i'm a stranger in this town

Easter Weekend 2011

5 days off work and no plans.

Finishing work early on Thursday i headed to North Melbourne to get my dreadlocks tidied up as they were once more attempting to meld into one jumbo dread of shame. A tip off from my new colleague - while having yet another conversation about the things i miss about england (namely decent curry and beer) and what i love about melbourne (amazing veggie food) - enlightened me to the existance of Urban Burger which is situated 5 mins from where i was having my hair done. Convinentely it is also placed next to a bottle shop that stocks Hoeegarden.  So the long weekend began with an extremely happy Debs :)

Declining a night out on Thursday, reasoning there would be plently more opportunities in the coming days, i agreed to take a roadtrip to Bells Beach on Friday to go to the RipCurl Pro surfing competition with some friends.  Unfortunately, all the car hire places were booked up, but we realised it was actually cheaper to venture there on public transport.  This was pretty successful as things go and one train and two buses later we were at Bells Beach in the sun, watching surfers :) it felt very Australian. It doesn't often feel Australian in Melbourne (sometimes its hard to decide what country you're in!!).  But this definately was as aussie as it gets - beaches, sunshine, dreadlocks, surfers and sunshine.yay!

Unfortuntely, as the day wore on, my body decided to begin its slow but sure decline into the world of the cold that did not disappear till today (Tuesday). but not to be deterred...i still went to a comedy night on my return to Melbourne. Melbourne's International Comedy Festival has been around since the end of March and this was the final weekend.  I've actually managed to go to quite alot of it this year, unlike my poor attendance of one show last year (which only had British comedians! shameful!)

Anyway, i digress....

Saturday I locked myself indoors to recover from the cold (it didnt work) and once more declined another night out drinking.....

Sunday was sunny and outdoors was inviting so i decided to take myself on an hour long train jouney to Frankston.  Nobody goes to Frankston unless they have to. No one has a reason to go to Frankston.  So why was i going? sand sculptures of course!!!!

to be fair they were pretty amazing !! and i was pleasantly suprised there were even some tim burton inspired ones which i wasn't expecting...The only downside was it was quite small and only took 30 mins or so to look round (if you took your time getting good pictures - which of course i did!!).  I was also still pretty sick with my cold and my eyes were red, swollen and watering the whole time. So 2 hrs on a train for 30 mins was a little excessive.... other than amazing sand art... Frankston was as i expected it to be. a shit hole. but fuck it, it's ticked off the list, and i'll likely have no reason to ever return.....!

Again I was supposed to go out drinking Sunday night too. up until the last minute i actually convinced myself i might go...but my ambitious day trip had taken its toll and i was tucked up in bed by 9pm.

Monday was Anzac day and I had booked myself onto a road trip down the great ocean road with some randoms off  meetup.com.  I had no idea what to expect but decided what the hell and found myself outside Melbourne Central Station at 8am to meet an aussie lady, a south american lady and a danish man.  They were all abit older than me and i was a little apprehensive about the whole thing....but actually...it was awesome! We went down to Anglesea and stopped off at a garage sale where i got some bargainess cushions for $1 each! Lunch in Lorne, koala spotting (which i never seem to tire of) and we made it all the way to the twelve apostles. we stopped for dinner in Geelong where I had the most amazing chili mussels ever :) yum! but didnt get home till 10pm - exhausted and still full of cold - so once more missed out on a gig and planned evening festivities.

Next Sunday I'm going to Lake Mountain with the same people and some others as well thought. Gotta love random, unexpected adventures!

So now the holidays are almost over and I'm finally recovering from my cold just in time to return to work tomorrow.  As you do...!  I managed to have a fun filled spontaneous 5 days despite a complete absence of alcohol (aside from the Hoeegarden of Thursday....god i miss that shit!!) or nights out. Feels a little strange....!

whats better though. 3 weeks left of work and its 5 weeks of travels!!!!!!!


see how good life can be when you put some effort in?!

xxx

passing some time at work

So my new job is as expected for the time being. pretty quiet!! The actual work when i get to do it is great, there just isn't much of it right now. It'll happen in time, and i really don't wanna complain about being paid to do very little.  I think i just need to get more internet interests so i have more to do than refresh facebook. im sure the internet is full of many facinating reads....its just when faced with a whole day to find it i come up kind of blank.

today i have taken to learning how to crochet my dreads. not the roots thats too hard. but the loose hairs. so im being productive :)

I am getting closer and closer to my 5 week travels and starting to get quite keen for the time to hurry up and get here! I can't wait to be back on the road, meeting new people, drinking on school nights and watching the world go by on the bus journeys. i love living in Australia and having this stuff right on my doorstep. i'm so lucky!

I have also joined some hiking groups on meetup.com.  Which is basically a website that has 1000's of groups you can join of every interest, and then meet up with new people who like the same stuff.  I accidentely gatecrashed a meetup group while out drinking on Friday night (2-4-1 drinks from 5pm - 10.30pm in New Gurenica in the city - genius way to be passed out by 11.30pm :P).  They seemed like really friendly people, so now i'm inspired to attend their's as well as other meetups.  And hiking ones would be awesome as its outdoors, not meeting drunk people, and fun. so thats exciting!

Im getting to a point where i have so many things i want to do i may be in danger of not doing any of them. so gotta keep it simple to start with, and not try and do everything all at once!

I still want a car though so i can go on day trips more easily.....one day.....!


xxxxxx

a weekend of activity

The weather is changing in Melbourne now, earlier than expected.  To be fair, it never really got going compared to last summer. There were the odd days of sun and heat but on  the whole it was very overcast, wet, humid at times and grey.  Its hard to communicate this to people back home of course.  I always imagined the same when people complained about Melbourne weather - that really it would be amazing to someone from England compared to what we were used to. And the term "cold" couldnt really exist here. Well it does. and it rains as much as manchester sometimes. which is disappointing to say the least. but melbourne has so much to do and so much to experience that it is still the most liveable city in Australia in my humble opinion.  so that balances out the shitty weather.  on saying that melbourne can also suprise you in ways you weren't expecting. today i awoke shivering in 5 degrees and wrapped up for work in a hat, coat and boots. Its now 1.30pm, glorious sunshine and blue skies :) but of course i'm office based all day today but it looks nice out of my window!

Most weekends i don't plan anything anymore.  For one, I don't know that many people anymore and if i had to find people to do things with every weekend i might find this quite a challenge...! but also because unplanned weekends are always more spontaneous and exciting anyway and include much more than you could ever plan intentionally.  This last weekend i went to a Children's farm and played with goats, Merri Creek (shortly before being rained on) and my very first AFL (aussie rules football) game!  Obviously everyone knows ive never been a sports fan of any kind.  but living in melbourne its just something that i feel has to be done. and it was really fun too - i'd probably go again!

So there you go! Fun times :)

xxxxx

and so it begins!

I started a new job this week back in the mental health sector. its only day 3 but i know i'll love it. the new people i work with are lovely and already they have taken me for a welcome lunch and tomorrow we are finishing work early for happy hour in the pub! and you ask why i'm staying in Melbourne??

I have also been going to a craft group organised through work for the past 4 weeks and i have made a butterfly cushion!

so now i will be beginning my cuddly toy making collection! i am also making a butterfly tote bag that is half way done.

xxxx

Starting Over....

August 2009. exactly one year and eight months ago, i came to Australia to travel . part of me always knew i would stay here.  I had never been travelling before (except a few family holidays as a child and some short weekend breaks to Europe, and always with a friend or two).  I have had a facination with Australia since I was a child, but i always saw it as too far away to ever contemplate actually going to. i always saw myself as "not the travelling kind".

I was 27 years old.  I had a career set up as a Social Worker in Manchester. I had more friends than one person would ever know what to do with who would do pretty much anything for me.  I had a beautiful apartment that i called "the palace".it had heated floors and a balcony and a bathroom that wouldnt be out of place in a hotel.  I had a car. enough savings to think about a mortgage. i had a life.

but fuck it. i gave it up and I moved to Melbourne.

Before i left England. flights booked. resignation letter posted. apartment keys handed back to the agent. i met up with my very first boyfriend in my hometown. he told me how he had never stopped loving me and how he had never met another girl like me.  I told him he was crazy. we were 15 years old back then. we went as far as  holding hands while i accompanied him on his paper round.  he told me he knew then he could never be enough for me.  he told me i was always looking for something more....

2 weeks to my flights, a lifetime of failed relationships, with all my belongings in boxes and only a rucksack full of my future. his words hit home hard.

but here i am. one year and eight months later. i might always be looking for something more. but really,  i don't regret any of it.

after all i still have a good job. a quirky apartment to myself and a small local collection of awesome friends. a whole world full of others.

life in Melbourne is certainly different to life back in England.  Sometimes i feel incredibly lost.  but mostly im just too busy living to notice....

and so it began, begins and will become.