Published at November 11, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Time for another update!

Since the last update, there’s been Diwali, New Year, fireworks and kind of getting a life!

Firstly, Diwali and New Year… On Diwali, it’s kind of become tradition over the last few years to go to the Neasdon temple to eat dinner there and watch the fireworks. Usually there are close to 500 million people there! But this year, the weather was… horrendous, to say the least, so there weren’t half as many as expected. We had a trouble free journey there, when usually it’s hell. We did have to walk in the pouring rain to actually get to the temple. We had parked, cleverly, 20 minutes aways.

We ate lots of cheap and delicious food and surprisingly didn’t have to queue hours to get it. The food tent quickly filled up in the next hour or so and became the most disorganised tent of all time. There were just people everywhere. My pet hate is stupid people. And these stupid people thought it was clever to just stand in front of an entrance of a queue. And then not move out the way when someone wanted to get into the queue. There was lots of pushing and shoving, let me tell you!

By the time it was time for fireworks - 9pm - the weather got from bad to worse. It started snowing. But like a blizzard. The crowds of people were just waiting in the tent for the fireworks, which turned out to be 30 minutes late. We caught half of them on the way back to the car, because it was too cold, snowy and wet to stand around! After a brilliant comedic moment of my Dad stepping into the largest puddle I have ever seen (after complaining most of the night his feet were freezing, too), we eventually got back to the car! I had about an inch of snow on top of my hat by the time we got to the car. It was brilliant! When we got home, our road was beautiful! It’s the first time it’s snowed in October since something like 1935, by the way. (Bloody global warming!)

The next day, New Year, dinner was at our house. The standard big family get together. It was fun.

So the next ‘big event’ brings me onto last week… I went out on Friday night for first time in ages, which was nice. I felt old, though. The place we went to was full of 18-20 year olds! It was fine 5 years ago when we first started going there, but I can’t help but think that it’s time to move on…!

On Saturday, there was the annual fireworks display at Alexandra Palace. As always, brilliant fireworks! It was a very eventful night. I went with Laura and Jon and Jon’s friend, Ben. On the way to meet them, I bought some cool flouro glowing headbands because it reminds me of when we were kids and used to go there! They mocked me, but they loved it, really. The bier festival, which was going on before and after the fireworks was brilliant! It was in this HUGE random hall, with a DJ. It kind of looked/felt like an illegal warehouse rave (not that I have ever been to one, just what I imagine them to be like!)… no decorations, thousands of people, big hall. The four of us, each had a traumatic hour of either being in a queue, not being able to get back in the hall, being alone fighting off people trying to take the space and queuing some more. There was also a devastating moment for Laura, involving hungar and having a hot dog taken away from her. Once thing period was over, on came the cheesy Queen tribute band and out came the hundreds of staff trying to get everyone to get off the tables and chairs! Everyone was drinking beer, dancing on tables/chairs and just generally having a ball. Crowd control was very bad! It was fun though! Very very funny night!

Another important event to mention was trying to light our sparklers. This took about half an hour! The lighter I had bought was ‘interestingly designed’, as Ben put it! He claims to have missed most of the fireworks because he was trying to light our sparklers, but really, the reason we missed them was because Jon made us stand in front of a tree! :-) We did see them, really - just the ‘fountain’ type ones, our view was obstructed by the tree.

Photos below from the fireworks!

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One last thing I wanted to mention - the QE2 docked at Southampton the other night. The reason I wanted to mention this was because I was in Sydney and saw it when it was travelling around the world, and now it’s finally back in the UK! I saw it MONTHS ago… I’m pretty sure it was about 6 months ago or so ago.

Nish is back… with photos to follow

Published at October 12, 2008 in Uncategorized. 6 Comments

It’s been a while! But now that stuff has happened, that is relatively news worthy, I thought it’d be nice to document.

Firstly, last weekend, Maartje and Wil visited me in London. Maartje is from Amsterdam and Wil, from Brighton. Wil’s moving to NZ next week FOREVER so it was nice to see him! And the lovely Maartje flew especially to see me :-)

We had a day around a few pubs on Saturday just generally catching up. And on Sunday we went to Tate Modern and the Museum of London. Considering that I’m not a massive fan of preteniou, arty, ‘what does it mean to you’, wanky modern art, I did enjoy myself. There are some interesting things to see there, no doubt. And the weather was appauling, so apart from galleries/museums, not a lot to do!

Museum of London was great! It has a massive exhibition on the Great Fire of London, which I found SO interesting. In fact, so much so that when I got home I found myself googling about it. It’s amazing to think the fire happened over 300 years ago and the extent of the damage was unreal. For such an awesome disaster, only ten deaths were recorded. Peoplt believe that the actual amount of deaths was not high, but no-one will ever know for sure, because in those days, no-one reported people dead. And also, anyone who did die wouldn’t have been found as the fire would’ve burned their body away. It took 3/4 days to put the fire out. And, it started in the City area (Pudding Lane) and reached just before, what is now the West End (so, around Oxford St). A long way…

London around that time was a horrible place to live. The year before the fire, was the plague. And after the fire many areas were ridden by theives.  All very interesting.

So… I also found out a few days before Wil and Maartje visited that I have a job :-)

The day I found out was pretty crazy!

I went to visit Dawn and Himat as they had got back from their honeymoon. Dawn cooked dinner, which I was scared about, but it actually was very lovely.

So, I started my job on Wednesday, so it’s only been 3 days. I don’t have anything more to say on this yet, as it’s early days.

Friday 10th was my birthday. We went out for dinner to a nice greek restaurant. Lots of food. Very fun.

Saturday was gharba - the dance festival that happens pre-Diwali. (Neen, you would love it! In fact, I got pictures, especially for you!)  I don’t usually like the community stuff that goes on, ‘cos I find it boring. But, that night, I actually had a really good night! The dancing was fun. We didn’t get home until gone midnight (armed with midnight chips from the local chip shop!) which is unusual for something like that! HA.

Today, I painted my room. I hated the pink in there and it was time for a revamp. I had carpet fitted in there this weekend, too. I went for a teal colour, with two of the walls white so the room looks a bit bigger!

Work tomorrow, which sounds weird to say, after so long!

I will upload some pictures soon!

I’m still unemployed..

Published at September 18, 2008 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

.. but I do have more pictures from Dawn and Matty’s wedding..

KISS!

The Makani/Smith Wedding

Published at September 14, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Yesterday was my Dawno’s wedding!

I said I wouldn’t call her Dawno once’s she’s married, but I can’t help it! :-)

The weather was beautiful, considering it had been raining all week before.

The wedding kicked off at 3.30pm, but I went over to Dawn’s before we went to the hotel ‘cos I wanted to see her! She looked STUNNING! My Dawno, all grown up!

Clair, her sister, the bridesmaid, also looked beautiful.

I picked up Ellie and Lauren and co, and we all headed down to the hotel and took our seats in the room.

Dawn walked down the aisle to ‘From this Moment’, by Shania Twain, which was a perfect song.

After the ceremony, as you can imagine, the drinking began! We had a lovely dinner and the ‘best men’ speaches (by Himat’s two brothers) were absolutely hilarious!

As the evening went on, there was more wine, more dancing, more chatting. It was just a fantastic day and night!

I met loads of people who I hadn’t before, having been away for the last year.

I don’t have that many good photos, because a) the rooms were quite dark and b) I just got too busy talking so I didn’t end up taking that many pictures! I’ve uploaded the ones that I have and I’ll add other good ones when other people start uploading theirs.

I actually don’t have any ones where you can see Dawn’s dress, so that will have to wait!

For the time being, enjoy!

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Life so far in London

Published at August 31, 2008 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

It’s two weeks tomorrow since I’ve been back home, and I have to admit, it does feel like longer than that!

Since I’ve been home, I’ve been catching up with everyone and casually job hunting.

The first week was pretty much surprising everyone. I didn’t tell many people, so it was fun to go around to pop in somewhere unexpected and say hi!

Seeing Amie was probably thebest, and Ellie a close second!

Kejal’s leaving party was good fun - that was when I saw most of the family. Obviously, there was an unbelieveable amount of food and alcohol and by the end of the night, quite a lot of drunk people. Luckily it was bank holiday Monday the next day!

This week, I am on operation: get me a job. I’m getting a bit bored of being at home, now!

Kejal leaves tomorrow - she has a travel blog too: www.kejal.co.uk

Photos…

Published at August 25, 2008 in Uncategorized. 3 Comments

… from Melbourne, Great Ocean Road, Ayers Rock and Northern Territory.

The final ones!

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End of the road

Published at August 24, 2008 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

I’m sitting writing this in my front room. Yes, that’s right, I am now back in London and back to reality.

I do have some photos that I need upload from my last couple weeks in Oz, so def check back - I’m in the process of uploading now.

I’ve obviously had the best year, and I just can’t believe it has actually been a year. 

I came home on Monday 18th, and only Nilesh (bro) knew before, because I needed to arrange a key. I rocked home and Kejal answered the door, sleepily. 

Like most people, I think she double took and wasn’t quite sure whether it was really me! The flight home, for a change, was good and I managed to get enough sleep on the plane to feel ok in the morning. I got showered and changed and then made my way to my Dad’s shop to surprise him there. Again, a double take look and a ‘what are you doing here’ conversation… Then we drove to my Mum’s work! So Monday was pretty crazy. I hit a wall at about 4pm and just wanted to go to bed!

On Tuesday, it was Alice’s turn… and the rest of the Cannes Crew. I pretty much hung out at the offices there for a couple hours and cought up with everyone! It was fun!

I still hadn’t told Amie that I was home. Amie was the one who travelled with me for the first few months. She left in Feb to come home, if you remember. I got in touch with one of her friends and she helped me organise meeting up with her. I went to her house last night and got a very funny reception!

Alex and Darren - the guys we met in Fiji - were there and they spotted me first and Darren turned around and said hi before Amie turned to see me. It was so funny… Amie literally SCREAMED! Before that she did look at me and then turn to say hi before she realised it was me she was saying hi to!

Kejal (sis) goes travelling in just over a week, so she’s having her leaving party tonight. Pretty much exactly to the date a year ago, I had mine!

I do wish I was back in Sydney - I miss Nina and the other girls! I miss the simple life. I’m going to miss summer there SO much. I want to go back! :-)

No, seriously… yes, I don’t want to be here, but in the meantime, que sera, sera. I’m happy for the moment, but I think the novelty of being home will wear out soon…

Photos coming soon. 

11 Months Anniversary

Published at August 17, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

I forgot to say previously that it has been past my 11 month anniversary!

Time flies when you’re having fun.

I promise to upload my Australia pictures soon - I do have some good ones when I did charge it! :-)

Back in Sydney after another night in hell

Published at August 15, 2008 in Uncategorized. 3 Comments

This time it was the devil child screaming from 1am until 6am on the plane from Darwin to Brisbane. (And then I had to change in Brisbane to catch a flight to Sydney).

Can someone please explain to me why they have quick check-in desks, where you print your own boarding pass, but then have to queue and talk to someone at the counter for just as long as you would if they checked you in?

Basically, the ‘bag drop’ is a massive long line, just as it is if you were to check in at the counter. I don’t see the point. They people who work there are blatantly just lazy. They ask you loadsa questions when you leave your bag with them, so I don’t see the point in having the quick check-in system. The only people that’s good for is if you don’t have any hand luggage.

I also had to pick up my bag in Brisbane and re-check in all over again. So in one day, I had queued about 2 hours for just one trip!

I have queued about 5 hours in the last 2 weeks.

I’m tired. And homeless. 

Kakadu Dreaming

Published at August 13, 2008 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments

I got back from my camping trip yesterday evening - I was so tired, I crashed out! (Actually, I attempted to update my blog, but the stupid internet broke and I lost patience and then went to bed!)

It’s really hot here, so it was so good not to have to worry about what to wear or pack to take with me. I only took one set of clothes - the ones I was wearing, sunnies, sunblock, a book and my camera. I’ve learned to travel light! :-)

I didn’t even take a towel, which I thought I would regret, but it was fine as you just end up drying in the sun really quickly.

Ok, so day one… first stop was Adelaide River for a jumping croc cruise. Basically a boat goes on the river and they get the crocs to jump out of the water for food. I was assures this was wildlife friendly. The boat has been running for 30 years. Crocs only eat very little, so they’ll only approach the boat if they’re hungry, not like sharks for example where they’ll come whatever! We saw LOADS of crocs just chilling, lying in the sun. Apparently, in the bit our boat went up there are anything from 100 to 600 crocs in there! EEEEEKKKK! Touristy, but still fun.

Then, it was the drive to Kakadu, stopping for lunch on the way. And stopped at this termite mound place. I wasn’t that bothered about them. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s interesting and random, how there are just loadsa mounds that kinda look like gravestones along the side of the road, but still, termites are only interesting up to a very small point! Ha!

We learned about Aboriginal spiritual art and went on a couple hikes and swims, before driving in the evening to our base camp. We set up our camp and lit the fire and all that. It was all very outdoorsy :-)

We had real Aussie tucker for dinner. I tried Emu, which I didn’t really like that much. It was a bit chewy. I duno if it was really meant to be like that, tho…

Day two involved swimming in natural pools, jumping off waterfalls into the pools, more hiking, more swimming…

We went to twin falls, which were a beaut! You have to take a little boat there, you can’t walk, so that was pretty cool. At the Twin Falls, there was a mini beach with lovely white sand… amazing!

On the way back to Darwin, we stopped at Fogg Dam, which hosts the most reptile population, i think, in the world. I also held a snake here! It was a captive one, so I was assured it wouldn’t bite me! It was really heavy, and not at all slimey. For some reason, I thought it was going to be slimey, but snakes don’t have sweat glands, so they are dry and a bone. I was really scared ‘cos the guy said to me as he put it on me: ‘don’t worry if the snake goes for your head, it naturally attracts the warmest part of you and that’s your head’… me: ‘mmuummmeeehhhh…’! ha ha. The snake tied itself right around me and I thought it was going to strangle me! Again, the guy told me it wouldn’t, but it sure felt like it!

Photos… WEEEELLLLLL… typical me didn’t charge my camera enough for it to last the whole trip, but I did get a few good ones from the jumping crocs cruise and from some of the swimming pools from the first day.

My foot is totally ruined again :-( but it was worth it, I had a brilliant trip!

This afternoon, I think the two girls from my room are driving to Litchfield National Park, so I might go with them. They went there the other day and they have loadsa natural swimming pools there, too.

Will upload all photos from the trip when I get back to Sydney.