Melbourne Part 2

Round two!

On Saturday I decided it might be nice to try to work out the trams and go to Chapel St which is apparently where the best shopping is. Unfortunately we didn't set out til late cos Will slept in and catching the tram seemed to be more stressful than it needed to be! I had already worked out which tram to catch from where but Will couldn't seem to work it all out. Eventually we got on the tram and it was good to see Melbourne without having to walk! Chapel St was okay but there weren't really any shops that we didn't have in Brisbane. I was a bit disappointed, so far the shopping in Melbourne wasn't any better than at home? I think maybe it used to be but now we have most stores in Brisbane too. Will wasn't very interested and I'm not the best shopper so it actually wasn't that fun at all. Didn't end up buying anything but had a good pasta at an Italian restaurant. Was a bit grumpy with Will cos he just seemed bored and grumpy the whole time. I was sad because I tried to organise nice things for us to do and he couldn't seem to care less! The jewelry store I wanted to go to closed early and we caught the tram back home. Was a bit disappointed with it all but there were some nice old buildings which I took some photos of.

Chapel St

That night we had tickets to see Frank Woodley at the Melbourne Town Hall. It was cool going to the comedy festival when I had seen it on TV so many times! There was a big line but we got great seats that were just on the edge of where the seats started to get higher than the ground. He was hilarious!!! We both spent the whole show laughing! The best bits were when he improvised a bit about juggling penguins and recounted a story of being bullied in school. But it was all fantastic! After the show we went for cocktails at a place called Seamstress. The cocktails were great! And we had some chips and edamame beans which were yummy.

On Sunday we didn't do much, left the house around 1pm and headed out to find lunch. After much wandering around and looking at the line into the new H&M clothing store (ridiculous! why would you wait in line to go look at cheap clothes you could buy anywhere! baffled) we walked over the bridge to Southgate for lunch. I had a really delicious pizza and a homemade lemonade. Will wasn't very happy because there was a street performer dressed up as a gargoyle who was scaring people and doing photos. He didn't think it was a very deserving thing to get money for (I think maybe he was just scared heehee). After that we walked past a market and had a look and then walked down the Yarra River. We headed to Rod Laver Arena which looked weird all empty. Will helped me practice my handstands in the park near there and then we headed home. That night we had tickets to a show called "Ali McGregor's Late-Nite Variety-Nite Night". It didn't start til 9pm so we had Thai for dinner and then headed over to the Spiegeltent which was in Federation Square.

The Yarra River and cityscape

The show was fantastic! Ali McGregor used to be an opera singer with Opera Australia and I know her from when she used to be a guest on Spicks and Specks. The show was comprised of her singing songs (mostly covers and mash-ups) and between that were circus and comedy acts that Ali had picked to be in her show. She was a great host, really warm and charming and her singing was beautiful! The acts were all fantastic and had us laughing and in awe all night. There was a comedian who told us about a tough gig he had in Mt Isa, a man dressed up as an old female cabaret singer who had gone a bit batty (that was hilarious!), a trashy hula hooper, a sword swallower (who disconcertingly looked like your mum, Bec. Except she was wearing a red rubber dress... but apart from that... definitely looked like your mum), and a special surprise when Adam Hills turned up! He is married to Ali McGregor and he had literally flown in from London that morning. It was hilarious watching them together and Adam Hills pretty much improvised 30 minutes of material which included booking two audience members return flights to Sydney for the next day. He finished it up with doing a strip tease with his friend who has throat cancer and who was doing a project to say 'screw you!' to cancer by having as much fun as possible. It was a fantastic show and it was only $20!! I think my favourite thing about Ali McGregor was how sparkly she was - she had sparkly flowers in her hair, big sparkly colourful earrings and a matching necklace, shiny detailing on her dress and gold glittery shoes! Not to mention her gold sparkly nail polish and her rather pretty (and big) engagement/wedding ring! After the show a band called The Gadflys played so we had a drink and stayed around for a bit of their set. Also, I didn't know that the Spiegeltents were that old; Ali said that Marlene Dietrich had performed in the one we were sitting in which is pretty special! I thought they were new tents which were made to look old but apparently most of them are actually old tents!

On Monday we had another lazy day and set off around 3pm to go for a walk to what looked like a park near our hotel. It turned out to be a big park with a path leading to the Royal Exhibition Building. It was a very beautiful old building and apparently used to be a "Palace of Industry" which was where all the inventors of the day, in around 1880, came to show the new technologies. According to the sign that included things like electricity and sewing machines. I thought it was interesting and a very beautiful building! We also ended up at the Museum and there were lots of people skateboarding around in the courtyard. We spotted some bicycles they hire out at bike stations across the city and walked to find some with helmets. We ended up at Lygon St and bought a helmet from a 7-11 (If you return them when you're done you get back $3 from the $5 you paid). We both got a bike (pretty good deal - $2.80 to sign up and then $2 for every hour, first 30mins free). We rode around the city and headed back to the Queen Victoria Markets. It was a very different scene from when we'd been there a few days ago. Everything was packed up and empty and we rode around the car park for a bit. It was lots of fun! We headed back to Lygon St, returned the helmet and went to find somewhere for dinner.

Royal Exhibition Building

Somehow we got bundled up in this Italian restaurant (which was what we were looking for anyway). And it was hilarious! There was the guy out the front who was aggressively selling the restaurant to passersby offering them a look at the menu and seeming offended when they declined. Then there was the man who looked like the owner who had such a strong Italian accent we couldn't understand him. Then there was the older man who looked like someone's Italian grandfather grumbling to himself in the corner over a massive plate of pasta. They all had some kind of family argument and the owner grumbled to us about the grandfather and then suddenly they were all friends again! Then someone else (an uncle??) turned up and him and the owner stood in the bushes and talked in Italian and smoked for a bit, looking shady. Then I asked if there was a toilet and the owner said "Yes yes! Follow me, come on!" And then said to me "Don't worry, you can trust me, I'm not a crook". Pretty sure he was a crook haha. It was an experience and a half but the best thing was that the doorman's claims of fresh pasta turned out to be true - yum!

Lygon Street Pasta

I even made it home for My Kitchen Rules!! Sad it was my last night in Melbourne and my last night with Will. I packed up my bag and set the alarm for 615am.

Waking up in the dark is never fun! We had to leave the hotel by 645 so we all piled into a maxi taxi as the weather blew a gail with wind. The sun still hadn't come up yet and I think we were all a bit sad to say goodbye to Melbourne. Said goodbye to Will at the airport and he went to catch his flight and I, mine. Next time I see him I will be home! So that is good.

Our flight was fairly enjoyable, about 4.5hrs and I watched The Hunger Games and The Book Thief. I fell asleep in The Book Thief which was okay but I missed the very end of it which was frustrating (I literally had about 5mins left!). WA looked a lot different to the Melbourne we had just left. Everything here is all red and it's quite dry and hot. We picked up the hire cars and headed out of Perth and set off to Merredin about 3.5hrs away. Finally after about 8 hours of travelling we arrived at the Cummins Theatre in Merredin. All hands on deck for bump in as the theatre only had two volunteers to help us set up (most theatres have a team of 5 or 6 paid theatre technicians). Finished most of it around 6pm (which was 8pm Victorian time!). So after a 14 hour day it was time to get dinner! We went to the local Chinese restaurant which was quite good (except for the piece of lint which was attached to the rice when it came out... we're not in Melbourne anymore Toto!).

Home to our apartments which were like little cabins and reminded me of when you go up a mountain or into the bush. Smelt like campfire and it was quite nice. Not that keen to be back on the road to be honest, back to changing hotel rooms and long drives and small town food.

Today we had one show with an audience of about 100. It was a very small quiet audience and weren't very responsive but the show went well. Afterwards I felt much happier about being on tour! Oh good, there is a point to what we're doing! Body is feeling a bit stiff and sore after a few days off though! After the show time to bump out and then off for another 3.5 hour drive to Kalgoorlie. We arrived and we are staying in the Rydges! Fancy! Neridah and I went to dinner at Paddy's Irish Pub which was quite delicious and good value for money. Kalgoorlie is a bit weird. It's a mining town and on one hand seems nice with families but on the other hand seems a bit dodgy and sleazy. The pub beside the one we went to had a big chalkboard sign outside that read "Skimpies For This Week: Alyce, Jazz, Sarah". To provide some background information apparently a skimpie is "Australian Slang: A female bartender who takes her clothes off if she collects enough in tips. Common in the city of Kalgoorlie". So there you go!

What I've seen of WA so far

Well that's all from me, two shows tomorrow, ANZAC Day in Kalgoorlie then off to Esperance which is apparently beautiful and near the water. Will be good to see the water, it feels so dry here!

Lots of love!
Steph x

Week 9? Is it? Melbourne Part 1

I've lost track of my counting system... it definitely doesn't feel like nine weeks since we started this tour!

I'm currently in Rydges in Kalgoorlie and it's very nice accommodation. We made it to WA! A lot has happened since I last wrote... phew!! I'll try to remember some of it.

So on Saturday 12th we drove to Melbourne, woohoo! We got to stay for ten days and had our own little apartments... luxury!! The first theatre was in Darebin which was a little bit out of the city and was a bit industrial/dodgy looking. Because Neridah and Cam had gone back to Brisbane I had to come with the other guys to bump in the set (otherwise I couldn't get there to do the lighting plot because there was no one to drive me!). I helped out a little bit by restringing some lanterns but mostly just lay on the ground in the theatre and waited til they were ready to plot. After we finished getting the set all ready we picked up Dave (who directed Iphigenia) who lives in Melbourne and headed back to our hotel. After getting dressed and ready we all met up and went to a Korean restaurant for dinner. One of Tim's friends, Pearl, met up with us too - she was in Melbourne working on the comedy festival. It was my second time having Korean (first time was in Queanbeyan) and it was still an unusual taste!! We were the only non-Korean people in there so I assume it was a good place. We ordered way too much and still had some food leftover. After dinner Fi, Thom, Dave, Tim and I went back to one of the hotel rooms and danced all night! That was a lot of fun and we all stayed up til about 4am - oops!

The next morning I woke up (feeling better than I expected!!) and went for a look around Melbourne. I went to a vintage clothing store which was supposed to be good but I have decided I'm not a very good vintage shopper. I get too overwhelmed with the amount of stuff and am not very good at going through all the clothes to find something good. I think maybe it's a bit better when you go with friends too. After that I walked across the road to City Square where there was a free show on called "The (Very) Big Laugh Out" for the Comedy Festival. I only caught the end which was a guy doing yo-yo tricks. He was amazing! And pretty funny too. Looked around a bit more and had some Korean leftovers for dinner. Time for bed!!

The next day we had two performances at Darebin. I can't remember much but I think they were quite small audiences. Bump out and off to the next theatre. Neridah and I went for a walk to find a supermarket and she showed me around some of the arcades in Melbourne. We stopped off at a places called Hopetoun Tea Room which was an amazing cake and tea cafe. There was a line out the front (I quickly learnt that the very best food places in Melbourne had lines out the front). I had a blueberry and apple crumble and Neridah had a raspberry and apple crumble. We shared a pot of Earl Gray. It was so yummy! After that we went and found a Woolworths and that was packed too!! The line for the checkouts extended all the way into the fruit and vegetable section! Glad to get out of there! Grabbed some rice paper rolls on the way home for dinner.

A selection of cakes at the tea house

The next day I took myself shopping. I decided to go to the sportswear stores while I was by myself as I thought Will wouldn't be very interested in that. I walked across the river to the Bloch dancewear shop because I wanted to buy some new legwarmers (not very practical at all really!). It was nice over the other side of the river. Kind of like Southbank mixed with the Emporium in a way. Inside the shop I looked at everything! I think I just want to wear dancewear all the time (not much has changed since I was little!). I wanted to buy everything but just ended up buying some black legwarmers to replace some old ones with a hole and some snazzy thigh high stripy ones. I wanted to buy some of the pretty ballet skirts which had flowers and patterns on them but I resisted (because where will I wear them??). Then I walked back to the city and found a Lorna Jane store. Spent ages in there too and ended up buying some pink sports shorts (again impractical) and a stripy running top. Grabbed some sushi for lunch (it was icky). We did the lighting plot at the next theatre at Gasworks. It was a very small intimate theatre, only seating about 100 people. And headed home. Thai green papaya salad for dinner on Tuesday night (I don't think it was as good as the one we made at Noosa, Luisa, but it was still pretty good).

The next day we had three performances at Gasworks Theatre which was near St Kilda. It was a short drive to the water which kind of reminded me of Sandgate or Shorncliffe. Except there was Luna Park and lots of yummy cake stalls lining the streets. It had a cool feel, I would have liked to go back another time. The shows were good, nice and intimate and the audience seemed excited to be there. One girl came up to me when I was talking to some others about how funny the Dad character in the show was and told me that her dad had passed away six months ago. I think she was trying to deal with it, she told me all the details of what had happened. It kind of explained why she had been acting a bit weirdly (poking us and running behind the set). She said he was up in heaven and I said that that was okay and I had some friends there too and maybe they were watching us listening to the Tashi stories. I felt happy that she got to come and see some nice stories and reminded me that what we are doing is important and you never know who's in the audience.

In between the shows the venue provided lunch with all these yummy sandwiches and cakes!! There was a park beside the venue so we all sat out there and watched all the kids playing, climbing trees and people walking their dogs. We saw a really gorgeous black border collie and an enormous white fluffy one who came over to say hello and eye off our food. It was also amusing watching a boy who was trying to devise plans to climb the most difficult trees, walking around them and pondering on the best strategy. Everyone seemed really happy. The buildings were cool too, all brick and wood. I liked the symbol of Gasworks which was also in a big statue of a boy sailing in a boat with his dog.

But the best thing about Wednesday was that Will was arriving! He turned up around 630. We were waiting for the others to go to dinner but they got delayed so we decided to go ourselves. Everyone said the best place for Mexican was a place called Mamasitas. We walked over (about 10 minutes away) and surprise there was a line! We took a seat at the bar though and ordered some drinks and food. I think the food was good but was a bit small for the price! Same with the drinks - but I had the best Mojito I've ever had! Later Lucas and Neridah (Lucas is Neridah's wife) and Thom and Fi turned up separately so we all sat together and had a chat. Time to go home!

The next day I made pancakes for breakfast and we went for a wander around Melbourne. We walked to the Queen Victoria Markets which apparently are good. But it mostly looked like cheap Asian clothes and trinkets and Australia merchandise which was a shame as I was expecting some good and interesting wares. Afterwards Will said he wanted to go to a typical Melbourne coffee place which I assumed meant in an alley. Found a place and sat for a while. For dinner we went to a place called Rare Steakhouse (because I like steak now!). It was awesome! Of course it was expensive but the food was great and the service was really good too. I would definitely go back!

On Friday we decided to go to the movies. Of course everyone else decided that too but I was prepared for that. But Will didn't seem too keen on it. Oh well what else are you gonna do on Good Friday!! We ended up going to the Lego Movie which was totally full and when we got to our seats someone else was already in them! We sat in seats near them but then the people who owned the seats we were sitting in came and told us to go tell off the people in our seats! So that was all a bit uncomfortable. The people in our seats left though (actually left the movie theatre...) and at least it wasn't as bad as the people who had to have a talking to from the usher about how "These are someone else's seats, you need to leave". Eek! But I thought the movie was pretty good and funny especially considering it was the Lego movie...

For dinner we went to a place called Shanghai Village which was a Chinese dumpling place. Surprise there was a line! But it moved quickly and we were given a number on a piece of paper and told to go upstairs. It's weird, lots of restaurants in Melbourne have an upstairs section which we weren't used to. Our seats were part of a longer table and Will rightly said it felt like eating in a school camp mess hall. It was good fun though and the food was fast and very tasty! We ordered a bit too much though!! Oh well, leftovers! It was complete with apathetic Chinese waitresses and very noisy. I had a good time!

I broke this post into two bits cos it was too long so there is another one coming!

So many dogs in London

Seriously, Steph, you would love the amount of dogs around the place! Every time I go out, I pass people walking with their dogs. And there are so many different breeds too! So many of the dogs look like they're smiling, it always leaves me with a smile on my face :) London dogs just love life!

Also, Steph, the other night we were in a pub doing trivia, and Nick was like, Noel Fielding just walked in. And I was like WHERE. And then I looked over and it wasn't Noel Fielding, which was disappointing. So this is almost a cool story :P But our new flatmate told us that she had dinner down the road the other night and Keria Knightley was at the table next to her, which is so cool.

Last weekend Nick and I spent a long weekend in Brighton. Coincidentally, Claire Bowman was spending a night there too, which was awesome! The beach was nice, but weird because it doesn't have sand, only pebbles. People weren't even taking their shoes off to walk on the beach! It was so weird and Nick and I were beach snobs haha! We have the best beaches in Australia, we're so spoilt there!

Brighton is really cool. It's sort of like a big Byron Bay. Lots of cool places to eat, and interesting little shops in groupings of tiny alleyways. Nick and I found an amazing shop that had military paraphernalia from the 1600s onwards, like swords, pistols, uniforms... It was seriously our dream shop! There are also some great flea markets and I found an antique shop like the Paddington Antique Centre - packed full of all sorts of bits and bobs. The antiques in the UK are incredible - stuff that's rare in Australia, like the old cameras I collect, is so easy to come by here. Needless to say, we'll be going back to Brighton, maybe when the weather gets warmer! If you guys visit the UK, I'd strongly recommend taking a day trip or spending a weekend there - it's only an hour away from London on the train.

Nick and I moved in to our new flat yesterday, which I am so so so happy about! I finally feel properly settled in. We had to stay in a hostel for a week and it wasn't that nice. I didn't enjoy using the communal bathrooms. Usually I'm totally fine with sharing bathrooms, but these ones didn't feel super clean. Also, I only had the clothes that I had packed for Brighton because I thought we'd have our big suitcases, but we had to climb six flights of steep stairs to get to our room - there was no lift - so it would have been impossible to lug them up there. We picked up our bags from Claire's place yesterday, where we'd stored them while we were in Brighton, and I was so happy to discover clothes and make-up I'd forgotten I had! It feels amazing to be able to unpack things and start setting up my home.

The area where we live is like Paddington in Brisbane. I can walk 50 metres from my front door to a tiny cocktail bar and cute cafes. 100m away is a big pub with a massive outdoors area, which is very rare in London - I'm excited to use that space in the summer. I have a feeling that pub might become a sort of living room for us, since we don't have a living room at our flat. We live close to a large roundabout and each street that sprouts off it has a different sort of character. There are awesome shops and places to eat along each of them. Nick and I went for a big explore of our area the other day and walked for hours. We can pretty much just walk to wherever we need to go now. It is such a releif to be out of Paddington and Bayswater where we've been since we arrived - They are hotel districts and packed full of tourists, so it's so great to be in the 'suburbs' now and to feel like actual Londoners and not in transit anymore.

I'm really keen to skype call you guys, so I might try giving you a call sometime this week one evening (Australia time).

And now I shall leave you with some photos of beautiful Brighton!

Much love xxx

Brighton Pier

In a pub right on the beach, called The Fortune of War

Hi from Hamilton! Week 7

Hello! Haha I'm seemingly writing my posts illiterating the name of the town with the greeting of the post which is kind of pleasing and annoying at the same time so bear with me!

I'm in Hamilton at the moment which is in The Grampians in Victoria. I love that word, "Grampians" it sounds like what it is (big mountains and rocks) but like a human version of them, like big stone grandparents.

Monday we had two shows in Griffith at the Griffith Regional Theatre. Still feeling a little bit under the weather, throat getting sore and a bit headachy. Again I can't remember the shows much, they are all starting to blur into one unfortunately! But I do remember I had the best deli sandwich from the Italian deli down the road for lunch. It looked like it was on a whole loaf of bread and it had salami and ham with antipasto and sundried tomatoes. The bread was so delicious and crispy too but still soft! After we bumped out, Thom, Neridah and I went to try a gelato place which was amazing! I had a passionfruit gelato which was very creamy.

I went back to my room and thought I would do some exercise in the hotel gym. It was the weirdest gym I've ever seen! It was underneath the hotel and there were no windows in this white room with a low ceiling. All the workout equipment was mismatched and there were no mats or anything to do exercises on. It was very claustrophobic and I just went for a quick run and got out of there! I felt like I was going to get trapped down there. The pool was also weird, just an aboveground pool in another concrete room - not very relaxing. The hotel was weird altogether with the receptionist and her cat keeping watch over the place. I  had my microwave soup for dinner which actually wasn't too bad!

This is the gym. It was weirder than it looks.

 The next day was a travel day to Mildura. We stopped off at a place called Balranald along the way and I had a great fresh chicken sandwich from the Balranald bakery and a small cupcake. I was pleased to find a yummy lunch instead of a sausage roll from the servo. After about 5 hours drive we arrived in Mildura. It was exciting because the beds at this hotel were actually firm! It was nice as well because the rooms opened out into a little courtyard between the buildings and there was a place to sit under cover with chairs and tables.

After completing bump in we went for dinner at a Malaysian place which was very good but unfortunately they had run out of the prawn omlette I wanted and I had stir fry veggies. It was alright but I really wanted that omlette! Back home for bed.

The next morning we had two shows and I felt like the spring was back in my step! Perhaps it was the firm bed or the way the weather was getting a bit colder. The Mildura Arts Centre was a very nice venue, modern and welcoming. Unfortunately in our first show there was a small child who had a massive tantrum and right at the crucial bit of the story! Oh well that's what happens when you do a children's show! I didn't mind so much. The second show went better but unfortunately Cam hurt his back during it. Time for him to lie down and see the physio! Neridah took Cam home and the rest of us bumped out. That afternoon I decided to go for a run and went for 16 minutes down the long street we were on. It started to rain just at the end of the run which was nice. I then did some exercises back in the hotel courtyard. It was nice to get moving (other than doing the show!). Even though the show is tiring it's not the same as doing exercise! Felt good, had a shower and ate my microwave pasta. Cam was the only one with a microwave so we all used his. Off to Hamilton the next day!

Yesterday we arrived in Hamilton after another 4hr drive. This time seemed better, the road was more interesting so we all got less sleepy! We had to drive in convoy because Cam couldn't drive with his back. The drive was alright at the start with a rainy gloomy day but the best bit was driving past The Grampians at the end. Because of the weather they were all lit up kind of blue and you could see the outline of them really well. It was really hard to capture with my phone camera but it was very beautiful to look at especially on a misty day. Neridah told us how once she had done a performance out in a shed in a field around there for a festival and it didn't start til midnight. Sounded like a bit of an experience!

The Grampians through the clouds.

After lunch in town (Subway - oh well), we checked into our accommodation. It kind of looks like a posh old people's home. At least I thought the old people's home bit until I worked out I was in the access room and was the only one with nonslip mats and chairs in my shower. Kind of feels like I'm living in grandma's house, it is all dark as well with dark pink curtains and dark brick walls. We went grocery shopping and I got some cooked and suctioned packed salmon, pasta and tabouli salad as well as some lunch and snacks. I thought we had to do a lighting plot but we didn't so I went for another run! This time I ran all the way to Lake Hamilton which was quite beautiful. The weather is getting a bit nippy here which is nice. I ran back and ended up doing 4km!

Lake Hamilton

Chatted to Will on the phone for a bit while I heated up my dinner (in the guest laundry... microwave located here for your convenience apparently). It was awesome though because the lady at reception gave me a knife and fork AND a plate!! Luxury! Dinner turned out well, I made a kind of salmon pasta salad and had a coke from the minibar and some mint dark chocolate for dessert! Same thing on the menu tonight.

My microwave dinner

We only had one show this morning and it was at the Hamilton Performing Arts Centre. The theatre was beautiful. It was an old town hall that had been made into a theatre (tiered seating back added, stage lowered to ground). The stage was framed by a decorated proscenium arch so it looked like the set was sitting inside a little frame. The audience was quite small and quiet but very friendly. I think the show went alright and Cam's back seemed to hold out.

After bump out Neridah, Cam and I went for lunch at a cafe. I already had lunch but got a brownie and a coffee. Was a nice cafe inside what looked like an old house. I wanted to go upstairs to see what was up there. We are all being a bit split up this week, Neridah is catching a bus to Melbourne this afternoon to catch a flight for her friend's wedding tomorrow. And Cam is catching a flight from Melbourne tomorrow as well to go and see Macbeth at QTC (Queensland Theatre Company). So there's just 4 of us til Sunday night when the others get back.

Tomorrow we head to Melbourne! I'm so excited because we get to stay there for ten days! I'm going to unpack my clothes and maybe even buy some flowers! More than that, it's only five sleeps til Will comes to visit! After that there's only one month left til I'm home!

Hope to hear from you all soon,
Steph x

End of Week 6 - G'day from Griffith!

Hello everyone! I'm writing to you from my motel room in Griffith at The Grand Motel (sounds fancy - it is all white and really tall doors but no windows in the rooms, just a weird open skylight above the bed). This week we have been to a few places and it feels like it both sped by and took forever!

On Monday morning I woke up with Will around 430am and sent him off to the train station for the long trip back to Brisbane. It was still dark when we got up and I said goodbye to him at reception. It was good to see him but very sad to see him go. Without seeing him I didn't realise how much I missed him! But the best news is that in a week and a bit from now he's back with me in Melbourne for Easter! I went back to bed (after making sure he got on the bus safely) and woke up around 830 ready to pack up and head to Sale.

We got on the road after checking out and began the 285km drive to Sale. We stopped off for lunch on the way in a small down called Traralgon. I got a pesto fettuccine from a cafe and kept some for later. We arrived in Sale and checked into the accommodation. It was a motel which had been kind of renovated, the whole inside was done up like new but the bathroom was still old looking and the sink was in the main room not in the bathroom! Neridah and I took a drive down to the lake and had a walk around it. It was quite nice in the afternoon to be by the water and I saw some black swans! We headed back to the hotel and got ready to go do the lighting plot. All went well and we headed to a 'gastro-pub' (like a fancy pub) for dinner. I got another steak (not as good as the one in Wagga but still good) and a mango cider (yummy!). Headed back home for bed.

We had two shows in Sale and then bumped out. I can't really remember much of the shows because this week has just sped by. But they all enjoyed it! We bumped out and I had dinner from my microwave, a sneaky rum and coke from the minibar and watched My Kitchen Rules. Feeling a bit lonely this week.

Wednesday we woke up and checked out of Sale and got ready to make the 376km drive to Albury. We were heading back to NSW, which didn't quite make sense after we caught a plane to Melbourne from Canberra, right beside Queanbeyan... in NSW. We were all looking forward to it as we got to drive through the Snowy Mountains. We passed a few stretches of road with interesting names like 'Hell's Gate' and 'The Devil's Backbone' (that one was my favourite). We stopped at a cute town called Omeo.

We were hoping that there would be some nice lookouts along the way but we didn't spot any - and after so much driving we just wanted to get to Albury! We finally arrived. It was a fairly large town which was nice. It was quite pretty. We went and got dinner at a Thai restaurant which was very quick and quite yummy. I think we were all feeling a bit the same way - the initial excitement of touring had kind of worn off and we were all a bit used to/sick of checking into hotel rooms and having to go to Woolworths. The things I think I miss the most are home cooked meals, my own bed, having my friends and family to talk to/spend time with and taking nighttime drives with Will. I have to make sure I appreciate those things when I get home. I also am really sick of living in buildings with lots of people around!

The people next door to me the first night in Albury were making a lot of noise! Our rooms were divided by a locked door (could be opened and turned into a bigger apartment). First of all they had a loud movie on with lots of electronic music and people yelling. I kept thinking it was people outside and jumping out of bed to look out the window! Finally they turned the movie off around midnight and I thought it was finally time to go to sleep... but no! They were getting a bit um... intimate and she felt the need to scream and carry on!! Gosh! I didn't like them much after that. And even less at 7am when he decided to take a business call on the balcony right beside my window! Woke up to a rainy day and headed to the theatre for our only performance in Albury. It was a bit of a weird show, a small audience in a big theatre, the sound was too quiet for the first half of the show and we couldn't hear it, everything was a bit out of whack but I think we did well considering.

Even though the audience was small they appreciated it. There were three girls who said "We didn't even know where we were going, Grandma surprised us!" and as I was signing their tickets one said "This is so awesome!". There was also a very forceful little girl who made us all sign her bag and demanded photos. Very short season in Albury, we packed up the set and headed off.

After the shows I went for a walk to see the Murray River. It was very beautiful in the afternoon sun as the rain cleared and there were lots of people with their dogs and kids. Very peaceful. I was feeling a bit tired/slight sore throat. I made tandoori chicken for dinner (bad idea... the whole room smelt like that for the rest of my stay) and watched Pretty in Pink which I enjoyed.

Another early wake up at 7am due to the laundry truck arriving outside my window. I went and got a coffee and we all met up to head to Beechworth for the day. Apparently there was a brewery and pizza place and lots of giftshops kind of like Montville. It was a bit weird, Cam and Neridah knew Nick Backstrom (who is Will's dad's cousin and also an actor) and he came with us for the day.

We took a nice scenic drive to Beechworth and went to the brewery. We all shared a ten beer tasting plate between two people. Some of the beers were very nice but some were gross! Then I had a cider. It seems perhaps there was more alcohol in the drinks than there seemed (or maybe it was my oncoming flu/cold/whatever) and I really just wanted to have a sleep then. But we had a look at the honey place (there were real bees!) and there were all different types of honey, creamy and flavoured with different things. We also went to a massive lolly shop and had icecream. I had a mango and tutti frutti gelati. An Irish Wolfhound walked past and it was massive! We also went to see a courthouse where Ned Kelly had been tried but it was closed and under construction. We headed back to the car to head home. On the way home I saw a massive dog with black and white splodges on it - I thought it was a horse at first!

When we got home I started to feel a bit sick/tired. Spent the rest of the night, queasy and feeling like I needed to be sick (which I eventually was) and watched Happy Feet. I don't know what's going on but I still feel under the weather.

Woke up feeling slightly better but still not fabulous on Saturday morning and we began our drive to Griffith. Was a 298km drive, not close but a lot closer than our recent drives. We stopped off at a small place called Narrandera and got lunch at a servo. Neridah wanted to take a picture of this really creepy house across the road and we ended up getting our car bogged right outside it! Fortunately some people stopped and helped us get our car free. Muddy shoes for everyone!

Eventually we arrived in Griffith and checked into our hotel. We took a walk down to the theatre for the lighting plot. Stomach still queasy. Stopped off an an Italian restaurant for dinner. There is a big Italian influence here because a lot of Italians settled here after a new irrigation system was set up I think in the 1920s. The city was also designed by Walter Burley Griffin who also designed Canberra so there are a lot of roundabouts here.

Up again this morning and I headed off to the Rotary Markets. It was a very small market with stalls with local produce. The land here is very green and looks good for growing. Not much use for us as we only have access to microwaves but I bought some peaches. I had a look at an exhibition at the Griffith Art Gallery by an artist called Kim Gibbs who makes animals out of old metals.

I headed for lunch/coffee at a popular place called The Roastery and they had really good coffee and I got lemon pancakes for lunch! I couldn't finish them all though - tummy playing up again! Met up with Neridah and we took a trip to a local winery which sells a wine she likes - Westend Estate 3 Bridges Durif. We then visited a place called Hermit's Cave Lookout. Between 1929 and 1952 an Italian migrant named Valerio Ricetti made his home here, growing his own crops and using the natural rock formations to create his bedroom, a kitchen and even a space he used as a chapel. Reminded me of something my Poppy would do, but I think he would get too lonely. Here is a picture of it all set up when he lived there.

And here is a photo of how some of it looks now.

Went to Woolworths and bought two soups, panadol, cough lollies and betadine gargle. Hopefully that kills whatever this sore throat/nauseous thing is! Two shows in Griffith tomorrow before we head back to Victoria for two shows in Mildura.

Talk soon!
Steph

Holidays!

Just an FYI for you all...

I'm now officially on holidays for 2 weeks!! YAY!!!!

Though I've a tonne of marking to do - which hopefully will be done tonight or Monday. But I'm on holidays!

I'm off to a high tea tomorrow for a Miss Showgirl contestant, they're basically just raising money for her or something, not really sure. Then Church on Sunday and on Monday I'm going to sleep in and have a movie and marking day with Jess. So this weekend is looking pretty nice. I'm heading to airport on Tuesday and will be in Brisbane from then on, getting haircuts and chiropractic care! :)

I've had two little visitors in my classroom this week in the form of green frogs. I've no idea why they feel the need to jump in my room, never Jess's or anyone elses... Anyway, the children get rid of them for me!

Today, the Easter Bunny came to Year 2, he came in through the night and left footprints on the carpet and a note on the board (along with the Easter eggs in their baskets!). I locked the door this morning so no one could go in and they were beside themselves with excitement! One almost wet himself he was so excited that the Easter Bunny had been! It's times like these that they can be really cute! Also, another story from school, I was on playground duty yesterday and I walked over to this big tree we have in the middle of our oval. I thought that one of my kids had fallen because I could hear two others asking him whether he could walk (so naturally I walked as slow as possible towards the situation!). I get there and ask if he's alright and he turns and he is laughing! I ask what they're playing and one of the other boys (3 of them all together) said they were playing '2 dads and a baby!' How precious and cute is that? And also four of my other boys were catching butterflies! Then I had 3 boys digging to treasure they had 'found' under an x in the dirt! They were very cute yesterday apparently!

Anyway, I think that's all I've got to say... I'M ON HOLIDAYS!!!

Lot's of love and hugs!
Erin xxx

London has Boost Juice!

Yeah, you read that correctly! No, they don't have any of my favourite flavours, but the special pink lemonade flavoured smoothies for spring was amazing. Hot diggety! I need to get me a loyalty card!

Thank you for your lovely words on my last post gals, it really means so much to me what you said. Things are starting to look up. We've been so super busy getting things settled though - I haven't even had time to write in my own journal! But just know that even if I don't always leave a comment straight away, I've been reading all your blog posts and I love hearing about what you're up to :)

Speaking of journals, I'm keeping one while I'm here. I have a copy of the journal my grandma Newman kept when she was here in 1961, so I thought it would be lovely for my grandchildren to read about my adventures too one day.

Okay, back to what I've been up to! Last week I started getting back in to a regular exercise routine, so I've been going for a run in Kensington Gardens roughly every second morning. Fortunately it's been warming up a lot here this week - by which I mean it isn't under 10 degrees - so I actually work up a sweat now lol :P If I get up early enough, it's still kinda misty in the park when I'm running through it, which is cool. This morning I tried a different route and ran along the edge of the Serpentine, which is a lake in the middle of the park. I ran along the path to the left in this picture (which was obviously taken in summer - it was a lot mistier when I was there this morning).

Speaking of the weather, it was really cold when we got here but now it's around 16-18 degrees max each day, which is lovely. It was sunny on Saturday so Claire Bowman (Steph, remember Claire from nerd camp?) and I went to Portobello Road markets.

At the moment, my full time occupation is looking for a flat. That's what's been taking up so much of my time. The past few days, I've been viewing 2 to 3 rooms per day. We had one amazing place fall through, and now we've got our fingers crossed for a different one. It doesn't have a lounge room, but the room is big by London standards and it's in an awesome area and I get on well with the current flatmate. On a side note, only one of the places I've looked at has had a living room. Just to paint a picture of the London flat market!

I'm slowly meeting Nick's friends, including two Aussies, three Brits, one Norwegian and one German. And I'm meeting Nick's South African friend this weekend. Seriously, I thought Australia was multicultural - I walk down my street to the train station and there'll be like three different languages spoken by the people I walk past.

Today I knocked off a lot of errands, so I'm hoping to be able to do a spot of sightseeing tomorrow afternoon and bust my camera out :)

xxx