Quite some time has passed since my last update mainly because we have been happily settling into Melbourne life, spending our days pottering around, working (with little stress), eating (a favourite Melbourne pastime) , drinking, (same as the latter) getting tattooed, and generally having fun.
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| Flowery |
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| Wal step 1....ouch |
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| Wal step 2.....ouch ouch |
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Wal finale.......so many ouches!!!!
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Although we have lived in a teeny tiny box room for pretty much the whole time we have lived in Melbourne (which hasn't been easy, no kitchen and making sandwiches on the floor became our everyday way of life) it's been worth it as we have been able to save a lot of money which has resulted in me being able to apply (and be accepted!) into a school in Melbourne. Yey!
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| Please come into to our mansion |
I'm going to be training in Children's Services and specialising in Early Childhood which basically means I'm gonna get to do all the fun pre-school stuff with the rugrats. In addition, with us being able to live in Melbourne longer Wally is able to start a tattoo apprenticeship at
Eternal Instinct. the boy has been working extremely hard over the last 2 years to get his portfolio together and its paid off as his apprenticeship is with the very well respected and extremely talented
Giovanni Di Mizzo. (Same guy who did Wals back piece) The man is an amazing artist/tattooist who specialises in Japanese Art, and from what Wal tells me is very excited in teaching Wal everything he knows! So happy days and exciting times ahead!
We have made some awesome friends in Melbourne so it's feeling almost like home, once the new year starts and we have a proper place to live I think we will be very content. The plan is to live with our friend Marlowe who has been left with the task of finding us a new home whilst me and Wal swan off on holiday for 2 months! Thank you Marlowe.......
Some of Wal's portfolio work.
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| Wal's Street Art |
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| Nathan's Street Art |
I continued to work at
Sentido until I was allowed no more and I will be going back in the new year which I am so happy about as I really enjoy working there and also I'm so glad I don't have to go through the rigmarole of finding a new job again! Sentido has good people and a good atmosphere. Love it. I'm also looking forward to going back as my bosses have had their first rugrat! (Born 1 week after we left dammit!) Big Love to B and Cam. Cant wait to meet Mini Usher.
Some pics of the lovely Sentido Crew........
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| Who's the boss??? B and Cam |
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| Me and Reeny on Halloween |
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| Nath, Francesca, Me and Walbot |
We had an exciting few weeks in our build up to our trip around Asia and Christmas in the UK. We took a 5 day trip to New Zealand starting in Christchurch and driving in a camper-van down the west coast to Queenstown. New Zealand is probably one of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen. The views are amazing. Snow topped mountains, huge lakes and winding roads. We stopped at Franz Josef on the west coast to take time to relax in the hot pools. The weather was pretty chilly which made it all the better yo be relaxed and warm in the
hot pools. After that refreshment we made a short drive to Fox Glacier and stayed overnight and woke up to, once again, amazing mountain views.
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| Wal relaxing in the Hot Pools |
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| We found the end of the rainbow......turns out there is no gold! |
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| Small world |
Queenstown is an awesome place. Surrounded by mountains and the biggest lake I have ever seen, you have to remind yourself you're in the middle of a country and not on the coast. The whole town has been built around the lake and even though it's obviously a town aimed at tourists it still has a very relaxed feel about it.
Our first port of call in Queenstown was to jump out of a plane! (You know you may as well get straight on it!) We opted for the 15000ft jump (the highest you can go on a tandem) because if your gonna do it you may as well do it right! We drove about 20 minutes out of town so we could do the jump over the mountain range called The Remarkables. There were about 10 of us in our group plus our instructors and we flew about 15mins in a small plane to get to the height we needed to be. Surprisingly I felt very calm through it all which was good. I jumped before Wal so I said my goodbyes and hoped I'd see him again.
It was such a strange experience. The first few seconds I just felt my stomach drop and then after that it feels like you are been blasted with the coldest wind known to man and you don't really feel like your falling anymore. Then after about 45 seconds of wind blast and your lips turning blue your parachute pops open (big cheer!) and you kind of swing around in circles and get to take in the amazing views whilst trying not to be sick. (I'm not that good on park swings and roundabouts so it was a challenge!) As amazing as the experience was I was happy to get my feet back on earth. It was another thing I can tick off the Bucket List but I don't reckon I'll do it again!
So after that morning adrenaline rush we had some lunch (and managed to keep it down) by the river that we had camped next to, and then headed to the Skyline Gondola that takes you 450 meters up the mountain where you get magnificent views of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu.
Its hard to capture how amazing the view was in a photo but its possibly one of the best I've seen.
Also at the top of the mountain is a ride called the Skyline Luge. You get taken further up the mountain in a cable car then get to drive gravity powered karts and race each over down a winding track. SO MUCH FUN!!!!
We enjoyed it more than the skydive! We only bought 2 tickets as we thought it was going to be a bit lame but it was awesome and you go really fast. Much Fun.
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| View of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu |
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| 'Special' folks day out |
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| Luge race track |
Day 2 in Queenstown we headed out to the Nevis Canyon for Wal to do the AJ Hacket Bungee (not me, I'm still traumatised from when I did it in Cairns) and then for both of us to do the swing.
Wal loved the bungee but I just felt sick watching him.
The swing was great, just after we were strapped in the guy said to us, "so you know how to get back up right?", we turned around and said "no???" and with that he dropped us into the canyon. Sneaky trick! We dropped about 160 meters and then swung around the canyon really fast until the y hoist you back up. Really good fun and would definitely do it again.
So that was our last day in Queenstown, we had a nice meal in the evening then it was an early night as we had a morning flight back to Melbourne.
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| Wal excited for the bungee |
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| Head Spin |
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| Getting strapped in for the swing |
We had 2 weeks in Melbourne before our adventure in Asia and these were spent with friends and generally having as much Aussie fun we could squeeze in. Wal fulfilled one of his lifelong dreams and went to Phillip Island to see the Moto GP with some friends and had a great time.
We had a brilliant last day/night with friends and spent the whole day at Sentido drinking many many many cocktails and saying our "see you laters" and ended the evening causing some carnage in Sircuit (crazy gay party club). I didn't feel sad about leaving as we know we are coming back in January and also because we are excited for our Asia and UK travels but I will miss everyone.
So that's 2 years spent in Oz!
I can't believe it's been so long as it seems like it has passed so quickly. But in 2 years we have seen so much, learnt a lot about ourselves and each other and realised at this moment in time we belong in Melbourne so we are so happy and grateful that we are having the opportunity to come back.
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| Me and Amanda drinking one of our many Espresso Martinis |
