Australia - January & February & Birthdays in Brisbane

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G’day!

I hope you are all well. To all my friends and family at home…I love and miss you so much! I haven’t written recently as I haven’t really had much to write. I’ve mainly been working and my routine stays the same so it’d be a bit boring if I wrote too often. But I think it’s time to update you on January and February in Brisbane and I’ve finally found the time to upload some pictures to go with it.

I’ve been working at the backpacker travel agency and have been working quite long hours which with travel time has meant not a lot of time at home. I really enjoy, I like the company and my manager and love talking to people about their trips and planning them for them. If it’s quiet the day can drag on a bit but when a lovely customer comes along it more than makes up for it. I sometimes end up feeling really responsible for them! I love it when I see them afterwards and they thank me and tell me what I great trip they had. I’ve also had to do a bit of counselling for lovesick or homesick customers, I really really feel for them so talk them through it and make sure they know they’ve got someone to talk to for their time in Brisbane. There are so many 18 or 19 year olds and I think they’re so brave to leave home on their own and go over to the other side of the world at that age.

We have some interesting locals hanging around outside our store… Some interesting and endearing like Angus who brings us strange fruit and on Valentine ’s Day brought me a present and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Others a bit more of a challenge. There is a pub just down the road so we get a lot of drunk people and the bench outside attracts the local homeless. We have a regular that likes to sit on the bench (which is on the pavement directly opposite our shop door) and sleep by the back door outside our toilet. He’s usually quite friendly and likes to have conversations with us about life but he can occasionally be a bit worrying. He seems to have good and bad days, can go from offering to go and buy Jo lunch because he’s worried she hasn’t eaten to telling a customer to ‘get your arse out of my face’. He’s quite protective of his bench and isn’t too happy when someone else is on it. He’s generally pretty harmless although has a really bad cough and a nasty habit of coughing very loudly and deeply for 30 seconds then spitting it all out on the floor (after seeing that I’d never walk around barefoot like so many of the backpackers do!) or using it as hair gel. We’ve told him he needs to get it looked at. He’s not the only one… Gemma and I were there late one evening and having a bit of a dance on the doorstep (more on Gemma and that later!) and a guy with sopping wet jogging bottoms and an ice cream came and sat on the bench, watching us like he was at the cinema or something. That put us off our dancing…! Anyway a bit later Gemma was due to leave so she came with me to lock the back door, when I went to walk back out onto the shop floor he’d made his way over the threshold and was sat at one of our computer desks, not really doing anything, just tapping at keys. I got the embarrassing giggles, didn’t know what to do so Gemma politely asked him to leave…and he did bless him. He wasn’t actually doing anything on the computer… just attracting some strange looks from the backpackers sat next to him. The craziest though has to be the REALLY drunk guy that comes for a visit every so often. He’s perfectly happy but once he’s really really drunk he abuses the customers and we think he did a drug deal there once (that prompted a call to the police). One time he started going for people walking past with a pair of plyers (all good humouredly…he was happy as larry, the passers-by were not!). Another day he was sat outside… I was out the back with Jo on lunch and Emma opened the door to let a backpacker bring their bags in….the next thing we knew the guy was diving in the back office demanding we give him wine. We told him we didn’t have any and he was like “No…but HE does” pointing at the backpacker, I don’t know how he’d known but the backpacker did have a bag of goon on him. Although he initially refused to leave without the goon we eventually sent him on his way. These situations are difficult sometimes to manage… we are very respectful to them and try to have sympathy but have to be wary, sometimes it’s laugh or cry. I’ve never had so much contact with homeless people. There is one lady that I see in the shopping street who really pulls at my heartstrings…she’s an old aboriginal lady and she just sits all day on a bench, in exactly the same place…not moving or talking to anyone. She has her packed bags with her and I always wonder ‘who she is waiting for’?

We had an incident the other day with a huntsmen spider that made its way indoors. It was HUGE! Jo had seen it come in and go under the sofa…I spent some time on that sofa before thinking I’d better look for it. I had a shock at the size of it! They’re not poisonous but a bit freaky as they sort of jump at you if they’re threatened and can move VERY fast. Some lovely boys somehow managed to catch it (in the end of a water bottle) and put it outside for us J (Janni, I got some photos for Harry!). Any unsavoury moments are more than made up for by the lovely people I’ve been working with. Jo the store manager is so so so lovely, I now consider her a really good friend. I used to work with Mark…he was a lovely Welsh guy (coincidence that he went to school with Caryl’s Uni friend Helen) that reminded me of Maff so much that I kept wanting to hug him! He didn’t mind the odd hug but he’s gone down to our Byron Bay stores so we don’t see him very often. Colin was a lovely Irish guy who brightened my day and giggled at everything. Steph and Charlotte were lovely girls, just didn’t work with them for too long. There’s been a couple of other randoms but two of the important ones were the lovely Gemma and Sam. They stuck around for the longest and were such such nice girls…I really bonded and enjoyed working with them. On a Saturday it was just the three of us in and it sometimes quietened down late afternoon so we’d crank the tunes up and get dancing! I taught them all the Spice Girls dances (they’re a bit too young to know them themselves) and some Girls Aloud and we just danced and danced! It was always a bit annoying when someone came and sat on the bench outside as we didn’t want to give them a private show so we had to stop. We used to get a few cheers from the passers-by (remember we’re on a pavement) and beeps from the passing cars (we’re on a busy street) so maybe we cheered them up. I just dance about on my own now…think I sometimes forget I’m on a busy street but it passes the time and is a conversation starter. We’ve had a few good work nights out…some nice dinners and a BBQ at Mark’s. Jo, Sam, Gemma and I had a classy night out at a really smart nightclub in Fortitude Valley (the main going out suburb) called Cloudlands… It’s really big and open with a big painted sky and lots of green… I was really sad when Gemma and Sam left… I still miss them. We now have Emma working with us and I get on really really well with her. She makes me chuckle… we do a bit of dancing and have moved on to doing our exercises when it’s quiet…a routine of squats, tricep dips and tummy toning! All the while keeping a look out for passing backpackers, again it is a conversation starter.



Anyway…that’s work! I go to and from work by bus (I took some pictures of my journey in January…I was getting worried I wouldn’t have any photos to share with you so I thought that might be of interest to some…) although sometimes I have to get a taxi because the buses are really unreliable. They are supposed to go from the stop just down the road every 15 minutes but I can be waiting there 45 minutes then 3 buses will come at once. I find it really strange because the public transport infrastructure in Brisbane is excellent… there are plenty of busways and bus tunnels and it’s all very well organised. I just don’t get why they’re so off time. I sometimes ring to ask where my bus is and once was told “you can’t really go by the bus timetables you know”. What am I supposed to go by?! I can also be on the bus for a LONG time…it’s about a 15-20 minute journey but I’ve been known to be on the bus going into work for nearly an hour. We seem to queue in the bus tunnels under the city and then into each bus station. It’s frustrating. I have now found another bus… the 180 which is quicker but confuses me as it goes in a completely different direction and I sometimes forget where to get off. There is a bus number 66 that I see often…I’ve not needed to get it yet but I think I should one day in honour of the 66! It takes people from the city to Woolloongabba suburb, where The Gabba stadium is.

The buses are also not so helpful when it is raining…! And it has rained A LOT! It’s a common misconception that Australia is nice and warm and sunny when it’s winter in England but it is not! In ‘tropical’ Queensland it’s rainy season from January to March and whilst it is really warm it’s also really wet. Some of the downpours have been torrential…I left the house one day… got 10 seconds away from the door and had to come back because I was soaked through (even my trainers!). There’s no warning and it just pours down. It can go from being beautifully sunny with no clouds in the sky to thundery in an instant. It does help cool things down though as when the sun is out it is BOILING HOT!

I don’t have a massive amount of time around work and my Uni work but we do manage to fit in some social events. Hannah and I do some stuff together and with her friends, it might be going to see New Years Eve at the cinema with Hannah and Amanda (told you about her last time, lovely girl!) after which they told me they’d never go to see anything emotional with me again because my sobbing set them off…and going to see The Vow with Hannah and Hazel (another of Hannah’s friends, English) which was not as emotional as I thought it was going to be (thankfully Hannah had given me another chance after New Year’s Eve!). Drew and I have also been out for a nice steak with Craig (my godmothers son), we took him to where Anthony took us when we were over in August for the wedding (I’m always taking people where Anthony has taken me, he knows his stuff, he and Han are the best tour guides!) and then we had Drew’s birthday which was a quiet night at our local pub on Stones Corner (not quite like a pub at home…more a bar but nice enough) followed by a big night out the following weekend at the Bavarian Beer Café for some drinks followed by dancing. It was good! I’ve also had some lovely evenings with Hannah’s group of friends…Amanda, Hazel, Allison (works with Hazel), Jane and Becky – they’re all so nice together and it really makes me miss my girls at home! Amanda said a lovely thing on my birthday…she said “I’m really pleased to be here…just know I’m standing in for Rachel’s friends at home”. If only could have had everyone together in one place.



So other than work and a few nights out it’s just normal life at home. I absolutely love living with Hannah and Anthony. They are so good to us. I’ve never lived with a girl before so it’s nice to have Hannah to watch girlie TV with (when Drew and Ant’s are not on Fifa…they’ve had a tournament going since Drew arrived…Anthony is miles ahead and Drew gets VERY frustrated…he thinks the game is rigged against him!) and chat to (and she does my hair for nights out). Drew does most of the cooking… we sometimes eat outside sometimes in… just because he enjoys it and his working hours mean he can. Hannah also does quite a bit of cooking and Anthony does on his afternoons off… he is a GREAT cook, takes after his Mum! Amanda and Phil come round sometimes which is lovely. Drew and I are always invited over to Anthony’s family whenever they have a family meal… Anthony’s Mum Maria and his Nonna Josie look after us so well and are AMAZING cooks! We are very lucky to be able to be part of such a lovely family while we are here. I do a lot of the washing…on my days off I’m like my Mum…a bit obsessed with getting all of the washing done…dried and back in by the end of the day (don’t do any ironing though!). Mum – you’d love it here, as long as it’s not raining the washing is dry in under an hour - it’s brilliant! I love my days at home just doing jobs and pottering about…I also do a clean and tidy and a big clean every other week. Hannah is also a fantastic cleaner…she makes everything look spotless. Drew is the most untidy…I don’t know what he does with his days sometimes. Han and I enjoy watching our programmes…we’re currently watching Revenge, Sex and the City and again Friends if the boys are not playing Fifa (they are on that a lot!). We’ve listened to/watched Swindon a few times in Australia...am always surprised you can get Swindon Town Football Club in Australia. We don’t have too much wildlife to worry about…I love the bats coming out at night, especially when they’re silhouetted against the twilight sky. We have a possum that seems to go shuffling about in the trees and along the fence. A green tree frog that ribbits very loudly all night long if it’s raining and some geckos…sometimes they make their way into the house and have been known to venture into my bedroom! I seem to have grown resistant to the mosquitos now which is good. There haven’t been too many spiders about…we did have a baby huntsmen above the outside dinner table…got quite a cool photo…! (Janni, think Harry will like it!). I’m also back into my Uni work…it’s all about the environment this time so I’ve been learning about flooding (topical in Australia…there has been a lot of flooding further up and down the coast but not affected us) and extinction and how the world was made. I’ve submitted 1 assignment and got 79%...a good start I’ve also go into the gym and have a personal trainer! They’re reasonable priced here and Marnie is great! I find her so helpful and lift more weight than I did before. I’m definitely shaping up so have to keep it up.

I’m sure you’re all interested in an update on my medical ailments…I’ve generally been ok health wise… I haven’t had too many illnesses! I’m still get migraines but not as much as home, just more than when I was travelling before. I’ve had a trapped nerve in my back that was really really painful…like toothache in my back and I wake up every morning very dehydrated and disorientated. It’s so warm at night and I drink so much water… went through two litres last night.

I am really really missing home…I try not to think about it too much as it upsets me but I’m always thinking of my Mum, Dad, my Maffy and my lovely friends. I’m so lucky to have everyone at home and love it when we get to catch up. I was sad to miss out on Maff’s birthday. And I was really struggling with the idea of being away from home for my birthday. I hadn’t thought about it too much, was more upset about missing my friend’s birthday’s but I found mine very difficult without my family and my bestests. Hannah Schiavon deserves an award though as she made it sooooooooooo special for me! I finished work on the Friday and she and Hazel met me to go shopping for an outfit to wear out on the Saturday night. Hannah, Anthony, some friends and Anthony’s family had all chipped in so I could get something nice to wear because they knew I wouldn’t buy something for myself. So, Hannah’s mission was to find me something. Poor girl didn’t know what she’d let herself in for as shopping for me is very difficult! We didn’t find anything that night so at 9pm (shops open late in the city on a Friday) Anthony picked us up and took us home. The next morning I woke up to a note on the door from Hannah for Part 2 of my birthday…she’d left money for me to go shopping at a shopping centre AND booked me in to have some beauty treatments (that girl knows me!). So I took myself off to Carindale and had a lovely day. The only thing missing was I fancied sitting somewhere for a nice salad and glass of wine and there was NOWHERE! They are so weird with alcohol in Australia, can only buy it from a bottle shop (some are drive thrus) or in a restaurant but can’t get a glass of wine with your dinner in a shopping centre. Anyway…I headed back home and came in to a surprise from Hannah, Jane and Becky that made me jump! They let off poppers and had decorated the room and made some nice snacks and wine! Hannah and I chilled with that for a while and then started getting ready for a night out. I got my dress on and Hannah did my hair and then Amanda and Phil came round and Amanda supervised my make up and by the time Drew and Anthony got home from work we were ready! Drew said he’s NEVER seen me looking so good LOL. We then went out to my favourite Mexican restaurant in Bulimba. I had a surprise there when my friend Mel (from Wantage) was there and her fiancé Rex! We had a lovely dinner, I had the waiters bring out a delicious cake Amanda had made for me then we went dancing at Oxford 152! It was great in there, brilliant music (and I think it’s where the hot guys in Brisbane have been hiding)…and we did some good dancing. The only problem was that they kept setting off a smoke machine that was really affecting all of us, not just the asthmatics! I typically got a migraine but still stayed out…at midnight we called it a night and headed home. Anthony had gone earlier as he had work the next morning so Phil (who’d been having a sleep in the car bless him) took me, Drew and Hannah home. The next morning (my THIRTIETH BIRTHDAY) Hannah told me about Part 4 which was heading out for the afternoon with the girls to Sirromet Winery for a wine tour. The girls were all due round for some lunch beforehand. Then Hannah and Drew gave me some presents…I got so many lovely things! Thank you all who took the time to send cards and presents over J A special mention goes to Evie for the drawing she did for me J and to Fergus for the friendship pendent J I opened Drew’s present last, which turned out to be from Maff as well. What did I think I was going to get from my boyfriend and brother?!!! I opened an envelope and pulled out a piece of paper with a picture on it…of a frickin SKYDIVER!!! I couldn’t believe it, they’d got me a skydive! Now I’ve never really wanted to do one…I get nervous talking to my customers about them and to be honest I got a bit teary and went into a panic. Drew’s theory was that I’ve not said I’d never do it like I have with a bungy. I didn’t want to do it but to be honest I couldn’t say no as it was from Maff too, Drew said he’d do it if I didn’t and I didn’t think Maff would be happy with that. I was booked in for the next morning. So…I moved on and the girls came round for some lunch then we headed out to Sirromet. We had a nice tour of how the wine is made and the cellar then did some wine tasking which was VERY nice! It was a lovely afternoon. We then headed home where Drew had prepared a delicious dinner for Anthony, Hannah and I, Amanda and Phil and Anthony’s brother Gianluca and sister Stef came round which I was very chuffed with as I love them to bits! It wasn’t a late night as I needed to be up early for my skydive…

So next morning we were up at 5am…because we had to be a Redcliffe (on the coast, an hour from where we were) by 6.30am. It was supposed to be 8.30am but they called Drew the day before saying to be there early as they were expecting bad weather later. So the trusty Mildred took us out to the ‘Jump the Beach’ office on Redcliffe seafront. I was strangely calm… I kind of wanted to do it now so thought best get on with it. I checked in and got a bit nervous watching the videos playing in the office…they told us there’d be a wait so we went for a wander about then we got called back in. I met my lovely tandem master Phil…turned out he was from Newcastle and had married a Kiwi. He was so nice and reassuring (he was the nicest looking too) and he helped calm me down. I was really worried I wouldn’t be able to breathe during the freefall but he said you definitely can. I was still worried that even though I knew logically I would be able to breathe I was concerned the fear of it would make me panic and that would bring on an asthma attack so I took a calming tablet to help me out. We headed out in a minibus to the airfield (with Phil doing little interviews with me on the way for the video) then Drew headed to our landing site with the minibus whilst I had to wait at the airfield with the others. I got chatting to the tandem masters because they knew where I worked and they gave me a really good insight into the backpacker travel industry. It was soon time for us to get in our little plane…Phil and I were in first which confirmed my worst nightmare…that I would be out last! We headed up into the sky and got an amazing view of Brisbane…I could see my favourite city skyline in the distance. At 4000ft (I was jumping at 14000ft) Phil told me that this was the point where he’d open the parachute. I had a little panic then because I knew I was jumping at 14000ft and that I had 60 seconds of freefall (before Phil opened the parachute) so that meant we fell 10000ft in 60 seconds!!!! That doesn’t leave much room to figure out a plan if the parachute doesn’t open! Anyway…there were some people jumping out at 11000ft so Phil said we’d let them out first but got me all ready and strapped up. I did feel really safe…could feel how well I was attached to him (told me we were attached in 4 different places). It wasn’t long before the doors were opening and the air was rushing in…I honestly thought we’d kind of stop off to let the 11000ft’ers out then climb the further 3000ft and I had a mild panic when I realised we were off as well! I protested a little but I really didn’t have any choice! Phil shoved us along the bench and within a minute we were at the door, he was sat on the side of plane and I was hanging off the front of him looking down! I had thought I’d keep my eyes closed but I braved it and opened them and am glad I did. I had to create a banana shape with my arms crossed over my chest and legs bent back and within seconds of being sat on the edge of the plane we were out and flying! I had a shock when the cold air hit my face and gulped some of it down but was very relieved to find I could breathe. I got the tap on the shoulder from Phil which meant I could open my arms out and then we had 60 seconds of freefall back down to earth. It was absolutely crazy and I loved it…we were going so fast through the air and when Phil knew I was ok we started spinning about and one second I was seeing sky then ground, sky then ground..! Then all too soon Phil let the parachute go and we were yanked to a stop (I always thought you were pulled back up but I think it’s just the force of the parachute slowing you down). Although I was enjoying the freefall it was a huge relief when the parachute went off! It hurt a bit so Phil loosened off my leg straps and once I’d checked with him our parachute was all ok I thoroughly enjoyed myself and could have stayed up there all day. Phil pointed out some of the landmarks and then we had a chat. It’s really easy to hear someone talking up there. We were mostly over the sea and right from the start I could see the cross on the beach where we were aiming to land (it’s called Jump the Beach because you land on the beach). I just kept saying WOW because there really are no words to describe the feeling of flying! We were last out the plane so last to land and could watch the others land…some seemed to veer a bit too far off course, even Phil said he was worried about one (he’s only ever missed the target once). They all made it and as we got closer I could see Drew on the beach and then we were landing. Phil had told me he’d probably sit me down but somewhere we managed to land standing up without falling over! I was blown away by it all and so grateful to Drew, Maff and Phil for giving me an amazing experience! I was walking on air for the rest of the day (think the Valium might have helped…I was a little out of it!). You can’t really describe the feeling of it and all I know is that I definitely want to do it again…so I can appreciate it more without the nerves. We got my DVD and then headed off home to watch it – it is quite amusing… I come out with some classic comments but thankfully there’s not too much cheek wobbling! I spent the rest of the day chilling out…had had a brilliant birthday weekend. Just wish everyone from home had been here. I still had an amazing present to come though…Gemma, Georgina and Caryl you know what I’m talking about…I’m trying to upload the video as we speak!

We’re now in April…planning where to go and what to do next. I’m working on another update for you now J



Lots of love to you all.



Xx

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