First AFL game!

Haven't written on here for aaaages. Think this is the first time in a while that I've actually done something worth blogging about! I went to an AFL game! For those of you who don't know, AFL is the Australian Football League, which is HUGE in Melbourne.


First of all I had to pick a footy team. Apparently if you live in Melbourne, you have to pick a team! I had no idea which team to go for. Luckily one of our regular customers at the cupcake shop brought in a questionnaire which determined which team was the right one for me! I can't remember that many of the questions - they were pretty random, but because I like cats, I ended up with the Geelong Cats!


So yesterday evening I went to my first game! Geelong Vs Collingwood, or Cats Vs Pies!

I was looking forward to the game as apparently Collingwood fans are notoriously 'bogan' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogan) so I was told it would be an interesting atmosphere.

The game was at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which is huuuuge, and we were sat right at the top. Had a pretty cool view though!

The area we were sat in was mixed so was full of both Cats and Pies supporters. Considering what I'd heard about Collingwood supporters, the crowd seemed surpisingly tame, though there were a couple of Pies fans sat a few rows in front of us who were pretty loud, so that was funny. Probably the thing that amused me most about the whole experience was before the game even started, both teams run on to the pitch to their team songs... which are SO cringeworthy!!! This is the song for Geelong:

Anyway, the game itself was a bit of a disaster with Collingwood completely thrashing Geelong by over 30 points! It didn't take long to pick up the basics of how the game works, but parts still confuse me a bit! I could still tell Geelong were playing pretty badly though! I want to go again and see Geelong actually win! Overall though I really enjoyed it, the atmosphere was way more chilled out and there were way less angry fans than there would be at a British football match. So now I feel slightly more Australian for having been to an AFL game! 

Back to the UK!

Wow, haven't updated my blog for ages! Started writing a little something at Melbourne airport last week so I'll copy and paste that to begin with!


"So here I am once again waiting to begin a 25 hour flight, though this time in the opposite direction! Definitely doesn’t seem like close to a year since I was at the airport sat at the gate staring out the window at a HUGE Qantas plane.

So much has happened in the last few months. Well, not loads, but I made the big decision to use my second year visa straight away. So although it feels very strange to be going back to the UK, it’s nice to think that in 3 weeks time I’ll be back in my flat in Melbourne. Though I really can’t wait to see people back home!

I made the decision because I have loved all my time in Australia, especially Melbourne, and I feel so at home and settled here, and definitely not ready to leave. Even leaving for 3 weeks makes me feel like I’m going to miss out on something exciting in Melbourne, there’s always something cool going on like a random festival or even just a fun night out with my friends!

Luckily I’ve managed to secure my job at the cupcake shop and will be working there until the end of October, as you can work for the same company for another 6 months in your 2^nd year visa. So the plan is to save up as much as possible, then begin my travels once again and probably go over to Western Australia. That’s about as far as my plans go. I’m just going to see what happens!

There’s no free internet at Melbourne airport so I probably won’t actually post this til I get home!"

So that's what I wrote at the airport. I've been back in North Wales for about a week and a half now, but in just over a week I'll be heading back to Australia! Not really got much to say about my last few months in Melbourne. It's mainly just involved working and going out with friends! Doesn't really feel like I'm on holiday over there now, just feels like home! Actually felt like coming back to the UK was a holiday as it's three weeks off work!

I've managed to fit quite a lot in so far while I've been at home. In the first week I managed to go to the hairdressers, the doctors and the dentist. Went over to Yorkshire to see my Dad and his side of the family. It was nice to see them though I was still a bit jetlagged so was really tired after the drive! It was so weird though, on the way there I actually drove through some snow - something I wasn't expecting to see in April! I've also seen a lot of the family here in North Wales, and caught up with a few friends! 

Although it's nice to come back here and see people, it really has confirmed that I made the right decision to stay in Australia for another year. The thought of actually staying here and having to find a job etc is not something I want to do anytime soon, if ever!

Got a few more things planned while I'm home, going shopping to Chester with my mum tomorrow. Meeting up with a few friends and going on a night out with my sister at the weekend! So still got a few things to look forward to. Then it's back to Melbourne to start my 2nd year in Australia!! So hopefully lots more adventures for me! I'll try and keep my blog updated as much as I can!

Back to Melbourne!

Arrived back in Melbourne in the morning on 4th Jan and moved into my new flat! So me and Ellie spent most of the day out buying bedding and did a big food shop etc! We also had a wonder down to Southbank where we had cocktails in the Crown Casino!

The next day we picked up our hire car for our road trip! We drove to the Mornington Peninsula where we stopped for a walk and a picnic, then drove over to Philip Island! We checked into the hostel which was really nice, probably one of the cleanest I've stayed in while I've been in Australia!
I knew there was a place called Rhyll on Philip Island so we decided we had to go there just to get a picture with the sign! (For those who don't know, back home in Wales I live really close to a place called Rhyl!)

Then we went back to the hostel for some food before heading out to the penguin parade! It was just as good second time! The penguins were so cute!

The next day we went to the chocolate factory on Philip Island which was really fun! There were random games where you could win chocolate, and you could make your own chocolate in whatever shape you wanted. After that we set off back to Melbourne! The drive was fun, we listened to Aussie radio which is actually better than at home, plays a bit more of a mixture of genres, though a lot of the same songs do get repeated!

When we got back to Melbourne we spent the next few days just chilling out. Ellie booked a skydive which kept getting put off because of the weather, but she eventually got to do it on the day before she left which was lucky! Think she enjoyed it!

We also had a bit of a mad night out on the Saturday night! Got quite drunk so spent Sunday relaxing and took advantage of the pool in my building! Went to chinatown in the evening for food to try and cure the hangovers!

Monday I was back at work, which is also the day Ellie did her skydive, so she had something to do while I was working! Then as it was a Monday evening, the only cool thing to do in Melbourne is obviously Neighbours Night!As usual it was a fun night, though less drunken than normal as I had to be up at 6am the following morning, and Ellie didn't want to be hungover for her long journey home! We met Chris Pappas and Sky Mangel, and as my good friend Dr Karl wasn't there, we got to hear Paul Robinson sing with The Waiting Room instead!

So the next day Ellie flew back to the UK, was such a fun couple of weeks! Haven't done a huge amount since then, went to watch some of the qualifying matches for the Australian Open which was surprising quite good! Everyone in Melbourne seems to get pretty into it so thought I should watch a couple of the games!

It was also Australia Day last week! It's the national day of Australia celebrating the arrival of the first fleet into Sydney Cove in 1788. It was a really fun day, went to a house party with some of my flat mates. It was robot and monster themed (very random!) but we didn't bother dressing up! 

Me and my flatmate Rosa on Australia Day!

So yeah, apart from that I've just been working! Need to try and save my money now! Can't believe I only have about 10 weeks left in Australia.... :(

More Melbourne!

Haven't updated this for ages! Happy New Year!!

So last time I wrote on here I'd just got the job at Little Cupcakes, so nothing overly exciting happened between then and Christmas, but here are a couple of notable things!

More Neighbours stalking! When I went to Neighbours Night with my sister, Dr Karl promised to play a song I requested if I went to the night 2 weeks later. Luckily I met a girl in my hostel called Faye who wanted to go too. So I went to Neighbours Night again and met my good friend Dr Karl once again! I also met Steph Scully and Mike Williams so that was pretty good! And as promised, my song got played!! And he also came up to me and was singing at me which was funny! He also said I knew the words better than him.. not sure if that's something to be proud of! Ha! But it was a good night anyway!

These were not the final Neighbours characters I was to meet over the following few weeks! I went to see the Christmas lights being switched on in the centre of Melbourne, and who was there promoting a Children's charity... Toadie!! So I had a quick chat and a photo with him which was really cool as he's one of the best Neighbours characters!

As it got closer to Christmas I decided I wanted to get into the Christmas spirit, and what better way to do so than go to the Christmas Neighbours Night! It was such a fun night, there were quite a few cast members there including Sky Mangel, Stingray (who actually recognised me from the night with my sister!), Dylan (who liked my glasses), Irish Connor, Paul Robinson and of course Dr Karl himself! One of his other bands called Ubersavvy also played, they were pretty cool. They also had some Christmas songs which was fun!

I also found time to pay a quick visit to Ramsay Street and the Lassiters Complex, though unfortunately I didn't meet any of the cast!

Anyway, that's enough Neighbours for now! A girl I met on OzIntro came to Melbourne for a while and we discovered a really cool bar called the Croft Institute. It's themed like a science lab and you get drink shots out of test tubes and cocktails from syringes! It was a fun experience anyway! 

Another exciting thing was that the first ever Topshop in Australia opened at the beginning of December in Melbourne, so had to pay that a visit! Also did a few other Christmassy things like had a work party with a secret santa which was nice - so I actually got a Christmas present which I wasn't expecting. Finally, I managed to find somewhere to live from the beginning of January so I didn't have to stay in the hostel when I returned from Sydney! It's on King Street so really central, about a 5 minute walk to work, and I have my own room!!

That's about everything worth mentioning I think! Wasn't the most eventful few weeks as I was trying to save up to go to Sydney for Christmas and New Year!

Melbourne

The next few days in Melbourne were mainly spent recovering from Neighbours Night, and for me, job hunting!

We wondered around Melbourne a few times which was nice. Went to Federation Square, went to some markets in Fitzroy, walked along the Southbank, and went to the beach at St. Kilda!

We also went to a Good Charlotte gig! A band who I was obsessed with when I was about 15! They're actually really big over here in Oz. When I was working on the farm and we had the radio on when picking zucchinis, Good Charlotte were always getting played! Don't think they'd be on the radio at home at all!!
But the gig was really fun, the support band, Amy Meredith were also pretty cool, I actually recognised one of their songs from the radio at the farm too, just hadn't known who it was! For some reason the main part of the gig was Good Charlotte playing songs from one Weezers albums, as they're a band who have really influenced them. It was good because they played a song called 'Buddy Holly' which is my favourite Weezer song. But the best part of the gig was obviously when they played their own songs! They played a really cool mix of stuff including some of my favourites, 'Riot Girl', 'Boys and Girls', 'Last Night' and loads more from all their albums! So it was a really fun night!

Another cool thing we did was go to the Penguin Parade on Phillip Island - a treat from Becca as my early Christmas present! It was a really good day out. First we went to a wildlife sanctuary which was ok, nothing special though as I've seen all these animals before, and it wasn't the nicest wildlife place I've been to. We also visited a cool beach, went on a walk to spot some penguins and had a yummy pizza dinner (including a kangaroo and crocodile pizza!!) before seeing the main event - the penguin parade!

We all got a mat to sit on, and sat on the beach to wait for the penguins. Just as it was starting to get dark at about 8.20pm, the penguins started to appear! It was amazing! They appeared from the sea in little groups, and slowly made their way across the beach to their nests on the shore. It was so cool to watch them! And every now and again they'd run back to the sea because they were scared of the seagulls.
Once they'd all gone across the beach, we went to the boardwalk where you could see them running through the sand dunes to get to their nests. It was amazing! I don't have any pictures though as cameras aren't allowed. Here's a picture I've found on the internet though, to give you all an idea of what it was like!

The day after the penguin parade was Becca's last day in Melbourne :( We decided to go out for tea to a really cool restaurant called 'Lentil As Anything'. It only serves vegan food and you pay what you feel the food is worth. So instead of a til they have a big box where you can put your donation, so even the waiters don't know what you pay. It was really cool and the food was yummy! I had a vegetable curry and it's the best curry I've had in Australia!
After the meal we went to a couple of bars for some drinks as Becca's flight wasn't til 3am! We got back to the hostel at about half 11 - 12ish and it was time to say goodbye :(
It was really weird once Becca had gone as I'd got used to having someone else with me. Was so good to see her! 

Now I'm on my own again, I've not done much since Becca left. I moved out of the hostel in St. Kilda to a cheaper one in the CBD. It's a really good location right on Elizabeth Street. And I've managed to find myself a job - in a cupcake shop!! It's pretty good, I get free cupcakes which is a bonus, though I don't want to be putting on weight!

It feels really weird at the moment though as Christmas decorations are starting to be put up around the city, and today it was sunny and 34 degrees. It just doesn't feel right! Christmas is supposed to be a time when you have to wrap up warm etc! Oh well, Christmas in Australia is going to be an experience anyway!

I'm glad I'm finally up to date with my blog now! I'll keep updating every now and again when I do something interesting in Melbourne :) But for now the crazy travelling fun is over and it's back to work!

Neighbours Night!

As anyone who knows me is aware of, I am a massive Neighbours fan! So I was really looking forward to Neighbours Night (even though I've been before...)!

We got there at about 7pm and got seats quite close to the front which was good! We were going to be meeting Malcolm Kennedy, Stingray and the legend himself, Dr. Karl Kennedy!!
The evening started off with the host Safari Pete getting everyone to sing the Neighbours theme tune - cheesy but had to be done! Next the characters were introduced one by one then answered questions from the audience before they made there way around the pub so we could all chat to them and get photos! While they mingled with the crowd, Safari Pete hosted a trivia quiz with a lot of Neighbours related questions popping up here and there! There were also lots of games to take part in to win prizes, I didn't do any though!

So me and Becca got our photos taken with Mal, Stingray and Karl! I managed to have a quick chat with Dr Karl, telling him to play a song called Mattress on the Floor - which he has promised to do at Neighbours Night on 21st November, so I may have to go to that! What a shame!! I also told him Becca was a real doctor, so he asked her to fix his hernia!! Haha.

Malcolm Kennedy!

Karl Kennedy!

Stingray!

After the stars had done their rounds, it was time for Karl to get on stage with his band The Waiting Room, by this point many glasses of wine had been consumed so I couldn't tell you what songs he played!

After the band we had another drink in the pub before heading to a random bar/club in St. Kilda with a load of other people from Neighbours Night, and Stingray came too!

It was a really fun night but ended up being a bit too drunken as I ended up losing the battery from my camera (no idea how I did that) and even worse, I lost my glasses! The first pair I've ever lost and I've been wearing glasses since I was 3 years old!