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

Sydney Craziness

Back to the farm for our last week after a mad and yet chilled weekend in Sydney!! I had a fab time and have to say I preferred Bondi on our second visit! I had wrote it off entirely when we first went there! But it was lovely! We stayed in a hostel on the main street which is right on the beach! Was really handy because it was close to some great restaurants, like Blue Orange where we had breakfasts both mornings! They had an amazing watermelon, orange and banana juice and chocolate and banana pancakes! Amazing! I can't find a website for them but I have found that it was recommended on the trip advisor, eatability and urbanspoon websites! And now here too! We also went to a place called Hurricanes on Saturday which was a steak and rib house and sold Massive meals! It was like a Man Vs Food dinner!! Pretty yum too!! :D
So Friday night we got to Sydney a little later than expected, as usual we are awful at planning!! So when we got there we got ready as soon as we could and headed out for a few quiet drinks with the Sweedish girls from the farm! We went to the Beach Road Hotel first which has a pretty cool smoking room upstairs where we met the girls' housemates and some of their other friends who were visiting! Afterwards we headed to the Bondi Hotel as it was still early really! :) Some of us ended the night with a stroll on the beach and a bit of a paddle! Was lovely!

Saturday, after breakfast the boys went shopping and myself and Lisa had a stroll around Bondi and then headed to the beach because it was too hot to do anything else! Not a bad complaint at all!!! Anna and some of their friends from the night before came down to meet us too! The water was lovely and cool and it was nice to just chill out with the girls! A big difference to the cottage at the moment! Myself and Lisa got some amazing frozen yoghurt too in Twisted. Mine was strawberry shortbread with marshmallows  strawberries and broken up timtam! B-E-A-UTIFUL!
And then came Saturday night! We headed to a place called The Canteen for a few drinks to all group up. Thankfully we got a table outside because inside was a hotbox! It didn't seem to have aircon at all and it was a bloody hot night! It was a hipster kind of pub and was kind of cool! Was a good start point! :)
Next we headed to the CBD and went to the pub that Steve used to work in called PJ Gallaghers on Kent Street. Was a quiet little pub but Steve was able to get cheaper drinks in there so we didn't mind at all! When we left there it was pretty late so we didn't think that we would get into anywhere in the centre so we headed to the Kings Cross Hotel. It was a great spot! It has five floors of different music and rooms and was the best part of the night! We all danced for hours, to the point we were a bit on the sweaty side, but who cares, we had a great night! Ended up not going back to the hostel until 5.30 in the morning! Seemed like a great idea at the time until check out time came at 10am! Yuck!

And to top my weekend off Conor bought me the Canon EOS 600D! I am in love all over again! It is my birthday present and I can not wait to torment everyone with it! First though I need to do some more playing around with the modes on it! 

Here are some of my playings around so far.. I think I'm going to have fun!

Amy :) x

Weekend To Look Forward To...

Next weekend we are going to Sydney for a meet up with the Sweedish girls. Well no technically the boys are going up for a boys weekend but seems as how there is a serious lack of girls left here I'm going up to see some of the girls! Very excited! Gonna relax on the beach and do nothing but chill out with good people! :D
And then when we get back we'll have only two weeks left! Although I sound really excited about it I am definitely going to miss the farm! I'm a little proud of myself. I thought the three months were going to be the hardest thing I would ever do but I adjusted to it so easily! Which is really pretty sad! Ha! Least I know I'm able for it!
We've decided to head to Phillip Island again on the 23rd too. Roadtrip extended! :) Very happy, we're going to go to Dromana beach too. Which looks amazing!

This weekend we headed to Orange and up to see Mount Canabolas, which has a serious view! Twas fab!  Was pretty good, nice little stopover on the way home! Tonight, whenever it actually cools down the boys are playing Irish vs English in soccer. It's pretty much going to be the boys kicking the shins off each other so it should have comedy value if nothing else.
So that's it for now until I update ye on our Sydney goings on!
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

Sydney!!

Sooo, we are here now and loving it! We've got some great weather so have got loads of sightseeing done so far!! Sydney is fab, its so pretty and clean. Every street you turn onto has something to stare at it awe and beautiful parks are scattered everywhere!! Even the little houses here are the prettiest things you will ever see!

But yes so far we've seen the Sydney Opera house, Syndey Bridge. Both beautiful and the harbour is fab there too! 
We saw the Aquarium, which had some massive ass sharks and some of the cutest little penguins! We got to see both of these being fed too which was cools! Wildlife Sydney had some extremely cute Koalas, but we couldn't hold them as it is illegal in NSW to do so! Gotta wait for Brisbane Zoo to do that! There is also a massive Croc in Wildlife Syndey, who we got to see being fed, if you can go on a day that they do this I would recommend it as they get him to jump up for the food! Seems cruel but it is actually to make sure he is moving around and working for his food as he would in the wild. Think he is fed on Mon, Weds and Fri!

We've spent a bit of time in the Rocks which is the old town of Sydney. This is where most of the convicts settled when they got to Syndey so it was known as a bad area! Not so much anymore however is it a very pretty area. In the Rocks is a museum called Suzanna Place which consists of four houses, all built by the O'Reilly family when they came to Sydney. They are all preserved the way they were lived in and are very interesting to visit! They even have the old corner shop done with a lot of the items it would have sold over the years! We still have to get up to see the Rocks discovery museum but we did manage to see the site of the big dig which is very cool! Basically its an archaeological site between Glouchester St. and Cumberland St. where houses had been demolished after the bubonic plague. They found some very intersting things and have photos up to tell you the stories of the people who used live there.


We have also seen the Royal Botanical Gardens, Chinese Garden of Friendship which are both beautiful. Although the Botanical gardens had a little surprise for us when we noticed huge bats flying round at six o'clock in the evening! Apparently not unusual, just not something we were used to too! 


The beaches here are all beautiful with little sea water pools on them. So far we've only swam in Clovelly which is a bay more so than a beach. It doesn't have much sand, mostly just concrete around the water. You have to be careful in the water as there are rocks scattered around, as the war wounds on my foot show! There are grass areas all around which look down on the beach too.
We saw Bondi but it was too cold to swim so we just had a walk up it! It is not as big as it is made out to be on Bondi Rescue. It has a cool skate park there too which has a comp on on Friday and Saturday which we might go see! There is a walk you can do from Coogee to Bondi along the cliffs which we are going to do some day too!

Cockatoo Island is another must see, it has been used for everything! An old prison, a ship building yard and now you can rent tents there and camp and they have barbeque's there for people to use. There are art installments all around the island, including a lot of graffiti which looks deadly against the old buildings! There is even a bus covered in it which looks deadly!


Yesterday we visited Sydney Tower which has amazing views all across Sydney! We didn't do the roof top walk where you actually go outside but I'd say it would be very cool to do!
So tonight I am going out properly in Sydney, Conor's sister and her boyfriend are finishing their jobs to go and do their regional work so we're gonna celebrate a bit! So that is all I have for now! Will update again soon with more pictures and ramblings!
Amy :)☼

So I got excited and....

Started looking at things to do in Sydney and Melbourne!! I can not wait!! So while I'm on this buzz I'm gonna indulge myself!!
So Sydney.... Excite me!!
Found a couple of websites of things to do in Sydney, sydney100, 365sydneyguide, viator, sydney things to do. Feel free to check them out at your leisure!! :)


But for me the things on these lists that are appealing are...
Bondi Beach.. Obviously! My little brother watches Bondi Rescue on Sky that follows the lifeguards on Bondi beach and has requested I get a photo, not with the lifeguards however. No that would be far too normal for him. He wants a photo with the in-water cameramen as he thinks it is hilarious when they end up rescuing people when the lifeguards can't get there in time. I kid you not!


Also on the list, A tour of the Blue Mountains, Seeing Sydney Opera House, The Botanic Gardens, The Wildlife and Koala parks, Sydney Tower and a harbour cruise. Only! Of course when we get there this may change completely!! Ha ha!


Oooh and as Conor is oddly fond of the soap Home and Away (Nothing to do with the beautiful cast I'm sure)I think we'll have to take a trip to Palm Beach, where is it filmed. It's only just a two hour drive from Sydney.


Melbourne...
So Conor is baadd with amusement parks, but all he needs is a little encouragement! After the first one or two amusement rides he'll be grand but the coaxing to get him on those is unnatural! so Melbourne has the wonderful Luna Park, or so it seems from the website.. Reviews to follow!! :)


Also NEED to do the Great Ocean Road!! My cousin recommended it highly and her photos from it are fab to say the least. I just know seeing it all in person will surpass my expectations!! There's so many things to see along the route like the the Twelve Apostles, London bridge and Otway National Park. Eugh and so many others.. This excites me the most so far!! 


So now I'm excited for my trip.. To say the least... Only 21 days to go!!! Eeeppp!!


Amy :)