Sunday: Sorted!

Oh man, 4 days in and I'm still battling the jet lag. I'm being very careful not to sleep during the day, but I'm still so wide awake in the evening. I think I've had about 10 hours sleep since I arrived on Wednesday night!

Today (Sunday) I woke to the sad news that one of my old church friends had passed away. I'm sad I won't be able to be there to pay my respects, however, I'm relieved for her as I know she has suffered and she will now be in complete peace.

I had been contemplating going to find a church for Sunday as one thing I have lacked since getting here is a bit of community. The hostel's great and all, but it's a bit rubbish for lone travellers who don't want to go out drinking every night or stay up til all hours. How old am I!? Actually, today's crowd seem a little bit more chilled out, but perhaps that's cuz all the revellers are still out on the town!

Anyway, the news about Olive confirmed that I should go find a church, and it turned out that there was one right opposite the hostel I'm staying at. I say opposite, it's probably about 1 minute walk as the crow flies, but about 15 minutes by the time you've crossed at the busy main road/tram line - I'm not kidding, it's massive. You have to cross the road in two halves. It's at least 4 lanes in each direction, with cross roads, and a tram line running through the middle to add to the confusion.

I am so glad I did though. I had such a lovely warm welcome (at the church, not the crossroads!), an invite to dinner and even an offer of accommodation until Chris gets here! The only complaint I have is that I burnt my tongue on their coffee but I can hardly blame them for that... I even learnt a little bit more about the Ozzie Rules football, like, what gets them points. So that was quite useful! It's kind of like Rugby (not that I know anything about that sport either), but it has 4 posts instead of 2, and depending on where the ball goes depends on the points awarded. It's usually a high-scoring game but this one was quite low apparently (68/68).

For the rest of the afternoon I headed off for a wander around St Kilda, the weather was actually good today! It's been cold and even rained so far. Two people have now told me how this year has seen their coldest winter, they obviously didn't see ours earlier in the year! But I didn't even need my jumper at times today.


I then headed into town and wandered around, grabbed a drink & bite to eat and then sat and people-watched in Federation Square. I'm not normally much of a people watcher, but I managed to sit there for over an hour. My highlight: one little girl who had decided she'd had enough of walking and just suddenly plonked herself down on the floor, laid down and tried to go to sleep! Her dad looked slightly embarrassed, picked her up and then carried her the rest of the way on her shoulders. Aw, bless.

So all-in-all a passable, but very slow weekend. Must be the only time I've been begging for it to be Monday quicker so that I can actually be a bit more productive in the job-hunt... Wish me luck!
 
Love, Peace & Jelly Babies
Hannah
xXx

Come on you Reds... urm, & blacks and whites, and/or black and whites...

Having applied for some jobs and looked, unsuccessfully, for some temporary accommodation, I decided to step away from the computer and go do some stuff away from the hostel. So, I started with the Neighbours tour! Something I did last time, but as my previous blog readers will be aware, didn't enjoy so much thanks to being sick on the bus.


I got a 2nd chance at it today though - no illness all morning! I met the same actress (Nell Feeney I think her name is - played Janelle). Apparently they can't get anyone else to come out on a weekend!! Although if she's ever ill or unable to make it, Dr Karl apparently comes over instead. I kind of wish she'd been ill today (No offence Nell) but at least this time I got a photo & hadn't had to run off the bus in a hurry! Plus, the set had changed a lot since the last time I went (which I knew), so it was worth the money. I saw the uni campus, which seemed really quite small. Makes me think that when they're shooting uni scenes with lots of extras, it must be really crammed! Oh, and learnt an upcoming storyline or two that I'm gutted about (I won't share, don't want to spoil it). I also saw the new 2nd floor to Lassiters, which is also due to feature in a major scene which I missed (not in UK yet, already been in Oz). Again, don't want to ruin any plots but it's all tres exciting!


The highlight of my whole day though was very unexpected and inspiring: one of the ladies on the tour obviously wasn't British. She had an Australian 'twang', but sounded more European. I thought perhaps she'd been in Australia a while, but no, it's better than that... she's from Holland and she learnt her English entirely from Neighbours, hence the Ozzie twang! Amazing 'eh!? Well, me and the chap she was talking to were impressed anyhow!


After that, I did a little more house & job hunting and then headed back into town for a wander. It was AFL final day between two teams, the Magpies (Black & White) and the Saints (Red, Black & White). The match was shown on a big screen in Federation Square (a big monstrocity/wonderous building, subject to opinion). The Magpies are from Collingwood, and the Saints are from St Kilda, which is conveniently where I'm staying at present.


Naturally I chose to follow the latter (because of the name, not the place). Naturally, they were losing for much of it. Doh! I missed the last quarter (it went on for frickin' ages it seemed). When I first wrote this I said that I thought they lost because they'd been doing so terribly. But it seems I missed the best part of the game. Not that I understood a single rule, I couldn't cheer or really support 'my' team because I never really knew when they'd scored or done something bad - I relied on the cheers & boos around me and when that didn't work, I just looked at the score on the screen! Anyhow, one rule I learnt is that they don't have extra time. And, unusually, the game turned out to be a draw. So we've got a rematch next weekend! Hopefully I can learn some rules in time for then...


It was a reasonable day's entertainment for a relatively low cost. Just what the Dr ordered (Dr Karl to be specific)!

Mummy! Mummy! Mummy! Mummy! Mummy! Mummy!

(This entry covers up to 23rd September 2010)


Many people have said how brave they think I am for starting this trip alone, and how I should do it while I still can, while I'm still young & without kids. After all, you can't do it once you've got kids can you? 


...Well, why then did I spend at least the first hour or so of my first & second plane journey hearing the exact words of this blog post title from various children around me?! Who takes their young kids on a 22 hour flight for pleasure!? And why is it never 'Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!'? Those poor mums. It wasn't too bad really, there were other kids on the plane too who I hadn't even noticed til they wandered past asleep in their parents arms. Those are the kind of kids I like to travel on a plane with!


So, I said goodbye to family, friends & Chris and headed off on the plane for the first part of my adventure. The Qantas flight took off from Heathrow at 12.20 and was due to arrive in Melbourne at 20.00 the next day (local time - 9 hours ahead of UK), stopping at Hong Kong in the middle.


The kids on the flight weren't as bad as I perhaps make them out to be. Nope, the worst bit for me was near air-sickness from London to Hong Kong. I soon realised why the flight was not as smooth as it could have been though; the Hong Kong Airport runways don't really leave much room for manouver/error. All around I could see the sea getting closer & closer, and then I saw some steep mountains, and then the next thing I knew we'd touched down. It felt kind of similar to what I imagine driving Dad's Land Cruiser on a balancing beam would feel...!


Anyhow, the next leg of the journey was much better having had a couple of hours to recover at Hong Kong Airport. My landing into Melbourne was slightly stressful due to the tight timescales between landing and the last free shuttle going (and feeling queasy towards the end again). But, long story short, I made it ok and got to my hostel safely on Wednesday night.


I'm still struggling to get over the jet lag so have done nothing but online research & go to a shop to buy some food so far! It's been a bit of a deflating start as I'm struggling to find some cheaper accommodation like I hoped, so looks like I could be in for a few more nights in hostels. I don't mind, but I'm getting a bit old for all the door-slamming & loud music throughout the evening - it's an excellent vibe but I'm definitely one of the oldest by a long way at present, which has its downsides with the current crowd (mainly looking a maximum of 21, at a push) and I need my sleep (when I can get it)! 


I have applied for a couple of jobs and will wait to hear. Along with the accommodation, there's not a great deal available at present. I'll try a bit more seriously next week. In the meantime, I have the Aussie Rules Grand Final to look forward to on Saturday - apparently St Kilda (where I'm staying) are in it, so I don't suppose sleep's going to be forthcoming then either!! I also booked myself another Neighbours tour in the hope that I don't throw up this time & can see what changed when they stopped it between Christmas & New year (and to save Chris the bother of having to sit through it again with me).


Well, take care & I'll write again soon.
Hannah
xXx

BTW... the wanderer returned!

Someone kindly pointed out to me at the weekend that I never did tell my blog readers I'd returned. I'm sure most of you have figured this out by now, but just in case, I came back to the UK earlier this year!

However, I am about to embark on my biggest adventure yet! Stay tuned for me to bring you exciting(?!) tales of my journey which will start in Melbourne again (this time I will hopefully manage to find a job!), then head off to New Zealand before going to S.E Asia, starting in Singapore & flying out of Hong Kong.

I'll be gone for about 6 months in total, departing TOMORROW (21st) and returning on 14th March 2011! Hopefully the budget will last that long...

Best get on with some packing because, as usual, I have left it until quite late to figure out how to pack for 6 months!

Take care y'all.

Love, Peace & Jelly babies

Hannah

xXx