Saturday, 3 December 2011

Sydney and Adelaide - Dec 4th 2011

Hello everyone,

Im doing well. 2 weeks ago now went out to Sophie and Antonia (the german girls that i was working with) and will (from germany but is Dutch) We made homemade pizza and had drinks it was fun.

After i started working at the cafe a few shifts turned into working to much and was working 6 days a week so i decided to cut that down to atleast 5 days a week. Not all the shifts are 8 hrs a day but at least 2 of them are a week. So making enough money to get me by as well just saved some for a little trip down to Adelaide. My bosses are pretty chill but when its busy they get stressed out really fast. I like working the late shift with one of the owners cause we just chill and drink beer lol cause its pretty dead after 3pm.

Been hanging out with the regulars at the hostel alot. Simone from italy, dave from england, grant from england, cameron from toronto, stef from germany, rad from oz, vas from spain, phil from halifax, and ellen from england


Cameron and grant havent been working lately so we've been hanging out alot. Not sure when the last night i havent drank in the last 3 weeks :( the sad part is i have to go to work and they have been just chilling on the beach and sleeping in. I need a really detox right now i feeel really bloated from all the beer and Goon (boxed wine). Grant is a chef so he has been making some really nice meals for us. Lamb one night with mushroom (i forgot to tell him i didnt like mushrooms) so he made me try them in his meal and i loved it. Not mushroom per say but the meal. i have been drinking alot of wine too not just the goon wine. So now grant thinks he can get me to like anything. I told him if he got me to like Corriander i'd be really surprised lol. I probably ate a pound of mushrooms in 2 days lol. Anyways we had spaghetti and then mexican and then chicken wrapped in beef. All amazing food. Then grant thought i should make them dinner lol.... I dont think they understand i dont cook. So we had leftover beef so i made the mexican tacos. Surpirsing turned out really good and ppl in the hostel tried it and thought grant made it :) and i made my speciality desert fruit and yogurt in a cup!!! If it wasnt for them thats probably all i would eat.

Went to the beach one day with everyone from the hostel to celebrate Conan's bday. We filled a cooler with food for a bbq and one with drinks and just chilled on the beach playing touch rubgy. It was really fun. that was the day i drank from 12 noon at the bbq til 630 am the next day... Went to the beach to watch the sunrise :) it was good times. I drunk dialed Cami and sang her 2 songs lol...

Went to the library with simone and got books to help him learn english better. Its slowing working. And then went skating with Grant, Cameron and Norman at a ice rink near by. It was really fun and reminded me of christmas and home.

The last room i was in there was a lady that was atleast 60 yrs of age and wears a mask over her mouth when she sleeps its really creepy and smells funny... Her nickname is Darth Vador lol. Mean i know but really you have to see this lady. And her feet are size 13 i swear. Cameron has size 12 and i think hers are bigger. She used to work in the army and now lives in our hostel appartently, she was here last yr for 6 months and now is back. I went to Adelaide which ill fill you in on but when i came back from Adeliade i had to change rooms so i was in a 4 person girls dorm and now im in a 6 room dorm with 5 other guys. 4 are german guys and then dave. Its not bad there pretty clean.

So i was getting tired of working so me, cameron and grant flew down to Adelaide for a mini vacation. i went for 5 days and there still there til tuesday cause i had to work.

So when we arrived last tuesday we went to the coopers brewery and did a tour of the plant and of course tasted there beer. We tried 14 or 15 different beers they own. They were all really good except many one of the dark beers. We had to wear bright orange vests when walking thru the plant lol. It was really neat. they produce 900 bottles of there lager in 1 mintue. I never have seen a machine so nosiey and move so fast. Later that night picked up some beers from a drive thru beer place where the guy that sold them to us had onnly 2 teeth the box was taped shut (really creppy, yes i know) Then paid $6 each to have all you can eat pizza at the hostel, so that was a good deal.

Woke up on Wednesday at 9am to do a wine tasting tour in Barossa (an hour drive) went to two wineries one called richmond grove and the other Kaesler (where we had lunch). Drove to whispering walll where it was on the water and it was a bent wall that you could talk to each other from either side. It was really neat. Cause we were far away and had to yell if we werent at the points of the whispering effect. Went to a small town called Lyndoch were we a a cup of tea. There was lots of old ppl on our tour but we had so much fun still. Tried Kangaroo meat at the lunch (wasnt bad at all) Tried atleast 20 different wines. Felt really good after all the wine. Went to a look out of the barossa valley, it was called the Menglers hill lookout it was really neat to see all the wineries in the area. Then walked around a town called Hahndorf. Kindof boring went thru a kids cave tour that was $2 to enter lol. Felt like i was high on something. It was all kids things and they played its a small world after all with christmas decorations everywhere. And found a candy shop, where they had a good selection of droppies :). I think everyone knows i like candy now cause ppl keep buying candy for me lol.

Then the next 2 days went to Kangaroo Island :) best thing ever. If anyone is ever in Adelaide go to this island it was UNREAL. We did a tour with 16 ppl. Went Sand boarding in the desert down a huge sand hill. Went kayaking down a canal area where grant and cameron tipped our kayak in the water rigth when were we about to finish!!! Finished a box of goon on our ride to the seal colon. The tour guide said no one had every drank that much and especially in the ride there. We were dancing and singing in the van lol. It was good times. Went to Remarkable rocks where there are weird shaped rocks along the ocean. 2 places to see seals. And one where we got really close on the beach to them. one of the seals was pregant and you could see the baby moving inside here. It was really cool. drove to our accomodation which was on a wildlife retreat. Hung out with Koalas and Kangaroos and then 5 of us slept in SWAG bags out side (which is where you have a foam in a plastic zipped up bag and you just make your bed in it and your head is the only thing showing). The stars were out that night it was Amazing experience to have the animals all around you... Best part of the trip i think. Had a camp fire and roasted marshmellows. On the way back on the ferry they had a trunk full of sheep, reminded me of my Grandma. But ppl kept complaining cause it made our 45 min ferry ride really smelly hahah.


And then last night went out with Dave, Stef, lorenzo and phil to a bar in Cronulla called Northies. It was casual night but fun.


Miss you,
Mieks <3 and cant believe its December!!!! CRAZY

Tuesday, 15 November 2011

Oz - Sydney

Well first off I GOT A JOB :) LOL

So i can now do more activities and enjoy myself in one area for a while instead of moving around all the time staying at a place for only a few nights then moving. I was tired of that and the long bus trips. Sydney is awesome and beautiful so im happy i can stay here longer and on my days off im going to the beach and doing the tourists things i wanna do. and sydney has alot to see and do so its good.

Anyways, i did a coffee making course on Tuesday (yesterday) and drank coffee all day llong lol, and i hate coffee so that was interesting, dont mind some of it now that i was forced to drink it. my instructed made everyone go around the room to stay there names and what was there favourite coffee was, i was like oh god what am i going to say. So i was like oh i like mochas and she was like you dont drink coffee do you? i was like no not really haha. She made fun of my the rest of the day and made me sip everything i made that day. Anyways with all that i got a full time job at Pavement Cafe. So im mostly just serving food and drinks but they wanna get me making drinks as well eventually but its usually too busy to show me the way they make there drinks. So we'll see but i will probably stay here in sydney til end of Dec or into Jan depending if they let me go to Melbourne to visit julie and trent for a bit. they never asked me when i was staying til but they know im going home in March. There are 4 of us backpackers now that work there, 2 from Germany one from USA. So they might not care. I was suppose to meet up with Laurens sister Sarah on Saturday but got called to work and that was my first shift so i had to cancel our plans and now she is actually in Canada lol.

So worked on saturday and when i got back to the hostel 6 guys were going on this pub crawl on a limobus in kings cross in Sydney and it was only $35 for transportation, and 5 drinks at each place. so i decided to go, i was like im the only girl so i wasnt sure at first and i told them id be the responsible one and make sure everyone got home. which turned out the opposite closer to the end of the night. They made me keep up with them with drinks as we were just buying pitchers and spliting the cost. With that said i got pretty drunk and didnt make it to the last bar as i was busy talking to these random ireland ppl i met at one of the bars. Luckily we had the conversation at the beginning of the night that we should prob exchange numbers incase one of us gets lost. So luckily Joel (from canada) and Grant (from england) were nice enough to come and try to find me. They also didnt make it the last bar as they realized i wasnt there so called me and walked around sydney til they found the bar haha. So now my nickname is Miss Responsible (aka clearly not so much) i keep telling them that i am but they just laugh at me. We also got drinks out of sand buckets at one of the bars, reminded me of thailand.

So sunday, after the pub crawl i was planning on going to the Blue Mountains in Katooma, its a 3 hr train from where i am in south Sydney. And talked all the guys that i hung out with from the pub crawl to come with me. (the 5 canadians, joel, mark and daniel from kamloops and cameron from toronto) They are beautiful mountains and have rock formations called the 3 sisters. It was sooo amazing.We hiked the mountain to the sisters then they had 1000 steps walking down along the sisters. Where we saw lots of cool birds and waterfalls. it was 6 hours of straight walking so it was really tiring after. We took a steam rail up the mountain after we hiked down. Its the steepest rail in the world, its get to 52 degrees at one point and goes thru a cave in the mountains it was awesome, the seats were so slanted. Went for dinner out there in Katooma, 2 of the guys had Kangaroo (so weird) and i had pancakes and ice cream lol... Felt like i deserved it after that hike.

I have to make my own food all the time and i suck at cooking so i made a deal with my Friend Simon from Italy that if he "teaches me" how to cook (aka just makes me dinner) then ill teach him have to speak English better lol. Thought it was a good trade off haha. He said i talk to fast tho so im trying to learn to talk more clear so he can keep up with ppl and there conversations. He was like ill make Italian Pasta, im like what ever tastes good. I cant believe how good some of these guys cook. Last night some ppl were leaving our hostel so Grant (the chef from England) made everyone Mexcian food. It was tooo die for :) cant believe how good it tasted. We just all chipped in $10 each it was wicked. Stayed up late playing drinking games til 3 am and i had to be up at 530am to leave for 6am to work :( that wasnt so fun. The rest of the guys went to the beach til 7 am apparently haha. We play alot of pool here as the pool table is in the kitchen area. The guys used to let me take extra shots and help me out but now im actually getting pretty good so they dont give me freebees anymore. i think there scared to lose to a girl haha.

Went to Sydney one day with Joanna (from sweden) it was really good day. Went on the Harbour street bridge, saw the opera house, had lunch in the botanical gardens, went to the rocks musuem and just walked around the city. It was sooo nice out as well so it was a good day.

I have plans to go out for dinner with my German friends Sophie and Antonia, the girls i work with at the cafe. they used to stay at the hostel but now have a apartment for the last week here in sydney so they invited some of us for dinner on friday. Should be good times.

Miss everyone always and think of you all often,

Love Mieks xoxo

Saturday, 5 November 2011

Australia (Brisbane - Sydney)

Hey All,

Wow just realized i havent written since i was in new zealand lol. So anyhoo im in Syndey Australia right now. South actually in a place called Cronulla its near the coast and the beach is SO amazing here, which its been really nice everywhere ive gone so far but ill start over from when i arrived in Oz.....

So i was sick when i was travelling to Oz which sucked but everyone that i travelled with in New zealand were getting sick and left me with there colds i guess. Well that only lastest a few days and i cant complain really just lounged around abit. i didnt have to call in sick or anything haha. So i flew into Brisbane, (airports hate me FYI) where i was randomly searched by a dog and it smelt somethign so they had to go thru my bag (only my carryone tho) but i guess i had fruit in it from the day before and i was super nervous as they didnt tell me why i was being searched in the first place. everything was fine after they just wanted to make sure the dog was smelling things right haha. I went into the city of brisbane to stay at chill backpackers which was really chill lol. I stayed there for 5 days while getting my banking account started and buying a cell etc. Walked around alot and went for lots of runs as i was starting to feel fat as ive been eating and sitting on a bus for the last 3 weeks. I went around the brisbane river lots and walked thru there Botanical Gardens. Oh yeah almost forgot saw Queen Elizabeth too haha. So i was walking donw the street near one of there many bridges and you know there was a crowd on the bridge's sidewalk so you know when you see i line you just stand in it to see what everyones doing, well i pretty much did that then all of a sudden there was a big white boat that dropped off the Queen. I couldnt believe it. I guess she was doing a visit to the city and all around australia, as i heard she was in Perth after.

I was meeting up with my friend Jess from work at Garage clothing. Her dad lives in Brisbane. So anyways they invited to go to stay in a hotel for the weekend and it was on Palm Beach which is on the gold coast. It was really nice to stay in a hotel, be by the beach and not having to pay for accomodation. (the first dinner was steak MMM) better than my pasta or rice that i eat every night,. So we had a good time, went clubbing at night, had a bbq with her family and swam at the beach. Her dads advice for me was to dive thru the waves as it just kept knocking me over haha i felt really dumb. It was fun and really nice to see someone i knew from back home.

Went to surfers paradise for the day, then I headed to Sydney after as i am planning on going to Melbourne to see Julie for Christmas i figured i would try to get work in Sydney and work my way down now. And hopefully met Christie and Nicole for Jan/Feb in Sydney. then do my travels up the coast to Cairns.

But i was really liking the beach idea and so i headed into Bondi beach when i first arrived in Sydney. I saw the Opera House and the main city as i drove in by bus but i havent really travelled thru it yet, cause i had my big backpack and i know im headed back there evenually. I stayed in Bondi Beach for 3 nights (which is by far the best beach yet) I tried geting a job there but there are so many ppl there travelling it was really hard as well lots of the shops dont want backpackers and they literally write a sign on the window saying "Hiring - no backpackers" so i didnt have luck. I read in the local paper that there were jobs in Cronulla (where i am now) and i went around and havent had much luck. It was stressing me out for a couple days but now i have a interview on tuesday i believe but there calling me to confirm for a position at Surf dive n Ski shop. They sell clothes, bathing suits etc. this could be a problem for a luggage tho lol. But there Visual Merch was going to maternity leave in a week but they werent planning on hiring but b/c i had the experience they wanna hire me for christmas help. I didnt wanna work in retail but its hard geting a job for only 2 months in a restaurant or cafe and you need to have a RSA which is Serve it right for us which costs $120 and you need to do it again in every province. Or for a cafe its a coffee course that is $100... So i went the easy way for now. Just wanna keep my money flowing and not jsut going down lol. I also might work a farm for abit inbewteen things if it works out. Found one that pays $18 an hour. but i have to been on the farm by nov 13th and i shoudl have my interview just before that so we'll see.

Well thats really all thats new with me,. Just been really relazing and taking in the weather.. Just trying to making you guys all jealous, hope it worked.

Anyways i Miss you guys, Hope all is good at home

<3 Mieks xoxo