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!! 

Slow start to the next adventure!

So over the last week I have been rapidly finishing assignments (2 down, 1 to go), washing and cleaning ready to take off on my next adventure. The night before leaving I caught up with Clare over The Naked Magician show as a part of the comedy festival and it did not disappoint! We were laughing the whole way through and thankfully neither of us got called up on stage!

   

   

Saturday morning was an early start at 3am to get to the airport for my 6am flight but the minute I got in my Uber to the bus station I received a delightful message saying my flight had been cancelled! The only other flight with any space on was at 1:30pm so a glorious 9 hour wait at the airport!! Luckily I had some typical Melbourne coffee (/hot chocolate) art to pass the time!

   

Luckily I am now on board and finally taking off!!! 

No where else I’d rather be

Australia has been so good to be over the last 9 months and the promise of some more traveling adventures beginning in just 5 days is the only thing getting me through this assignment catch up weekend. 

And being able to relive some memories through my wonder wall every time I look up! 

 

Australian Festivals

I’ve been to a few festivals in England, not loads, but a few and the only real difference I noticed between English and Australian festivals was the distinct lack of police! Has England really got to such a horrific state that whenever alcohol is involved an area needs to be swapped with police to ensure no body does anything stupid?!

Now don’t get me wrong there were still a few policemen doing the rounds bs secure surround the entrance and stage but nothing like what you would see at an English festival. Thinking back on my experience in Australia so far I have to say this isn’t the first time there’s has been such a difference either.

What is the English population coming to? I’m starting to think there’s a reason behind the bad reputation we have overseas!

All in all though it was a fabulous day in the sun watching some great artists perform!

    

Disclaimer – yes I do drink, yes I do party and yes I probably do some stupid things whilst drunk and partying but never anything the police would need to get involved in!

A night of luxury

As my time with Hannah has unfortunately come to an end our luxury night has finally arrived! We figured it’s best to end our travels on a high and that high would be a night at Crown Towers Hotel. From the minute we stepped out of the lift I was in love and it was then that I knew I was going to need to work hard to get this kind of future! 

And then we stepped into our room (that might as well have been a suite)… I thought things couldn’t get any better but it just kept surprising me! 

  

  

We decided to spend the day relaxing in the spa and my day was slightly ruined by the 30 squeamish girls waiting for a glimpse of One Direction as they were outside playing tennis and the sauna being out of action for some reason but I don’t let that get me down! How could you with a view like this…! 

  

We then headed back to our room for a relaxing dip in the tub before heading out for dinner on the promenade.    

The views from our room put my poxy house in Carlton to shame! 

     

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!

There’s a new convict in Port Arthur today

Back to Hobart last night where we had another quiet night at the cinema before our final day on the trip visiting Port Arthur.

Port Arthur is on the Tasman peninsula (accessible by road) to the east of Hobart where some of the first English convicts were brought when they settled in Australia. At Port Arthur they were attempting to teach the convicts skills to get them back into society once they had served their sentence. The museum is done in a fantastic way in that you are given a playing card with a number and this relates to a particular convict who you then follow through the museum to see what his journey would have looked like. Some of the crimes were as little as stealing a loaf of bread which is crazy to think of in these days as the deserving punishment being exiled from England to the other side of the world!!

There’s also some great props to play around with across the facilities 

 

During our tour around the premises we were lucky enough to get a fantastic tour guide who told us the stories from back in the day. I was horrified to hear that there were some prisoners who were banished to single cells for 23 hours a day, this meant they were not allowed to talk to anyone or their face be seen by anyone and they were striped of their names as identification. 30 days after the introduction of the pitch black rooms, they then padded these cells and added a mental asylum… It is assumed that this was needed due to prisoners being banished in the dark and alone for so long that they began to go crazy. This divided opinions in our group as yes these people had committed crimes and therefore deserved to be punished but when you associate these punishments with the minuscule crimes we heard about earlier through the museum it is very difficult to see a deserving match.

Even the church was so secluded that you weren’t allowed to make eye contact with other convicts.  

   

Being here today has reminded me of my passion to fight for human rights, it’s been almost 8 months since I’ve been involved in any volunteering projects and I’m glad to see that my passion of mine hasn’t gone away… I might have to start looking into what masters degrees are out there in this field… 

There were some beautiful gardens amongst the grounds but unfortunately these were only for a select few to enjoy back in the day, which was mostly linked to the upper class who were working at Port Arthur. 

 

On the way back from Port Arthur we stopped off at Eaglehawk Neck which connects the Tasman Pennisular to the mainland for some beautiful seaviews 

   

We had a chilled evening back in our double beds at the hotel before flying and treated ourselves to some dominoes and an early night. 

Hannah managed to wake herself up from snoring so loudly that she thought someone else was in the room… I must say I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much at someone!!!

I am excited to be getting back to Melbourne tomorrow and having my own bed, clean clothes, a wardrobe and all the other little things you begin to miss whilst travelling for over 3 months. It has been a phenomenal experience and one I will carry with me for the rest of my life. It’s safe to say the travel bug has bitten me hard and I’m already looking at booking my next holiday!! 

   

Rival cities

Through out my time here in Australia I have been told many times about the rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne for the top city spot, also how Australians often prefer one or the other but don’t usually like both. I’ve always wondered why many Australians (and I’m not saying all here) see it as an either or… Thinking that maybe once I get to Sydney I would understand a bit more (having loved every little thing about my quirky little Melbourne so far) but unfortunately I am still non the wiser!!

I can see the huge contrasts between Melbourne and Sydney but that doesn’t mean I love either of them any less! Both remind me of Manchester in their own ways and again both are completely different in their own ways.

Today has been totally relaxed with some time at the cinema and just wondering around, sitting down whenever I feel like it to admire the city – which I must say has been a luxury after another Topdeck trip that was always on a tight schedule. I’m also very impressed with how functional the city still is on New Year’s Day (I swear England just shuts down for it?!)

I sat for a while at darling harbour and gazed into the distance (excuse the dodgy panoramic shot)

And am now sat on Pitt street listening to a very talented saxophonist…

Tomorrow I’m leaving for the next adventure… New Zealand! But thankfully it won’t be too long until I’m back in Sydney

Countdown….3…2…1

One essay done! Only 3 more finals to finish before I’m off to Thailand!

Melbourne’s beautiful campus