Friday 9th September 2011 was the one year anniversary of me leaving England! The ironic thing is that I'm pretty sure it was sunny (really really sunny in fact) on the day I left England, yet I spent most of Friday stood under a plastic canvas in a very wet and muddy New South Wales field, watching Mowgli (aka Danny G) walking around bare footed (cos apparently he is one with nature....and cow pat!).
So anyway (cos I seem to like starting all my sentences with "so") two weeks ago, my friend Becca (from Canada) arrived in Australia only to not be able to find our car with our house keys inside, and therefore spent about 6 hours on our doorstep. Now you may say that this is harsh, but I did send her pretty good directions, and when I was in Canada she did send me bad info that ended up having me have to do an all nighter in a wet Vancouver before I could get over to Vancouver Island the following morning back in February.
So after working a full day, we ended up hanging out on the Saturday. A very wet Saturday, but I did get to take her to the last AFL game at the Gabba this season. I can't remember the score, but the Brisbane Lions did loose (again) to the West Coast Eagles!
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| We ended up being more impressed by this guy! |
Then on the Sunday Dan and I took Becca up to Mount Ngungun, and it must defiantly be warming up, the amount of flying insects and ants up there was disgusting.
After a couple of Days of having Becca living in our living room, my sister came to visit from England. We picked her up on the Tuesday night for her to arrive in a really really wet Brisbane. I had to work the for the first few days she was here, but over the weekend we hung out at Kangaroo Point park to watch Brisbane festival fireworks and laser show over Brisbane river. I then took her out into the Valley which turned out to be a pretty heavy night, with us getting in at six in the morning as the sun was coming up. Then we ended up just chilling out in South Bank last Sunday for some grub.
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| The consequences of ducking and rolling under a garage door as it closes (Indiana Jones stylely) when you have a bag full of beer! Worth it though! |
Monday was Becca's birthday, so I managed to get the day off of work and the four of us headed down to Surfers Paradise where I got to work on my English tan....aint nothing wrong with a few red lines! We also had a BBQ up at Kangaroo Point park.
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| $1 Mac D's cheeseburgers |
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| And of course, Hard Rock Cafe |
Had a nice short two day week at work last week, which was followed by a even better 4 day weekend. The weekend started on Wednesday night, with the four of us hitting up Jelly Fish, which is the restaurant that Dan works at on the boardwalk, and it helps to have someone you know work there for discounts, and free beers and desserts...good times, great fish food! We even got Nicole eating fish...and she loved it (but it is a pretty fine restaurant)!
We then woke up early (for me) on Thursday morning, to meet up with James and Lee, and make our way down to Coffs Harbour to pick up our
WRC (rally) tickets for Friday. It took as about 6 hours to get down there, before we picked up our tickets, then headed to Red Rock Campsite, for BBQ and a beach campfire...and cheap cheap wine...so cheap I don't think it was wine, more just fruit juice!
We then woke in the morning and headed to check out Red Rock, before heading off to Glenreagh (late...obviously, James and Lee are such girls with regards to getting ready) to check out the Rally, we got there in time to see the Vintage cars, before waiting around for two hours in the pouring rain before more of the WRC drivers went around the circuit, and the day ended with the Australian Rally.
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| The view from our tent in the morning |
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| Album cover |
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| It was at the this point James remembered that he was scared of heights |
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| Look how cold Dan was! |
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| And here come the English.... |
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| ...epic fail |
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| Look at Mowgli! |
After enduring the rain and mud we headed up to Bryon Bay for the night, where we hit the town (and not Lee, somehow!?). Before hitting the beach on Saturday, and heading back we checked out some gorge, and headed back to Brissy (not without having to replace our spare wheel due to our left front tire popping). And we chilled for a few drinks last night for Stinko's last night in Australia.
It does feel weird I've been out of England for a year now. Kinda hit home a bit. This time last year I was living in Rhode Island. Can't believe all the changes I've had to make to my "plans" (whatever they were when I left), the random situations I've got myself into, the awesome people that I've met (and re-met in some cases), and of course the random people that I've met. I've been in 8 countries in the last year (if I include China for a stop over flight), 7 of them countries that I've never been to before but all venues were new locations for me. It's hard (for me) to say how much I've learnt or how much I've changed, but I feel I've gained so much, and the adventure is still gonna carry on for me. I've started my application for my sponsorship long stay in visa, as my company want to sponsor me to stay here in Oz, but I am also planning to see more of this country and surrounding countries, before doing some more travelling in a year or two (watch this space). Thanks to everyone who's made this an amazing experience so far, some people I've met have been more help then I ever could imagine and thanks to everyone back home who have been the same! Also thank you to everyone who has been reading this, I hope you enjoy reading it just half as much as I enjoying writing it.
MUCH LOVE!
