Merry Christmas!!!

Just thought I'd leave a quick post just to say a massive Merry Christmas to everyone!

Christmas for me is a very family orientated time so trying to celebrate it without my family is a struggle and this is definitely the time when I've felt most home sick. It's taken being away from home at a time like this for me to realise how much my family do mean to me and just how much I really enjoy spending time with them. However, I've just got to remember that all the other Christmas's for the rest of my life will be spent with my family and this may be the only year I spend it on the beach having a BBQ! 

Hope you all have an amazing time spent with loved ones, having a grand old merry time! Eat loads, laugh lots, smile all the time and cherish every moment.

Iona x

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

I am a major Christmas fan and once my birthday (in April) is over I start the countdown to Christmas. However, not being home in the freezing cold has made this season a little less festive. Last night my friends and I decided to take a stroll down to the Christmas night market to try get us in the Christmas mood as, due to the beautiful weather we've had, we've just not been feeling Christmassy at all. However, after last night, we're all about Christmas! For a hot and sunny city, Melbourne knows how to do it!

The market was jammed packed with people carrying cups of cocktails or beers and handfulls of delicious foods from all over the world. There was mexican, spanish, macaroons, churro's, crepes, ice-cream, meatballs, potatos on a stick, chinese goodness and so much more that we could barely see due to the crowds!

Classis nativity scene with the 7 dwarfs and eyore!

After leaving the amazing atmosphere of the market behind we decided to take a walk through the city to see what Christmas delights they had to offer and there was many they did! The window displays at Myer store I believe are well known and something people look forward to every year. Even when we walked past at around 10:30pm there was a massive queue full of wide-eyed children, adults, teenagers and all ages in between.

Just after the window display there was 3 fire engines parked in the street. At first we were a bit worried that there had actually been a fire but we were then approached by a rather attractive fireman asking if we wanted a lolly pop!? After taking our lolly we confusingly walked away to be greeted by a light display on the city town building. It literally took my breath away. The whole building was brightly lit up and told a wee story of the elves working in santas grotto. 

After being amazed by the building we took a stroll to get some pictures with a giant Christmas tree and then headed home in a much merrier mood.

It's finally beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Iona x

The whole nativity story written on a massive lite up wall

Learning To Let Go

As the previous post mentioned, we recently moved to a new flat. We've moved from Flemington (North of Melbourne CBD) to St Kilda (South of Melbourne CBD) so it was quite a distance! We have a couple of overlap days where we had both flats so we grabbed to opportunity to spread the actual moving process over a couple of days.

I've never considered myself a hoarder but during the packing time I was finding it extremely hard to leave anything behind. So much so that I couldn't even fit all my stuff in my rucksack and hand-luggage bag even after already taking a full rucksack the day before. The thing I struggled with the most is leaving behind items, such as toiletries, which I knew we would just have to buy again once we'd moved- what would be the point in that?! 

I have realised though that once we get more into the travelling aspect of our journey it's going to be near impossible to carry so many belongings that I'm going to have to learn to separate the needed from the wanted, however, I fear that's going to be easier said that done!!

Iona x

Moving Day

The day has finally come for us to up sticks (is that the saying?) and move out of Flemington and down to St Kilda. As much as we've enjoyed our time in this flat and really liked the flat we just feel that it's a bit out the way and St Kilda has such a good atmosphere. St Kilda is where the beach is and is full of bars, shops, cafes and pubs- what more do you need!?

Our new flat is beautiful. As soon as we all walked in we all fell in love. It's in a brilliant location and has a massive tv. The only down side to the flat is that it is just one bedroom and there is 3 of us moving in. However, in the one bedroom there is two double beds so we shouldn't be too crammed. We'll be in it for about 3 months so don't mind sharing for the fact it'll be cheaper.

This morning I've already managed to pack, however, I have realised that I have somehow managed to nearly double to amount of stuff I own so will have to do 2 trips :s Think I'm going to have to have a bit of a clear out soon as it's going to be hard when we actually get round to travelling around Australia. 

Iona x

Best Day Of My Life

The day before the Neighbours Tour we had booked ourselves on to what is called the "Phillips Island Tour". I have since referred to it only as THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!! It was literally incredible!

We started the day at an animal sanctuary where we got to feed wallaby's and kangaroo's (except the kangaroo's were too hot and stayed in the shade but the wallaby's were more than happy to come eat out our hands). It was also here that one of my life long ambitions came true and I got to cuddle a koala. We then left the sanctuary not thinking that the day could get much better but little did we know it had only just begun!

From the animal sanctuary we then went to visit Churchill Island which was very Western themed and we got to see a blacksmith demonstration, a working dog demonstration, stroke a horse, see some highland cows and attempt to throw a boomerang for the full Australian experience. 

Moving on from Churchill Island we had some time to waste so stopped off at a beautiful beach for about half an hour. This was our first visit to an Australian beach so we were like little kids on Christmas morning and had the biggest smiles on our faces the whole time.

We then got to visit our new best friends (koalas) again at a Koala sanctuary where we walked along tree-top-trails and had a game of eye-spy-a-koala! We also almost got wee'd on by one- it's amazing how much liquid they can store!!

For dinner we stopped off at a place called Nobbies which was set on a cliff which offered beautiful views as we watched the sunset over the water. 

To end what was already an incredible day we then set off to watch penguins ( yes- real life wild penguins in Australia!!!). We waited for a good wee while but eventually little groups of penguins started to emerge from the water. It was amusing to watch a group gather at the waters edge then start to make they way across the beach but then one would get scared and run back to the water and they would then all follow it back only to re-group and try again! As we made our way back to the bus to go home we were literally walking right beside the penguins who were making their way to their burrows. 

The whole day was incredible and full of experiences which I'll never forget. Literally- THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!!!

Iona x