July & August.

Well first of all, apologies for going a bit AWOL for 2 months. After getting back to England I wanted to take a little break from my blog and make the most of being back at home with my family and friends and in all honesty, I kind of forgot for most of it! I'm just going to bring you quickly up to speed with what i've been up to before I start my 3rd year of University.

July was pretty much just a lot of homecomings, a lot of alcohol but also a lot of staying at home because I was hella poor.  It was so great to get to see all my friends again, i'd missed them so much!
There was a couple of surprises, one being me surprising my class at dancing;

And my sister also surprised me at the airport. I'm not going to show you that video because 1. it's too long, 2. I look minging because i've just gone 24 hours sat in the same seat without a shower and 3. I cried.
The big one was an afternoon at my house where various family members and friends came over for the day and my Mum put on a glorious buffet. There was a lot of alcohol and a big game of Cards Against Humanity so i'm just going to leave that one there. Then the next few days included a few sleepovers and days out with friends.

So August!
It was pretty much mostly me settling back in at work and earning some dolla again. However August is host to the best day of the year; my birthday. It was a pretty quiet one compared to my previous birthdays. 22 sort of marks the beginning of no more exciting birthdays. It literally is downhill after 21. Through the day we just chilled out at home and I got to Skype Priya and Tarrena which was awesome. In the evening my cousin was having her hen do (3 years belated, because she couldn't stop having babies), so we all went for drinks at the usual spots, Wetherspoons, Revolution, Yates'. Later on, me and Harriet wandered up to Propaganda, where I used to work, to finish the night off.

On the 20th I went to join my family in Spain, where they had already been for a week. The weather was gorgeous, it was in the low 30's for the majority of the week. One day we went to the beach and me, my sister, my three cousins and my auntie went Parasailing, which is something we have all been wanting to do for a while.

Just hanging around off the Costa del Sol.

So September should start to pick up with me actually having money to do stuff now and with University starting. I'll be moving into my new student house soon so there will be posts about that and Freshers Week so i'll be posting more frequently in a few weeks!
𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒𝕓𝕖𝕝

Trip to Cairns!

Before coming to Australia, there were 2 things that I wanted to do. Number 1 was to climb the Harbour Bridge, which if you read my Sydney blog post, you'll see that I did. The second was to swim in the Great Barrier Reef. Already after just being in Australia for 4 months i've ticked so much off my bucket list. But it doesn't stop there. After waiting through my entire trip here, I finally got to see this natural beauty.

We found this hanging on a beach in Cape Tribulation.

Sunday

After being out all night and coming home at 2am, I stayed up until I had to go meet everyone at 4am to make our way to the airport for our 6am flight. Living in tiny England, i've never flown domestic before (except Sydney). So the fact that we just needed to walk straight through security and to our gate was very strange. We didn't even need our passports.

Once we were in Cairns we had a couple of hours to kill until we checked in, so we left our bags behind reception and went to chill by the pool. Me, Priya and Nikole had a quick swim and then went to sunbathe, where I fell asleep. At 2pm it was time to check in and once we were all in our rooms, we fell asleep once again. When we finally had some energy, we made our way into the city of Cairns for dinner where I finally tried the Aussie famous 'chicken parma''. At 9pm we were all in bed fast asleep after an exhausting 24 hours to prepare for our 6am start the following day.

Monday

Waking up at 6am after a month of going to sleep at 4am and waking up at 2pm was weird, but a lot less painful than I was anticipating, thanks to a sleepless night on saturday I slept like a baby. At 7am we were picked up by a minibus: we were going to Daintree Rainforest.

Our first stop was Mossman Gorge, which is sacred Aboriginal ground. This meant we needed to be 'welcomed' by the Aboriginal ancestors. The welcoming ceremony was interesting. We walked around a fire that was billowing smoke to be covered in the smoke. As long as we respected the land we would be protected by the ancestors. We then had some fun with Aboriginal face paint: Priya and I gave each other some army stripes. Next we hopped on the shuttle bus up to the Gorge where me and Priya went for a swim. Cairns is rife with Crocodiles, so swimming in rivers and at the beaches is a very bad idea, but the Gorge was high up, covered in rocks and the fresh water was cold, so Crocodiles don't swim there.

Mossman Gorge.

After the Gorge we hopped on the bus once again, now we were on our way to a Crocodile cruise on Daintree River. On our way there, our guide told us of a woman who was unfortunately killed by a crocodile on a beach that we drove past the night before. As we passed the media and police were still there. After this and all of the information that the cruise guide told us, I have a new appreciation for these fascinating and terrifying creatures.

Crikey!

Next stop was Cape Tribulation where we stopped for lunch. I tried a Kangaroo burger! (Pause for all the vegetarians that are gonna be hating on me now). It was pretty tasty, it made me think of a mix between chicken and beef.

Kangaroo burger!

We then spent the rest of the day stopping at various locations in the Daintree Rainforest, including an ice cream shop and a boardwalk through some of the forest. Daintree is also the only rainforest in the world where it reaches the sea.

Daintree Rainforest looking very Jurassic Park-esque!

Tuesday

Here we go again with another 6am wake up call. This time, I wasn't bothered one bit. I was going to do what I had wanted to do ever since I knew I was coming to Australia. It was Great Barrier Reef day.

We made our way to the docks and waited for our friends Val and Julian to meet us, then walked to the boat that we would be spending the day on. The weather was pretty grim. The first 2 days greeted us with 30 degree heat and sunshine, but the weather was now letting us down.

Once we were all checked into the boat and had been given our equipment for the day (wetsuit, snorkel, mask & flippers), we went to sit on the top deck for the 1 and a half hour journey out so sea. The sea was extremely choppy so we were being splashed and thrown about everywhere, which at first was hilarious. But after a while, one by one people were dropping like flies to seasickness. About half an hour before we reached the reef, there was just me and Dillon left that hadn't turned a nasty shade of green. My Dad gets seasick so I can thank my Mum for that one.

The staff member that gave our safety briefing assured us that the typical Great White and Bull Sharks don't typically come into the reef as it's hard for them to move around. Which was a huge relief to hear. As soon as we got the OK I threw on my wetsuit and jumped in.

I can't even think of the words to describe what I saw. It's something you'll have to go do yourself, because it was phenomenal. The reef was beautiful with shades of all different colours. There were so many different fish in different shades and sizes.

The first location we were at had cloudy water as the weather was a little miserable. Once we had lunch and moved to the second location, the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful day, which also meant we could see a lot clearer underwater. I made a lot of use of my GoPro and I can't wait to edit all the videos together.

The Great Barrier Reef.

Wednesday

Finally! A sleep in! It was only 8am, but that sounds so much nicer than 6. We checked out and left our bags behind reception again as we went into the city to get breakfast. After we had eaten we went to the Cairns Esplanade where there was a gorgeous community pool called the Lagoon. I made the most of my last few hours in the sun (there was no way I could face going home being as white as when I left). After a couple of hours we caught the last bus of the afternoon (at only 3pm?!) back to the hotel where I sunbathed for another hour.

A quick Instagram-worthy picture in the Lagoon!

Then it was time to return to cold and rainy Melbourne. There wasn't a lot of people on our flight so we all pretty much had 3 seats to ourselves.

When we were home Priya, Dillon and I dumped our bags and went to the common room to watch the new Game of Thrones episode that we had missed 2 days earlier. We didn't want to risk seeing any spoilers!

It probably goes without saying but this has been the absolute cherry on top of a fantastic adventure in Australia. It's a matter of weeks until I go home now and I can't wait to see everyone again, but at the same time, there's a lot of people here that are going to be missed.

ᗩᑎᑎᗩᗷEᒪ♥

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

November.

The penultimate month of 2015 is already over. What the HECK?!

The first week of November was a weird one. I had an essay due on the 7th and I hadn't started it as I had been so busy previously (see October's round up). I was also pretty ill and that added to the stress had a really weird effect on me and I was barely sleeping or eating all week. I've never really been super stressed about University work before so I think it was a bit of a shock to the system; i'm often too laid back to care about grades (for example see my GCSE results). This meant that Bonfire Night (if you're not from the UK, Google it) was spent writing my essay, however I did leave my blind open so I could watch the fireworks at the same time. Multitasking at its best.

Anyway, the week after my deadline, it was finally time for my 21st birthday present from James.

We stayed over in Manchester the night before as our flight was at 6:30am, and having to be at Manchester airport for about 4am means waking up in Leeds at about 2am. No thanks.

When we got there, the phrase "Rome wasn't built in a day" was bouncing around my head. I saw how true this statement was. All of the buildings are so beautiful and detailed and in the taxi journey from the airport to our hotel, I just couldn't stop looking out of the window.

My personal favourite of the attractions: The Trevi Fountain.

Every time a new Hunger Games film has been released, my best friend Charlotte and I would go see the double/triple bill at the cinema. But this year Vue decided not to do a quadruple bill and instead they only did a double bill of Mockingjay. Bit rubbish right? It was also the week after I got back from Rome and I had about £5 to get me to payday, so I couldn't go. So my friend Viv suggested we make our own quadruple bill. We fell asleep halfway through Catching Fire so this failed epically.

Things started to concrete over for Australia too. I bought my travel insurance and my VISA got granted. It's all becoming real, it still hasn't hit me yet!

My Mum got me and my sister these awesome Christmas jackets because I got a first in my placement year and my sister did something good in Spanish (I can't remember what it was).

One of my friends from work had his leaving do on the 30th. I'll be so sad to see him go but he's going to South Africa which is pretty damn cool. So for his leaving party we all went to his house and had a Disney night in. I know right? Amazing. We were watching Disney movies from 2pm until half 4 in the morning (we also watched Ghostbusters because Nathan was 'a bit bored' of cartoons...weirdo).

Nathan fell asleep so we played Buckaroo.

On the last day of November I decorated my room for Christmas. I couldn't wait any longer. In the process I managed to impale my foot on one of the hooks that I use to hang tinsel up. That hurt. A lot.

Nice and festive!

So that's it for another month! I'm so excited for December (I always am).

August.

Where the HECK did September come from?! After having a pretty hectic month, i'm quite looking forward to a slightly calmer one where the only exciting thing to be happening is going back to University and Freshers Week, (which after being away on placement for a year I am really looking forward to).

So the first week of August saw me flying to Disneyland Paris with my sister, Sophie and her brother, Danny. Read about Day 1 here, Day 2 here and 3 here.

Then there was the rest of my birthday week. Laserzone, birthday meal, Thorpe Park, Manchester and a well needed lazy day. You can read about all of that here!

Then came a pretty normal week at work doing the usual grafting. Not long after, my Mum, Dad, Emma, Auntie Alex, Uncle Simon and cousins Anya, Natasha and Katrina along with my Gramps John went to the villa that we visit in Mallorca every year. This left me with a free house, so naturally, the alcohol began to flow. I had 2 friends from work, Tom & Nathan (the only ones that could make it) round to my house and i'll be honest, it's very surprising how messy it can get when there's just 3 of you. The night consisted of multiple games of Ring of Fire, Shot Roulette and sitting on my shed roof playing 'Never Have I Ever'.

We learned way too much about each other and if we ever played again it would be way too soon.

A few days later, my boyfriend James and I flew out to meet the rest of my fam in Mallorca for just over a week. Revisiting the villa always feels like going home and I can honestly say it's one of my most favourite places in the world. On our second day we went on a yacht trip and this is when we all (including James) discovered that he is incredibly seasick. We also discovered a natural/man made pool next to the ocean. We all had such an amazing holiday (as always) and yet again i'm sat writing this with some serious after holiday blues. But I still have Rome to look forward to in a few months!

So here's to finding out what September brings!

Paris, Day 3. Disneyland.

Our day started at 7am yet again. We were up bright and early to grab some breakfast and check out of the hotel. It took me and my sister a solid 10 minutes to figure out how to work the lockers in the luggage room, but once we had it all locked away, off we went for another day in the Disney Parks.
To kick start the day we went for another ride on Space Mountain and then went to Thunder Mountain as the queue the day before was a ridiculous 90 minutes. On our way out of the main park, we noticed that Winnie the Pooh barely had a line to go and meet him. Guess what happened next?

Pooh bear!

We then ventured off to the Walt Disney Studios park for the rest of the day.

Ft. Emma

It was interesting to see some behind the scenes of Disney. The first ride we made our way to was the Hollywood Tower. A few friends have told me about this one in the past and they said you can't go to Disneyland and miss it out. The weather was hitting the high twenties, and we were waiting for the Tower for at least an hour in the scorching heat. Eventually, we were at the front of the queue and excitedly anticipating what was to happen next. I must have looked like an easy target because the staff there kept making me jump. The ride was brilliantly hilarious. I mean, just look at our picture:

Beautiful.

We then went on our second favourite ride of the holiday: Rock n' Rollercoaster. This one is a little like Space Mountain: underground, lots of loops and twists and turns. However with one exception, it blasts Aerosmith right next to you. Me and Emma were singing "DUDE LOOK LIKE A LADY" in between screams the whole way round. It's fair to say that at this point, my voice was pretty worse for wear and I was starting to sound like Marge Simpson. After a quick ice cream and a drink, we went to the last ride of the holiday: Crush's Coaster. By now our feet were hurting, we were extremely exhausted and we were very thirsty. We queued for this ride for over an hour. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, we were finally on the ride and had a blast. Sadly, it was now time to make our way back to the hotel for our transfer to the airport and leave Disneyland behind.

Bye bye Disney!

We all had such an amazing time and were extremely sad to leave. It's somewhere you can really bring out your inner child and not feel judged for it and anyone that knows me knows that I don't exactly act my age. Emma, Sophie, Danny and I are already making plans to back again next summer. Even though it felt like all we did was queue and wait and travel for three days, it was one of the most amazing trips i've been on, and I can't wait to go back.

Ps. There is no way me and Emma could have survived the week on our own, so thanks for gatecrashing Sophie & Danny. We would never have made it back to Cheesy.

Until next time, Disneyland.

Paris, Day 2. Disneyland.

Despite having such a late night the night before, we were up bright and early and downstairs for 8am for breakfast. After plenty of croissants and pain au chocolats we hopped onto the shuttle bus and made our way to the Disney parks for the first time.

We arrived a little early, so in the middle of our childish Disney excitement, we went into a big Disney shop just outside of the gate.

(Headbands make me look bald so pls excuse)

I spent WAY too much, and I didn't regret it one bit. We spent at least an hour in the shop - there's so much to look at! I just wanted to buy everything.

Ready to go!

At 10am, we went into the Disneyland Park and first of all went into the Buzz Lightyear ride where you had to shoot the Evil Emperor Zurg (I won of course). Then we went to Space Mountain. Which soon after became our favourite ride. We went on it 3 times throughout the 2 days and each time managed to be at the front.

Say cheese!

We then went for a wander through the park and then walked through the castle

So pretty!

Because we were already acting like we were 5 years old, we decided to go on the Merry-Go Round.

Quick selfie

It was then that Sophie spotted Tigger just around a corner with only a short queue to meet him. As we were walking around the building to where she saw him, we realised that Eeyore was stood with him. Anyone who knows me could guess that at this point I was freaking out big time (Eeyore is my all time fave). So naturally we joined the queue and we all got hugs from the loveable characters.

They were so cuddly!

We then made our way to other rides such as Pirates of the Caribbean (which has absolutely nothing to do with the film disappointingly), Star Tours and Indiana Jones.

Then it was time for the parade! The song is forever stuck in my head but it just reminds me of how amazing it was. Being there, you kind of forget your age and who you're with, making you morph into this 5 year old version of yourself. I tell myself this to convince myself it was okay to scream.

I took way too many pictures.

By this point it was well into the evening so we walked to Planet Hollywood where we had reserved a table for dinner. The guys who served us in there were so lovely and welcoming - we definitely want to go there again. After another mooch around the shops after we had eaten, it was time to go sit by the castle in the main park for the firework and light display.
It
was
INSANE.

AAAAAAH!

They projected pictures and short clips of the Disney movies onto the castle and it was so clever how it all fit together and it looked like the characters were really there.

When the display finished it was midnight, so we went straight back to the hotel knowing we had to pack ready for home the next day. As Sophie and Daniel had a double bed and a bunk bed in their room, we all decided to have a little sleepover, and when we had all finished packing at 2am, Emma and I ventured off to their room.
Neither of us got to sleep until 3am, despite knowing we were up at 7 again the next day.

Make sure you check back tomorrow for our third and final day!

Paris, Day 1. The Eiffel Tower.

For my 21st birthday, I decided instead of a present I wanted to go to Disneyland Paris with my sister. After my parents surprisingly agreed for me to take my younger sister out of the country, we just grew more and more excited. A couple months before we were due to go, my best friend Sophie texted me to ask if her and her brother Daniel could gatecrash and come with us. It was the best idea Emma and I could think of and before you know it, off we went.

I'll skip through the whole fandango of travelling there with the boring security checks and baggage claim, so i'll just show you a picture of us on the plane with the strange man that was sat next to me.

Plane selfie!

Once we had checked in to our hotel, we decided to go on a little adventure to the Eiffel Tower considering our Park tickets were only valid for 2 out of our 3 days. This started with having a small dilemma at the train station; we had bought our tickets and knew what stop to get off at, but all of the signs were in French and we had no idea what side of the station to get on the train! After a lot of confusion and slow conversations with the French Information people, we managed to get on the right train, only the line terminated 1 stop before where we needed to get off.

A DOUBLE DECKER TRAIN PEOPLE

So it was back to stressing out. After leaving the tube station, we knew we were in the main city of Paris, but had absolutely no idea where. We figured that we were bound to see the tower from somewhere - it's huge! We were stood staring at a city map for what seemed like hours to try and navigate ourselves there. In the end I got a little fed up and flagged down a taxi (I was totally feeling like Blair or Serena when they go to Paris in Gossip Girl at that moment). 1 taxi ride later, and we were there.

Here we are!

Once we were there, the phones and cameras were out and millions of photos were taken. After seeing it in real life, i've realised that photographs really don't do it justice. It's so much bigger and so much more beautiful when you're really there. Especially when it's lit up at night! We had a little mooch around and bought a few souvenirs and some food, then decided it was time to get in line to go up the tower. The queue was horrendously long but eventually we got to the front.

So pretty!

Going up the lift made me nervous. I'm not brilliant with heights, yet I still always want to look down, and that was a bad idea. We went straight up to the second tier (unfortunately the top had closed by this point). The view was incredible. We saw the Arc de Triumph and Notre Dame and you can literally see for miles, I just couldn't stop looking out into the city.

The view from the first tier!

It was 11pm when we decided to leave and make our way back to the tube station. We got a taxi back and went down about 5 escalators into a completely deserted station. It looked apocalyptic. Exhausted from an extremely long day, we got on the train and began to relax knowing we would be back in our beds within 2 hours. That was when we realised that the last train stop was 3 stops before ours back in Disneyland. Time to panic again. When we got off at some station called 'Torcy', we saw that there were other passengers waiting for another train too. Knowing that we weren't completely alone and in the comfort that there was another British family on the platform, we sat and waited 20 minutes for the next train.

Eventually, the train came, and before long we were back in Disneyland and getting onto the shuttle bus straight back to the hotel. It was 2am when we were back in our rooms, and after such a long day travelling, we all crashed pretty much straight away.

That's the end of day one! Check here again tomorrow for day two.

May Bank Holiday!

So us lucky Brits had a second Bank Holiday back in May. This time I kicked it off by having a FRIENDS night with one of my best friends from work, Sarah. We're both a little obsessed with the series so we watched all of our favourite episodes and ordered a Domino's.

We then made our merry way to work together on Saturday morning, and when I finished, my other best pal Tom came to my house for my family's Eurovision party. Every year we do a sweepstake (£1 a country) and whoever wins gets the pot of £1 coins and hosts next year's party. Unfortunately, my sister, Emma won, and won't stop playing the winning Swedish song full blast around the house.

Early Sunday morning Tom and I then went to work again, and when I finished at half past 3, I went to catch a train to Scarborough where I would be meeting my Mum, Dad and sister, Emma. (The first time I had ever caught a train completely on my own!).

When I was 16, my family and I came to Scarborough and we stayed at The Crown Spa hotel. Me and Emma just fell in love. Our favourite part (aside from the free spa, swimming pool, free hot chocolate and cookies, king sized beds and the fact we had our own room) was the luggage trolley they had in the hotel lobby. We felt like we were on Suite Life of Zack & Cody. Naturally, I took Emma for a ride on it and soon after we were told to put it back.

Anyway, after years of nagging Mum and Dad to go back to this magnificent hotel, they finally caved, and there we were.

The view from our hotel room!

The Crown Spa hotel in all its glory, ft. my Mum

This was a mighty fine ice cream.

In the lift with Emma.

On the day we were due to go home, we packed up our things, checked out of our beaut hotel, and made our way down to the sea-front to get my first open-top bus to the Sealife Centre.

Emma on the open top bus!

Going to the centre wasn't another first for me, but my Emma had never been and I got to use my Merlin Pass for the first time. It wasn't anything special but the Penguins and Otters were super cute! We also pretty much saw the whole cast of Finding Nemo too.

Nemo and Marlin just hanging out.

Crush was there too!

On the way back from our trip we visited some family that we don't see a lot and were fed scones and tea. Me and Em played with their adorable sausage dog Flynn and soon after it was time for us to go home.