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...!

Merry Xmas from Down Under!

Christmas looks a bit different on this side of the world...

Christmas...a perfect time to sunbake

Carols in 27 degrees Celsius under palm trees and blue skies

When the weather outside is delightful...and the prospect of a fire is frightful...

Santa Claus is...hitting the beach, by the looks of things. The entire Lego model required 2,500 hours of manpower 

Upmarket decorations in a swanky shopping arcade

Tree spanning three levels decked in 144,000 Swarovski crystal ornaments and 60,000 lights

Three floors later...

Typical 'Chrissy' decorations (photo by Becca Hall)

Merry Xmas from Melbourne :)

Angry response to the most short-sighted article of 2014: Has travel become another exercise in narcissism?

For Henry Wismayer, creator of this tripe: https://medium.com/human-parts/has-travel-becoming-another-exercise-in-narcissism-bfb3ccbcdc3a 

Okay Wismayer, first things first - let's talk about that title. The fact is, travel is and always has been narcissistic: it's about YOU escaping the daily grind and the monotony of life back home so that YOU can experience new ways of life, new cultures and new people, with a view to broadening YOUR mind and doing things YOU might never have had the opportunity to try in your own country.