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January 14th 2010

Published: January 15th 2010

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Nathan and I

Having some fun with Yiwen and Nathan in Singapore

So! Gosh, how far do I go back??? I'm not sure who's up-to-date with what. Ok, I'm going to make this fairly brief (...I hope).

So, when I left rainy, cold England in September I went to hot, humid Singapore to stay with friends for about a week before flying to Bali. I stayed in Bali for just three days - not much to say; I headed straight for Ubud = lots of French people, couples and boutiques - and then went over to the Gili Islands. These are three little islands off the northwest coast of Lombok (the next island along from Bali). I stayed on the 'party' island of Gili Trewnagan. I. Had. A. Blast. The most fun month ever. And I learned to scuba dive. Awesome! I met some great people, ate some yummy food, saw some beautiful fish and some turtles and enjoyed every minute of it.

When I left the island, I flew back to Bali and decided I should experience the horror of Kuta that I'd been hearing about so that I at least had a viable reason to be completely disinterested in it. Kuta is the capital of Bali and party central

Cheeky Monkey

The Monkey Forest in Ubud (Wen's photo)

for heaps of young (and old), drunk and shirtless Australians. It was an experience. I have zero interest in returning.

Back to Singapore and another lovely week with my friends before catching a plane heading to Perth! The woman who checked me at immigration was also called Jenna. The sniffer dog let me go by (phew! Never know what's going to have been picked up on your bag when you've been in Asia...). I felt good about Australia. My good friends from home, Bex and Mike, met me at the airport and drove me to the hostel we were staying at.

We stayed in Perth for just two and a half days. Just enough time to relax, see a bit of north Perth, catch up with my relatives there and hit the beach (not one where they had spotted a shark recently). On day three, after we'd seen a great view of the city, we hit the road in the Chang Mobile and headed south for Fremantle, about an hour away.

Once we'd manage to find a hostel and checked in, we went to the Little Creatures Brewery and had beer and nibbles. =0) The next day

Gili Trewangan

Beautiful Island (Wen's Photo)

we got up early ad got the ferry over to Rottnest Island. It was stunning! Beautiful clear, aqua waters, white, white sand... Bloody cold wind. Hills. We hired bikes for the day. We decided we didn't nee to pay the extra for gears.... We didn't. We did actually make it up all the hills without having to get off and push but wow, we worked hard. More beer definitely deserved. We also saw some quokkas. These are large rodents only found on the island, since they were hunted to extinction on the mainland. Cute little fellas.

On the ferry back we started chatting to a lady who worked on the island and discovered that she was originally fro England and went to school (no less) at Moreton Girls' School!!! Small assed world eh. We had fish and chips for dinner (good fish, not the great Brit, squidgy chips) and then retired to sleep. The next day was very lazy and consisted mostly of cake and laundry until 18:30 when we went on the Torchlight tour at the Fremantle Prison. Good tour. We got to keep out torches as souvenirs. I still have mine.

The next day the big

First Night on The Island

Rob, Joelle, Sebastien, Michaeal, Caroline, Mario, Me, Wen (Wen's Photo)

rip started! Rooooad Triiiip!! Nullarbor. The Nullarbor Plain is a mass expanse of nothingness. Desert and roadhouses. We spent the next 9 days driving up to 5 hours a day; through one horse towns; through wind and heat and cold and some rain (and all this with dodgy windscreen wipers and no air con), we camped (me in the car, Bex and Mike in a tent), we stayed in cabins, we cooked and we drank goon (boxed wine :0)). I loved it! I love road trips. Once we got to New South Wales, there were suddenly trees and greenery and mountains. New South Wales really does look like Wales. I wasn't expecting this (silly really; you'd think the clue was in the title...). I thought Australia was all desert and beaches. Not so apparently.

We finally hit the East Coast at Port Macquarie and finally I felt like I was in Australia. Up until this point everything reminded me very much of America. It was very disorienting. But, finally, the beaches and small town and athletics and barbies and Australia. There was a half Ironman competition on the next day so we struggled to find somewhere to stay and

Wen

No cars on the island (Wen's Photo)

were fortunate to end up camping in a very nice campsite, right next to the beach. =0)

We got up to watch the running bit of the Ironman (we weren't getting up to watch the start at 5am...no, no). I respect anyone who puts themselves through that in Australia's heat and makes it even half way. There was one fabulous chap in bright pink Speedos and a SpongeBob Squarepants t-shirt =0) He looked like a hippy and a guru all in one. He was awesome. We cheered for him.
We spent a couple days going up the east coast until Byron where we stopped for some 'fun' :0) It rained the whole time we were there so we didn't go to the beach or learn to surf but we did go to a charming little establishment called Cheeky Monkeys for 7 dollar huge steaks and a night of socialising and merriment. :0)

We were over the rain and so went straight up to Brisbane to stay with Bex's sister and brother-in-law. They have a beautiful house and it was so nice to be in a home again after so long in the car and in hostels. We spent

Fun Times

Mario, Gusman, Me, Olly, Al, Neil, Wen, Micheal (Wen's Photo)

the week there tying to organise ourselves - Bex and Mike to go home and me to figure out 'what next?' - in and around having some fun; including a day at a water park - very much fun! =0)

I decided I would try out the Gold Coast as somewhere to live and work but after a matter of hours on my own in a hostel full of hung over, largely mute 18 year old, malnourished Londoners I decided the Gold Coast was not for me. A great place to go party for a couple of days but not somewhere to live. Perhaps it was the hostel's fault but it was all for the best really! Even though I've ended up staying in the only Australian city without a beach for a while, it's been a great stint. When I returned to Brisbane after my brief GC stint I met up with a friend from Canada (where I went for 6 months 7 years ago) and after saying I was looking for a job and somewhere to stay announced that she had a spare room and had just started thinking about maybe renting it out. It was fate!

Diving!

So, the very next day I moved in and it's lovely. Sandi and I get on really well and I have my own room, toilet and shower. We're close to the city and shops and have a balcony and a park. And a barbeque (of course)! It took about a week but I managed to get signed on with a hospitality agency to do waitressing, bar work and some kitchen work.

The second weekend of December I joined Sandi and a couple of her friends that I've got to know; Kim and Anna on a trip to Uki (in NSW), where Anna' dad lives. We stopped in Nimbin on the way. Funny little place. We got up early the next morning and climbed the 8.8km up and down Mount Warning. What a great climb! I loved it! I'm not much of a hiker usually but it was a really fun and rewarding morning. :0)

I spent most of Christmas day with Anna and her family as Sandi was back home in Adelaide for the festive period. They are a really lovely family and welcomed me in like they'd know me for ages! We left there at about 6

Claudia

At the Bird Park on Gili Meno - day trip (Claudia's pic)

and Anna dropped me back at the flat, where I set about making myself a roast. Had to be done I'm afraid; it's juts not Christmas without brussel sprouts and cranberry sauce.
For New Year's I went all out and took myself to Sydney to meet up with a friend I made on the island in Indonesia; Stani. I stayed with family of a friend back home. Again, such welcoming and friendly people. We all really hit it off straight away and they were very flexible with me; giving me a key and saying I should just come and go as I please. It was really nice to have the freedom but I really liked the family and ended up spending quite a lot of time in their company anyway.

For New Year's I met up with Stani and her friend Maartje. We'd all bought tickets to the Luna Park New Year's Eve Party. Google it! Luna Park is an amusement park right next to Sydney's Harbour Bridge, with a crazy laughing clown face for the entrance. Awesome! There were rides and good people and a fantastic view of the fireworks and D.J.'s (Pendulum were the midnight act -

More Fun Times

Mandee, Rob, Me, Sebastien, Joelle (Seb's Pic)

we weren't really feeling D&B though and went to the 'mainstream' tent). We had an AWESOME night!! Starting at 4 with dinner, then onto the Park at 6:30 and leaving at 3am. Loved it =0) What a start to 2010 - a new decade! How has a decade passed since I was at college and we were welcoming in a new millennium?!?!?! The century'll be up before we know it!

Sydney was awesome. I had a great time with my friends and the people I met and I saw lots of places and things and I loved it. I don't, however, feel a burning desire to move there. I do, on the other hand, having a burning desire to leave Brisvegas. Sydney made me realise two things about Brisbane: 1) how bored I am here and 2) how bloody hot and humid it is here!! I had felt that anything less sweaty that Singapore really was not that humid but man, Sydney's climate is a hellofa lot more comfortable!

So, that brings me to now. It's the second week of January and hopefully, by next week I'll be back in NSW staying with people as a WWOOFer (Willing

Clean Up Day!

Helping clean up the island (Wen's Photo)

Workers On Organic Farms). I need to do app 12 weeks of 'specified work' to be able to apply for a second year visa. Two things that come up under this title are: WWOOFing and fruit picking. The fruit picking will no doubt come; hopefully in Victoria or Tasmania as of March, but first some WWOOFing....

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