A little update

Well my little blog it has been a while, I'm very so for neglecting you for so long, how are you? If you've been watching my youtube channel then you'll have some kind of idea of what I've been up to but I thought it was a good idea to put pen to paper (so to speak) and let you know where I am and what I've been up to... We decided to leave Melbourne around a month ago. It's one of the greatest cities I've ever visited and I loved my time there but we were getting a little too comfortable. You can only work for 6 months in one job while on a working holiday visa and as our 6 months were nearly up we decided to have a look into doing our regional work so we could apply for our second year visa (all sounds a bit complicated...and it is) We had some friends who had already moved to a town called Innisfail in Queensland where they were staying at a working hostel who found regional work for you, we made arrangements to do the same but couldn't get in straight away...this led us to Cairns.  We stayed in Cairns for around five days. We stayed just outside the city and I had my first Air bnb experience. We had a room in a really cool house where three guys lived, they were all really nice and they had two lovely dogs, Sally and Rocky, so I had a lovely time. Another couple were staying there as well, they were really friendly and it's always nice to meet fellow travellers.  If I'm honest I didn't love Cairns. I think staying in Melbourne for so long had spoilt me. It was sort of just a big sea side town. There's nothing wrong with that and parts of it were very pretty but I think I may have been bored if I'd stayed much longer. One place that was very special, however, was Palm Cove, this beautiful seaside town was around 30 minutes away from where we were staying and was a very pretty place. We had beautiful weather on this day too and I had a lovely time walking around in the sun! After our time was up in Cairns we made the move to Innisfail. I'm not gonna lie, I was very nervous about what life on a banana farm might be like but I was trying to keep positive. My positivity faded when we hopped off the grey hound and where greeted with a girl called Sam from one of the hostels who was a straight up bitch! She dropped us off at one hostel called Walkabout and told us to wait while she picked everyone up from work. It has such a horrible atmosphere  (very lads on tour) and I felt so over whelmed that I had a little cry. We ended up staying in a 'hotel' called Queens. It was definitely still a hostel, we had a shared room with another couple and a guy. It could have been much worse as they were all really nice and seemed to enjoy the work they'd found. We had friends staying at the third hostel (Retreat) that was owned by the same people  so we hung out there on the evenings, we were hoping to get moved into Retreat because it seemed like such a close group there. It cost $200 each a week to stay at the hostels, this was for accommodation as well as finding work and transport to and from work. It turned out that most girls were waiting 2-3 weeks and were only getting a couple of days work and the boys could only get humping jobs (yes if you picked bananas you were a banana humper, unfortunate I know). Steven did a couple of days humping and found it very hard, I've never seen a muddier person come through the door at the end of the day!  After a stressful few days we decided against farming. Financially it wasn't going to work out for us and as we had only ever intended to use a few months of our second year visa we didn't feel like it was going to be worth it for us. I hope this doesn't make it sound like we gave up. If we had both been able to find full time jobs straight away and were able to save money like we'd planned then I'm sure we'd still be there. As it turned out it was probably going to cost us money for a pretty miserable time that wasn't as essential to us as we first thought. I definitely take my hat off to any one that manages to stick it out and I'm sure I'll be jealous when you're all still loving life in Australia while I've moved on. This brings us to now. We are currently in Brisbane and this is where we are planning to be for the rest of our visa. We really landed on our feet coming here. After a couple of days in a hostel we managed to find ourselves a room in a house with some really lovely people. I managed to get a job at another franchise of the spa I'd worked at in Melbourne and Steven also started work straight away. Not gonna lie it was a good feeling and immediately felt happy with my decision to move here.  As for future plans, turns out you can get a three month tourist visa for Australia for absolutely free so anything we don't have time to do on our current visa we can do then. We also have plans to spend some time working and exploring New Zealand and I plan on having an amazing time in Asia before heading home. All in all a very exciting year ahead and I can't wait. I always knew we'd make some mistakes whilst travelling and I'm lucky that they've been small so far. It's all about bouncing back and making the most of this experience.  Bring it on!  

10 things I love about Melbourne

I've been in Melbourne for a few months now and I'm planning on staying for a while longer while we make plans and try our best to save (that parts easier said than done). It's one of the coolest places I've ever visited and I thought I would share some of my favourite things about the city with you.

1. The view from my room. 

Living on the 50th floor of a building right in the middle of the city definitely has it's perks and the view from my balcony is definitely one of them. You can see for miles and miles and it's incredible. Almost worth feeling dizzy from the journey in the lift.

2. Queen Victoria Market
Queen Victoria market is just down the road from where I'm staying. It is absolutely huge and is full of incredible food as well as clothes and trinkets. We've been buying all our fruit and veg from here as it's cheaper than the super markets, you can also buy some really delicious treats for lunches. 

3. The graffiti walls

Melbourne is full of amazing graffiti. There are streets that are dedicated to graffiti where you can watch the artists work. I think it must be legal here because it is so common. I'm sure if I was more creative I could do an amazing look book around here....only time will tell. 

4. The cat cafe

I've written a whole post about this place but I thought it was worth mentioning again. I've only been twice but it's nice to know it's there for when I'm really missing my own little balls of fluff at home. The cats that live here seem so happy and it's really lovely to see. 

5. Trams

Trams are just cool. Ignoring the fact that I can't work the time table and ended up going miles in the wrong direction the other night (alcohol may been involved), they are cool. 

6. The cafes

Melbourne cafe culture is a big deal and for that I am grateful, I have strong feelings for cake. Every little suburb has some of the most beautiful cafes I've ever seen, some of the best ones are hidden away down little side streets. 

7. The food

Maybe it's because I've never lived in a big city before but I have never been somewhere where you can get every type of cuisine under the sun. I live right in the centre of the city so it's all on my door step. You can be as healthy or as naughty as you like and it's all really reasonably priced which makes being a poor backpacker a little bit easier. 

8. Bikes

Bikes are a big deal here and I have a bit of a thing for them. I'd probably be too much a scaredy cat to ever ride one but I think they're gorgeous. Vespers and Harleys seem to be the big thing as well as lots of beautiful push bikes and quite frankly I want them all. 

9. The parks

I've written a full post about my time at the Botanical gardens but there's lots of other beautiful parks here too. Melbourne's very mixed weather (it's honestly crazier than England) means that plants grow really well here. You only have to wonder a few miles in any direction to find a little patch of paradise to wonder around. 

10. The river

The Yarra river is the centre of the city and it's pretty spectacular. I think walking down by the river in the evening is great. Street performers, amazing restaurants and lots of people watching, life is always good by a river. 

So that sums up my favourite parts of Melbourne so far. I still have a some time left here so I'm sure I'll discover even more great things about the city. I have to say that the people I've been spending my time here with have been a huge part of what's made it so special, you're all super cool people! 

A little catch up...

So due to a lack of Internet and a little bit of hostel living it's been a while since I've last blogged. I thought I would do a bit of a picture heavy catch up so you can all see what I've been up to since I first landed in Australia.

Sydney

Sydney was the first place we landed in Australia. I think it's probably one of the first places every one thinks about when you think about Oz but to be honest I'd heard very mixed things about it and really didn't know what to expect. I was also feeling a little bit nervous about my first shared dorm, hostel experience. I really had nothing to worry about with the hostel, it was a real mix of people in my room but everyone was so nice and we were chatting with every one straight away. 

For me big parts of Sydney were just like any other big city. That's not necessarily a bad thing, I really like big cities but it wasn't anything really exciting that I hadn't seen before, it actually reminded me of Glasgow. A part of the city I absolutely loved was Darling harbour, this was the part that felt really special. I sent my birthday evening sat at the harbour eating pizza and it was simply lovely. 

Camper vanning

After our week in Sydney we decided to head to Melbourne. We booked a camper van for a week and decided to head along the coast so we could take our time. We stopped off at loads of amazing places on the way. It was literally beach after beach. We also met some really interesting people, all of the people that ran the camp sites seemed so passionate about where they lived and couldn't  of had more recommendations on what to see and do.  One of the places we stopped at was Jervis Bay, it's known for having the whitest sands and bluest sea, the best place for a picnic. This is where we went to watch the dolphins. We managed to see quite a few and some had babies with them, they were incredible, it was definitely a highlight for me. We had missed the wales by a few weeks but we're planning on going to see them next year when they start to come back, I can only imagine how amazing that will be. 

Melbourne

We're planning to stay in Melbourne for a while, we'd already decided this before getting here but it just so happens to be a pretty amazing place. We started off staying in a hostel for a few days, it was actually the same chain of hostels we'd stayed at in Sydney called Base, I would definitely recommend them. This was in a place called St Kilda which is right by the beach and has some amazingly quirky cafes and bars. We've since moved into the CBD (basically just the centre, I've no idea what it actually means) which is very different from St Kilda but is equally great. It has amazing shops and restaurants and again seems to have lots of quirky and different areas. I'm currently looking for work here and I'm having lots of fun exploring the city during the process. There's a cat cafe round the corner from where I live and I can see me spending most Sunday afternoons eating cake and stroking a moggy.

So, so far so good. I'm feeling very lucky at the moment and I know I have so much more to see and do. I' already feeling like a year just won't be enough.....

And we're off!

 

 

So we are officially off on our travels! As this post goes up I will most likely be wondering round the duty free pining over the mac lipsticks that I have no reason to buy whilst wetting myself with excitement! I'm currently feeling all the emotions. After packing up my room and waving good-bye to my little car it suddenly all feels very real! Which it is....eek!

 

Our first port of call is Bangkok, which I am expecting to be a massive culture shock, I also keep thinking about "The hangover" but I have been assured that it's incredible! I'm planning on keeping up with my blog as much as I can and ideally want to do an update on each place we visit. Plus I'm excited to sample a Thai massage and some Eastern beauty products and will keep you posted on my findings. I'm even pondering over the idea of filming my travels and youtubing as well.... I’m not promising anything though ha!

We will eventually be arriving in Australia (hence the hats) where we have a year's working visa, again I'll keep you up to date with everything that's going on!!

 

It's definitely time for adventure and I can't wait!