WOW do I ever love it over here. This morning Lisa and I woke up bright and early at 6am, met up with a friend of hers, and drove over to Rockingham to go kayaking off Shoalwater Bay. It was my first time kayaking and it took me a bit of circling around to get the hang of it, but I made it through three hours of kayaking through pretty choppy waters so YAY me. My arms will probably hate me tomorrow though. We paddled over to Lion Island first to check out the sea lions, they're such funny little creatures. Then over to Penguin Island, which was stunningly beautiful. The little chubby penguins were so cute!
We then drove over to Cotteslau to get ice cream and walk around the beach. Very, very gorgeous area, but a bit too crowded of a beach for my liking.
Then Lisa and I came back to Perth and we went out for dinner where we got the best service I've received so far in Oz (Lisa said the best she ever has too and she's been here six years), and my GOD were the boys that worked there ever gorgeous. Definitely going back to eat there when I come back later this week :D
Tomorrow I fly to Exmouth, to check out the Ningaloo Reef and snorkel around Coral Bay. Wednesday I'm heading down to Margaret River, which will be my first night actually on my own since I arrived. Booked a cute little room, and I'll be getting there mid-afternoon so I might go get a surf lesson that afternoon but I'll see what happens. Thursday I'm going abseiling and rock climbing, then coming back to Perth to spend Thursday night and Friday with Lisa and her boy. If they're not working Friday we're going out to Rottnest Island, so I have my fingers crossed as I've heard nothing but awesome things about out there. Then Saturday, back to Melbourne for the weekend!
Today was AMAZING. I'm falling in love with this country, BIG TIME. The weather, the people, the scenery, the incredible activities available, the very, very cute boys... the list goes on and on. I could see myself living here for a very, very long time. Don't tell Ashley.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
I fucking failed my dive medical. Not too surprised, seeing as I just got over pneumonia in January. My lungs suck. So now my plans have to change.
A big piss off about this is that I just bought plane tickets to/from Exmouth earlier today - now, without doing the scuba, I don't need to go there at all, and def not for a week. It still is a gorgeous area, so I'm going to go there for two nights - and the change of plane ticket cost me over $200. Then I'll come back to Perth and hang with Lisa and her boy, then I'm deciding between the Pinnacles and Margaret River. Then I'll head back to Melbourne on Saturday for two nights and then up to Cairn on the following Monday. I'd planned to dive the reef up in Cairns, but I'll still get to surf and check out a lot of amazing shit. Small but expensive setback, oh well.
A big piss off about this is that I just bought plane tickets to/from Exmouth earlier today - now, without doing the scuba, I don't need to go there at all, and def not for a week. It still is a gorgeous area, so I'm going to go there for two nights - and the change of plane ticket cost me over $200. Then I'll come back to Perth and hang with Lisa and her boy, then I'm deciding between the Pinnacles and Margaret River. Then I'll head back to Melbourne on Saturday for two nights and then up to Cairn on the following Monday. I'd planned to dive the reef up in Cairns, but I'll still get to surf and check out a lot of amazing shit. Small but expensive setback, oh well.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
WOW it's hard to get around to other areas from Western Australia. I'm in Perth right now, heading to Exmouth on Sunday, and my next destination is Cairns, where I want to be on the 28th. There is NO WAY to get up to that spot from Exmouth. I tried looking for flights/buses any where north from Exmouth, like Broome or Darwin, nothing available on either Saturday or Sunday the 26 or 27. So instead, on the 26th I'm flying back to Perth (no buses available), which is cool cause I'll get to spend more time with Lisa. Then I looked for flights to Cairns from Perth - they ALL stopped through Sydney or Melbourne, and were really expensive. So instead, I'm saving $100 by flying to Melbourne from Perth, then to Cairns from Melbourne. Totally backtracking, but it's cool cause instead of just laying over at the airport I'm going to fly to Melbourne on the Sunday, then to Cairns on the Monday, so I'll have another random night in Melbourne, which is fine with me! PARTY TIME!
My GOD is the weather in Perth incredible. Lisa picked me up at the airport yesterday, and she's just as adorable as ever! I'm so happy to be here with her, she made me a nice barbecue yesterday and we sat outside drinking wine and smoking cigarettes (eeeek I love having someone to sneak the occasional cigarette with!). Not sure what the plan is today for sure but I know my bikini and the Indian Ocean will be involved for sure :D
Sonofa...
I definitely have a crush. Fuck. Crushes are fun but I need to think about scuba diving, not cute boys!
I'm on the plane from Melbourne to Perth right now, which means my trip has really just begun. So far I've ventured out of Melbourne for the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians, but that's about a teeny little pinprick out of the Australian landscape. Its not just the boy that would have kept me in Melbourne longer though, it is a great city and I can see myself living there easily. Definitely a great start to this trip, I can't imagine what it would have been like if the last week had been spend somewhere I didn't feel comfortable. Although as I type that, I can't really imagine not feeling comfortable somewhere - I never want to leave New York or Vegas any time I go, and I wanted to stay forever in Belize and Guatemala. So maybe it's just that my mind and heart fall in love with each place I'm in and heading somewhere else makes it break a little. I remember I was almost in actual tears the morning I was driven out of Guatemala, because it was ending. I wanted to see MORE - well today I'm doing just that, I am going to see EVERYTHING. Only one week done, still five more to go - and only a bit more than four til I see the cute NZ guy again, aaaaaaaaaaaah. Waitaminute - isn't this blog supposed to be about my travels, not my romantic pursuits? Shit, sorry faithful readers (all what, five of you? hahahahaha).
As I said above, today really is when the journey begins. To do those two excursions out of Melbourne - whoa interjection, I'm watching 'Burlesque' at the moment here on the plane and Alan Cumming (fuck I love him), just told Xtina 'baby, I should wash your mouth out with Jagermeister'. AMAZING! Okay back to Melbourne. Both of those excursions had to be done with a tour group, as they were far out of the city and being a non-driver I had no way to get there myself. The rest of my trip should be tour-group free (I fucking hope at least). So from here on in it's all up to me. Once my scuba course ends next week, the only time I have a set destination is to be up in Cairns on the 28th to see Tom and Tara from home. I've been planning about ten days in that area, to dive the reef and learn to surf, and to wander around the tablelands, but I may shorten that up a bit and head down to Brisbane for a bit. J, the British boy I met on Caye Caulker is heading there, he's been in Melbourne the whole time I was there but we didn't meet up so purrhaps we'll get to have a beer in Brisbane, or maybe a litre of rum so we can pretend we're still in Belize (although here it'll cost $40, instead of $6), haha. Apparently it will be HOTTER here than there, YAY this has been the sunniest winter ever :D And Brisbane would be another place to dive, another place to try surfing, and if I pick myself up a tent it'll be a great place to camp out on the beach a few nights. That would be so amazing.
I've been here a week and am already heavily thinking of applying for a working visa to come back here. Apparently it's not too easy once you turn 31, which means I have nine days to submit the application once I get home. I did love Central America but never once thought about moving there, but a week here and I'm already curious how long my kitties would have to stay in quarantine for if I brought them over here with me to live with the 'roos.
I'm on the plane from Melbourne to Perth right now, which means my trip has really just begun. So far I've ventured out of Melbourne for the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians, but that's about a teeny little pinprick out of the Australian landscape. Its not just the boy that would have kept me in Melbourne longer though, it is a great city and I can see myself living there easily. Definitely a great start to this trip, I can't imagine what it would have been like if the last week had been spend somewhere I didn't feel comfortable. Although as I type that, I can't really imagine not feeling comfortable somewhere - I never want to leave New York or Vegas any time I go, and I wanted to stay forever in Belize and Guatemala. So maybe it's just that my mind and heart fall in love with each place I'm in and heading somewhere else makes it break a little. I remember I was almost in actual tears the morning I was driven out of Guatemala, because it was ending. I wanted to see MORE - well today I'm doing just that, I am going to see EVERYTHING. Only one week done, still five more to go - and only a bit more than four til I see the cute NZ guy again, aaaaaaaaaaaah. Waitaminute - isn't this blog supposed to be about my travels, not my romantic pursuits? Shit, sorry faithful readers (all what, five of you? hahahahaha).
As I said above, today really is when the journey begins. To do those two excursions out of Melbourne - whoa interjection, I'm watching 'Burlesque' at the moment here on the plane and Alan Cumming (fuck I love him), just told Xtina 'baby, I should wash your mouth out with Jagermeister'. AMAZING! Okay back to Melbourne. Both of those excursions had to be done with a tour group, as they were far out of the city and being a non-driver I had no way to get there myself. The rest of my trip should be tour-group free (I fucking hope at least). So from here on in it's all up to me. Once my scuba course ends next week, the only time I have a set destination is to be up in Cairns on the 28th to see Tom and Tara from home. I've been planning about ten days in that area, to dive the reef and learn to surf, and to wander around the tablelands, but I may shorten that up a bit and head down to Brisbane for a bit. J, the British boy I met on Caye Caulker is heading there, he's been in Melbourne the whole time I was there but we didn't meet up so purrhaps we'll get to have a beer in Brisbane, or maybe a litre of rum so we can pretend we're still in Belize (although here it'll cost $40, instead of $6), haha. Apparently it will be HOTTER here than there, YAY this has been the sunniest winter ever :D And Brisbane would be another place to dive, another place to try surfing, and if I pick myself up a tent it'll be a great place to camp out on the beach a few nights. That would be so amazing.
I've been here a week and am already heavily thinking of applying for a working visa to come back here. Apparently it's not too easy once you turn 31, which means I have nine days to submit the application once I get home. I did love Central America but never once thought about moving there, but a week here and I'm already curious how long my kitties would have to stay in quarantine for if I brought them over here with me to live with the 'roos.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
So far the thing that is striking me the most is just how incredibly nice and non-selfish people here are. When we were going through the sewers yesterday, any time one of us would slip a bit or say 'ow!', the others would immediately turn around and ask if you were alright. I've been offered beer by so many others. The people in the squat woke up after a three-day bender and immediately began cleaning up, to the point of even fixing a wooden chair that had been basically smashed to bits the night before. The hangover day was spent buildng a gate to keep the dogs in the yard and tending to the garden. These are the things that could keep me in a place like this.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Melbourne/Montreal
Quite a few people back home told me that Melbourne was quite similar to Montreal, and I figure they must be right, because I'm currently in a van being driven up into the Grampians and all I can think about is how I want to move to Montreal. No matter where I travel to, it always strikes me how I don't think of Ottawa as 'home'. I always love Montreal. I feel more at home there than in any other Canadian city. So I'm seriously thinking of packing up and moving there in September. Give myself a few months, learn French, so I can hopefully get a serving job when I get there. Just seems to make sense.
Anyway. Today is my last day in Melbourne, and I wish I had more time here! I'm excited as hell to get out of cities and see more outdoors. Lisa in Perth has already planned an awesome weekend for us, we're going to bike around an island, go snorkeling, see penguins, it's gonna rule. Then up to Exmouth and I'll be starting my scuba course on Monday! From there my plan has been to head up to Cairns, but there was an earthquake there yesterday so I'm not 100% if I'm going to head that way or not. Also thinking of hitting up Brisbane once I have my scuba, I hadn't planned on going that way but I read about an old shipwreck you can dive around and it sounds like something I don't want to miss. Plus D will be around there and he's been awesome to hang out with the last few days so it would be cool to hang out with him again. Yesterday we put on ninja turtle bandanas and ran around the sewers for a few hours with J and CNZ (cute new zealand) guy. Oh yes that's right, on this trip (for once), I'm not crushing on anyone with a British accent as per usual, this time it's CNZguy. Think I'll have to come back to Melbourne for more than just one night at the end of my trip, there's a gig on the 17th of April so I may come back here for that and spend my last three nights here. We'll see.
Now to put the computer away and go see some kangaroos!!!!
Anyway. Today is my last day in Melbourne, and I wish I had more time here! I'm excited as hell to get out of cities and see more outdoors. Lisa in Perth has already planned an awesome weekend for us, we're going to bike around an island, go snorkeling, see penguins, it's gonna rule. Then up to Exmouth and I'll be starting my scuba course on Monday! From there my plan has been to head up to Cairns, but there was an earthquake there yesterday so I'm not 100% if I'm going to head that way or not. Also thinking of hitting up Brisbane once I have my scuba, I hadn't planned on going that way but I read about an old shipwreck you can dive around and it sounds like something I don't want to miss. Plus D will be around there and he's been awesome to hang out with the last few days so it would be cool to hang out with him again. Yesterday we put on ninja turtle bandanas and ran around the sewers for a few hours with J and CNZ (cute new zealand) guy. Oh yes that's right, on this trip (for once), I'm not crushing on anyone with a British accent as per usual, this time it's CNZguy. Think I'll have to come back to Melbourne for more than just one night at the end of my trip, there's a gig on the 17th of April so I may come back here for that and spend my last three nights here. We'll see.
Now to put the computer away and go see some kangaroos!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)