Soo much to talk about!..

Ok so our laptop has been out of action until yesterday so I'm only getting to post now! So much has happened since we've finished on the farm! We visited the Blue Mountains, we stayed with Conor's family in Sydney and Wollongong, visited Canberra and Thredbo, had Christmas in Melbourne, did the Great Ocean Road, had New Years in Melbourne and have been here since! Lots to fill you in on!

So lets start at the beginning, the farm!!! It was bye bye cottage, bye bye backpackers, bye bye farm after 92 days working! It flew by and was genuinely one of the best things we have done so far in Australia. We have made loads of great friends, all of whom I hope we'll see again on our travels or else we'll have to visit where they're from! Any excuse for a holiday! ;)

So this is the group that was left when we finished which by all accounts has changed completely in the last four weeks! I've even sent one of my friends down there that wanted to get her farm work done! I hope she enjoys it as much as we did (or else I'll be hearing about it!)

So we got our papers signed and hit the road for the Blue Mountains on the 12th. First we went to the Karrang and Boyd national park and saw the Karrang Wall which was just a little breath-taking! We got to see lots of kangaroos and even a little porcupine which was far too exciting really. Next stop the Jenolan Caves which were beautiful both inside the caves and in the area around while you wait for your tour. For example the blue lagoon which had the most amazing blue water, caused by limestone we found out. We did the Temple Bahl tour which had some amazing features in it including a stalactite that looked like an angel and one rock formation that looked like a chandelier. I would definitely recommend going to see the caves if you can, there are so many tours that you can do besides the one that we did, could do a full day out there but visiting a lot of the caves would be very expensive, although I'm sure they have deals on multiple tours however.

 Then it was Sutherland here we come to stay with Conor's aunt and uncle in their new place! We stayed with them for a week and got to visit more family down in Wollongong, including their little ones! Their little boy Charlie was fascinated by me, just because I'm a girl of course but I didn't mind he was a total cutie, I loved the attention! Ha! Was lovely to see them all! We got to see the Swedish girls from the farm and finally got to go to Manly beach which was fun, although there was a shark warning, strong current and a blue bottle jellyfish warning so we ended up in a pub! Typical! Good fun all the same! Although we didn't get to go to Watson bay on the way back which I had wanted to do! Oh well! We also visited Madame Tussaud's and Botany Bay so I think we've seen all that we had wanted to in Sydney! But then again there is always something to see in that crazy city!!

And then it was on to Canberra! Can't be in a country and not see the capital really now can we? Plus we got a great deal on Scoopon for a hotel, which gave us a bottle of champagne for every night we stayed which made for an interesting Christmas. It is a lovely city, very small and quiet but pretty! It is packed to the brim with museums so if they're your thing get to Canberra! The War Museum is amazing, we spent four hours there and probably could have spent more time there other than the fact that we were starving! We also visited the Australian Institute of Sport and went up to Telstra tower for a view of the city which was pretty good! At the tower one of the staff told us to head up to Mount Ainslie for a great view of the city at night, I would definitely recommend it! Was very pretty, although somewhat cold! Unfortunately I need to invest in a tripod for my night mode, not the best picture but you get the idea!!

Then our final stop before Melbourne, Thredbo! It's a cute ski village town built up in the mountains and during the summer it is host to hill walkers and downhill bikers. You can get a ski lift up to the top of the slopes and from there you can walk to Mount Kosciuszko, the highest point in Australia, granted we didn't know beforehand but it's a 13 km walk and can take up to six hours to do! Considering the lift stops at 4.30 we probably should have gone up before 2.00! So unfortunately we didn't get to do the full walk but we did do the first two km before we put two and two together and headed back very quickly!! Hopefully we'll get back there again to do the full walk! The view from where we got to was amazing though, there was even still snow on the mountains!

Final stop for Christmas was Melbourne so we headed down the mountain and in parts (where they had cut it) straight through! Didn't look like the safest job in the world either, bit daunting driving through it without a scrape of phone signal between the two of us but on the other hand more than a little amazing! Saw some serious one horse towns once we reached the end, but finally on the 23rd we arrived in Melbourne! Siobhan and Benny had friends staying with them until the 24th so we had some chill out time before the madness that was Christmas day!


It's Christmas!!!! We had a champagne and pancake breakfast and then opened our presents. Was a lovely morning and we now have more Irish chocolate than any person can keep from melting!! Very exciting though! :D At three we headed over to our old apartment for Christmas dinner, all the trimmings! Was great! There was actually a nice big group of us too which was nice and got some calls in with the family too on their Christmas morning! Ended up being a bit of a piss up for the rest of the day, with a bit of a sing song too! Was great to catch up with everyone and meet the people who moved into our old apartment and their friends too. Was a great day but how tired and hungover we were the next day was not great for packing and getting on the road again for the Great Ocean Road.

But that my friends is for another post! I think I may have to hit the bed now!
Post again soon, so much catching up to do!!!

Amy :) x

Half way there!!!

So we have now been in Cowra for six weeks! How time is flying by! It has been one of the best times we've had in Australia and it's not even done yet!
We've met some great people here, including a girl who actually lives 20 mins away from me at home and who used to work with my Mam! Small world eh?? And my Dad knows her Dad too! Craziness! Unfortunately herself and her boyfriend finish this weekend! Going to miss them lots! Got to make an album for her on Facebook though of farmer photos of her which I think her parents are going to be delighted with! 
Two weeks ago Team Sweeden left for Bondi too and I have to say its weird here without them! They are lovely girls who are really good fun! I'm already looking forward to meeting up with them when we get to Sydney again!
Speaking about Sydney, this week I started planning our trip after we have finished our time in Cowra! So we're officially finished on the 5th of Dec but we're going to stay on until the 12th and head to Sydney until the 19th. In that time we'll see Conor's family in Jannali and Wollongong and hopefully see my cousin and of course the girls! Very excited! I've also looked up stuff that we didn't do in Sydney like go to Manly beach and Watson Bay that we can do while we're there! Also possibly (if I can talk Conor into it) going to do a skydive! I'm terrified and excited by the idea of it at the same time! Really hope it happens! So I looked up a couple of websites for it which seem to have good prices! I may as well write them here too I suppose, in case anyone is interested.
1)www.sydneyskydivers.com.au 2) www.adrenalin.com.au 3) www.skydivethebeach.com.au
Then on the 19th we are going to head for Canberra where we got a really good deal on a hotel on Scoopon. So we got our stay, a bottle of champers, buffet breakfast, discount on attractions and all in a really nice looking hotel, with a fab pool for $100 a night! Not too sure what we'll do in Canberra yet but I think Lake Burley is on my list anyway and the War Memorial! Plenty of time yet to figure out some more activities!
And we have a night left then to play around with before we get to Melbourne for Christmas so I was thinking of maybe going to a town called Eden which is meant to be very nice, unfortunately whale watching season will be over by then though and that is what it is most known for! :(

And then its on to the Great Ocean Road  after Christmas dinner in our old apartment with Conor's sister, her boyfriend, and two couples that we used to live with! We have a cabin in Warrnambool for three nights between six of us and then onto another town for two nights that I honestly can't remember the name of! The joys of having someone else organise everything for us! :)
As it was Halloween this week we're doing fancy dress for Tom and Tara's last weekend so most definitely will have photos to follow from that! It should be good fun now! Everyone is excited about it so that's always good! And we're going to do a punch bowl which I'm hoping will be a nice change from Southie for a bit, and we have glow sticks and sparklers! The only bad thing is we can't do our usual bonfire since the fire ban has started in NSW already! I'm going as a raver, mostly because I could do it with some stuff I own already, but also because every single girl costume I found was super short or very slutty! Will never understand why girls costumes are always like that! >:(

Oh and this week alone we have got four new boys! Two Dublin boys and two boys from London so the place is over run by testosterone at the moment, next week there will be three girls and eleven boys! Eleven! And Angela finishes next week too! Going to be interesting for the parties if nothing else!! I was even informed by one of the Dubs that I'm one of the boys now! Lucky me! Ha!
I really do have to say I am enjoying being here now, it was hard at first but even cutting lettuce is easier now and I'm getting to do other jobs like harvesting spinach, cleaning the harvesters and unblocking sprinklers so that helps too.
So yes that's it now for the moment! I think I'm just going to make the most of our last six weeks here and hopefully they will be as good as the first six!
Amy :) x