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!

Lake Ohau

Some of the group went on a bike ride from Arrowtown to Kawarau Bridge however I had to go back to Queenstown to get the tag removed from my Nevis jumper to stop looking like a delinquent! Luckily Chris, our bus driver was nice enough to take me back to get this done.

We spent most of the day on the road today and ended up at the Lakeside lodge at Lake Ohau. I was lucky enough to finally get the double bed on the last night and a view to kill for!

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We had a couple hours to get ready and then headed down for a lasagne dinner and a few drinks in the cosy bar…. Of course a few drinks ended in dancing on the pool table and with an ironing board but that’s just the way we roll! It was an excellent end to an excellent trip and everyone will be missed dearly!

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Welcome to Wellington!

Upon arriving in Wellington we had a drive tour of the city on the way up to Weta Cave’s mini-museum of all the films that were filmed in NZ! I knew of the LOTR and Hobbit trilogies as well as Avatar but was shocked to see so many other titles. Apparently New Zealand is a relatively cheap country to make movies in and it is also easily adaptable to look like a variety of other settings.

Next up was the 360-degree view at the top of Mount Victoria

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We then drove through the tunnel in the mountain which is nicknamed ‘two-toot tunnel’ as for some reason everyone spends the duration tooting their horns at each other.

We spent the afternoon at the National Museum seeing New Zealand’s prize possession – the giant colossal squid as well as some more Māori cultural buildings.

We had a great night out in Wellington, it’s a fantastic town full of plenty of young people and plenty of clubs

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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…

The sad farewells

Out final night in Darwin together was a memorable one…. Or rather non memorable with thanks to the copious amounts of alcohol and free champagne on offer!

We dined and partied at Monsoons, just a few minutes from our hostel and had a very eventful night and a few sad farewells!

It has been a fantastic trip with fantastic people who will all be missed dearly

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Friday has been a hangover day with a few of the people leftover from my trip before my flight to Cairns at 8pm for the next part of my adventure!

The struggle goes on

Why I thought I could handle a heavy night on Phi Phi before hours of diving theory at 7am I do not know – it was one stupid decision!

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Luckily I made it through the mornings theory without suffering too much pain but when it came to the afternoon skills session in the ‘pool’ it was a whole different story… First up was our 200 metres swim, definitely making me realise I need to get a gym membership next semester then a ten minute floatation. All in all it wouldn’t have been too bad if I hadn’t have had a massive lunch about 20 minutes before getting into the water. I had to get out and cool off before I could even think about starting to conquer the mask fear.

Eventually I made it back into the water but not for long… I attempted the “full skill set” but soon had to sit down again feeling ill. I can retrieve my regulator just fine, apparently I have more control over what I swallow than what I breathe which is pretty much the same on land too. It’s also the fact that it doesn’t hurt if you swallow sea water, no it doesn’t taste great but that’s the only discomfort whereas when water goes up your nose and is breathed in it can cause a lot of discomfort!

During one of my breaks on the surface I contemplated with the idea of not bothering again, thinking if I still can’t do it now I never will but thankfully I gave it one last shot…

By the end of a very long skills session in the pool I had managed to complete the full skills set once and celebrated with an underwater hug from my instructor, Nelly.

Finally I can retire to my bed for a well deserved nap!

I love birthdays

In the run up/a good couple of weeks afterwards I give myself the perfect excuse for basically doing whatever I want… Because it’s my birthday.

It’s a fantastic mantra in a way, but in another way it’s also the worst. Why should I only do whatever I want because it’s my birthday? Surely I should do it at any time of the year simply because I want to?

Unfortunately life isn’t always as easy as that and many things often get in the way (uni, work, …money!) but I am setting a birthday resolution to do at least one thing a day simply because I want to. Not for any other reason than that – because quite frankly that seems like the best kind of reason!

Anyway… Birthday was fabbbbulous! Fijian party was a little less Fijian than party but it was a house filled with wonderful people I haven’t known more than 2/3 months but still wanted to shower me in gifts and celebrate the night with me! Big loves to all of them! (Of course the gifts were highly appropriate and either alcohol or animal related! Perfect!)
A fellow British party girl forced me onto the breakfast bar for my birthday countdown… Obviously I didn’t refuse

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We were meant to spend the next day at the Mornington Peninsula Hot Springs but unfortunately it was full as silly old me didn’t book in advance… Luckily we found this out before we rented the car and drove the whole way there! After furiously googling for an hour we found a fantastic spa in Melbourne city and spent the day relaxing there

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It was also one of the first birthdays I’ve had with a full day of sunshine! God bless the Southern Hemisphere!!

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I thought the day couldn’t get any better but then I finally got to tick the ballet off my bucket list. I went to see the Nutcracker with my fellow former-dance housemate Carlota and we both sat in awe of the entire performance. It really was beautiful!

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Birthday celebrations

I’m turning 22 tomorrow and in true English fashion I started celebrating early! Friday night we went to QC then onto Turf and Saturday night we went to the Crown Casino to win some big bucks…. Of course that didn’t work but we definitely had a lot of fun trying!

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Sunday was a glorious day spent in bed relaxing and ultimately being lazy… Because no one wants to work on their birthday! (Or any day leading up to it!!)

Tonight we are having a Fijian house party to celebrate even further but on Tuesday when the beginning of my elder years kicks in I will be celebrating with a little more dignity and sophistication – a spa day followed by an evening at the ballet!

Party island no more

Beachcomber was sold to us as the party island – the place to be! However with a maximum of 25 staying the night, 10 of who in our group it was difficult to believe. Luckily I am a strong believer of it being the people that make the night, not the place…. Not that we could complain about our surroundings!!
All in all we had a fantastic night of drinks (too many) and dancing! I was even lucky enough to find myself a stalker for the night……

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