2016-2017 Skilled Futures (Landscape Construction) Awardee Jordan Cahill travelled to Europe in April 2017. He stayed for six weeks, and during this time he experienced working at Chelsea Flower Show with UK landscaping firm The Outdoor Room, networking in London and soaking up culture in Paris and Amsterdam.

Jordan shared with us his thoughts on his experience – a few excerpts are below,

“For the first week of my trip, I settled myself into my apartment, familiarised myself with the city, and took some time to look around. I visited various iconic landmarks throughout London, including the Big Ben, the London Eye, The Shard and Tower Bridge, to name a few. I took some time to discover the museums and art galleries London had to offer as well, including the British National Museum, and the Tate Modern. These museums taught me about the history of not only London, yet the world including Egypt, Rome and many more. I found these extremely fascinating, and would definitely recommend them to any keen traveller interested in art and history.”

“Once I had gotten comfortable with London and I was familiar with the City, I began work at The Chelsea Flower show on June 3rd, and this is where I met the team from The Outdoor Room and began my experience of a lifetime.

The first few days were all about familiarising myself with the job, meeting the team, setting up the job site and making sure everything was ready and right for the build. The plot included a large-scale water feature, brick and block work, timber work, large panelling to be installed, timber work, dry stone walling, steel work, sandstone paving, concrete and soft landscaping.

After the site had been excavated with all the finished heights established, we set out the large water pool and poured it with concrete, as-well as pouring other concrete pads for steel structures to be installed onto; this was the benchmark for the build as everything was then set out from these concrete pads and pool. Once this was all done and set, we began laying blockwork and bricks in order to build the pool shape. Timber screens were built to accommodate for large porcelain/MDF screens to be installed onto. This was a slow process as everything had to be perfect, and every move counted.”

“After my time at The Royal Chelsea Flower show had concluded, I was able to take a bit of down time and explore for myself. I booked a train ticket to Paris for 3 nights and decided to check out the city. The day I arrived, I walked around to various landmarks, and managed to climb the Eiffel tower, making it to the top and experiencing some amazing views of the city. A must do for anyone travelling to Paris”

“After Paris, I thought, why stop there? I had a friend come over from Australia in which I met up with, and we travelled to Amsterdam together for 4 nights. Again, we stayed in a hostel in the centre of Amsterdam and met a large number of travellers who were extremely outgoing and great people. I hired a bike for a day and took a ride around the city with a guy I met at the hostel. The highlight of this ride was definitely Vondel Park.”

“After all of my hard work, experiences, travelling and education, it was time to return home! For the total 6 weeks I spent in the U.K. I was able to learn so many new things, in which I am excited to bring into practice back here in Australia”

19th September, 2017