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♥

Great Ocean Road & Lorne orientation weekend.

So as an exclusive trip for study abroad/exchange students studying at Victoria University, we were whisked away the weekend before semester started to Lorne, which is a almost right at the bottom tip of Australia.

Day 1
Living near Uni definitely has its perks. We were picked up from campus at 9am and drove for about an hour to visit Bell's Beach where the final scene in Point Break is set (not actually filmed). After a Subway lunch we got back on the bus and headed to the next beach to start our surfing lesson!

Bell's Beach! 

Surfing is so much harder than it looks. Just trying to get out into the sea with your surfboard is a workout and a half. When the instructors gave me a push off I managed to get up onto the board on my knees (I managed to stand up once and fell off instantly). It was so much fun and i'd love to give it a go again.

In our wetsuits ready to surf!

Next stop was our accommodation; a cute hostel that was styled a bit like a treehouse. It even had a hammock. Needless to say I fell in love with this hammock. We then had a couple of hours to bagsy a bed and get ready for the evening meal and night out. After the food we went back to the hostel to pre drink and then we all wandered down together to the club. Obviously after a few drinks everyone became very sociable so it was great to get to talk to so many different nationalities and get to know other people going to our University.

Day 2
After a quick breakfast, we all got ready for the day and headed to a field where we learned to play Aussie Rules Football. Me and some of the other girls hadn't had a brilliant night's sleep so we were pretty exhausted, and after trying out a few different warm up drills with the footballs we decided to sit out and watch whilst the others played a friendly game.
After a pretty disappointing fish and chips for lunch, myself and another friend went back to the hostel for a nap (I had my beloved hammock) and almost ended up missing the afternoon hike through the Great Otway National Park & the Surf Coast Walk! Luckily we made it just in time. After seeing some incredible views and a Koala's butt...

...we made it back to the hostel and had a well earned rest before going back out again for dinner. This time we decided not to go out afterwards, we were all far too exhausted for another one! Most of the girls in my dorm stayed at the hostel and chilled out with snacks and card games.

Day 3
After packing up and getting on the bus, we went for a drive along the Great Ocean Road and the views were beautiful.

The beautiful views on the Great Ocean Road.

After a while we stopped for lunch and we had the opportunity to go in a helicopter for $95 to see the 12 Apostles. Going in a 'choppa' is on my bucket list so of course I decided to do it.

On the choppa!

It was then back on the bus and we made our way to Loch Ard Gorge. I went for a paddle in the sea just when a wave crashed in and wet my bum, oops. We got a big group picture then headed back up to the bus to go see London Bridge.

London Bridge.

Finally it was time to get on the bus one last time and make our way back home. It was such a good weekend where I met so many lovely people. At first the majority of us got onto the bus complete strangers but when we got back on the bus to come home, we had so many new friends from all over the world.
The next exchange students trip is a cruise party next week!
𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒𝕓𝕖𝕝

Everyone loves a Bank Holiday.

To mark the first Bank Holiday of the year, my Mum decided it would be nice if my family went to Robin Hood's Bay and Whitby for the day. My Dad thought this was a horrific idea and spend 90% of Easter weekend complaining about the traffic and the fact that he would be driving.

On Monday morning my Mum suddenly had a change of heart and agreed with my Dad, just as my sister and I had packed a bag each to take with us, so we felt pretty let down. We had been looking forward to this little trip all weekend and we didn't just want to spend the day at home. 

In the end, we managed to persuade the parents with James' help, and by 11am, we were on our merry way to the coast.

Road trip selfies!

As Dad had expected, the traffic was pretty bad. A journey that should have taken 1.5 hours had instead stolen 3 and a half hours out of our day. We tried not to let this ruin the trip.

However, where I live had glorious sunshine all weekend, and when we arrived at the coast, it was freezing! We were all in shorts with sunglasses on and my Mum in flip flops. Luckily I had brought a pair of jeans and my Converse just in case, so I was pretty warm.
None of us had eaten all morning so our first stop was at a little hotel restaurant for some lovely warm baguettes, then we made our way to the beach.

The freakishly steep hill (it gets steeper!)

Once we had gotten down the massively steep hill to the beach, it began to warm up as the sun started to peek out of the clouds. I got my Canon 600D out, Emma had her Fujifilm and we had a go at some photography for 5 minutes whilst James, Mum and Dad went fossil hunting.

It was already pushing 4 o'clock so we decided it was time to make our way back to the car and move on to Whitby. Unfortunately, no one found any fossils (unless you count my Dad as one).

A few of snaps from Robin Hood's Bay.

A snap from the marina in Whitby.

I love visiting Whitby and smelling the fresh sea air. It reminds me of holidays and sunny days at the beach. After a quick walk around the shops, my Mum, Emma and I eventually gave into James and Dad's nagging and went to look for a Sky Sports pub so they could watch the Leeds vs. Wolverhampton game. Once we had all had a quick drink, us ladies left the guys in the pub to go to the amusements. I'm rubbish at the 2p machines but they're so addictive. My sister managed to win a little plastic Super Mario toy. After we had spent up, we went back to the pub for a few more drinks until the game finished.

On the way home we stopped off in a restaurant for some fish and chips (kind of compulsory when you visit the seaside). We got stuck in a little traffic on the way home but was no where near as bad as when we were going.

Robin Hood's Bay

This is one of my own shots. Taken in November in Robin Hood's Bay. One of my personal favourites.