Melbourne & Adelaide 4th Sept - 13th Sept

After my busy couple of weeks in Sydney working my temp job, and the bar job in the evenings - I set off on Sunday morning 4th Sept - a little tired but excited for my trip. Last time I saw Lara was when we had a amazing trip to the States, and she came and spent some time with me in the UK with me back in Sept 2010.
Arrived in Melbourne midday, and got picked up by Renee, one of Lara's school mates who is now a mate of mine too, also having spent some time with us in the UK and states. We went out for a massive lunch (okay it was only me who had the massive lunch), and enjoyed a few glasses of Vino at a delightful little Italian place - catching up a bit on the news. Later that afternoon settled into Renee's place, where we were staying until Wednesday. The 3 days in Melbourne saw us doing general touristy things. Going for light brunches/lunches/dinners, (light- read: Gluttonous), a few drinks here and there (few- read: several) and a tad of sight seeing. Melbourne is super cool with loads of funky bistros, bars, cafes, restaurants etc - and parts of it really reminded me of Cape Town. Whilst in Melbourne having some newly found wealth, I spoilt myself to a smidgen of shopping. Bagged a banging dress (mom and dad dont panic - banging is UK slang for awesome), some delightful heals - which do make me look like a tranny as I am about 6.1ft in them, and a few cosmetic treats. Went to a delightful and very entertaining cabaret show see http://www.draculas.com.au/ and also did a whizz stop tour of the Melbourne museum which was very interesting. Had lots of good laughs, and lots of yummy food and would have loved to have been able to explore more - but time always flies when your having a blast.
Lara and I left for Adelaide on the weds eve, and arrived fairly late. Had an early night in, and finally got to meet Lara's mom - Nina, and prized princess - "Lady Alexis", the grunting little Pug. Smelly little thing though.
In Adelaide I finally managed to get my hair done, and have a manicure and pedicure. What a treat and a reminder of my former luxury days in London! We also went to a fantastic show, which I imagine is much the same as the Rand show in Joburg, with shit loads of amazing food stalls, fun rides and most importantly wine & even cheese tasting stalls. We went on the ferris wheel, wondered around and stuffed our pie holes with decadent treats.. Anything involving gluttonous acts is always a point scorer with me so I absolutely loved it!
On the follwoing evening we also went on a ladies night out, which started off at Lara's cousins house which we were house sitting. We arranged a delicious chacuterie platter and polished off a few bottles of wine and cocktails before even leaving home. We went out to a few bars, and before I knew it we were back at home - but alas the night didnt end there. I woke up the next day with a throbbing headache at 3pm - we had a stonker of a night.. I had an amazing time apparently, pity I dont remember it.
The remaining time in Adelaide was more relaxing, highlight was a trip to the Barossa Valley - which is much like the Franschoek region, huge wine production area and also very foody with amazing farm stalls and quaint guest houses tucked in between rolling hills covered in vines. Stunning. Had Lunch at Maggie Beers - which is a farm named after the lady who founded it. Kind of like a more succesful version of Ina Parman - she produces absolutely delicious pates and terrines, orginally with Pheasants - and has branched out into several other things. See: http://www.maggiebeer.com.au/home/ Inspirational in terms of having a dream which has evolved into a massive empire! I bought one of her cookbooks - her style of life and cooking completely appeals to me. We also went to some of the wine farms and had some tastings - such a beautiful part of the world! A complete delight was coming across a wine farm which had an enclosure of tame orphaned kangaroos - they were SO cute... see photos.
Had a absolutely lovely time having lunches with Lara's mom Nina, and spending time with my old chum again - great to catch up and as always feels like time never passed.
Had to leave on the Tuesday evening, but have decided I will be going back... The wines in the Barossa region are calling me! I need to go back and see more, plus I didnt get to experience the full fun of RADelaide as its called..
Decided to try and go back before I leave Sydney at the end of this month (Oct).
See below some of the photos:

 Having a nice din din!!

 Serious case of crabs...melbourne museum..

Stuffed otter which Lara loved... I totally imagined it had a cockney accent...

 Terrifying ghost ride - en route to Dracula's cabaret

 Little snack at the Adelaide show...

 Loving the ferris wheel...

 Our ladies night...starting off with our cocktail pitcher, kylie getting stuck in!

 SHOTS!!!

 Out and about, Lara creeping on my hair...

 Action shot!

 Our delicious treats - including the cupcakes I made - it was Kylies birthday earlier that week and all...

 Views of the canola flowers on the way to the Barossa

 Maggie Beers restaurant and farm stall

 Having delicious Lunch with Nina (Lara's mom) and Lara

 Buttons the cutest kangaroo!!! Fiesty little fellow...

 Getting some love from Buttons!

 Winelands!

melbourne city centre

Working time in Sydney 16th Aug - 4th Sept

Arrived here in Sydney on the 16th Aug, after long-winded journey from Whitsundays! Heartily greeted by faithful longstanding wonderful chum, Carin & her now fiance Hilton. Carin and Hilton now live in the very convenientally located CBD, and had themselves only arrived a few days prior to me. They are now permanently located here in Sydney after emigrating from South Africa. Settled into comfortable one bedroom apartment, where my room is the living room and my bed the sofa couch, its wonderfully comfortable, and after having exhausted my travel funds, very very kindly free!
With all 3 of us having recently arrived, we all hit the ground running - trying to find some work! The little laptop (which I now type from), saw alot of love from us 3 - with all of us scouring the net and various job sites applying for work!
I jumped straight on Gumtree, the site which was hugely used in the UK and after such success has now filtered out globally, and I also signed up with a temp agency. Hit a lucky break and within a few days, procured some work (which is still ongoing) at the live music venue, see http://noteslive.net.au/ and very fortunately this is cash in hand work! Job there is as a general staff member both behind the bar as well as on the floor. Very easy work, and money for jam as they say in the UK. However, the work isnt frequent enough -  they are only open for specific nights - when bands have booked the venue. So basically working on average 3 nights a week, sometimes more sometimes just 2 nights.
Another lucky break saw me getting a short 8 day project with the temping agency I signed up for. Job was at Fuji Xerox, doing some admin type work with their accounts. So within a week, I had 2 jobs and was working daytimes and then on some evenings going straight to another job. It was tiring after not having worked for the past 7 months! Everything was perfectly timed, as I had planned a short trip to visit my friend Lara for 10 days, and the work gave me a bit of time to save some money but still allow the freedom to go on the trip, something I was worried about when I initially arrived and started looking for work. The temping work was only a short little project, so I did apply for loads of other jobs, I thought that it would be ideal if I could work both the cash in hand job as well as another more full time job.
I did start feeling guilty telling people I was planning on being here for 6 months, when in reality I was only planning on being here a few weeks. Something I had to do, as I put myself into a employers perspective when applying for jobs, and knew that I wouldnt hire someone if I knew it was only for a month ! I also found that most bars, restaurants, hotels etc want someone that has full availability, which I didnt have. I wanted to keep the cash in hand job , cash in hand is tax free after all, and if you have more than 1 job here in Oz you get taxed massively. So I even did a few interviews and trials at other places - but found that they were dead ends because I couldnt juggle the jobs effectively. Worked a trial shift at this place which served amazing food and was run with militant precision. Really top class fine food, whacky and weird creations, looking like art master peices - tasting amazing! It would have been awesome to work there, but alas what will be will be - after I said I could work the start day they wanted me to - they didnt call me back! Place was http://www.gastropark.com.au/
Anyway, all went well for the 2 weeks of my work. Worked like a dog and saved enough money to fund my entire trip to Melbourne and Adelaide, living comfortably of course!
The work for Fuji was dead boring, but easy enough - and the work at Notes allowed me to see some pretty awesome bands. The only downside of the work at Notes, is that the place has some pretty nutty people working there - wont go too much into it as this is a public blog after all, but had an "interesting" run ins with a staff member... crazy times. But I keep to myself, do my job - work hard and quietly relish in the knowledge that I am moving on a few weeks, and the "interesting" staff members there have shit lives and will probably die miserable and alone. Karma is so rewarding.
So onto the next adventure -  on the Sunday 4th Sept, I left Sydney to fly off to Melbourne, where I was meeting Lara and staying with a mutual friend Renee (she spent some time with us in UK, and also the states). Save that trip for the next post! See below some of my Sydney Photos:

 Ordering Sushi - on a touch screen!

 Hilton making good use of the chopsticks...

 On our way to watch our first Aussie Rugby League Game

 Arrived a little early....had to kill time with some hotdog eating

 The mascot!

 Renee eating some vegemite on toast after a drunk night out!

 a little tipsy, thats Ian, Renee's brother - stayed with them my first week in Oz

 Iconic Sydney Bridge

 An Aborigine!

 Cockatoo's flying about everywhere like pigeons

 Huge bats calling Flying foxes - just chilling in the trees in the Botanical Gardens

 Botanical gardens - huge and lovely but the weather on the day I went was a bit rubbish

 Cockatoos in the Botanical gardens just fly onto you if you have food!

 Awesome views from the gardens...

Tidal pools on the walk from Bondi Beach to Bronte, again the weather was a bit rubbish!

Back in Whitsundays 12th-16th Aug

Okey dokey, so we pick up on the returning to Airlie Beach, my massive 30th Birthday (not really), and then the time I spent in Sydney before going on a little girls break with Lara in early Sept.
Friday the 12th Aug, we arrived back in Airlie Beach after a somewhat tense few hours, Mel & Kerrie seemed to be having a quarrel of sorts - something about woman travelling together, always a drama! Reminds me of a few holiday quarrels I have had with Miss Lara - alas, our friendship remains in tact - and I personally think that no relationship should be without quarrel, otherwise you have really never expressed your true opinion. I mean its a physical impossibility to agree on everything someone says and does, and if you're not speaking your mind you're a bloody pushover. In recent years I have however tried to be more diplomatic in my slating of other peoples ideas which differ to mine, I can report though that I have not yet mastered this..
We arrived back in Airlie around about late afternoon, and had a casual night in - with lovely dinner prepared by Mel, and an early night. We were pretty exhausted.
Saturday saw us going for a very adventurous water-jet skii with Mel's brother James, and I can confirm clutching onto a jet-ski hurtling at 80kms/hr over choppy waters, is probably the most terrifying, thing I have done in a while. We were out at sea for about 45 mins, and I literally had to hang on for dear life - it didnt help that Jame's was doing his utmost to terrify me, doing 360 degree turns without any warning. Terrifying but really fun! I would love to have a jet ski! Unfortunately my hair didnt appreciate the excursion and I had a massive dreadlock which took me an hr to try and get out.
The saturday evening saw us taking a trip out to Mel's pops, with the 2 brothers and one of their fiances. We went into what is termed the "Bush" here in Australia, a rather rural area - a small town inhabited mainly with the miners who work in the nearby coal mines. It was her Dad's birthday and we were going to have a liesurely BBQ at his house and spend the night.Mel's dads name is Hilary named after Sir Edward Hilary apparently - yes I kid you not, I mean they could have called him Edward, poor chap has probably had a life of ridicule. Its not even a unisex name, its like calling your son Elizabeth? Anyway - a fairly long drive - 2hrs away, I got to see my first kangaroo's - unfortunately - they were all dead ones on the side of the road. I mean there was a dead roo every km if not more, the poor things must be pretty abundant!
We had a fun filled evening around a camp style fire, drinking copiuos amounts of wine and having a good yarn. Highlights were trying to replicate dance moves taught to us by Mel's younger half brothers - they are like 10 & 13. Unfortunately having been born with little to no dance co-ordination,  and I did not master the "Sponge Bob". I did manage however, to totally master their quirky little tricycle-style pushbike. It involved doing a very intense bum wiggle do get the momentum and some good rythm to continue this. It was very funny to watch Mel even took a video. Our general tom foolery, drinking and chatting went on into the wee hours, after a good few laughs.
The Sunday, was my birthday - and true to my usual style I planned nothing and tried to let the day go by with as little festivity as possible, I hate birthdays! I was forced however to have a birthday cake, which I admittedly landed up making myself (you know I like baking!), but Jame's refused to let the day go by withouth cake - and short of watching him bumbling around the kitchen - I insisted I take over!
I was quite pleased with my creation, a chocolate cake using of course, none other than Mrs Tough's recipe!

I must admit, it was very sad to not be with my family, close friends or boyfriend on the day, and I think my years of not making an event of my birthday are over. I should celebrate my life a little more! So I vow to not travel on my birthday again. It was lovely to see everyone on Skype though, and chatting to Emmy, Tanny Pie, Georgie, Rick and the whole Mashoza clan was wonderful!

The Monday was quite a fun filled day - I booked a day yacht trip around the Whitsunday Islands, which included snorkelling, a lunchtime BBQ, and unlimited drinks - WOOOHOOO!

The day was lovely, a little cloudy at times, but beautiful.

Some photos below:

the yacht and fellow passengers, stopped here for a snorkel and saw the most amazing fish & coral! only shame was that the visibility was a bit poor.

 Whitehaven beach, voted one of the nicest beaches in the world - looks like South Africa?

 more Whitehaven beach

 Me looking VERY tanned and GLAM! It was so desolate that I was topless!

 Lovely islands we were going past - Whitsundays is made up of a about 70 islands, some of them tiny, some of them luxury resorts.

 Sun setting on the way home!

 The main beach in Airlie - looks nice now but in the warmest summer months it is apparently swamped with deadly jelly fish! People wear suits to swim and all - another perk of South African Beaches!

 Loved the name of this boat, I imagine that if I had a boat this would be its name!

That dark blob in the water, a giant turtle - it was a few hundred metres away - awesome!

Anyhoo - my first day of being 30 was was quite eventful, as said before in email. I slipped on the boat and severely strained my shoulder ligaments, fainted because it was so sore, I then walked into a low shelf splitting both my eye and nose open, and finally the event of the day had to be when I went for a pee and failed to realise that the toilet seat was down... I pee'd on my own bloody feet. GREAT.

I left Airlie beach the tuesday morning, unfortunately it too was with a little added Sarah drama. When I arrived at the airport I tried to check in and was told I was at the wrong airport. I had actually booked a ticket which involved getting a ferry to a small island (Hamilton Island), and my flight was from that Island. After having spent a considerable amount of money in New Zealand, and in getting around Australia - I was terrified of the thought of having to shell out more money! Thankfully the airline staff were very helpful, and I managed to secure a later flight for just over a $100 more... not as bad as I thought! The downside was that I was at the airport at 10am, and I had to wait four hours for my flight, and this airport literally makes PE airport look huge! I read a magazine about 4 times over, ate a lot of sandwiches, pies and junk food from the horrid little cafe type store, and baked in the sun like a fat little lizzard. It was awesome.

Thats all on my posts about Airlie! Next - Sydney....