Day 206 to 213 - Last week in St Kilda, Melbourne

What a way to say goodbye to Melbourne, St Kilda, and the girls.

In this last week I was able to see and experince all that I wanted to in Melbourne. I have taken the free tourist bus around the city and seen each of the main sights. I have been to an AFL (Australian Football League) game in the MCG stadium and proudly watched the St Kilda saints win against Melbourne. I have also experienced a wide selection of the bars around the city, from the German bars in China town to the rooftop bars on the main street, and been out to the suburbs to commemorate ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) day.

In St Kilda I went for a walk with Veronica and took photo's posing by all the things we have come to notice other people posing by. I went to the busking festival which was good fun if very small. It only really took us 20 minutes to see all the different performances. Also I had some great nights out with the girls for Marleys birthday and farewell celebrations. Including one very special night with Laura and Marley eating dinner backwards and making mulled wine. I'm sad to leave my St Kilda family but I have some fabulous memories to take with me :-) and a two week adventure with Marley to look forward to.

Day 193 to 205 - My St Kilda Family

Myself and Marley, the super cool Dutch surfer chick.

I haven't updated the blog for a while now because I have been far too busy having an awesome time. The girls I live with are now some of my closest friends. They were so welcoming when I first arrived and now after a few weeks together we are a proper little family. To thank them for being so great I cooked a proper English roast dinner and introduced them to "Yorkshire Puddings" (I have now made a positive impact on the world - my life is complete).

In my last post I mentioned my lack of concern regarding job hunting. Well I can now confirm I was just too lazy. Instead, I joined a gym with Andrea and Veronica and we've all been getting foxy, ha ha.

Myself and Laura, the German love of my life.

I've been for a romantic stroll around Albert park with Marley :). It's really beautiful down there, walking around the lake, and running away from the scary black swans. Marley did the running by the way, I just stood and laughed. We also had a little jaunt around Luna Amusement Park, and by 'little' I do mean little. It takes about 60 seconds to walk all the way around and see what rides are available. Although it does also take about 5 minutes to get into the park because the funny shaped mirrors in the entrance are just so much fun :)  . 

The weather has continued to be amazing (contrary to predictions) so I have been sunbathing on the beach countless times, as well as sunbathing in the back garden when we needed that little extra privacy ;) . I've also been sunbathing on the nearly empty beaches of Philip Island. We were supposed to go see the  penguin parade on the island but it turns out it costs a lot just to see them from a distance and you can't take photos. Whereas after dark at St Kilda pier you can see penguins up close and personal, and provided you don't scare the little cuties with the flash you can capture the moment on camera.

Veronica, the Canadian booty shaker, and Andrea,
the English giggle-puss.

Obviously my evenings have continued to be amazing. The girls are all up for a good laugh and St Kilda is not short on great bars and pubs to go to. Including a couple of good English style pubs.

Sadly I can't really do the girls justice on here. I love them all and hate that I'll have to leave them soon. Still, I have a whole fun filled week left with them so I will be making the most of it.

Living the dream baby, living the dream...

Day 184 to 192 - First week in Melbourne

Over a week ago now I flew into Melbourne and moved into St Kilda. I am living with a gorgeous English lass (Andrea) that I met through Oz Intro, and 5 other fabulous chicks :D

One of the quirks of Melbourne city

Our house is right by the beach and the sun has been beating down all week so naturally I have been to the beach nearly every day :) . I've also taken a trip into the city for some exploration, and to meet a friend. Melbourne city is beautiful, very arty, very cultural, and there are lots of cute markets and odd shows going on. I made it here during Comedy Week so I spent a couple of hours just watching some hilarious (and free) comedy acts from all over the world. In the evening my friend and I hit up China town for dinner and who know I could successfully teach someone to use chopsticks. That's something for the CV, ha ha. This was followed by drinks in a bar suspended from a bridge across the river. Clear skies, outdoor heaters, views of the city lights... stunning.

The view from the bar...

 All the frolicking with my new friends has also been amazing. We've explored St Kilda night life, danced like crazy people around the house (for no reason other than we felt like it), crashed a house party, found a 24hour night club, been for spontaneous girly cinema trips (followed by ice cream), and just generally hung out. Even if I don't find a job here I can't see myself getting bored anytime soon.

Coffee by the beach - approx 2 min walk from our house :)

Day 178 to 183 - Sydney

Ah I love Sydney.

I was only here for a week before I move onto Melbourne but i'm glad I stopped by. There is so much to see and do here that you're never bored, and even when you haven't planned to do anything the city has a way of surprising you. Like today for instance. My flight is in the evening so I just needed to fill my time until then. There wasn't anything I particularly wanted to do so I thought i'd just go for a walk round the shops, chill in a park, maybe read my book. I made it so far as the general shopping area and ended up spending the afternoon sitting in the sun listening to an awesome band, and consequently buying their CD :-) .

The rest of the week was spent reconnecting with friends and organising myself. I had coffee with my gorgeous flat mate and visited our old land lady, and thanks to my fabulous land lady I went to the Harry Potter museum exhibition and got overly excited with all the other nerds. I went to the museum of contemporary arts with the girls from pontoon and had tea and cakes in the roof top cafe, and I finished the week with an epic night out with fellow oz-introers. It was a great night out but apparently the guys in my room also had a big night, and consequently one of them was sick, several times, all over the floor. Oh the joys of shared accomodation. Oh and if that wasn't bad enough, he was sleeping in it. Yes. He had fallen asleep on the floor, thrown up his double cheese pizza, and then gone back to sleeping. Lovely. Thank goodness I was checking out.

As well as all the fun and games I had some down time to sort myself out. Travelling is hard work (don't scoff) so it's good to have a day or so to double check plans, book more trips, and finally... sleep! It's even better when you can do this whilst sunbathing in Hyde Park, or by the pool in the hostel :-) . Then on top of that finding myself a job in Melbourne whilst lying by the pool chatting to someone I just met makes life even easier.

Oh yeah... i'm still living the dream.

Day 174 to 178 - Last days in NZ

What better way to say farewell to NZ than with rugby, a bit night out, and family.

The Auckland Blues were playing the Wellington Hurricanes at Eden park so a group of us went, and if I wasn't hooked on rugby before I am now. It was an awesome game, and a very kiwi past time so I felt like I had really experienced NZ properly. The weather was also perfect so that was a bonus :-) . The next day was reserved for packing. I didn't get very far. I got distracted by skyping my parents, eating too much, and watching Love Actually. A lovely day made even better by a trip into Auckland in the evening :-) , and just another confirmation that you meet the best people whilst travelling.

Good friends * (lots of cider + ring of fire) = piggy back rides, face plants in the road, and a good amount of dancing :-D .

My last day here was another relaxing one. Mainly because I was tentatively waiting for a hangover that never arrived. In the evening my Uncle, Aunt and I went out for dinner and then to the Hot pools. Getting into a bikini isn't something I would normally do after eating a curry, but sitting in a 40° pool definitely felt good :-) . Plus it was nice to just spend time with family before heading back to Oz. My cousins are so much fun to be around and had me laughing for most of my stay. My aunt and uncle are awesome too, they're some of the coolest/nicest people i've met, and so easy to talk to (made evident by the many evenings spent chatting for hours). Oh... and my aunt makes the best chicken casserole EVER :-)

I'm not ashamed to say I was a tad teary when I got on the plane.

Day 171 to 173 - The final leg of my stray journey back to Auckland

Warning... NZ bacon isn't like British bacon. I have experienced this a few times now and whilst eagerly biting down on my bacon sandwich a few days ago, only to be disappointed by the tasteless plastic like contents, I decided the world must be warned.

Anyway, in actual travel news, a very hung over me left Christchurch for Kaikora. It's a very pretty coastal town where you can go whale watching, dolphin swimming, fishing... or simply pig out on amazing fish 'n' chips and lie on the beach. I say beach in a loose sense as there is no sand. It's just large grey pebbles, so not that comfortable to lie on but with a bit of wriggling it's good enough. The next stop was Wellington, but to get here we had to cross the dreaded Cook straight again and this time the ferry, wasn't as cold but, was a lot rougher and consequently took an hour or so longer. Sleep and movies made the time fly by and soon we arrived at our hostel. Being such crazy kids and all we had a bit of a party in Wellington. First there was our fish party, where we all stood in the kitchen eating fresh fish and crayfish that Mark had caught in Kaikora, and then a tea party, where we all sat in reception drinking tea, listening to music, and being seranaded by the reception staff. Not the crazy alcohol filled night we had talked about, but a much better night just relaxing with friends. Then... onto Rotorua. It actually wasn't as bad this time. The smell still takes some getting used to but it's not constant so you can concentrate on other things, like $5 dominos pizza, free BBQ, and drinks with your room mates :-) .

After a very long travel day out of Rotorua we finally arrived back in Auckland. I said a sad goodbye to my bus driver Trouble (who I had been with since I got to the South island) and a very happy hello to my Aunt :-) .

Day 168 to 170 - Mt Cook and Christchurch

Leaving Queenstown was hard, partly because of all the amazing people I was leaving behind, and also because there is so much to do I would love to stay longer. However, the drive up to Mt Cook was another breathtaking journey. We stopped at Lake Pukaki where you get a perfect view of Mt Cook and Mt Tasman in the background, and the water is the bluest you have ever seen. It's unique because of the particals that are carried down off the mountains blah blah blah - it's big and sparkly :-) . After taking a few essential photos everyone just didn't move because you know you'll never remember exactly how blue it was. It was pretty cool where we stayed at the base of Mt Cook too. There's a 2 hour walk to a lake at the base of the glacier which has a couple of streams feeding it and huge blocks of ice just floating around. The only down side is that all the dirt and rocks get washed off the moutain sides so the ice has a layer of grey/brown covering it. After a rain storm I imagine all that dust would be washed away and the ice would no doubt look spectacular.

After an amazing nights sleep - and a bath! (Baths are a luxury travelling) - we headed for Rangitata. The hostel however had overbooked itself and so a few of us volunteered to stay in Christchurch instead. It was a bit of a fiasco to be honest. First we got to the hostel we were NOT staying at and it was lovely (luckily we had a couple of hours there so I didn't miss out on much in the end). Then on our way to Christchurch we had the most miserable driver ever who told us, when it was too late, that the hostel we were going to was a dump, right in the middle of nowhere, and he couldn't understand why we wanted to go there. Well Mr Miserable, we didn't want to go there, we just didn't have time to really search around, but thank you for stressing us out and then refusing to drop us somewhere else. Anyway, in true 'Up Yours' fashion I went and had an amazing night regardless of what he'd said. Oh, did I forget to mention it was St Paddys day :-) . I had only been in the hostel about half an hour when I found myself playing f*** the dealer with the people already staying there, and naturally I ended up being the dealer who got f***ed the most and drank my entire bottle of red wine in about 10 minutes. Sweet as. Then it was onto some good old Irish whiskey, a trip to the local regae bar, and then back for more whisky. It was an awesome night! The guys were all a good laugh and after speaking to everyone that stayed in Rangitata, in the cold, watching telly, I am fairly confident I made the right decision going to Christchurch.

Anyway... as much as I love recapping on drunken antics I also have to say a little about Christchurch itself. Driving in you can almost feel the change in the atmosphere. There are orange cones and work in progress signs literally everywhere you look. A lot of roads are closed, and the ones that aren't have settled into a kind of wave formation. Closer to the centre of town there are barriers up around buildings, whole blocks of buildings in fact, because they're not safe anymore. We drove past one block that looked OK, until we moved around to the back, and it's just rubble. Even the headstones by the graves have cracked or fallen over. It's just a very sad sight.