Hometime!

The time had come for me to return to my motherland and head back to Scotland. Last Tuesday I boarded the plane at 2:40am and said my farewells to Australia (not for the last time I hope). After traveling for around 32 hours I arrived home and was surprised to be met at the airport by one of my godsons (aswell as my parents of course- he's only 4!). 

I've now been home for 5 days and so far have enjoyed being back. I've been able to have food, catch up with my family and friends and have a room to myself at night. Although I'm home I will still be posting on here as I still have so many places and experiences which I'd like to share so there's plenty to look forward to! I'd also like to quickly apologise for lack of posts of recent. While traveling about we were very busy and also it was hard to find somewhere with decent wifi/free wifi as money was at an all time low! Now that I'm home I will always have access to wi-fi somewhere so keep an eye out for much more posts soon!

Iona x

Deans and Doughbox Diner's

I understand it is now a few weeks since I left Sydney but near the end of my time there Michelle and I explored a bit more to make the most of our time there and there's a couple of places which deserve a bit of a shoutout. Both of these are location in Newtown, as that's where we lived, but Newtown in general is a great area to go to for food/drinks/evening out. 

The first place which I would like to bring to your attention is Dean's Diner. I wish I had a photo of the burgers which we got from here. There was such a wide variety to choose from and they were just simply delicious. Everytime we walked past the diner we would both automatically slow down just to enjoy the tempting smell even more. It was a greasy cafe but the food was brilliantly prepared and just tasted down right amazing. If you're ever in the area and after some naughty food but don't want to do the standard McDonalds then check out this place and then you can thank me later! (It also did such amazing chips and packaged them a bit like a chippie back home which made me very happy!)

The second place which we tried near the end of our time is Doughbox Diner. When we first walked past this 50's style diner we thought it had shut down but soon discovered it only opens from 6pm. The only options on the menu is either crepes, both sweet and savoury, or waffles but the menu itself offered SO many options in fillings. I don't even know what we went for but our minds were blown! It was just amazing! The filling tasted fresh and was all prepared infront of you. What really impressed us was that the crepes had some sort of cheese coating which was crusted and just added an extra OOMMPH!!! 

Chicken, Bacon, Avocado, Mushroom, Spring Onion, Cheese = AMAZING!

Both these places were reasonably priced and if I'm ever in the area then I'll be heading to both these places. I miss them already!

Iona x

New Zealand! Days 9-13

I have now returned back to Australia and found my time in New Zealand flew past far too quickly! But I'm happy to be out the cold and wind and back with Michelle too. Here's what I got up to in my last few days in New Zealand;

• Day 9- Today I left Rotorua and got two buses to National Park. I think this was the most travel I'd done in a day while being in New Zealand so safe to say I was happy when I finally arrived at my hostel and could get into bed. One of my room mates was 63 years old...she was in bed by 7 both nights I was there!
• Day 10- My hike up Mount Doom took place today. It was an 8 hour hike while saw me climbing up a volcano mountain which was covered in ice. This turned out not to be my idea of fun and I hated every second. Now I see it as an accomplishment but at the time I wanted to give up and go back the whole way. I even cried at one point (I was mortified! I don't cry in front of people, especially not strangers!) but this was down to injuring my knee just as we made it to the top which only made going back down that much more fun. The weather was pretty extreme to the point where at times we couldn't even see the whole group who were metres ahead because the wind was so strong and blowing the snow up and my eyelashes even froze together. However, I did get to sing "Let It Go!!" quietly to myself which was my highlight. 
• Day 11- My day to recover from the climb and also to leave National Park and all the snow behind and move on to Wellington. This was another two bus trip but wasn't as long as the last one.
• Day 12- Today was my last tour planned and it was the Wellington Movie Tour based on Lord of the Rings. Although I did enjoy this trip I don't think I was a big enough fan to truely get in to it. At one point we walked through a forest and the guide pointed out trees which were in the first film. I have photo's of trees...But we did get to go into the studio where they display costumes and the actual guy who worked on the movie, and many others, and did the hair/make-up/costumes etc told up some film secrets and let us have a feel of some props which were used (I held an Auks head in my hands...was really weird!).
• Day 13- My final day in New Zealand and this consisted of nothing but heading to the airport and leaving New Zealand.

I had such an amazing time in New Zealand and I'm so glad I didn't let me fear of travelling alone stop me from seeing it. I would love to back and explore the South Island but for now I'm extremely happy and grateful for everything I got to do and see.

Only 4 weeks left in Australia now until home time!!

Iona x

Rotorua

National Park

Up Mount Doom- last effort until the top

Trying to look happy...I really wasn't

The sign which says you're at the top- shows how bad the weather was!

Some of the tress from Lord of the Rings

New Zealand! Days 6-8

Today is my one and only completely free day while in New Zealand and it's also my last day in Rotorua, so I thought it was a good time to catch you all up on what I've been up to;

• Day 6- today I went on the Hobbiton tour and it was SO good! I had such a great time seeing the shire and have decided I would like to move there asap! The guide was really good at explaining movie secrets and pointing out what scenes were filmed where. It was so interesting to see all the detail that had gone into the movies
• Day 7- Today I went on the Tamaki Maori Village Tour which was in the evening. This was incredible and I think my favourite tour I've done so far. It was a chance to see New Zealand's culture and learn about how tribes use to do things back in the day. We were welcomed in by warriors and then taught about tribe games, training, weaving, how they gave tattoos, womans dance and of course saw a couple renditions of the Haka. We were then given a show where they performed songs and finally we got to eat dinner which had been cooked in a pit in the ground. It was such a great tour and one which I would 100% recommend to everyone!
• Day 8- Like I said this is my last day in Rotorua which does sadden me a bit. Today I had nothing on so tried to sort out my suitcase a bit better and took a wander down near the lake. Last night I was also the only one in my room which was SO weird as I haven't slept in a room by myself for almost 11 months but as I returned this afternoon there's 4 new people to keep me company tonight.

Next stop- National Park!!

x

The pit where our dinner was cooking

New Zealand! Days 1-5

So I have made it to New Zealand!! And what a beautiful country it is. Here's what I've been up to so far;

• Day one- woke up at 5:20 to catch my flight. Made it in good time and headed onto the plane which had been delayed for half an hour. Arrived into Auckland and headed through the airport with no problems and both my luggage bags arrived- yay!! Stayed in a hostel in Auckland
• Day two- Left my hostel in the early hours to catch a bus up Paihia. Paihia is North of the island and a 4 hour bus ride away from Auckland. I arrived at my hostel, dumped my bags and went to explore the town. It's right by the sea so was beautiful however, I did get caught in a nasty down pour! 
• Day three- today I went on a dolphin and Hole in the Rocks tour. This was a boat tour and with the weather still not great it was a bumpy boat ride at that! Since the weather was so bad we didn't get to go see the Hole in the Rock which is where you get to see two oceans collide but not mix (so I hear). This was the reason I went on the tour so I was a bit disappointed but still excited to see some dolphins/whales/orcas. This did not happen either. Apparently only 5% of the time marine life is not seen...again- typical! So I got a voucher to go back again for free should I ever be back up there!? 
• Day four- another early bus ride back down to Auckland where I stayed in the same hostel as the first night. This time I was in a different room and there was 5 guys and myself...2 of the guys were over 50 years old...ah hostels! You do give some good stories! 
• Day five- yet another early bus ride and this time down to Rotorua. I have to say that so far this is my favourite place. There's no high buildings like a city and has beautiful views of the mountains which are surrounding the town. It also helped that I could spend some of the afternoon sunbathing on our balcony which over looks the hostel's pool! 

So far I have had such an amazing trip but I am SO tired and looking forward to being in this hostel for a few nights as having to pack up everything every day was getting to be a bit of a chore! I've also managed to pick up a cold on my travels which has only added to my exhaustion but I won't let it ruin my trip!! Can't wait to explore this stunning country some more! 

x

Moving On

I have some very exciting news to share with you all! In a couple of weeks I will be leaving Sydney and flying to New Zealand! I am SO excited that I am able to head over there as I didn't think I'd be able to afford it but thanks to a little help from my parents and some very tight budgeting I am managing to spend just under two weeks over there. I have a good few tours booked and will be traveling quite a bit so will hopefully be able to see quite a lot within the short space of time.

Although I am very excited to be going there I am also absolutely terrified. This is the first time I've gone traveling on my own and it's definitely not something which I wanted to do/ever thought I would do. I am a shy person and can often get very anxious in social situations so have always struggled to put myself out there, which means I have often missed out on opportunities through fear/nerves so this is such a big step for me and one that I'm not even 100% sure I'll be able to handle. I know a lot of people go traveling on their own and that it's becoming more and more common a thing to do but personally, for me, it's a massive deal and I am genuinely terrified. 

When I went to book it (I used a company called Peter Pans which I would definitely recommend) I almost chickened out and didn't bother. Even once I'd gone into the place I almost changed my mind and walked out again but I realised that I'm in such a lucky position to be able to go and that I've already missed out on things due to my anxiety that I wasn't going to allow myself do it again when it's such a great opportunity. I know I'm completely throwing myself into the deep end and often feel a bit sick when I think about leaving by myself but if I never try I'll never learn...wish me luck! 

Iona x

Unusual Miss's

When leaving for Australia there was things which I knew I would miss; my family, my cat, my godsons, my friends...etc. But since being here I've discovered other things which I didn't expect to miss quite as much;

• Monthly trips to Asda with mother
• Having more than four possible outfit choices
• Home cooked food
• Having clothes for every weather condition
• Being able to easily find irn-bru at all times
• Having baths
• Home radio stations
• Knowing my way around a city well 
• My dvd collection
• Being able to afford fruit and vegetables
• Being in the same time zone as everyone I know so everytime I want to talk to someone I don't have to work out if I'm about to wake them up/then have to wait until they are up
• Central heating (I currently can't feel my feet)
• Having different mugs for different types of hot drinks (a little OCD but I like it!)
• Scottish tap water

I'm not trying to paint a sob story of my life in Australia, I am having such a great experience and I'm enjoying every aspect of it. However, this year has definitely made me realise I took so much for granted back home and I will be appreciating it all much more when I return.

Iona x