Drunk me > hungover me

It was a long and tiring journey across the boarder – be warned when they say it’s cheaper to change buses they don’t tell you that it is because you have to walk about an hour with all your luggage!! Okay it may not have been an hour but at 5:30 in the morning with 4 bags it sure felt like a lifetime! But it didn’t stop there – I still had to get from Bangkok down to Surathani and then over to Koh Phangan.. Luckily I’d found a fancy Bangkok hotel to allow me to store luggage and nap by the pool in between night buses.   
 Finally I got to Koh Phangan and headed straight to my bed! Luckily my roomie was hungover as hell and still in bed too! Once we’d both recovered from our opposite nights adventures we headed out to take a look around the island and grab some food. Despite booking into a 20-bed dorm there was only two of us in a 4-bed but we managed to get a good group together for dinner as my roomie had a few friends on the island and I’d bumped into a few friends I’d made on the bus down here. On the night before full moon pretty much the whole island heads over to the Jungle party – literally in the jungle! It may have just been a big ploy to get 700 baht off each and every one of us but it was a good night. Set out in festival style with the addition of the infamous Thai cocktail buckets, drunk me came out to play – and brought her (lack of) gymnastic skills to the table when asked what my party trick was. Luckily I can still do the splits although it’s never without a few scratches and very sore legs for a couple days! 

    
 I slept the majority of the next day too – still catching up on the missed sleep from two back to back night buses! I woke up with enough time to fit in a massage before heading down to the beach for a rather unimpressive sunset!  

 After dinner we all headed back to our respective hostels to get kitted out in our full moon fluorescents before meeting back up to get painted and tipsy on our way down to the beach. 

    
    
 I’ll admit I was slightly confused as to how the full moon party was going to be different to the beach parties I saw over on Phi Phi in November until I got down to the beach – although you wouldn’t realise it was a beach as you could barely even see the sand through the thousands of people around us! What we didn’t realise that as we were getting painted up during our pre-drinks the swarms of people heading past us were crowding together on the beach! It didn’t seem like a mass of people as they all came through in dribs and drabs but once all collected on the beach – just wow! Luckily the crowds began to drift off fairly quickly though!

    
   
Every bar blared their drink offers over the music of the next bar for as far as you could see! It wasn’t long before our large group got split but somehow in the masses of people my friends from the bus still managed to find me for a dance on the stage – no matter where in the world I am I will find a bar or stage to dance on! 

Drunk me even managed to have enough food on the way home to not be so hungover in the morning as well as pack and leave out water and ibuprofen for hungover me. I’m starting to learn in my old age it would seem!

Stupidly I’d only booked the two nights on Phangan and head to be up at 10 to check out and head over to Koh Samui but thankfully is booked a very large and luxurious bed to drown myself in for the next two nights before making my way onto Koh Tao!

Everyday should be an adventure

This morning we set off for some abseiling down a 25m gorge, thankfully I’m still feeling pretty fearless after my 134m bungy jump so I wasn’t feeling the nerves today!
We met up with Col who would be our instructor and guide us through the abseiling twice. The boys went first, despite a few nerves from them! Col would ask any old questions to try and get your mind off the height but it always seemed to end up back on cricket – which none of us seemed to know anything about! Col’s method didn’t really work on Aditier who would just stop what he was doing to return the conversation instead of walking and talking! 

By the time it got to my turn I had just about finished tucking my cardigan into the harness which somehow then got nicknamed the grandma cardigan! Once I’d successfully taught Col how to say Megan and not Magen like every other Australian it was my turn to back off the cliff edge and begin my descent down, there was a little ledge to walk off and then you can start to jump/bounce off the cliff a little faster for a little more fun! I was asked if it was the first time I had a pole between my legs as apparently I was a natural – I think in those situations it’s just best to say ‘no comment!’ Haha! 

Christina was at the bottom of the abseil as our safety point which definitely worried me slightly as she is probably less than 5ft and most definitely the smallest person on the trip, I’m not sure she’d be able to stop my fall but luckily that wasn’t needed and she did a fantastic job at undressing all the girls from their harnesses! Which of course was her favourite part haha 

   
Col continued to struggle with names and changed Ariane to Oreo which has already stuck as the best nickname so far!

After abseiling we headed down to a beautiful stream to dip our toes – much too cold for anything else! However somehow Ron managed to jump straight on in!  

Next up we drove over to a lookout over the Z-bend in Murchison gorge. We learnt how gorges are created from water moving the rocks and canyons are more from the rock moving (without the help of water). After Murchison Gorge we headed over to Natures Window for a few pictures once we’d made it to the end of the walk. We managed to get almost the whole group together for a photo but unfortunately the lady who took the photo managed to black out half the group! 

    
 For sunset today we got to spend some time relaxing and capturing photos on shell beach. Then headed over to Denham for the night – only to get in the showers in the tour guides room (ours had a 10 people queue) and the power to go! Wow that was a panic!!  

    
 

Bank holiday fun days

Friday nights are for trying on old clothes that now for again and new clothes with are now miles too big! Yay for weight loss!! 

 This will always be my favourite skirt!! 

Dear old queenies birthday blesses us with a bank holiday day off… That only ever means one thing! Especially when we have Clare’s birthday to celebrate!

We had a great night in Richmond with a midnight feast chomping on some apples, it was all fun and games until I managed to collapse on my side in Mc Donald’s… Even with my sober head on I still don’t know how I managed it! Luckily it didn’t damage the outfit! 

Although the hangover the next day was not enjoyable – especially with an essay to write on indigenous politics!! 

Bright lights, big city

I’ve had a fantastic day in Sydney checking out the various light shows which ended in a wonderful boat cruise 

  Can’t complain with this breakfast view!  

Exciting to see the whole city getting excited for Vivid too!      

And not a bad second day either!! 
   
   The guys over at Canon were particularly impressive with out they were engaging with customers throughout the lights show without actually selling any cameras but just letting you use them and the rest of their products. Very impressed!  

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and it’s back to reality for me 

 

Preparing for semester two

So the time has come to begin preparing for my second semester on exchange in Melbourne. Timetables have been created, viewings have gone on all week and we have almost finalised filling the house for the upcoming semester. Luckily we’ve managed to fit some fun in too! 

We have 3 new people joining our mad house, two sharing the room downstairs and one sharing my room. It wasn’t an easy decision but the extra cash can fund a lot more travelling so I can’t complain! I bought a new bed off of gumtree and recruited Hannah, Grace and Faye to help me carry it back a couple of blocks to our house…. This was quite possibly the funniest exoerience of my Australian adventure to date!! Grace and Faye carried the fragile bed frame being very careful not to snap it whilst Hannah struggled with the very heavy bed slats and I harried the mattress above my head like the trooper I was!…. Lies. Of course it was actually just the only way to carry a large mattress on my own and my arms were barely strong enough to lift the mattress above my head so it balanced there most of the journey! Eventually we got it home and are now one step closer to being ready for the next semester.

With a constant 40 degree heat on some days I didn’t get to show Hannah much of Melbourne but we did enjoy some dinners and drinks out along with a few beach days – luckily only one ended in a sandstorm!!

Victoria night markets

Brighton beach hutsBrighton beach huts again

China town

Valentines day feast

Girls night!

Team UK takes the…..

The final part of our East Coast Topdeck tour was in Hunters Valley for a spot of wine tasting and grape crushing.

We learnt a little about the local methods of producing wine and what affects the colour, taste and price of most wine for sale. Next up was a little tasting – many of which I passed onto others (not a wine fan!) however I did find one that I actually quite enjoyed… Typically it is only sold in this particular region apparently

Next up was the grape crushing and Team UK were set to take the win, fight talking to Team America and Team Misfits (sorry but the countries were too random) however much like the World Cup, we were out at the first round. Team UK did not take the win this time but it’s all about the taking part though right?!

Ho ho ho!

Merry Christmas everyone!! I hope you’ve all had/having a wonderful day wherever in the world you are! 

 We arrived in Fraser Island yesterday and paid a quick visit to the resorts swimming pool by hitch-hiking a ride there instead of facing “heart-attack hill” by foot. The pool was filled with Santa hats and feel-good vibes but unfortunately we didn’t have much time to relax until dinner.  

 

After dinner we had drinks in the lodge lounges and then moved onto the bar to crack out some killer dance moves!  

 

 Christmas morning was welcomed by a dodgy breakfast followed by a 4 wheel drive across the island. I am still thanking the lords for blessing me with no hangover this year!! As our 4WD bus first took off over the bumpy grounds our driver blasted the song ‘Jump Around’ just to make sure we were all awake and aware of the fun day ahead… Our first stop was Lake Mackenzie where we had a swim in the beautiful fresh water lake and took some Christmas themed photos.

After lunch was a drive along the 75 mile beach (name not literal) to see the shipwreck and then over to Eli Creek, a natural, fresh water lazy river on the beach opposite the sea.

After the adventurous journey back to the lodges we gathered on the pier for sunset, nibbles and presents – after first picking some photo frames which we definitely too big for my suitcase I stuck to an edible present for myself and roommates to enjoy!

After calling home and having a shower I’m ready for bed already but we’ll see what kind of lodge parties are going on tonight…

Maybe I shouldn’t kayak anymore

We got to Long Island Beach Resort with just enough time to freshen up before a wonderful buffet dinner with so much to choose from it almost left me too full for dessert…. Almost!

After dinner was karaoke time and of course the Scots had us in fits of laughter again with their back up dancing and singing! It was a great night on the island and finally a night in a comfy bed after last night sleeping on deck.

The next day was a free day so of course we made the most of the lie in and then took to the seas for a kayaking adventure… And boy was it an adventure!!

Paige and Fanny took off first in a double kayak then Clare and I later joined them in single kayaks… Although Clare isn’t exactly a natural at kayaking so it took her a little longer than most to get places!! We eventually made it into the middle of the bay somewhere where we took it in turns to stand on our kayaks – Paige and Fanny did a good job and then Clare and I joined forces to try, she managed to balance standing for a whole 3 seconds I’d say before falling in between both our kayaks capsizing myself too!!

By the time I’d managed to get back into my kayak we’d drifted under the jetty and were in danger of drifting out of the allowed zone. Luckily there was a beam under the section of the jetty we were at to stop us going completely through. After we’d managed to stop laughing and Clare had finally got back in the kayak instead of trying to get a lift back to shore we began our kayak back… Although it didn’t take us long to get back to the jetty and this time we didn’t have a beam to hold onto so we got our serious faces on and held back our laughs until we were safely at shore but boy was it hard! Any eye contact risked a fit of laughter at the whole situation!
After the kayaking adventures of Fiji too I’m starting to think maybe I’m cursed!

After the stressful morning kayaking we had a relaxed afternoon in the pool followed by an evening cocktail mixology class

It’s the taking part that counts the most…

Another beautiful night in the lagoon yesterday with the sun setting behind me and not a care in the world

Today was an early start but worth it! Tully river, 9 boats, one mission – make it to the bottom in one piece… That’s white water rafting for you!

My boat consisted of two lazy Germans, one brutal Irish, a Chinese couple (only half of which could swim), our guide – Marty and myself. With the two lazy Germans setting the pace I don’t think we stood any chance in winning but we definitely had fun trying!

….and yes I did fall in!

Chasing waterfalls

Our last day on the Rock N Top Topdeck tour has been a beautifully relaxed one chasing waterfalls around Litchfield National Park

Our first stop was the humongous termite mounds which can reach up to 5 metres!

Next up was this beautiful plunge pool which we weren’t allowed to swim in unfortunately due to those snappy visitors previously mentioned…
Luckily the next stop (Florence Falls) was exclusively for us to cool off after the 135 step journey. We immediately stripped down to our bikinis and got in and it wasn’t long before the guys in the group had found a rock to jump off and practice their belly flops (well those that were brave enough to do them).

On our final bus ride of the tour to Darwin I rode up front to play DJ and get a slightly better view of our surroundings….. Or take selfies with the rest of the bus!
(It had to be done)