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.

Day 166/167 - Queenstown gets even better

So Queenstown really is as lovely as Jane said. Its the adventure capital of the world but that only applies if you can afford it. For the cheap skates of the world though there is the luge (mini bumper car style contraptions that you ride down the hill over and over again). Then there is Milford Sounds, where I went today, and it is even more stunning than the amazing views you get travelling down the west coast of the South island, and trust me, the coastal roads are fabulous. The landscape is breathtaking and you can't help but stop and stare in wonder all day long. I have come to realise now that New Zealand has an amazing ability to make you feel tiny, and insignificant, and it's one of the best feelings in the world.

Now... onto the news my fingers are itching to write about. Yesterday I had a fabulous surprise. I came into my room midday and did a double take when I saw an extra suitcase sitting innocently at the end of one of the beds. There is only one person that could go travelling with that bulging beast of a case with a cute hair bobble tied to it just in case it found itself with a twin in the airport. So I then spent a while running around like a lunatic looking for the owner of said case and eventually gave up realising later in the day the owner would no doubt return to the room with the suitcase. So... I waited... I enjoyed my day... and when I walked back into my room... Rachel was there, with a scream matching mine as we met each other for the first time since Oz. Oh what a glorious day! I can not even begin to describe how excited I was. Naturally we talked each others ears off for a few hours or so before calming down (slightly) and venturing out for the night. We hit up Fergburger first - an amazing burger shop in the centre that is constantly bulging at the seems with customers dying to taste there enormous feasts. I had a "Sweet Bambi" burger and if that's what dear can taste like i'm not sure i'll ever feel bad for bambi's mum again. From there it was drink time, Rach and Cass style :-) . Lots of different bars, lots of drinks, lots of dancing, and even more laughter :-D .

Day 164/165 - Franz Joseph to Queenstown

Hello, Jane here, today I am the writer of this blog, you know to mix things up. In today's episode I shall tell the story of how Cassie and I (or shall I say Cathy ; ) ) made our journey from Franz Joseph glacier to Queenstown. First off however we spent two nights in Franz Joseph- basically just a very small town where there is not much else to do other than spend all of your money on walking towards/climbing up/flying over and falling towards the glacier, still it's pretty beautiful and who wouldn't want to spend some quality time with essentially a huge block of ice. Anyway we spent our day in Franz Joseph doing a one day hike through the glacier valley and onto the glacier itself which was pretty cool, the weather was kind of cloudy so we couldn't really see the mountains which was a shame but navigating and climbing through the ice was fun. 

The next day we had decided to hitchhike to queenstown, well I had decided to hitchhike and Cassie kind of had no choice, the reason being that the stray people had decided that Cassie was no longer worthy of being on the bus that she had paid for and deleted her from the list instead. Sweet as! So being the good samaritan I am I decided to donate my own seat to another person whom had also been deleted and accompany Cassie on a hitch hiking journey. It was a much more appealing option to be honest as that meant we could sleep in and not have to stop the bus a million times over to take pictures or go to the atm or get coffee or stop for the toilet etc etc. So after a good sleep and some brekkie we set off and picked a spot just 5 minutes down the road where we would get our thumbs wiggling (like I said it was a small town). The sky was so clear and blue and the mountains looked quite amazing, these kind of days have been a rarity so far so it was certainly a mood lifter for the sun to make an appearance. After feeling a bit daft about sticking my thumb out I began to feel more comfortable and after only around 20 min we got a lift, direct to Queenstown, score! The guy was some middle aged kiwi who was heading that way to pick up a boat, there was some chat about him owning a farm and whatever but I wasn't really paying attention, the chat was a bit awkward but he was nice enough and we appreciated the ride. We also passed the stray bus a couple hours in (suckerrs) and arrived in Queenstown 2 hours before them. We also hitched another ride into town to where we were going to stay by a little old man, this time it took approximately 2 minutes... why the hell have I been paying for buses!! OK I think I may be writing too much of an essay. To conclude the drive here was really stunning and Queenstown really is as lovely as people say it is.

Tomorrow I shall be leaving Cassie to head further south so thanks pet for letting me share the food :P x

Day 157 to 163 - Wellington and across to the South Island

I fear I have left it way too long to update this blog. There is just so much going on over here that the minute I stop running around I fall asleep almost instantly. Having so much to do also means that there is a lot to write about so I am having to be very selective and only writing about the most superb moments. One of which was a small town called Bulls that we passed through after leaving Tongariro. It was unforgetabull - get it?! For some unknown reason the town is obsessed with bulls and so likes to get the word into anything and everything. We stopped at the I site where it is 'park-a-bull', 'inform-a-bull'. The bins all ask you to be 'respons-a-bull', if you need the police you can go to the 'const-a-bull station', and the estate agents advertise 'No Bull'. They even have a sign post directing you to Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, just in case your bull is feeling lonely. Like I said anything and everything.

From there we hit Wellington where you can do an amazing Lord of the Rings tour and pretend to be a hobbit :-) . Oh yeah, I was a happy little geek that day. The national museum, Te Papa, is also amazing. It's got some amazing displays, including the worlds largest squid, and there is a lot of interactive displays so silly children like me don't get too bored :-) . Also, it's free, bonus. In the evenings I got to enjoy another stray family meal, a few drinks around town, a free mini circus in the rain, and midnight projections on the side of the museum.

Next stop, after a horribly long, rough, and cold, ferry crossing was Abel Tasman national park. The start of our south island trip, and what a start it was. The north island is beautiful, but the south island is just more dramatic. Larger lakes, beaches, mountains, open spaces, etc. Since i'm once again running low on money we decided to avoid paying for trips and just went for a relaxed walk through the rain forest and found a lovely little beach to chill out on for the afternoon. Then in the evening we were treated to another free barbeque, followed by drinking around the fire, and finally retiring to our tents. Yes. Tents. No nice warm hostel rooms tonight. We thought we'd get back to nature a bit (and save money) and freeze our bums off. It was good fun though, and it made us way more appreciative of all the dorm rooms we usually stay in.
The next big stop from here is Franz Joseph however that is a very long drive so stray stops half way in Greymouth. It's a tiny town, with not a lot happening. So it's the last place you'd expect to have an awesome and crazy night. Then again, travelling has taught me to expect the unexpected. The bar in our hostel had a deal on drinks IF you came dressed in bin bags :-) . Everyone looked amazing (that is everyone that took part :-P ) and needless to say there were a lot of drinks consumed. There was also an outing to another bar in town, a skate park, a good old bit of lamp post climbing, and finally a raging hangover as punishment.
On top of the hangover this is where stray failed :-( . A simple mix up with paperwork and the people at stray decided I never got on the bus on the south island and so cancelled all further bookings and gave my seat to someone else. Leaving me a little stranded and with a strict travelling schedule to keep to. Great. The solution... hitch hiking with a canadian guy who was also abandoned by stray. It is here then that I leave you. I am in Franz Joseph waiting for the stray bus to arrive (apparently getting lifts off three different people is quicker than getting the bus), HA :-D .

Day 156 - Tongariro Crossing

The day I spent walking the Tongariro crossing is by far one of the best days of my life. We nearly didn't do it at all. The weather had been so bad the day before they had cancelled all crossings and so we had all gone to sleep praying the weather had cleared the next day. It hadn't. All the signs said no crossings. But then... a wonderful man arrived who runs the guided walks. We wern't having a guide because they cost about $300 but he arrived and offered to walk on ahead of us for free to check it was safe. We were exstatic, and luckily he decided we were competent enough and never told us to turn around. This also meant there was no one else doing the walk and getting in our photos, and the weather brightened up almost as soon as we started walking.

It's rated in the top 10 one day walks in the world and I can see why. The walk begins on a small dirt track leading away from the car park and imediately you are awe inspired by the landscape. Here it is fairly flat with masses of vegetation spreading out over the rocky ground and the colours are amazing. It almost doesn't look real, like you are walking through a movie set. Eventually you come to what they call the devils stair case. It's not the most fun part of the walk as the name would suggest, but the moment you feel your legs giving up you turn around to see the view and you forget all about your aches and pains. Beyond this the walk is pretty easy, and you have the view of the volcanoes rising up to keep you going. We were actually very lucky to be doing the walk just after bad weather as it meant the snow was still very fresh, just adding to the spectacular scenery. The terain is just out of this world, because, lets be honest, how often do you walk over active volcanoes? Once at the top you can't help but feel like you are on top of the world. I felt totally free.

Coming down the other side was interesting as the ground is very unstable and the wind was trying desperately to push us over the edge :-\ . A lot of that section was spent on our bums waiting out the wind. At the base of the hill are the emerald lakes and you really can't imagine how green they are until you're there. Even the different colours in the rocks are amazing, including the Red crater, which is, funnily enough, a really bright, rich, red. The final leg of the walk is down through wild alpine vegetation and into the rainforest. This itself would be a lovely walk as you get amazing views over lake Taupo, you walk through fields where the grass is taller than you, and then you come to the beautiful waterfalls in the forest.

Magical, is just one of the words I would use to describe the day.

ps. Staying at the park meant we could jump straight into the hot tubs when we got back :-)

Day 151 to 155 - Straying around NZ

My adventure kicked of with a bang. Which was lucky since anything less wouldn't have overcome how tired I was (5am starts are not my friend). Our driver/guide is called 'Lucky' and she's fabulous. She kept us entertained and awake all morning and then kept us going until the evening with the promise of a free BBQ! - and it wasn't a typical free BBQ where you can have one burger, one sausage, and some salad. There was a ridiclous amount of all types of meat, a range of amazing sides to go with it, and bananas with chocolate for dessert (which I didn't get because I gave up chocolate for lent... bad move).

Our first big stop was Hahei where we took an hour walk to Cathedral Cove. It's the beach used in Prince Caspian and it is very pretty :-) . We even found a little cave to have a peek in, but we got out not long after when the tide threatened to trap us. Then later we took another trip out to Hot Water Beach, which surprise surprise is a beach with hot water :O . Sarcasm aside it is very impressive. There are too hot springs that are pushing up under the beach and at low tide they're exposed so you can go down with a shovel, dig your self a large hole, and bath in the very hot water. Or... you can go a little later and steal the holes other people have already dug :-) .

Day two of my straying and we were up bright and early (normal person early this time) travelling from the East coast to Raglan, on the West coast. The town is very much a surfers town and the place we're staying is right up into the bush. It's hidden away from civilisation and another perfect spot to just chill out and surf. From there we headed to Waitomo with its amazing caves and glow worms - which are technically "maggots with shiny shit", but they're prettier if you think of them as glow worms. I did the tubing adventure through the caves and discovered i'm not as terrified of tight spaces as I thought :-) . Though army crawling over rocks isn't as easy as it seems. When all that was over and we were well and truely exhausted we headed to Maketu to stay in a Maori meeting house. Whilst there we choose a chief and waited for him to accept our invitation into the tribe while a small boy yelled and thrust a spear at him, learnt the Haka and poi, slept on the floor in the meeting room, and woke up to Abba playing through the building :-\ ... yeah, that part just didn't quite fit. The next day was possibly the worst day so far... including the day I had my wisdom teeth out. We stopped off in Rotorua for the afternoon, a place famous for its geothermal activity, and it was disgusting. The smells that wafted around made me feel sick a couple of times. The town itself is lovely and quaint, and there are loads of activities available, but the smell... it's just indescribable. Oh and guess what, on my way back to Auckland I will be staying overnight in Rotorua. Yay. Look forward to that update. Lake Taupo was the final destination for this day and it is pretty impressive. Hard to believe it's a lake when you can't see the other side. Then from here we drove straight to Tongariro national park, which is where I am now, and it is snowing. Yes people, it's snowing. I am currently relaxing in a gorgeous lodge by the fire, with all my amazing new friends, looking forward to our group meal tonight and some classic card games :-) . I feel very much at home right now and it's a fabulous feeling :-) .

Day 145 to 150! - Waiheke + Hobbiton

The "Emergency wisdom teeth extraction" chapter of my life is officially over. Wahey! The dentist removed the stitches this morning and said everything is perfect. Which is perfect for me since tomorrow I begin my next adventure straying around NZ. I can't wait!

Having said that, as eager as I am to start exploring again I have been having an awesome time with my family and I'm not that eager to leave. Ah, such is life.

I have managed to do a bit more exploring while I have been here though. A short ferry ride from Auckland central is Waiheke Island,...

...a gorgeous slice of paradise. I only spent a day there so I didn't explore the numerous walks and other beaches on offer but I did get a chance to look through all the cute little boutique shops, stop for lunch with an amazing view, and just chill out in the sun. It's an amazing place to go and let life slow down.

Restaurant view over Oneroa beach.

Then to top that, and to please my inner geek, we went to Hobbiton. Ahhhhh! :) It was AMAZING. After the latest run of filming, for The Hobbit, the set has been left exactly as it was for the film (minus the hobbits) so you can see all the intricate little details that make up the fantasy. I got to walk along the path that Gandalf rides in on, see the Green Dragon pub and the Mill, play under the party tree, climb the steps to Bag End, and stand outside Sam's house where the trilogy finishes. We also learnt pretty funky facts about how they made the films, and saw the 5 new Hobbit holes that were built for the new movies and then never used :) .

I have to say though, any non-Lord of the Rings fans should probably miss out this part of NZ. (You'd be surprised how many people take the tour having no knowledge of the movies or the books) In my opinion, it was a superb day! :)

Day 141 to 144 - Shooting and teeth pulling :S

What an interesting couple of days...

My Uncle took me and my cousin to a shooting range for a play about and we had an amazing time. Turns out I'm still quite a natural with a shot gun :) hehe - blonde essex girl with a gun, what a great idea :). I also had a go with the semi-automatic machine gun, couple of pistols, rifles etc. It was an epic day!!

Then to keep the excitement going a few days later I had to have two of my wisdom teeth taken out. I had said no to the sedative until the dentist informed me she would be cutting away bone and gum before pulling the tooth. So half an hour before leaving the house I took my sedative pills. When it came time to leave my Uncle had to support me to the car. At the dentists all went smoothly - apart from the anesthetic wearing off and having to be re-administered twice. My memory of leaving and getting home is then very hazy. I do know, from other peoples accounts, that it was amusing to watch me attempt to drink from a bottle since I couldn't feel my mouth and subsequently dribbled it down me. Attractive I'll bet! On the plus side - this all occurred yesterday and today I am totally fine (in fact I was fine about 5 hours after having it done). Today I have been out in Auckland, to the cinema and stuffing my face with McDonald's (shhhh don't tell the dentist).

Day 136 to 140 - Adventures with Emily

For those who don't know... Emily is a fellow OzIntro traveller and temporary Sydney dweller who has also skipped over to NZ :-) . We decided to meet each other while we're both here and planned a trip up to the beautiful Bay of Islands.

Upon meeting in Auckland we went to the Sky Tower where, in the basement, we took photos with the LOTR models :-) and, at the top looking down, decided we were NOT jumping off of it like many other crazy tourists have. 

In the evening we had a very unique experience at the Ice House - well unique if you haven't been to an ice bar in any other city which I have'nt. It was cold! I know most of you reading just went "well duh", but I didn't really think about it beforehand and assumed the coats they give out would be enough - they are if you're not wearing a short skirt :-/ oops. Nevertheless, we had an amazing time drinking cocktails that taste like Ribena, drinking shots out of the moose head, and kissing the frozen kiwi.

The following day, after 4 hours of sleep, we headed off to Paihia where we checked in and jumped straight on a boat to see the 'Hole in the Rock' and some dolphins. The weather was perfect, bright sunshine, and that was thanks to the captains careful navigation that involved keeping the black cloud behind us :-) . Sadly our second day here there was no avoiding the rain. It was still "sweet as" exploring the area, visiting the church that still has bullet holes in it, and having lunch in the oldest pub in NZ, and then we partied until our feet could party no more :-) .

Day 127 to 135 - Australia to NEW ZEALAND

aaaaand I'm off again...

I have left Sydney and hopped over to NZ for a bit. My last week in Sydney was spent just hanging out with friends, exploring old pubs in the rocks, drinking english cider :-) , and sneaking past security guards into the casino - hehe. My arrival into NZ wasn't short on excitment as well as I was greeted by my Aunt and Uncle with an embarrassingly large "Welcome" balloon at the arrivals gate. I'm staying with them for a while before I travel around the whole of NZ and so far it has been awesome - or "sweet as" as they say over here.

In my first week I explored Orewa (a nearby beach town), went on a 'surfari' (we drove to 3 beaches on the west and east coast looking for good surf), had a guided tour of Auckland, and had an awesome night out in Auckland finished off by a fabulous midnight view of the city.

In addition, I have just been hanging out with my family who are all awesome!! 

Day 116 to 126 - AUSTRALIA DAY! + Zoe!

Australians really celebrate their national day well... with lots and lots and alcohol! This was great for me in more than one way. Firstly, I spent the morning with friends in the oldest part of Sydney doing a mini bar crawl. Secondly, I spent the later part of the day working at the bar where, because it was Aussie day, they paid me an obscene amount. Thirdly, the bar was closed but midnight so we locked the doors, turned the music back on and the boss gave us a good amount of free drinks :-) . It was an amazing day, topped off by an amazing night!
Plus, with all my temporary aussie tattoos some random woman mistook me for an "actual Australian", BONUS!

Then a few days ago I had a date with a very sexy blonde Australian chick :-) . Zoe, my fellow G Adventurer, flew over from Melbourne and we went to the museum. A free glass of vino was a perfect way to start the evening and then it was on to watch guitar hero in the skeleton room, a silent disco and karaoke in the dangerous creatures room, a live band (that sadly was never there when we were) in the dinosaurs room, a funky photo booth, huge stick insects we could hold, a nerf gun firing range with toy dinosaurs, live taxidermy (if you're into that kind of thing), and a games room with UNO (score!). A lovely dinner later and some good girly gossip and we had to say goodbye *weep*. Luckily I will be visiting Melbourne later on in my travels so bring on date number 2...

Day 108 to 115 - Sydney to Canberra to Palm Beach to Sydney...

An exciting week of getting burnt on Manly beach, watching Tangled outdoors at Sydney Olympic park, drinking shots out of a tea pot, and launching the Chinese New year festival could only get better with a girly road trip to Canberra.

I finally took advantage of the 3 day camper van rental that I won and my flat mate and I hit the road. 5 hours, a picnic in a car park, and a lot of snacks later we rolled into the Capital of Australia. Luckily Australians drive on the left so all I had to worry about was the transition from driving a tiny manual car with a sat nav to driving an automatic beast of a machine being directed by Holly and a map that was too small! We only got lost once, or twice... truthfully I lost count how many times :-/ but it was an amazing trip. Canberra is stunning! In the centre of the city the Parliament house rises up and facing away from it you look out across the river to the stunning War Memorial. Our excitement was evident to anyone watching us roll down Parliament hill and chasing the birds. Then later we calmed down and just took in the breath taking view over the lake where we set up for the night.

Sadly Holly had to get back for work so after exploring the remainder of Canberra we hit the road again (ABBA CD at the ready) and back in Sydney I swapped flat mates and took off for Palm Beach (yes it is where Home and Away is filmed and no I don't care so I didn't bother doing any sightseeing). We simply pulled up to the beach, ran along the water front, stared at the stars, and chilled out in the van with chocolate and a dvd. It was another awesome night followed by a day visiting as many beaches as possible on the way back down the coast.

Day 101 to 107 - Sydney, still...

To quit, or not to quit. That has been the question on my mind this week?

Working at the bar on Darling Harbour has been, and is still, amazing. Working at the bar/restaurant in the centre of the city, however, has not been great. The minute I set foot back in the bar to start my first shift I felt the life get sucked right out of me (and not in a fun i'm obsessed with vampires kinda way). The people there, however polite and friendly, are all zombies, and the customers are not only uptight and rude, they don't tip! :-0 Not wanting to be a quitter my immediate reaction was to get over it, man up, and carry on. Then a friend reminded me I didn't come to Australia to "cope", I came for the experience of a lifetime, and this place just didn't fit into that plan...

This week I have also made a list of all the things I want to see and do before I leave Sydney, and I have started diligently ticking them off. A friend and I went to the Sydney fish market, and oh my goodness it stank! I like the smell of fish but I still had to let myself adjust. We then moved onto Woolloomooloo - best name for a place ever! - and checked out the jelly fish at the wharf :-) . Woolloomooloo is nice but personnally I would say it's name is the best thing about it. I also spent a morning at Balmoral beach with friends, sipping iced mocha's on the beach front, and revelling in the family atmosphere that so many places we have been to are lacking. Then later today we will be going to the Powerhouse museum and we might even see the Harry Potter exhibition :-) yaaaaay!

Day 84 to 100! - Sydney

Coming to the end of another week in Sydney I can say that it was again full of many up's. However, this week was also full of some downs. Don't get me wrong, the week has been amazing but I have to be honest about the whole experience, and the huge wave of homesickness I got on Wednesday was not a fun experience. That said, I have the best flat mates I could have hoped for (and people at home) and they pulled me right out of my self-indulgent missery.

On the more positive side of things, this week was kicked off with a trip to the beach for a friends birthday, and a giant chocolate rice crispie cake with melted marshmallow for decoration. It's possibly the easiest and the best cake I have ever made. I have then also been job hunting, which was surprisingly easy, and got myself 3 trials in 3 different bars. The 20 CV's I printed off were a bit of a waste since I only handed out 6 before deciding I had enough offers and could stop for the day :-). The first trial was great. For someone who hasn't ever worked in a bar/pub or anything even close to that, and who had put on her CV that she had worked in a bar/pub (I know... slap my wrist), I was pretty nervous. Turns out... it's not that hard. The second trial was even better, and technically wasn't a trial at all, after an hour of working they just gave me the job and 12 hours later I finished my first shift. It was fantastic... the people are lovely, the pay is good, and when I flash the customers the huge smile my Mum loves so much they tip very well ;-) .

On a final note... it's day 100 of my travels. Oh how time flies when you're having fun! :-D