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 :)

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 :)☼

Antrim Trip....

Back from my lovely weekend away with the parents and my little brother. Stayed in a place called Ballygally Castle in, you guessed it, Ballygally, Co.Antrim! It is fab and looking straight out on the Irish Sea and is along the Causeway coastal drive which is beautiful! The food was fab and the hotel so cute! Pretty sure it is haunted however, as it even has a ghost room that you can book into!! No thank you! But I was very pleased with the complimentary rubber ducks that the Hastings hotel group give you, so impressed in fact that I took my parents duck too for my collection! It's getting impressive now!
Got to see the giants causeway and the go across the rope bridge in Carrick-a-Rede, which was no mean feet for my poor mother who is terrified of heights! She got there in the end though.. Even with my brother shaking the bridge a bit!


The Causeway is insane.. I mean I've seen photo's but when you see it in person it is completely different! Even the height of some of the columns is just insane! 
But nothing, nothing can prepare you for the cold on the rope bridge! I had two tops, two cardigan's, a thick scarf, with a hood and a ski jacket and I was still a little chilly! Brrr!
But yes Antrim is beautiful!


And as my Dad is a massive motorbike road racing fan we went and drove around the North West 200 track, which starts in Portrush, with running commentary from Dad the whole way around. We then headed over to Ballymoney to see the Dunlop Memorial Garden, in remembrance of Joey and Robert Dunlop, road racers who came from Ballymoney. It was so lovely and so well maintained. The statues of them both were so detailed and made a lovely tribute. They also had plaques of all their wins, in the TT, Ireland and the UK and abroad. We visited Joey's bar too, a pub which was owned by the man himself but renamed by his family after his passing. The bike hanging from the ceiling was a highlight to my Dad and brother!!
Overall a great weekend, only thing it was lacking was my sister Joanne, who will be home in a couple of days instead!! Yay!! See ya in four days!! :D
So that's the beginning of the quality time before I go. I have a busy week of eating, nights out, packing and goodbyes ahead of me. Can't wait... Ahh 8days!!


Amy :)

Teasing myself....

So in the spirit of filling in my time I looked at website after website of clothes that I can't afford, but love!! I'm loving all the colours that are in for spring/summer, particularly the greens!! The Converse I designed on Converse Create!! I have spent alot of hours on that website! And the rest of these lovelies are from Topshop and River Island! The sandals are all from RI, they have some very pretty ones this year but the tan pair are my favourite!! Oh if I could splurge I would do damage to my bank account!!!

Now I may do something resourceful and go pack for my trip, I can guarantee I won't be bringing anything like this stuff!! More like thick and woolies! I even invested in a trapper hat today!! I am expecting artic conditions! Ha ha!

Amy :)

Hurry up already time!!

Ok, so time is officially dragging!! Now I wish we had booked our flights for a touch earlier.. Say tomorrow! I swear my minutes have adopted a tick-tock sound!!!
I sold my car Saturday last so I am stuck at home unless someone, mostly Conor, feels like coming and getting me, as I live in the sticks! (To translate to anyone who's not Irish I live in the middle of nowhere in the countryside!)I have had a car since I was 18 so never spent too much time sitting around at home.. This is new to me!
I've also had ridiculous amounts of time off from work due to having holidays and time owed to me so I haven't even had that to distract me!! And I finish up in there now on Friday so that'll give me another TEN days before I get to go!
Poor Conor is worse off however, because he hasn't worked since before Christmas! To say he would fly tomorrow is an understatement! So I seized my opportunity and said we should go to Dublin for the day to do some shopping for whatever we still needed to get! Oh sure it sounds practical, but really it wasn't! Realistically I just wanted to go to H&M, Forever 21 and Schuh! Shops, which in my defense we don't have near me and which are on the less expensive side! Always good! He did however put a ban on going to Penneys, he's not able for the crowds and the packed rails!! So instead he saw every inch of Forever 21!


My friend's mocked me for the cardi's but I mean come on it can't be warm ALL the time over there! I love the green top from New Look! Mostly because it's not cropped, like everything else in the shops!! 




So now that my shopping trip is over I'm off to the Giant's Causeway for the weekend with my parents and brother, my sister can't come as she's away in college!! :( Looking forward to it, I always wanted to see it and I'm sure the north will have lots of other stuff to keep us busy until Monday!! Yay! So I'll try get some pictures from that up in my next post!
So that's my ridiculous giving out over.. I know most people would say give up complaining, aren't you going away but it's just not come around quick enough! Ha! Think I need a time machine, might be a neat way to skip all the goodbye's too!! Dreading those!
Anyway rant over, until next time!! :D
Amy