My first month on the other side of the world...

My first month on the other side of the world

I haven’t blogged for a couple of weeks now mostly because of having some internet access I’ve been able to catch up with most of you, which has been great! I can’t say I’ve been too homesick, because I love it here. But I do miss the little things from home, mostly knowing my way around, where to go to get things done, and of course being able to catch up with all you guys back home!

Australia is still as beautiful as ever though. It really is an amazing place. I could see myself out here long term, which is why with every day that goes by my long term plan is becoming more and more focused on returning to the UK to study a vocation that will allow me to come back out here permanently. That’s not to say I don’t love London and the UK, I do, but they have an awesome lifestyle out here.

At the end of my last blog I mentioned I was going to Indy, which was a fantastic weekend. It’s called ‘SuperGP’ if we’re being absolutely correct as the Indy cars didn’t make it due to some sort of problem with them getting impounded in London. So those of you reading this from home would have been more likely to see them than us! The event is located at the Gold Coast, and they basically shut down an entire area of the city for the weekend turning the roads in to a racing track for V8’s. I was told its one of very few races in the world that actually takes place on ‘real’ roads as it were, rather than a racing track. The only ever car racing I’ve seen before was the Race of Champions at Wembley, and if I thought those cars were loud, V8’s were something else entirely! I accumulated many a blank photograph where by I attempted to take a picture of the cars going past but they go by so quickly capturing them in the frame was not an easy task at all! It was a very hot day, and what with all the dust that the cars create, any exposed skin was turned black with dust, not the best look!
The apartment we were staying at was absolutely beautiful. I think I would be safe to say it’s one of the most stunning places I have ever been fortunate enough to stay in, its only possible rivals would be the Sheraton in New York or the Conrad in Cairo. (Don’t I sound well travelled these days!)
Walking in to the apartment it seemed fairly ordinary until it opened out in to the living area; three of the walls were made up of floor to ceiling patio doors which look out over the Gold Coast. It was another crystal clear Australian day with blue skies and fluffy white clouds, and with the coastline stretched out beneath us for literally as far as the eye can see, it was a view I don’t think I will ever forget. We had a balcony that wrapped itself around the entire apartment so from one side we had a view over the city, the middle the stunning view of the beach, and on the far side you could look out to sea and with the clarity of light in Australia we could see boats out for miles and miles. We were up o the 35th floor and I have to admit looking out from the balcony was fine, but looking down was another matter! The next building along from ours was the Q1 building, which I’m told is the tallest residential building in the world. It took me until the second day to be brave enough to lean far out enough from the balcony to be able to take a picture of its summit!
On the Saturday we only spent a short time at the track, Kathryn’s friend Sam has been going to Indy for years and she told us that the Sunday was the big day. So in the evening we went for a bit of a walk around the area, the Gold Coast is definitely very much the party town of Queensland.
On the Sunday we were up early in time to apply lots of sun cream and head down to the track. We spent most of the day there and I got a little bit of an education on V8 racing, although it’s not something I’ll ever be able to claim expertise in! Vauxhall is called Holden in Australia is one of the main things I remember from the day, quite why I have no idea. It wasn’t only V8 racing, they had other kinds of cars too and without a shadow of a doubt my favourite part of the day was what I *think* but I may be wrong was called an F1-11 plane. It’s a big jet, and forgive my lack of technicality here, somehow it ‘dumps’ its fuel and then sets it alight to perform its party trick they call a ‘dump and burn.’ Basically what that means is that this giant jet flies in over the gold coast, the sound it makes it utterly incredible, all of a sudden it lights up the sky with a stream of flames, and then it’s gone again before you’ve had time to blink. Its speed makes capturing it on camera absolutely impossible, I wish I had been able too! I was lucky to get to see it happen as apparently they are the only plane in the world to be able to do it and the fleet are being retired this year so it’s the last time it will happen. There was some lighter stunt aircraft about too, but it’s a little too far away for the red arrows to be present!
It was again a very hot day, and after being out in the midday sun, I didn’t mind at all when it stormed which cleared the air and provided some refreshing rain. It meant they had to stop the race for a while, and none of the Australians were too pleased about it raining; but I was happy that I got to cool down!

We headed back to the apartment early evening, stopping to have a glass of wine to ease our aching feet from so much walking and standing all day. The apartment which we were staying in had an indoor and outdoor pool, and Kathryn and I made use of the heated indoor pool to stretch our muscles after such a long day. We had it entirely to ourselves and I have to say swimming in our own pool after a long day is a lifestyle choice I could easily become accustomed too! A swim, Jacuzzi and Sauna later we were feeling revived and ready for the night life aspect of Indy. Like I said before the Gold Coast is definitely the party town of Australia with an entire strip made up of clubs and bars and even an Irish Pub! Six of us headed out for a night of drinks, dancing and pool and it was a lot of fun. We ended the night with a stroll on the beach and the water was just too inviting so we went for an enthusiastic paddle which ended up with me wearing very wet and very sandy jeans! I still can’t get the sand out of the pockets.

The next morning an extremely unpopular builder decided to start drilling at 8am in the neighbouring apartment which did not go down at all well with our tired eyes and sore heads. Although Kathryn and I did then spend most of the afternoon dozing on the beach, which as ways to recover from busy weekends go is a pretty good option!

A few of you have asked whether I took that job in the end or not. I decided not too as I wasn’t too keen on the manager, and it was a mostly commission based role, which given that I’m heading over to Perth for Christmas, by the time I’d set up a contacts base and started making enough sales to make the job worth while I’d of been leaving which seemed like a waste of time. I have been looking for other work, but with five weeks to go before I head over to Perth it’s becoming increasingly difficult. I could really do with just some short term waitressing but it’s proving a little difficult to come by. I’m still trying, but at the moment I’m not sure if anything will come up before Christmas. So in the mean time I’m really hoping my car insurance pay out comes through soon!!!

Over the last ten days I’ve been to the beach a couple of times, been on a couple of nights out, and watched a fair few films.
Living with the local bar manager has had its benefits with my house mates and I enjoying some champagne and strawberries on the house. We deserved it though after discovering a maggot infestation in our house which was not in the slightest bit pleasant!

Speaking of creatures at home last Wednesday we found all of us were home for the afternoon, which is a rare occurrence, so we were enjoying relaxing in the garden with a few drinks, until a rather large Orb spider decided to put in appearance, scaring my Irish house mate and I but the Australians not being the slightest bit bothered, even picking it up although it can bite! It didn’t disturb us as much as the news that there is a redback spider living in the corner of our garden though…the corner nearest the patio door in to the house!!! My dad suggested purchasing a CO2 fire extinguisher and freezing it to death… I reckon he is on to something!!!

I’m trying to be healthier this month due to an ever worsening cough so I’ve remembered that I can actually cook and have given up the student food diet… there’s only so much spaghetti and marmite toast one person can take!

I went to a water park last week called Wet n Wild. These used to be a Wet n Wild back home up North…the main difference with the Wet n Wild over here being is that its outside rather than inside! It was a really good day out; some of the rides are insane! They range from a very leisurely floating in a ring to water slides that go so fast you think you’re going to fall out! Definitely somewhere I want to go back too again! I’ve got a pass that allows me to go as many times as I like before June next year, so there will be a couple more trips I think.

I went out on Saturday night to the Australian equivalent of Popstarz/Heaven after drinks at my friend Anna’s overlooking the Brisbane River which was really nice. Almost a bit like being at the Thames, In fact ended up in a long conversation with the two other British girls about English football teams and anthems, BHS, Tesco’s, Kickers and all things English that they don’t have out here! It was a good night out, lots of dancing; it’s easy to forget that I’m on an entirely different continent when out dancing in a club! I was told of a bus that goes all the way from the city right back to the suburb I’m living in all through the night which is great for getting back home. Much easier than getting back to Ruislip from Tottenham Court Road anyway!

Last night I went for dinner at my friend Lynelle’s house; being so far away from my home it’s always super appreciated to be welcomed into other people’s homes, and home cooked food is great! It’s nice to see that no matter how big the cultural differences are around the world, family still means family wherever I’ve been whether its here, Brunei, France, Egypt, Scotland; there’s always something homely about being invited to share dinner with a family.
Last night we went on a drive to a National Park, but unfortunately the weather conspired against us and due to a lot of rain and a lot of fog we decided getting out of the car was probably an invitation to get ourselves into a Wolf Creek scenario so we decided to play it safe for this time!

For this week like I said I’m trying to be healthy and fix my cough. I’ve got a beach trip planned for Friday, hoping that the weather picks up by then as it’s been pretty rainy the last few days. (Yes, it rains in Australia! Shocking I know!) Not sure what I’m going to get up to over the next few days, it would be great to get some work to fill up a couple of days and give me a cash injection but I’m not holding my breath for that to happen! If I wasn’t ten thousand miles away it would be quite nice to be able to pop home this week and visit everybody, but it’s not that easy to do from this far away!

I’m looking forward to seeing my brother and family at Christmas time, although I’m increasingly worried about the heat over in Perth, everybody tells me it’s almost unbearable in December!

Don’t forget to keep me updated on all the news from the UK. Like I said I miss you all heaps, you’re all welcome to pop over for dinner anytime you like! :-p

I hope all is well in England, I head the X factor is causing a stir this week but that the post is back up and running again!

Lots of Love from upside down

Liza xXx

P.s. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that its one of you lot who bagged that £90m Euromillions win!!!!