Back and more upbeat!!

You'll be glad to hear that I am out of my misery guts mood that I have been in for two days! Yes two! All that I required was a good bit of talking to my sister and Conor! This is how I sort everything I might add, I have to talk it out!

So yes the last two days, well yesterday I was still a grump due to unbelievable boredom but I relieved it a little by going looking for interview clothes, in Topshop, where I bought more than that! Whoops! Oh well I decided I needed cheering up! So yes anyway I bought some pants for the interview and some much needed new jeans (I have been living in the two pairs of Leigh jeans that I brought with me!) and a vest top with an aztec print on it, and in my defense I have been looking for something like it for ages! I honestly could justify anything really! So that little bit of retail therapy improved my humour greatly.

Then myself and Conor went off out for a walk yesterday evening, the start of my get fit regime. I've decided that there is no reason as to why a 22 year old should be unfit so I am going to have to do something about it. I have no excuse now that I have the weather to be off outside walking, and hopefully eventually running (if my body doesn't give up due to shock first!)To aid this I have also been trying to eat better so am eating a lot more fruit and yogurts, which I love, and trying to eat less sweets and crap, which I also love! I'm not doing too badly so far, I think!?


Another reason for my more positive demeanor is that my interview went well today, as far as I could tell! The lady interviewing me, Sam, was lovely and I think I came across well to her. So I shall find out about that position next Tuesday but in the meantime I am applying for everything that comes up too. Don't put all your eggs in the one basket and all!!


And I suppose my last reason to be happy (today), as I type I am sitting on the couch on the balcony looking out on a beautiful, and warm day. Perhaps being a lady of leisure isn't so bad after all!!! :)


Amy :)

Getting angsty...

So today, as I read an email telling me my application hadn't been successful for a job Conor got a phone call asking him to work, today!!! Delighted for him of course, but now I feel like a housewife, yuck!! I am the only one out of six flatmates not working which makes for a quiet house! Beginning to get fed up of the apartment I loved so much a week ago and now wishing I wasn't looking at its walls so bloody often!!


Before you say 'so do something about it', I have! I hope! Besides applying for everything that comes up online I spent two hours of today up on Chapel St, handing in CV's. Tedious work I may add as more often than not you are greeted with the phrase 'Actually we do online applications' or 'Sorry but we aren't looking for anyone right now but I can take a CV if you like' the latter of which seems better, but I'm fairly confident that there are probably a couple of my CV's out to be collected by the rubbish man now!


So my normal positive attitude has taken a day off and for now I'm just going to miserable, while surrounded by the bloody walls and look for more online applications to fill out!!!
I am really hoping this interview on Weds goes my way or I may just have a mini breakdown! Just a mini one mind!!


Think I'll head down to Acland St then and see if there is anything going down there, and of course do the good housewife duties of getting stuff for the dinner! Eugh!! Maybe I'll just go shoe shopping instead!! (Feel free to wait for the post where by I come back and describe said cheer me up shoes!)


There's my silly rant for today which I will most likely read tomorrow and hit myself over the head for!


Amy :( <-- not so happy face!

Settled in..

So now that we're all settled in the job hunt is in full swing! I have an interview on Weds for Helly Hansen! I don't even know what to wear to an interview anymore it's been so long since I had one! Eeep! I'm sure I'll figure something out by then though!


So whilst we have been job hunting we've been trying to keep the spending down, which means sitting in in the evenings a lot! I'm not used to sitting at home that often so I decided to invest in a book! Myself and Conor have both decided that we need to read more. (a promise I actually made to myself for when I had finished college, you know with my new found free time! Safe to say that didn't happen)So yes I purchased this book! It's a fictional crime solver which is exactly why I got it, although I do love reading how real crime stories are solved I said I'd start out with some fiction and maybe move on after! Ha!


Also this week, we rented a car! A little (being the appropriate word) Hyundai Getz! It is very compact shall we say! But it got us around for the weekend so all in all its not so bad! And I finally drove in Australia! That has been one of the things I've been missing since I got here! I miss my car and the freedom of not having to plan out my tram or bus route! Hopefully soon we will be buying one out here, although not from a garage as we discovered today! Car prices out here are scandalous! For example I sold my 03 golf for €3500 at home, that is $4400, but I saw a 01 golf for $12000 today!! That is €9450!! It just doesn't equate! I know the wages are better over here but I just can not understand that much of a difference in the price of cars! I should have brought mine over, I could have made a mint selling it!!! So yes now we are staying well away from garages and trawling through Gumtree on a regular basis! Cars are still expensive enough on it but far better than the scan artists we saw today!!! In fact I took a little break there and just found a 01 golf for $6000 on gumtree... Still a lot, but half the dealers price!!! Scandalous!

This week, inbetween the job hunting we also made time to visit Fitzroy Park, where Cook's Cottage calls home. It was actually moved from Great Ayton in Yorkshire to Melbourne by disassembling it and bringing it over on boats only to be reassembled in Fitzroy Park in 1934. It's very cute and the park surrounding it is beautiful too, with lots of little sights too see, like the fairy tree, model tudor village and a beautiful conservatory.

Although I did say that we were keeping spending down we did treat ourselves on Sunday. We said you couldn't be in Melbourne the weekend of the F1, able to hear it from our apartment all week and not go! It was a brilliant day out! There was so much more than just the big race on! There was v8 cars and porches racing beforehand, moto cross stunts with the Crusty Demons, the army was there showing some of its tanks and gear, there were cars from Ford, Mustang, Ferrari and loads more on display there too! There was amusements, boats racing on the lake and fighter and jet planes flying overhead! Albert Park was mobbed with people! I would recommend if it is on near you at any time do go because it is well worth the ticket money. Try and book as early as you can however as it is slightly cheaper that way, think our housemates paid $20 less than us for booking in advance! 

My brother reckons I blend in
with the background of my mugshot.

We went to the Old Melbourne Gaol this week too. Purely to see everything Ned Kelly related but there was much cooler stuff up there, like death mask of famous inmates and there stories. some of the cells were laid out as they would have been too. Would recommend going but definitely go there early, we got there around half 3 and had to rush around to see half of it. They give you a tour of the old holding cells there too, where you can get your mugshot taken if you like! The guide for it is pretty funny too so worth the half hour that it takes.

The goodies taking
over our fridge!

This week Conor also got a lovely delivery from his Mam full of Irish goodies!! We shared a dairy milk earlier with our tea and it was the best thing ever!! He even gave me the last two squares, now there's love! Ha! So we have loadsa sweets now to make a dent in! Yum!

So yes that was Melbourne this week! Hopefully next week is full of exciting new job prospects and page turners!!
Amy x

Yes my second post in a day..

Spoiling ye today so I am! Decided that seems as how everyone I spoke to before I left told me the shopping was awful that I would post to say that is sooo not true! Between shops like Cotton on, which is cheap and cheerful, Jeans West, K-Mart, which is like Penneys meets Dunnes (in a good way), Factorie, Sportsgirl, Topshop (my favourite still of course!!) and all the endless boutique and pop up shops I am having to tear myself away from shops to actually keep some money until I have a job!!


So I said I'd put up a photo of the lovely thing I have bought so far, not too much of course and most things pretty cheap!! :)

So the floral top and high waisted shorts are both Cotton On and got them in the sale so the top was only $10 and the shorts $15! The black dress is cotton on too and is what I'm wearing for our girls night tomorrow, it was only $30! The shoes are my most expensive purchase at $96 from Topshop but I mean look at them!! The blouse is Jeans West and looks great with my navy Topshop jeans, think that was $30! The navy polka dot skirt is K-Mart and was $15! The black maxi is super comfy AND has pockets which I love. That's from K-Mart too and was $15 too! The pj's I bought because they are nice and light and v.pretty! I got them from Cotton On Body for $32 for the two of them! So that's all my purchasing done, I think!


But yes now to recommend places to go for shopping in Melbourne! There isn't really a quick answer except everywhere!! There is a Cotton On on nearly every street and in every suburb. Every street in the CBD has boutiques, chain stores and designer stores to look in, and the suburbs have their own too! Chapel Street I have to say has been my favourite place so far! It goes from cheaper stores at the St.Kilda end to Designer and more expensive stores at the South Yarra end! It goes on for ages and honestly is a days shopping in itself!
I have also been told about a large shopping centre called Chadstone Shopping Centre but I think it might be an idea to keep my distance until I actually have an income again! Hmmm!


But yes there is my rant! Do not listen to the people who were here before and reckon the fashion isn't up to scratch, they are clearly mad or blind! That is all!


Good day from an anxious girl with money burning a large hole in her pocket, yes me! Oh and I've a picture of the outfit that I'm planning on wearing tomorrow, sure why not! I can't decide which necklace which is why there is two! Decisions, decisions!! 


Amy :)

Here we are..

In Melbourne!! Have settled into our apartment in St.Kilda and all!! It is lovely, we have the master bedroom and the apartment has balcony with a barbecue on it and our sitting room has a projector for a TV! It's also only five minutes walk from the beach, a short tram ride to the CBD and has busy little streets full of nice restaurants and pubs for us to go to, aswell as only being a short tram ride away from Chapel St.! Living with two English couple's who are so nice! So far we've had a BBQ and a poker/card night with them all and they've been good fun! Having a girls night this Saturday with the housemates as a friend of one of the girls is down from Sydney for the weekend for the F1! Really liking Melbourne, its very chilled out but keep finding myself drawing comparisons between it and Sydney! Not cool!!! Ha!


So we're on the job hunt at the moment, applying to everything that there is available to us so fingers crossed we'll be working soon as we are not made of money! Ha! And we have been here a month now so I reckon it may be time to stop being a tourist!!


In saying that, in our unemployment we have got in some touristy things in Melbourne, a lot of which has been free which is cool! In Federation Square, which is pretty cool itself, there is the ACMI, which is free. It has an exhibition of the advances in technology, going from television to the internet. It has some cool stuff like Mad Max's car on display in there and costumes that Australian actresses have worn in movies, for example they have an outfit worn by Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge!


WE also went and saw the shrine of remembrance and the Sidney Myer music bowl, which we will definitely be catching a concert at! Its very cool! We did this while the Moomba festival was on too! It was a big free music festival with amusements, skate and bmx competitions and waterboarding comp. It was pretty deadly! There was a band at it called The Bamboo's, they are an Australian funk bad. If you ever get the chance to see them grab it because they are unbelievable! If the singer sang me a breakfast menu it would still give me shivers, and the band we're fab too!!

Notice the sunburnt face on him!

It was Conor's birthday on the 11th aswell so obviously presents had to be bought and I wanted to get him a guitar because he didn't bring his but seems as how wouldn't know the slightest thing about picking one I brought him to Allans and Billy Hyde music store to pick one out! So he got himself a nice Takemine, which came with a case, plectrums and a tuner. Sorted! We went out with a friend of ours who was in Melbourne for the weekend too to celebrate.


We have spent a lot of time on St.Kilda beach which is lovely! The other day we went down at five in the evening and it was still warm enough to go swimming and sun bathing! Around sunset every day you can go down to Jacka Boulevard and out to the pier and watch the fairy penguins come in from their days swimming! They are tiny and very, very cute! They were molting as well when we saw them so they were fluffy too! You can't take pictures of them because the flash disorients them, and in some cases blinds them but there are volunteers there with special flashlights (flashlights with duct tape over the lens!) to point them out to you in all the rocks! Apparently the best time of year to go see them is Sept/Oct because they have all their little babies with them! I WILL be going then!!

On Weds myself, Conor and a couple that we live with headed up to Brighton Beach for the day to see the bathing boxes and to do a bit of sunbathing! It's a lovely beach and the bathing boxes are v.cute! They are all multi-coloured and look deadly along the beach! There is a bike path from St.Kilda to Brighton that you can do which I think takes about half an hour which we might do the next day, when it's a bit cooler perhaps!


So yes, that is Melbourne so far! As Isaid everything to do is pretty cheap and cheerful and Melbourne is seriously laid back and cool! Hopefully next time I post I will be a working girl and I can let ye know of anything else we get up too!!


Amy :)

And we're off again...

So we've gone ahead and booked flights to Melbourne and a hostel in St.Kilda! We're going to head there on the 5th, which will have given us just about three weeks in Sydney! And what busy weeks they have been!! Since my last post we've done some more sight seeing and met up with some family and friends!...


So last night we went for dinner in the AB in Glebe, food was fab and upstairs is very cool! Afterwards we went to watch Conor's uncle's gig with his aunt and uncle. It was bluegrass music and was actually really good! Seriously fast!! Ha! 


On Friday we went and saw the Police Museum in Circular Quay. It has some very cool displays like a massive collection with weapons, some even having the tags on them from the crimes they were used it! A bit freaky, but not more so than the random sample of scary mugshots in the same room!! There was also 
rooms dedicated to Forensics, some of which gave examples of some of the most famous cases in Australia, including the Pyjama girl. Loved these, which probably sounds really worrying but it's so interesting how they solve them!


Friday night we did the ghost tour of The Rocks. Our ghost host's name was Ivan and he was lovely and very funny and had some great stories for us going around! In the last building we saw we took a load of photos and you can see orbs in them! See!!


On Wednesday myself and Conor met my cousin and her fiance in Cheers bar for a drink, or two, and a few games of pool before they head off travelling around until the mid/end of March! Cheers is a cool sports pub on George St, predominantly a Liverpool supporters bar, they show every sport imaginable on their dozens of screens and are open all hours so we can actually catch games from at home in there!! :D But yeah I believe I had a bit of an off day pool wise, luckily I had Conor on my team or I wouldn't have won a single game! Ha!


On Tuesday we went to the Blue Mountains.It was amazing!! If you are ever visiting I would recommend spending a weekend there and if possible renting a jeep!! Some of the roads are literally dirt tracks (At the start they are not but on the way to each point they are!!) The area is the size of Northern Ireland, according to a lovely cable car operator at Scenic World which I will tell you about shortly! But yes that big and overflowing with 300 waterfalls and some serious views! Now as we only spent part of a day there we didn't get to see even half of the place, but what we did see still has me in awe! 

Jellybean Pool

Nepean River

So first we stopped in Glenbrook and saw Jellybean Pool which looked a lot like a secret beach if ask me but I can only imagine how pretty it is on a brighter day! Then we headed off over the dirt roads that eventually brought us to Nepean view point, for which I need another picture because words fail me! The height that you look down from is unsettling but the view is so worth it! In  Glenbrook  you can also see aboriginal art work in the Red Caves, which I am gutted I missed, along with many walks and other lookouts.

Three Sisters

Next we moved on to Katoomba, home to Echo Point which is the view point for the famous Three Sisters, along with many other rock formations including the Kings Tableland and Mount Solitary. From here you can see for miles.
Also in Katoomba is Scenic World, which is fab! It gives you the choice of walking around the areas seen from Echo Point, along with getting cable cars to see the view closer, one of which has a glass bottom. There is also a railway you get down to bottom which is unexpectedly steep! Great craic though!! :) All along the floor of the area used to be a coal mine, all of the old mines have displays and videos in them to show you how they would have been used throughout the years. Would definitely recommend doing the $28 trip! You get to do each ride and see what's around on the walk!


On Monday we met up with Conor's friend who has just come down to Sydney from Perth to see his sister. Ended up in Jackson's on the very end of George St, to get some fab food and some of the biggest beers I've seen since we got here! No scooners in that pub! Ha!


On Sunday we visited Conor's aunt and uncle and their two kids, Charlie and Molly in Wollongong with his sister, her boyfriend, and their aunt and uncle that we are staying with! Their house is deadly, very retro and full to the brim with instruments and vinyl!! And that's not even mentioning that they have their own pool, which the boys put to full use! Had a lovely BBQ their too so we were all well spent by the time we got home!

Saturday evening we did the Coogee to Bondi walk which is beautiful! The scenery between all the beaches on the route is amazing! Unfortunately we left a little late so it was dark by the time we got to Bondi which meant my camera struggled to take clear photos! Not cool!! Also Conor's sister and her boyfriend were very hungover while doing it as they finished work on Friday, the reason for our first night out which I will get to now...


Our first night out in Sydney, due to Siobhan and Benny finishing work to go do their regional work was, as I said, Friday! A disaster at first as neither of us were too interested in going out but once we got to the Three Wise Monkeys the band solved that! They were deadly but I can not for the life of me remember their name now! Dam it! 


So yes thats my backwards account of the last few days up to my last post! The main theme seems to be drinking but honestly it isn't!! Well perhaps a little but mostly Conor, not me! Ha! So yes next time I write we shall be in Melbourne! Have already started our house hunting, well looking for apartments I mean, so perhaps we'll have our own place by the next time I write in which case I might have pictures to follow!!


Amy :)