Hello travel bug

One of the reasons I didn't enjoy Asia (I've lost count of how many people have been left shocked by this) is because I wasn't really in the travel zone. I was really looking forward to Aus because, among other things, I would have the chance to settle, unpack my stuff, have my own space - and earn some money of course. I was getting fed up with packing my things every few days and travelling some place new, especially when I didn't particularly enjoy the cities I visited. I've been in Aus since mid-November and in my house since the beginning of January, so I've had a good couple of months with the privacy of my own room, the joy of not living out of a backpack and the chance to refresh my tattered wardrobe. It's been good - especially as I had a slight panic when I was last home that I should be thinking about settling down and being more of a grown up i.e. get a job/boyfriend/house otherwise I could very well get to 30 and not have a career, S.O. or my own place. With a few of my close friends leading 'proper' lives now (long term r'ships, buying houses etc) it freaked me out when I was home over the summer & catching up with everyone that I wasn't doing the same. 

Then I get back on the road and wonder what the hell I was thinking. I've been doing the settling down thing for 2 months now - as well as you can when you're a traveller anyway - and I'm getting restless. It's not that I don't like it here; I've got good friends, a great house and there's always heaps going on. But there's something missing...I don't feel like I'm abroad at all really now I'm back into a routine and super busy & stressed during the week. Maybe if I lived nearer the beach this would be different - or had a car to make the most of Melbourne's surroundings. Plus the job has thrown up a few issues that I'm not particularly happy with - won't go into details but it's been very stressful and I felt physically ill from exhaustion last week. 

I said in my interview I would stay until mid-May so I'll hold myself to that; stick it out and try to ignore the huge part of me that wants to go travelling again, and see the rest of the world. However. When it gets to May - or July (I'm allowed to work for TMG for 6 months on this visa) - all of that will change. I think. Like I say, if there's one thing I've learnt about myself it's that my plans always change. It's good to have some idea where things are going though, and on that basis here is draft 1 of my travel plans for 2015/16:

2015

July/August - east coast! Cairns (Great Barrier Reef, Cape Tribulation, whales!), Airlie Beach & Whitsundays, Fraser Island, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Byron Bay

Aug/Sept/Oct - New Zealand & Cook Islands...then back to Melbourne 

Oct/Nov - HOME!

Nov - Norway, Prague, Budapest

Dec - Home for Xmas :) :) :) apply for a new passport!

2016

Jan/Feb - Brazil! Then work my way through South & Central America to Canada :) might check in on Hawaii and Florida keys on route...

Making the most of Melbs

A few weeks ago I promised myself that I'd do one new thing or visit one new place every weekend to make the most of living in Melbourne. Here's how I've been passing the time:

Coastal walk - from St Kilda to South Melbourne, gorgeous secluded beaches

Botanic gardens - so peaceful and a nice escape from the city

Gin Palace - snazzy little bar with private booths

My two fave housies, Megan & Beth <3 

B.east - burger and live music bar across the street 

White Night - cultural Festival of Lights in the CBD running from 7pm to 7am

Pancake Parlour - to make up for missing Shrove Tuesday

Fox FM rooftop - "the world famous rooftop" VIP event with Jessica Mauboy, famous radio DJs & free food, drinks and music from 5-9, then an afterparty in St Kilda

Me with my best Melbourne buddy Anthony! Not my new fella - sorry to disappoint everyone who's asked!

Melbourne Storm (rugby team) season launch lunch at Crown Casino - corporate lunch with players, coaches, sponsors in Shane Warne's lounge bar Club 23

House party!! - our first one, so much fun!

Sydney Road street party - markets, live music, street performers and food

Next weekend we have another public holiday woohoo! So I'm planning on getting out of Melbourne for a couple of days. I'm feeling a bit too settled & if I'm honest I can feeling the travel bug stirring again...which isn't ideal as I need to stay in this job for a while longer yet...so the plan is to spent a few weekends over the next couple of months on the Great Ocean Road, in Mornington (coastal walk central, hot springs), at Wilson's Prom (national park territory with heaps of hiking routes, might need to get hold of a tent for that one) and the Grampians (mountains, hiking). 

But what I'm most looking forward to is July...see next post! This pesky travel bug is just never satisfied...

I'm going to be on the radio!! And other things

Lots of people have been asking how the job is going so thought I'd do a mini update here. It's all going super well at the moment: I'm keeping busy, the people are really nice and it's a step up into marketing & advertising which is good - definitely heading in the right direction now :) 

I've been creating content for the blog which you can find here http://www.tmg.edu.au/blog/ and writing content for print collateral too, like brochures, flyers, posters and newspaper ads. We're liaising with the local radio at the moment as well, so I'll be penning audio scripts which is exciting! Here's an example of the kind of brochures I've been working on with the lovely graphic designer http://www.tmg.edu.au/industry-matters/.

Thursday is set to be a particularly interesting day - I'm going to the Smooth FM recording studios to be the voice over for a couple of contact lens adverts! Nothing to do with the company I work for; my boss's dad wants a British female to do the commercial voice over to market a new product and I was volunteered for the task! Not complaining though - it'll be a really cool experience (if a little nervewracking). According to the little white lie my boss told, I'm in fact an expert in commercial voice overs and have lots of experience from all the radio work I've done in London...we'll see how quickly they figure out he's told an absolute whopper. Anyway! Then I head back to the office to help shoot a video to promote our international qualifications! 

So all pretty exciting stuff. Still loving the house (my housemates are so nice and tonnes of fun), the hour long commute has meant I've got back into reading (on my fifth book in 4 weeks), I've been running again (although the 30 degree+ weather makes it difficult sometimes!)* and I'm keeping busy with lots of fun things at the weekends. My list of things to do is growing by the day - there are heaps of festivals coming up which is so awesome. Can't believe how well everything's worked out, I'm so lucky! 

*I know, poor me suffering in 30 degree heat while it's -2 back home...to be honest though the weather hasn't been all that recently, it's been a 'weird summer' according to the locals & not as warm/sunny as it should be. We've had a fair amount of rain and cold! When it can get to 45 degrees here though, that's probably a blessing in disguise...

Perfect summer days in Melbourne

Last Saturday, I squandered the entire day doing absolutely zero - and felt terrible about it. What's the point of living somewhere new if you're not going to...well, live it? In addition to making sure I got my ass out of the house, I spent a couple of hours on Sunday drawing up a list of all the things I want to see/do/visit while I'm in Melbourne, and I'm planning on doing at least one every weekend. Even if it's just going to a new bar (and to be perfectly honest these currently dominate the list), I'll feel like I've been productive and that I'm making the most of living on the other side of the world :)

This weekend started off well: I went to a cosy little wine bar just down the road to kick the evening off on Friday and ended the night in a rum bar I'd never been to before. Saturday was HOT (34) so I went to St Kilda and walked up the coastline to South Melbourne Beach which was just perfect. St Kilda was pretty packed but if you follow the coast there are some huge stretches of sand that are almost completely secluded. 

Saturday night was another booze-fuelled affair at a place called the Carlton Club, an eccentric rooftop bar/club with life-sized giraffes towering over you on your way to the smoking area & elephant heads coming out of the walls. The view of the city lights and skyscrapers on the rooftop took me back to New York and an incredible rooftop bar with the Empire State Building glittering in the background :) And Sunday I went to the Royal Botanic Gardens which are so beautiful and peaceful. I'd almost forgotten what it's like doing things on my own, so it was nice to stroll around with just my camera for company - felt like I was back on the road for a dreamy couple of hours.

Mother-in-law's cushion! 

It turns out, when you look for it, there's quite a lot to do in and around Melbourne. One of which is the impossibly beautiful Great Ocean Road, which I'm hopefully going down next weekend! Super excited. My Melbourne bestie Anthony (there's your mention big) has a car which is the best thing and means we can go on trips out of the city to places like the Hot Springs and maybe the Grampians (might be pushing my luck with that one)! 

With squeaky beaches, phosphorescence, swimming pool rooftops, stunning coastal walks & drives, hot springs, open air movies, beautiful parks and a buzzing live music scene, I'm getting good vibes from the next 5 months :) 

Quick update on my quick update

It's been a while since my last post so thought I'd better do an update...

The most exciting thing that's happened* is that I've found a house! Sharing with 6 other girls from England, the States, Kenya and Australia, several of whom are also here on working holiday visas. And they're all really nice! It's a one storey town house (lots of houses around Melbourne are one storey instead of the two we're used to back home) but pretty spacious and a good find :) 

*Bearing in mind this was written yesterday afternoon. More exciting news at the bottom of the post, which I found out a couple of hours after publishing! Timing eh

This is the house, my room and the communal areas:

It's in a decent area as well, close to everything and just off Lygon Street, famous for its food (New Years diet is not going to go well, I fear). It's also one of the 'cooler' suburbs of Melbourne, a bit quirky, edgy and eccentric. Here are a few snaps of the surrounding area:

The area has a ton of cool al fresco cafés and nice beer gardens knocking around, including an amazing restaurant called 400 Gradi - the margheritas made by one of the chefs who works there were judged best in the world at a championship held in Italy in April last year! 

I'm not sure how long I'll be staying here (6 months?) but it'll do nicely for now...honestly, it's just nice to have somewhere to properly unpack all my stuff and call my own for a while.

In other news, I'VE GOT A JOB! I've been waiting to hear back since Wednesday and they text me last night to say I'd been offered the position of Digital Content Writer, similar to what I was doing before I left England. It's for a company called The Malka Group, a private Australian training provider (diplomas) for individuals, businesses and community groups. I start tomorrow...!