Today we’re hearing from Phoebe, an American travel blogger (and fellow Midwesterner!) who au paired in Sydney, Australia last year. Hearing about her experience in Australia made me green with envy- it sounds pretty glamorous!

Read on to hear about what a day in the life of an American au pair in Australia is really like: frothy lattes and ocean views included!

5:30 a.m.: Wake up call, sleepily roll out of bed, and walk to work (a whole ten feet!)

6 a.m.: Walk into the house, prepare breakfast (Nutrigrain + Milk + special sparkle spoons) .. I am obviously the best breakfast cook around! Today getting Archer and Allyra (my three and five year-old day jobs) prepared for school consists of chasing them around the house to put their clothes on and brush their teethe. Every morning is different, sometimes I wake to mornings filled with laughter and smiles, others with tears and tantrums.

7 a.m.: Gen (my host mum) and the kids are out the door and off to work and school!

AH the house is mine! Today, like every other day, I create my breakfast of gooey, steaming hot porridge topped with cinnamon, bananas, and a side of coffee (two coffees to be exact).  Aussie’s do not mess around with their coffee, and grounding my own beans at home became a necessary morning ritual!

Every morning I try to Skype at least one person from home, and today it was my dad. During my Skype sesh I mosey around the house doing my daily chores- making Iron man’s bed, hanging out the laundry, and sweeping up the piles of leftover rice from the massacre of dinner the night before.

After this, I blast my newly found Aussie playlist as I vacuum and prep food for tonight’s dinner.

9:30 a.m.: This is my time to explore all the wonders of life in an Australian suburb. Every day is a new adventure heavily dependent on weather.

Today is sunny and beautiful, so I hop on my bike and ride up and down the hilly back roads of Cronulla (the Sydney suburb I live in). Lauren, my au pair neighbour and best friend here, is waiting for me at our favourite coffee place, a tiny organic cafe called Heart And Soul. We sit watching all the beautiful Aussie souls cruise up and down the beach enjoying our intricately decorated flat whites.

12 p.m.: Meet my local Aussie mate Nelson for a surf lesson. I proceed to get absolutely pummelled by the waves- this whole surfing thing is not as glamorous, nor as easy as I was envisioning.

3:30 p.m.: Drive to pick up the kids from Bambino’s, a perfect, cheeky description of their school. I take a deep breathe before returning to the madness of child care. As I open the gate, both Archer and Allyra tackle me to the ground with excitement, plastering a huge smile on my face!

4 p.m.: Allyra has lost her shoes, they are no where to be found. We spend an eternity searching every nook and cranny without any luck. No shoes for you little girl.

4:30 p.m.: Activity time! From bear hunts in the woods to beach days, pool time, play dates with other au pairs, or trips to the library, there is never a dull moment on our adventure-filled afternoons together. But today is a beautiful day- a perfect opportunity for goggles, boogie boards, and the pool! We cruise home and put on our ‘swimmers’ (Aussie lingo for swim suits) and play for hours.

5:30 p.m.: Bath time. This is always the most interesting part of the day, as these two little fish hate getting out of the water. They both plead over and over again ‘Just 5 more minutes Bebe’….!

Solution: Today I put a dinosaur costume on my head chasing them out of the pool as they giggle so hard they start to cry. Success! Both are chased into the tub, and no one has seen me ridiculously dressed and roaring around in a dinosaur costume…

6 p.m.: Gen (my host mum) arrives home from work. It’s time to put my cooking skills to work. I throw the veggies (broccoli and carrots) in the steamer, sizzle the strips of veal in olive oil, and cook the pasta to perfection.

It’s pretty plain-jane, but healthy and ideal because my limited cooking skills match their simplistic taste buds!

7 p.m.: When the kids are fed and mesmerized by their iPads or Frozen, Gen and I finally sit down to eat our soy-sauce and chill infused stir-fry. We talk about our completely different days as the the delicious bottle of local Sauvignon Blanc quickly begins to disappear.

Do you know anyone who has worked as an American au pair in Australia? Would you want to au pair in Australia?

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