My first two months in Australia

Heathrow Airport at the beginning of my adventures

Well, I haven't written on here in absolutely ages , but that's okay. My blog is just here for me to write whenever I feel like it, and it's there for whoever wants to read it. If you know me, and you most probably do because why else would you read this, you probably know that I'm currently on a 'gap year' type thing after Uni travelling round Australia (basically just running away from actual adult life.) After Uni I was just so tired and I was apprehensive of starting my career straight away so I decided to save up some money and to make 2019 a year of travelling.

I've been in Australia for two months now and it has been such a rollercoaster of a ride. Right now I'm in Brisbane, and I've been here for a month. I decided, along with the friends I've made to stop here to get some work, settle down for a bit and save up some money, and after a lot (and I mean a lot) of searching, I finally got a job! I start working in a Gelato store mid next week so this week I am just chilling. I decided to use this time to write because I know my future self will be annoyed if I haven't got any written thoughts about my time here (and my attempt at keeping a diary failed within the first week.)

When I boarded my first plane in January I was panicked and excited and scared and anxious but proud of myself. I just could not believe that I was doing this - flying across the world to be away from my family, to be on my own, surrounded by people I've never met before for a whole year - and it was all my own choice. I stopped off in Dubai to see my sister for a few days before I continued to Australia so I had a little taste of home before officially going my own way. My first day in Australia was a bit of a blur. I did a group introduction tour for a week as soon as I arrived called Ozintro (another thing I'll recommend and explain in a different post) so my first day was spent awkwardly meeting these people and asking everyone the exact same questions. 'Where are you from?' 'How old are you?' 'How long do you think you'll be in Australia?' Ozintro was the best thing I could have done and has honestly made the past two months amazing. After spending a week in Sydney for the tour and another week exploring the city to be there for Australia day I travelled up the coast with two girls, plus bumped into lots of other people from my group along the way - and met loads of new exciting people!

View from Luna Park in Sydney

Harbour Bridge and The Opera House

A few of my highlights from Sydney were

• Catching a Catamaran around the Harbour and swimming to a little beach.
• Surf Lesson in Port Stephens (followed by two thirds of the whole group getting ill, not a fun experience, but definitely an unforgettable memory.)
• Playing football on the beach after an amazing BBQ.
• Days spent exploring Bondi Beach and Manly beach.
• An evening spent walking over the Harbour bridge and watching the sunset from Luna park.

Attempting to be Surfers Gals at Spot X

Struggling against the wind

I then travelled to Spot X Surf camp in Arrawarra Beach, some of my highlights were

• Succeeding and failing at Surfing.
• Nights spent lying on the beach looking at the Milky Way and watching for shooting stars.
• Seeing wild Kangaroo's at a local golf club.
• Getting bed bugs (once again, not a happy memory but a memory at least.)
• Drunken nights playing drinking games such as Stack cup.
• Playing countless games on cards (Cheat, Irish snap, Spoons) with a great group of girls.

From Spot X we then travelled to Byron Bay where I actually had Tonsilitis. This meant I didn't really do Byron Bay as much as I wish I had. Most of my friends say that Byron Bay is their favourite place that we have visited and although I loved the few bits I did see, I mostly spent it in bed or lounging around the hostel. So I really want to head back there for a weekend to have another explore!

From Byron we visited Surfers Paradise. I was definitely feeling better here and just felt happy and content that I found these two girls (Missie and Becca) that I could be an absolute weirdo with and it be okay. We went on a bar crawl in the evening which was just a weird, and not great experience (the best part was leaving the club early to get pizza and singing Dancing Queen wandering down the street.) This was also the first hostel we had a pool in so it was absolutely lovely to have a break from a sandy beach and to chill out by a pool. Before we left we went up the Skypoint deck which had some amazing views and made the 48 hours we spent there feel productive.

Skydeck in Surfers Paradise

And then I came to Brisbane! Where I have spent most of my time in the Library searching for jobs, or sunbathing by the lagoon. The first two weeks were great as lots of friends that we had met along the coast were travelling through the city but the last two weeks there has definitely been some ups and downs. Finding a job is hard and I really needed one so I was feeling quite stressed and anxious. The thought of finishing up the coast on little money and having to go home straight after was a horrid thought and when my friends all had jobs and I didn't, I panicked. But you just have to persevere and eventually something will go right, and it did! I'm excited to start, to settle into a routine of work and chill, to feel productive and to earn some money.

Feeding a Giraffe at Australia Zoo

In my happy place at Southbank in Brisbane

The past two months have been incredible, it's been mainly ups but of course, there has been some down moments but everyday I find myself thinking back to this time last year when I was knee deep in university work and all I wanted to do was go to Australia, and I'm here, and I'm happy and I still just can't really believe it. As much as I do love exploring new places, it's the people that really make travelling incredible and I have been so lucky to meet some people who are just the funniest, weirdest and most caring people. I genuinely don't think I would have been as happy as I have been the past two months without them, and I consider myself so lucky to have met them!

So thanks for reading a lengthy, fairly boring blog post but it really does feel good to write again.

I figured when I am just here living in this beautiful city on the other world I'll attempt to write some more but if you want to see what I'm getting up to day by day, definitely check out my instagram where I'm posting photos everyday (I also had an absolute nightmare uploading photos for this post s please look at my insta for more photos!)