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Published: November 16th 2012
Jem & I for NY
Who is the loser?So, as predicted in my last blog... I didn't keep up with any blogs over my entire time spent in Australia!! 2 years!!
2 Year have flown by and I have no blogs to show for it but a load of great memories and new friends.
Why am I even in Oz? Well my parents immigrated to OZ 5 years ago, just before I 1st flew to Korea to work. In order to get a working holiday visa in Australia you need to be under 31 years old and i was rapidly aging! I wanted to spend 2 years in OZ with my parents and travelling around so needed to go ASAP!
Getting my WHVisa sorted from inside Korea was amazingly easy!! I just went online, filled in the form, went to a hospital to get my chest x-ray (nec because of my long stay in Sout Korea) and a few days later got the email saying I had my visa!! EASY!
So my parents live on the Mornington Peninsula which is south of Melbourne. I have a best mate who lives on the far other side of the bay, we actually left the UK at the
China Man's hut
The amazing seals in Sorrento same time all those years ago, and i HAD HAD HAD to meet up with her straight away.
We went to Fed Sq, did the lanes ways had a great catch up. I spent the NY with her and her fiance Jarred, had a great time meeting his family and all their friends. For NYs day we went to the picnic races, a great day was had and i even won a few bets!
Me and Jem also went to swim with the dolphins (Moonrakercharters) & seals in Sorrento. OMG really great day out! The seals were the BEST part, the actually interact with you and all gather around. The dolphons was a bit of a let down to be honest. Under Victoria state juresdictions you are only allowed 10mins in the water with the dolphins. SO it turned into such a rushed scene when they arrived. Shouts of "GO GO GO!!! GET IN THE WATER!!! HEADS DOWN< HEADS DOWN!" NOt great to be honest. I expected a surreal feeling to the moment when in reality I just felt panicked and let down. ( I have since had my moment with dolphins in Monkey Mia!)
I had
an amazing trip with a dear work buddy, we hired a YELLOW car and drove the Great Ocean Rd. We just happened to drive straight past our hostel (13th Apostille) and turned up at teh apostilles at sunset and the views were amazing.
My Canadian friend came over and we explored the Peninsula and the surf beaches. Which ended with me almost wetting myself because she got caught in a strong current and lost her top... right next to a little boy! Ohh dear!!
In May I went to do my time on the fruit farms (in order to get a 2nd yr visa you have to do 3 months/ 88days farm work in a rural area). BEST TIME EVER!!! I met some great people, had some hilarious times in the working hostel (suncoast backpackers, Maroochydore) and some romances. The hostel is 3 mins walk to the beach, just outside town and they set you up with work. Girls do the Passion fruit, tomato picking, boys did banana picking/planting or nursery work. we all did our bit picking/packing strawberries.
When my time was up (well kinda, i finished early there so i coudl go on a vacay
with Korean buddies in Malaysia. This meant doing 6 wks on a cattle farm by myself later) I went on a quick hols then met up with my mates at the Whisundays for our boat trip on the AVATAR!!! A great group of people made it one of the best adventures i have had over here. The Whitsundays are amazing, stunning and sooo peaceful. The crew (husband and wife from NZ) were great, very freindly and let us all take a turn in driving. The food was DELISH and plentiful. great cuppa tea ready for when we came out of the cold water (well it was July!).
The rd trip consisted of 6 of us cramped in a camper with tents and bags up on the roof. We went to a platypus lake, met some interesting characters, tubed down freezing streams, I almost slipped all the way down a waterfall! Saw some stunning sunsets and starlit nights.Enjoyed making some MASSIVE forestfires and cooked tasty bush tucker on them. It really was a great few weeks. The company was what really made it just the best time. THANKS GUYS!
Ohh then I had to go to a cattle farm
in Ingham, I had 4 weeks left to complete my 88days to get the visa. I went on HELPX.net a fantastic site that works a bit like WWOOFing. You put on your detaisl like whre you are or where you are headed, what type of work (unpaid) you are looking for and what skills you have to offer and people all around Australia can see it and offer you a place to stay in exchange for 4-6 hrs a day hard graft! Well its not that hard really, its what you make it. I was lucky enough to find a farmer who needed someone to farm-sit whilst she went to her new farm in NSW and set up the fences etc before she moved her herd there. I had my own floor of the housel, shared with 3 farm dogs who I really relied upon to help me through out the day and keep me safe at night. I was out in teh middle of nowhere really, but luckily for me the neighbours (not very close neighbours... I could see one when the cane field had been cut down) were great and constantly came over to check on me.
I had to feed the cattle (breeding herd) every morning and night using the Quad bike & trailer, feed the chooks,bulls, dogs and vegetables. From the hours of 9am - 4pm there really wasn't anything for me to do outside as it was FAR too hot! I would usually read a book or take a nap. See what i mean? EASY! I had such fantastic meals all cooked by Judy the farmer, i put on a whole load of weight!
After my first year i had a little 2 month session back in Korea, ahh what an amazing holiday! So great to catch up with everyone and really celibrate Xmas , NY and my birthday in Korean Style!
So yeah... a very busy and fun packed 1 st year in Australia.... now for the 2nd year!
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