Last Week in Melbourne!

So we're down to our last week in Melbourne before the farm work, no idea whether or not we'll come back here long term afterwards so we spent the last few weekends doing touristy things again! Fun! So we went to the Dandenong Ranges with Conor's sister and her boyfriend! Was a fun trip with a fab view, wish it had been a bit of a brighter day but still you could see the city and all the suburbs around it which was cool. Got to go to a cool pancake house too on the way home, called Flippin' Pancakes where our waitress was actually Irish and delighted to hear our accents! Was pretty funny! We really are everywhere, even out in the sticks! Ha! They had an absolutely savage stove there as well which I want! Perhaps more so when I go home though! Ha!

So the next trip was to Mount Macedon with Conor and his friend Aaron to test out his new car! Ha! Wasn't far out of the city an was a nice drive, probably could have left a little earlier so we didn't get to go to Hanging Rock but we saw the Memorial Cross and some view points. Was grand little day! Ha! And again a grand little view! :)

So I've been on to Conor since we got here to go see the Eureka Tower, I'm a pain that way! So we went in one evening to finally check it off the list! Melbourne looks amazing all lit up, I'd definitely recommend doing it at night, although its pretty difficult to get pictures with the glass and the reflection from the lights inside the tower but there is an outdoor balcony with a pretty sweet view, and a very cold wind! Conor was pretty unnerved by the fact that we were 88 floors up however so we didn't do The Edge but the view isn't any better when you do that anyway so didn't mind too much!Thursday night we all headed to Topolinos on Fitzroy St to celebrate Sharon's birthday. The pizza was delish, would definitely recommend going there if you're ever in the area! Was good fun, followed by the obligatory tea and cake back out our apartment after! Nom nom!

And last but not least we spent a beautiful day on Sunday in The Royal Botanical Gardens with our housemates. Another thing I've wanted to do for ages but the weather wasn't on my side. But it was amazing out on Sunday so we went for a stroll around the park and then Conor, Michael and Sharon played hurling for a bit while I enjoyed the sun, a sportswoman I am not!!! Ha! Nice to lap up the sunshine before I will only be enjoying it in a field thinning out lettuce! Ha!
Of course not everything from the last week has been good. I believe I mentioned my boss and his tendency towards being an ass before, but this week he outdid himself spectacularly! I gave him two weeks notice so that the girls could sort out cover for my shifts, which they did by giving the girls already there extra hours which they all wanted, all gravy. Apparently not, he decided to give the shifts to his son and wife, a week into my notice and told me not to bother coming in this week as he didn't need me! Very sound of him considering I had tried to be fair to him and could have done with the weeks wages! So pretty glad to be finished working for him now, he is an unprofessional ass! Ha! But on the uphand I got to work with some lovely girls, who actually got me a present on my last day of cosmetic bags which they had filled with goodies like nail varnishes and eyeshadows and hand cream to save me hands on the farm! Ha! Gonna miss those girls, they're so cute!So I'm a lady of leisure now with plenty of time to organise everything in the apt, including packing! Eugh! So far its been so nice out that I've just chilled out on the balcony reading in the sun! Whoops! Promise I'll get to it tomorrow! Have so friggin much to do!! Just hope for no more days like this or I'll never get anything done! And I still haven't got myself boots or found anywhere to live in Cowra! Ahh! The stress!!I'll write again after myself and Sharon's birthday party Friday! Going to be lots of fun! Then it's the All-Ireland Sunday and its all stations go to head for Wagga Wagga on Monday for a stopover before we get to Cowra! Hopefully we'll get to see a bit of it but most likely we'll be wrecked from the drive! So we've a busy weekend ahead, can't wait!Amy :)

Farming eh....

So we have decided that we are going to go and do our farm work, soon. I want it done before Christmas and in time that we get to enjoy the nice weather and beaches!! So that's the plan! And then we'll have a second year to do, because this Australia place is growing on Conor now! Took him long enough like!

So last weekend we took a drive down to Colac to meet a farmer that we had got in touch with through gumtree. He has a dairy farm and was looking for people to milk and feed calves. The farm was about ten mins outside of the town which was handy and the farmer seemed really nice but it wasn't for us unfortunately! We would have been sleeping in a prefab in the farmyard with our toilet and kitchen in the parlour building across the yard. Also, and more importantly we would have been off everyday from 9 until the next feed at 4, which would have been ok if there was stuff to do or other people around but we were the only backpackers and it was in a pretty remote area so not too much to do during the day! Sounds a bit like a recipe for us going mad or killing each other, so we'll keep looking! But really enjoyed the spin down, was nice to see some proper countryside again!
So we've decided to try get in on the farm that Conor's sister was on, but the farmer is scatty at best so that means calling him constantly to see when we can go down. Of course there is only so long that I am willing to do that for so I'm trying to gather numbers up from other people who have done it and who would recommend the farms they did it on! Because I am not leaving it to chance and ending up farming for Christmas! No Way!!

So any and all updates will follow! Hopefully we'll sort it soon, but until then I can plan my birthday! It is only three weeks away you know! Ha! Most likely will just have everyone over to here for a few drinks and some nibbles and then head out somewhere or other! I'm actually a little excited for it this year and I have no idea as to why considering it's my first away from home! Perhaps that's a good thing though! Anyway for the moment I'm more so trying to organise birthday presents for Joanne and Mam! So that'll keep me busy pre-party! Ha!
So thats all for now folks, heading to the Quiet Man Irish pub tonight for some grub and a few sociable ones so I may do something with my day before that, besides think about the food there! Hmm...

Amy :) x

Donal's visit!

So since I last posted we had a visitor! How exciting eh? Ha! Conor's dad came for a week and stayed with his sister. Delighted for them as Conor was pretty home sick and hadn't seen his Dad since Christmas! On Thurs night I cooked stew for everyone! I'm just proud that I actually cooked for a group but it was actually rather yummy if I do say so myself!!!

We had a day of being tourists again on Friday around Melbourne, perfect excuse for me to get snap happy again! I had forgotten how pretty Melbourne actually is, even if it did insist on raining on us a lot! So we went to the Gaol again, and then met one of Donal's friends and went for food in Chinatown followed by a stroll down in Southbank.

It was a nice day followed by 'a few' drinks in The Village Bell, resulting in myself and Conor only gettin four hours sleep before our drive to Sorrento the next day! I can not say it made for pretty faces! We were a little worse for wear it could be said! So we spent Saturday walking around Fort Nepean, a nice auld stroll with some seriously lovely view points! think we took the long route too by walking along the beach instead! Was worth it, even if it did turn out to be a bit of a workout! Ha!
After our day of fresh air we headed back to the cabins that we had rented for the night! They were actually really cosey! We had a bbq and a few drinks and ended up playing bullshit until we all gave in to our serious need for sleep!
Sunday we headed to a couple more scenic areas, like arthur's seat but it kept raining on us so we gave in, booked tickets to Batman and headed home! Ha! We got to try out a thai restaurant I had been eyeing up before the movie too so overall a good weekend full of activities!!! Makes me wish even more that I didn't work Saturday's!
Conor got to spend Monday with his Dad on his own, strolling around Melbourne for the day so he was happy with that before he headed back on Weds!
He is so lucky, I'd love to have my parents visit! Pretty sure they'd fall in love with the place too!
Anyway that's it for now! Just a quick post to say it was loads of fun!

Amy :) x

My Name Is Amy And I Am An Addict...

It's official, I'm addicted to all things Mink Pink!!! I have bought the cream shirt, the floral shorts, the sunflower skirt and lilac shorts recently but have my eye on a few other things that we have just got in. For instance a white lace type top which will be fab when summer comes around again! I'd wear it with the floral shorts too so that's an outfit! (My mother always told me never to buy something I couldn't put into an outfit, this normally results in me buying more than one thing! Maybe it's not good advice!) I could also wear it with the super cute lilac shorts!! I <3 the sunflower skirt! I think it might end up being my go to skirt next summer and it works with tights too so happy days! I love this cream shirt, it's ridiculously soft and goes with everything! :D I also can't wait to wear my mint shirt over dresses for the summer! Yes the recurring theme here is anticipation for summer!!! 

But I have bought wintery things too. Like a leather skirt which is a copy of a Mink Pink one by Sunny Girl which doesn't look as nice as the MP one but it's cheaper so what the heck! Also got two All About Eve jackets pretty cheap too so now I'm nice and snug for my walk to work! Always good! I'll probably send one home once winter is passed and hold on to one for just incase!! :)

In other news my Dad got the t-shirt that I sent him and is super happy with it, what more could I ask!? So chuffed with that! And speaking of Dads, Conor's Dad is coming to visit for a week on Weds! Very exciting! His sister got to Melbourne maybe two weeks ago so now it'll be quite the little reunion for them all which is lovely! So I think the plan is to do something like the Great Ocean Road next weekend or loads of other touristy things so it should be fun either way!

We have also decided that Conor is not going to take sponsorship if it is offered to him and that we are going to do our farm work so that we have the option of doing a second year here. We are debating the possibilities of going to New Zealand or Canada for a year. The world is our oyster and all that! That being if Conor decides he doesn't want to go back to college or wants to delay it a bit further. The idea of going home long term has us both worried about whether or not we would be working and whether we would get sucked back into being depressed just being there. Obviously we will go home to visit before we go anywhere else because although I'm not homesick I do miss everyone and most definitely will not be waiting two years to see them again!!

But for now we shall have to just work out what kind of farm work to do and where and hope that we get a good place to save money and to have a bit of fun too. I have to say I'm looking forward to doing something different but I'm under no illusions as to how difficult it will be. It will be an experience and that's what travelling is all about!! I'm hoping to leave for our farm work by the end of August but the more that I think about it the more I wonder why we don't go in the next three weeks. Neither of us is so happy in our job that we should put it off so why not go early and then give ourselves loads of time to enjoy our summer after? Perhaps I'm getting a bit carried away there now of course because we haven't looked into it yet properly at all! It's on my to do list!

But back to the present time, everything is changing in work. Our buyer and designer Romayne is leaving as she is going to Paris in September (lucky her) so we are having a few drinks tonight to celebrate with her which should be fun! And my manager Becca left last week to do her farm work so we have a new manager, a girl from Cork called Aoife. She seems nice so far. I reckon I'll be the next to go although I think one of the girls is looking for a new job which I hope she gets so they'll have a total shuffle around to do!!!

Think that's all my updates for now! Oh yes and here are my pictures for the photo a day June challenge! I'm doing the July one now and have my sister doing it too although she's keeping up with it much better than I am!! Whoops! Oh and if your wondering how I made this collage I did it with Photovisi after saving my photos to my laptop using Web.stagram! Happy snapping!

Amy :) x

Father's Day and other ramblings!

So at home its Father's Day on Sunday, something my lovely family neglected to tell me until Monday!!! So I did some very last minute internet shopping and I fink I found him something he'll like! It's a t-shirt from an Irish website called Road Race Ireland of all his favourite road racers TT wins! For those of you who don't know what the TT is it's an annual motorbike road racing event in the Isle of Mann. So yes hopefully that will arrive on time, and I of course turned to my old faithful Moonpig to sort out a card! I really do have too much fun making those cards! I already have his birthday card made for July! Back to my normal organisation! Ahh! So anyway, I ramble, here's a picture of the t-shirt, I think it looks rather like the Jack Daniels t-shirt too which is cool!

This month we've started to talk about our options for staying here. So we either have to do our farm work, hopefully before summer or we'll bake out in the heat all day, and get to stay here for a second year or else Conor's boss is talking about possibly sponsoring him so that we could stay as long as we like, which is not something we can turn down without a lot of thought, if it does happen! So we've been trying to weigh everything up and decide what we want! It kind of all depends on whether Conor wants to go back to college or not, because if he does it would be Sept '13 that he would be hoping to start, meaning he would have to go through an interview for a place on the course as a mature student, most likely in February '13! I think! Ahh!! We have put all the options on the table and not ruled out or decided on any! We're extremely organised as a couple in case you haven't guessed that already! But we have decided that if he does get sponsored and he's not going for the college interview this year, we will go home for Christmas which would be lovely! Although either way we'll be going home, because he will not be going home without me in February! Ha! Least I've decided on one thing!

So my hours in work have been cut, which I'm pretty disappointed with but not too much I can do really but I think I shall have to get back on to SEEK and start looking for a new job, perhaps something Mon-Fri so I'll actually get to spend my weekends with Conor and get to do stuff with other people for my days off!!! Oh the novelty! Ha!

So in line with my shorter hours and the fact that we are struggling to save money, we are going to look for an apartment with cheaper rent in the next few weeks! Although we love this apartment and how close it is to everything we reckon it makes sense! And there seems to be a few nice ones going at the moment for at least $100 cheaper a week!! I'll take that, and possibly run with it! So hoping to get a place with another couple and hopefully not as much of a disaster as our current housemates! The Irish ones are great craic but the Chileans are kind of hard work! They aren't the most thoughtful about when they bring people around and they are constantly stoned or having people over to get stoned! Even midweek which is a bit shit because we all work midweek, especially poor Conor who gets up at 5.30 every morning! So yes they're driving us a little nuts! So we reckon all of these things are good reasons to pack up and move on!!

I have been having loads of fun with Instagram for the last month and now I'm using a colour splash app too so I feel a bit stuck to my phone, although I really only do it on my tram rides or when I'm on my own, otherwise I would be just plain antisocial!! I'm constantly looking for things I can take photos of or mess around with which is cool too but I feel a bit lame at times just stopping to take photos!! But anyway, here's some of my favourite pics! The top row are my Colour Splash pics and then the rest are the instagram ones!

 So they're not great by most standards, but I'm pretty fond of them! Ha!


So yes, there's my ramblings for today, and seems as how it's now 00.50 I think it's time I hit the hay! Good night people!!


Amy :)

May!!! :)

So here's my attempt at photo a day May from Fat Mum Slims blog! Have to say I rather enjoyed the challenge!! So I will be doing the photo a day June challenge! Loads of fun!

So here is the list! #1 Peace, #2 skyline, #3 something you wore today, #4 fun!, #5 bird, #6 you, #7 someone that inspires you, #8 a smell you adore, #9 something you do everyday, #10 a favourite word, #11 kitchen, #12 something that makes you happy, #13 mum, #14 grass, #15 love, #16 what you're reading, #17 snack, #18 something you made, #19 a favourite place, #20 something you can't live without, #21 where you stand, #22 pink, #23 technology, #24 something new, #25 unusual, #26 12 o'clock, #27 something sweet, #28 the weather today, #29 a number, #30 your personality, #31 something beautiful.
Now that's a mouthful and a half!!!

And here's the list for June! Anyone on Instagram feel free to join in!! :) So yes May has been lots of fun! Got all new housemates and have got to know the people I work with much better! So our new house mates are two couples again, one couple from Ireland who we have great fun with, and the second couple are from Chile. We haven't got to know them too well yet as there is a bit of a language barrier sometimes but they seem pretty nice!

I went out this weekend with the girls from work for one of their birthdays which was loads of fun, but my god did I suffer yesterday and today for it! I have never really had a hangover before, but I am now convinced they were storing up to hit me all at once, yesterday! I failed to function for an entire day, such a waste but it was a fun night!

We had a night out for our old housemates moving home too. I am very jealous, they are travelling around Asia and uploading wonderful pictures as they do so! But yes a good night, we got to meet our new housemates a bit early and try out a new bar! Loads of fun! We even managed to out number the English couples for once, prompting this Irish people's photo!! Ha! AS you can see from myself and Conor's photo we were well oiled!

Also this month at home my friend Jean just had a baby girl called Penny! She is a beauty and weighed in at 7 '12! A fair size to be fair!!! Especially if you see how itty bitty her mammy is!! I would love to be at home to give her a squeeze but it will have to wait until I am home. For the meantime I sent Jean some flowers to say congrats! I have to say since I have been here I have really enjoyed sending presents and cards home to family and friends, Mary's Florists must love hearing from me at this stage! And I am loving using Moonpig to make the cards! They have some funny ones and some very sweet ones too! Here's one I sent my friend Kelly along with the flowers I sent Jean!

                              

 

So yes that has been my month, well little bits of it! I honestly can't think of what else I did! That is bad, I will have to make June a much more interesting month!!! So that's all for now, I think I may head to bed for myself, work in the morning!!!


Amy :)

Work!

So I haven't written in ages due to the fact that I'm working now! Such a bad excuse I know! So I decided that I would write a post about work and how it is going!!! I love it so far! The girl's I'm working with are all really nice and go for drinks at the weekend together which is pretty cool! I've only gone on one night so far on my first week and it was really good fun! We went straight out after work and headed to the Bridge which is so cool! It has a couple of floors all decorated in a cool way. There's a little alleyway down the middle of the ground floor that looks like there is loads of different cafes along it! It reminded me of Paris! Ha! Next we headed to The Precinct which was pretty cool too. There was a band playing there and a pretty cool smoking area. It was a cool way to get to know everyone. Going from the bridge to precinct we got a taxi, in which the ozzy girls sang along to every song on the radio and changed the channels on the driver if they didn't like the music. It was very funny! I had to head home around twelve because I had work in the morning but the other two Irish girls carried on down to St.Kilda  for a few more drinks. 

I'm undecided as to how I feel about one of my bosses, he does not cope well with stress and gets stressed very easily. Once he's stressed he gets a bit rude and got a bit like that with me my first time working with him which wasn't the best first impression! But we shall see! I won't write him off just yet! One of our other bosses came in last Monday telling us there was a camera crew on it's way to interview him! I did my best to tidy everywhere out so shot but when Claire went to the bank they cornered my and got me to pretend to talk to him about some stock! Cringe! It was a prime example of bad tv! So yes I'll be signing autographs out here yet and looking for my name of one of these! Ha!!

Work itself is going well, kind of know how to do everything now and know what I'm at but sometimes I find that people struggle to understand my accent, which is embarrassing! Some people are lovely about it once I repeat myself but sometimes I've found that once people realise that I am Irish they can turn a little rude, but not many people thankfully! Most people ask where I'm from and how long I'm here for and how I'm enjoying it which is nice! Being on Chapel St, we get a lot of people coming from Perth and Sydney and other places just for shopping too so it's nice to hear about where they are from too and being able to recommend stuff for them to do in Melbourne is a nice twist! :D

So for work I have to wear the clothes from the store, either their own stock or the Mink Pink stuff! It is a nice change from the plain black uniform I used to wear, only thing is is that I am so going to end up spending a fortune if I'm not careful, even with our discount! So far I've been trying to buy stuff that I can mix and match or wear outside of work. So  these are the things I have bought so far! I love the pink shirt and my god those pants are the most comfortable things ever! They are a little stretchy but skinny fit so they still look good! ♡

The weather is starting to get bad here in Melbourne now ☁ so I said a few nice thick jumpers were in order so this green one is perfect! I also got the wine dress so that I can wear it with black tights! Snug! I figured when summer comes around again the skirt will be really handy too!

So yes, now all I need to do is invest in a warm jacket and a pair of boots and I'll be sorted for winter! A sentence I did not think I would be saying out here, but hows ever!

I do want to note that I do still have a life outside of work however! I am still technically on holidays you know! Ha! Been having a great time with our housemates this weekend! We had a board games night last night with a few drinks. It was way more fun than that sentence conveys! We played Monkey Barrel which was fun, considering how excited Jamie got by it! Uno for a little bit, which I lost, and then Scattergories, which was going to make or break friendships! Ha! As usual Scattergories was great fun and full of nonsense answers, so we adopted a Caeser way of voting on an answer! 

It is my brothers birthday today!! I sent him a card from Moonpig which I had great fun making and tried to send him a present of some clothes but unfortunately the company supposed to deliver the package messed up the order so it was never sent and has since been sent back to River Island, which I didn't find out until two days ago! It was a little frustrating that they didn't even try to contact me  about the problem, even though they had my number and email address. So I have decided that I'm not ordering from them again. Was so upset thinking he wouldn't be getting a present from me! Thankfully my Mam went and picked out some stuff for him in town for me but its not the same! :( That is part of the joys of being away I suppose!

I have started a new book, having finally finished The Murder Room. It wasn't fantastic so I think that is what had me taking ages to read it! So I'm now on to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, courtesy of Jamie which is meant to be very good! I have also found a book in our apartment by the author who wrote the Kite Runner, one of my favourite books, so I have something to read straight after so I'm hoping that will motivate me! Ha! I'm also doing a challenge on Instagram called #photoadaymay from fatmumslim's blog, which is fun so I may post some/all the photos from that at the end of the month!

Amy ツ