, I feel ready to spend the next three months focused on get this Visa. It’s the most important reason.

Obviously, the last day in Perth wasn’t so simple as I expected. My friendships with the new people that I met here in Australia are effectively strong, so was hard to leave them. Moreover, I had some problems with my job, cause it seems that someone haven’t accepted my departure yet. And almost twice a day a message has been sent from Perth to Brisbane to know how the things are going in this part of Australia. Basically, the problem consists that this messages don’t appear as the way to express curiosity by the other person, instead they seem a sort of instrument of control, as I lived still there. 

Why is she/he doing that? Good question, but still I don’t know how to answer.

10 - A change is gonna happen

It happens sometimes in your life. At the get go is really hard to recognize. You just feel a strange presence inside you, perhaps is lodged in your stomach or in your heart, somewhere you can't localize. But there is. Basically it's been there for a long time, however just in particular moments or periods of your life it comes up. Probably there are no worlds to describe it, no languages can explain what it is, where it comes from and, above all, why it shows itself only in certain situations during your life. Nevertheless you can still feel that somehow is the key of your happiness. If I was a psychologist  I would describe it as the rudder that drive you along your path, the helm of your boat of which you are the sailor. You have the power to address your life wherever you desire and you do have the instruments to do it, to make your dreams real.

Sometimes in your life you're confused because you can't realize where is your route, it's difficult to get the consciousness of what you want to do of your future; the society and everything around you have influenced your life and still are responsible of your actions. However you need to keep reminding that all surrounding don't have to canalize your existence in the wrong direction. Sometimes that sensation, which has been dwelling inside yourself for a long time and which is going to raise and come up, has to be considered, irrespective of your thoughts. You need to believe in it and follow it. Even if it can be puzzling or unintelligible, you can feel that is key of your future.

I've been here for almost 6 months. I came here in january in a sunny afternoon and I had just ripped my previous life where everything was framed. I had my friend, my family, my job and my securities. However I've been feeling that there was something else outside my little world which I'd buillt. I started to perceive inside of myself a sense of inadequacy, because I was about to realize that kind of life wasn't what I wanted. I listened carefully to this voice and I followed it, taking the flight that drop me here. I began a new life abroad, making new friendship, studying and working in a new environment, completely  unknown; nobody could help me, I was alone and without any help. But day by day I've been able to build a new life overseas with humility and willpower.

Nowadays I'm feeling that the time to live here is getting over, I need to challenge and push myself again, conscious of my strengthnesses and weaknesses, I want to start all over again because it's the time of my life within it's required a changement. I can say for sure why now, but there's something that is telling me what I have to do, how I can address my rudder towards my accomplishments. My goals cannot be bestowed but they should be achieved.

Indeed, it's time to change and to pursuit my goals. I need to believe in my sensations and in my feelings, I know that they're going to drive me to the happiness.