G'Day from Australia!

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G’Day from Australia!



Yep I am now in the land of the kangaroos and BBQs! So my last month in Auckland was pretty uneventful, just lots of working and planning out Australia! It was sad saying goodbye to the people I’ve grown close too over the past couple of months and I really hope to stay in contact with a few of them but it was time to move on and see something new!



My leaving drinks was one of the more eventful nights I spent in Auckland, we partied until 5am! When I now hear the song ‘500 miles’ I think of my very drunk Auckland family in a certain Irish bar marching away…!



Well I flew into Australia on Saturday. I flew into Sydney just as the sun was rising and my first view of Australia was seeing the sun rising on the horizon bathing the Sydney opera house and harbor bridge in a beautiful orange glow…I really wish I had my camera on me!! It was such an amazing sight! Then after a very quick passage through customs (they didn’t even look at my visa, just scanned and stamped my passport!) I was on the coach heading towards the Aussie capital Canberra, my home for the next three months!



So after leaving them four months again I have returned to APMG in their Australia office in Canberra! I’ll be working here for 3-6 months before I head off on the Oz Experience bus tour from Sydney to Cairns! It’s been baking hot here the first few days, it’s only been about 25-29 degrees but because there is a hole in the Ozone layer over Australia the sun isn’t filtered as such so it’s a lot stronger and it feels like its about 32-35 degrees!! Which is awesome as within two days I’ve managed to get my tan a shade darker ha-ha! I’ve also spent the afternoon in my ‘bathers’ (swimming costume) at the outdoor swimming pool complex, (it has four different pools and BBQs dotted around so you can bring your own food and have a BBQ by the pool!!) which is amazing, and I think will become my second home here lol! I’m sharing a house with two other housemates who both seem lovely! It’s a short walk to work and to Canberra city centre so it’s a good location and I also have a bike so hopefully I’ll be getting into shape riding that around the lake a few evenings a week!!



On my first day in the office I was allowed to wear my ‘thongs’ (flip flops) to help ease me into Aussie life so that was fun! Sadly we can’t wear them every day, they’re not that laid back here ha-ha! So some fun Aussie facts:
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">Canberra is the NATIONAL capital city of the country but Australia has capital cities of their states too so Sydney, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Adelaide, Darwin and Perth are also capital cities in Australia!<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">All Australian made make-up is SPF 15!<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">It is illegal to sell sunscreen here under SPF 30 and label it as ‘safe’ sun protection (most shops won’t sell sunscreen under SPF 30)!<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">Canberra is the only place in Australia you can legally film and distribute porn…I’m going to have to be really careful which ‘amateur film’ sets I try to work on while I’m here!!<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">No part of Australia is more than 1000 km from the ocean and a beach.<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">The Great Barrier Reef has its very own postbox…in the sea…you can ferry out there and send a postcard, stamped with the only Great Barrier Reef stamp.<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">The Australian Alps, or Snowy Mountains as they are also known, receive more snow than Switzerland.<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">Australian mines (one of their most important industries, which accounts for 15% of Australia's GDP) cover 0.02% of Australia's landmass. More land in Australia is occupied by pubs!!<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">In 1954 Bob Hawke made it into the Guinness Book of Records for downing 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds….Bob Hawke went on to become the Prime Minister of Australia!<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">Australasia is the smallest continent in the world!<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">Australia has an average of three people per square kilometre, making it one of the lowest population densities in the world. 90% of the population lives in the costal cities!<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">One in every four persons is either a first or second generation settler to Australia, a trend started after World War II






There is actually quite a bit going on in Canberra over the next few moths, including a European film festival which starts next week, guess what I’ll be doing most evenings lol! So I am excited to be here and also to have a base for a few months before I take the East Cost head on (with a surfboard under my arm) lol!



Well that’s it for now, It’s going to be another quite couple of months for me I think but I have a whole new city to explore so stay tuned for my adventures lol!



Amy

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