• Bondi-coogee walk

    19 de setembro de 2023, Austrália ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    On my second to last day in Australia, I took the bus out to Bondi and did the famous Bondi to Coogee walk.

    I arrived around 9am and set off. All in all the walk took about 1.5hrs and it was nice. A simple walk with only minimal slopes. Unfortunately it was boiling hot. Around 28° as I finished and I was struggling a little.

    I spent a few hours on the grass by the beach. The sand was packed with people and provided no shade whatsoever. I did swim briefly when I first arrived at coogee but the waves were very strong and I did not trust my capabilities. It was however freezing cold which was gorgeous after being so warm while walking.

    Around 1 I walked through the town and found something for lunch. This rice salad was amazing, and hit the spot perfectly.

    I took the 2,30 bus back to the city and walked through the main area before heading back to my hostel. I needed to do laundry so did that and had a very long shower.
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  • Travelling once more

    18 de setembro de 2023, Austrália ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    Guess who's flying again. Yep, its me. No jokes though, I feel so happy. I actually love flying.

    My dumbass decided to get a 9,30am flight which would have been fine but the airport is 30 minutes from town and I get so anxious with flying so I was up at 6,30! Thankfully the journey was super easy, check in was simple and I had a bit of time after to walk around and get breakfast. I got a raspberry and white choc muffin, a solid choice. Then it was time to board.

    The plane was tiny and didn't have proper spinny things (I can't think of the word) it has these tiny wings, crazy. The view however was beautiful. I rarely fly during the day so was enjoying the view immensely. I was flying with Rex and they gave us a free drink and cookie, so much better than jetstar and cheaper.

    I arrived in Sydney at 11 and was in the hostel by 12. Unfortunately check in wasn't until 2pm but I expected as such so it was fine. I dropped my bag off and went for a walk.

    I have already been here since knew the city layout. I went first to the war memorial as the museum and art gallery are very close. The museum has basically the same exhibits as the one in Brisbane so I didn't stay long. The art gallery had a hall of landscapes so I was very pleased. Landscape are definite my favourite kind of art, that and interpretive sculptures.

    I then got some lunch and sat in the park for a bit reading. Finally I went back to the hostel as it was getting a little cold and checked in. The lift is broken so I ahd to climb 4 flights of stairs, yay. But the manager saw me checking in and carried my bag the whole way. I felt kind of bad but not enough to do it myself!
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  • View of the city

    17 de setembro de 2023, Austrália ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    So today I finally met up with Tom and Ari. I met them on Gili T and promised I would come see them when I was in brisbane.

    Tom met me at my hostel and brought his bike and drove us up Mt Coot-tha. The view from the top today was so clear. We did a bit of the loop around the peak but as we were both in jeans we didn't go far. It was super hot but beautiful.

    Back in the city we met Ari at their place and ended up deciding to play basket ball. Not sure how but it was fun, turns out I'm not awful. I'm not great but not awful.

    We then headed to the hill for sunset and watched the city lights turn on as the sky darkened. We basically just chilled and chatted the whole time.
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  • The city loop

    16 de setembro de 2023, Austrália ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Once again I woke up early for literally no reason and dragged Alex out around the city with me. Today we did a loop from my hostel, over the go between bridge, all the way down south bank and to kangaroo point. Before crossing Story Bridge, getting the free boat from Riverside to the marine museum and across the bridge to the botanical garden, then back to the city and finally on the 33 bus because its free, so why not.

    We got a pastry each at a very popular French bakery at kangaroo point. Alex got a pain au chocolat, which she made me pronounce a thousand times before I got it right, damn French people. And I got a raspberry tart. It had creme fresh (don't hate me for the bad spelling), at the bottom and a sweet jelly like topping full of fresh raspberries. It was honestly one of the best pastries I have ever had.

    We had so many great views of the city as we walked. The main part is on the north side so as we were walking we essentially circled the entire thing. I also spotted a few more of the blue nijas artworks as we were going about.

    We had a great day but after 6hrs of walking, I was dead yet again. I got back around 3pm and just laid in bed for the rest of the day. Bit lazy but I was dead!
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  • History and bells

    15 de setembro de 2023, Austrália ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    In the second half of our walk we found some churches and a massive book store that was giving ancient vibes.

    At the end of the walk I headed back to the city Hall where they do tours of the bell tower. Sadly the bells have always been mechanically rung but the original lift and views of the city made up for it.

    Below the bell tower was a museum which wasn't super interesting. But I met Alex again and we did a bit of a walk through the city. We came across a climate change protest that was wlaking through the centre of the city. It was very loind but not very big. Then headed to the brisbane museum. Again, a little disappointing as the dinosaur exhibit we wanted was $25 and we did care that much.

    We took a break by the river for a bit before parting again. It was 4pm by this point and I had been walking around the city for nearly 8hrs on and off so was exhausted and very ready for sleep.
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  • Walking tour

    15 de setembro de 2023, Austrália ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    I last minute booked (as in 12hrs before) a walking tour of Brisbane. Its run by the City Council and I got lucky and managed to book in on the free tour.

    We spent 3 hrs walking around the city and learning about the history and little quirks of the city. We visited the newest building with a little jungle walk going through the bottom level. Then to the oldest building, a windmill that was previously used as a punishment for the convicts centuries ago.

    We walked through roma street parkland which was full of flowers and lizards. Then found some of the art work in the city. There is an artist called the blue ninja who dresses in a blue nija outfit and creates tiny blue sculptures and hides them in the city. There are a few laneways with art in the city which we walked down before finding a bench with kangaroos on it. They are made from scrap metal and we're surprisingly cute.
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  • Morning walk

    15 de setembro de 2023, Austrália ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Due to the fact that I am a little bit crazy, I woke up early and went out on a mission this morning. I walked all the way to the Valley again and got a brownie and another biscoff cookie from Brooki again. I also got a coffee because I have no impulse control. No regrets though. Genuinely, top tier. I think the brownie was better than the cookies which is a very unpopular opinion if you ask her fan base!

    I did however go there for a second reason. There is a hiking shop in the valley and it is the only one in brisbane that sold the stuff I wanted for vietnam. I now have a dry bag so my ipad won't get soaked when it rains while we are riding.

    I then did a bit of a speed walk back to the city to meet my tour guide for 10am. The guy in the store was really helpful and gave me some good tips for vietnam but he did make me almost late!
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  • Busy day in Brisbane

    14–15 de set. 2023, Austrália ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    I arrived yesterday afternoon in Brisbane! I find busses exhausting so I went for a bit of a walk around the city and relaxed.

    But this morning, I woke super early and dragged Alex with me to the other side do the city. I have been following a bakery owner for ages, before I left England. And a few months ago I realised she was based in brisbane so immediately added it to my list for brisbane. Since then I told Alex and we both agreed to go when we met in Brisbane. So 8am, we are walking across half the city for 40 minutes to Brooki bakery.

    And because we are crazy we decided to walk for another 40 minutes along the Riverside to a little park on the furthest edge of the city to our hostel. Why? Who knows, but it was pretty.

    Anyways, these cookies. Omg. Amazing. Divine. Gorgeous. Better than I was expecting. 10/10. I cannot rave about these enough. So good. I mean, look at that cross section! We got the NYC cookie (the best seller) and the biscoff one and shared so we could try both.

    We then decided to begin the 2hr walk back but we're thankfully stopped by a helpful local after over hearing us complain about the price of the boat. One of the boats is free and thanks to them we decided to get it. The boat ran from where we were all the way to the centre of the city. We got off a few stops earlier so we could walk through southbank.

    By this point we had been out for around 4hrs so I left Alex in the city and headed back to my hostel to change and relax before I met Mia for lunch.

    Mia and I met in Albany back in March, so 6months ago. We have both done so much since and we were instant friends then and it happened again today. We met at 1pm and finally left the restaurant at 8pm. We spent over 7hrs just talking about everything. I am definitely going to miss her as she is probably never going to never leave Aus despite growing up in England very close to me. Hopefully we shall meet again one day.
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  • Ballina

    12 de setembro de 2023, Austrália ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    On Tuesday, I decided to walk north of the city as I had gone south on Monday. North of the city led me along a path beside a marshland. Full of eucalyptus trees and looking very flooded. I got to the outskirts of town before turning around and heading back along the beach to the city centre.

    For lunch I returned to the hostel with the intention of cooking. But I met Alex and Nathan and they were heading out to Ballina for lunch. I tagged along and we drove about 30 minutes to the city. Once there we found a very busy bakery and got wraps for lunch. I got a snitzel wrap toasted and headed to the beach to eat. Ballina is a cute little town on the coast. It looks like a nice place to visit but boring to live.

    We headed back to Byron for the sunset and watched it from the beach. A bird spent the entire time trying to steal our crisps and Axels beer.

    Back in the hostel I cooked and got by bag ready for the bus tomorrow to Brisbane.
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  • Byron bay

    10–11 de set. 2023, Austrália ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Ok, so Byron Bay is exactly as you expect. Whatever it is that you think of, you are correct.

    The entire small town is full of boutique shops, aesthetic cafes and blond hair beach waved people in flip-flops. Everyone is doing meditation and yoga, and wearing hippie clothes and peace signs. It is the stereotype that surrounds it. Intensly so.

    Axel, Nathan and I arrived around 5pm after a 4.5hr drive. I was expecting it to take long so was pleased it did not. We checked in and then grabbed some groceries. I cooked pasta, again. And then headed to be early. I watched the sunrise this morning and so had been up since 5 and it was already 7pm. I was knackered.

    The next morning I woke and had a lazy morning before heading out into the slight drizzle. I wandered through the town, stopping at the info centre as always, before heading to the beach.

    The beach is beautiful with little lush green hills framing the bay. I decided to walk right and found myself at the start of the lighthouse walk. The walk was beautiful and easy, which I was glad by as I was in jeans and a jumper.

    The walk took us to the most easterly point on the Australian mainland. From that view point we could see maybe 10 whales splashing about in the waves. They were jumping up out of the water and slapping back down creating massive waves. It is fascinating how its now difficult to see whales in Port, but there are hundreds in the waters around here. I took a few photos and tried my hand at the Gen Z photo method. I am still convinced that though I was born Port millennium, I there is no way I am Gen Z!

    Unfortunately in the afternoon the rain returned so I went back to the hostel and didn't do a lot for the rest of the evening.

    Overall, if you don't like surfing there really is not a lot to do in Byron. I like the city but it is not for me. I am a river and forest kind of girl, not a beach and sundress girl. I am glad I visited and I like the vibe but it is not for me.
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  • Highlights #3

    10 de setembro de 2023, Austrália ⋅ 🌙 10 °C

    Another highlights post, its getting a little repetitive now!

    My time in Port has consisted not in a small part by work. Papa Feta is my first stint working in a small restaurant and it was Greek. Initially a bit of a learning curve but overall one of my favourite places to have worked. The boss was honestly one of the loveliest people and the team there is great. Did I want to kill him at least once a week, yes. But he is the sort of person that it is impossible to stay mad at. At the end of every shift I got a Souvlaki rolled into a Gyros style dinner. Top tier, and even after 3 months of eating it at least 3 times a week, still amazing.

    Another key feature of my time was my trips to the Pancake place. This place had dreadfully slow waiting service but the food was peak. I tried both savoury and sweet pancakes in my visits and all were highly recommendable.

    My monthly book clubs were am odd addition to my time but some of the best mornings. Our group was small and I was by far the youngest but it was still a great time. Of the 4 books we read, I only liked one but the act of doing the book club was still great. We had our meetings next to the Koala hospital so I also got regular visits to these cuties.

    When I left Port, Sarah gave me a little present. This key chain is the cutest. I currently have it in my bag and will be putting it on my keys when I return. A little momento from my time living at Aussi Pozzie. I shall miss Sarah greatly.

    On my final evening in Port I went for dinner at Papa Frta and tried all the food I have been serving for months. The food was incredible and I got to say one final goodbye to everyone there.

    And to finish my time in Port, I did the one thing that seemed to make sense. I woke at 5am and went to watch the sunrise. A fitting end to my favourite place.

    Port Macquarie will forever hold a place in my heart and though it shall probably take me years, I know I shall return one day.
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  • My final coastal walk

    30 de agosto de 2023, Austrália ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    With only two weeks left to go, I did my final coastal walk. For the first time, I did it alone and it was very cathartic.

    It took around 5 hrs. I started at 9,15am and was back at 2,30. I spent around 30 minutes at lighthouse having a snack and resting.

    The animals were out today and scared the life out of me on multiple occasions. A massive lizard thing crawled out in front of me when I was not paying attention. I ended up seeing 4 of them on my walk, each time I was unnerved. They are massive and like to just stare at you from the bushes.

    Just after I set off on my way back from the lighthouse I nearly stepped on a tiny snake. Would not recommend, the heart attack it gave me nearly killed me. I did not enjoy that. I don't know what kind it is and I did not stick around of long enough to look closer at it.

    It was boiling out, probably 25° with no cloud cover and I was melting by the time I got home.
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  • Crotchet projects

    23 de agosto de 2023, Austrália ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    I have made a lot of crotchet things the last few weeks.

    I am not in love with the green hat. It is a little too bright for me, so I made a more neutral one in beige. This one I prefer a lot more.

    I made a cute green top. This one took so many days of work, but I think it was worth it. Very cute, I am very happy about it.

    The slippers I made for Alex as a gift for when she left. They were a pain to make and made my brain hurt, but I was very pleased with how they turned out.

    I made a bandana. I had some leftover white wool from my other projects and decided to randomly make it. I saw a photo and decided I wanted it.

    My final project is another top. I had to make a pattern for a pentagon, which took so many tries, but I finally got it right. The top is slowly coming together.
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  • Highlights #2

    20 de agosto de 2023, Austrália ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    Another load of highlights from the second half of the month.

    I have gotten ice cream quite a few times these last months, and today was an unexpected choice and not great but fine. Fig and whiskey. It's not great, but not bad either.

    The day before Alex left, we made burgers together at the hostel. There is a bbq at the hostel, and we used that to cook the homemade burgers. Tip tier.

    Alex and I also did the coastal walk again together. We took the bus after work to the lighthouse and walked back towards town. It took a couple of hours. We walked mostly in silence, but that was nice. Quiet to reflect as we went but not alone. I got an ice cream at the start because there was a van and life is better with ice cream.

    Alex and I got fish and chips for dinner one night. The place is very popular, and they do a deal for 2 for $10, can't go wrong with that.

    Alex and I watched the sunset together on her last evening. A very beautiful sunset as well.

    With it being so warm here, I have been enjoying the sunset while reading. Yellowface was ok. Far more political than I was expecting. Lots of discussion over racism and morality, which was a little disappointing. I was expecting a murder mystery style book, so I wasn't thrilled, but I can see why it is critically acclaimed.

    Got another toasty from Studio 3. You really can not beat their toasties. They are just perfect.
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  • Parties

    16 de agosto de 2023, Austrália ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    A couple days after Louisa arrived, I dragged her down the road to a trivia night with her and Amy. We did truly dreadfully in the quiz, last place. It isn't surprising as we were definitely the youngest group and all of the facts were on Aussie things. Something neither Louisa or I could help with. Amy did the best she could but she couldn't carry us all the way through.

    A couple weeks later it was Lucy's birthday on the 5th. I had my book club in the morning, then we got ready to go out in the evening. A group of us went down to Stick Bar for a few drinks. We had some cocktails and enjoyed the warm evening out.

    Back at the hostel, we had a little feast with loads of finger foods and prosecco before bringing out loads of paints and tiny canvasses. We had printed out some pictures of famous paintings and attempted to recreate them. None of us have any artistic skill but we tried nonetheless.

    One evening in July, Seb dragged us all to Settlers. It is the cheapest bar in town and looks like it, but he had made friends with the staff and they gave us all free drinks. The staff have a game with customers that changes every week. This week it was pegs. We had a hundred odd tint pegs dotted throughout the staff and customers and the aim was to get a peg on someone without them noticing. The entire bar was in on it in the end. Some people were very easy to peg and ended up having loads on them.

    At the end of the night we played a couple games of pool ( something that would end up being a staple part of our groups evenings). Before heading back home via free shuttle and grabbing pizza at 1am.
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  • Highlights #1

    5 de agosto de 2023, Austrália ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    A few highlights from August.

    I woke up one morning with a massive puppy in the hostel. It is fascinating how much my mood can boost just by seeing a massive doggo. He was adorable, I was very happy.

    A couple of days later, I decided to fall over. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but I ended up busting part of my knee up. I scratched the bottom half open and badly bruised it. I would not recommend it. Thankfuly, it healed nicely but took about 2 weeks before I stopped limping.

    We finally finished a puzzle that we'd been doing for weeks. The colourful part was easy but the blue was near impossible. It was all one shade and high dull to do.

    I spent the first two weeks of August doing the close. My friend Ellie, who usually does it, was on holiday in Europe for 2 weeks, and they asked me to cover her. I can not say it was really fun. The actual closing of the hostel was easy, but having the emergency phone was not. The hostel is usually very quiet, but I got unlucky. I guy called at 3 am asking to check into his room, which he never booked. A day later, a guy was wandering around the hostel on something and destroyed a bunch of plants at midnight. Needless to say I was very pleased to give the emergency phone back to Ellie when she returned.

    As everyone left at the end of July, August was very quiet, and I have spent a few mornings taking myself on solo dates. On highlight was the pancake place. The service here is a little lacking, but the pancakes make up for it. I got the raspberry and white choc stacks and read my book. The pancakes were amazing, and this book is truly incredible. The book is my book club book for this month, and it is one of the most beautifully written stories I have ever read. I highly recommend and will be buying my own copy.

    Due to having more free time to myself, I've taken on reading more again. I have also taken a liking to Matcha iced lattes, and the sun here is the best part. I have spent many afternoons by the beach with a match coffee and a book.

    Alex and I spent the together just before she left. We read on the beach for a bit before going to lunch. We went to a Thai cafe that does Asian and western fusion food. I got a salad, and Alex got a curry. It was ok but far too sweet for me.

    Alex likes to draw, and she created us all these drawings of our star signs and something like us. This was the one she made me.

    On one of the last days Alex was here, we went down the beach and spent almost all day in the sun. Around mid day, a strange looking cloud appeared. By late afternoon, a massive block of smoke was spread across the horizon. A wild fire had started from the forest a few miles north of the port and had spread. The wind was pushing the smoke eastwards and creating a block in the sky. Despite the strange view, we had a lovely day.
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  • Whales

    31 de julho de 2023, Austrália ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    Over the last 3 months in Port it has been wahle season. We have made numerous trips down to the lighthouse to watch them pass during sunset. Unfortunately I lost all of my photos of these evenings. But Amelia sent me some of the photos she has taken of the whales. She has a professional camera so was able to take some incredible photos.

    My favourite time we went down to the lighthouse was at the end of June. We went down on a rather windy and freezing evening but it was worth it. It was one of Zuri's final evenings in Port and there were whales everywhere. Just as we were trying to decide if we should leave, we spotted a whale very close to shore. They are usually a few hundred meters out from shore due to the numerous boats. This one has chosen to come between the boats and the coastline.

    The whales swim beneath the waves but pop up every 5-10 minutes to spurt water out. Because it was so close we were able to watch this one for almost 30 minutes. It popped up when it was almost directly below us. Pure luck on our part leading to an incredible moment.

    We spent many evenings at light House but that was definitely the best.
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  • Dolphins in the bay

    30 de julho de 2023, Austrália ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    As we sat in Little Shack having a drink with sunset some dolphins appeared in the bay. This is something incredibly magical about the dolphins here. It just feels so unique and fantastical.

    After the sun set, I walked back alone. On my way there were a couple dolphins playing in the water so close to shore you could almost touch them. It was perfect timing on my part.

    Back in the hostel I did some laundry while I waited for the others to get back. Seb was leaving at midnight and Alyssa at 4am, so we had planned to eat then watch movies till it was time. We first watched Friends with Benefits, then a Zombie movie I can not remember the name of. By the time they were done it was 10,30. Alex and Paulo had already decided to go to bed so it was just Alyssa, Seb, Louisa and I left. Seb and I played a final game of Pool, he won, unsurprisingly. Then Ellie locked up and we did a few games of cards while we waited. We stopped a little earlier than intended so that Seb could leave being the ShitHead.

    We said our goodbyes, promises to meet again soon in England and waved him off. Alyssa headed to bed to get a could hours sleep before she had to wake up again for her plane. And I went to bed aswell, and tried not to feel like I was loosing my best friends again.

    Two days later it was Louisa's turn to leave. She left on the 3am bus and refused to do any part or big goodbye. I went into her room when I got back from work and we said our goodbyes then. I left her to finish packing as I'd promised not to be emotional. Louisa has been in Port with me longer than Berber was. Which is an insane concept as it felt like Berber was here forever. But she wasn't. She left and Louisa replaced her a couple days later. And now Lousia is gone too.

    The hostel is quiet, too quiet now. The extroverts are gone, the bits are gone and the French are gone. There is only a 5 of us left and it is amazing how empty the hostel feels. There were never many volunteers but the long termers made it busier, there were always 4 extra, making our group twice the size. But not anymore.
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  • Group sunrise

    30 de julho de 2023, Austrália ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Today is Seb and Alyssa's final days in Port. The fact they are leaving on the same day is very depressing. But we made the most of their last day.

    We all dragged ourselves out of bed at 6am and made the walk down to the beach for sunrise. I was fine, this isn't my first time, but the others were not so pleased! That being said the sunrise was beautiful.

    We sat down on the beakwall, not somewhere I have sat before and it was beautiful. To our left was the sea and river, on the right surfers and the beach, directly ahead was the sun cresting the horizon.

    After watching its slow assent we walked to 4, for a coffee and I bought an almond croissant aswell. We got back at around 8am. The others went back to bed but I decided to enjoy my morning and sat in the early sunshine.

    After our required 2 hours of work, we all left the hostel again. We walked into town so the others could grab another coffee, I chose not too, and headed back to the beach. This was the second time in 2 days we had been down on the beach together but as it was there last day it felt fitting.

    It did rain on us a little here and there but it wasn't enough to stop us. I became somehow better and worse simultaneously at volleyball. After a few card games (another thing we did a lot in this era), and a bit of sheltering from the rain we went to Little Shack again. It was were we had all met Seb 3 weeks ago and felt fitting for the final evening.
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  • Sunset at lighthouse

    25 de julho de 2023, Austrália ⋅ 🌙 17 °C

    My most recent sunset at lighthouse and one of the last from the 'French era'. Nathan and Axel were here when I arrived and this was the final evenings we spent together before they left to go back to France. 2.5 months spent together in the hostel. It is amazing how fast time flies by.

    The clouds were gathering for a big down pour which made the sunset evening better. We are east facing at lighthouse so the sun sets behind us. But it is the after colours that make it so beautiful.

    Despite the chill we were there for ages just watching the whales in the distance and enjoying the colours of the sky.

    On the way home we stopped off at a fish and chip shop. We had heard good things but nome of us had been yet. It was worth the trip. A nice chill end to an evening and there time in Port.
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  • Well, that happened

    24 de julho de 2023, Austrália ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    So in the last few weeks a lot has happened. Everyone who was here before is now gone. People have come and gone again in that time. We went through the entirety of 'winter' and am now back into summer. And I lost my phone and every photo on it.

    So, there are parts of the last six weeks I want to document on this and we shall just take this gap as me being me.
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  • 300 days

    21 de julho de 2023, Austrália ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Somehow, this day went from a great start to an unexpected disaster.

    I began with a very nice morning. I woke late, it was my day off from the hostel, and I decided to take myself for breakfast. I had 'French toast' but it was a little more than that. It came with a load of fresh fruit, bacon and yogurt. I took an excellent photo of it but alas, I no long have it.

    Back at the hostel, we made a plan to go kayaking. Seven of us decided to go, and Axel offered to drive us down to the hiring station. After a bit of logistics, we made it down there and hired three kayaks. Louisa and Alyssa had one, Paulo and Seb in another and myself, Alex and Nathan in a third.

    We started off well. The water was clean, clear and shallow. We did some races and hopped into the water where it was most shallow. Unfortunately, it was after this point we became unstuck.

    We were kayaking around an island down the river and back up again. The bottom of the island is open to the sea and thus has a lot of waves. At first we were having a great time. The waves were small and quite fun when they were rocking the boat. But they were persistent and slowly began to cause more problems for us. In the end Nathan got out and half dragged us to shore on the island. Without him we definitely would have capsised. The boys, did in fact, capsise. And the girls had to turn around. It was a little before the waves began that Alyssa lost her phone. They went back to try and find it but there was no chance.

    We took a break on the island for a bit to relax. It got very cold as we were all soaking wet and scared from the waves.

    Getting back in the boats was harder than we had expected. The area at the bottom of the island that we were resting on was surrounded by very expensive boats. We had to navigate our way through them while fighting the waves. Tha mfully we made it and set off back up the river to the baot place.

    It was somewhere along here that the waves began again. One of them knocked my phone out of Alex's care and into the river. It was almost funny watching it sail over our heads and into the water behind us. It sank quickly.

    Nathan offered to jump out but at this point it was a lot deeper than before. He might have managed to find it but getting back into the boat would have probably been impossible. So we kept going.

    Back on shore we were all a little shocked. One capsise and 2 lost phones. Not a great afternoon!

    Back in the hostel, we all changed out of our wet clothes and Alyssa and I tried to solve out problems. Alyssa managed to get an old iPhone from Facebook marketplace that she used to reconnect to her laptop. She works online so a lack of phone is far from ideal for her.

    Me on the other hand, I didn't mind so much. My phone was very old and I wanted to buy a new one anyways. But I would have liked to do it in a little better way, under my own choices. Thankfully most of my stuff was backed up to the cloud and my email so I was able to get a lot back. Overall I only lost some of my contacts and my photos. But I have contacts on other social media sites, so that isn't an issue. And thanks to the hours of work I have put into writing these blogs, I have all of my photos here. Friends have duplicates of photos so it really isn't much of an issue in the end.

    I like my new phone. Its better than my last and is a lot cheaper than I was expecting. The photos seem to be nicer and it's definitely faster than my old one. Alex went with me to the tech shop. She knows samsungs really well and so was able to find one that gave me what I wanted within my budget. It is fascinating how little I know about these things!
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  • Beach days in this era

    6–30 de jul. 2023, Austrália ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    During the 3/4 weeks Alyssa was here we went to the beach far more than before. Alyssa was only here in Port for a little less than a month before she went back home. As a result she wanted to do something every day. Port is not known for its endless things to do, which led to is being at the beach a good 2 or 3 times a week.

    We ended up spending many hours down on the sand. Sometimes watching Seb surf, listening to music or playing volleyball. We got surprisingly good at volleyball between our little group.

    Seb was an extrovert with ADHD and Alyssa was also an extrovert. Between the two of them they managed to drag us out of the hostel almost every day.

    Despite the fact it is winter here, the weather is nearly always sunny and warm which makes for some great beach days.

    My favourite will have been our first. Seb wasn't there that day because we met him in the evening. But it was one of the first days Alyssa and Paulo were here in Port and so it was our first trip to the beach. Axel and Nathan came too, something that was pretty rare for them. We spent hours down on the beach, talking and getting to know each other. This is hardly my first time doing this with new people but there was something in our conversation that made it clear the next month was going to be good. All travellers have something in common so it is easy to make friends, but sometimes you meet a group that you connect with on a level deeper than just shared travel. That was this group.

    We went to Little Shack when the sun began to set and met Seb there. From then on wards every day was busy. I have loved every group I have had here in Port, and everyone aswell. But this era was my favourite. Beach days, and movie nights. I'm going to miss them when they are gone.
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  • Saturday style

    17 de junho de 2023, Austrália ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    I was feeling good today. Work was done and the sun was shining perfectly again so I decided to go down to the beach. Took myself on a little date.

    I found this dress in the hostel and I loved it. I never wear anything like this but I just decided to try it today. I bought myself an icecream down at the waterfront. I got the oat milk choclate, loving the inclusivity. There was one that what blue, I tried it and didnt like it though which was sad. It was coconut and pea flower, not that great.

    I stayed down by the water for a few hours, listened to my podcast and wrote some of the findpenguins.

    Back home I relaxed in the sun before getting changed to go out. My friend from book club invited me to a 'Friends' trivia night. We had a lovely dinner and ended up coming 5th all in all. There were lots of groups so we were proud of that, though it was mostly Amy's doing.

    We have agreed to meet again soon for either dinner or another trivia night.
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  • Day off again

    14 de junho de 2023, Austrália ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    We did sunrise yoga again today. Lucy drove Ellie, Sammy and I down. The yoga was ok but I was not feeling it this morning. We had our coffee after and then went for a swim. The water was warm again and I loved it.

    We then went to studio3 for breakfast. I got a toastie, it was perfect but far too big again.

    Back at the hostel, I took a spot in the sun and began to read my book club book. It is not good, I dont like it.

    The sun however was great. Had a cup of tea and napped. Really am living my best life.

    I had work later on and enjoyed how clam it was. There greek restaurant is just so chill. Nothing too strenuous.
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