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 :)

Happy Days!

Oh what a good week it has been!! I have just been offered a job!!! I did three trial days for them on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday! So yes it is in between stores in Prahan and Richmond and is a pretty quirky place so we shall see how it goes!! Excited!! :)

As well this week Conor went for a job in a joinery shop and got it so he is pretty happy as it is something he hasn't done before and it is in a set place with better hours and better money! As the title says, Happy Days!!

On Thursday night, just to make my week even better we went and saw James Vincent McMorrow in The Toff in Town, which is a pretty cool venue. It is small so we were right in front of him!

He is actually a pretty funny man, once he got over his initial awkwardness!! Ha! He told us about how he had almost got on the wrong flight and ended up at Ayers Rock! He asked if there were any Irish people in the room after talking about how weird it was to see people from home this far away and once the screams drowned out just very quickly said, your mothers all say hello! He also stopped mid song as he decided that his guitar wasn't tuned right and 'it would have annoyed him the entire time!' Got to love the Irish honesty!!

On Sunday myself and Conor went and got breakfast in La Roche! Again it was amazing but this time I tried the fruity french breakfast! Delish!! Then again give me anything with strawberries and I am content!!

Afterwards Conor headed to play his first hurling match in Gaelic park in Keysborough and I followed him out afterwards! Actually got there without going wrong once! Pretty proud of myself getting used to driving over here, still a little nervous though! The match was actually pretty good and Conor's team, Gary Eoin won! He managed to score a point after starting the match but had to come off with a dead leg, which he is still hobbling around with!


We headed to Greasy Joe's once we got home for some grub! Not the most appealing of names but the food was very good!! I had a lovely burger, which I'm not normally a fan of but it was pretty fab!!

Overall, a great week! And here's to many more weeks in Melbourne like it! So here's a video of him that we took as he stepped away from the mic and played 'If I had a Boat' as only he could do!!
Enjoy!


Amy :)

Easter Weekend

Had a rather busy weekend this weekend for Easter. As Conor had four days off we said we would make the most of it and keep ourselves busy! Aswell as that it one of our roommates birthdays so he has christened it his 'Easter weekend birthday bonanza'!

Friday it was a lovely day so we headed to the beach with the roommates and went and got some lunch in Branch afterwards! The food is great and you can not argue with a $5 pizza on offer on Fridays! They have some great deals on a daily basis! :)
Lunch was nice, however we had a bit of a scare when as we were sitting chatting we heard a car screech around from Barkly and hit into a cafe! I only heard the bang of the car hitting the wall and the screams from people who were sitting and standing near-by though. Fortunately no one was seriously injured but one person did have to be taken to hospital, but the woman very narrowly missed the people eating outside of the cafe and it was an extremely busy day. I hate seeing stuff like that, not that anyone does like it, but it makes me extremely uncomfortable.

But yes once we finished our lunch we headed back to the apartment to get stuff ready for our BBQ later. (Yes, I know on Good Friday! Don't tell my grandmother!) So because it was Alex's birthday his friends all came around we had some food, some drinks and played a beer pong tournament! I can officially say that I suck at beer pong, and can reconfirm that I do not like beer, of any variety! Bleugh! Conor is also pretty bad at it so ended up pretty merry with himself by the end of his turn!! It was lovely to meet some more people who live in Melbourne, although we were most definitely a minority with eight English and only two Americas, two Australians and us the only Irish!!

So Saturday morning we headed off to Phillip Island for the day. (I love having a car!) We booked our tickets on-line for the three places as it was cheaper that way! So first we headed to Churchill Island, which is pretty much a big farm on its own island! It's very pretty and there's loads of animals there (obviously) including these super cute chicks, to keep in theme! The old house built by the man who owned the island was there and had been refurbished to look as it would have done originally. It was cool to see that. They had a lot of children's activities on  for the weekend that was in it, including Punch and Judy, which Conor watched a lot of, and they had a table where children could built their own wooden cars and things! It was very cute and everything was like the kinds of things that I did when I was younger which was nice! With the wooden toys there was a man working on a laid, to say Conor was mesmerized is an understatement! They had lots of things to see here like watching dogs round up sheep, working horses, which were beautiful, an animal nursery, where  we found the chick, a calf and some guinea pigs! they also had old cars and caravans which were pretty cool!!


Next stop, Koala reserve!! You get to walk in around the area where they are up on boardwalks or else on a nature trail. One cheeky little chappy decided to put on a bit of a show for everyone and came down around to the railings for a look see!
They look so cute and cuddly but my oh my those nails!! 

Out for a stroll

As we walked around the nature walk we saw kangaroos and some birds that I do not know the name of too. And of course, lots more koala's! I found out as well that they sleep for 20 hours a day, simply because their diet is so low in energy! Craziness!


We headed to the Nobbies centre next, which is free to do I may add! It's an beautiful part of the island which is where the seals gather, unfortunately there were none about when we were there however!! But the view was so worth the drive over! We also went some kind of back road along the coast which was amazing to see! And it was where we saw this little guy who struck a pose for us!

View from Nobbies centre

By this time we were starving so we headed back into Cowes to get some grub but there wasn't very many places to go that we could see so we grabbed a quick pizza and headed back to the Phillip Island Grand Prix Track, which I know my Dad would have loved as it is where the Moto GP is held in Australia! We went into the History of Motor Sport Museum for the track which was cool, we got to see some seriously old leathers and a Mercedes worth $1.4 million!! I was afraid to breathe near it!! From there we also got to go out to a view point and see the actual track which was cool!

$1.4 million car!

Next we headed to the penguin parade, our main attraction for the day, which we had to join a massive queue to get too! Was so glad we had booked our tickets as it had actually sold out for the night! We weren't able to upgrade to a better viewing point but to be honest I think we had the best seats in the house. We ended up sitting right down on the beach and could see them all coming out of the water and wandling their way up the beach as if they were fighting against a big wind! They are so cute and soo little. I think the guide said that the biggest they get is one foot! One foot! Adorable! You're not allowed to take photos of them as the flash from the cameras can damaged their sight so if you want to see what I mean you'll just have to go and see for yourself! After we had seen a few come up the beach we walked up around the boardwalk where you could be a foot or two away from them as they headed to their burrows! Two little guys waddled the whole way up to the visitors centre pretty much beside us!! The penguins come in just after sunset so if you are going bring hoodies or blankets, it gets cold but it would definitely recommend it!!! Easily one of my favourite things that we've done so far! :)

Sunday we had a decidedly chilled out day, only venturing out to get some lunch in a place my cousin recommended called Iddy Biddy's! True to form with everywhere she recommends it looked like an old fashion kitchen!! The food was lovely howsever and the place is very cool looking! They even had Disney and fairytale stories books as there menu's! Loved that!!

Considering it was Easter Sunday, I didn't get an Easter Egg from Conor, we kind of forgot about it being honest but my lovely Mammy sent me over some goodies including dairy milk bars and mini eggs cakes! Yum! So we tucked into some of those Sunday nigt as we Skyped home!! Then we watched a movie called the Devils double which was actually pretty good! A little horrific but good!

Monday we decided we were going to go and watch an AFL game but the weather was absolutely miserable! It was raining on and off and so cold that we said we'd rather watch it in a pub and get some grub! So Joyce and Aaron joined us in Federation Square and we watched some of it, in between chatting!! We will definitely have to catch a game properly the next time, once we've invested in some winter clothing! Ha!!

So that was our weekend, hope everyone had a nice, and chocolate filled weekend!! 

Amy :)

This weekend we..

Phamish, where you can see the chef at work

Went to a restaurant called Phamish on Friday night, which is opposite Luna Park and Palais Theatre, and oh my God the food! It was a little pricey so not somewhere you would eat out every weekend but it was definitely worth the money! Conor had a Moroccan chicken starter and I have never tasted chicken like it! I had the Phamish Dips selection of house made dips & oven baked sesame bread which was also pretty wow! Still don't know what the dips where, but they were v.nice! Had a lot in it so probably better for sharing as the amount of that delicious bread they give you is just crazy! So mains then I had a pizza with napoli, mozzarella, pesto, roasted peppers, prosciutto, rocket & goats cheese. Yum! Still can not pronounce prosciutto however! Must work on that! Conor had the eye fillet and it was lovely! Probably the beast steak he has ever had he said! High praise I might add! So yes now that I have gone into THAT much detail about what we ate I must say that I do not normally do that, it is just that is was that good! And our waiter, with his crazy purple hair was lovely and picked out some nice beers for Conor, including the St.Kilda beer! Will most definitely be going back soon! 


Friday before we went out, Conor bought himself a car! He got it off another Irish guy so it came complete with a really bad cd full of depressing Irish songs! So yes it's a Mitsubishi Lancer and was going pretty cheap, which was all he wanted. So now he gets to stay in bed a little longer and get home earlier and most importantly he now fills the 'must have own transport' bracket that all the adverts for carpenters have! Sorted! :)


Saturday we went up to Brighton Beach for a little while but it was so windy we felt as though we were being sandblasted! We did get to see these crazy pelicans flying really low however!
So we soon ditched the lazy beach day and headed back to watch a game of football we had passed on the way! Sorted! I will not lie, I do not know the rules but it was cool to watch something different. Although it is very like Gaelic football it is still a little different!

I do live with boys too, but the girls like taking girls only photos!

Saturday night we headed out with the housemates as it was one of their birthdays. I got to wear my lovely dress by Rare and my coral Topshop shoes! :) We had a couple of drinks in the apartment first and then off to Big Mouth it was which was good fun. They are quite the fans of tequila howsever and I am not so much! Yuck! And no where does Goldslagger here!! This could however be a blessing in disguise as now I won't want to do shots anymore! :D


Sunday morning was greated with a hangover breakfast in La Roche, a cool little restaurant/bar on Acland St. The walls are covered in graffiti art, as most of St.Kilda is, and the food is pretty good! 

The Pink Fits

Afterwards myself and Conor decided to check out the music store we kept walking past on Barkley St. to get some cd's for the car! (We have yet to find a good radio station!) Pure Pop Records is a record shop/cafe/bar! It even has a little beer garden out the back! It is very cool! It has posters all along the walls of bands that have played there, including Conor's uncles band, the Pink Fits! Behind the counter the owner has pictures of himself with The Frames, of whom we are massive fans! Naturally we got talking to him and it turned out that he was in fact Bon Scot, of AC/DC fame's son! Conor did happen to be wearing his AC/DC t-shirt typically! I thought he was going to faint when he said it! So apparently whenever artists play in St.Kilda or Melbourne they go and visit the store to meet him because of who his dad is and they play gigs there! How cool is that! He said he gets a lot of Irish artists in too, like obviously The Frames, Damien Dempsey and Mundy! I think we may end up frequenting this place now! 

Pure Pop Records, everything you need really!

So yes that was our weekend! And now I am sitting here, on Tuesday, staring at my phone hoping that Sam from Helly Hansen calls, as she said that she would today! And if not I have an interview with Swarovski tomorrow in the city, which I am now feeling I may need some luck for! So I guess I may go off and continue with my research of the company and be productive! (I have already spent a few minutes on Face in Hole.com coming up with stuff to amuse Conor whilst he is painting in work!) I need a job! 
That's all for now folks! Keep your finger's x'd for me!
Amy :)

Back and more upbeat!!

You'll be glad to hear that I am out of my misery guts mood that I have been in for two days! Yes two! All that I required was a good bit of talking to my sister and Conor! This is how I sort everything I might add, I have to talk it out!

So yes the last two days, well yesterday I was still a grump due to unbelievable boredom but I relieved it a little by going looking for interview clothes, in Topshop, where I bought more than that! Whoops! Oh well I decided I needed cheering up! So yes anyway I bought some pants for the interview and some much needed new jeans (I have been living in the two pairs of Leigh jeans that I brought with me!) and a vest top with an aztec print on it, and in my defense I have been looking for something like it for ages! I honestly could justify anything really! So that little bit of retail therapy improved my humour greatly.

Then myself and Conor went off out for a walk yesterday evening, the start of my get fit regime. I've decided that there is no reason as to why a 22 year old should be unfit so I am going to have to do something about it. I have no excuse now that I have the weather to be off outside walking, and hopefully eventually running (if my body doesn't give up due to shock first!)To aid this I have also been trying to eat better so am eating a lot more fruit and yogurts, which I love, and trying to eat less sweets and crap, which I also love! I'm not doing too badly so far, I think!?


Another reason for my more positive demeanor is that my interview went well today, as far as I could tell! The lady interviewing me, Sam, was lovely and I think I came across well to her. So I shall find out about that position next Tuesday but in the meantime I am applying for everything that comes up too. Don't put all your eggs in the one basket and all!!


And I suppose my last reason to be happy (today), as I type I am sitting on the couch on the balcony looking out on a beautiful, and warm day. Perhaps being a lady of leisure isn't so bad after all!!! :)


Amy :)

Getting angsty...

So today, as I read an email telling me my application hadn't been successful for a job Conor got a phone call asking him to work, today!!! Delighted for him of course, but now I feel like a housewife, yuck!! I am the only one out of six flatmates not working which makes for a quiet house! Beginning to get fed up of the apartment I loved so much a week ago and now wishing I wasn't looking at its walls so bloody often!!


Before you say 'so do something about it', I have! I hope! Besides applying for everything that comes up online I spent two hours of today up on Chapel St, handing in CV's. Tedious work I may add as more often than not you are greeted with the phrase 'Actually we do online applications' or 'Sorry but we aren't looking for anyone right now but I can take a CV if you like' the latter of which seems better, but I'm fairly confident that there are probably a couple of my CV's out to be collected by the rubbish man now!


So my normal positive attitude has taken a day off and for now I'm just going to miserable, while surrounded by the bloody walls and look for more online applications to fill out!!!
I am really hoping this interview on Weds goes my way or I may just have a mini breakdown! Just a mini one mind!!


Think I'll head down to Acland St then and see if there is anything going down there, and of course do the good housewife duties of getting stuff for the dinner! Eugh!! Maybe I'll just go shoe shopping instead!! (Feel free to wait for the post where by I come back and describe said cheer me up shoes!)


There's my silly rant for today which I will most likely read tomorrow and hit myself over the head for!


Amy :( <-- not so happy face!

Settled in..

So now that we're all settled in the job hunt is in full swing! I have an interview on Weds for Helly Hansen! I don't even know what to wear to an interview anymore it's been so long since I had one! Eeep! I'm sure I'll figure something out by then though!


So whilst we have been job hunting we've been trying to keep the spending down, which means sitting in in the evenings a lot! I'm not used to sitting at home that often so I decided to invest in a book! Myself and Conor have both decided that we need to read more. (a promise I actually made to myself for when I had finished college, you know with my new found free time! Safe to say that didn't happen)So yes I purchased this book! It's a fictional crime solver which is exactly why I got it, although I do love reading how real crime stories are solved I said I'd start out with some fiction and maybe move on after! Ha!


Also this week, we rented a car! A little (being the appropriate word) Hyundai Getz! It is very compact shall we say! But it got us around for the weekend so all in all its not so bad! And I finally drove in Australia! That has been one of the things I've been missing since I got here! I miss my car and the freedom of not having to plan out my tram or bus route! Hopefully soon we will be buying one out here, although not from a garage as we discovered today! Car prices out here are scandalous! For example I sold my 03 golf for €3500 at home, that is $4400, but I saw a 01 golf for $12000 today!! That is €9450!! It just doesn't equate! I know the wages are better over here but I just can not understand that much of a difference in the price of cars! I should have brought mine over, I could have made a mint selling it!!! So yes now we are staying well away from garages and trawling through Gumtree on a regular basis! Cars are still expensive enough on it but far better than the scan artists we saw today!!! In fact I took a little break there and just found a 01 golf for $6000 on gumtree... Still a lot, but half the dealers price!!! Scandalous!

This week, inbetween the job hunting we also made time to visit Fitzroy Park, where Cook's Cottage calls home. It was actually moved from Great Ayton in Yorkshire to Melbourne by disassembling it and bringing it over on boats only to be reassembled in Fitzroy Park in 1934. It's very cute and the park surrounding it is beautiful too, with lots of little sights too see, like the fairy tree, model tudor village and a beautiful conservatory.

Although I did say that we were keeping spending down we did treat ourselves on Sunday. We said you couldn't be in Melbourne the weekend of the F1, able to hear it from our apartment all week and not go! It was a brilliant day out! There was so much more than just the big race on! There was v8 cars and porches racing beforehand, moto cross stunts with the Crusty Demons, the army was there showing some of its tanks and gear, there were cars from Ford, Mustang, Ferrari and loads more on display there too! There was amusements, boats racing on the lake and fighter and jet planes flying overhead! Albert Park was mobbed with people! I would recommend if it is on near you at any time do go because it is well worth the ticket money. Try and book as early as you can however as it is slightly cheaper that way, think our housemates paid $20 less than us for booking in advance! 

My brother reckons I blend in
with the background of my mugshot.

We went to the Old Melbourne Gaol this week too. Purely to see everything Ned Kelly related but there was much cooler stuff up there, like death mask of famous inmates and there stories. some of the cells were laid out as they would have been too. Would recommend going but definitely go there early, we got there around half 3 and had to rush around to see half of it. They give you a tour of the old holding cells there too, where you can get your mugshot taken if you like! The guide for it is pretty funny too so worth the half hour that it takes.

The goodies taking
over our fridge!

This week Conor also got a lovely delivery from his Mam full of Irish goodies!! We shared a dairy milk earlier with our tea and it was the best thing ever!! He even gave me the last two squares, now there's love! Ha! So we have loadsa sweets now to make a dent in! Yum!

So yes that was Melbourne this week! Hopefully next week is full of exciting new job prospects and page turners!!
Amy x