And We're back!

So our long visit home has come and gone, and it was amazing! Just being home and seeing people without in being through a computer screen was great! Even if my brother and sister did great us by throwing water balloons! The flight was actually OK, think I felt better for being able to get off the plane the few times. And Royal Brunei were great! There was loads of leg room and there was constantly people coming around offering drinks or whatever you needed. I highly recommend them!
But back to being home! We got in on Wednesday morning and got around to seeing our families before the jet lag set in, although think we were pretty OK sleep wise, we kept to Irish night time when we slept on the plane.
The first weekend we had Conor's brother's 21st, one of the main reasons we had gone home in the first place. It was loads of fun and a good way to see a lot of Conor's family that I otherwise might not have seen. And I got to wear my lovely new wedges and white dress! The weather was pretty great while we were home so we got a second summer! So before the party we headed over to their Dads house to lap up the sun a bit! Why not! :)

The next weekend I headed out with my friends without Conor as he was gone for a boys weekend to Westport in Mayo. Was great fun and my first chance to see some people I hadn't seen yet! And a lot of places had changed or had been done up since I had left so that was cool to see. We didn't go out every weekend but we definitely kept ourselves amused with nights out. One of our last weekends I did end up having three nights out in a row however. It was madness but great fun!

On the Thursday night we went to Dublin to see friends of ours from our farm work. It was lovely to see them all again and was as if we had never left them, even though we hadn't seen them in eight months! Was a great night, first going to Temple Bar and then heading to some spots that Tom knew, including the Mezz bar which had a great band playing. It had been AGES since myself and Conor had seen a good band, needless to say we were a little excited! And we had Cherry bombs, which were lovely, think they are just Cherry Southern Comfort and Red Bull, yum! :)
On Friday night I headed out with the girls to the Kazbar and some other spots, was good fun and a good chance for a proper catch up and of course a bit of a dance! :) Still not sure how my sister got up for work the next day! I was stuck to the bed! Ha!
And the final night out was Saturday when two girls I went to college with came down to Waterford for a night out. Was lovely to see them, especially as one is heading to Canada before I get back! Was a great catch up and gossip and finally got to see what the new Sinnotts bar was like! I love it, wasn't as good as Muldoons that used to be there but it was a great spot with a fab smoking area! Loved it!
So there is no way I could possibly put up all the photos from our time home so here is a little collage of the nights that we went out!

We also did some little roadtrips while we were home, the first to Hook Head to do the tour in Loftus Hall which opened while we were away. Its supposedly the most haunted house in Ireland. Its a pretty amazing building and the stories are pretty spooky from it! Don't think I'd be able for the night time tours that are done in total darkness!! No thanks!
The staircase in the house is the same as the one that was in the Titanic too. Was amazing to see, although it was a bit dusty and worn from years of the house laying idle. The floor in the hallway of the house was a one of a kind mosaic floor, designed especially for the Loftus family. After the men who laid it were finished the family cut off their hands so that they could never replicate it! Madness! We went down to the rocks at the lighthouse too as it was too nice a day not to go down and check out the view! If you're ever in this part of the world it's always lovely to see! :)

Myself, Joanne and Mam had a little drive out to Tramore one evening, for Dooley's chips of course! Made Joanne drive too as she is learning at the moment and wasn't getting enough of a chance to drive before I got home! Flying it so she is!!! Couldn't get over how covered in seaweed the beach was however so a walk on the pier it was until we got further down!!! Was great just to have a chat and a laugh with them!
While everyone else works during the week we decided to do a trip to Co. Clare to see the Burren, Cliffs of Moher and the Ailwee caves. Why not be tourists in our own country for a bit!!? We stayed in Lehinch for a night, I don't think you'd need much more time if you have you're own car to get around! We stayed in the Lahinch Golf & Leisure Hotel, which was lovely. My parents surprised us by upgrading our room before we got there! Made it really comfortable for us! They're cheeky that way! :) We saw the Cliffs of Moher for maybe ten minutes before the thickest of fogs set in, in which we could only see each other and the cliffs edge! Did make for some cool photos however, as well as two very wet people! Was cool to see, especially since I can't remember going there as a child!

There I am on the cliff!!

 After we had dried off we headed out to see the Burren, Doolin and Lahinch beach. The Burren is a little mad to see in person, I think I had a picture of what I had expected in my head and it just wasn't the same! But the sheer size of it is madness! Was cool to see the portal tomb and to read some of the facts about the place. How old it all is still amazes me! That evening we went and checked out a town called Doolin that my Dad had recommended. Its a pretty little spot with a very pretty harbour and a great restaurant called Fitzpatricks which had lovely food and live music. I think if I was going again I would stay there instead of Lahinch. It felt less touristy than Lahinch and was also a nice distance from everywhere to see. And just look at this view!

On our way back to the hotel we stopped off at the beach in Lahinch for a stroll, only to see an absolute mad man getting into the water without a wetsuit! It was cold anyway, can't imagine how cold the water would have been! Brrr.... I loved this little Love Seat they had beside the beach, Was very cute!

The next day we headed to the Aillwee caves, which I think we were let down by a little, purely because the caves that we had seen in the Blue Mountains were so amazing that they pretty much ruined other caves for us. Although seeing the areas where they believed bears had hibernated thousands of years ago was pretty cool as well as seeing the waterfall inside the caves. So I would recommend it but I think that we are now cave snobs, unfortunately because caves are pretty cool to see really! Ha! While we were there we stopped in the shop on the way out which sells homemade produce. They had some lovely stuff so of course we ended up buying jams, cheeses and chocolates made by them. We're suckers for food what can I say!


Myself, Dad and Joanne also had a little roadtrip on my last Sunday down to Kilmore Quay in Wexford. It's a lovely spot and when we got there the water was bluer than I had ever seen in Ireland! It was crazy windy though and decided to rain on us out of no where after we had walked right out to the very edge of the pier! Just our luck! Was nice though to talk to Dad about an area where he had worked! He always has such random little facts about places too that it makes going somewhere with him that little bit better too! After Kilmore we headed to a beach called Carne, near a windfarm Dad had worked on. It was great because we got to see seals swimming just off the beach, seven or so of them. I couldn't get a decent picture of them though because they were so far away! Was great to see though! After that we headed to the Lobster Pot for scones and tea, Dads specialty. Was a nice day! :)

And finally, in the best way possible to round off our trip we had Sean & Tanya's wedding! Was so cool because the groom, best man, groomsman, grooms Dad, my Dad and a friend arrived on their motorbikes to the church, along with Sean's favourite road racer Willie Dunlop, who Tanya had organised to surprise him that morning! Was such a good surprise and he was such a nice guy that he stayed around for the full day and talked and took photos with anyone that wanted them. He struck me as a genuinely lovely guy! He is the guy in the blue below.

The wedding was great, especially seeing their three girls involved in it all, was very cute. And it gave me a great chance to catch up with any family members and cousins I hadn't seen yet! Was a great day, full of fun and surprises, including an opera singer disguised as a chef, the tables being named after points along the TT track for Sean and their oldest daughter giving little presents to the members of her family which broke absolutely everyone's hearts. And of course the first dance was to the amazing 'Star, Star' by The Frames, I should have known it would have been and the second it came on I couldn't think of a better song for them. Overall  a great day!

And very importantly I got my long wanted family photo, who knows when we'll get our next one with Joanne moving to Canada in October, before I get back! Our last one before this was at our 21st, almost three years ago now! Craziness!!

So yes that was my trip home! Obviously I haven't told you everything about it but these here are my highlights. Having this trip home has definitely made me realise how happy I am to be home and around my family, think I'm looking forward to going home in February more now, although that doesn't mean I won't be enjoying my last few months in Oz. We will be making the most of that time, believe me, so watch this space!!

So that's me for now, now to get back on the job hunt, not to mention we move out in a month and have to find a new place yet! All systems go I think!!

Amy :) x

Twice in one month...

Sure I'm on a roll! Ha!
So we went ahead and booked our flights! I'm like a giddy school girl every time I think about it! I can not wait to see everyone!! I keep thinking of all the things we could do while we're home but I reckon the month just won't be long enough for it all!
I am however going to do a weekend or a night away with Joanne and Dylan, I feel like I've missed out on way too much with them since I've been away! And Joanne got her visa for Canada this week, which is amazing news for her but it means that my trip home is the last time I will see her for a long time again! It's insane to think that! So yes spending as much time as possible with Joanne is a big priority! I'm so excited for her and her boyfriend, mostly because I know whats all ahead of them!! :)

I think all of my weekends have something on now too, between Declan's 21st, the sibling weekend, think some of my friends from college are coming down one weekend for a catch up and then last but not least we have Sean and Tanya'a wedding!! Busy busy! And I'll have to fit in nights with the family, the girls and Conor's friends in somewhere too! So many people to see!

Myself and Conor might try to get some trips in midweek too while everyone is working, maybe up to the Giant's causeway or the Burren, possibly on Conor's Dads bike. There's so much of our own country that we haven't seen meanwhile we're off trying to see the rest of the world! Silliness! Can not wait to use my camera at home too, I think I'm going to have everyone and everything mithered with it! It's going to be great!


So as you can tell all of my thoughts are centered around going home! I can not wait!! And every phone call from my family makes me more impatient! Ha! But this also means that we are saving, saving, saving like crazy people and not spending money on anything we don't have to. It's very exciting! It has been absolute months since we spent money without feeling guilty, although we did decide to have a blow out night on Wednesday, as we had the Thursday off for ANZAC day. I think we needed to blow off some steam and go out and see people and just have some fun! So I bought a skirt from Topshop, put on tan, did my make up and went out with Conor to meet his hurling team that were doing a pub crawl for the night. They are all lovely boys and it was nice to get to know some of them! My friends came and met us in the second pub too so there was a nice big crowd of us which made the night way better! Ended up being a nice late one for me, although Conor headed off before me because he'd had enough! But that is it now, we're finished until we get home! It was well needed however to keep us sane and focused on saving!!

So that's all my news now until we go home!! Did I mention how excited am? Ha ha!

Until next time!

Amy :) x

Just thinking..

Since I've got here and started my job I have found that I get asked a lot what Ireland is like and what I miss from home and I have found myself giving answers even I wasn't really expecting! So today I'm going to do a post on what I miss from home and, for the sake of balance, what I love about Australia (so far!)
What I miss, barring the obvious of my family and friends because that really goes without saying!!

1. My dogs. At home they annoy me at the best of times. They walk in front of my car, eat my clothes if I'm not paying them enough attention, run into the house and never listen. And I honestly want nothing more than a big cuddle with them or to throw a ball in the garden with them (a ball they will not bring back I might add!) This is so true of me that I have honestly been dying to cuddle anything that can bark and happens to walk past me!

2. My car! My beautiful car! I miss how nice it was to drive and how great it was. Having to rely on trams is driving me crazy! I miss the independence of having it! I know Conor's car is there for long spins which is great obviously, but Mon-Fri it is unseen by me! Ha! Here's a pick of my lovely old car after my friends decorated it simply because I left it outside of their house! Sound!
3. Irish goodies and food. Like twister ice lollies, fanta (it tastes different over here!), Burger King, Fox's biscuits, Lyons's tea, salt and vinegar Hunky Dory's, red lemonade, goldslagger (I've yet to find a pub that has it!), 
For all my giving out about missing Irish things, we actually ordered stuff from Taste Ireland's website this week so lots of Irish stuff is on it's way to us as I type! I can not wait to have some Lyons' tea with a proper Irish fry up! :D 

4. Penney's. To put it simply, there isn't really an equivalent over here! There is K-Mart and Target but they don't get stock half as often so it's the same stuff all the time and it's actually not as good as Primark stuff, or half as nice! Even shoes over here can be very expensive. No such thing as 7 euro sandals over here ladies so stock up before you come! Ha!



For all these things that I miss I of course have things that I love about Australia!
1. The lifestyle. At home the weekend is when you do stuff like go for dinner or go for a drink after work. Over here its any night of the week. It doesn't have the whole living for the weekend and live to work mentality that we have at home. Australia's work to live and enjoy themselves in between and it is the right idea! I love it!!
As well as that there is more to do over here and we find ourselves saying 'oh such and such is on, will we go?' whereas at home we would have just not bothered due to money or laziness. I know myself that when we go home now I will be much more likely to just say ok lets do it when something comes up, or at least I hope I will!

2. The beaches and the weather. Obviously I was aware coming over here that they would be amazing but I just have to mention them because well, they're amazing! Did I say that already?? Everywhere here is so well maintained and rubbish free, it's a massive change from Tramore beach at home!!
3. Living with Conor. It sounds very gay doesn't it! If my friends read that they will bust themselves laughing but I have to say I really am enjoying it. For all his snoring and messiness we have had great fun so far and have been getting on really well and have just settled into it so easily. I know that it is not something we would have done at home, especially considering our money situation at the best of times and the fact that we both liked living with our families.
4. Meeting new people. I know you technically do it on a daily basis but I mean at home you have your friends and you tend not to go outside of your group massively but over here it is like starting over again which is pretty cool, whilst being a touch daunting at the same time! Obviously I'm not saying you forget your friends from at home, no way but it's nice to make new friendships with people from a few different places!


So obviously I know the benefits of being in Australia right now seriously outweigh a few home comforts and my pups but I was just thinking about it so decided to blog it down, sure why not! I know myself that I want to live in Ireland and be around my family and friends when I'm older, something I actually wouldn't have said when we were leaving in Feb but at the moment I am most definitely going to enjoy my good dose of change and see what else Australia can bring me!
I'm really enjoying the job I started and the girls I work with are lovely too which is always nice. Life is good!!


Amy :)