6/1/2012 - Back in Melbourne, Temporarily

2012 is coming on quite swimmingly so far for me, but first I'll tell you all about New Year's Eve in Sydney. We spent the day chilling out and getting our picnic dinner ready, then left at around 7pm for the Observatory. Parking at Redfern we got the train the last couple of stops, which ended up being a really good idea. Anyhow, I gained my 'traveller's badge' by spotting the right platform, but we missed the train. It didn't matter since they were going to the city every few minutes and by missing the train we got to see the hilarious site of a drunk guy accidentally sliding down the middle of the escalators, but of course they had those bumps that are meant to stop people sliding down. Ouch. A train ride later, in which I saw the obnoxious couple from the aquarium (seriously, it's a big city, I was so surprised to see them again!) and we got off into the millions of people heading to various vantage points around Circular Quay and Darling Harbour. The walk to the Observatory was only around 10 minutes, and on the way I snapped this picture of some inadvertently philosophical sky writing.

That's deep, man. 

Once we got up to the Observatory, we staked our claim to a piece of grass and set up our picnic. It was a lovely spot, and because it was 8pm it was a sort of twilight. Don't get me wrong, I would have coped just fine in the crowds but there's no question as to where the better location was. The fact that only members of the Powerhouse Museum could get tickets to the Observatory at NYE and then that those tickets were around $80 made it a nice number of people, not too many not too little. We had our lovely picnic of chicken salad with crusty bread rolls and settled ourselves in for the long haul.

At 9pm, the kids fireworks started and Dan and David showed me a little spot between the hedgerows that no one else seemed to know about where the view was great!

 After the 9pm show, quite a few of the families left and we mosied around to get our free tea/coffee. The next three hours were a little boring, but I amused myself by hanging out with David and playing solitaire on Lyn's iPad. Next thing, it's quarter to midnight and we headed over to our spot. There was a ball on top of the Observatory that was rising in the last few minutes until midnight, as opposed to the ball in New York dropping. I suppose it makes sense, we are on the other side of the world after all, so opposites make sense. The fireworks themselves were amazing. I didn't take any pictures but there is a video of pretty much the whole thing that I took. There were fireworks everywhere, up and down the river, off the bridge, from the tops of office blocks behind us. Sometimes it was difficult to know where to look!

The really difficult bit was getting back to the car. I'd expected the trains and buses to be very busy, but not so busy that we couldn't get on them. We actually ended up walking the majority of the way to Redfern and got back to the car at around 2.15am. By the time we got back to Milperra, I was so tired and very aware of the fact that I had to be up at 5am to go catch my plane back to Melbourne. I did manage to get 2 hours sleep but 5am came around way too fast and when I woke up I felt like I'd been asleep for 2 minutes. Surprisingly, I didn't feel too bad and Lyn drove me to the train station to get the Airport line. After a bit of a tearful goodbye, I got on the train to the airport, managing not to fall asleep! Online check-in is a miraculous thing as I would have had to have been up so much earlier there wouldn't of been much use in sleeping at all.

The flight itself was pretty painless, only being an hour long. Landing in Melbourne was fine and I was almost immediately onto the Skybus to Southern Cross station.  I then had a half an hour wait for a train to Newport, no direct Williamstown trains that time of the morning, so I had to change at Newport then walk from the Williamstown North station back to the house. For those who don't know, I'm back nannying for Eliza and Ash again for a week! Originally it was meant to be for two weeks, but after getting on so well with Lyn I thought it would be nice to go back and spend more time with them, since they are my family and it could be a good while before we see each other again.

It took a good portion of the 3rd however to get Virgin Australia to change my flights etc. Firstly, they have a $60 cancellation fee, $60!! Ridiculous since you get refunded in credit so can only spend it with them anyhow, I'm half understand if they were losing business through it. Secondly, apart from the last guy I spoke to, their call centre is useless. Thirdly, you can't get the cheap online rates with the refunded credit and have to pay the full over-the-phone price. Finally, like many airlines now, you have to pay extra to check luggage, $12 extra for 23kg, bastards. Excuse my French. Anyhow, I now fly up to Sydney on the 9th.

Spent quite a few of the last few days at the beach. Actually we've been to the beach everyday since we had a 40 degree day a couple of days ago and being in the water was really the only solution. My new bikini came and it looks okay, the only real issue being my legs which has restarted my campaign to lose some weight. I'm not going drastic but more cutting down on the carbs (I eat an unbelievable amount of pasta), doing a little calorie counting and a lot more exercise. The only negative effect has been that Stella and Jarrah have got into the habit of saying "I need to lose weight" then pointing out where. The girls are 10 and 8 and haven't got an ounce of fat on them, I hope it isn't my influence rubbing off any, trying to talk them out of being 'on a diet' at their ages. I've been really good though, turning down ice cream, having salad for dinner, cutting down to one sugar in my tea and doing half an hour of exercise a day. If you knew me in High School you'll know that me doing exercise voluntarily is a shocking occurrence, so you see this is serious.

We've also visited the ScienceWorks twice, which a museum not far from here that is quite similar to the Science Museum in London but on a lot smaller scale. It has all those experiments for kids that you want to play on but can't if you don't have a kid with you. Actually, when Nikki and I went to London last year, we went to the Science Museum and played on all the experiments even though it was just us, so there, up yours society ;) At the ScienceWorks there was a section on fitness testing. I suppose this jolted me back to reality as well because the kids got their 'score cards' and filled them in on the way around and then got a certificate at the end based on their results. I didn't even try to do it, it would've been disastrous, but the little goes I did have on a few things were traumatic. The only thing I was any good at was the netball part and even that was mediocre. The day in itself was good though, it's a good little Museum really with plenty to keep the kids amused for hours, including an old pumping station out the back complete with big old machinery.

Anyhow, enough rabbiting on about weight and onto more interesting things. I have started a list. No shocks there though, huh? I always have some kind of list on the go. I mean, my to-do list right now includes dying my hair and sorting out my Hong Kong accommodation, but this is a new list. It's a list of the top-100 books published from 1923 - 2011, and I aim to read them all. If you're wondering why it's 1923 onwards, it's because the list was published in TIME Magazine and it's books published since the first issue of TIME. Not only am I going to read them, but I'm going to write short reviews on this here blog. The idea mainly came to me because when I'm home in seven weeks, I'm not going to have anything to write about, life in good old GY isn't too interesting y'see. So this will keep the blog ticking over nicely and also hopefully expand my literary horizons. The list is sorted alphabetically, so I'm just going to pick them at random. The next book I read will be To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee since I bought it in Williamstown Books today, before I'd even thought of doing the list. I was actually looking for Animal Farm by George Orwell since I enjoyed Coming Up For Air so much and of course 1984. As it happens, 1984 is the only book on the TIME Top 100 that I have already read, so I shall review that first, in a separate post.

Today has been another hot day, so although we ventured to the park we didn't stay long. I made a nutella cake for Ash's birthday and was very proud of my own willpower when I only had a slither. Had a lush bath tonight; candles, essential oil, steaming hot water - the lot! Nice and relaxing before watching the Inbetweeners Movie in bed. Lovely.

21/12/2011 - To Sydney and Back

I have plenty to write, I'm just hoping I can remember everything I've done.

I'll start off with the girls Christmas Concert. We all know that when you go to a child's school concert, you're only there to see that child. Unless something amazing happens, you really want to see your child then go. But obviously, that is not school concert etiquette and you sit there, politely clapping and listening to the head teacher do a ten minute thank you speech. Maybe it's a little insensitive, but I'm not half glad I had a couple of ciders before I went. I haven't drank anything for about a month, so I was nicely fuzzy which saw me through the two and a half hour concert. Without the cider, I may have strangled myself with my camera cord. Nonetheless, Jarrah and Stella's parts were good. Jarrah was right in the centre of hers and danced really well, and Stella was really loud and they both looked great. Even better was that because of the concert, they didn't have to be in school until 11am the next day - lay in! When I went to pick them up from school, I tried to glam up my job title by explaining to the lady on reception that I was the 'au pair', it didn't fly and I had to go back to 'nanny' for her to understand who I was. Worth a shot I suppose.

On Friday, I ventured into Melbourne to meet up with Cheryl and Hayley. Remember them, from the Wodka Club in Picton? Their train took a little longer than mine, so I ended up sunning myself in Fed Sq. for a good forty five minutes whilst reading Lorna Doone, a Exmoor legend. Managed to not burn and when the girls arrived, we had a walk through the Christmas trees before wandering off to find somewhere to eat. I took navigational duties, which proved to be a mistake when we found we were going in the opposite direction to the rooftop cafe that Cheryl suggested. So instead we ducked into a cafe that seemed to do reasonable food, and with the promise of a free glass of wine with any meal, I was sold. I had a surprisingly spicy risotto which was accompanied by a glass of Sav. All in all a lovely meal. We then set off for the mall that is right next to Melbourne Central Station, so we hopped onto the free city circle tram. That was before we realised we were going the wrong way, (not a good day for navigation, my fault again, but you would think the city circle would just be one big loop so it wouldn't matter which way you went!) Anyhow, we jumped off at Harbour Town, which I'd seen adverts for as being good for shopping. It was. It was massive and it was outlet. Admittedly, I bought myself a few Christmas presents in the form of clothes. But it was all okay because I was under budget for that week, possibly for the first time. On that note I really should update my money book today. By 5-ish, the heat was exhausting, so we made our way back to the tram and back to the train station and went our separate ways. So good to catch up though. Since it was Friday night, I sat upstairs with the girls and had a movie night. We watched Valentine's Day and Stella fell asleep, so after putting her in bed, Jarrah and I watched half of Dirty Dancing, queueing up many quotes ("Nobody puts Baby in a corner!")

Over the weekend I was very homesick. I don't know what bought it on really, but I suspect it was because I finally got festive. After downloading a Christmas CD, and watching the three classic Christmas movies (Miracle on 34th Street, The Muppet's Christmas Carol and Love Actually) and watching Carols in the Domain (an Aussie thing), I got there. Festivity city. But in reality, it only reminded me of how much I missed my family and my friends. I had a good long chat with Mum and thought about planning things. I like to plan things when I'm down, I either bake or plan. Because I've been well and truly bitten by the travel bug, I thought it appropriate to plan my next travels. Then the best idea hit me. For my 21st and Mum's birthday (the number of which I shall not disclose, you're welcome Mum, hehe!) in 2013, me and Mum should take a trip on the Orient Express from Venice to London. It's a 4-day trip, so we could spend 3 days in Venice first, and take it as a week away. Good idea, no? I spent Sunday planning too, but this time I was planning things much naerer, like where I'm going to stay in Bali and in Hong Kong. I haven't made a firm decision where I am going to stay, but I've decided not to stay in the ChungKing Mansions in Hong Kong. From what I can gather, it's a big building spilt into many different businesses, 99% of which are hostels. The building however, is very very old and a massive fire risk with no chance of escape, Furthermore, reviews tell me that it's a hotbed for druggies, muggings and rape. Unfortunately, there don't seem to be many places to stay cheaply outside of ChungKing. But my decision is that even if I have to put it on my Lloyds credit card and get the international charges, I'll do it. My safety > Money Saving. Other Sunday activities included giving Sammy the dog a bath and having dinner at Nandos! Yes, Australia has Nandos.

Monday was my last day in Melbourne, supposedly, so I packed and spoke to Mum a little more since I was still feeling pretty down. Had a good cry, always makes things better in the end. I went and had lunch with Ashley and Griff that day too and had my first Aussie pie. Apparently a 'thing' over here, but I didn't think they were too much different to a pukka pie from the chippy in all honesty. Had a chat with Ash about my next steps and he offered to pay for my flights back to Melbourne then up to Brisbane if I wanted to come back.. I must be doing something right hey? The kids break up for summer holidays on Thursday, so I think that has something to do with it. (Summer holidays in December, I know...) But I decided to do it and head back to Melbourne after Christmas/NYE depending on if I could find somewhere to stay.That night when the kids got home, we all went to the Cinema to see Arthur Christmas. A kids film, obviously, but also very funny for adults too and me still being in a slightly emotional state, a crying film.

I had such an early start yesterday morning to get my train to Gosford where my Dad's cousin Roger lives. My train left Melbourne at 8.30am so we left the house at 7.30am which meant being up at 6.30am. Ouch. Once I had found the right platform and got myself a toffee nut latte though, I was pretty much settled into my seat. The train journey was supposed to be 11 hours until I had to make my connection at Strathfield, but because of "speed restrictions imposed on the line between Melbourne and Sydney" I didn't end up getting into Strathfield until 8.40pm. In that time I finished Lorna Doone and read nearly all of Michael Moore's Dude, Where's My Country? That's a hilarious book by the way, I fully recommend it. It actually had me nodding along and laughing out loud. I also watched a good ten episodes of Family Guy, three of Peep Show ("Why can't I have everything I want all the time? Isn't that democracy?") and one episode of An Idiot Abroad ("It's an alright wall, it's the Alright Wall of China.") Transferred at Strathfield, had to wait 20 minutes for my train. It was a double decker train! All I have to say to this is; England, buck up your ideas! This is two countries I've seen and been on double decker trains in now and they are awesome and you are missing out. The journey from Strathfield to Gosford was not the 30 minutes I expected but actually took an hour, so I ended up getting into Gosford at 9.50pm. Needless to say I was so exhausted, in fact I walked right past Roger who had come to pick me up! After doubling back and finally meeting him, we came back to his for a cup of tea. I couldn't stay up long but had time to talk about the family and give Mum and Dad a call to let them know I was okay.

This morning Roger made a breakfast of poached eggs which was lovely, and after checking my emails we set off into Terrigal. Terrigal was a beautiful little seaside town with a gorgeous beach. I took lots of pictures, but I left my camera cable back in Melbourne with the majority of my things. I didn't see the point in bringing everything for a short trip. We sat and had a coffee and spoke about politics, of all things, as well as more things about the family. Roger told me all about how he had found out he had a daughter five years ago. I actually ended up sending her an email since she lives in Yorkshire back home and to be honest, we could use all the females on this side of the family as possible, the blokes far outweigh us haha! I thought it would be nice to get in contact really. After a wander around Terrigal and then a walk around the mall, we came back and I fell asleep on the garden swing chair reading my book, I must have been tired! I'm very grateful today, as Roger called his sister to see if I could stay there for New Years and the answer was a yes! I feel quite rude really, because I don't know these people from Adam even though they are my family, I've never met them. I feel that I'm intruding being here for Christmas, let alone inviting myself for NYE too. I'll just make sure I offer to help with everything and hopefully I'll feel less guilty. So my plans now are to fly back to Melbourne on January 1st! Tonight Roger is working, so I'm going to chill out in front of the TV and drink copious amounts of tea. Proper tea.

I'll get some pictures to you soon!

My days look like this. Lush.

14/12/2011 - T-Minus Ten Weeks

I'm going to start off by confirming my decision to come home in February as originally planned. As much as I would love to stay in Australia, I need to go to Uni. I've been working towards going to University for two years and it would be silly to throw that away. I know, I could go back, but education only gets more difficult the longer you stay out of it. There will always be nannying jobs in the world, but I won't always have the chance to do my degree.

Sooo what's been going on with me, you ask? I haven't felt much up to going out into Melbourne. In all honesty, I feel like once I've seen one museum I've seen them all, and I am not going to another zoo. So until something different presents itself, I'm rather content with reading my book at Gloria Jean's and drinking vanilla lattes all day. Of course it's also been lots of looking after the kids. My day generally looks like this;

7am; Get up, have a cup of tea, get the kids up at 7.15, organise the three of them whilst trying to tody up as well.

8.30am; The girls leave for school, I get Griffin dressed and myself dressed before setting Griff up an activity and eating my breakfast.

9 - 11am; Cleaning, laundry, sweeping, vacuuming, bathroom, kids rooms, kitchen.

11am - 3pm; Free time! Yay! Like I said, I've been spending lots of time at the coffee house of wandering around Williamstown.

3pm; Go home and wait for the kids to come home. Help them with homework, supervise their chores, make dinner.

5pm; Dinner time!

6 - 8pm; Free time for me and the kids.

8pm; Everyone's bedtime, free time for meee!

It's a pretty simple day that can end up dragging itself out like crazy.

Last Friday we went to the beach. It was such good fun and the water was so warm, it was beautiful. I stood on a jellyfish which was disgusting and jumped off the rocks which was fun. Also, a guy who was snorkelling surfaced right next to me with a fish on the end of a spear, obviously catching his dinner old style. I haven't swam in the sea for so long, I'd forgotten how harsh salt water can be, but I think it done my skin wonders. It also made my hair get all surfy curls which was lush when it dried.

Williamstown Beach

Stella and I

Jarrah Cartwheeling 

Griff being the cutest kid in Oz

On Saturday, Jarrah went early to her friend's birthday party, which was also a sleepover. Benson went to his dance club which left Oscar, Griffin and Stella. The boys spent the day with their Dad whilst Stella and I got a lift into Melbourne with Eliza, who was also going to a dance class. Stella and I had a mission to find her some yellow shorts for her costume for the school concert, she's a giraffe. First though, we were starving, so we ducked into a small cafe and had some breakfast, which was probably the best French Toast I've ever had, just amazing. A trip to American Apparel later and we'd found her some shorts which she was happy with. 

After getting home, us girls decided to go and see New Years Eve whilst the boys done their thing, so we headed off to the Sun Theatre in Yarraville. In all honesty, the movie wasn't great. I wouldn't pay to see it again but I don't regret paying to see it once. It's obviously based on movies like Love Actually and Valentine's Day in that it has loads of stars in it and also has multiple story lines, but it's just not funny or romantic really. When we got home, Eliza and I had a couple of vodkas and had a chat. I think I've detoxed myself for long enough now. Talking about siblings and things, I decided to try and call my big brother again. I haven't spoken to him since I left England, he's a pain to get hold of, but this time he answered! I didn't ave much time so it was a quick chat and I ended it telling him I loved him and missed him, and that he was the best big brother in the world. I bloody hope he appreciated it! He probably went straight back to sleep haha!

Sunday wasn't a good day for me. I was stressed and highly strung for no real reason apart from that I was. I feel bad for the kids for having to put up with it, but surely when it takes half an hour to put shoes on, they would expect me to be a little annoyed? Getting drunk Facebook-ed by Mum cheered me up though. Monday was a little better, we went to lunch at Eliza's sister's house for their Mum's birthday and the food was lovely. Plus there was the most gorgeous little kitten!

Yesterday was costume day. Since the girls concert is today, we spent yesterday painting giraffe spots onto Stella's costume, and making Jarrah's up (she has to be a rapper). When I picked the girls up from school, we went to find Jarrah a hat, done the food shop then they came with me to the Doctor's. Yesterday I paid $60 to find out that everything was fine. Better safe than sorry though, can't be too careful with all this sun exposure and my pale skin. I'm also pretty sure I can claim that back through the reciprocal agreement. I made fajitas for dinner yesterday, I still need to find something for tonight... there's mince in the fridge but I don't want bolognase. 

Anyhow, I can't wait for Hayley and Cheryl to arrive soon, I'm sure I'll have more interesting updates for you all then. There was a big storm here the other night and ever since I've been keeping an extra eye out for spiders, apparently they come inside after rain, especially heavy rain! It really is true about Melbourne's weather "four seasons in one day", glad I didn't send all my jumpers home now! 

Jarrah and the kitty!

Angry?

Eliza 

The Wiggles was obviously exhausting.

9/12/2011 - I Don't Ask For Much,

But I really need some advice.

Today Eliza offered me a full time, paid nannying job here in Melbourne. A dream come true, right? Well no. My dream is political journalism. But it is an amazing opportunity and a great addition to my CV. But I don’t know if I could take it.

I wouldn’t have to cancel my trip, I’d just come back here instead of the UK. I would be paid and have a little studio flat above the garage, so obviously I’d be live-in. The family is great. The kids want me to stay, the parents want me to stay. Me and Eliza have become great friends. There would be four kids all together. Jade (13), Jarrah (10), Stella (8) and Griffin (2), then the two boys who come every second weekend, Benson (11) and Oscar (9), so it’d be pretty full on. 

What’s stopping me? Home and my plans. I miss my Mum an unbelievable amount we’re so close, and my friends (espeically Nikki, Lucy and Vicki) and other family too. Then there’s Uni. I have a confirmed place at the UEA. Tuition fees in Melbourne would be $24k and I can’t afford that, so I couldn’t study here. I don’t want to be sitting in a lecture hall with 18 year olds when I’m turning 21, I really don’t.

Then there’s the homesickness. I already get it pretty bad, surely it’d only get worse? I’ve made all these plans for when I’m home, I don’t feel like I can or want to cancel them. 

But overall, will this be something that in 5 years time I’ll look back at and regret if I didn’t take it?

My issue with decision making is simple. I quite often do not know what I want. I have an infinite amount of freedom to do exactly what I want, whatever that may be, but there lies the problem. I never know what I want. 

So if you have advice/suggestions for me, please please please comment or email (gerii.scott@live.co.uk) - all ridiculous and outlandish things accepted.

7/12/2011 - "Four for you Glen Coco...

...you go Glen Coco!"

Yep, tonight we watched Mean Girls. I've hit my budget for this week, with all the train booking and visa fees, so until the 10th my days are watching TV or wandering around Williamstown. Luckily, my host family are just the best. I'll be honest, for my first couple of days I wasn't so sure. Not because they weren't nice, but I worry that I'm not nice enough or that they don't trust me with their children. But today, there were a few moments that have made me realise that just two more weeks here is not enough. 

Eliza was making plans for Saturday because Ash's sons are coming to stay, so whilst he hangs out with the boys, us girls are going to check out Chapel Street and maybe see a movie. I mentioned how that'd be fine since my budget would be back by then, and she offered me money. Of course I'd never take it, it's not my money to take and I haven't earned it, I don't want it. But the fact that she cares enough about me enjoying myself that she would pay my way means a lot. Fleeting comments like that are what I pick up on I guess. Then later on when Stella said "I wish you could stay with us for Christmas... you're really nice." or when Jarrah asked me to be a helper for her end-of-term school trip to the water park (which I am totally doing by the way!). Or when Eliza told me to stay forever, that she'd take me on full-time and pay me and that she was getting attached to me. So anxiety gone, I'm doing my job right, the kids like me and the parents like me. Success. 

In other news, today I applied to be a TV presenter. Crazy? Yes. Especially as I'm pretty sure I've vastly under qualified. Well I say that... I'm under qualified in the sense that it's not something I've done before. On the other hand, the advert says that they are looking for young people, so surely they're not expecting experience. Furthermore, they wanted someone interested in politics and journalism (Erm, hello! What degree am I doing again?), moral issues (I do like a good debate) and children. The children one isn't so much my forte but I've done work with kids... from being a guide leader at the local brownies, to nannying half way around the world. The children bit is basically because the series of programmes will be about the lives of children in other countries and would be on the BBC, therefore the requirement is to be able to connect with children on their level, which I think I can do. Oh and then of course there's my now semi-vast travel knowledge. So I sent my CV and a covering letter off to this lady from Moonbeam. That was a job in itself, updating my dust-covered CV and using my best English to write up a covering letter. But it's done. Now it's not as if I'm expecting anything out of this, there are much better suited people than me for this role, but just applying has made me feel quite independent and self sufficient. 

After emailing some people at home, I spent my afternoon reading some more of the Bush Dyslexicon. In my opinion, the book is terrible. I got it because I thought it would be full of hilarious Dubya mishaps, but it's rattling on about Nixon and Bush Snr. and not in an interesting way. Tonight, we had a lovely Thai dinner cooked by Eliza and then the girls and I watched Mean Girls, complete with quoting, home made face masks and painting of toenails. 

As I type this, I've just received an email back from Moonbeam asking whereabouts I am now and will be in the next few months. They also want me to submit a short video clip of me saying why I'm interested in the position. Bugger, I'm going to actually have to be on camera aren't I? But I think the email is positive and they're looking to shortlist this week, fingers crossed. ("Crossssedd.. got my fingers crossed I get a jobby Freddy" - +50 points if you get that reference.) Top priority tomorrow morning, except for getting the kids to school on time (I slept in today and they were late, whoops, wonder where I get that from...) is to make a kickass video application. I didn't expect anything to come of this, what have I got myself into? Ha! 

I'm going to listen to some Harry Potter audiobooks and try and get some sleep. I need to sleep on this before I stress out and over analyse the email anymore. 

6/12/2011 - It's Still Not Right

Nope, it's not right, I just can't get on board with this Christmas in Summertime lark. This was the scene that confronted me in Federation Square yesterday. A display of Christmas trees, baking themselves in the sun, with deckchairs intertwined in them. No, it's unnatural.

My first night alone with the kids went well. Obviously it's not the first time I've nannied, but Adam and Enoch were such good kids and whilst Jarrah and Stella are good as gold, Griffin is a little nightmare. He's two, he's cute as a button but also the whiniest kid I've met in my life. Getting him to bed Sunday night was beyond difficult and once he was there he wouldn't stay there. I spent a good hour using the Supernanny technique until he stayed in bed and just cried. He'd had three stories, we'd all kissed him goodnight and tucked him in, he was warm, safe, full... he just did not want to go to sleep. So in the end I let him tire himself out crying and fall asleep on his own.

In the morning I was up at 6.45am and got the girls up at 7am. Breakfasted, school uniformed, lunches made, teeth brushed, bags packed, hair brushed and they were sent off to school. I entertained Griffin for a while until Eliza and Ash were up and then after Skyping with Vicki for a while, headed off into Melbourne. The train station is only about 5 minutes away, so I got there and bought myself a ticket. I've been having a continual fight with my iPod where it will look as if it's about to play a song and then go back to the previous menu, it's been getting progressively worse to the stage where it just wouldn't play anything, whereas before it used to be fixed by turning it on and off. I spent a lot of my train journey turning it on and off, trying to make it work. In my heart of hearts, I knew the only solution was a factory restore, but it takes so long to reload the music...

Got into Melbourne and wandered around Federation Square and into the tourism building, where I picked up various leaflets on the goings-on of the city. After wandering through the aforementioned Christmas trees and listening to some schoolchildren sing some carols, I walked along the riverbank and across the bridge. The weather was really nice, albeit a little windy, so the hours walk to the Royal Botanical Gardens was very pleasant. I hadn't really planned on going to the gardens, but more stumbled upon them and thought I'd take a short walk through. But that wasn't before I walked through Melbourne's famous Music Bowl which, although empty, would be an amazing concert venue. That short walk turned into three hours of wandering, laying in the sun and napping a little. Around 1pm I turned a corner to find the Tea Rooms and had a massive lunch of parsnip and sweet potato soup, then a cream tea. It was all very English and sophisticated since I sat by the water and a harpist played for the diners.

Playing with the Panoramic setting...

Entrance to the Royal Botanic Gardens

Inside the garden's Plant Craft Cottage

Cream Tea in the Sun

Bamboo Forest

After looking around some more of the gardens, I walked through the Melbourne Observatory before arriving at the Shrine of Remembrance, a war memorial and truly amazing building.

Shrine of Remembrance 

After this, it was getting very hot and I was very sunburnt, so I made my way back to the train station. But then I remembered my to-do list and set off for a Vodafone store to get a SIM card. For anyone interested, my number for the next 6 weeks is +61416478964. Having found success in that, and printed off my Vietnamese visa application at an internet cafe, I headed for the post office for a new passport photo for the application and to send it off with my passport, but the post office was absolutely packed. I'd had enough by then so headed back to the train station and headed back to Williamstown. Once I got back, I went food shopping with Jarrah and took Griffin in the pushchair. Add some judging looks at me pushing and pushchair and there we go. 

Today I stayed in the area and got lots done, but boring things. Up early again, kids off to school then the morning doing housework. That out of the way, I edited my article for gapyear.com and tried to submit it, but my login details weren't working so I emailed the editor. I then booked my train to Sydney for the 20th, exciting times. I'm staying with my Dad's cousin Roger and spending Christmas with him and his sisters, Julie and Lyn. I'm so looking forward to meeting them for the first time and being with family for Christmas. I then took the plunge and sorted out my iPod, balanced my budget book (ouch). I then took a walk in the lovely sunshine to the local post office and had some horrendous passport pictures taken, attached one to my Vietnamese visa application then sent it off by recorded mail to the embassy in Canberra, along with my passport, visa fee and a return envelope for my passport. Bloody visas. When I'd finally got all I'd needed to do done, it was around 1pm and time for a very vanilla latte. Sunnies on, bare legs, cute dress, vanilla latte and a walk along the beach was my afternoon, and it was a perfect reward for getting lots done between 7am - 1pm. For the next couple of hours, I caught up with How I Met Your Mother, Desperate Housewives and Russell Howard's Good News until I picked Jarrah up from school at 3.30pm. I made dinner tonight, a sheppard's pie and chilled out with the girls. Time for an early night... I like the nannying business. 

Oh, I also got good news. The UEA's finance package has been approved, which means I'm eligible for an extra £3000 non-repayable help every year for coming from a low income background. I can either use this as a fee waiver or accommodation costs OR I can get £1000 cash and use the other £2000 as the waiver/costs, which is probably what I'll end up doing. I mean, I'll still be in loads of debt like everyone else but it's good news!

4/12/2011 - "That's When Good Neighbours..."

Here's a post about not much but a lot at the same time.

Yesterday (was it only yesterday I left? Wow) Kathy dropped me at the airport ready for my flight over to Melbourne. Check-in went nice and smoothly, Air New Zealand have a self check-in thing now so I didn't have to wait around at all, was notified I'd been seated in the exit row again. I'm not sure why but I seem to get seated in the exit row quite often. For those of you who don't fly regularly, to sit in the exit row you have to be over 15, of good health and be willing to help in an emergency and in return you get a little more legroom. Dropped my bag off and I must have done a good job re-packing because it was under the 23kg weight limit. Also, carrying it in, it felt so much lighter on my back, my shoulders are so grateful. One boarding pass and a declarations form later (I had to declare my PG Tips, I was scared they'd take them off me!) and I was passing through security into the realm of duty free. In all honesty, I don't really see why people go crazy at duty free, it's not -that- much cheaper and most of the stuff you can buy it complete tat. But, now that I was in need of a new camera and on a very tight budget, I appreciated it a little more.

I browsed around for a while, then found the camera I'd been looking for, a new 16mp Sony thing. I'm still not quite sure what happened next, all I know is I was approached by a salesman in a very nice suit who wouldn't look out of place in an Abercrombie catalogue. Okay I'm very sure of what happened, a very hot salesman convinced me to buy a different camera with relative ease. But, in my defence, the new camera was $100 cheaper than my original choice! I don't claim to know much (or anything) about cameras, but I'd always suspected that the more mega-pixels the better, apparently I am wrong. According to Sexiest Salesman of the Year 2011 even though the new camera was only 10.2mp I'd get a much better picture because of the kind of lens it has? I wasn't totally convinced, but then he said he liked my t-shirt and I was sold. Feminist friends, don't be mad. I know I've single-handedly set back women's rights by about a hundred years in a single eyelash flutter, but don't judge me too harshly, I'm sticking by my excuse that I'm in a foreign country and I'm consistently confused and disorientated. So disorientated that I even let him sell me a memory stick because Sony cameras aren't compatible with normal SD cards apparently. Doh.

After a coffee to recover from the hard sell, I went to Gate 1 to wait for an hour before boarding. After throwing away the camera packaging and having a play, I decided I quite liked it, even though it wasn't my first choice. We finally boarded after an hour and a half, and I took my usual seat of 11F, predictable 747s. I'm starting to wonder if my travel agent has suggested me for exit row seats... not sure if that's a compliment that I'd be good in an emergency or an insult that I'm disposable, ha. I'm not complaining, I like the extra leg room and I especially like having the window seat. I also like Air New Zealand because their in-flight entertainment is always really good, not to mention their funny safety video featuring the All Blacks.

After the safety video, I always start to get a bit jittery. I'm not afraid of flying, I know I'm more likely to have a car accident than to be in a plane crash, but there's that 'what if' feeling. It's worsened when you sit in the exit row, because the flight attendant comes along to check you're clear about what to do in an emergency. Like I say, I've sat in the exit row so many times now that I know I have to pull off the plastic cover, take the door by the two handles, pull it inwards then throw it out the gap that's left. But to check if there is smoke or fire outside first and not to open the exit if there is. AND to not act unless the evacuation notice is given by the crew. But I still don't know how I'd react in an actual emergency. Anyhow, my jitters don't usually subside until we're up in the air at cruising altitude. Yesterday, I distracted myself quite well however, by watching Crazy, Stupid, Love from the second I sat down. Butter chicken for lunch (Air New Zealand do good food too) and my other two hours of the flight was filled with writing. I tried to edit my gapyear.com article but got distracted and ended up just rambling on abut family and stuff in a random word document. I don't know what comes over me when I'm in the process of actually travelling from one place to another, I get all philosophical and reflective.

Flight over, baggage claim and straight into a taxi.. that's how we like it. Sure, the taxi to Williamstown cost me $60, but there's many reasons I'd rather pay that than get the bus/train. First off, I have a 20kg+ backpack to lug around, not fun. Secondly, I had no idea how far I was from Melbourne CBD let alone Williamstown which is a suburb. Thirdly, even if I did know how to get to Williamstown I had no idea where the street I was looking for was. All in all the taxi was the best option. I'm HelpX-ing again by the way, to three lovely children called Jarrah, Stella and Griffin. When I arrived they were all watching a movie, so I hung out with their Mum Eliza, her partner Ashley and their friend who was visiting. Turns out this friend is pretty full-on... she's a stripper who has just returned from LA and is off to Thailand next month for a boob job and botox. So that was a fun conversation. Anyhow, Eliza and Ashley seem great. I then found out that Eliza is a bit of a celeb. Well, quite a lot of a celeb I guess. She used to play Danni Stark in Neighbours in the early/mid-nineties, pretty cool huh? Got me thinking what unexpected twists and turns this trip takes me on. Who would have known that I'd be staying in the house of a former Neighbours actress? Craziness. I ended up having a pretty early night, since the time difference here is -2 hours, it was technically half eleven for me when it was only half nine here.

Up at 7am this morning, which was actually quite refreshing. Tea, shower and nutella on toast pretty much set me up. Spent the morning helping the girls with their painting and keeping Griff entertained. I'd set aside today to sort out my transport from Melbourne to Sydney for Christmas/New Years and also to apply for my Vietnamese visa. I only got a little of either done. I looked into transport and basically have to choose between the bus and the train, yet again. I'll most likely go for the train, it's an hour less and pretty much the same price. From my experience, the train is more comfortable, so it'll be 11 hours direct to Sydney. I could pay extra and go overnight in a sleeper car... that'd sure be an experience. Then I looked up my visa stuff, and the embassy was less than helpful. They don't publish visa prices because they are "continually changing", basically they make them up on the spot, so I have to call to find out how much money to include with my application. But it's Sunday, so no luck. Then they want me to attach a passport sized photo to the application form, so I have to go get one of those taken. And on top of all that, even though this is regular practice, they want me to send my real passport. This is why I want to get it done soon, so I can have my passport back before Hayley and Cheryl's arrival on the 15th, I'll need it for ID! So even though I didn't get anything concrete done, I did gather lots of information. I ended up walking the girls to the shops and getting myself a lovely vanilla latte earlier, but it's pretty cold here today, I mean I have jeans and a cardi on, so we didn't hang about for long.

Tonight, Eliza and Ashley are going out so I'm working tonight for an extra couple of hours off tomorrow, in which I might do the 20 minute train ride into Melbourne CBD and do a bit of exploring with my new camera, weather permitting. I did find an awesome site of Free Things to do in Melbourne and I've got a good list of not-so-free things to do from Brad so I'm going to try and immerse myself into travelling again, because I've been lazy of late and not really embraced that keeping busy, exploring side of it all. Plus, I've got less than 12 weeks until I'm home, I need to make the most of this. Also, there's a piano in this house, yay!

This was me today with my new camera.