Thursday, 12 January 2012
Cronulla Life/Melbourne
Hey i havent wrote in a long time!! Mostly cause i was just working then when christmas came i went to Melbourne for 10days so i decided to wait til i had lots to write about and now i have too much so this might be a long one. lol
Went with Grant to the city to go across to Manly beach by ferry and the ferry was closed so we went to the Sydney Aquarium, which was so awesome. Saw Penguins, Sharks,Dugongs, lots of tropical fish, stink rays, crabs, turtles, and platypus. They had 4 under water tunnels so you can see them all swimming above you it was wicked. the sharks were really freaky tho.
Went to a concert with Dina from Switzerland and we got about 10 others from the hostel to join us. It was a small venue in Cronulla called the brass monkey and they had lots of local bands playing there. It was only $14 to go. They had Indie Rock that night. One band was amazing, got there cd. The other 2 were ok.
Spent Christmas in Cronulla at the hostel. On Chirstmas Eve went out with everyone to a restaurant called Opah for drinks then to Northies bar. The bar closed at 12 so went back to the hostel and in the court yard we all sang christmas songs. It was alot of fun.
Had a Secret Santa on Christmas morning with about 30 of us. One of the guys dressed up as santa and we (well most of us) sat on his lap to open our present in front of everyone... There was some interesting gifts!! I got a boomerang and a australia beach bag... Other gifts were, a apron with fake boobs, a willy warmer, a Oz speedo, a mcdonalds happy meal and the drink was empty cause the person who bought it in the morning was thristy on his way back to the hostel lol.. A case of random left over beer!
We had a Ham lunch that was paid for from the Mike the owner of the hostel. There was so much food, It fed us alll day and breakfast the next morning... Went to the beach with everyone from the hostel it was such a nice day! Went swimming, played rugby on the beach, made a sand couch and drank lots of beer. Couldnt believe how many families spent there christmas on the beach it felt really weird but cool.
Skyped with my family (about 40 of them) i was late coming back from the beach so when i called them they were all drunk lol :) it was alot of fun to talk to them! Made me wish i was at home for Christmas but i felt like i didnt miss much as i got to see it all thru the computer haha.
Spent christmas night at the beach. The guys were playing rugby and then we just sat in a circle on the sand haviing some drinks... One guy fell asleep so they threw him in the water lol.
Decided to take a vacation away from my Holiday working vacation and flew to Melbourne on Dec 26th. Spent 2 days with Jenna Osavitsky (a family friend from Vancouver, who is leaving in Oz for a yr) Got her bf Troy to pick me up as jenna was working.. The problem was ive never met her bf so it was interesting. I called him and he said to wave at every black car driving by and he would just pull over and ill just jump in his car as it was a busy street. So there i was waving at every black car haha (you know how many blk cars there are lol, felt like an idiot) but sure enough it worked. I got in the car and was like your troy right haha...
They live in St Kilda so walked around abit in the area and they (jenna, troy and james there roommate) showed me around, then went to Luna Park which was an amusement park with a roller coaster that was really old and had someone that controlled it by standing in the middle of it.. It was weird seeing someone standing up on the coaster. It was right on the beach so went to a local pub for drinks. Later that night went out to Richmond area and had dinner at Thy Thy which is Vietnamese food. James ordered all the food cause he goes there so much he knew what was good. It was the best dinner ever. We were allowed to BYOB so we had a bag of random left over drinks from there fridge. Lots of places in Oz you can bring your own food if they only serve drinks and vice veras!!They decided it was bday and told the restaurant to sing me happy bday so i got a desert. They turned the lights off and everyone stopped and sang me happy bday lol... It was so random. The desert was a deep fried banana with 2 scoops of ice cream (And of course they did made it look like a penis/balls lol). then went out to Vic bar for drinks.
The next day Troy had off work so he took me around Melbourne City and showed me everything, it was a long day but i liked the city alot it had a European feel to it and they had so many trees everywhere which made the city so beautiful. We went to the old Library which was bulit in 1854, Musuem, Parliament buildings, federation square, Brunswick st where theres millions of cafes, st pauls cathedral, botancial gardens, saw a building that looked like the eiffel tower, the brown river, cinema rooftop bar, section 8 pub which was made from wooden crates and barrels, china town and a famous juice bar for having a unique bean from south america.
Later that night went to a jewish festival with James and his gf Monica. They live in a jewish community so ppl told them to go and i wanted to see what it was all about. First thing i saw was a shirt that said "Im jewish and i know it" from the LMFO song it was hilarious. Then there was a guy on stage preaching to his ppl about being jewish and they all have to stick together haha. They had camel rides, lit there candles and then had fireworks... It was forsure interesting lol.
Was watching lots of Cricket in the last 2 days with Troy and James and there were trying to explain how it works. They had a boxing day match at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds so i decided to go watch PART of a game. It was really neat tho i really didnt know what was going on. I was 4 row from the bottom so my seat was really good. I then just cheered when the oz ppl were. They were playing India and there was about 7 india ppl behind me so i just made sure not to cheer when they were lol.. The game lasted 7 hrs that day i only stayed for 3 hrs. The series was 5 days long tho and Oz won.
Julie (my friend from Canada) and her Bf Trent (who is from Melbourne) picked me up from Jennas place and we headed to Torquay about 1.5 hours from the city and we stayed at there beach house (which was a trailor park) not really what i was thinking when they told to me we were heading to there beach house lol... But it was really awesome theyre right by the ocean. I stayed with them for a week. Had alot of nice dinners/Drinks with there family and friends, met most of trents aunts uncles cousins lol. They called me trents 2nd canadian gf. We went out for chinese dinner one night, me and julies walked 10km to Bells Beach, which is a really popular surf beach where they have world surfing competetions held there. The waves were crazy there and lots of ppl surfing. Went on ferry to Sorrento Beach one day with his family and we met up with one of trents cousins and had fish and chips on the beach. it was really amzing there. one guy that lives there owns his own helicopter and flys into town every day on it. Spent New years in torquay had a huge lamb BBQ with all there family/friends in the park. Then watched the fireworks on the beach.
On Jan 2 headed to the Great Ocean Road, stopped long the way in Lorne for Tea/coffee on the beach and then lunch in Apollo bay. Then we drove to the 12 Apostles in the 38 degree weather. dRank about 5 bottles of water in 2 hours and didnt have to pee it was so humid there. the views were so amzing it was like 3 hours of driving right along the unreal coast line. Started to take so many pics then realized the ocean wasnt going anywere anytime soon,... Stayed in Apollo Bay at the Surfside hostel and made Mexican taco salads and played cards (which julie hates lol) and got pretty drunk and had some interesting conversations lol... Woke up and julie had Bed bugs :( so pretty much showered and left and the hostel lady said that they were there 2 days ago, what an idiot!!!! She felt bad in the end and gave us 4 beer in a 6 pack box lol. Not sure if she drank the other 2 of what... it was pretty funny.
In the morning went to a do a bush walk and saw so many Koalas on the side of the road, pulled over so many times to take pics. Most of them were sleeping tho. Went to the light house and then a golf course to see the kangeroos. Got of the car and there were everywhere on the golf coures it was crazy.
Went to lorne again on our way home to buy fresh fish for dinner that night in Torquay (as well my last night with them) Saw 3 giant sting rays in the water from the pier. it was crazy how many people were jsut swimming beside them and not really caring, i was freaking out for them..
Was sad to leave Julie/Trent had so much fun with them was so nice to see familar faces, and also didnt wanna go back to work :( was starting to enjoy myself without the working thing. Got back to the hostel tho and had a really friendly welcome back from everyone, so it was nice to feel like i was coming home and not just to a hostel with ppl i didnt know!!! Happy to know ive made some great friends. Ppl were leaving the night i just got back there so we went out for drinks to say good bye. Then more ppl left then night after so agian went out to Northies for a good bye for 3 english guys. Went to bed at 5 am and had to be up at 7am for work so i was super tired after work and was goin to have a nap but saw Sascha in the kitchen and he asked me to go to concert that night in Central syndey. It is the Sydney Festival in Hyde Park that lasts 2 weeks and lots of the concerts are free, they close all the surrounding roads. We went to see Manu Chao, which Sascha and Vas knew so i went, and im glad i did it was the best concert ive been too that ive never knew any of there music. The singer is French with Spanish roots, so sings songs in French, Spanaish and English... It was awesome!!! It was an outdoor concert right in the city, with 15,000 ppl. Everyone was dancing having a great time. After the concert 2 guys with drums were playing music and everyone was follwing them down the closed roads, it was unreal. Everyone cheering and dacning in the street. Were going again this saturday. Not sure who is playing but should be fun.
Went snorelling 2 days ago with Dave and Simone at Shark Island, near Cronulla Beach and we saw lots of trocial fish. Then one really big thing, so dave went down to see it but it swam under the seaweed and he just put his hands under the seaweeed and caught it with his hands. He snorkells and scuba dives alot so he know alot about the types of fish and stuff and he came out of the water with this thing and it ended up being a Cat Shark... It was so crazy it was a length of my arm. He turned it over caseu it was trying to bite him. Im still in shock that he caught a tiny shark. We looked it up in his book to make sure and it was a cat shark!!!
I worked 6 days in a row :( and now have 2 days off work so been chilling at the beach. I gave my notice in at work and plan on heading to Perth on Jan 30th ish havent booked my flight yet.
So thats what i have been up to... Having a great time! Probably been back in Vancouver March 10th SO SOON... Miss you,
Love Mieke xoxox
Went with Grant to the city to go across to Manly beach by ferry and the ferry was closed so we went to the Sydney Aquarium, which was so awesome. Saw Penguins, Sharks,Dugongs, lots of tropical fish, stink rays, crabs, turtles, and platypus. They had 4 under water tunnels so you can see them all swimming above you it was wicked. the sharks were really freaky tho.
Went to a concert with Dina from Switzerland and we got about 10 others from the hostel to join us. It was a small venue in Cronulla called the brass monkey and they had lots of local bands playing there. It was only $14 to go. They had Indie Rock that night. One band was amazing, got there cd. The other 2 were ok.
Spent Christmas in Cronulla at the hostel. On Chirstmas Eve went out with everyone to a restaurant called Opah for drinks then to Northies bar. The bar closed at 12 so went back to the hostel and in the court yard we all sang christmas songs. It was alot of fun.
Had a Secret Santa on Christmas morning with about 30 of us. One of the guys dressed up as santa and we (well most of us) sat on his lap to open our present in front of everyone... There was some interesting gifts!! I got a boomerang and a australia beach bag... Other gifts were, a apron with fake boobs, a willy warmer, a Oz speedo, a mcdonalds happy meal and the drink was empty cause the person who bought it in the morning was thristy on his way back to the hostel lol.. A case of random left over beer!
We had a Ham lunch that was paid for from the Mike the owner of the hostel. There was so much food, It fed us alll day and breakfast the next morning... Went to the beach with everyone from the hostel it was such a nice day! Went swimming, played rugby on the beach, made a sand couch and drank lots of beer. Couldnt believe how many families spent there christmas on the beach it felt really weird but cool.
Skyped with my family (about 40 of them) i was late coming back from the beach so when i called them they were all drunk lol :) it was alot of fun to talk to them! Made me wish i was at home for Christmas but i felt like i didnt miss much as i got to see it all thru the computer haha.
Spent christmas night at the beach. The guys were playing rugby and then we just sat in a circle on the sand haviing some drinks... One guy fell asleep so they threw him in the water lol.
Decided to take a vacation away from my Holiday working vacation and flew to Melbourne on Dec 26th. Spent 2 days with Jenna Osavitsky (a family friend from Vancouver, who is leaving in Oz for a yr) Got her bf Troy to pick me up as jenna was working.. The problem was ive never met her bf so it was interesting. I called him and he said to wave at every black car driving by and he would just pull over and ill just jump in his car as it was a busy street. So there i was waving at every black car haha (you know how many blk cars there are lol, felt like an idiot) but sure enough it worked. I got in the car and was like your troy right haha...
They live in St Kilda so walked around abit in the area and they (jenna, troy and james there roommate) showed me around, then went to Luna Park which was an amusement park with a roller coaster that was really old and had someone that controlled it by standing in the middle of it.. It was weird seeing someone standing up on the coaster. It was right on the beach so went to a local pub for drinks. Later that night went out to Richmond area and had dinner at Thy Thy which is Vietnamese food. James ordered all the food cause he goes there so much he knew what was good. It was the best dinner ever. We were allowed to BYOB so we had a bag of random left over drinks from there fridge. Lots of places in Oz you can bring your own food if they only serve drinks and vice veras!!They decided it was bday and told the restaurant to sing me happy bday so i got a desert. They turned the lights off and everyone stopped and sang me happy bday lol... It was so random. The desert was a deep fried banana with 2 scoops of ice cream (And of course they did made it look like a penis/balls lol). then went out to Vic bar for drinks.
The next day Troy had off work so he took me around Melbourne City and showed me everything, it was a long day but i liked the city alot it had a European feel to it and they had so many trees everywhere which made the city so beautiful. We went to the old Library which was bulit in 1854, Musuem, Parliament buildings, federation square, Brunswick st where theres millions of cafes, st pauls cathedral, botancial gardens, saw a building that looked like the eiffel tower, the brown river, cinema rooftop bar, section 8 pub which was made from wooden crates and barrels, china town and a famous juice bar for having a unique bean from south america.
Later that night went to a jewish festival with James and his gf Monica. They live in a jewish community so ppl told them to go and i wanted to see what it was all about. First thing i saw was a shirt that said "Im jewish and i know it" from the LMFO song it was hilarious. Then there was a guy on stage preaching to his ppl about being jewish and they all have to stick together haha. They had camel rides, lit there candles and then had fireworks... It was forsure interesting lol.
Was watching lots of Cricket in the last 2 days with Troy and James and there were trying to explain how it works. They had a boxing day match at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds so i decided to go watch PART of a game. It was really neat tho i really didnt know what was going on. I was 4 row from the bottom so my seat was really good. I then just cheered when the oz ppl were. They were playing India and there was about 7 india ppl behind me so i just made sure not to cheer when they were lol.. The game lasted 7 hrs that day i only stayed for 3 hrs. The series was 5 days long tho and Oz won.
Julie (my friend from Canada) and her Bf Trent (who is from Melbourne) picked me up from Jennas place and we headed to Torquay about 1.5 hours from the city and we stayed at there beach house (which was a trailor park) not really what i was thinking when they told to me we were heading to there beach house lol... But it was really awesome theyre right by the ocean. I stayed with them for a week. Had alot of nice dinners/Drinks with there family and friends, met most of trents aunts uncles cousins lol. They called me trents 2nd canadian gf. We went out for chinese dinner one night, me and julies walked 10km to Bells Beach, which is a really popular surf beach where they have world surfing competetions held there. The waves were crazy there and lots of ppl surfing. Went on ferry to Sorrento Beach one day with his family and we met up with one of trents cousins and had fish and chips on the beach. it was really amzing there. one guy that lives there owns his own helicopter and flys into town every day on it. Spent New years in torquay had a huge lamb BBQ with all there family/friends in the park. Then watched the fireworks on the beach.
On Jan 2 headed to the Great Ocean Road, stopped long the way in Lorne for Tea/coffee on the beach and then lunch in Apollo bay. Then we drove to the 12 Apostles in the 38 degree weather. dRank about 5 bottles of water in 2 hours and didnt have to pee it was so humid there. the views were so amzing it was like 3 hours of driving right along the unreal coast line. Started to take so many pics then realized the ocean wasnt going anywere anytime soon,... Stayed in Apollo Bay at the Surfside hostel and made Mexican taco salads and played cards (which julie hates lol) and got pretty drunk and had some interesting conversations lol... Woke up and julie had Bed bugs :( so pretty much showered and left and the hostel lady said that they were there 2 days ago, what an idiot!!!! She felt bad in the end and gave us 4 beer in a 6 pack box lol. Not sure if she drank the other 2 of what... it was pretty funny.
In the morning went to a do a bush walk and saw so many Koalas on the side of the road, pulled over so many times to take pics. Most of them were sleeping tho. Went to the light house and then a golf course to see the kangeroos. Got of the car and there were everywhere on the golf coures it was crazy.
Went to lorne again on our way home to buy fresh fish for dinner that night in Torquay (as well my last night with them) Saw 3 giant sting rays in the water from the pier. it was crazy how many people were jsut swimming beside them and not really caring, i was freaking out for them..
Was sad to leave Julie/Trent had so much fun with them was so nice to see familar faces, and also didnt wanna go back to work :( was starting to enjoy myself without the working thing. Got back to the hostel tho and had a really friendly welcome back from everyone, so it was nice to feel like i was coming home and not just to a hostel with ppl i didnt know!!! Happy to know ive made some great friends. Ppl were leaving the night i just got back there so we went out for drinks to say good bye. Then more ppl left then night after so agian went out to Northies for a good bye for 3 english guys. Went to bed at 5 am and had to be up at 7am for work so i was super tired after work and was goin to have a nap but saw Sascha in the kitchen and he asked me to go to concert that night in Central syndey. It is the Sydney Festival in Hyde Park that lasts 2 weeks and lots of the concerts are free, they close all the surrounding roads. We went to see Manu Chao, which Sascha and Vas knew so i went, and im glad i did it was the best concert ive been too that ive never knew any of there music. The singer is French with Spanish roots, so sings songs in French, Spanaish and English... It was awesome!!! It was an outdoor concert right in the city, with 15,000 ppl. Everyone was dancing having a great time. After the concert 2 guys with drums were playing music and everyone was follwing them down the closed roads, it was unreal. Everyone cheering and dacning in the street. Were going again this saturday. Not sure who is playing but should be fun.
Went snorelling 2 days ago with Dave and Simone at Shark Island, near Cronulla Beach and we saw lots of trocial fish. Then one really big thing, so dave went down to see it but it swam under the seaweed and he just put his hands under the seaweeed and caught it with his hands. He snorkells and scuba dives alot so he know alot about the types of fish and stuff and he came out of the water with this thing and it ended up being a Cat Shark... It was so crazy it was a length of my arm. He turned it over caseu it was trying to bite him. Im still in shock that he caught a tiny shark. We looked it up in his book to make sure and it was a cat shark!!!
I worked 6 days in a row :( and now have 2 days off work so been chilling at the beach. I gave my notice in at work and plan on heading to Perth on Jan 30th ish havent booked my flight yet.
So thats what i have been up to... Having a great time! Probably been back in Vancouver March 10th SO SOON... Miss you,
Love Mieke xoxox
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
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
Thursday, 17 November 2011
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
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
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
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
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