Living in Leeds//Melbourne

I've been living in Melbourne for over 2 months now, and during my time here so far, i've noticed quite a few cultural differences between some things here compared to back home.

The Melbourne city skyline from Albert Park.

People here are so lovely! The lady serving me in K-Mart (my new favourite shop) greeted me with a "Hi, how are you? How is your day going?". As I recall I was once in Wilko's in Leeds and all the sales assistant said to me was "Bag?". I know it's different in different stores but just the people in general are so friendly. You could be sat on a tram next to a stranger and the next thing you know you're having a little chat. It's made me start to feel a bit like my Mum because she talks to blooming everyone.

Aussie's are extremely laid back. They're just so chilled about everything. When i'm walking around town no one is really rushing to get anywhere. Usually this would bug me with people walking slow but it's nice to be in a big city where everyone is so chilled out. There was one exception when I was getting off a tram a couple of weeks ago and a man pushed me out of the way to get on and I retaliated by going "oh well excuse you" and everyone just stopped and looked at me. Maybe that's not the way they deal with situations here or maybe everyone just wanted a bit of drama to watch.

No one says 'thank you' to the bus driver. To get around on public transport in Melbourne, you need a 'MyKi' card which you can top up. It's similar to an M-Card in Leeds. This means that on trains, trams and buses you don't give cash to the driver or buy a ticket, you just make sure your card is topped up and swipe away. I'm assuming that people don't say 'thank you' to the bus driver here because there's no interaction with them when you get on. In 2 months i've only heard 2 people say it to the driver. Back home if you didn't thank the driver you'd get death stares from everyone, it's just not right.

The Drop Bears. I'm letting you in on Australia's biggest secret here. Every foreigner that comes to Aus, will undoubtedly hear about the Drop Bears from an Aussie resident. They're carnivorous bears that drop out of trees and pretty much maul your face off. Ways to avoid them are to smother your armpits with Vegemite, only speak English around them, and obviously, don't walk underneath trees. If you fell for that then you're as stupid as I was. Of course it's a hoax. Australians like to trick new travellers with this tall tale.

The Aussie's abandoned coppers. In 1991 Australia stopped using copper coins, which is great because I don't have a bunch of 1c or 2c coins jamming up my purse. However in stores products will still be on sale for prices like $12.99 etc, and it'll just be rounded up. I don't really know why they still do this as it doesn't make a lot of sense - surely it would just be easier to keep everything in multiples of 5c now?

No one replies to 'Y'alright?'. Back in Leeds this is just how we greet each other, but i've found that when you greet someone in that way here, they just look at you blankly. Maybe it's because they think i'm genuinely asking if they're okay and if it's just in passing to a stranger or someone I don't know well, it could seem quite strange. Instead, here they say "how're you going?". They also sometimes say "too easy" instead of "okay".

These are just little things i've noticed during my 2 months here, other people might think differently about these things but this is just what i've observed!

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Tips To Help You Pack For A Trip

Co-produced by :Rebateszone & Annabel Riley

Sydney!

It's Spring Break, we're in Australia and we've all got the travel bug. So myself, Val, Louisa and Priya booked a trip to Sydney.

Day 1
The flight there was pretty late in the afternoon, so once we had checked into our hostel, we hopped on a train into the centre of Sydney. We walked around the harbour for a bit (not the section that the Harbour Bridge or Opera House was on) and looked for a restaurant to eat dinner. We all had a hankering for some oriental food so as soon as we spotted a Thai restaurant we got excited. However it wasn't until after sitting down that we realised we had gone into the wrong restaurant. We were now in fact in an Indian restaurant, which was fine, but we laughed a bit about how useless we were.

The beautiful Darling Harbour.

Day 2
After waking up bright and early myself, Priya and Val went for a walk through the Botanical Gardens, which is celebrating its 200th birthday this year. It was beautiful. At the end of the Gardens though, was our first view of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge.
After stopping and taking plenty of Snapchats, Instagram pics and videos, we carried on walking to get a ferry into Darling Harbour where the Sealife Centre and Wildlife Centre were waiting for us.

Sailing past the Opera House & under the Harbour Bridge on the ferry.

First it was the Sealife Centre, where we saw Jellyfish, Sharks, Turtles, Clownfish, Stingrays and Penguins.

Pingu, some Jellies and Nemo.

For lunch we went to Sydney's Hard Rock Cafe and the food was amazing. Obviously we then ventured to the Rock Shop. After lunch it was time for the Wildlife Zoo, where we saw a Tasmanian Devil that kept chasing its tail, multiple Koalas and Kangaroos, and our favourite, Rex the Crocodile.

Rexy.

In the evening we went on a Ghost Tour through Sydney. Our guide took us to multiple venues in the city and told us interesting stories about murders, suicides and hauntings. Some sent a shiver up your spine but they were very interesting to listen to!

Day 3
We started the third day off with a stroll through Madame Tussauds. We stopped to pose alongside the likes of Leonardo Dicaprio, Iron Man, Audrey Hepburn, Oprah, Ryan Gosling, Brangelina, ET, Jackie Chan, Wolverine, The Queen of England and Marilyn Monroe.

Sitting in my rightful place with the Royal Family, doing some hurdling, striking a pose with MJ, hanging out as a T-Bird, chilling with Steve Irwin, breakfast with Audrey, being a drag queen and feeling Ryan Gosling's abs.

Our Merlin passes included some pretty cool discounts, including getting up, close & personal with some koalas for $5, including a free printed picture, and we were allowed to take as many pictures and selfies as we wanted. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to touch them, which was difficult as they just look so cute and cuddly!

Me & Samara, the cutest little thing i've ever met.

Next was the Sydney Eye Tower, the tallest structure in Sydney's skyline, standing at 309 meters.. The view was spectacular and you could see all around Sydney. Afterwards we made our way back to the hostel to prepare for the activity that we'd all been waiting for...

So high up!

The Harbour Bridge Climb. The absolute tip top highlight of the whole trip. I honestly don't know how to put it into words and do it justice, but i'll give it a go. I'm not brilliant with heights, and the first part of the climb was on a mesh kind of metal, where you could see the ground below you (we were already 50 meters high) and that bit was absolutely bloody terrifying. Once we were up on the top arch of the bridge it was solid metal and even stuck out a bit at the sides so it didn't feel as bad. If i'm honest I was completely fine once we reached this part. When we had reached the top of the arch we felt like we were on top of the world. We were now standing 150 meters high and the view of the city at night was the most amazing thing any of us had seen. It's something I won't forget for a very long time.

Squad.

Day 4
After 3 very long days of doing nothing but walking we decided to spend our final day before our flight relaxing by the beach, Bondi Beach to be exact. It was beautiful and the weather was gorgeous. We went for a swim and the waves were huge (one took my sunglasses with it). It was great to have a lazy day and to top up the tan. There's no way I can face going home to the UK just as white as I left. And for the first time in my life I spent the day at the beach and didn't burn.

Bondi Beach.

The next trip some of us are hoping to go on is a few days in Tasmania. Fingers crossed!𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒𝕓𝕖𝕝

10,000 hits.

As a mini celebration for this page getting 10,000 views, I thought i'd do an updated version of the first post I wrote on my blog '10 Facts About Me'. If you want to read the first version from February 2014, then click here.

After re-reading that post myself over 2 years later, it just reminds me of how many things have changed since then and how different I think I am now.

ANYWAY

1. I have an obsession for rubber ducks. I don't know. They're just cute. My sister even got me the rubber duck charm for my Pandora.
2. I'd love to be an author. Not a lot of people know this about me. I don't really have any ideas for books either, I just love to write and have done since I was little.
3. I'm hella clumsy. Everyone knows this about me. I literally drop everything and trip over nothing.
4. I'm reaaaally claustrophobic. I don't even like putting my head under a duvet.
5. If there's a TV or movie character that I can relate to the most, it's Pippin from Lord of the Rings. He eats a lot and he's a little dim.
6. I'm a massive wino. This makes me sound like an alcoholic. I'm not, I just really love wine.
7. My favourite Disney Princess is Ariel. Why? She's a mermaid and a Princess...
8. I'm a terrible cook. When I was younger I wanted to treat my Dad and make him a nice dinner, so I decided to make potato salad. How was I supposed to know the potatoes needed cooking first?
9. I once got kidnapped and taken to Skegness. But it's okay, I came back.
10. I love the ocean. Whenever I go to the beach i'm always the first one in and the last one out.

Thank you to anyone who's contributed towards 10,000!
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