Home Girl

It hardly feels like it was a year ago that I was packing up my room and passing boxes into the loft space of my parents' house in North Yorkshire. Now, a year on, I am back up in the loft retrieving all my worldly belongings that wouldn't quite fit into a backpack and blinking hard, in the familiarity of my home, to understand whether this past year has actually happened or not?

It was the strangest feeling to be waiting at my departure gate for my flight from Singapore to Heathrow. Without sounding spoilt, I had flown quite a lot in the month prior to that particular day in late May, and so it didn't feel unnatural to be getting on a plane again. The fact that this journey meant I would end up in London was hard to get my head around! Even as I was onboard and settled in my seat, high up in the night sky towards England, I'm afraid there was no point, whatsoever, during those fourteen hours at which I felt all dreamy and thoughtful about my lovely year hopping around the world. Nope, not all all. In fact, all I could do, was swear. Swear repeatedly, over and over again. To myself of course - in my head, under my breath..at least I hope I am right by this and didn't accidentally say it out loud and offend anyone..

I continued swearing when I landed at 5.30am, groggy and sleep deprived on a cold Wednesday morning in May.

"Oh my goodness" I thought. "I'm actually back! F***!"

Typically, I had to get unsettled again as I stepped off the plane into the corridor after hearing the air steward announce, "Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to London Heathrow. The outside temperature is a cool 10 degrees"

"F***!! It's COLD!!"

Then of course, I remembered that in less than half an hour I was about to be reunited with my parents, who had got up at the crack of dawn to collect me from the airport.

"F***!"

I should clarify that this expletive was purely based on the fact I was about to see them after a whole year, not to suggest that I was unhappy about it at all!

Yep, who could have thought I was capable of such vocabulary. Though I'm sure we're all victim to the odd swearword as a means of relief when we're faced with something peculiar. And peculiar it was to be back in my parents' car and on the M1 up to Northern England. I really hadn't mentally prepared myself for this. With such a jam packed lifestyle in May, I was too busy enjoying myself and all the little adventures along the way.

The most recent of which, had been my trip to Hong Kong. Funnily enough, I caught myself in another state of shock on this flight - but for completely different reasons, and I promise there was no f-word in sight! The plane was making it's slow descent over Hong Kong, at about 9 o'clock at night, and I was casually looking out of my window at the cloudy black sky. All of a sudden, the plane must have sunk below the clouds, because the sight infront of me was like someone had just switched on the lights. I could see the whole of Hong Kong and it's endless skyscrapers and towers, lit up in dazzling gold lights, sprawling for miles and separated only by little breaks of water between the islands. It was breathtaking. Picture me, nose and hands pressed up to the window of the plane, totally awestruck by the lights of Hong Kong, and completely blocking the view for anyone sat next to me to see! Oops.

My Chinese friend, Connie, who I had met during her work & study year in England, was waiting patiently to meet me at the arrivals gate. It was lovely to see her in her home country, and a real relief to be touring the city over the next four days with a local. We soon found our way by bus to our tiny guestroom on the 16th floor of a residential style building in Tsim Sha Tsui, where we dropped our bags before heading out for some dinner at a chinese restaurant. I couldn't wait to have a cup of tea - and didn't mind the fact that Hong Kong style tea is made with evaporated milk - surprisingly tasty.

I had a great time in Hong Kong. I pleased myself on my first day whilst Connie was out at work by walking around some shopping malls, grabbing some lunch and then taking the Star Ferry over to Wan Chai to meet Connie after she finished her shift. Considering that I had just come from the quiet life of Bali to a busy city, I wasn't overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of city life in Hong Kong. My only annoyance about it all was that I was targeted, amongst a crowd of local people, by Indian shop sellers to buy rolex watches or have a suit tailored...rather irriating when I am just minding my own business trying to get to the art museum!

Connie was keen to have me try many weird and wonderful delicacies in Hong Kong. I felt I was doing quite well on the adventurous side by happily dining out at a sushi restaurant on one of our first evenings together, sushi something that I tried for the first time in Sydney and loved. Eating raw scallops, raw salmon and raw tuna with rice and seaweed was utterly delicious. On account of this tourist victory, Connie decided to take me to a cafe for noodles the next day. For breakfast. Hmm, a bowl of steaming noodles in stock water with fish dumplings floating about....not quite what I'd usually stomach first thing in the morning. I happily tried it, ate half of it, and couldn't face the rest. It wasn't that it didn't taste good - I would have easily eaten the meal for lunch or for dinner, but since it didn't resemble weetabix and banana I was having trouble. Not to worry. A day of shopping in Hong Kong's endless variety of multi storey shopping malls, window shopping at the high fashion labels such as Gucci, Versace and Louis Vuitton, and nipping in and out of street markets, we decided to rest our weary soles and have a Korean style barbeque for dinner.

I wondered how on earth we were meant to have a barbeque inside a restaurant, but as the waitress showed us to our table, it all made sense. In the middle of the table was a sunken metal dish, lit by a gas hob below. We were invited to choose our raw foods from the buffet table, which I left Connie to do, not believing what she would actually come back with. Pig's neck, chicken dumplings (made of tiny edible bones) and cow's gut to name but a few. Thankfully, she'd brought some vegetables and fish over as well. Phew. So we laid out a few items and watched them sizzle in front of us, quite entertaining really! Until I decided to try some fish, and could barely enjoy the thing for the amount of fish bones I had to keep retrieving. Ah dear. All in all, not a bad meal really and I was able to enjoy a few familiar things, and steer well clear of the meaty things I wasn't too keen on.

Hong Kong Hot Pot night was disasterous however. In a similar way, we had a hob in the middle of the table with a large pot of stock bubbling away, and we ordered several raw items to cook in it. So far, so good. Until I discovered that all the foods get cooked together, in all the juices, and so even a nice corn on the cob or fresh prawn would be lifted out with chopsticks and covered in beef bits. Eek, I just couldn't do it. Up until then, I'd been pretty good I'd thought, trying unusual chinese desserts, a couple of traditional breakfasts and crazy half tea-half coffee drinks. As grateful as I was for the cultural experience, hot pot was just not for me and I sat the second half out!

That was the only glitch in a brilliant few days however. In between mealtimes we managed to go by cable car to the top of the mountains to see a big buddha statue, which unfortunately was largely masked by prolific fog that day, but I believe made for some very atmospheric photos! It was also an opportunity to witness a bit of nature aside from the concrete jungle of the city, albeit with a tint of grey cloud. We also spent a lovely day browsing the art museum, watching a dragon boat race and then catching the bus up to The Peak, which gave you fantastic views over the city as the evening got darker and the buildings switched their lights on. A fascinating city, that's for sure.

I was sad to wave goodbye to Connie at the airport on a lovely blue sky day, but we left on the note that we will see each other again, and in the meantime, social networking makes it very easy for us to stay in contact. She informs me that I am not to get married in the next three years or so, as she doesn't think that she can afford the plane ticket. Fine by me I told her. Though of course my future husband be so rich by then that he'll pay for her ticket! ha!

After Hong Kong I stopped briefly in Singapore again, and stayed in a very nice hostel in Little India. I went out for some yummy Indian food and treated myself to a session at an Indian beauty salon where I had beautiful henna designs semi-permanently tattooed over my hands and arms. Love it. Sadly it did not last more than a week but I was thrilled with it while it was there and loved watching it being applied. Of course, I squeezed in another trip to an art gallery in Singapore before my time was up and I had to be on the shuttle bus to the airport.

So that concludes recent events, I believe. Sadly, my gap year is over but they are memories that I will hold on to for ever. I'm very lucky to have been able to take the year out and enjoy myself so much. For the near future, it's England for me, and high time to sort my life out. I'm done with university, working to save, and gap year travel. Now it's time for the grown up stuff. Work. My new swearword - it has four letters after all!

A Taste of Asia....again

It's hard to believe that in less than two weeks, I'll be landing back on British soils and adjusting back to an English way of life. It's May 2010 now, which means it is my 12th month of travelling....I have to say I feel quite proud of myself for managing to get this far and for putting up with crappy back packer jobs in Australia to still be travelling a year later! I now find myself in Bali, Indonesia, and I am absolutely loving a taste of Asia again!

In the weeks since my last post, I spent three final weeks in Perth - three final weeks in Australia, infact. My plane took off on 29th April at about 6 in the evening, and I felt rather thoughtful and reminiscent as I looked down from my plane window with the sun setting over Perth. Yes I know, call me cheesy, but the eight months that I had spent in that continent were a seriously good time, and although I didn't get to see entirely everything that I had hoped to, maybe I will make it back one day. I spent my last three weeks re-visiting some good friends in Perth, going for lots of coffee and trying to make the most of the sunny weather, despite the climate cooling down considerably for their winter season (boo hoo). I was back working for All Seasons Catering again, fortunate enough to work at some great occasions such as the RedBull Air Race in Perth, viewed from the balcony of a luxury apartment whose American owners were having a lavish party for all their darling work colleagues. Quite a treat to serve platters of impressive food to guests, on a glorious hot day (minor facial sunburn achieved in under five minutes). Other functions included a large function for the Breast Cancer Awareness Charity of Western Australia, of which Mick is a dedicated supporter. Amazing food produced by several caterers and served inside an attractive marquee, plus we also bagged lovely free t-shirts! Love free stuff. The time in between work shifts was spent with lots of different friends, trying to preserve the funds but still managing to fit in the odd coffee shop or two, beach trips and window shopping.

With my earnings that month, I decided to re-route my flight home. My original ticket home departed from Brisbane, which is on the East Coast of Australia. I decided that for the cost of having to fly across the country to catch this flight (some $350), I would rather spend the money on a budget flight to Bali, spend a few weeks there, and from there I could fly to Singapore very cheaply to catch the Singapore to London connection. So that's what I did, and I've not regretted it one single bit. I love, love LOVE Bali!!

As I stepped off the plan in Denpasar airport, I immediately felt the humidity hit me, even at 11 at night! All the memories of my Asian travels in 2009 came flooding back, and for the time being I was actually enjoying the novelty of the humidity!! After queuing to pay for my entry visa to Indonesia (another page filled in my passport - woop!), I jumped in a taxi and headed in the direction of Kuta - the trashy, touristy capital of Bali. Full of Aussies and very developed for the tourist...with streets upon streets of Western clothes shops, drinking spots and various hotel resorts, but with a good beach to take the edge off it. I was warned by friends that this was to be expected in Kuta, but to just use it as a base for the first couple of nights. I successfully managed to get a walk-in booking at a guesthouse called Komalah Indah 2, paying 70,000rp a night for a twin room (approx 5 quid) which included a breakfast of banana toastie and a cup of herbal tea each morning. Yum!

I spent two days in Kuta, browsing the markets and enjoying some time on the beach, watching surfers catch some good waves and taking endless photos of gorgeous sunsets. On the third day, I got picked up at the obscene time of 6.30am from my guesthouse to be taken on a shuttle service to the Gili Islands, and I was super excited! Well, at about 10am when I'd actually woken up and was on the speed boat, I should say. On the way I met another solo traveller called Sarah, from Switzerland, and when we arrived two hours later on Gili Trawangan, it worked out well that we should share a room together.

And so passed four fantastic days of life on Gili Trawangan...lazing on the beach, hiring bikes and exploring the island, going on a snorkel trip (where we saw turtles!) and eating the most amazing fresh fish every evening. Our little bungalow was so cute, with a huge king size bed and an open air bathroom, though not quite so appealing when it decided to chuck it down one afternoon, and were busting for a wee...! Sarah and I met a lot of local Indonesian people, mainly guys that worked in restaurants and would come and sit with us when we had our meals. Lovely, friendly people. Though I was starting to realise that practically every one of them made a beeline for me! Me, the tall, pale and rather more rounded friend of Sarah, whom I assumed they would all love for her Italian looks and petite, tanned frame....but oh no, they commented on her skin saying it was like their own...then seemed to drool over me for my "western beauty" ! Ha!! If only Westerners would fall at my feet in the same way! I suppose I should be complimented, but really, I was actually starting to get very irritated by the attention, especially as they would just not accept the words "just friends" or even (in desperation) that I had a boyfriend (ok so a little lie doesn't hurt, right?). Infact, these Indonesians didn't care, as some of them were even married themselves but still tried it on with other girls. One of them even said to me "If you do not love me, I will kill myself", to which I giggled, but then five minutes later saw the melodramatic twat dive off the balcony, fully clothed, into the swimming pool below...then get kicked out by the bouncer...but at least the coast was clear after that! Blimey. If only I was attracted to these five foot tall, skinny Indonesians then I could have had a different husband each day.

The experience didn't end on Gili Trawangan. After saying goodbye to Sarah, my new French friend, Cecile and I caught the public boat over to Gili Air. Gili Air was a lot quieter and far less developed than Gili Trawangan, but we loved it, for these very reasons. The Gili Islands do not have any motorised transport, so bye-bye to the tooting cars and motorbikes of Kuta, Bali, and hello to walking, bicycles and horse and carts! Lovely. Cecile and I shared a twin room (with Disney princess bed covers) in a great little bamboo bungalow right on the beach at a place called Lucky's. Yep, lucky we really were, to wake up to such a stunning view as the mountains of Lombok and the calm blue ocean, with hardly a soul around. In my whole year of travels, it's only now, right at the end, that I find my little spot of paradise that I had been searching for all along. Time for some more snorkelling, lazy beach days, and great evenings watching a live band one night, and gathering on the beach a few other times with local people to have a bonfire and play guitar together. Happy days. Unfortunately I still hadn't developed dark skin by this point, so I was still flavour of the week for the local men, and would just be minding my own business cycling along when I'd hear my name called out, usually by guys I didn't even recognise! Cecile didn't get any of this treatment due to her deep tan, much to my annoyance of course, but she did giggle at me as I tried to edge away from guys repeatedly trying to kiss my hand, and stroke my arm, and even try to woo me by telling me that I have "hair like spaghetti". Wow. The English Language teacher taught them some shocking chat up lines. I'm guessing the reference to spaghetti was down to the fact that my hair has bleached quite a bit in the Australian sun, so I'm quite a blondie these days. At least that's the analogy I'm going by, rather than my hair was a tangled mess at the time of conversation...

Despite all these crazy Indo-dudes I seemed to meet, I had a truly amazing time on the Gili Islands, and I am so, SO glad that I decided to stop in Indonesia. I'm now in Ubud, which is back on the mainland of Bali, and soaking up some culture for a few days. Have visited a fair few temples so far, two great art galleries, and mused through the various shops and markets for a few bargains. Tomorrow I'm hoping to go to the Sacred Monkey Sanctuary, but sincerely hope that said Sacred Monkeys do not steal my camera!! I have heard they have been nifty little buggers if you're not careful!! In the evening I am hoping to go to a local dance performance at the Ubud Palace, before heading off the following day (saturday) to Nusa Dua, not far from Kuta. I'm hoping to meet up with my friend Jane (who I met in Perth and who also worked with at All Seasons) who is staying in a hotel as I write. My final few days will be spent enjoying as much beach and sun as possible with her, before I head off to Singapore on Tuesday! This will just be a quick overnight stop for me, as I take my flight the following day to HONG KONG!!! Very excited about this, I tell ya! I will be meeting up with my lovely Chinese friend, Connie, and seeing some sights with her.

So that's about all for now folks! Love you and leave you.

Back in town

Perth - my home away from home. Over the fantastic summer months that span from my arrival in early December through to March, long hot days consistently in the high 30s, teamed with gorgeous beaches, a relaxed city vibe, and wonderful people, I was loving my life on the West Coast and wanted nothing more than for it to continue for ever. I began, once again, to consider an application for the second year visa, which unfortunately, was not as straight forward in obtaining as the first one. If only I could just go online, fill out another form, hand over another 120 quid and voila. No can do. It seems that the huge backpacker population in Australia has convinced the authorities to issue 2nd year working holiday visas only on the basis that the visa applicant has completed 88 days work on a farm, a mine, or some similar kind of concentration camp. i.e. jobs that Australians are too lazy to do.

Hmm. Working on a farm....stay a whole extra year....or go back home to reality...or stay in Australia and avoid my "real life" in the UK (career wise)...hmm, Australia vs England...what to do, what to do? After much deliberation in February and a few turn of events, I booked myself a flight to Adelaide on 1st March. An emotional goodbye in Perth with all my amazing friends at the Coolibah and at work, and later in the day I am crashing along the windy roads of the Adelaide Hills in a vehicle very similar to the 4x4 I drove on Fraser Island (minus the Germans in the back). I'd been picked up by my new manager Donagh (Irish), and we were on our way through the extensive South Australian vineyards to my new home for the next 88 days. It was here that I would be reunited with Juli and Melanie, two friends I'd met in Perth, and who had been working on the farm to make up the requirements needed for their visa applications. Absolutely lovely to see them again. Absolutely a shock to the system to get up at 5am the following day however. Now don't get me wrong, I may be a bit clueless on occasion, but I was fully aware what I was letting myself in for. Juli and Melanie did not hold back on the truth about this job. I knew and expected that it was going to be low paid, long hours and hard work, but it gets you the visa, and well, it's like a rite of passage that all backpackers should try the fruit picking thing! It also crossed my mind that when leaving the farm after 3 months, I could potentially be 3 stone lighter, and that was a rather encouraging thought to keep me going during the days in the vineyards...hello boys.
Various alarm tones, sleepy groans, cockerill calls and lights on at 5am, we were dressed, fed and on the road by 5.45am. Still dark, and kitted out head to toe in several layers, boots and wax jackets, pulling off netting in the vineyards. Australia in 2011, size 10 bikini, three months wages, Australia in 2011, three months wages, size 10 bikini...was the mantra going round and round my head.
7pm, end of the day, back to the house. Shower, food, exhausted, bed by 9pm. Cockerill call at 5am. Repeat.

Australia in 2011, money, size 10, Australia in 2011, money, size 10, Australia.....
"Excuse me, are you married?"
Interrupted from my affirmation, I look across to the little Indian guy next to me, clipping grape bunches.
"huh?"
"Lady, are you married?"
"er, yeah, I mean NO, why? Do you know an Australian?" I joked...but actually the thought of a spouse visa was quite appealing thinking about it...
"So you're not married. Do you have a boyfriend then?" He asked.
"No. Someone once told me that all men are complete ..."
"My name's Deep." He cut across. "Like the deep blue ocean, the deep blue sky. What's your name?"
"Elizabeth" I mumbled, avoiding eye contact and making an effort to speed up in my grape picking and edge away.
"Ah! Like the Queen! You're English, like Queen Elizabeth!"
"er yeah,"
"You're beautiful, Elizabeth"

At that point my bucket of grapes was full and I was able to make a getaway from Deep Indian Admirer to deposit my bucket in the tractor trailer. I took up position on a new row in the vineyard, next to a lovely Cambodian lady and started to chat to her a little about my time in Cambodia.
"Hello lady" says the guy next to me, from Nepal.
"Hi" I smile back.
"Are you married?"
"No, don't be silly, I'm only 23."
"You're 23 and you not married? You are old woman!"

I look to Melanie for support, but it turns out she was also having the same conversations.
"Lady, are you married?" they ask her.
"No, I'm not married."
"Then are you single?"
"No."
"Then lady, how can you not be married, if you are not single?"
"Because I have a boyfriend" Melanie replies.
"Then why are you not married?"

Finding a suitable distraction was a good way to end these sorts of conversations, walking away from the calls of "Lady, why you have your nose pierced? You not Indian!" behind me.
Once you got past the initial maritial status interrogation and dinner invites, I quite liked the team of fruit pickers. The simple conversations were nice, and the women liked any opportunity to practise their English. Melanie, Juli and I were still stared at like aliens every morning for being white, an awkward feeling at first but something that you get used to.

By the end of the first week, I'd clocked up well over 50 hours in just five days, and was really questioning every decision I had been making up until then regarding my stay in Australia. That same day, we had been stood in the vineyards, in the rain for several hours, trying to finish our rows to meet the farmer's quota for the day. I counted the 6 months that I'd been in Australia, and thought how long that had felt, thinking about everything I'd done in that time. Then I imagined the remaining 6 months on my current visa, and realised that, actually, that was a good amount of time left. Why was I so intent on the extra year? It was largely to give me the time to work enough to buy the flight home (as the first one had an expiry date of one year) but I had never intended to stay as long as August 2011, as that had always felt very intimidating to imagine. So I made the decision to stop the farm work. If I had decided against the 2nd year visa, there was no point wasting my time doing a badly paid job and not being happy whilst working, and not having much of a life after shifts.
By the following evening, I was on a bus out of the beautiful Adelaide Hills, and checking into a hostel in the city centre.
The following day, I woke up on my 24th birthday, a year older, happier and unmarried it appears. It was a public holiday in Adelaide for some reason, but as I wandered the city by myself, I managed to find a nice bookshop and bought an arty magazine and sat with a coffee for a few hours in there. In the evening I met up with an old friend from Port Douglas called Anna, who I'd met on her holidays back in October. She is an English teacher in Adelaide, but is from London. We went to a nice bar and I enjoyed fish n chips and a beer as me birthday tea, keeping it British of course. Anna invited me to stay at her flat in Glenelg, an offer which I gratefully accepted as I was totally not keen on the hostel I had picked in the city. She picked me up after work the following day and I spent five lovely days, chilling out at her place and spending time at the beach while she was out.

I also had time to book myself onto a tour of The Grampians National Park and The Great Ocean Road, which would take me over to Melbourne, where I intended to find some work. The tour over the weekend was brilliant, and well worth the money. Stunning views and sunsets, and a good group of people to meet. Melbourne was equally as exciting a place to end up in. A buzzing, creative and clean city, bursting full of tiny side streets and hidden lanes of coffee shops, impressive street graffitti, tiny galleries, vintage shops, with an endless variety of markets at the weekends and plenty of festivals running throughout the year. Don't think I've ever drunk so much coffee in all my life, or been so inspired by all the sites around me. I arrived in the middle of L'Oreal Fashion Week, and the Food & Wine festival, sampling some nice food and watching some free fashion shows in the street. I was also feeling rather lucky at that stage in my travels, to arrive in a new place by myself and have a list of friends that I could look up. After a few nights at another hostel, I went to stay with my friend Angela at her flat in Northcote, an arty suburb of Melbourne, whilst I sorted myself out and applied for jobs.
I loved staying with Ange. As well as being a lively, bubbly soul, she is also a senior fashion designer, and an amazing cook! After a scrummy dinner of stuffed peppers (or capsicums as they call them here) she had some fantastic portfolios to show me, and lots of interesting artefacts around her apartment from various travel destinations. As well as her current freelance job which keeps her busy full time, she also manages to fit in an alterations business and has several customers for that, as well as doing some volunteer work at the weekends for local creatives. An inspirational lifestyle, talk about self-motivation! Ange was also kind enough to give me a crash course in Adobe Illustrator, something that will be very valuable to me, once I get my head around it!

I ended up staying two weeks with Ange, and even managed to find myself a job in Northcote, just about. A restaurant requiring waiting staff got back to me and invited me to do a two week trial shift. I was disappointed to arrive and be told that it would be just $14 per hour (usual rate is $19-$20) and that they could only offer me one shift a week. By this point, I was exhausted with job hunting and having to start from square one all over again, for what felt like the millionth time since being away. Ten months of travelling and constant on the go, and so I wanted to go somewhere where I would be happiest. Perth. My old job at All Seasons Catering was kindly left open for me, so it didn't take much to persuade me to head back. I spent the remainder of the time in Melbourne having a great Easter weekend with Ange, driving out to the countryside and having lots of devonshire tea, evenings spent in Melbourne having cheese and wine, or coffee, or chilling out watching dvds and chit chat. Melbourne has definately been a hotspot for me.

So here I am, back in Perth and all things familiar. A lot of my friends are still here, and I'm thankful to be working for my old boss and earning some dollar again. They say that things never quite go to plan, but that it all works out in the end, and I suppose this update has been a great example of that. So unless I meet a nice Aussie and run off for a quick marriage, you'll be seeing me very soon...

Everytime I have sight of a calendar, my mind jumps back into reality and I find it difficult to understand where the days have gone. It is the first day of February, well over a month since Christmas, and far too long since I wrote a blog entry.

At the time of my last essay (sorry guys, but I can type very fast and get carried away!), I had just arrived in Perth and was staying with Mick in his beautiful townhouse in East Perth. I worked on some amazing functions for his company which included various Christmas parties, one on a boat cruise from Perth to Fremantle - gorgeous cityscape at night, all skyscrapers lit up and dazzling with fairy lights, another in an old prison in Fremantle, several private functions at impressive houses across the city and the odd wedding or two in January. Always a change of scenery and ever a happy occasion. It also meant that I have met many real life Australians (I was starting to wonder if they really existed) and can really pick them out in a crowd now, usually because they're all athletic, tanned and body beautiful (the fake boobies industry must make millions out here!) , or, if male, they have hilarious white patches from their sunglasses and beer "stubbies" permanently in their hands etc.

If you've seen any of my photos on facebook, you may have gathered by now that I'm somewhat of a party animal, and so after ten luxurious nights of quality living at Mick's house, I decided to spend my earnings on accommodation at a hostel in Northbridge, the backpacker area of Perth, and start meeting some friends in time for Christmas and New Years parties of my own. So I rocked up at The Coolibah Lodge in Northbridge a week or so before Christmas, and I think it took me three days to roll in drunk after a night out with new friends, goal! Sorry Mum, it's all in moderation I promise.

I spent Christmas with more Irish people in one place than I've ever met in my life, and consequently it was a very beer flavoured event. I had worked Christmas Eve at a house party for Israeli guests (the most attractive males of the species by far, SHALOM) and once back at the hostel I cracked open a bottle of red and happily greeted Carleen, an English girl that I had lived with in Port Douglas for nearly two months and briefly in an apartment together for a week. The full cooked breakfast on Christmas morning set us straight again, and later that day we all had a barbeque in several sittings, and I can now definately say that "I threw another shrimp on the barbie, mate" woop!! Many drinks later and we all ended up at a house party down the road, where I got chatting to some french guys from our hostel, speaking very poor gramatical french to them (but it sounded good at the time!) and then making a pact with them to help them with their English and me with my French! If only Madame Fleutre could see me now. Actually no, she'd be disgusted that I've forgotten so much of her lessons!

On Boxing Day I headed to the beach with some girls and enjoyed a splash about in the water, finding it hard to realise that it was, yes, the 26th of December, and I was SUNBATHING!!!! I can't deny that my webcam conversation on Christmas Day with the family had given me a twinge of saddness, and disbelief as they showed me the snowy view out of the back windows. Everyone was in the same boat though at the Coolibah, and decided it was beer not tears that day. We had all participated in a Secret Santa present giving too which was great, though when I opened my present, my Secret Santa had decided to give me an inflatable old man doll. Hmm. That's guys for you!

It was a very strange experience to celebrate Christmas and New Year in Australia, on hot, sunny days that we could only dream of back in England. New Year's was especially weird, as usually I am used to the wind down of the end of term, or the end of the working month, and the feeling of a new start for January. I didn't really have that kind of separation this year that is usually coupled with a wintery season, but I can say that I have had a brilliant time since I began my travels some eight monts ago, and I am sure that it will continue to be a great time in 2010. My New Year's resolution is to get a second year visa! So perhaps I will have another Christmas in the sun, who knows.

In the New Year, the season quietened down for All Seasons Catering, but it meant that we did have time to have our staff Christmas do. Mick, ever the generous spirit, took us all go-karting in the morning, and then off for a 20 minute helicopter ride in the afternoon! How cool is that!? A really good day and amazing views over Perth and Fremantle. I feel quite lucky to say that I have now been in a helicopter twice! Over the quiet period, I managed to get myself a job in the hostel, working on reception both to cover my accomodation for free and to earn some extra money.

I was really happy to see my friend Kitty again when she flew to Perth last week. We had met in New Zealand originally and then met up again in Sydney in December, where she was working on the Sydney Sky Tower. Kitty and I had a really great week doing a couple of mini road trips south of Perth to Margaret River, and northwards to The Pinnacles. We made it back to Perth (just about) to join in with the Australia Day celebrations, and watched some spectacular fireworks on the waterfront later that evening. Kitty stayed for a week and then headed back to Melbourne and then onto Tasmania. I was really sad to see her go but hopefully it's just see you later and not goodbye! She lives 30 minutes away from Amsterdam in The Netherlands so I'm sure it won't be difficult to meet up again in the future.

So I believe that rounds off my events for the past couple of months. I really like Perth and am having a great time staying at the Coolibah Lodge.

Happy New Year xxxx

Yee-ha

To think that I was once a nervous driver...you should have seen me on Fraser Island! Give me HGVs, tractors, coaches or caravans, I reckon I am skilled for life after driving a 4x4 jeep full of 10 screaming passengers on the world's largest sand island!

Of course I was happy to admit that I held a full driver's license and could therefore 'help out' with 'a bit of driving' here and there over the course of the three days, but little did I know that I was the only driver in the group who is used to driving on the left, consequently I was forced to drive from the word go. So off we set from the hostel, all the camping gear loaded up on the roof of the vehicle, all ten Germans and Swedes strapped into the back of the car and raring to go for three days of fun and games on Fraser. Vehicle into gear, slow manouvering out of the hostel driveway and careful driving along the road to the ferry crossing.....with the handbrake on....no wonder the bloody car was so slow and couldn't pick up any speed!! Once I released the handbrake the jeep lurched forward, causing much 'hilarity' and calls of 'woman driver' from the Germans in the back. Charming!! My excuse was that I was used to driving an automatic the last time I drove in New Zealand, but apparently this excuse was void as automatics still have handbrakes...so really I guess the woman driver thing was taken on board and I seemed to improve after that.

It was quite a struggle actually driving up to the barge. The sand was so fine and soft that the jeep got bogged straight away, meaning that I kicked my group out and told them to push, and when that didn't work they had to dig the sand from behind the tyres, I had to reverse a little and then heavy accelerator to get us moving again. My foot was heavy on the pedal but the jeep was moving at a snail's pace...we were happy that it was moving though and we did finally make it onto the barge.

It didn't end there. Once on Fraser Island we were again facing sand pits and soft hills that required much team work, lots of pushing, lots of sweat and tears to actually get anywhere. It was a hard first day but we eventually came off the dirt tracks and out of the worst of it and found ourselves cruising along the beach, waves lapping, wind in our face, happy Germans in the back, the odd dingo passing by....suddenly everyone relaxed again and we stopped off by the Mahino Shipwreck before finding a place to set up camp for the night. We were travelling in a group with a second jeep from our hostel and I delighted in hearing the English language again as we started making dinner all together. I got lots of praise from the other group on my driving abilities that day (good job they weren't around for the handbrake incident in the morning!!) as I had been the sole driver in the group whereas the guys in the second jeep had all taken turns. My group all seemed a bit too nervous to take over, and left the scary stuff for me! I didn't actually mind though, as throughout the day I was building up confidence and getting used to the way the 4x4 moved etc. Those things are indestructible I swear, you can actually feel quite safe in them believe it or not.

We had some drinks that night before getting up at 5am the following morning to get moving again. There were only certain times of the day that you could drive along the beach according to the tides, otherwise we would have been stranded for a few hours at the tents. Driving along the beach at dawn was a really amazing experience, watching the sunrise over pristine beaches, just stunning! We drove for three hours to get to Lake McKenzie, where we stopped to cook a big breakfast and then swim for a few hours in the beautiful clear lake. The water was so clear and we enjoyed a good relaxation on the white sandy beach too. We had to pile back into the cars again in order to sync with the tides and make it over to the next destination which was Indian Head, right at the top end of the island and another few hours drive. I think we all underestimated how much driving was involved to get around the island. Indian Head had some beautiful lookouts, and from one point we could see turtles and stingrays in the ocean below us.

We had lots of laughs that evening as we got back to camp, namely due to the dreaded dingoes. Dingoes are somewhere between a dog and a fox, they hunt for food and are known to be a bit vicious. We were warned to be so careful about leaving out food and drink, food scraps in dish water, toothpaste etc and we even had to dig 50cm holes in the sand instead of peeing in bushes! Anyway, the evening was first disrupted after we heard a rustle and realised that the dingoes had run off with some leftover sausages, scandal! So the boys all ran off with shovels and sticks to bark at these dingoes and try to recover the sausages (lost cause). This routine was replayed when the dingoes tried to take the rubbish bag and only found empty beer cans in it, and similarly when the dingoes popped up just metres away trying to sniff out food. So what was initially a bit of an intimidating situation, camping around wild animals, turned into a comedy show as our new 'Dingo Kings' held the fort together and kept us thoroughly entertained with their heroic acts. The Dingo Kings even escorted us to our toilet facilities en masse and kept a lookout while several girls had a group pee, wary of dingoes nipping our bums (it has happened, we were told!). What lovely guys, taking good care of us.

Getting up at 4.30am the next morning wasn't easy at first, but again, the sunrise outside our tents over the beach made it well worth it. It's the most beautiful part of the day in my opinion, but I'm usually in bed and miss the daily spectacular all because i'm too busy being lazy. Maybe I'll turn into a hippy tree hugger and make sure I get up at the crack of dawn each day just to appreciate nature's beauty...

Lake Wabby was our next stop off that day. We were the first group to arrive that morning, so no one else was around as we ran down the sand hill and splashed about in the gorgeous green water...lovely stuff! It was another boiling hot day and we really enjoyed chilling out for the morning and cooling down in the lake. We also visited Eli Creek before heading back to the barge to cross back to the mainland. By this point, I had started to develop a massive headache and was beginning to recognise the early signs of sunstroke, so started to guzzle lots of water. It was too late really but I managed to get us all back to the hostel in one piece before crashing out in my bed that evening and being rather sick all night! That'll teach me to not drink enough water!

After Fraser Island, Annika and I continued further south of the coast towards Noosa, where we stayed in a bush camp for three nights to go canoeing. It was loads of fun, if a bit hard work going up stream at times, but very scenic in our boats. At one point we started to pass the time by singing songs from Titanic and various Disney films at the top of our voices! We met some nice people in our group, one of which we ended up going to Australia Zoo with a few days later (Steve Irwin's zoo). Saw lots of lovely animals, especially those darling Koalas, ahhh!! We also got to feed kangaroos. Hoping to see more koalas and roos in the wild, as I'm not too keen on the whole zoo thing, infact there were some areas which surprised me as they seemed quite small and un-natural for the animals...I thought that given all that Steve Irwin was about, the enclosures would be huge and very realistic, but it often wasn't the case. Hmm. God bless his soul anyway, what a funny guy he was.

Annika and I parted ways after Noosa, as she'd already been to Brisbane, Byron Bay and Sydney and couldn't afford to travel them a second time. So she fast tracked to Sydney where she caught the Indian Pacific train from Sydney to Perth, taking four days and three nights to arrive!! She had tried to convince me to go with her, but I chose to take a flight instead, which only took 5 hours! So for about a week I was travelling solo again, enjoying a bit of city life in Brisbane, meeting up with a friend that we'd met in Thailand, heading down to Byron Bay (like a slice of Heaven on Earth) and then spending some time in Sydney where I stayed with my friend Jon in his apartment. I loved Sydney. The day I arrived we went for a nice evening stroll around the city where I saw the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, before eventually ending up at a nice restaurant in Kings Cross for some lasagne and garlic bread. Lovely stuff. While Jon was at work during the days, I went off into the city where I met up with a friend called Kitty that I'd met in New Zealand. She now works on the Sydney Skytower, so after coffee she smuggled me into the lift for free (saving me about $40) and left me up there to enjoy the panoramic views of Sydney, on a perfect blue sky day! I saw Kitty a couple of nights later in an area called The Rocks, and we watched some fireworks over Harbour Bridge and had some drinks in an Irish Bar. Later that evening, Jon took me out to, well, his end of town shall we say (!) on Oxford Street, where we danced the night away in a very flamboyant club. Going to what I thought was the ladies loo was hilarious, full of guys touching up their hair and adjusting their outifts, then one of two queens grabbing my face and saying "but darllinnngggg, you're BEAUUTIFUL!!!". Love it! Like walking into a room full of fans haha!! It was pretty hair-raising as my friend and I were queuing with a load of idiots to get a taxi back home later than evening, but I have to say, the taxi drivers in Sydney really do look out for us ladies, and always saw me to my door to check that I was safely inside before getting back in and driving away. How good is that! Jon did pick quite a dodgey area to live in though, round the corner from a large homeless area and just off the street from the Red Light District...dear oh dear.

So after a great few days in Sydney I made my way to the airport to catch my evening flight to Perth, taking 5 hours to arrive, also being delayed for nearly two hours, and having a time difference in Western Australia of three hours. It is crazy how massive this country is. By the time I finally got to bed that night it was 4am, but 7am my time, so the next day I felt rather jet lagged, even though it was only 3 hours time difference! I am staying with a friend of my aunt & uncle at his lovely house in East Perth, and have started doing some waitressing for his catering company. Have earnt a fair bit of money already which is great. Tonight I am doing a function on a boat which sounds like a lot of fun.

So all is good in my world. Though it takes some getting used to having to work again after six weeks of playtime on the East Coast. Happy memories though!

Magnetic Island and Townsville were great places to visit from a tourist's point of view, because we were actually meeting real life Australian people! Frankly, it's starting to annoy me that everyone I seem to be meeting is usually German (sorry but they're everywhere except their own country right now) or English or Irish or Scandinavian. Why so many Germans? I sit in these hostels, or on a beach, or a bus or even just walking round town, and I could just as well be in Europe, I don't understand a word of the languages being spoken around me! Sometimes I feel a bit of an outsider, in an English speaking country!! But yeah, when we went to a Full Moon Party on Magnetic Island my ears pricked up as I finally heard some Australian accents, woop! Except the bad habit of saying "aye" at the end of every sentence grates somewhat but I will let them off because at least they don't speak German! The Full Moon Party was good fun, wasn't the actual full moon that night but I guess they had to have the event at the weekend! The real full moon was a few nights before when Annika and I were in Townsville. It was enormous and had a bright orange glow to it. So much so, that our first thoughts were that it couldn't possibly be the real moon, it must be some kind of light display from a nightclub or something....but no, twas the moon indeed. Interesting stuff eh!

Airlie Beach was our next port of call after Magnetic Island. We stayed two nights in a freezing air conditioned room before setting off on our sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands. We boarded a nice boat with three staff and 25 guests (of which I was the only English, the rest were, yes, GERMAN!) and set off for 2 nights/2 days. Unfortunately, the weather was not on our side for the first half of the trip. So Wednesday night saw me and Annika dancing up on deck (alone!), kitted out in waterproofs looking very Regatta chic, beer in one hand and doing some kind of rave sundance to impress the Gods and to make them stop the rain. Don't think they could make sense of our knee flexing/chicken wings/spinning pizzas, so the rain continued! Bugger. So we got through our alcohol supply instead and talked all kind of profound ramblings about stars and "being a tiny megapixal in the gigantic poster of life". Yeah man.

Next morning the skipper kindly woke us up at 6.30am by bringing up the anchor and chugging the boat along to White Haven Beach. I sat up in my cabin bed (shaped like a coffin and shared with Annika, romantic hey) and immediately felt sick from the waves and smell of oil below deck. So I managed to get up top for some air, but couldn't face any breakfast from the rocking of the boat, not good first thing in the morning!

We arrived at White Haven Beach later that morning, zipped up in stinger suits and dropped off on the white sandy shores. In the rain. Under the clouds. Oh paradise blue sky photos, where are you? We got in the water, laughing our heads off for our one opportunity of being on the Whitsundays, in terrible weather! Oh, did we get the giggles! Eventually the boat crew picked us up again (lucky buggers keeping dry on the boat!) and just as we left to sail on, did the blinkin sun decide to shine! So for the final half of our trip we had some sunshine and a lovely sunset in the evening! Wahey! We did some snorkelling and lots of sunbathing, and all was well again.

Quite happy to get back to solid ground again, though the trip was good fun. We travelled on by overnight bus that night to Agnes Water and stayed at a brilliant hostel called Cool Bananas. The overnight bus meant that the next day was a bit of a wipe-out to recover from interupted sleep, but still, who wants to waste 11 hours in the day by being on a coach? We chilled out for a couple of days in the lovely hostel, sleeping in hammocks and watching lots of good films, and now we are in Rainbow Beach, preparing to do a Fraser Island self guided safari trip for the next two nights. I am the designated driver for tomorrow, as I am the only one in the group who drives on the left in their home country (guess what nationality the rest of my group are!) so I'm gonna be responsible for the safety of 10 others in a 4x4 tomorrow, HAHAHAHAHAA!!!!! We'll see how that goes! Temperatures are meant to reach 45 degrees tomorrow, hello Australia! We've had our safety talks about dingoes and driving on sand, so lets hope for the best and hopefully we won't get bogged down in sand too often! At least I won't have to push!

Hope your thoughts are with the passengers!

It's all go

Well it's been an awfully long time since I last wrote anything on here. Firstly because there wasn't much to report whilst I was working away in Port Douglas! I finally left Port Douglas after a stay of about 7 or 8 weeks, ready and financially backed up to start heading down the East Coast towards Sydney. Hooray! I spent the final week in Port Douglas in a state of luxury accommodation wise - a friend of mine had been living in a holiday apartment with some other girls, and since they had now moved on she was looking for someone to share with again temporarily. It worked out pretty well for both of us, so for seven happy days I enjoyed sharing a private and spotless kitchen, bathroom, living room, TV and free laundry facilities! Rather nice.

It was a shame that Annika and I were suddenly overcome with waves of car sickness on the windy bus ride back to Cairns, because before that we'd been bopping out to the funky tunes from our ipods on the back seat, totally excited to be on the go again and not cleaning hotel rooms or serving pizzas to tourists! So on arrival at our hostel in Cairns we looked a bit green (getting in the spirit for Halloween I guess!) but it was soon forgotten once we reunited with some friends that we'd met in Port Douglas, and got shown around our new pad! Calypso Hostel was a million miles better than the Parrotfish in PDouglas. Oh my days, we had been living in a slum compared to this, and paying more for it!

We had a great time in Cairns that week, immediately being introduced to a whole bunch of friendly faces, and enjoying some nights out, as well as a brilliant Halloween party at the weekend. I managed to fit in a day of volunteering at a print workshop just outside of the centre, which prints work for aboriginal artists. I helped with etch plate printing which was really good, great for the CV too I hope!

Annika and I did a bit of research and booked ourselves up for some treats down the East Coast, successfully playing several travel agents off against each other to get the best price we could for a Greyhound bus ticket and some sailing trips! Our first stop after Cairns was Mission Beach, where we both did our long-awaited 14,000ft sky dive!!! Hip hip hooray! We didn't really sleep much the night before, and the 7.30am pick up was quite uncomfortable! I was bouncing with excitement as I got geared up with the harness and onto the bus to the airport, but once we took off, rose above the clouds and knew that I was the first one out of the plane (from a group of 10) I was, well, pooing my pants. The tandem parachutist was rather abrupt with me when he was telling me to swing my legs out of the plane and all I could do was instinctively grab onto the other people beside me in the aircraft!! haha! Plus I kept forgetting to hold my head back on his shoulder before the jump, so the DVD shows him having to keep pushing my head back! But surely, if I'm sat on the edge of a plane I'm gonna look down right?

So, one, two, three, and boy did I scream! Full mouth full of cold air, neat hair completely destroyed by the gusts of wind, arms and legs locked backwards beneath the instructor and there we were, free falling for 60 seconds. What a weird sensation too as we went through some clouds. Like little wet hail stones on your cheeks. As my brain came back to reality I remembered that I was indeed connected to a parachute and it soon hauled me back up again (quite uncomfortably with the harness on actually!) and we started to descend over Mission Beach, with amazing views of Dunc Island, beautiful ocean and the sandy white beach below. I even had a chance to steer the parachute, oh yes. As we got closer to landing it looked like we were going to crash onto a palm tree but thankfully, it was a nice smooth landing on the sand. One of the other group wasn't so lucky though - his parachutist screwed up the beach landing a bit and they ended up landing in someone's back garden (no joke) with ripped shorts and a sore bum to show for it! ah dear. Think he bagged a free t shirt for that though!

So I've done it now, ticked the thrill seeker box, would like to do it again though if I ever can! No way to bungy jumps though. Like suicide but without the death.

Coincidentally, my house mate from uni, Adele and another uni friend, Charlotte were in Mission Beach at the same time as us, so we met up for a good catch up. Very strange to be talking about uni stuff whilst on the beach in Australia but so it goes! It was really nice to see them both and exchange travel stories. They also had a good laugh at our skydive DVDs!

We're now in Townsville for a few nights before heading to Magnetic Island for another Full Moon Party. Then next wednesday we set sail on a 2 day 2 night boat trip around the Whitsunday Islands. Beaut. It's been busy and exciting recently, and I'm loving every minute. I still can't get my head around the fact that it's November and nearly Christmas, maddness.

Think that is about all from me! byee