Will try and do this as concisely as possible...
Walked out of my vile job. They decided not to pay me. Have taken action to make them pay me since they are legally in the wrong. We shall see the outcome since it's $650 that I'm currently short of, which is by no means a figure to be sniffed at.
On the other hand, have found a wonderful, wonderful job at a lovely Italian restaurant in the Crown complex and I love it there and the boss is absolutely lovely and so I'm very happy there. Added to this I am working a couple of days a week on the tour desk at my hostel, which is good fun and also it means that I get to do tours for free (ie three day Great Ocean Road trip next week. Win.) so I will see lots of Victoria.
Am still really liking Melbourne. Friend from England was here for a couple of weeks and I haven't seen her for years and we had a fabulous time catching up over coffee and shopping and things like that and she took me to the Neighbours night (she used to work for the company that runs them) and even though there were a couple of moments of cringeyness and it was very, very cheesy it was also so much fun. But now she's gone back to England. Boo.
I have also, to be fair, met some really wonderful people here who are 18 and as a result make me feel incredibly old because now I say sentences that start with things like, 'I remember when I was your age...' and frankly I am far too young for this to be happening but I am dealing with it by being a grumpy old woman and I feel I fulfill that role really rather well. But anyway, so I share a room with them and we've hung out and I work with two of them but now they're all leaving to go to Surfers Paradise so I will be here all by myself except that luckily Gemma is coming here in June so I will have at least one friend. We will also be planning how to smuggle a Cambodian child back to London to raise. I'd prefer a Vietnamese child but she's convinced Cambodian is the way to go. Something about border control.
I will have to leave Melbourne relatively soon, though, because I have to go and do fruit picking or some sort of banal rural work in order to get my second visa. It's not too, too bad (I hope!) but equally I'd rather be able to bum around in Melbourne and be able get my second visa anyway.
Anyway, frankly that is basically everything. I'm still beyond excited about the coalition situation in England. I would actually compare it to when I first saw Sydney Opera House. When I first got to Sydney it was amazed disbelief and this need to pinch myself that it was real and then that was the case the first few times I saw it, just the awe and wonderment. I actually have that about the coalition. Sad but true. Also I think it will be good for Britain with a bit of a balancing act going on.
Oh, I am also on an actual diet and it's day 4 and I'm SO hungry and it's ridiculous. I had dinner ages ago and I had three meals and three snacks that were all decent sizes. This is proof of just how stretced my stomach was. Turns out I didn't really need the double Angus meals and 10 McNuggets. More's the pity.
Showing posts with label Ramblings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ramblings. Show all posts
20 May 2010
16 April 2010
Awesome food and comedy fun
Soooooooooooooo, yesterday I was off work and we eventually managed to drag our arses out of the hostel and I went with PokerPlayer, Horserider, Devon and PokerPlayer's room mate. So we'll call him TheRoomate. Anyways, PokerPlayer wanted to buy an iPod so we went up into the CBD and bummed around in Myer and David Jones (think Debenhams and House of Fraser respectively) and looked for the iPod and then we went for dinner and went to a Malaysian BYO (BYO is really common over here, thankfully, and for the record I had a Chardonnay from Adelaide Hills and I was not especially impressed and I think I've decided it's because it might be too warm up there) and we had quite a lot of great food and funny conversation and it was basically my idea of a perfect dinner out.
Then we were on our way back to the hostel and walked past a little poster advertising a comedy gig which was like a gala of different acts all MC'd by a guy called Josh Thomas who Horserider really likes so I suggested we go and a consensus was that might be a good idea. So we went and spent probably the best $15 any of us have ever spent. Every single one of the ten acts, bar one, were pant wettingly hilarious and I laughed like I haven't laughed in ages and just generally it was an absolutely brilliant, brilliant night.
Oh, before that I made a whole bunch of scrummy pancakes for everybody and they were really absolutely perfectly delicious. It was a very happy time in my life.
Tonight I cooked a three course feast of smoked salmon, asparagus and avocado salad followed by lemon chicken and with homemade chocolate mousse and poached fruit for dinner. YUM, YUM, YUM!!!
Other than that, I feel better but my throat is definitely all up and I don't really like my job that much for quite a lot of reasons but that might be because I need to settle in.
Then we were on our way back to the hostel and walked past a little poster advertising a comedy gig which was like a gala of different acts all MC'd by a guy called Josh Thomas who Horserider really likes so I suggested we go and a consensus was that might be a good idea. So we went and spent probably the best $15 any of us have ever spent. Every single one of the ten acts, bar one, were pant wettingly hilarious and I laughed like I haven't laughed in ages and just generally it was an absolutely brilliant, brilliant night.
Oh, before that I made a whole bunch of scrummy pancakes for everybody and they were really absolutely perfectly delicious. It was a very happy time in my life.
Tonight I cooked a three course feast of smoked salmon, asparagus and avocado salad followed by lemon chicken and with homemade chocolate mousse and poached fruit for dinner. YUM, YUM, YUM!!!
Other than that, I feel better but my throat is definitely all up and I don't really like my job that much for quite a lot of reasons but that might be because I need to settle in.
13 April 2010
Boo to proper illness but other stuff too.
Literally today, I have started to feel ill but it's gotten so bad just over the course of the day. Started with a slightly sore throat and some sneezing this morning and now I'm in bed having taken two paracetemol and I've got a runny nose, my throat is all up, my glands are swollen, I'm stiff through my body and I've got achey ears. As a general rule, I feel like crap and really, really sorry for myself and I have to be up at 6.30 tomorrow morning for work. I am not off until Friday and I have quite a busy week planned so this is not good at all and I really, really need like two days of R and R BUT I am hopefully going to the doctor this week anyway and I hear they're quite good at giving out drugs over here, so I might be in with the luck.
I'm annoyed that I'm ill because now that's all I want to write about but there is a lot that has happened so I am going to try and focus my energies for a short time. Luckily I'm listening to the Spice Girls and Lily Allen so that is helping.
So work, yes work is fine BUT not busy enough for me as a general rule and this is something I need to adjust to because obviously the Winery was busy basically all the time but it's fine. What I absolutely love is the fact that the chefs are all actual proper bona fide chefs rather than cooks and they know a scary amount about food and they make the most amazing dishes and they are creative and all that jazz - basically everything that you want from good chefs. Also they make dishes for us to taste - which is awesome - as well as feed us very well and I'm scared that I'm going to be very fat by the time I leave because we also have a 24 hour pastry kitchen downstairs with all sorts of delicious goodness. Basically food wise, I win. Awesome. Pretty much everyone I work with is really cool with the notable exception of one guy, we'll call him Oxford, and he is an absolute douchebag because he's officious and pompous and he's greasy and reminds me of somebody from a film but I can't remember who and for example the other day I set the restaurant up for dinner and he didn't say anything but followed me around moving absolutely everything by one inch and then wondered why I was irritated. He's just one of those people that was quite clearly bullied at school and has no life nor any friends and so his entire life revolves around being at work and he thinks he's something a bit special when actually he's probably special needs and has few to no people skills. Also, I know that I'm contrary but this is the opinion of everyone with whom I work. Oxford and I had a little run in the other day and they've all come and said to me since that I should ignore him. Which makes me feel better.
I've been in a huge grump since I got here but in a really weird way. I'm not in a bad mood or anything, but I've turned into a properly evil bitch. I'm sick of there being no peace and quiet and there are loads of idiots in my hostel. This came to a head a few days ago when there were some idiots playing football in their room but with the door open and they were listening to their iPod on an iPod dock really loudly. And then some other guys came up and joined them and they proceeded to talk and laugh and generally make noise for ages. So I went over and I said, 'Look guys it's 2am, turn the music down and stop playing football and just generally be quieter.' And they completely ignored me! So I got back up off the sofa again, walked to their room, turned the music down myself and moved the bag out of the way of the door so that the door would swing shut at the same time as saying, 'I've told you once it's 2 in the bloody morning, be quiet.' And they opened the door again, turned the music back up and carried on talking really loudly. So then I lost it. I stormed up to the room, kicked the bag out of the way of the door, 'I've told you twice now, don't you understand it's 2 o'clock in the morning, I've got to be up for work tomorrow, other people are trying to sleep and you need to be quiet.' Then one of them started claiming that I'd not said anything before and was trying to push me out of the way so I pushed him back, went right up to his face and really loudly starting telling him to shut up, that I wasn't putting up with it anymore, that I'd already told them they were risking me going absolutely mental, that I'd been nice, I'd been calm and I'd been tolerant and that they were to Shut. Up.
I know, I know, it's really bad and I know I'm completely irrational but it really does wind me up so much that I lose my temper and I've never allowed myself to get so, so annoyed by that sort of thing before. I don't even mind living in hostels per se, but my head rationalises the irritation. I don't know if part of it is simply being really long in the tooth and genuinely not caring what these people think of me and knowing I don't need or want to be friends with them, particularly. Even the other day I went to the cinema and they have allocated seating and the cinema was pretty full and some guy was sitting in my seat, so I showed him my ticket and said, 'Look dude, you're in my seat,' and he just looked at me with this really annoying grin on his face, so I double checked, he was definitely in my seat and so I said, 'You're definitely in my seat,' and he just looked at me with this weird grin/smirk. I know I could have sat somewhere else but I didn't want to be in a position where I'd have taken somebody else's seat. So in the end I said to him, 'There's no point just looking at me with that stupid grin on your face, get out of my seat.' I'll be fine - I think it might be a hormone thing or it might just be that I'm tired.
Good things, though... I am still really enjoying Melbourne and I've met some really nice people. Last Thursday a couple of girls I've been hanging around with, Alice and Harriet, and I went to Victoria Park Markets and got some fish and some vegetables and I used a recipe from BBC Food and we made a delicious meal and I bought some nice wine and then we went to the bar, where I went off on one dancing around like a lunatic and had a blast and a really good laugh. I've also been to the cinema a couple of times to Crown Casino, which is a huge complex of casino (obviously), a cinema, some bars and some restaurants and is generally quite a bonkers place. Then yesterday Alice and I went to get some sushi and then for a coffee and watched some comedy on Federation Square. So yeah, I'm definitely more 'living' in Melbourne than I was in Sydney.
It's sooooooooooooooooo cold, though! I can't believe it! I've not got a coat so I need to buy one now, which is annoying because it's probably going to be about $100-150 for a decent warm one that will last me the whole winter to be worn every day and I don't have many jumpers so I need to buy some so it's going to be quite expensive just to wrap myself up for the winter, but I'm sure I'll cope.
OK, I think that's everything. I'm about to do some election reading and will probably post about it in a minute. I'm beyond excited about it - it's going to be AWESOME!!!
I'm annoyed that I'm ill because now that's all I want to write about but there is a lot that has happened so I am going to try and focus my energies for a short time. Luckily I'm listening to the Spice Girls and Lily Allen so that is helping.
So work, yes work is fine BUT not busy enough for me as a general rule and this is something I need to adjust to because obviously the Winery was busy basically all the time but it's fine. What I absolutely love is the fact that the chefs are all actual proper bona fide chefs rather than cooks and they know a scary amount about food and they make the most amazing dishes and they are creative and all that jazz - basically everything that you want from good chefs. Also they make dishes for us to taste - which is awesome - as well as feed us very well and I'm scared that I'm going to be very fat by the time I leave because we also have a 24 hour pastry kitchen downstairs with all sorts of delicious goodness. Basically food wise, I win. Awesome. Pretty much everyone I work with is really cool with the notable exception of one guy, we'll call him Oxford, and he is an absolute douchebag because he's officious and pompous and he's greasy and reminds me of somebody from a film but I can't remember who and for example the other day I set the restaurant up for dinner and he didn't say anything but followed me around moving absolutely everything by one inch and then wondered why I was irritated. He's just one of those people that was quite clearly bullied at school and has no life nor any friends and so his entire life revolves around being at work and he thinks he's something a bit special when actually he's probably special needs and has few to no people skills. Also, I know that I'm contrary but this is the opinion of everyone with whom I work. Oxford and I had a little run in the other day and they've all come and said to me since that I should ignore him. Which makes me feel better.
I've been in a huge grump since I got here but in a really weird way. I'm not in a bad mood or anything, but I've turned into a properly evil bitch. I'm sick of there being no peace and quiet and there are loads of idiots in my hostel. This came to a head a few days ago when there were some idiots playing football in their room but with the door open and they were listening to their iPod on an iPod dock really loudly. And then some other guys came up and joined them and they proceeded to talk and laugh and generally make noise for ages. So I went over and I said, 'Look guys it's 2am, turn the music down and stop playing football and just generally be quieter.' And they completely ignored me! So I got back up off the sofa again, walked to their room, turned the music down myself and moved the bag out of the way of the door so that the door would swing shut at the same time as saying, 'I've told you once it's 2 in the bloody morning, be quiet.' And they opened the door again, turned the music back up and carried on talking really loudly. So then I lost it. I stormed up to the room, kicked the bag out of the way of the door, 'I've told you twice now, don't you understand it's 2 o'clock in the morning, I've got to be up for work tomorrow, other people are trying to sleep and you need to be quiet.' Then one of them started claiming that I'd not said anything before and was trying to push me out of the way so I pushed him back, went right up to his face and really loudly starting telling him to shut up, that I wasn't putting up with it anymore, that I'd already told them they were risking me going absolutely mental, that I'd been nice, I'd been calm and I'd been tolerant and that they were to Shut. Up.
I know, I know, it's really bad and I know I'm completely irrational but it really does wind me up so much that I lose my temper and I've never allowed myself to get so, so annoyed by that sort of thing before. I don't even mind living in hostels per se, but my head rationalises the irritation. I don't know if part of it is simply being really long in the tooth and genuinely not caring what these people think of me and knowing I don't need or want to be friends with them, particularly. Even the other day I went to the cinema and they have allocated seating and the cinema was pretty full and some guy was sitting in my seat, so I showed him my ticket and said, 'Look dude, you're in my seat,' and he just looked at me with this really annoying grin on his face, so I double checked, he was definitely in my seat and so I said, 'You're definitely in my seat,' and he just looked at me with this weird grin/smirk. I know I could have sat somewhere else but I didn't want to be in a position where I'd have taken somebody else's seat. So in the end I said to him, 'There's no point just looking at me with that stupid grin on your face, get out of my seat.' I'll be fine - I think it might be a hormone thing or it might just be that I'm tired.
Good things, though... I am still really enjoying Melbourne and I've met some really nice people. Last Thursday a couple of girls I've been hanging around with, Alice and Harriet, and I went to Victoria Park Markets and got some fish and some vegetables and I used a recipe from BBC Food and we made a delicious meal and I bought some nice wine and then we went to the bar, where I went off on one dancing around like a lunatic and had a blast and a really good laugh. I've also been to the cinema a couple of times to Crown Casino, which is a huge complex of casino (obviously), a cinema, some bars and some restaurants and is generally quite a bonkers place. Then yesterday Alice and I went to get some sushi and then for a coffee and watched some comedy on Federation Square. So yeah, I'm definitely more 'living' in Melbourne than I was in Sydney.
It's sooooooooooooooooo cold, though! I can't believe it! I've not got a coat so I need to buy one now, which is annoying because it's probably going to be about $100-150 for a decent warm one that will last me the whole winter to be worn every day and I don't have many jumpers so I need to buy some so it's going to be quite expensive just to wrap myself up for the winter, but I'm sure I'll cope.
OK, I think that's everything. I'm about to do some election reading and will probably post about it in a minute. I'm beyond excited about it - it's going to be AWESOME!!!
2 April 2010
I am in an awesome mood, and not just because I have a job
OK, so I spent FOUR HOURS today on a trial shift but I basically rocked it and the manager said, 'You're exactly the type of person we're looking for - job's yours if you want it.' Very happy about that, obviously. So yeah, that's really good and I start on Sunday, so that's even cooler.
I was on the tram back to the hostel and was looking out of the window and the walk to work is alongside the Domain and the Shrine of Remembrance and various nice statues and fountains in the park next to where I walk, then along South Bank with the view across the city from the south side. So yeah, that was really nice (it's also sunny and clear today, which probably helps). Basically, I really, really love Melbourne. I'm not about to say, 'Oh, I want to live here now,' but equally for the next few months I think I'll be really happy, especially now that I have a job that I genuinely think I'll enjoy.
Other than that, I don't know, I'm just really, really happy at the moment. I think it helps that I've heard from Katy, Carly, Anna and Deb in the last few days (as well as, of course, la famille) and know what's going on with them and I've met some lovely people and yeah, I just feel really happy at the moment and excited about the next few months.
I'm also going to make a confession here - I've started very provisional plans for coming back to Britain. I'm not saying anything else for now but I've started the ball rolling in the last couple of days. No, it's not happening in the next few weeks or anything but I decided that I need to know when I'm coming back so that I can focus on enjoying the time I'm out here as well as give me a bit of direction. Honestly, I kind of hope this hasn't contributed to my general feelings of positivity and optimism but I fear it has.
I was on the tram back to the hostel and was looking out of the window and the walk to work is alongside the Domain and the Shrine of Remembrance and various nice statues and fountains in the park next to where I walk, then along South Bank with the view across the city from the south side. So yeah, that was really nice (it's also sunny and clear today, which probably helps). Basically, I really, really love Melbourne. I'm not about to say, 'Oh, I want to live here now,' but equally for the next few months I think I'll be really happy, especially now that I have a job that I genuinely think I'll enjoy.
Other than that, I don't know, I'm just really, really happy at the moment. I think it helps that I've heard from Katy, Carly, Anna and Deb in the last few days (as well as, of course, la famille) and know what's going on with them and I've met some lovely people and yeah, I just feel really happy at the moment and excited about the next few months.
I'm also going to make a confession here - I've started very provisional plans for coming back to Britain. I'm not saying anything else for now but I've started the ball rolling in the last couple of days. No, it's not happening in the next few weeks or anything but I decided that I need to know when I'm coming back so that I can focus on enjoying the time I'm out here as well as give me a bit of direction. Honestly, I kind of hope this hasn't contributed to my general feelings of positivity and optimism but I fear it has.
28 March 2010
The unabridged bizarreness that was my last night in Sydney
Soooooooooooooooooooooooooo, I rocked up to the Winery at about 10pm, and then hung around and then one of the managers bought me a glass of wine (2006 Joseph Cattin Pinot Blanc - thank you Amy) and we had a few beverages and then we went to Kinselas which is a slightly skanky pub around the corner from work which the Winery crew has a tendency to frequent, particularly on a Monday or (as this was) Tuesday evening.
When we rock up, I bump into this guy at the bar that I knew(ish). Quick back story: about two weeks prior I had been working in a relatively quiet section of the restaurant when four guys rocked up and the Maitre D' told me to look after them because they were, apparently, the Silverchair boys. I don't really know who Silverchair are. So I got chatting to them and the only guy who was actually from Silverchair was a guy called Daniel Johns, who is apparently their lead singer but was actually there with a producer and two guys from a another band, who are currently recording their album. During the course of the three hours they were dining at the restaurant, with me being sufficiently charming (read: facetious) and having a good laugh with them, we built up quite a good rapport, which is just as well since after work that night I went to Low 302 (awesome cocktail bar also on Crown Street and a favourite haunt of the Winery crew on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday nights) and, lo and behold, there they all were.
The conversation and banter continued and I pretty much thought no more of it until one of them, Sam, rocked up to the Winery again for lunch the following week and was in my section. So it was all good and by this point we sort of had spoken enough and met enough times to know each other by sight. Well, would you believe, Sam was at Kinselas on Tuesday night. This was all well and good and I was at the bar and literally turned to my left and there he was also at the bar and I said hi and I bought my drink and he bought his and we were chatting so I happily sat down with him for what I thought would be a five minute chat. Five minutes turned to ten minutes and then I mentioned that actually the whole of the Winery crew were there sort of as a goodbye to me and I wanted to join them. So he followed me. It was a bit odd, especially since I was with someone who was apparently famous but who actually isn't famous at all. Oh, I should mention here that when we were at the bar he was properly giving it the name drop crap with things like talking about having played at Reading and Leeds festivals last year or 2008 or something and how the lead singer was hanging around with Lily Allen the whole time and name dropping left, right and centre.
So after about thirty minutes of his hanging around and my getting increasingly frustrated, I buggered off outside, hoping that he would go back and join the group that he'd arrived at the bar with. Which he did. Then I came back in to join the Winery guys and he appeared again. By this point, it's getting odd and I'm wondering how to get rid of him but because of my overwhelming politeness and inability to say no and my slight fear of telling him where to get off, he continued to hang around and I continued not to say anything about his hanging around like a bad smell (which is funny and a relevant point later on).
About another 20 minutes later, I went back outside and he came out and asked me what I wanted to drink. I didn't really know what to say, said I was fine for now. When I went back inside he was sitting at a table directly opposite the door with a couple of friends, pointed to a drink that he'd apparently bought for me, and beckoned me over. I didn't really know what to do, manners got the better of me, I went over and grabbed my drink, he introduced me to his friend, we talked for a short while. Luckily (or so I thought at the time) Amy at this point left so I ran outside to join her and we chatted for a good ten minutes, interrupted twice by this Sam guy who by now is, admittedly, creeping me out ever so slightly. I had a conversation with Amy (before the first interruption) about how I didn't really know how to get away from him and she said she had the impression that I was just fine. After the first time he randomly came out to sort of fetch me back inside she, I think, slightly understood my position. The second time induce raised eyebrows from her and, I would go so far to say, a marginal look of fear. She totally got me.
Time progressed, lots of people left, not including, unfortunately, this Sam bloke, who persisted in staying. I kept pointing out that I should be with the Winery guys saying goodbye because I had less than 24 hours left in Sydney and I wanted to say goodbye to my colleagues and he was quite drunk and should probably go home. It was at this point he started saying that I should go home with him. To this, I was really quite surprised. I had not given him ANY suggestion that I was even slightly interested, given him every indication that I wanted him to bugger off without saying the actual words. Actually as I type this it occurs to me that I was really quite stupid given the circumstances, ie that he was coked off his face and anybody who has ever gotten high knows that coke gives one a feeling of invincibility and also does away with any even slight ability to understand when somebody is politely hinting something.
Anyway, he kept persisting with making me go home with him, with my increasing assertions that this was not, in any way, going to happen. Then he really started to piss me off with throwing all this batshit, 'I'll get my assistant to come and pack for you;' 'I've got millions of Qantas frequent flyer points and I'll pay for you to fly business class to Melbourne;' 'Come with me to New Zealand, we're going there this week to promote our album, I'll fly you out;' 'I'll get you access all areas passes to T in the Park next year;' blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I had run out of ways of telling him no way, no how and to do one so I just walked off and joined my friends. After about five minutes, he came over, hugged me goodbye and left. THANK GOD. By the way, when he hugged me goodbye (eugh!) he wreaked of body odour beyond anything I've ever before come across. It was disgusting, I can't even begin to describe it. Then at like 7am he started calling me, trying to get me to go to his place, me saying no, him hanging up then calling me back and repeating the question. This happened three times before I got him to stop. Then, at about midday he left me a voicemail saying something along the lines of, 'Hi Elizabeth [long pause] ... it's your friend Sam... [long pause].... hope you're ok.... [long pause].... hope you have a good trip to Melbourne.... [long pause]... See you around... [long pause]...' and hanging up.
All in all, very, very strange. And wrong. But mainly creepy.
When we rock up, I bump into this guy at the bar that I knew(ish). Quick back story: about two weeks prior I had been working in a relatively quiet section of the restaurant when four guys rocked up and the Maitre D' told me to look after them because they were, apparently, the Silverchair boys. I don't really know who Silverchair are. So I got chatting to them and the only guy who was actually from Silverchair was a guy called Daniel Johns, who is apparently their lead singer but was actually there with a producer and two guys from a another band, who are currently recording their album. During the course of the three hours they were dining at the restaurant, with me being sufficiently charming (read: facetious) and having a good laugh with them, we built up quite a good rapport, which is just as well since after work that night I went to Low 302 (awesome cocktail bar also on Crown Street and a favourite haunt of the Winery crew on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday nights) and, lo and behold, there they all were.
The conversation and banter continued and I pretty much thought no more of it until one of them, Sam, rocked up to the Winery again for lunch the following week and was in my section. So it was all good and by this point we sort of had spoken enough and met enough times to know each other by sight. Well, would you believe, Sam was at Kinselas on Tuesday night. This was all well and good and I was at the bar and literally turned to my left and there he was also at the bar and I said hi and I bought my drink and he bought his and we were chatting so I happily sat down with him for what I thought would be a five minute chat. Five minutes turned to ten minutes and then I mentioned that actually the whole of the Winery crew were there sort of as a goodbye to me and I wanted to join them. So he followed me. It was a bit odd, especially since I was with someone who was apparently famous but who actually isn't famous at all. Oh, I should mention here that when we were at the bar he was properly giving it the name drop crap with things like talking about having played at Reading and Leeds festivals last year or 2008 or something and how the lead singer was hanging around with Lily Allen the whole time and name dropping left, right and centre.
So after about thirty minutes of his hanging around and my getting increasingly frustrated, I buggered off outside, hoping that he would go back and join the group that he'd arrived at the bar with. Which he did. Then I came back in to join the Winery guys and he appeared again. By this point, it's getting odd and I'm wondering how to get rid of him but because of my overwhelming politeness and inability to say no and my slight fear of telling him where to get off, he continued to hang around and I continued not to say anything about his hanging around like a bad smell (which is funny and a relevant point later on).
About another 20 minutes later, I went back outside and he came out and asked me what I wanted to drink. I didn't really know what to say, said I was fine for now. When I went back inside he was sitting at a table directly opposite the door with a couple of friends, pointed to a drink that he'd apparently bought for me, and beckoned me over. I didn't really know what to do, manners got the better of me, I went over and grabbed my drink, he introduced me to his friend, we talked for a short while. Luckily (or so I thought at the time) Amy at this point left so I ran outside to join her and we chatted for a good ten minutes, interrupted twice by this Sam guy who by now is, admittedly, creeping me out ever so slightly. I had a conversation with Amy (before the first interruption) about how I didn't really know how to get away from him and she said she had the impression that I was just fine. After the first time he randomly came out to sort of fetch me back inside she, I think, slightly understood my position. The second time induce raised eyebrows from her and, I would go so far to say, a marginal look of fear. She totally got me.
Time progressed, lots of people left, not including, unfortunately, this Sam bloke, who persisted in staying. I kept pointing out that I should be with the Winery guys saying goodbye because I had less than 24 hours left in Sydney and I wanted to say goodbye to my colleagues and he was quite drunk and should probably go home. It was at this point he started saying that I should go home with him. To this, I was really quite surprised. I had not given him ANY suggestion that I was even slightly interested, given him every indication that I wanted him to bugger off without saying the actual words. Actually as I type this it occurs to me that I was really quite stupid given the circumstances, ie that he was coked off his face and anybody who has ever gotten high knows that coke gives one a feeling of invincibility and also does away with any even slight ability to understand when somebody is politely hinting something.
Anyway, he kept persisting with making me go home with him, with my increasing assertions that this was not, in any way, going to happen. Then he really started to piss me off with throwing all this batshit, 'I'll get my assistant to come and pack for you;' 'I've got millions of Qantas frequent flyer points and I'll pay for you to fly business class to Melbourne;' 'Come with me to New Zealand, we're going there this week to promote our album, I'll fly you out;' 'I'll get you access all areas passes to T in the Park next year;' blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I had run out of ways of telling him no way, no how and to do one so I just walked off and joined my friends. After about five minutes, he came over, hugged me goodbye and left. THANK GOD. By the way, when he hugged me goodbye (eugh!) he wreaked of body odour beyond anything I've ever before come across. It was disgusting, I can't even begin to describe it. Then at like 7am he started calling me, trying to get me to go to his place, me saying no, him hanging up then calling me back and repeating the question. This happened three times before I got him to stop. Then, at about midday he left me a voicemail saying something along the lines of, 'Hi Elizabeth [long pause] ... it's your friend Sam... [long pause].... hope you're ok.... [long pause].... hope you have a good trip to Melbourne.... [long pause]... See you around... [long pause]...' and hanging up.
All in all, very, very strange. And wrong. But mainly creepy.
9 March 2010
Excellent, excellent times.
OK, so I am being quite tragic but I can't wait until I get back to Sydney to write about my time in Canberra because I'm beyond happy right now, for lots and lots of reasons. Partly, Canberra is soooooooo tranquil and very, very green. Yes, the architecture is not exactly very pretty but equally it kind of works because it's all from the same era rather but mainly because there is so much green!!! There are gardens, lawns, parks all over and it's location is such that you can basically always see hills and trees on the periphery of the city. Whilst Civic (the shopping centre) is not exactly pretty owing to the concrete and 1960s architecture, the city is cut basically in half by Lake Burley Griffin and you can walk along the side of it surrounded by greenery. On the south side of the lake is the Parliament Zone, which contains most of the galleries and museums as well, and where I have spent the best part of the last two days.
Yesterday was the Masterpieces from Paris exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia and it was absolutely awesome even if I am slightly worried that I've become one of those arses that I never wanted to be and am now someone who looks at art and 'consides; it. This particularly struck me when I was looking at this painting with a man, a sail and a wave in it and I was like, 'Hm, there has got to be a reason that wave was drawn to be there rather than anywhere else.' I'm so worried that I've become even more wanky. I didn't help matters by going to buy myself a really lovely glass of wine (I'll confess it was $18) but being ever so slightly overly picky about which wine I would have - in the end a 2005 Cabernet Merlot from WA. Even though it was a wine bar their choice of wines by the glass wasn't great, if I'm honest. See?! Wanky!!! Anyway, veering back onto topic from quite a drastic tangent, even regardless of the exhibition the whole museum is absolutely amazing, with permanent works from Monet, Cézanne, Lichtenstein, Warhol (his portraits of Chairman Mao), Francis Bacon - a whole range which unfortunately did include the expected rubbish modern art. There was honestly a massive white plastic grid frame. That was it. That is not art. Not even one per cent. But there was one amazing modern art piece - models of motorbikes that had been molded to resemble stags fighting, with loads of rear view mirrors stuck on to resemble the antlers. I kind of wish I'd taken a photo, but I didn't.
Yesterday afternoon I went to the Old Parliament house, which was quite nice. All old and then you go to the government offices and they're 1960s monstrosities. I've got photos of that which I'll post at some point in the next few days. It was pretty cool and also they have a room about all the Prime Ministers of Australia. I noticed that the first PM didn't have an Australian accent. Neither did the guy who was Prime Minister during most of WWII. I couldn't be bothered to listen to every single PM to establish when the accent came to be but so far as I can conclude it was somewhere between 1940 and 1970. That's really quite a new accent but then listening to recordings of Prime Ministers is hardly representative.
Today was even better, I've had a bloody awesome time - I went to Parliament house and even though they had run out of tickets for listening to Question Time in the House of Representatives, I was told to go to the ticket desk and see what the crack was. Anyway, I flirted my way into getting a ticket. Into the central gallery. SCORE!! Question Time was hilarious as they were all behaving like unruly children and the Speaker of the House had to give warnings to sooooooooooo many MPs. It was crazy but actually pretty interesting. Kevin Rudd et al just kept pointing out what the Howard government had failed to do for 12 years and the Opposition... didn't do very much, really, actually. Except two female MPs basically asked the exact same question and made the exact same point. MP1 got up and said something like, 'Can the Prime Minister please explain to me why a female chef, earning $68,000, would earn only $9,770 for the 18 weeks during which she is entitled to paid parental leave, when under our plans the same woman would earn $26,000 over 26 weeks to give her the opportunity to spend time with her young child.' PM's response was actually pretty funny - $10k is $10k more than she'd have received under the Howard government, who had not established a parental leave scheme at all.
Then, though, MP2, gets up and says, 'Can the Prime Minister please explain why a female sales account manager, earning $55,000, would only earn $9,770 for the 18 weeks during which she is entitled to paid parental leave, when under our plans the same woman would earn $19,000 over 26 weeks to give her the opportunity to spend time with her young child. Is the PM favouring his friends in big business over families???' What?! It was funny, though. Rudd repeated his point, of course, and made mention of actually giving parental leave when he could have retained the status quo disproved her point. Yeah, the Coalition got their asses kicked, basically.
Man, I'm such a geek. Mainly, though, the peace and quiet is a great relief. I can actually hear birds and the wind and water and not just cars and people and loud bangs all the time. Also, I must say, people here are absolutely lovely. I've literally not come across a single horrible or rude person; they're all friendly and everybody I've walked past has smiled at me. It's awesome. Yeah, I reckon I could live here.
Tomorrow, then, before I get back to Sydney, I'm going to the War Memorial. I don't want Carly to be annoyed with me.
Yesterday was the Masterpieces from Paris exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia and it was absolutely awesome even if I am slightly worried that I've become one of those arses that I never wanted to be and am now someone who looks at art and 'consides; it. This particularly struck me when I was looking at this painting with a man, a sail and a wave in it and I was like, 'Hm, there has got to be a reason that wave was drawn to be there rather than anywhere else.' I'm so worried that I've become even more wanky. I didn't help matters by going to buy myself a really lovely glass of wine (I'll confess it was $18) but being ever so slightly overly picky about which wine I would have - in the end a 2005 Cabernet Merlot from WA. Even though it was a wine bar their choice of wines by the glass wasn't great, if I'm honest. See?! Wanky!!! Anyway, veering back onto topic from quite a drastic tangent, even regardless of the exhibition the whole museum is absolutely amazing, with permanent works from Monet, Cézanne, Lichtenstein, Warhol (his portraits of Chairman Mao), Francis Bacon - a whole range which unfortunately did include the expected rubbish modern art. There was honestly a massive white plastic grid frame. That was it. That is not art. Not even one per cent. But there was one amazing modern art piece - models of motorbikes that had been molded to resemble stags fighting, with loads of rear view mirrors stuck on to resemble the antlers. I kind of wish I'd taken a photo, but I didn't.
Yesterday afternoon I went to the Old Parliament house, which was quite nice. All old and then you go to the government offices and they're 1960s monstrosities. I've got photos of that which I'll post at some point in the next few days. It was pretty cool and also they have a room about all the Prime Ministers of Australia. I noticed that the first PM didn't have an Australian accent. Neither did the guy who was Prime Minister during most of WWII. I couldn't be bothered to listen to every single PM to establish when the accent came to be but so far as I can conclude it was somewhere between 1940 and 1970. That's really quite a new accent but then listening to recordings of Prime Ministers is hardly representative.
Today was even better, I've had a bloody awesome time - I went to Parliament house and even though they had run out of tickets for listening to Question Time in the House of Representatives, I was told to go to the ticket desk and see what the crack was. Anyway, I flirted my way into getting a ticket. Into the central gallery. SCORE!! Question Time was hilarious as they were all behaving like unruly children and the Speaker of the House had to give warnings to sooooooooooo many MPs. It was crazy but actually pretty interesting. Kevin Rudd et al just kept pointing out what the Howard government had failed to do for 12 years and the Opposition... didn't do very much, really, actually. Except two female MPs basically asked the exact same question and made the exact same point. MP1 got up and said something like, 'Can the Prime Minister please explain to me why a female chef, earning $68,000, would earn only $9,770 for the 18 weeks during which she is entitled to paid parental leave, when under our plans the same woman would earn $26,000 over 26 weeks to give her the opportunity to spend time with her young child.' PM's response was actually pretty funny - $10k is $10k more than she'd have received under the Howard government, who had not established a parental leave scheme at all.
Then, though, MP2, gets up and says, 'Can the Prime Minister please explain why a female sales account manager, earning $55,000, would only earn $9,770 for the 18 weeks during which she is entitled to paid parental leave, when under our plans the same woman would earn $19,000 over 26 weeks to give her the opportunity to spend time with her young child. Is the PM favouring his friends in big business over families???' What?! It was funny, though. Rudd repeated his point, of course, and made mention of actually giving parental leave when he could have retained the status quo disproved her point. Yeah, the Coalition got their asses kicked, basically.
Man, I'm such a geek. Mainly, though, the peace and quiet is a great relief. I can actually hear birds and the wind and water and not just cars and people and loud bangs all the time. Also, I must say, people here are absolutely lovely. I've literally not come across a single horrible or rude person; they're all friendly and everybody I've walked past has smiled at me. It's awesome. Yeah, I reckon I could live here.
Tomorrow, then, before I get back to Sydney, I'm going to the War Memorial. I don't want Carly to be annoyed with me.
1 March 2010
Oh gosh, one week, one new update
Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!
Right, I've decided I'm leaving Sydney at the end of the month. Why? Because I can. Yep, I'm moving to Melbourne for a couple of months because everyone tells me that Melbourne is far more my cup of tea and so we'll see about that. Even if I don't love it, at least I'll know that rather than having spent all this time in a city I'm not in love with and then face the possibility of getting to Melbourne, loving it and then not really having any time to spend there owing to the stupid fruit picking requirements of the Australian government.
So, other than that, well I have Canberra this weekend. VERY excited about that. Also I have had a lovely few days with an awesome wine tasting on Thursday, which was about 100 wineries and about 400 wines from New Zealand. I actually didn't get drunk, I just got really sluggish. Then after that a few of us from work went to dinner at this awesome Italian restaurant and then to a gig at a bar/nightclub place called Trademark in The Cross. On Saturday I went with Beatrice (a girl from Bath who I met at work here) to the Mardi Gras parade which started off as a total nightmare but ended up being really good thanks to both of us being quite small and also two milk crates. I'm very glad I've done the Mardi Gras thing, and that's a big TICK off my list of stuff that I should do.
Last night was Bea's last night in Australia so we went for a few drinks and then I was really jealous that she was going back to England but also she's awesome and lovely and I'm really going to miss her so I kept hugging her and I cried a little bit. Mainly because I'm a princess but partly because I'm a loser.
Today it's raining and cold so I'm wearing my lovely yellow hoodie of fun and goodness and I'm going to work soon.
Actually, yes, I do quite like blogging so I will definitely be carrying on with this update malarkey. I also have some photos to upload and will do so some time this week for DEFINITE. I also plan to go around Sydney and take absolutely tonnes of photos of everywhere before I leave but there is a lot of Sydney to see so I might have to finish work quite soon just so I have a chance to organise myself and all that jazz.
Right, I've decided I'm leaving Sydney at the end of the month. Why? Because I can. Yep, I'm moving to Melbourne for a couple of months because everyone tells me that Melbourne is far more my cup of tea and so we'll see about that. Even if I don't love it, at least I'll know that rather than having spent all this time in a city I'm not in love with and then face the possibility of getting to Melbourne, loving it and then not really having any time to spend there owing to the stupid fruit picking requirements of the Australian government.
So, other than that, well I have Canberra this weekend. VERY excited about that. Also I have had a lovely few days with an awesome wine tasting on Thursday, which was about 100 wineries and about 400 wines from New Zealand. I actually didn't get drunk, I just got really sluggish. Then after that a few of us from work went to dinner at this awesome Italian restaurant and then to a gig at a bar/nightclub place called Trademark in The Cross. On Saturday I went with Beatrice (a girl from Bath who I met at work here) to the Mardi Gras parade which started off as a total nightmare but ended up being really good thanks to both of us being quite small and also two milk crates. I'm very glad I've done the Mardi Gras thing, and that's a big TICK off my list of stuff that I should do.
Last night was Bea's last night in Australia so we went for a few drinks and then I was really jealous that she was going back to England but also she's awesome and lovely and I'm really going to miss her so I kept hugging her and I cried a little bit. Mainly because I'm a princess but partly because I'm a loser.
Today it's raining and cold so I'm wearing my lovely yellow hoodie of fun and goodness and I'm going to work soon.
Actually, yes, I do quite like blogging so I will definitely be carrying on with this update malarkey. I also have some photos to upload and will do so some time this week for DEFINITE. I also plan to go around Sydney and take absolutely tonnes of photos of everywhere before I leave but there is a lot of Sydney to see so I might have to finish work quite soon just so I have a chance to organise myself and all that jazz.
22 February 2010
FINALLY I AM UPDATING!!!
OK, I actually have to be at work pretty soon, but I am going to try and use my ace typing speed to let you know what has been going on for the last three months and also what Sydney is like through the eyes of a snobbish true Brit...
Right, so since December I have been living in a houseshare in Surry Hills/Redfern and whilst it's fine, I really miss the inner west. Anyway, I live really quite close to work and I have to walk all the way along a street called Crown Street to get to work and past an abundance of lovely little cafes, although none are as lovely as my local cafe, which is called Dinky-Dis and does the best pies ever and which is where I go with the weekend papers and while away about three hours over coffee, the Sydney Morning Herald (despite its terrible spelling errors and bad grammar) and if I'm totally honest usually a gossipy vapid magazine or two.
I have also been working a LOT at The Winery, which has generally been fun but has also had its downs, however I am pretty realistic about the whole thing; I'm leaving Sydney at the very beginning of May and so that only means I've got like nine weeks there or something. I just really have to SAVE, SAVE, SAVE!!! I will get on to what I am doing after that shortly...
The weather in Sydney was really bad on Christmas Day so whilst I went to Bondi (which, by the way, is not that great of a beach) I only actually looked at it before finding shelter in a pub. I was with an awesome cool German girl I met called Lisa, who I basically spent Christmas week with so it was fine but if I'm honest also an anti climax owing to no family dinner, Christmas Day TV OR sun and beach fun.
For New Year, Greta (a friend I met in Auckland) and Gemma were here and so we went to a park near Taronga Zoo with beer and LOADS of food and chilled out all afternoon and saw what are quite frankly probably the most amazing fireworks I have ever seen. I was like a smalled child and I would go so far as to say that they were magical and if you ever get a chance, you should definitely spend a new year in Sydney. The city is electric on NYE and because they have really good organisational skills on NYD afternoon it's almost like NYE never happened, which is pretty cool.
Mariko, who is another friend from Auckland was also in Sydney with some other friends but came for dinner with me on my actual birthday with Greta and Gemma. Being totally unoriginal, we went to The Winery and oh my gosh, I've got to be honest, it was one of my favouritist birthdays ever. Not quite on a par with my 21st but still, it was 100% awesome. We had great food, great wine, great conversation and rolled home at about midnight. So, so good and considering I was not at home for the first time in my life, it was a huge saviour to have had such a lovely time.
That week, Mariko and I also went to the Blue Mountains and that was so, so good. The Blue Mountains are lovely and I can't believe I think this but I very tangibly felt that it was nice to get away from the city. Sydney is really quite frenetic and the peace and quite was very, very welcome. A nice four hour walk through the mountains, up to the Three Sisters, blew the cobwebs away well and truly.
Since then, I have basically been working and not getting up to much other than being at work and going and drinking copious amounts of caffeine and occasionally going out with people from work and partying far too much and far too hard. But it's been fun. All this culminated in the staff party a couple of weeks ago, which was absolutely wild but also very fun. A couple of people I know have said it was the best day of their life. I wouldn't go that far, but it was definitely a good time. Even if the theme was not my bag at all. At least I got some nice new jewellery out of it.
This brings me on rather nicely to how I'm finding Sydney to live in. I should probably start with the positives.
It's definitely nice to be in a city that is truly a 24 hour city. Things are open at all hours, you can always find something to do, there is a lot of action here in a very different way to even London, where you sort of have to look for the action. On the flip side, I have yet to find a spot in Sydney which gives me a feeling of tranquility like you can in England by going to a park or a country pub or whatever. I also love the culinary culture over here; even food courts in shopping centres are out of this world, where you can get noodles, or sushi, or great coffee, or Indian food or whatever and there are Chinese and Japanese food places on every street corner. Equally, there are lovely quirky cafes everywhere that do awesome food and obviously the variety is greater because of a) the climate and b) massive international influence. I think the charm of Sydney lies in the suburbs, rather than the centre. The centre is not that great; you don't have things like Covent Garden or Westminster where there are great places to go or things to see.
So, the flip side. Well, I do miss old buildings. Like, really, really. I know I've always loved places like Cambridge for all the architecture but I suppose that's quite extreme. Anywhere in say Bristol or London you can find plenty of beautiful or quirky old buildings and all the history. One thing I've found quite bizarre is that Sydneysiders think that Sydney's this massive city and that it's really metropolitan because of the 5 million people who live here but to be honest I do find it a little bit parochial. They're very insular and it can be like being in a timewarp over here in lots of small ways that are quite significant. Random things are also very expensive, like groceries and actually Coles and Woolworths (the main supermarkets) are rubbish. Just like in New Zealand!!! Also, people in Sydney are rude. Australia is a really young country, and I totally get that, but there is a lack of real culture here, which would be fine if there were not therefore attempts to affect European or even American culture. I just don't get it but equally I think it's all very well to say that when I come from a country that has a legal system that's basically 800 years old and traditions that stretch back centuries and a long history that has helped shape its identity.
One thing that hugely bothers me is the very casual racism. Oh my gosh, it's crazy. People think nothing of, say, referring to Abos or Lebs or whatever. I literally can't understand how a country that is formed by immigrants can have this attitude. Why do Caucasians have more right to be here than, say, Chinese people or Lebanese people? Oh, right, they don't. Also government over here is HUGE. People say in Britain that we have too much government but we have absolutely nothing on Australia. There are government departments for absolutely everything, let alone the quangos. Yes, you can tell I read the newspaper over here even. Oh, I miss British journalism but the expat edition of the Telegraph has somewhat saved me on the front. As well as, of course, the internet.
So, what's next? Well, I'm going to Canberra in about ten days, which is really quite exciting. I know it's not the most exciting place in the world but I'm a geek and I want to do geeky things and there is an abundance of geeky things to do in Canberra. Then it's the Grand Prix in Melbourne at the end of March, so I've got an exciting few weeks ahead.
I'm leaving Sydney at the beginning of May and going to Melbourne for a few weeks and then to Adelaide and up through South Australia to the Alice and Uluru, which is very exciting. I then have to find some time to do my farm work for three months before I hit the East Coast. Gemma is staying out here and will be in Brisbane from September when it's also her birthday so I might do some work in Brisbane, celebrate her birthday with her, and then go up to Cairns/Port Douglas. That's not firmly settled but my timeline has got good shaping to it!!!
I actually think that's a pretty full update for now and anyway I'm actually running out of time. From hereonin, I promise, I will update regularly. Also I am going to try and get some photos of Sydney to post (as in more than just the Rocks and the Opera House) and post them but my digicam died so I have to buy a new one and I'm not too excited about spending $300, if I'm honest.
Oh, and the wisdom tooth that definitely needed not to come through but which that dentist guy said was going to come through is now starting to come through. I have had no pain so far, though, so I'm not going to do anything until it starts to hurt. I figure no pain means that everything is OK.
I am going to sign off, now. I just want to say that I have had a really hard time with how much I have missed everything back home and I am always thinking of you all and hoping that you're well and I get far too excited every time I get an email or message or phone call for what is healthy. I think if I come home early it will be because of missing you all too, too much and also missing England, which I've decided is pretty cool. As was my life in general, if I'm honest.
Love and hugs to you all and I'll post again very, very soon. Maybe I'll get a bit obsessed with blogging again, now!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Right, so since December I have been living in a houseshare in Surry Hills/Redfern and whilst it's fine, I really miss the inner west. Anyway, I live really quite close to work and I have to walk all the way along a street called Crown Street to get to work and past an abundance of lovely little cafes, although none are as lovely as my local cafe, which is called Dinky-Dis and does the best pies ever and which is where I go with the weekend papers and while away about three hours over coffee, the Sydney Morning Herald (despite its terrible spelling errors and bad grammar) and if I'm totally honest usually a gossipy vapid magazine or two.
I have also been working a LOT at The Winery, which has generally been fun but has also had its downs, however I am pretty realistic about the whole thing; I'm leaving Sydney at the very beginning of May and so that only means I've got like nine weeks there or something. I just really have to SAVE, SAVE, SAVE!!! I will get on to what I am doing after that shortly...
The weather in Sydney was really bad on Christmas Day so whilst I went to Bondi (which, by the way, is not that great of a beach) I only actually looked at it before finding shelter in a pub. I was with an awesome cool German girl I met called Lisa, who I basically spent Christmas week with so it was fine but if I'm honest also an anti climax owing to no family dinner, Christmas Day TV OR sun and beach fun.
For New Year, Greta (a friend I met in Auckland) and Gemma were here and so we went to a park near Taronga Zoo with beer and LOADS of food and chilled out all afternoon and saw what are quite frankly probably the most amazing fireworks I have ever seen. I was like a smalled child and I would go so far as to say that they were magical and if you ever get a chance, you should definitely spend a new year in Sydney. The city is electric on NYE and because they have really good organisational skills on NYD afternoon it's almost like NYE never happened, which is pretty cool.
Mariko, who is another friend from Auckland was also in Sydney with some other friends but came for dinner with me on my actual birthday with Greta and Gemma. Being totally unoriginal, we went to The Winery and oh my gosh, I've got to be honest, it was one of my favouritist birthdays ever. Not quite on a par with my 21st but still, it was 100% awesome. We had great food, great wine, great conversation and rolled home at about midnight. So, so good and considering I was not at home for the first time in my life, it was a huge saviour to have had such a lovely time.
That week, Mariko and I also went to the Blue Mountains and that was so, so good. The Blue Mountains are lovely and I can't believe I think this but I very tangibly felt that it was nice to get away from the city. Sydney is really quite frenetic and the peace and quite was very, very welcome. A nice four hour walk through the mountains, up to the Three Sisters, blew the cobwebs away well and truly.
Since then, I have basically been working and not getting up to much other than being at work and going and drinking copious amounts of caffeine and occasionally going out with people from work and partying far too much and far too hard. But it's been fun. All this culminated in the staff party a couple of weeks ago, which was absolutely wild but also very fun. A couple of people I know have said it was the best day of their life. I wouldn't go that far, but it was definitely a good time. Even if the theme was not my bag at all. At least I got some nice new jewellery out of it.
This brings me on rather nicely to how I'm finding Sydney to live in. I should probably start with the positives.
It's definitely nice to be in a city that is truly a 24 hour city. Things are open at all hours, you can always find something to do, there is a lot of action here in a very different way to even London, where you sort of have to look for the action. On the flip side, I have yet to find a spot in Sydney which gives me a feeling of tranquility like you can in England by going to a park or a country pub or whatever. I also love the culinary culture over here; even food courts in shopping centres are out of this world, where you can get noodles, or sushi, or great coffee, or Indian food or whatever and there are Chinese and Japanese food places on every street corner. Equally, there are lovely quirky cafes everywhere that do awesome food and obviously the variety is greater because of a) the climate and b) massive international influence. I think the charm of Sydney lies in the suburbs, rather than the centre. The centre is not that great; you don't have things like Covent Garden or Westminster where there are great places to go or things to see.
So, the flip side. Well, I do miss old buildings. Like, really, really. I know I've always loved places like Cambridge for all the architecture but I suppose that's quite extreme. Anywhere in say Bristol or London you can find plenty of beautiful or quirky old buildings and all the history. One thing I've found quite bizarre is that Sydneysiders think that Sydney's this massive city and that it's really metropolitan because of the 5 million people who live here but to be honest I do find it a little bit parochial. They're very insular and it can be like being in a timewarp over here in lots of small ways that are quite significant. Random things are also very expensive, like groceries and actually Coles and Woolworths (the main supermarkets) are rubbish. Just like in New Zealand!!! Also, people in Sydney are rude. Australia is a really young country, and I totally get that, but there is a lack of real culture here, which would be fine if there were not therefore attempts to affect European or even American culture. I just don't get it but equally I think it's all very well to say that when I come from a country that has a legal system that's basically 800 years old and traditions that stretch back centuries and a long history that has helped shape its identity.
One thing that hugely bothers me is the very casual racism. Oh my gosh, it's crazy. People think nothing of, say, referring to Abos or Lebs or whatever. I literally can't understand how a country that is formed by immigrants can have this attitude. Why do Caucasians have more right to be here than, say, Chinese people or Lebanese people? Oh, right, they don't. Also government over here is HUGE. People say in Britain that we have too much government but we have absolutely nothing on Australia. There are government departments for absolutely everything, let alone the quangos. Yes, you can tell I read the newspaper over here even. Oh, I miss British journalism but the expat edition of the Telegraph has somewhat saved me on the front. As well as, of course, the internet.
So, what's next? Well, I'm going to Canberra in about ten days, which is really quite exciting. I know it's not the most exciting place in the world but I'm a geek and I want to do geeky things and there is an abundance of geeky things to do in Canberra. Then it's the Grand Prix in Melbourne at the end of March, so I've got an exciting few weeks ahead.
I'm leaving Sydney at the beginning of May and going to Melbourne for a few weeks and then to Adelaide and up through South Australia to the Alice and Uluru, which is very exciting. I then have to find some time to do my farm work for three months before I hit the East Coast. Gemma is staying out here and will be in Brisbane from September when it's also her birthday so I might do some work in Brisbane, celebrate her birthday with her, and then go up to Cairns/Port Douglas. That's not firmly settled but my timeline has got good shaping to it!!!
I actually think that's a pretty full update for now and anyway I'm actually running out of time. From hereonin, I promise, I will update regularly. Also I am going to try and get some photos of Sydney to post (as in more than just the Rocks and the Opera House) and post them but my digicam died so I have to buy a new one and I'm not too excited about spending $300, if I'm honest.
Oh, and the wisdom tooth that definitely needed not to come through but which that dentist guy said was going to come through is now starting to come through. I have had no pain so far, though, so I'm not going to do anything until it starts to hurt. I figure no pain means that everything is OK.
I am going to sign off, now. I just want to say that I have had a really hard time with how much I have missed everything back home and I am always thinking of you all and hoping that you're well and I get far too excited every time I get an email or message or phone call for what is healthy. I think if I come home early it will be because of missing you all too, too much and also missing England, which I've decided is pretty cool. As was my life in general, if I'm honest.
Love and hugs to you all and I'll post again very, very soon. Maybe I'll get a bit obsessed with blogging again, now!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
3 November 2009
I may be in Sydney, but you sure can tell it's Melbourne Gold Cup day.
It's really bizarre but I've been in central Sydney for about the last three hours and oh my gosh, there are SO many women in these dresses with fascinators in their hair and whatnot. We're not even in Melbourne and yet people seem to think they have to dress up as though they're actually there. I do so hope that there's some sort of screening event somewhere that I don't know about or they're just idiots.
Also it's uber, uber hot today and really dry heat as well so my eyes are hurting. Luckily it's only for one day but as it goes I pretty much have to get used to this anyway because it's not even summer yet. Tomorrow it will rain. Ah well.
Also a random sighting - walking down George St a few minutes ago and these two ostensibly straight guys walked past me and Guy 1 said to Guy 2, "OK, I'm going back to work, bi-atch. Be good." Really?! Who talks like that outside of the Valley in California?! Weird.
Oh, another thing about this hotness thing is the fact that I've daily been buying a 1.5 litre bottle of water from either Coles or Woolworths and burning straight through over the course of the day. This increases my water intake from 0 litres a day to 1.5 litres and I don't even notice when I'm nearly at the end of a bottle. I don't even like water! I also want to contend the theory about being hungry and drinking water instead. Drinking so much water MAKES me hungry and I've been having biggest breakfasts ever and massive meals at all times and wanting to snack on an almost permanent basis, though I've restrained myself and have been going for muesli bars and the like.
I think it's also important to note that I've realised I can't emigrate here permanently. The reason? Books are too expensive. So in England a paperback averages at about 8 pounds, whereas here they're like $25 at least so that, with the weak pound, makes them about 15 pounds each. So that's that; I'll move back to England. Eventually. For now, though, there are loads of secondhand book stores to keep me entertained. Yay.
Right, I'm off to find me a place to watch the Melbourne Gold Cup from with a nice cold beverage.
30 October 2009
I am satisfying the requirements of bureaucracy.
I got my bank account sorted today and applied for my Tax File Number so to be honest I'm pretty pleased with myself. I also spent about two hours down at Circular Quay just reading and drinking water and listening to my iPod. It sounds dull but the fact is that it was 24 degrees here and sunny and I could. I hope you're all OK in your coats, hats and scarves.
I have a job interview on Monday at a wine bar so please all cross your fingers for me.
I moved hostels cos the one I was at last night was rubs and now I'm happier. I think the sun might have contributed to that. Anyway I am settling in again, even though I'm all alone, boohoo for me and my princessy ways.
P.S. I will give prizes to people who guess who BeautifulGerman is as there's a photo on Facey B.
I have a job interview on Monday at a wine bar so please all cross your fingers for me.
I moved hostels cos the one I was at last night was rubs and now I'm happier. I think the sun might have contributed to that. Anyway I am settling in again, even though I'm all alone, boohoo for me and my princessy ways.
P.S. I will give prizes to people who guess who BeautifulGerman is as there's a photo on Facey B.
Ciao for now, New Zealand
I'm actually writing this blog post in my notebook ready to transcribe later. Man, I miss writing on paper; it's ace. Anyway...
So today I am finally going back to Sydney. Actually I'm sitting in departures looking at all the planes taking off and loading and things. I'm such a geek; I don't think I'll ever get bored of watching them because planes are amazing. FACT. This kid's just walked past with one of the little model planes they give to children. I want one. Maybe I'll mug him for it.*
I think I'm a jinx to weather - it's warm and sunny and lovely in Auckland today and I bet it'll be pouring with rain when I get to Sydney! I slept really badly last night: I don't think I'm taking too well to being on my own again after being with such cool people and having a little family these last weeks. I'll also admit I've been waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too lazy but as it's now job time it's not huge problem. As long as I don't do it all the time, obviously. Being at YHA in Auckland with such a big group of people has been amazing. Although loads of people have come and gone, we've had a really cool if ever changing crew. It's weird because at home I'm so much more comfortable in small groups ad here I've been sitting around a table for dinner with sometimes 12 or 13 of us after a big cooking session.
Actually this guy Ollie turned up the other night and we were doing dinner for 10 and we always take up loads of the kitchen, so we're using sometimes 3 hobs and the whole bench on one side. We whack my iPod on and drink beer whilst we all chop, cook and taste (lots of, 'I just want to see that it's seasoned!') Anyway, this Ollie guy was standing there repeating how awesome the camaraderie and atmosphere was. It was only then that I realised actually how brilliant it was even when I wasn't cooking and therefore had to be DishBitch.
As a result of all this, I do feel a very tangible sense of loneliness again. I'm sure it won;t last long but it's still not the greatest thing in the world. My hostel in Sydney is fully booked so I currently have nowhere to sleep tonight. Ah well! Tomorrow is going to be laborious; I have to get my TFN and sort a bank account before I go and get me some gainful employment so that I can get somewhere to live that doesn't involve me living out of a rucksack for the next four months or whatever.
Hm, I think that's enough rambling now. OH! Except for one thing - I had quite possibly the most cheesy thought ever the other day. I think (I hope) it's because of the song I'll Be Seeing You by Billie Holliday. It occurred to me that when I look at the moon or when the sun is shining, it's the same moon and sun that everyone back home sees. Anyway, since then I keep looking at the moon to remind me of people from home. I know, it's so sappy but actually I don't care.
On the plane now (which, bizarrely, has an all male crew) so over and out from New Zealand.
*To be clear, I neither attempted to nor seriously contemplated this.
So today I am finally going back to Sydney. Actually I'm sitting in departures looking at all the planes taking off and loading and things. I'm such a geek; I don't think I'll ever get bored of watching them because planes are amazing. FACT. This kid's just walked past with one of the little model planes they give to children. I want one. Maybe I'll mug him for it.*
I think I'm a jinx to weather - it's warm and sunny and lovely in Auckland today and I bet it'll be pouring with rain when I get to Sydney! I slept really badly last night: I don't think I'm taking too well to being on my own again after being with such cool people and having a little family these last weeks. I'll also admit I've been waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too lazy but as it's now job time it's not huge problem. As long as I don't do it all the time, obviously. Being at YHA in Auckland with such a big group of people has been amazing. Although loads of people have come and gone, we've had a really cool if ever changing crew. It's weird because at home I'm so much more comfortable in small groups ad here I've been sitting around a table for dinner with sometimes 12 or 13 of us after a big cooking session.
Actually this guy Ollie turned up the other night and we were doing dinner for 10 and we always take up loads of the kitchen, so we're using sometimes 3 hobs and the whole bench on one side. We whack my iPod on and drink beer whilst we all chop, cook and taste (lots of, 'I just want to see that it's seasoned!') Anyway, this Ollie guy was standing there repeating how awesome the camaraderie and atmosphere was. It was only then that I realised actually how brilliant it was even when I wasn't cooking and therefore had to be DishBitch.
As a result of all this, I do feel a very tangible sense of loneliness again. I'm sure it won;t last long but it's still not the greatest thing in the world. My hostel in Sydney is fully booked so I currently have nowhere to sleep tonight. Ah well! Tomorrow is going to be laborious; I have to get my TFN and sort a bank account before I go and get me some gainful employment so that I can get somewhere to live that doesn't involve me living out of a rucksack for the next four months or whatever.
Hm, I think that's enough rambling now. OH! Except for one thing - I had quite possibly the most cheesy thought ever the other day. I think (I hope) it's because of the song I'll Be Seeing You by Billie Holliday. It occurred to me that when I look at the moon or when the sun is shining, it's the same moon and sun that everyone back home sees. Anyway, since then I keep looking at the moon to remind me of people from home. I know, it's so sappy but actually I don't care.
On the plane now (which, bizarrely, has an all male crew) so over and out from New Zealand.
*To be clear, I neither attempted to nor seriously contemplated this.
26 October 2009
The most awesome, wicked super cool story ever.
I got up this morning and basically managed to drag myself downstairs to the big communal area of the hostel. Well, I was still bleary eyed and as I walked in there was a girl drinking tea, reading a magazine and she had long dark hair. I couldn't really see her face apart from the bleary eyed-ness but when I blinked again I was like, 'Oh my god, is that Gemma*?' and so I blinked again and it was definitely her. So I just blurted out, 'Oh. My. God.' And she looked up and said, 'Oh. My. God.' I repeated this, then she did, then I did, then she did, then there were a few seconds of silence, then I repeated it again, then she said, 'I don't know what else to say. Oh. My. God.'
Well, I knew that Gemma was travelling but as far as I knew she was like up in the east coast of Australia and she didn't know that I was in Auckland at all, I don't know where she thought I was but anyway I sat down and we started talking and I was telling her about the hostel and stuff and then we sat and talked for like five hours and I introduced her to the crew and invited her to join us for dinner. The funniest thing was every so often just stopping the conversation and repeating our disbelief that we had bumped into each other here in Auckland.
It really makes me believe that things happen for a reason and bumping into her is absolute proof of this. Of course I had to tell everyone that this was my friend from Bristol and that it was complete coincidence, blah, blah, blah. It's really very, very bizarre to have bumped into her but it's also very, very cool. Cos she's ace and because it's wonderful to see somebody you know, regardless of how bizarre the circumstances are.
*OK, for those of you who don't know (most people), Gemma is a girl I worked with for a really short while not long after I first moved to Bristol and we always got on really well and saw each other sporadically for dinner etc because she's really good company and so she was going travelling but going through America first and my plans hadn't been firmly settled when I left and what with not having been in Australia I hadn't yet emailed her to get her geographical location and possibly meet up with her but anyway, moot point, because I've now met up with her anyway. Awesome.
Well, I knew that Gemma was travelling but as far as I knew she was like up in the east coast of Australia and she didn't know that I was in Auckland at all, I don't know where she thought I was but anyway I sat down and we started talking and I was telling her about the hostel and stuff and then we sat and talked for like five hours and I introduced her to the crew and invited her to join us for dinner. The funniest thing was every so often just stopping the conversation and repeating our disbelief that we had bumped into each other here in Auckland.
It really makes me believe that things happen for a reason and bumping into her is absolute proof of this. Of course I had to tell everyone that this was my friend from Bristol and that it was complete coincidence, blah, blah, blah. It's really very, very bizarre to have bumped into her but it's also very, very cool. Cos she's ace and because it's wonderful to see somebody you know, regardless of how bizarre the circumstances are.
*OK, for those of you who don't know (most people), Gemma is a girl I worked with for a really short while not long after I first moved to Bristol and we always got on really well and saw each other sporadically for dinner etc because she's really good company and so she was going travelling but going through America first and my plans hadn't been firmly settled when I left and what with not having been in Australia I hadn't yet emailed her to get her geographical location and possibly meet up with her but anyway, moot point, because I've now met up with her anyway. Awesome.
25 October 2009
Coast to coast walk, etc.
Yesterday the weather was absolutely beautiful so I put on my summer dress and my happy face and Flanders and I went and did the Auckland coast to coast walk after I'd done a round of pancake making. Yeah, that's right, I actually did the 16km coast to coast walk.
I don't know what I'd done to my thighs but they were really painful and my right thigh kept giving way on me. It was rubs. It didn't stop me however. What was annoying, though, was that we had done basically no preparation and the only map we had didn't have road names on and we kept getting completely lost and did about eight loops but we found our way back to Epsom (an area you have to go through to go to One Tree Hill) and all was good again. One Tree Hill was amazing. Even though it's No Tree Hill. Anyway, the view back to Auckland CBD (OTH is quite far out) is very, very cool. It was also a wonderful day to go out in but I'm bitterly disappointed that after five hours of walking I don't even have a bit of colour to show for it and today the weather is not so good again. Bad times.
Then last night there was a massive group of us sitting around and having a few beers and playing drinking games. Excellent.
I don't know what I'd done to my thighs but they were really painful and my right thigh kept giving way on me. It was rubs. It didn't stop me however. What was annoying, though, was that we had done basically no preparation and the only map we had didn't have road names on and we kept getting completely lost and did about eight loops but we found our way back to Epsom (an area you have to go through to go to One Tree Hill) and all was good again. One Tree Hill was amazing. Even though it's No Tree Hill. Anyway, the view back to Auckland CBD (OTH is quite far out) is very, very cool. It was also a wonderful day to go out in but I'm bitterly disappointed that after five hours of walking I don't even have a bit of colour to show for it and today the weather is not so good again. Bad times.
Then last night there was a massive group of us sitting around and having a few beers and playing drinking games. Excellent.
23 October 2009
My token drunken, emotional post of postingness. Ever.
OK, so I've sort of been vaguely thinking about this for a while and the fact that I've decided to actually do it whilst intoxicated is probably not the best idea ever but also it probably means I'll be the most honest, if not the most articulate that I'll ever be. But hey, I've decided that I'm 22 and my literacy skills are far higher than most people in my peer group so I'm quite clearly very definitely allowed this one post. The great thing about this being my blog is that if in the cold, sober light of day I decide that this decision was not the wisest ever, then I can delete and pretend that it never happened.
When I left England, I sort of felt that I had some things to move on from and forget about and, I've no idea why, but I thought that some sort of magic wand would be waved somewhere over Asia and it would be like all the things that bothered me when I was in Britain would be gone. What I should have realised and what, realistically, I knew to to be the case deep down, is that you can't pick and choose what parts of your life/world you package up and take with you on your travels, even if it is to the other side of the world.
Had it been my choice, I would have brought with me only the thoughts of my friends and my family and the good things associated with that. As for the other, quite probably more negative things, I would have chosen to forget those or, foolishly, believed them to be in the past or moot points once I'd hit 25 000 feet.
What surprises me is the way things have taken up my mind. Bizarrely, my family, whilst never far from my thoughts, have never been a worry to me. Perhaps because I know they will always be there what with the whole flesh and blood thing. I have loved having Daddy at the end of my email every day in that over protective father way. Partly because it's something of a novelty, partly because to me it reiterates how much of a bloody daddy's girl I am!
I have thought a lot about my friends back home and how much they really mean to me. In a situation such as this, relationships can be very intense but, probably more saliently, very artificial. Within a few hours people become your entire world, being almost in situ families and best friends. But it doesn't stop me thinking about all the things I can say to my friends back home and the extent to which they know me, from the silliest little thing I did last week to my biggest fears of all. And it's kind of carp, them not being around all the time for every whim and fancy of my butterfly brain.
Probably the most bizarre thing of all my sort of 'moving on' stuff and all the like dealing with the past and putting it in a box neatly labelled 'The Past' is the fact that, before I went, I think I'd had more closure on my relationship than it turns out I had. I really thought I was pretty much over it and all I needed to do was the final moving on part which would have come from my leaving UK. It turns out, oh, I really hadn't, which actually is bizarre. Like, I don't know, you think that you are doing something completely different and it turns out that 11000 miles is not enough to tuck your life away into a neat little box. I am not exactly thrilled that I have to allow even more time to pass, now, given that I spent six months being extraordinarily patient. I live in hope that it will put itself into a box soon enough and I'll not be thinking what if and wondering to what extent I failed for the rest of my life. The finer points of this situation are constantly in the back of my mind to question in that age old female way of the whys, wherefores and what ifs. As is entirely typical.
I've also had to basically cut somebody out of my life and I'm not too thrilled about that. If I could change things, I would and it's really selfish to just think about how bothered I am that I have had to lose a friend and wish the circumstances were different when the situation is so much bigger than that. Again, remnants of England that shouldn't have come with me and now, after probably far too long in denial, I'm on the way to reconciling myself with the situation and will, I've no doubt, be completely fine with it soon enough. It's just a bit of a rubbish way to have to lose a friend when you kind of feel like it's for a moot reason.
In any case, I am convinced that soon enough I will consider all of this to be so far in the past it'll be sort of meaningless. However right now it feels very, very much in the present and not in a good way but in a slightly icky wish I could forget it all way. In part it makes me wish I'd already been away for six months.
You'll all see no comments on this post an I've gotten to the point now where I am too tired and my clarity of mind too blurred to really continue and in fact probably the last three paras make no sense. Anyway, needless to say, no comments on this on any other post, thanks. This is my blog and I can control it. Plus I'm a control freak. True story.
When I left England, I sort of felt that I had some things to move on from and forget about and, I've no idea why, but I thought that some sort of magic wand would be waved somewhere over Asia and it would be like all the things that bothered me when I was in Britain would be gone. What I should have realised and what, realistically, I knew to to be the case deep down, is that you can't pick and choose what parts of your life/world you package up and take with you on your travels, even if it is to the other side of the world.
Had it been my choice, I would have brought with me only the thoughts of my friends and my family and the good things associated with that. As for the other, quite probably more negative things, I would have chosen to forget those or, foolishly, believed them to be in the past or moot points once I'd hit 25 000 feet.
What surprises me is the way things have taken up my mind. Bizarrely, my family, whilst never far from my thoughts, have never been a worry to me. Perhaps because I know they will always be there what with the whole flesh and blood thing. I have loved having Daddy at the end of my email every day in that over protective father way. Partly because it's something of a novelty, partly because to me it reiterates how much of a bloody daddy's girl I am!
I have thought a lot about my friends back home and how much they really mean to me. In a situation such as this, relationships can be very intense but, probably more saliently, very artificial. Within a few hours people become your entire world, being almost in situ families and best friends. But it doesn't stop me thinking about all the things I can say to my friends back home and the extent to which they know me, from the silliest little thing I did last week to my biggest fears of all. And it's kind of carp, them not being around all the time for every whim and fancy of my butterfly brain.
Probably the most bizarre thing of all my sort of 'moving on' stuff and all the like dealing with the past and putting it in a box neatly labelled 'The Past' is the fact that, before I went, I think I'd had more closure on my relationship than it turns out I had. I really thought I was pretty much over it and all I needed to do was the final moving on part which would have come from my leaving UK. It turns out, oh, I really hadn't, which actually is bizarre. Like, I don't know, you think that you are doing something completely different and it turns out that 11000 miles is not enough to tuck your life away into a neat little box. I am not exactly thrilled that I have to allow even more time to pass, now, given that I spent six months being extraordinarily patient. I live in hope that it will put itself into a box soon enough and I'll not be thinking what if and wondering to what extent I failed for the rest of my life. The finer points of this situation are constantly in the back of my mind to question in that age old female way of the whys, wherefores and what ifs. As is entirely typical.
I've also had to basically cut somebody out of my life and I'm not too thrilled about that. If I could change things, I would and it's really selfish to just think about how bothered I am that I have had to lose a friend and wish the circumstances were different when the situation is so much bigger than that. Again, remnants of England that shouldn't have come with me and now, after probably far too long in denial, I'm on the way to reconciling myself with the situation and will, I've no doubt, be completely fine with it soon enough. It's just a bit of a rubbish way to have to lose a friend when you kind of feel like it's for a moot reason.
In any case, I am convinced that soon enough I will consider all of this to be so far in the past it'll be sort of meaningless. However right now it feels very, very much in the present and not in a good way but in a slightly icky wish I could forget it all way. In part it makes me wish I'd already been away for six months.
You'll all see no comments on this post an I've gotten to the point now where I am too tired and my clarity of mind too blurred to really continue and in fact probably the last three paras make no sense. Anyway, needless to say, no comments on this on any other post, thanks. This is my blog and I can control it. Plus I'm a control freak. True story.
20 October 2009
Lots of happenings, all in Auckland, all brilliant.
Hokey dokey, so I know I haven't updated for aaaaaaaaaaaages but that is because I've been eating amazing food and drinking so much Tui that I think I'm going to turn into a bottle of it but here goes a little precis of what has been going on for the last week or so...
There's a bar in the middle of Auckland where there is poker every night so basically I've learnt to play it and so last Thursday there were a couple of new inductees into YHA Auckland. They are a bloke called London and a bird named Flanders. London, funnily enough, lives in London and Flanders is from Belgium. The joy of the nickname continues. Anyhoo, so we did that and meeting London made me a) miss English people and b) miss England. He's an architect so we got to chatting about buildings (as you do) and how charming the architecture in Britain is and he's from Newmarket so he used to always hang around in Cambridge and as people who know me know, Cambridge to me is like an idyll of Britain and I heart it on a grand scale.
There have also been some South Americans staying at the hostel and some night last week, I want to say Wednesday, they cooked up a FEAST of epic proportions. I think I might have posted about this. In any case, it was amazing, being a selection of three dishes including Spaghetti Bolognese and this AWESOME salmon with pasta in a wonderfully tasty creamy sauce. Eleven of us, some wine, some beer, some cards, $3 a pop. It was superb.
This past weekend we went over to Piha, which is a volcanic beach on the west coast about an hour from Auckland and we bought the most amazing humungous joint of beef and had some sausages and rice and camped and there was a kids' playground so we played around on that in the dark before playing I Have Never. This was a group of nine people who packed into two cars and included TheGuitarist, me, London, Flanders, a German girl (no nickname because I can't think of one, frankly), TheChileans, TheMexican and ThePoleVaulter and we walked along the rockeries on the beach which I probably shouldn't have done because I was wearing slippery sandals and had had four beers but it was still amazing and actually even though the sand was black it was also shiny and wonderful. Then we stood in the sea with our trousers rolled up to see if we could avoid the water submerging said trousers. I failed on an epic scale but it was funny in any case. Even if the sea does smell a bit funny.
And so now for the last two nights the boys have cooked awesome meals. Last night was barbecue chicken wings with caesar salad and stuffed potatoes and tonight was even better, being tacos with made from scratch salsa and quesadillas. There were also avocados and lime and sour cream. Oh my gosh, I'm just remembering it and it really was awesome.
So now I'm in the internet cafe updating this whilst nursing my third Tui of the evening. This weekend to Te Puke but first I must a) play poker and speed pool at Globe Bar and b) tomorrow is my turn to cook and I'm making a Russian dish that I can't spell in English but maybe Daddy can because he's good at that sort of thing. It's got cabbage and mince and sour cream in it. Actually hopefully he'll read this and help me with the recipe.
Hm, that's all. But I love the little gang of us at the hostel and it's been awesome having mates around to do stuff with. Which reminds me. Tomorrow we're doing the coast to coast walk which is 16kms. I'm thinking my body is going to HURT on Thursday. Boohoo for me. I'm looking forward to it, though, because I haven't been to One Tree Hill. One Tree Hill, by the way, no longer has a tree.
There's a bar in the middle of Auckland where there is poker every night so basically I've learnt to play it and so last Thursday there were a couple of new inductees into YHA Auckland. They are a bloke called London and a bird named Flanders. London, funnily enough, lives in London and Flanders is from Belgium. The joy of the nickname continues. Anyhoo, so we did that and meeting London made me a) miss English people and b) miss England. He's an architect so we got to chatting about buildings (as you do) and how charming the architecture in Britain is and he's from Newmarket so he used to always hang around in Cambridge and as people who know me know, Cambridge to me is like an idyll of Britain and I heart it on a grand scale.
There have also been some South Americans staying at the hostel and some night last week, I want to say Wednesday, they cooked up a FEAST of epic proportions. I think I might have posted about this. In any case, it was amazing, being a selection of three dishes including Spaghetti Bolognese and this AWESOME salmon with pasta in a wonderfully tasty creamy sauce. Eleven of us, some wine, some beer, some cards, $3 a pop. It was superb.
This past weekend we went over to Piha, which is a volcanic beach on the west coast about an hour from Auckland and we bought the most amazing humungous joint of beef and had some sausages and rice and camped and there was a kids' playground so we played around on that in the dark before playing I Have Never. This was a group of nine people who packed into two cars and included TheGuitarist, me, London, Flanders, a German girl (no nickname because I can't think of one, frankly), TheChileans, TheMexican and ThePoleVaulter and we walked along the rockeries on the beach which I probably shouldn't have done because I was wearing slippery sandals and had had four beers but it was still amazing and actually even though the sand was black it was also shiny and wonderful. Then we stood in the sea with our trousers rolled up to see if we could avoid the water submerging said trousers. I failed on an epic scale but it was funny in any case. Even if the sea does smell a bit funny.
And so now for the last two nights the boys have cooked awesome meals. Last night was barbecue chicken wings with caesar salad and stuffed potatoes and tonight was even better, being tacos with made from scratch salsa and quesadillas. There were also avocados and lime and sour cream. Oh my gosh, I'm just remembering it and it really was awesome.
So now I'm in the internet cafe updating this whilst nursing my third Tui of the evening. This weekend to Te Puke but first I must a) play poker and speed pool at Globe Bar and b) tomorrow is my turn to cook and I'm making a Russian dish that I can't spell in English but maybe Daddy can because he's good at that sort of thing. It's got cabbage and mince and sour cream in it. Actually hopefully he'll read this and help me with the recipe.
Hm, that's all. But I love the little gang of us at the hostel and it's been awesome having mates around to do stuff with. Which reminds me. Tomorrow we're doing the coast to coast walk which is 16kms. I'm thinking my body is going to HURT on Thursday. Boohoo for me. I'm looking forward to it, though, because I haven't been to One Tree Hill. One Tree Hill, by the way, no longer has a tree.
10 October 2009
The story of the trip up north
I apologise in advance; this is almost certainly going to be a very, very long post but frankly, it's worth it. I just hope my wit doesn't fail me.
So, first off, the background info (crucial, obviously) is that three of us from my hostel decided to go on a little road trip to the Bay of Islands (staying in Paihia) and to Cape Reinga, which is the northernmost tip of New Zealand and where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea. The two blokes I went with will forthwith be referred to as GadgetGuy and TheGuitarist. GadgetGuy is German and so named because, oh my gosh, he has SO many gadgets for everything. It's awesome. And gadgety. TheGuitarist is a Canadian guy who is actually a drummer but he's being called TheGuitarist because on his like third day here he went and bought a guitar (he can play that too) and he's been playin' ever since. It's also quite cool.
On Wednesday morning we set off up to Paihia and through the windy, potholed roads of New Zealand. The countryside was absolutely stunning; rolling hills, forests, fields: it was awesome. We were uber lazy when we got to Paihia in the afternoon so we just bought some food and went and had an amazing platter at a bar in the town. Oh, so in the whole of the Bay of Islands there are 2000 inhabitants and frankly Paihia is, in many ways, a perfect illustration of the hell that is small town living. Especially in comparison to Auckland, which is a real 24 hour city, it was small, parochial and absolutely dead. Everything closed at 8pm. In the evening we had some beers at the hostel, played some cards and listened to music and then went to a local bar (I think there are 4 in total) and had a beer and played a game of pool. Then TheCanadian and I went down to the beach (2 minutes away) and sat for ages, listening to the water lapping against the shore and chatting. That was pretty cool.
Thursday we all woke up really late, which is bizarre and bad but we spent the afternoon walking along the beach nearby and looking out over the view to the islands and the other parts of the mainland and in the evening we cooked an AMAZING meal of steak and potatoes and salad. It really was wonderful.
We decided to go up to Cape Reinga on Friday morning, so we set off really early and it was, oh my gosh, AMAZING. There's a cute little town called Mangonoui on the way up and we stopped there for the best fish and chips you will ever have in your life. Truly, the meal was splendiferous. Then we went off again up to Cape Reinga.
Now, I'm not one of those really cheesy types about the world around me. I appreciate beautiful things but in many ways on a purely objective basis. I ACTUALLY cried at Cape Reinga. It's sad, I know, but oh my gosh, it's the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life. Basically, the Tasman Sea is blue and the Pacific Ocean is green and so where they meet it's like waves lapping up against each other but also the colours sort of mix. If you've got a half decent monitor, you'll be able to see it in this photo.
It's really, really incredible - I can't put into words the extent to which this is true but trust me.
We climbed a little hill and looked out over the top. I also found out I'm 18000km from London. I thought it was 12000 miles but I'm pretty sure that works out to be 10800 miles, which brings me 1200 miles closer. Good times.
Obviously you can't go any further than this so we headed back to Paihia (by the way it's like a three hour drive from Paihia to Cape Reinga). Unfortunately, we had a minor, minor, minor incident which involved reversing into a car (long story to do with a one way bridge) BUT after a few minutes of panic, luckily this woman was just like, 'Hey, I'm a member of the yacht club, they do food, you can buy me a beer and we're all good,' so we went to the yacht club (which happened to be in Mangonoui as well) with her and she was AWESOME. She's from Guam but lived in New Caledonia with her French husband and has been all around the Pacific Islands and was talking about growing up on Guam and whatnot... she was really cool and it could have been horrible but the bump just knocked a bit of plastic out, which TheGuitarist clipped back in and it was all good.
By the time we left Mangonoui it was dark and obviously we were then on these twisty, dark country roads but it meant you could see the stars and, my god, that was AMAZING. I'm so used to being in the city where you can see about 12 stars at a time that this was a huge novelty and I was just gaping at them for a good 30 minutes. Actually, I've just thought about it. To be honest, I've probably seen lots of stars in the sky before but normally when it's dark and I'm outside that means I've been drinking so stars aren't really on my mind at that point.
Then this morning we left a beautiful day - sunny, a few tiny clouds in the sky - to come back to Auckland where it's raining! But in any case, the trip was absolutely fantastic and Cape Reinga was awesome in the true sense of the word.
Here's a link to my photos of the trip:Northlands Road Trip
So, first off, the background info (crucial, obviously) is that three of us from my hostel decided to go on a little road trip to the Bay of Islands (staying in Paihia) and to Cape Reinga, which is the northernmost tip of New Zealand and where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea. The two blokes I went with will forthwith be referred to as GadgetGuy and TheGuitarist. GadgetGuy is German and so named because, oh my gosh, he has SO many gadgets for everything. It's awesome. And gadgety. TheGuitarist is a Canadian guy who is actually a drummer but he's being called TheGuitarist because on his like third day here he went and bought a guitar (he can play that too) and he's been playin' ever since. It's also quite cool.
On Wednesday morning we set off up to Paihia and through the windy, potholed roads of New Zealand. The countryside was absolutely stunning; rolling hills, forests, fields: it was awesome. We were uber lazy when we got to Paihia in the afternoon so we just bought some food and went and had an amazing platter at a bar in the town. Oh, so in the whole of the Bay of Islands there are 2000 inhabitants and frankly Paihia is, in many ways, a perfect illustration of the hell that is small town living. Especially in comparison to Auckland, which is a real 24 hour city, it was small, parochial and absolutely dead. Everything closed at 8pm. In the evening we had some beers at the hostel, played some cards and listened to music and then went to a local bar (I think there are 4 in total) and had a beer and played a game of pool. Then TheCanadian and I went down to the beach (2 minutes away) and sat for ages, listening to the water lapping against the shore and chatting. That was pretty cool.
Thursday we all woke up really late, which is bizarre and bad but we spent the afternoon walking along the beach nearby and looking out over the view to the islands and the other parts of the mainland and in the evening we cooked an AMAZING meal of steak and potatoes and salad. It really was wonderful.
We decided to go up to Cape Reinga on Friday morning, so we set off really early and it was, oh my gosh, AMAZING. There's a cute little town called Mangonoui on the way up and we stopped there for the best fish and chips you will ever have in your life. Truly, the meal was splendiferous. Then we went off again up to Cape Reinga.
Now, I'm not one of those really cheesy types about the world around me. I appreciate beautiful things but in many ways on a purely objective basis. I ACTUALLY cried at Cape Reinga. It's sad, I know, but oh my gosh, it's the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life. Basically, the Tasman Sea is blue and the Pacific Ocean is green and so where they meet it's like waves lapping up against each other but also the colours sort of mix. If you've got a half decent monitor, you'll be able to see it in this photo.
It's really, really incredible - I can't put into words the extent to which this is true but trust me.
We climbed a little hill and looked out over the top. I also found out I'm 18000km from London. I thought it was 12000 miles but I'm pretty sure that works out to be 10800 miles, which brings me 1200 miles closer. Good times.
Obviously you can't go any further than this so we headed back to Paihia (by the way it's like a three hour drive from Paihia to Cape Reinga). Unfortunately, we had a minor, minor, minor incident which involved reversing into a car (long story to do with a one way bridge) BUT after a few minutes of panic, luckily this woman was just like, 'Hey, I'm a member of the yacht club, they do food, you can buy me a beer and we're all good,' so we went to the yacht club (which happened to be in Mangonoui as well) with her and she was AWESOME. She's from Guam but lived in New Caledonia with her French husband and has been all around the Pacific Islands and was talking about growing up on Guam and whatnot... she was really cool and it could have been horrible but the bump just knocked a bit of plastic out, which TheGuitarist clipped back in and it was all good.
By the time we left Mangonoui it was dark and obviously we were then on these twisty, dark country roads but it meant you could see the stars and, my god, that was AMAZING. I'm so used to being in the city where you can see about 12 stars at a time that this was a huge novelty and I was just gaping at them for a good 30 minutes. Actually, I've just thought about it. To be honest, I've probably seen lots of stars in the sky before but normally when it's dark and I'm outside that means I've been drinking so stars aren't really on my mind at that point.
Then this morning we left a beautiful day - sunny, a few tiny clouds in the sky - to come back to Auckland where it's raining! But in any case, the trip was absolutely fantastic and Cape Reinga was awesome in the true sense of the word.
Here's a link to my photos of the trip:Northlands Road Trip
6 October 2009
A cultural experience AND some token irony.
Yesterday I went to the wonderful Auckland Museum, which is in the aforementioned Auckland Domain, which is lovely. It was very windy, very rainy and very cold. This aspect was not quite so lovely.
The Auckland Museum is amazing. No, really, it is. There's absolutely tonnes and tonnes of artefacts from various Pacific Island cultures and, of course, plenty of Maori history there. Some of the carvings are absolutely stunning. I'd have taken so many photos but I'm a fool who forgot my camera so I have no evidence. But trust me, it was awesome.
They also have a couple of fighter planes from World War II as well as lots and lots of New Zealand's social history during that same period. It's really interesting; I didn't realise quite how involved NZ were in World War II but apparently a lot, which I sort of feel is unfair but in any case there were lots of men who went and fought and died. In fact, there's a corridor that acts as a sort of war memorial and the walls on both sides are covered with a ridiculously long list of men who'd lost their lives in battle, made more ridiculous by the fact that the list was only of Aucklanders rather than New Zealanders.
Ooh, I also loved this room which was a smaller mock up of what Auckland would have looked like in 1866. It's really funny, with a house and a saddler and an inn and another hotel and a dress shop, etc. And also very cute, obviously.
I've just realised I could go on for pages and pages and pages and pages about it because it's actually really cool but I'm going to stop because I think I've said my highlights. Just to add that there are lots of natural science exhibits about wildlife and, of course, volcanoes. Which actually reminds me that the museum does have one really, really stupid thing and that's this fake news report about what would happen if one of the Auckland volcanoes suddenly erupts but to be honest I entirely didn't see the point of it and it was sensationalism for sensationalism's sake. So yeah, that was bad.
OK, so, yes, the irony. In my opinion, the irony is very brilliant but I am a simple soul. I do so wish I'd taken a photo of it. Right, so there's a room with lots of different furniture in it that is designed by either New Zealanders or (in the main) Brits who moved to NZ in the mid 19th century or so. Anyway, the room is awesome and there is some amazing furniture and also some clothes and other pieces like crockery, etc. There is also what can only be described as one of the ugliest rugs in the world. It is HORRIBLE. It's a rug of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip on their wedding day. In many ways I think this is bad enough but it's also in really bright, bright, colours and it's just basically minging. So, directly above this ugly excuse for a rug (or maybe it's a wall tapestry or something), there is a sign. And this sign says, 'Sophisticated Style'.
I thought that was brilliant. Actually, truth be told, I still sort of think it's brilliant. I have also completely messed up my body clock with the staying up until ridiculous o'clock in the morning; the last four nights have been 3, 7, 3.30 and 4am. The 7am was getting back at five and then, unfathomably, deciding to go on the internet and then getting to talking because it was decent o'clock in Britain for a change. Last night there were about seven of us just chilling out with some beers and this Canadian guy had his guitar so he was playing that. I really need to get into better routine, though. Which I will. I'm quite tired right now and I'm supposed to be organising going to Bay of Islands today so that will probably mean an early morning so definitely an early night for me.
I also ate properly yesterday for the first time since, I think, I left. Yay.
Hm, this was going to be quite a short and quick update. Sorry about that.
The Auckland Museum is amazing. No, really, it is. There's absolutely tonnes and tonnes of artefacts from various Pacific Island cultures and, of course, plenty of Maori history there. Some of the carvings are absolutely stunning. I'd have taken so many photos but I'm a fool who forgot my camera so I have no evidence. But trust me, it was awesome.
They also have a couple of fighter planes from World War II as well as lots and lots of New Zealand's social history during that same period. It's really interesting; I didn't realise quite how involved NZ were in World War II but apparently a lot, which I sort of feel is unfair but in any case there were lots of men who went and fought and died. In fact, there's a corridor that acts as a sort of war memorial and the walls on both sides are covered with a ridiculously long list of men who'd lost their lives in battle, made more ridiculous by the fact that the list was only of Aucklanders rather than New Zealanders.
Ooh, I also loved this room which was a smaller mock up of what Auckland would have looked like in 1866. It's really funny, with a house and a saddler and an inn and another hotel and a dress shop, etc. And also very cute, obviously.
I've just realised I could go on for pages and pages and pages and pages about it because it's actually really cool but I'm going to stop because I think I've said my highlights. Just to add that there are lots of natural science exhibits about wildlife and, of course, volcanoes. Which actually reminds me that the museum does have one really, really stupid thing and that's this fake news report about what would happen if one of the Auckland volcanoes suddenly erupts but to be honest I entirely didn't see the point of it and it was sensationalism for sensationalism's sake. So yeah, that was bad.
OK, so, yes, the irony. In my opinion, the irony is very brilliant but I am a simple soul. I do so wish I'd taken a photo of it. Right, so there's a room with lots of different furniture in it that is designed by either New Zealanders or (in the main) Brits who moved to NZ in the mid 19th century or so. Anyway, the room is awesome and there is some amazing furniture and also some clothes and other pieces like crockery, etc. There is also what can only be described as one of the ugliest rugs in the world. It is HORRIBLE. It's a rug of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip on their wedding day. In many ways I think this is bad enough but it's also in really bright, bright, colours and it's just basically minging. So, directly above this ugly excuse for a rug (or maybe it's a wall tapestry or something), there is a sign. And this sign says, 'Sophisticated Style'.
I thought that was brilliant. Actually, truth be told, I still sort of think it's brilliant. I have also completely messed up my body clock with the staying up until ridiculous o'clock in the morning; the last four nights have been 3, 7, 3.30 and 4am. The 7am was getting back at five and then, unfathomably, deciding to go on the internet and then getting to talking because it was decent o'clock in Britain for a change. Last night there were about seven of us just chilling out with some beers and this Canadian guy had his guitar so he was playing that. I really need to get into better routine, though. Which I will. I'm quite tired right now and I'm supposed to be organising going to Bay of Islands today so that will probably mean an early morning so definitely an early night for me.
I also ate properly yesterday for the first time since, I think, I left. Yay.
Hm, this was going to be quite a short and quick update. Sorry about that.
4 October 2009
A night in Auckland and guess what? More rain!
Yesterday all geared up for Waiheke, got up at 8.30. Weather was bad and misty and rainy. Knew Waiheke would be a waste of time. Went back to sleep.
YHA seemed to really liven up yesterday and there were loads of people around so I ended up drinking and chatting to various people and then a group of us went down the road to the nightclub at Base Backpackers' and we were drinking Jeiger bombs. Bleugh, bad times. 'Twas a good night, though. Didn't go to bed until 7. What an idiot.
And seriously, this weather had better improve quick smart. I'm sick to the back teeth of it. I think I wrote that sentence wrong. I don't care, to be honest. The rain today is AWFUL but some guys from South Island said weather in Auckland is worst in NZ because it can rain, snow, be sunny and have gale force winds all in one afternoon. We shall see.
Also dragon who checked me in at Kingsford Smith is still making me angry so I'm going to complain to Jetstar about her. I'm allowed; don't even try stopping me.
OK, so, not much else to report. Still planning on Bay of Islands on Tuesday or Wednesday for a few days. I think I might just man up and go regardless of the weather.
YHA seemed to really liven up yesterday and there were loads of people around so I ended up drinking and chatting to various people and then a group of us went down the road to the nightclub at Base Backpackers' and we were drinking Jeiger bombs. Bleugh, bad times. 'Twas a good night, though. Didn't go to bed until 7. What an idiot.
And seriously, this weather had better improve quick smart. I'm sick to the back teeth of it. I think I wrote that sentence wrong. I don't care, to be honest. The rain today is AWFUL but some guys from South Island said weather in Auckland is worst in NZ because it can rain, snow, be sunny and have gale force winds all in one afternoon. We shall see.
Also dragon who checked me in at Kingsford Smith is still making me angry so I'm going to complain to Jetstar about her. I'm allowed; don't even try stopping me.
OK, so, not much else to report. Still planning on Bay of Islands on Tuesday or Wednesday for a few days. I think I might just man up and go regardless of the weather.
2 October 2009
I am suffering from Auckland related mixed feelings
So, today I walked from Queen Street to Mount Eden. I then walked up Mount Eden. I love my DCs, which have helped me get so far already. Anyway, so the walk through to the volcano was through all these industrial areas and that's what a lot of Auckland is like; industrial estates and tall business buildings. It's kind of like Reading in that way. I don't much like that.
But I went to the top of the volcano and then I looked around and the view was AMAZING. It really was. You can see all around you, countryside one way, the city another, sea another, volcanoes another. I don't know if it's volcanoes or volcanos. Probably with the e. I promptly burst into tears because I'm uber cool. I have no idea why.
So then I came back down and I walked through Auckland Domain, which was awesome and very pretty with duck ponds and mahoosive pigeons and fountains and flowerbeds and weird shaped trees.
Tomorrow to Waiheke Island, with a long list of things to do courtesy of TheKiwi. I think when I get there I'll find it's basically a list of places to go in order to drink wine and as I plan to hire a bicycle I think it could prove pretty entertaining.
Also my food got stolen. Twice. So now I'm Special K-less and toastless. Bad times.
But I went to the top of the volcano and then I looked around and the view was AMAZING. It really was. You can see all around you, countryside one way, the city another, sea another, volcanoes another. I don't know if it's volcanoes or volcanos. Probably with the e. I promptly burst into tears because I'm uber cool. I have no idea why.
So then I came back down and I walked through Auckland Domain, which was awesome and very pretty with duck ponds and mahoosive pigeons and fountains and flowerbeds and weird shaped trees.
Tomorrow to Waiheke Island, with a long list of things to do courtesy of TheKiwi. I think when I get there I'll find it's basically a list of places to go in order to drink wine and as I plan to hire a bicycle I think it could prove pretty entertaining.
Also my food got stolen. Twice. So now I'm Special K-less and toastless. Bad times.
29 September 2009
Auckland is much further away than Sydney
I have no idea why, but being in New Zealand feels ten times further away than being in Sydney. 'Tis not good. I feel really quite far from home at the moment but I'm sure the feeling will pass. Seems to be loads to see and do around here so think I'm going to stay until early next week and then work my way through the North Island to Wellington before heading back to Sydney for a few months to work and then go around.
Auckland is cold and wet and earlier there was thunder and lightning. Why I don't feel at home I really am not sure!
Auckland is cold and wet and earlier there was thunder and lightning. Why I don't feel at home I really am not sure!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)