A-Z of Australia

Whether you're thinking about travelling or working in Australia, there's so many places to see and things to do. I've put together a little A-Z of good things to know when you arrive in the land down under! Take a little look:

A- Avocado. Australia loves it and it is everywhere. Go for a Melbourne brunch and it's the staple of any menu. Although be warned, with a recent shortage, the city went into lockdown when avocados were as much as $6 for one. Outrageous.

B- Boxed wine. AKA goon. It's dirty, it's grim but at roughly $12 for 4 litres, it's perfect for penniless backpackers looking to for a cheap night out! 

C- Coffee. It's an art in Australia, and once you've had a few flat whites you'll suddenly have a deep hatred for anything other than barista style.

D- $5 Dominos! Yes you hear me right. What was once a glam treat at Uni back in England, is now the dirty hangover sin, with your money going 8 times further in Oz. It's dangerously fuelled my passion for the pepperoni and I bloody love it. 

E- East Coast Nature World. This little animal sanctuary in Bicheno, Tasmania, is heaven on earth for any animal lover. Or anyone for that matter. Go feed Australia's friendliest kangaroos or have a cuddle with a wombat. Honestly, it was the best $25 I spent in 2015. 

F- Farm work. If you're feeling a second year working holiday visa you're going to have to go through 88 days of farming hell. I could moan all day about mine, but it got me my second year, a tidy sum of $10,000, and gave me a different Aussie experience. My citrus knowledge is also definitely going to be beneficial for any future job for sure. 

G- Gumtree. Setting up a new life in Australia can be a little stressful. Finding work, a house and anything in between was made a lot easier with Gumtree. Watch out though, many ads can be deceiving. I applied for a flyering job, which failed to tell me I had to also dress up as a pizza slice. I narrowly swerved that one.

H- Hobart, Tasmania. Return flights from Melbourne can be mega cheap, or if you have time to kill, hop on a boat. Make sure you head to Mount Wellington (just a short drive from Hobart), the views from the top were incredible! 

I- Industry Beans. The best breakfast in Australia! It's just off Brunswick Street in Fitzroy, Melbourne and if brunch is your favourite meal of the day then you won't be disappointed. These guys really know how to poach their eggs and mash their avo.

J- June 30th. The end of the financial year and the date you can claim your tax back. If you're thinking about heading over to Australia to work then mark this date down! 

K- Koala Village, Magnetic Island. Definitely give this place a visit to see some of Austalias most exotic creatures! The volunteers here were so informative and really let you get to know each animal. Here's me being Britney c. 2001. 

L- Leaving your pals. When travelling around, everyone's always on different time frames. Someone will always be leaving and you'll become an expert at goodbyes. 

M- Mammoth journeys. Australia is pretty big. It's pretty much the same size as Europe. What may seem like a manageable day trip on a map can be so so deceiving.

N- Nimbin. Just a short drive from a Byron Bay, take a day trip to this little hippy town. Apparently there was a festival here a few decades ago and people just decided to never leave. If you can swerve all the questionable folk trying to sell you special biscuits, then it's actually quite quaint!

O- Optimism. Life can give you a shit sandwich sometimes and feelings are so much more exaggerated when you're thousands of miles from home. You can either cry and wallow in it or cry and move on. Everything will be alright in the end, and if it's not alright then it's not the end. 

P- Paw paw cream. An Australian toiletry must have. 

Q- Questionable accommodation. Unless there's someone bankrolling your travels, there'll be times when money is a little tight. Slumming it on a sofa or a dirty hostel will be your only options. I spent three months living in a hallway and that was pretty annoying at times. But you gotta take the  good with the bad. However rubbish it gets you just have to remember why you're doing it - to live in a beautiful country!   

R- Revolver. The notorious Melbourne nightclub that stays open from Thursday to Monday straight. There's been some unreal DJs there but be warned, the club clientele is definitely not the classiest. Make sure you're a few (bottles of) wines in.

S- Superanuation. If you're in a legit job rather than cash in hand, then your employer should be paying you this. It's a certain amount of dollar on top of your hourly wage and it soon adds up! Once you've left the country for good you can claim it back and receive a little leaving present. Thank you Australia. 

T- Tanning. Australia can be a little deceiving, especially Melbourne. I thought I was going to get 365 days of pure sun. Lemme tell you, that crushed my Aussie dream. In some parts of the country it can get to below 0 in the winter! Plan accordingly to where you're going in which season, otherwise you could be left a little nippy. 

U- Uluru. However long or short your time is in Australia, try and get yourself to the red centre. Sunrise and sunset here are incredible. If you book yourself on to a tour they take you to Kings Canyon too which I didn't know existed! Honestly, I've seen some views but this was something else!

V- Vegemite. Love it or hate it it's the Aussie version of marmite. If that's your thing then that's cool, I'd stay well clear though.

W- Woolworths. That's right, Woolworths is back from the dead! Although it's missing all the 90's favourites of pic n mix and trying to sneak your fave barbie doll in ya mums basket. 

X- Crossing boundaries. I met my first Australia housemates on day 1, decided to live together on day 3 and moved into our new house on day 7. Crossing friendship boundaries seem to go a lot quicker when travelling.

Y- Yo Chi. My old place of work and the best frozen yoghurt in Melbourne! Seriously it's bloody delicious, so go treat yourself. 

Z- Zoo. I'm not normally a zoo kinda girl, but despite the $46 entrance fee this place was pretty cool. Go have a look at the giraffes, they have the best views overlooking the harbour bridge and opera house. 

The Red Centre of Australia

With every scrap of money I had left over from my east coast trip, I was lucky enough to finally get to the red centre of Australia.

I made the mammoth 40 hour round bus trip up from Adelaide to Alice springs, where I then spent the next three days following the sun from dusk till dawn over Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon. Words cannot describe how beautiful it was! 

It was good to get a little more understanding of aboriginal history and finally get to see that big red rock. It's a big statement, but I definitely feel this is the most breathtaking place I've visited in Australia! Here's just a few snaps of my treks around the outback:

Van Diaries: The Australian East Coast

Over the past 18 months in Australia I've struggled to get a good work/travel balance. I've been getting guilts about not working enough, guilts about spending too much, guilts about not travelling anywhere, guilts about having guilts, and all on top of my impending two year visa expiry date. But praise The Lord, I finally managed to save the dollar and by the end of March I started to see more of this wonderful country! So apologies in advance for the hefty blog post you're about to embark on.

The blog took a bit of a backseat whilst I travelled down the East coast of Queensland with my two pals from home. You can't experience everything fully with your head in a laptop, so given the twenty hour bus ride between Alice Springs and Adelaide that I'm now enjoying, it's the perfect opportunity to get some writing done.

Myself, Sophie and Kate flew up to Cairns and picked up our big green van, where we then started our three week road trip down to Brisbane. This marked the start of our out of control gelato addiction, our inability to socialise with anyone outside of the safety tripod and the daily Adele car karaoke renditions. It was the first time we'd all been on holiday together since Ayia Napa 2010, or really properly spent time together in over two years, so it was really bloody lovely.

Our first stop was Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforest, which I'd been recommended to visit by some friends. It was the sweatiest and scariest place I've been in Australia. Living in Melbourne, the only wildlife I ever saw was the mouse that got stuck in our bathtub, which the neighbour ended up having to sort out. It's basically England. Cape Trib however. What on earth. There were more warning signs of what could kill you than there were normal road signs. Nonetheless it was a beautiful place and we all felt like we were in I'm a Celeb.

We then made our way back down to Cairns to pick up a day boat trip to explore the Great Barrier Reef.  

The dive itself was pretty surreal, and as an intro dive for the day, we were taken down straight away. I pranged out a bit with the sensation of breathing underwater but I soon began to chill out when a little turtle came swimming up to me. I'm such a pussy when it comes to any activity like this, I really am. But I'd definitely recommend everyone should go at least once in their life, as minus my tantrum it was magical.

After arriving back on dry land, we stopped off for Kates first ever Grill'd before heading down to camp near Milla Milla waterfalls, which when driving in the dark seemed off the beaten track aka we were going to be the stars of Wolf Creek 3. That was probably made worse by the innocent old man next to us at the campsite offering us the use of his kettle. We shared a 'yeah he's gonna kill us' look before having the most paranoid night sleep of our lives.

We managed to survive the campsite and take in the waterfalls. They were insane! And pictures obviously cannot do it justice. Especially this one. 

Magnetic island was our next stop, where we ditched the van in Townsville and boarded a boat. My lucky friend Liz from the orange packing factory now lives here, so it was lovely getting to catch up with her. Our time on the island was filled with 4x4 exploring, reptile loving and having cuddles with our new pal.

Although it was a wonderful two days, we spent our evenings swerving Base hostel's finest dickheads. Apparently declining shots made Sophie and I the "most hostile people they'd ever met". Thanks huns.

Once we'd finished exploring that island, it was on to the next. The infamous Whitsunday islands! I've been desperate to visit them since day one of Australia, and to experience those glorious white beaches. We booked onto a little boat trip where we sailed around the islands for two days and two nights, taking in more of the wonderful Aussie coast line.

Experiencing beautiful place after beautiful place, where was the downtime? Rockhampton. Rockhampton was definitely the downtime. It was the ugly member of the East coast family. It seemed similar to Las Vegas, but like the  failed tribute act version of it. Albeit our experience was probably not helped by being warned of a 'small' 12 foot boa constrictor at our campsite. Thanks goes to Kate who treated us to a little upgrade that evening.

We headed out of Rockhampton pretty swiftly and headed to Rainbow Beach to pick up our next tour: Fraser Island. The king of the East coast. A pretty unique place, and on reflection the best spot we visited. Our three day two night included freshwater lakes, serene hikes, 4x4 driving, and a whole lot of 18 year old goon drinkers making us feel like weathered old timers who were more concentrated on getting a good night sleep rather than reciting the rules of Ring of Fire. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm the first one to crack open a bottle of gin. However, when you're surrounded by paradise with 7am starts, the last thing you want is to feel like a hungover, dried up, shrivelled raisin in the 30 degree heat.

Our penultimate stop was Noosa. An upmarket version of Byron Bay, just a little less hippies and a few more tapas bars. It was good to chill here, especially after the last two weeks of early starts and organised fun. Here, i discovered the most delicious gluten free cafe, Kate discovered a kimono with her name on in the local charity shop, and Soph discovered the forgotten coleslaw from Cairns in the camper-van boot. She took one for the team and disposed of it, although spent the following hour dry heaving on the back seat. Thanks Soph.

BRISBANE! Our final stop. We managed to book into a cute little air B n B for our last two nights together before parting ways. To be honest we really didn't do much here, after finding out the owner had Bridget Jones on DVD, a jacuzzi bath and a decent wifi connection. We got up all our photos on a little slideshow which was bloody cute, and it was amazing to see how much we had crammed into three tiny weeks. 

We then had our sad goodbyes, with Kate heading back to the UK, Sophie down to Byron Bay and myself to Adelaide before heading into the Australian outback. 

Thanks for Ayia Napa 2.0 gals - for affirming our wonderful friendship, for putting up with my shit driving, and for teaching me that a gelato a day is definitely OK.

Oh, and most importantly,

For reassuring me that I've been fine for three years. 

Australian Open 2016

How lucky was I to experience a world class tennis match for such a low budget price?! My arrival back to Melbourne after an English Christmas coincided with the opening matches of the Australian Open 2016 and the atmosphere around the city was unreal! 

Having only bought the tickets on the day for a mere $35, my friend Ellen and I were lucky to watch Aussie drama queen Kyrgios play Cuevas from South America at the Hisense Arena.

It was a sweaty affair lacking in strawberries and Pimms, but definitely a once in a life time experience! Ellen and I together just about remembered the rules from both our short but sweet tennis careers in primary school. 

My lasting memories of the sport involve getting forced to play in tournaments against kids from the local private school, and getting completely thrashed at the age of 8. Cheers to my mum for always stopping at McDonald's on the way home to cheer me up after losing each time. So emotionally scarred. 

Anyway, it was such a wonderful evening out, and to have it just at my doorstep made me feel very lucky to live in this amazing city! 

I bloody love Melbourne. 

THE GREAT XMAS REUNION

I AM HOME.

It's been just under two years since I was that terrified 22 year old girl boarding a plane to Asia to start what I thought was going to be a very planned adventure. Although with the full intention on completing a 10 month teaching job in HCMC, Vietnam and then a quick UK return, my life slightly escalated into:  

23 months 

29 flights

8 countries

5 jobs

6 homes 

1 motorbike

63 blog posts

7 phones

1 tattoo

4 hair braids

164 bowls of pho

I'm now 24, with a ton of great memories, even greater friends and a much better outlook on life.

I can't thank these friends enough for being my home away from home for all this time. I am just so grateful to the ones who have shown me love over the past two years. 

Arriving back in Heathrow, where I left all those months ago, was bloody emotional. The arrivals lounge saw us accidentally remake the Love Actually introduction, as I reunited with my mum and dad. 

It was beautiful to see them after so long, and it came with a massive mix of emotions. After landing 2 weeks ago now, I've felt this overwhelming guilty feeling of being away for so long, which I can't help but take into consideration when deciding what to do in 2016. I've been living so far away for all this time and although Tony and Lou support me through whatever I decide, I can't help but feel bad about the amount of miles between them and I, and the career ladder that I've yet climbed on to. 

After visiting some friends in London this weekend, living there doesn't seem as grim as how I've been picturing it for the past few years. 

I had done a few magazine internships whilst at uni in London and hated the daily commute and general life in those few months. But on reflection this was probably because I wasn't getting paid. If I am wanting to get my career on track anytime soon, it's inevitable I will have to move to where the jobs are. And although I'm more of a country Norwich girl at heart, there are clearly considerably more opportunities in London Town.

My brother and 80% of my friends are either in London or moving there in the next few months, and being able to see them more than just once every year would be such a delight! This is something that would really sway my deciding what the shit I should do with my life.

I'm flying back to Australia in January, but am very undecided as to how long it will be before I come back to the UK. With the main 'what the fuck am I doing?' theme featured in 2014 and 2015, 2016 is probably going to be no different. However at the moment, I maybe sensing a summer return. 

I'm trying not to think about it too much at the moment - all I want to do is embrace my limited time at home!

Right now, I'm just excited about chilling with my cat, eating my body weight in quality street and catching up on 23 months worth of Coronation Street. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS x

72 hour holiday in Tassie

Being on a working holiday visa, I've sometimes found it a little hard to get the work/hol balance just right. The guilts of not working enough are constantly battling with the guilts of only having two years to explore every bit of Australia, and I'm always trying to find the middle man!

With that in mind, I had three days off from serving yoghurt last week, and decided to take a little holiday to Tasmania with my housemates.

We took a flight into Hobart, hired a car and tried to cram in as much as we could in just 72 hours! Despite the weather not being on our side, Tasmania's scenery was bloody beautiful. You could drive for hours, to only be met with miles of rolling hills and just a handful of other cars on the road. 

We drove up to Mount Wellington before heading north to see the Bay of Fires. Having seen so many unreal views over the past couple of years, seeing new scenery still makes me feel pretty lucky and something I try not to take for granted. 

Making new pals and seeing my first Tasmanian devil in Bicheno on day two was definitely the holiday highlight for me:

On the third and final day of our trip, we stayed in Hobart. We visited the MONA Gallery and chilled out in the Botanical gardens. 

After cramming so many activities in, we all felt pretty sleepy before setting off for our flight back - especially Billy, whose public napping had these Chinese tourists a wee bit confused: