(Good day, Greetings, How are you?)
Just practicing my Yugambeh for my upcoming trip. (That's the local aboriginal language for the area)
I want to break into song (Down Under - Men at Work) as in a few days I will be heading off to the Gold Coast, in Queensland, Australia to volunteer at the Commonwealth Games.
As usual it took me plenty of time to make that final decision to commit. I always have a great sense of excitement in applying, then there is the wait to see if there will be an interview and then the long wait to see if selected for a role. And then the realisation that I've actually been offered a role on the other side of the world. Ooops.
This interview was a little different from the normal, turn up and speak to an interviewer face to face, or an over the phone discussion, as not being able to get to Australia, we were invited to do an online "one-way" interview process.
Sat in front of the computer the questions appeared on the screen and we had a bit of preparation time, before we recorded our video answers and uploaded them onto the interview system. There was an option to re-record the answers, but I felt that answering in one hit was more like being face to face, and if I wanted to change my answer I did so as part of the process.
Whatever I said must have been enough to make them think I would be a suitable addition to the team and I was offered a role with the Athletics Field of Play at the Carrara Sports Stadium.
I accepted and then started to think about what I should do.
Those who remember my Rio deliberations will know how much thinking I put into that before making my final decision. This really wasn't much different, though perhaps a little quicker.
A couple of other volunteers were deciding about taking on an AirBnB for the duration of the games, and eventually we found a house not far from where we were all volunteering. Though not as close to my venue as in Rio, it sounds like a lovely place in the suburbs. Accommodation sorted.
Visa next (very easily done online) and then the fun finding flights, which I kept putting off while not being able to decide how long I wanted to be away and how I wanted to structure my time. Seeing we never get notified of shifts very early it is always tricky planning the details.
I then got an email changing my role from Field of play to "Sports Presentation Team". I'm intrigued, as the information on the role isn't overly specific. So it will be fun to find out.
Shifts arrived for 7th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th April, all afternoon/evening shifts, so leaves daytime free to explore a little, but does pose the transport home late at night issue. Time to fire up the Uber app?
I contacted a flight specialist who put a package together for me with Flights out to Sydney, then to the Gold Coast a couple of days later, a hotel in Brisbane after the games and a fight home from there. (Believe me it took a lot longer for me to make a decision than it did for her to find a suitable package......what do you mean you're not surprised?)
Really lucky too, that friends from my running club had moved out to Sydney a few years ago, and they have very kindly offered to put up with me for a couple of nights while I am in Sydney. Though I think maybe my departure from them on a 7am flight (with me having to leave them early hours of the morning) might mean I have to sneak out quietly.
So now comes the important gathering of things I need to take and can't live without. Time to sort out my ipad to update the blog while I'm away, find my travel adaptor and make sure I have enough stugeron to help me sleep on the flights.
Time to start a few lists then.
Will be updating as and when.
Catch you soon
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