A Thirty-Oneder Down Under

On Saturday we had a party a my house. It was sort of a mix of a housewarming since Briony and I just moved in, a b-day party for me (even though my actual b-day is not until this Thursday the 25th), and a goodbye party since I am leaving to head up the East Coast in a week or so. Here are some pics from the party...

One of my flatmates, Kate, making Mulled Wine...


Damien and Mari (Estonia) enjoying the fire...

Chaz and 'Lil (both from NZ) sharing a moment...

Nerys and her best mate Lisa (Brady) who I will hopefully be travelling down the West Coast with in August...

Me and Carmi (who made an appearance despite having an exam on Monday to study for. Thanks Carmi!)

My unsuccessful attempt at taking a pic of me and Damien, who happens to be 6'7"...

Nery decided it was dance time and Chaz was her lucky partner...

Nery had some fancy moves, including running and jumping into Chaz' arms.

Not the smoothest landing but definitely could have been much worse...

Ashley (Baltimore) breaking out the Passion Pop. Things always get interesting after the Passion Pop comes out.

Kara deep in thought...or at least pretending to be...

Me and Daniela (who I met at the Red Cross)...

Me and Georgia (who I met a Cirque)...

Me and Laura who came all the way from Sydney to party with me!

Me and Molly (Damien's flatmate who I very much adore)..

Conrad and Mr. Lobster (remember what I said about Passion Pop?)

Yeah...well...this is what I mean...

Me and Nery (my favourite Melbs girl)...

I think I might have it on backwards. Maybe.

So what's next? Well...the plan as of now (things are always changing when you travel so this is just the plan for now. I'm 100% sure that it will change...that's part of the fun!) is as follows...

-Buy a bus pass that will take me from Melbs all the way up to Cairns, valid for 45 days and costs $400

-Leave Melbs in a week or so (my room has been rented as of the 1st of July so I have to be gone by then but might leave a few days earlier). Side note: originally I had planned to sublet my room for a few months and then when I had finished travelling around OZ, come back to Melbs for the last few months of my visa. But after much thought and a few sleepless nights I have decided to let it go. I feel very comfortable here and really enjoy my flatmates so it was a hard decision but I have been in Melbs for 6 months (which is half of my total time here) and if I am having an amazing time on my travels, I don't want to have the obligation of coming back to get my stuff and rent the room.

-I have a month or so to do the East Coast which will include lying on many beaches, hopefully some couchsurfing, sailing for a few days and seeing some beautiful parts of Australia.

-If all goes as planned I will fly from Cairns to Darwin and meet Nery, Lisa and Lisa's boyfriend who will be visiting from Ireland and we will travel down the West Coast in a camper van for the month of August.

-From Perth I think I will fly to Bangkok (it only costs $200 so really, how can I not?) and hopefully meet my friend Lindsay who I met at Cirque (see last post). She is a fellow Canuck and has been to South/East Asia many times.

-When I'm finished there I will travel to New Zealand (which I now have a Working/Holiday makers Visa for) and hopefully miss yet another depressing Canadian winter.

-After NZ it will be time to head home. I miss my friends and my Bro sooooooooooooo much. Even being away for so much longer feels unbearable so I am trying to just take it a day at a time.

So that's the scoop for now. I'll keep you updated on my new adventures and my itinerary as it changes.

Just finished reading: He died with a Felafel in his hand by John Birmingham. Very funny, especially if you have ever lived in a share house and had a weird/bad experience. Apparently there is a movie as well but I haven't seen it yet. What I have seen recently is Twilight. Has the "Twilight" craze already happened in Canada? I reckon it has since everything comes out so much later here. Totally the Buffy for the next generation. I will probably read the books while I'm on the road.

P.S. It's winter here, like officially, and it was 16 degrees today and sunny. Dried my clothes on the line no problem. I'll take this Winter over Canadian Winter any day. Although it still get's quite chilly at night (goes down to between 5 and 10 degrees). This causes some confusion as to what season it is, as you can see...

xoxo

~e