An early departure from Broome

Heyaaaa

Everything has changed once again and we are leaving Broom next week for a road trip down the West Coast, ending in Perth, where we will get jobs and set up shop for a few months, before heading to Asia !!!

I have about $3000 saved at the mo and will get a job in Perth. Wanted to leave Broome for a change of scene and its really sweaty and humid now its coming into the wet season and all of our friends are leaving. And our hours are dropping. It just feels like the time is right.

Any followers of this, have you seen my new food blog? About to update it again now! :D hope you like it!!

Mel and i really can't wait to get to Perth no, we want to find a gym and get back into shape before our asia tour. and for mel, before her best friend's wedding back in the UK. We are meeting in Bangkok on 21st, I'm flying from Perth and she from the UK after the wedding. Then we will begin our tour of asia. Mel is then going back to Australia at the end of january and i will continue the Asia tour or perhaps try somewhere else around the world for work, until I meet up with Mel again in Canada!

Really relieved... My passport has just arrived!!! Yay!!! So all of that annoying back and forth and sending things was worth it. Many thanks to Mum, Adam, Adam's mum, , Vicky and of course Mel for helping me with all of the application/form stuff, what a nightmare!!... Going to give it to Mel to look after until she leaves, she is a lot more careful with her belongings than me...

So, we have both handed in our notices! Zoo Bar and Cafe have said they want me to do some design work for them!! :) designing menus, event posters etc! which i am really excited about! extra money and experience etc etc! See below, I just designed this for the AFL game next week!.........

I (as of this morning) have got a duty manager interview for an entertainments venue called The Bakery, in Perth, North bridge. Job involves running events, opening and closing the venue etc, so it will be good if Mel can get a job there too and we can work together, and get into entertainments stuff, and its only for a few months and hopefully the money will be really good!!! :D very happy about that! but obviously applying all over the place as well for general jobs.

OK i think thats it for now!!!

Speak soon!! love and miss you all!!...

Oh and we are now going to Canada from April 2013 - april 2014!!!!

xxxxxxx

6 weeks of Broome down/to go!

Work is going well, plodding along, same old now really. Getting to know everyone from work now so beginning to feel a lot more at home in Broome now. There is a new GM that has just started though so he is changing a lot of things around so everyone is worried their hours are going to get cut and work will become a lot less kushti!!! Hopefully not, cos im just starting to really like it.

Loving our new hostel; moved a few days ago into a cheaper place, which is cleaner, nearer to work and so much more chilled! Love it, and we have a TV, fridge and shelves in our room! And can go back to the hostel at cable beach whenever we like when we fancy socialising! A lot of people have left now though, so we are hanging out with our room mates, Brian and Joal and also Mel’s work mates!

On Sunday, we (everyone from the cable beach backpackers and a few people from my work too) went to a BOAT PARTY! We all went to breakfast at Zee Bar before hand for a Champagne breakfast! Then partied on the boat until 6pm! Then saw the fireworks on the green by cable beach and then danced the night away to some live music because it was the end of the Chinese pearl festival !!!

Mel and I are trying to be good and staying in until we go, with only a few nights out here and there so we are not spending! Saved about $3000 for asia now, but need a few more grand so I can spend a few weeks in perth and have enough for flights etc! so saving hard!! Also, we plan, if we can get the visa sorted, to go to Canada on a WHV now from April2013 for a year or two!

Currently putting together a new Broome video, finishing off with the boat party photos, so should put it together, and have it finalised by next week so will upload to Youtube asap so everyone can take a look!! :D

Had a really nice day the other day, went to the Op Shop with Cara (who has now gone boo hoo) and bought a few new items, a top, some shorts and a new dress, all for $11… ! then we went for lunch at the Egyptian kebab house in town, its really cool inside, with draping rugs and fabrics on the ceilings, lanterns, and they sell baklava and Turkish tea in little metal decorated cups, like we used to have when I was growing up. They get really busy! Cute little place. Then we went to the beach, watched and took loads of photos of the sunset on cable beach, then had a home made bbq at cable beach backpackers – sean, this aussy guy, who has also moved on now made it. Tonight we went to irish murpheys, a pub that has open mic night on a Tuesday! Last night we went to half price tapas after I finished work and tomorrow we will probably chill as we plan on having a big one on Thursday which will be our one big night out this week.

Really looking forward to Perth as may be meeting up with a few familiar faces there, which will be awesome.

Keep in touch everyone, remember my aussy number is 0431026658 so feel free to text or call me anytime! xxx

Tourists!

Hey guys! Well lots has changed over the last few weeks, as usual! Stepped down from being supervisor as couldn't be bothered with the 6/7 day weeks and 11/12 hour long shifts! Don't need the money that badly for Asia and started to get really tired and cranky all the time! Since I've stepped down I'm doing 5 days a week with two days off in a row and loving it! Get to go out, explore and spend more time with mel which is much better for me :) I had an interview for a camel riding place the other week working in the retail shop then taking photos of the camels on the beach, but the  retail shop was so boring I had to walk out! Got an interview tomorrow for a manager role at free choice tabaconsists haha gonna go for it out of interest! But happy with hours and life at zoo :)

 Just put my laptop in for repair (covered by apple, after an hour long rant at them on the phone going from manager to manager!) cos it kept making a weird beeping sound! And yesterday I sent off my passport application (300 dollars ouch!!!!!) so I can get my passport sorted once and for all; thank you to Adam, his mum vic and mum for helping out with sending all ye details! And of course mel for helping me fill out the forms and keep a cool head! :) love you all! And can't wait to go and visit Adam and his family in Perth freemantle in a few months!

Sight seeing wise, we went on a boat party aboard the karma last Sunday which was great fun! :) just drinking and dancing all day long with a dj in board then onto a pub for live music and more dancing! Mel and I met these two young girls who were shy but we got them up to dance! Haha. Cute. But happy to let them go back to mummy when they started crying and eating burgers. I went to see dark knight on Friday night with a girl from the hostel at the outdoor cinema :) was so cool cos bats flee across the screen while we were watching it haha and we could see the moon- was lovely! Then been chilling going to the beach, and taking loads of photos so I can make another video, made loads but haven't uploaded them as it takes ages to process and upload but hopefully will get to do it soon. Yesterday I took a walk along the old missionary park and last night we went to Matsos brewery where they make mango, lychee, ginger and all sorts of flavoured beer !!! We had a beer and a curry (three types!) and talked about travelling with another friend called Amanda who we live with at the hostel :) then went to open mic at murpheys where our friends nic an Matt got up and played hakuna mattata form the lion king haha they had balls! So yeah been up to a lot recently, going to go the ganthiam point tomorrow morning to watch the sunrise with mel and zee bar tonight for 9 dollar cocktails then oasis tomorrow for the wet t shirt competition !!! Enjoying lying on the beach currently, high lighting places we want to go in south east Asia in a lonely planet we found!

Broome is getting stupidly humid and hot.  And wetseason hasnt really begun yet, october will be interesting.... Mel is happy, working harder than me to save as she has to go home but keeping our eyes on the prize :)

Loving life and everyone, missing marketing lot but looking forward to seeing you in January and anyone looking to book a holiday in a few years we will be in brazil for world cup 2014 so think about that...!!! :) 

Love you all loads xxxxxx 

WAorking

Things have been going well over the last few days... Went into work yesterday and spoke to the owner about booking a day off... And he said he needed to speak to me ... Here we go again, I thought. Fired !!! Haha, nope, the opposite. I got promoted to Supervisor! Which means the same amount of (40-45) hours when the season dies down as well as more money, effective immediately! So that's good. Learnt the cash up last night. Should be doing a mixture of shifts as I think I am now on the floor more than the bar, but it's ok. So, I'm happy I can make more money.

Had an amazing day off on Sunday... Went on an all day boat party called the Karma 1V (what happened to the last three boats?... would rather not know) So we went around the bay a little, drank loads of beer and swam in the seas. Photos are on Facebook :) it was such a fun day, Mel couldn't come because she was working but hopefully she will get a Sunday off soon so she can go!! So much fun though, and then we went to Divers (a bar) afterwards to see the Cable Beach Beauty contest... and one of the girls from the hostel applied and got on stage! Just for the $50 bar tab haha.

Today is my day off so we are going to a crocodile park!!! Apparently we can play with all of the baby crocodiles! Should be a pretty epic day! Updates to come. Hoping to go out for a few drinks tonight as well! May need a few after playing with crocs all day! 

Update soon! xx

Broome

Been in Broome a week now and really liking it so far. Uploading loads of photos on Facebook so if you haven't got a profile, it would be worth creating one to look at all of them, as it takes ages to look at all the one's on the blog!!! But will try uploading a few :)

Got the sob at Zeebar - bar in the evening and waitress in the mornings, doing a few split shifts, have my first proper shift tomorrow, and going to go through all the payment details etc tomorrow hopefully so I can start getting paid!!! Mel has a trial tonight at a bar called Divers so keeping fingers crossed for her to get the job then we can start saving properly and seeing some of Broome at the same time.

Other than that we are trying to eat healthily, loads of salads and chicken and veg with all of our spices of course. Been out a few times, went to an amazing outside bar with palm trees and a dance floor, played good music, had a ping pong table and stuff. It's called Oasis Bar, really good, hoping that Mel and i aren't working until late on thursday nights so we can go every week. we don't want to go out much but would be nice to go out once a week or so!! As well as save of course. We went to see the sunset the other night which was beautiful and had a walk around China Town, eating some lovely food which was a nice change to chicken schnitzel and gravy from Renner Springs!! Blah!

Will from Renner Springs is arriving in just over a week so will be good to see him, apart from that nothing much has changed, just job hunting and lying on the beach and getting to know the people in the hostel who are really nice :) going to try emailing around a few places tonight to see if they need any marketing / design work done to bring in some extra cash!!!

That's it for now, keeping fingers crossed mel does alright on the bar :)

p.s. just found this that Dan and Will wrote on my laptop when we were all drunk on our last night... ahh!! :)

DAN AND WILL SIDE COLUMN

This place is so very backwards in the way it is run – There are literally tens of examples as to why this hell-hole could (should) fall apart. I (Dan) plan to shit on EVERYTHING I can during my stay here. I (Will) plan to produce extra fibre for the ‘homemade’ bread; for those who ask if we make a wholemeal, brown-coloured batch, yes, we definitely provide…

We also will dearly miss the amazing presence of Mel & Tash – no idea how they could desert us, but it’s a fair-game situation – and I’m hoping we’ll meet up in far better circumstances. BITCHES

Moving on

Haven't been online much to be able to post but... Left renner springs they gave me the sack - absolute idiots they are actually the worst managers in the world. Long storu but they said i was high maintenance? Lol. Aka i stood up for myself when they asked me to do random jobs like project manage a fuel tank installation project.. In between feeding the goats and going through rubbish bins looking for cans and bottles. Lol. Had a paniccy few days organising visa sign off and transport out of renner and money rent etc. Glad to get out of there but in need of a job and money!!! Got on a greyhound to go Broome in WA -random decision -after we google imaged it for about 5 mins due to slow Internet - but a good decision it turns out. Nice location, cool hostel with nice people, hammocks, near beach, people staying long term too :) just need a job - got a trial tonight at zoo cafe / zee bar- nice restaurant- hope all goes well but think they are very picky. Planning on staying here until november then Perth til end of nov then Asia tour dec-feb/march 2013. Then maybe Canada for a year. Do some tourist spots in Canada and then a Ski season in van couver til next April 2014 then south America, hopefully get to brazil in time for the world cup!!! But first things first, need a job! Seems to be a few around so just waiting to hear back from a few. If not we will relocate to perth in a few weeks. Will from renner springs finishes there in a few weeks and is coming to Broome to hang with us for a bit and experience  society! Dan and Amy are sticking it out for money and visa. Mel and I have our visa signed so all is good there ... Gonna use it in a few years though when we wanna settle in Sydney for a bit. Currently sat on Broome beach, last night we saw sun set - was beautiful - and we want to do sun set Camel riding on the beach once we have saved a bit. Looks amazing. Money always an issue. We went to murphays Irish pub for an open mic night last night and depending how my trial goes tonight we may go divers tavern tonight for live music then get up early tomorrow to continue the job search! Only a quick update no Internet in hostel and limited signal on phone! Love to all update soon, hopefully with good news!! Xxx

Photos and Video

Here is a few photos... Don't have fast internet to upload many more... But check out the Moo Gourmet Burgers video I filmed, starring Mel and Adam...  It's on the site below...

http://article.wn.com/view/2012/06/23/Restaurant_review_Hartsyard_r/

If you search moo gourmet burgers or natasha shadman it should come up with a video link to watch! either that our watch the bad quality version below on YouTube. Turn the sound on!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSbg2nhdkqU

Funny Springs

We have had a few fun nights recently… Even though I have earned less money this week I’ve had a much better time, which is good for my morale!

Last night was hilarious; we met the ‘EDI’ boys, aka the contractors, who have been here for a week for work, in the bar after work, because it was their last night. So, we had quite a few beers. They were such a funny lot. Brad, who is a quarter-thai, quarter-afghan, quarter-aboriginal, quarter-he-was-slurring, massively came onto me. He stumbled over and said ‘I think you’re HOT! I would walk over broken glass, drink molten lava, give a guy a blow job… just to f%&*k you’… Then I said to him ‘Sounds like you’re trying to come on to your mate…’

He kept on coming over and asking if the line ‘worked’. I kept laughing it off. So funny. Another guy called Mike, drank two bottles of red wine, called ‘Hope’. He kept saying… ‘I tell my mate, I’ve got no Hope, so he brings me a bottle of wine’. Haha. While we were taking photos, he was hugging Mel and telling Will to hurry up and take the photo before ‘I rape the girl’. Brilliant night, a welcome change.

Today, is mel and I’s day off together, so we had our weekly Canadian breakfast (bacon, scrambled egg, toast and maple syrup) and then headed to the pool to sun bathe all day and listen to tunes, chill and talk about love, marriage, children, friends, family, travelling and anything that isn’t to do with work or the horrible people we are forced to deal with every day. But today was a little different… We were chilling out in our bikinis, when this guy, Luke, approached us with a camera and a tripod. Never good… He was filming a ’30 pubs in 30 days’ around Australia, his friend and him were on a 30 day tour and Renner Springs was number 11… He managed to persuade us to feature in it, ‘chilling and telling each other jokes, or shokes… Didn’t take much persuading, seeing as it’s supposed to be featured on Fox TV, if the TV programme buys it! So watch out for the show ’30 pubs in 30 days’. But I doubt we will make the final cut. Our jokes weren’t great and we’re not exactly the visual candy I can imagine they were looking for.

On our evenings off, we always chill, shower, sing a lot of Beyonce, and then ‘get ready’ (put make up and actually brush our hair!) which turns a few heads as we usually walk around in our leggings and t-shirts, with hair scraped back and no make up on. Apparently Luke and the producer are in the pub tonight so we are going to get details of exactly why, how and most importantly when we should expect to be famous and have flocks of fans arrive at our doors with rose garlands and t shirts to sign. I’ll have to practise a cool new autograph.

Update you soon,

Tash xxx

P.S. Today is Sunday!!!! Last night was very interesting... Our 'evening out', hah, Mel didn't enjoy her Pork Chops and they ran our of sauce for the Sticky Date Pudding :( and Carla annoyed us because she made a staff meal, and labeled mine and mel's in the fridge, but no one else's was labeled... We opened it up and she had given us a tiny portion with only a few meatballs instead of 4 like everyone else's. We were on the hunt for caramel sauce at the time, so we stumbled across it, but she is so rude. Yesterday morning she slammed our breakfast's down on the table and walked off! SHARLA! We met the producer, he took a few shots of us 'cheers-ing' and laughing and looking like we are having a good time! He said to add us on Facebook to see the photos from their trip so far, so it should be quite good! He said he doesn't want to cut it out and it's going to be a tourist video / series! :) fame is coming our way!

Anyway, aside from that, Mel and I found out that Alan had been trying to get hold of me. (He was away in Tennant Creek with Christine) Apparently I am working with Heath; the Maintenance guy now....!!!! So says the Roster... And he mumbled something about the job being more flexible so I can do my Marketing stuff around it... I think he was drunk on the phone. He said he emailed me with the details but I can't see an email. Gonna chat with Alan when he gets back.

So I start my new job in about half an hour!... Wish me luck! I'm cleaning the pool I think and then the bathrooms!

My professions have moved from Designer - Entertainment Manager - Waitress - Chef - Maintenance Man in the last few months! Haha!

xxxx

Anything is possible

Had a word with the owner of the business a few days ago, about the bully Laurel, saying that she can't speak to people like s$%*t all the time. Ever since, she has not really spoken or had a go at me, and she is leaving in two weeks, which is great! Two new UK guys are nice, but are hating it as much as Mel and I did when we arrived. We keep telling them it will get better! There is a light at the end of the tunnel!...

But it turns out that the UK guy who is doing the kitchen was actually brought here to replace me... As in, when Mel and I moved rooms, they thought we had got up and left in the middle of the night!!!! So, he was running around the next day, calling up wanna-be chefs and house keepers to find replacements, and we were actually just in the room next door and he hadn't asked anyone where we were. He actually ran after the Greyhound bus shouting and screaming at it. He was very embarrassed admitting this to me, and said it was in the top ten of stupid things he has ever done.

So, I had a meeting with the owner, Alan, about the issue a few days ago, asking what was going on. What was going to happen to me/Dan? Who was going to get the job? He said, that he was unsure as he thought I was good, but the kitchen isn't run and cleaned to a commercial standard, because I have no idea what I am doing and have guessed my way through so far, so he wants to see how Dan, the UK trainee chef goes. Apparently there is another guy, who has been unemployed for 11 years (working as a priest!..? he has his own website :-/... well weird!)... who arrives tomorrow who he also contacted and has just told Alan he is on his way (sold his house etc) and is coming to Renner to start work. Awkward. So he has three people for one job. My job.

So yesterday I had a long think about it and decided to set up a meeting with Alan to talk about my options. I had a hard think and decided to take a risk... hand in my notice and take myself out of the running to become 'the chef', as I didn't want to end up with no job. I decided to create a new job at Renner Springs for them to consider me for. Promotions, Organisation and Marketing Assistant; I explained that everyone felt the place wasn't organised and ran to the best of its ability, no one feels valued or listened to, everyone feels over worked, there was no people management and that the place wasn't promoted at all... Alan considered, and I followed it up with an email detailing all of my ideas in how I would turn the place around. They are now seriously considering it. So, I may have just created a kushti job for myself. Or potentially have given my job in the kitchen. Of course, there are other jobs available, and I could get back in to the 'running' if I want, but I don't fancy it to be honest, although I do enjoy my shift, apart from the cleaning... Lol. I have two days off (today and tomorrow), so enough time for the owners to consider me doing a bit of housekeeping and promotion work on the side... Hoping they decide I am good enough. They have already talked to me after I sent the email, saying my ideas were professional, creative and they were very impressed, so I'll keep you posted... Fingers crossed...

Lots of love to all
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Shupdate

G'day

Mel and I have a (not so new) 'thing' that when anything is shit, we put 'sh' in front of the word. AKA. Renner Springs becomes Shenner Springs and this update becomes a shupdate.

Anyway Mel and I have settled into our new roles a bit now. We have had a very emotional roller coaster few weeks. There are a few ladies here who have taken a disliking to us (and everyone young really) and make all sorts of snide comments, and are rude, sarcastic and moan at us all of the time. We try to laugh about it when we are together, but when we are on our own, obviously it's hard to brush it off.

BUT, there is a bit of a silver lining; one of the bitchy ladies is leaving (through August) and two new cool, nice, English people have arrived. They are a couple! But seem really nice and like me and Mel! Hurrah! More young, english people to join the team!!! :D

So, things are looking up! (hopefully)... So happy to have Mel here! adam has now found a job flower picking and packing so he has his regional work sorted now! (yay!) and we are looking forward to our day off (Sunday each week) and silly things like TV programmes and a beer after work seems to keep us going!.... And when the internet actually works!...

Just a quick update; internet is way too slow to upload photos unfortunately, but if it picks up, will upload a few of renner springs, but until then you can take a look at their website to get an idea of what i cook and where we are!!!!

Lots of love and hugs

xxx

Renner Springs

Arrived on Saturday morning into Renner Springs Motel, after a 33 hour journey and a few delays along the way...  Going to write a complaint to Greyhound in a bid to get our money back. Worth a try and could bring in a few hundred dollars. Or solve nothing. But we literally have not much else to do. May backtrack a few other complaints I've been meaning to send to! I remember I once got a Malteser with no malt inside! So it was literally just a teaser! Looks like they will be getting an email through pretty sharpish!

Just got internet now so feeling as if I have been cut off from the world for ages, but at the same time it doesn't feel like I am in the middle of nowhere here. There are quite a few people coming in and out. The staff seem nice enough, all older women who are really nice, apart from one guy called Will who is from Derby, UK! He seems like a nice, easy going guy. He sits on his laptop a lot. Everyone has only been here about a month or two, people come and go quite frequently i think!

The first few days were a bit up in the air. The owners weren't here so we had to hang around waiting for them to arrive. They had a funeral in Darwin. We have started a fitness regime and have been going to runs and eating healthily. Weetabix in the morning, eggs and beans for lunch and soup/salad for dinner. Which is usually quite late after we finish work so try to eat something quite light. The run consists of running/walked up and down the highway, past truckers. Who don't honk their horn at us which is pretty depressing. Clearly we need this diet. Will start eating carbs again once honking picks up.

Had our first day of work on Monday. Got woken up by Alan (owner) at 6am, banging on our door, and asking us in a horrifically happy voice (too happy for 6am), if we'd like to begin work today. And by today he meant at 7am. We took this question as 'You will be getting up for work' and got dressed to begin our first day of work, which actually ended at 10:30 at night. Long slog but made about $250 so we kept thinking about money and visa the whole time. Mel did a lot prep and washing up, and I helped Christine (owner) cook; steaks, sausages, chicken schnitzel, baramundi... with veg, rice, chips, salad.... gravy, mushroom sauce, white sauce...... very simple meals but i found it pretty hard. Last night was my second shift and the worst one. Got left on my own to prep the veg (had no idea what to use, how much to use, how many bowls to make up, where to put it etc) and felt as if I was being left on my own to cope in an incredibly unorganised kitchen. Because I was being left on my own to cope in an unorganised kitchen. I may have broke down crying at one point, Mel came in at 6 to help and she calmed me down, she can always calm me down when I get upset so glad to have her here. Once the busy period was over I was OK and we begun to clean down. Apparently they are bringing in some marine chef to come in and work with us for two weeks so we can learn how to work, prep, organise etc a commercial kitchen, that should cost them a few grand so glad they are willing to invest in us.

Mel and I will be working 6 days a week I think, so looking to hopefully take home about 700 a week after rent and tax. We plan to work her for 4 months, save save save, get our visas signed off, then go to Asia (Malasia, Bali, Thailand (for NY), Loa, Vietnam, Cambodia) until Feb/March, then head to Aus for one month to do Perth - Sydney in a van, then NZ for a while to work and save again. Then maybe Canada for while. Of course ending up back in Sydney! :D

Missing all the guys from Uni a lot, really hope they can come out for New Year which will be an absolutely amazing thing if they do! Wow that would be amazing, really love those guys and hope they can join Mel and I on a part of our travels.

Sending love


Points about Renner Springs!
168 miles from the nearest town

Living in a twin bed room

Nothing but scrubs and sand around us
8/9 hour long shifts
Freezing cold weather but sunny, will get warmer as we go
We have a big pool (although cold at the moment), free laundry, pool table, internet
Food and rent for $171 a week
Small team
Hard Work
Can get our visa signed off
Can make good money
Get healthy
Good for our livers - 4 months of no drinking!!! not done that since i started drinking (even though it was only VKs/Reef/Bacardi Breezer) at age 15
Good experience living in the outback, but will not get a tattoo to mark these coordinates i doubt...

Congratulations to Laura on her ever-growing business, very proud of you my dear and wish you all the best in your new career path. Glad you have finally found your calling in life. Sending my love to Uncle Nigel who is still in Hospital. Sending my warmest wishes and praying for you to get better very soon. Also, sending my love and hugs to Granny and Keith who are going through some difficult times,. Even though I am not there in body, I am in spirit. I know my mum, Sharon, and all of the family will be there to support you and do as much as possible to help. Always thinking of you.

Once again, sending my love, missing everyone a lot, but trying to enjoy every day, even if it isn't all day (at the moment in RT), hard work will pay off I hope.

Love, Tash xxx

Port Douglas. Queensland's upmarket paradise resort

Helllooo

Currently sat in Parrot fish backpackers.... in my room, with a bottom bunk and free wifi which is a state of luxury when you are in a backpackers!!! and there is free breakfast tomorrow....!!

http://www.parrotfishlodge.com/

we moved into global backpackers last night but they are booked out for a few nights so we had to move out over the weekend. but are going back to global backpackers port douglas tomorrow hopefully because it is cheaper.... and it is a really nice hostel, no wifi unfortunately which is the only hiccup but its a great location near to work, the beach, and the esplanade as well as all of the bars and restaurants and coles! (supermarket)

http://www.globalbackpackerscairns.com.au/port-douglas

port douglas is beautiful, really upmarket, for those who are are coming on holiday to shop, eat, eat more and drink fine wine. there are two 'clubs' open until 2/3 which is good enough for us! not so many young people as in manly by any means, but there are a few backpackers and the place is lovely. today mel and i saw two weddings on the esplanade; it is an absolutely fantastic location for weddings, it is paradise. but my heart is of course always going to be in manly :)

http://www.adventures.com.au/themes/advco/photos/places/portdouglas/port-douglas.jpg

PD is much nicer than cairns central (an hour south of PD where we stayed when we first arrived into queensland) which is like a seedy holiday resort full of travel agents backpackers cafes and internet shops. they try to make it nice with palm trees but its still rough and there are aborigines everywhere who bring the place down a lot. they just hang around the streets, unemployed and are drunk all of the time too. but we are out of cairns now and in port douglas which should work out for us hopefully.

i have a job at find (arrived yesterday and had a trial within two hours which was very much appreciated... but i was severely hungover from our last night out in cairns, i nearly chundered on the bus but i ate an orange and that made me feel better....) i had two interview set up for the minute we arrived. but got the finz one which is better hours and close to everything!!! it is a seafood restaurant, very upmarket, with daily specials you have to learn and know everything about everything. a lot to learn but hopefully i will pick it up. a lot more full on compared to the very laid back moo, which i miss, but its more hours, 6 nights a week, with the potential to earn more too. currently on about $20/hour so with 5 hours a night i should be fulling in about $600 a week and apparently the tips can get up to $250 a week. EACH. and they are cool with me doing the farm in the day as long as I'm not too tired. i have a job guaranteed until i leave end of november :) mel has a trial tonight at a mexican doing dish washing with the view to her moving out onto the floor !!! :) and there is another cafe which asked her to come in for a trial too which looks super cool :)

http://www.finzportdouglas.com/

farm work wise, there is pretty much no work anywhere farm wise, we called up every farm and working backpacker and friend and everywhere had a long waiting list. which is why we are considering woofing which is volunteering but it means we won't be made to work every hour under the sun etc. but that won't come into play until the bloke is back up in port douglas in two weeks. he advised us to get a job to earn some cash, then when he is back we can move onto the farm if we like, to get free accommodation, do the work, then go to work at our restaurants in the evening!

hope you are all well, always appreciate an email or comment so i know you are all reading!!! :)

mel and i are have been chatting and we are thinking about doing asia (thailand, indonesia, cambodia, Lao, vietnam) over christmas and new year (3 months) then doing new zealand for a year and working there! then coming back to manly in 2014 to use our second year (the one we are doing the farm work for)... to try and get sponsorship! weeeee. :D mel and i are getting on really well, a few bits of bickering here and there when we are both stressed or tired but nothing major at all. so all good there. we are both on a health kick now and have found a great deal in coles for a salad box (mix of greek salad, meditteranean pasta and chorizo bean mix) for only $6 so thats a really nice quick evening meal that we can grab before work of a day and then get into the habit of eating fruit and cereal for breakfast. there is a gym here too but that is $100 a month. so are gonna see what happens with farming and jobs etc before we make any rash decisions... haha. there is also a 4 mile long beach here so we can go for a nice walk or run for free !!!

our friend tyler, from the US, is coming up to port douglas on tuesday we think, we may get a flat together depending on price but the hostel looks good for now. people at the hostel aren't exactly party animals it seems, but, i suppose thats good for our health kick haha but they are really friendly and we will meet people out and about and at work I'm sure.

this evening i went down to the esplanade and saw the sun set over the mountains.... absolutely gorgeous.....

http://www.cairns.com.au/images/uploadedfiles/editorial/pictures/2008/11/18/main.gif

we are planning on going out tonight for a few beverages to take advantage of my night off, and hopefully mel will finish early because its a trial! then we are looking into doing a $50 for 1.5 hour boat cruise around the bay at some point too. and a trip to cape tribulation which is apparently a great place for backpackers! daintree is also world renown for crocodiles and outback adventures!!! but obviously the main focus is our farm work!! so we are hot on the search.... :)

http://www.insight-tnq.com.au/userfiles/images/daintree_cape_tribulation_2.jpg

thats about it for now! hope you enjoy the update, love you all loads! and will keep you updated!

xxxxxxx

Cairns

Hiiiii
Once again i know it has been a while!!!
Accidentally posted in the wrong blog but here i am now
Been spending the last month enjoying Manly, been to the zoo, went to sydney vivid light festival, lots of nights out, did a trip to palm beach, loads of shopping, eating etc.

booked our flights cairns in order to find regional work. we need to do three months farm/cultivation work in a regional part of aus in order to stay another year. i have until nov to get my three months signed off, so pressure is on.
So handed my notice into moo and said goodbye to manly on sunday, very sad, and really missing the lifestyle over there. everyone was so nice, the bars and restaurants were beautiful, loads of locals, a real homely feel. but.... we are now in cairns. been here for two nights, and its like maguluf! loads of travel agents, hostels, cafes, internet shops and cheap (but greasy) places to eat and drink. we are staying in global central backpackers with two girl we met in manly, french canadian girls called alex and claudelle. they have been here a while to save money, cos its cheaper and work before they carry on travelling and go back to canada at the end of the year. they are younger and start uni next year.

its a lot cheaper up here tho and a lot of backpackers!!!!! havent met many people as we havent been out yet. very conscious of money as we are quite low at the moment and our money is going fast as we are now paying for accomodation (werent in many because we were entertainment managers) and we aren't earning!!!
plus we have been focusing on trying to get up early, go online on gumtree, and find a job!! within 2 minutes of a job post, the job has 100's of visits so it is very competitive.... keeping our fingers crossed something will turn up. had a few potentials and possible work available up in darwin, but that is a very expensive flight away.... $500 :-/ which we cant afford.
i do have sponsorship from moo, so i can stay but i want to do my farm work, so mel doesnt have to do it on her own, and so i can travel a bit around aus/asia before i start working full time in a ''proper job''. hoping to go back and settle in sydney, manly.
we have a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel this morning we called two ladies who need two farm girls, $19/hour, 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, on the farm, pickign crops and eventually watermelons.
very hard work, we have an interview tomorrow with the lady. it is only an hour from cairns, where we are, so we are keeping our fingers majorly crossed for that one!!!!!! we have hired a car just now for $60 (30 each) for tonight until thur morning so we can go to the interview tomorrow morning (11am) and if we get the job then we will return back to cairns, drop the car off, have one big last piss up and then we are going to hire a live in van for 3 months. then we will live on a campsite for 3 months and drive to the farm (takes 30mins).... the van is the best option so we are excited to rent out a van and live there for 3 months haha literally with nothing around us it will be a real different reality check i think!

mel and i are getting on really well, a bit stressed due to no work and money, but we have some potentials, bankign on this job tomorrow!!!! we are enjoying the sunt hough, its been cold and rainy in manly for so long and cairns is beautiful hot and sunny!!!!! yayyyyy
if we are successful in this job we start friday!! crazy, things change so quickly. goig to go out for a drive tonight in our little wagon!!! haha. have a bit of fun then get to bed early for our drive to marreeba tomorrow!!!

keep your fingers crossed for us!!!
keep you updated
tash xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tattoo

P.S. I got a tattoo...

The coordinates of Manly on my wrist! :)

33 47 46 S
151 16 58 E

x

A month has flown by

Hey guys,

Sorry it's been ages since my last post. I forgot my password for a while and I have obviously been busy going out and working a lot.

Work
Moo is really good, I'm leaving in a few weeks because I am going up the coast to do regional work (fruit picking) in order to get my second year visa. I am going to miss Moo a lot, as I have been working there so long now. Elise, the other manager is also going, she is from the UK and is going back to finish her Uni course in Newcastle. She only came over to Aus for a year because she had an opportunity as part of her course to do a year out in another country! So she doesn't want to go back, but tells me she will come back to Aus and continue travelling, perhaps meet us somewhere, once she has finished her course in 2013. We have had a few leaving do's at work as two other girls are continuing / starting travelling, Lisa and Julia. They are lovely girls and am going to miss them a lot. So elise and I are doing our best to trial and hire girls to be our replacements which is obviously difficult because they need to be trained up and ready to go by the time we both leave in a few weeks. But we will do it, we have a few potentials :) I am still doing design work; I am currently making a few tshirt designs for our ''Deluxe Moo'' (a big burger) champions, those who eat it basically and want to buy a tshirt to mark the occasion! and also some promo tshirts to promote moo manly around the area. I'm also doing a video for Moo too, stringing together photos and video snippets and making a sort of advert. That's taking a bit of time and unsure whether it will get finished by the time I leave. I am hoping I get to do a bit of design work even though I am gone, that would be amazing. Not doing any online marketing work at the moment but did work at Malcolm's book launch event a few weeks ago. Mel and Adam helped out too and we got free alcohol, to drink and take home, as well as loads of yummy food to eat, and he gave us some ''boozing'' money haha and he paid us. i love Malcolm so much, I really hope to come back to Manly after my travels, settle down here and get sponsored by his company, that would be a dream situation, hope it works out, i will definitely keep in communication with all of the contacts i have made here.

Going Out and About
Now Adam has arrived, our other friend from Uni, we have been going out even more. We have now been appointed Entertainment Managers at the hostel which means Mel and I both get free rent! saving $162 each a week, and we organise loads of parties and dinners. So far, we have organised an Olympics night where we played loads of sports themed drinking games and everyone dressed as a country, that was our first and biggest event because there were loads of people. Then the week after we did a Full Moon Party, with body paint, glow sticks and we bought buckets to drink out of, like you do in Thailand :) everyone loved that and got really into it. Then we had a White Tshirt Party the week after that where everyone wore a white thsirt and everyone writes on your shirt, rude things and pictures mostly haha. Last night we had a traffic light jamaican party, where people wore red if they were taken, amber if they are a maybe and green if they are single! And I made loads of Jamaican delicacies for everyone, Mel said it was the best meal she has ever eaten which is so amazing :) everyone loved it, cooked for 12 people. Did a big roast dinner last week for everyone, 17 people!!! that was a big job but we did it and everyone loved it. So I have really got used to buying and cooking for loads of people now! which is good, seeing as I plan to open up by own bar, serving quick and tasty food, one day :) we have been out in the city a few times, and have been to loads of markets too. We went to Kings Cross to World Bar one night which was really good fun! really good music! And then we went to Cream fields festival at the end of April, about 15 of us went together, and we started drinking vodka at 11am, eugghhh, I'm hungover writing this so it's making me urge thinking about drinking. haha. We have been out to dinner a lot too, making the most of all of the nice restaurants, loads of nice steaks, and pasta dishes, thai and desserts, yum! and eating at Moo as well. We cook a lot at the hostel though too, so my cooking has got a lot better. It's freezing here though. Beautiful weather though, blue skies!

Friends
So many people have come and gone. The hostel is fun but a lot of my 'friends' have gone. The good thing about the hostel at the moment is that there are no cliques, everyone knows and hangs around with each other and all of the 'old' long term people are really open to meeting and talking to new people. Adam has made friends with a few lads who are staying here for a while, think he misses the lads at home a lot bless him :( and the football team in Perth. One of my friends, Martin left this morning, he is off to Bali to surf. then going home to Sweden then back in September possibly. Then Claudelle and Alex, two of our good friends have gone to Fiji for a few weeks but they are coming back in a few days now. Katie, my really good german friend who went to Perth in January, came back, as a surprise!!!! i couldn't believe it, she was flying out of Sydney so she popped to see me in Manly for a few days before she flew back home! we said we would meet again in another country. She is an amazing friend and will miss her a lot, but i know we will see each other again one day. Jo, Emma, Karin and Sandra, four girls, german, Norwegian and english, are heading up the coast in a van! haha! and Luke is going to Thailand. Tom is chilling in Manly and Adam is going to work here for a bit, he has a wedding in Bali then he is coming up to cairns to meet us to do regional work. Colin and Dave are staying here for a while i think. My friend

Plans
So Mel and I have tried to make a bit of a life plan over the last few weeks. We are moving out of the city in a few weeks, spending a few days there doing all the touristy stuff! Blue Mountains, Opera House, going out in Bondi, going to Newtown, etc! Cant wait until that week! Mel Adam and I are planning on going to the zoo this Sunday and we are going to the city, at The Rocks on Saturday night, which we are really looking forward to. We are going to Cairns on Sunday 9 June at 6am I think! haven't booked yet but that looks like the best price! :) then we are going to spend a week in Cairns, enjoying the sun and heat!!! then we will go to airlie beach to search for fruit picking work! Then after that we are planning on going to Indo, Thailand, Lao, etc Canada, SA, then come back to Aus when we are done travelling and find some work in Manly where we can get sponsored to stay! we <3 manly :)

Gosh there is so much to tell but not enough time, but I am still loving it in Manly and don't really want to leave :( but know I have to in order to come back.

Lots of love to all,
I'll try and update you a lot sooner next time,
xxxxxxxx

Shoesmith arrives just in time for my 23rd Birthday!

Hello all!

Wow, this week has been amazing!

Mel arrived on Monday morning early (had to wake up at 5am to go and collect her from Central Station in the City). Was a very emotional and fun filled day with lots of catching up. We came back from the airport and city on Monday and went to the beach and chilled. Took a few days for Mel to settle in but I think she is happy now she has met everyone! Tuesday we chilled on Shelly beach and then went to a Salsa evening in the city. Loads of photos to upload from that and took a few cool videos too! Was so much fun, met some aussies who we hung out with all night. We wen with Jill who is a professional hip hop dancer and everyone kept on wanting to dance with her because she was amazing. someone told me i looked South American though! and told me i looked like i knew salsa! I clearly don't but i obviously shake it like a professional! brilliant! Mel was a bit livid though because someone called her ''fair'' skinned and she is annoyed about her pale skin compared to everyone else already haha, is a bit of banter anyway.

wednesday night we went the the steyne and met a very strange new zealand guy who kept on shouting ''South Side'' and singing ''Sexy... Can i?... Sexy... Cani i?'' which obviously makes no sense. He also kept on being incredibly racist, pulling is top up and punching himself in the chest. We took videos of him too. We also met a bloke who looked like Wagner from the X Factor and kept on smelling my hair... :-/ weird people, but met some cool guys too and we just had a good laugh!

Thursday Mel went looking for jobs and I was at work all day, then we went to Reggae night at Shore club and Shark Bar, was such a good night because everyone was out pretty much and we had all just had a massive dance!! amazing! Then Friday we went to Collins Bay for the day which is up by north Head and then went out for the most amazing Thai meal I have every eaten!!!!! yuuummmmm then we went to Space Bar where there was a live guitarist and he sung happy birthday, bless! Then we had a mini party in the hostel! Yesterday we went to the Rocks for the day, then we went to Darling Harbour and went shopping and I bought a new black dress. We played a few drinking games in the hostel then we went to the Steyne and Shark Bar. Everyone was knackered but we still spent a few good hours shaking it on the dance floor!!!! :)

The weather has been amazing here but today is the first day it has been overcast and miiissseerrraaabblllee. But it means I can get some emails, updates and work done.
In general I am good, lovely having Mel here and doing loads of different things! Adam, a guy from Marketing, is joining us from Perth at the end of April and we are going to Creamfields festival together and then up the coast to do regional work so we can get our second year visa!!!!! woooooooo.

Hope everyone is good, keep me updated with all of the goings on!
Lots of aussie love

xxxxxxxxxx

Moo Posters!

Check out my new video! :)

My new video of everything I have done and everyone I have met so far...

Counting down the days...

Hey guys sorry this post i wrote but it never published, pressed save instead of publish... but here it is... a more current one is on the way soon

Hey guys

Once again sorry it's been a while since my last update. Not much has changed, a few people have come and gone, manly weather is still a mixture of rain and sun and working at moo is still good. Continuing with the design work, just finished a limited edition poster for the burger of the month and working on a deal poster for services as well as for the hostel to get more customers in :) currently sat in the common room about to watch 300. Chilling with a packet of crisps and a massive bar of crunchie chocolate, totally chilling tonight! Got a bit of a tummy ache so trying to relax

Went out to the city Saturday night for st Patrick's day went to an Irish bar which was really great fun and a different night out! :) trying to stay on a bit more now though (and failing) so I can save money!! But I have had to spend quite a bit on some warmer clothes cos I literally have nothing but bikins and little dresses haha. Went out for a drink with the other manager at work on Sunday which was lovely, we get on really well which is great and makes working at weekends fun (during the week you are on your own cos it's not busy enough yo have more than one person!

been invited to one of my mates mates house for fajitas on Wednesday which will be a nice change, trying to spend a bit more time with everyone cos I've been focusing my attention on the same people for too long and have been missing the boys and their ridiculous banger haha.
Thursday night I am getting cooked for again by my friend ken (the guy who helped me with the rice on the big curry night) - he is going to make me Japanese curry! Yum! Then I am .... Wait for it.... Being an extra in a music
Video haha one of the guys here is a rapper and one of his mates is recording his music videos in one of the bars in manly and needs extras... And the hostel girls are it! Very exciting, naturally going to attempt to be in centre shot as much as I can... Once they see my dancing skills they won't be able to refuse!! Haha.

Very exciting now... Mel is arriving in two weeks- cant believe it's nearly arrived! Also my other beat guy mate from marketing (he is in aus already with his parents) is joining us Perth to Sydney so we can hang out and then do regional together! Buzzing!!!!!! Gonna be immense to see them!! Those two weeks should go so quickly! Got a few more months left in manly I reckon then I am flying the neat either north or south to do regional then we are planning on doing Bali!!! The surfer guys are going so we are going to meet up with them :) so should be a big group of us :) yay!

I think that's all that's changed! Happy mothers day to all the lovely mums including mine!! :) the film should be on soon!

Love to all! I'll try and update you all again soon!
Xxxxxxxx

Weeks just fly by...

Morning from Australia!

We have had a great few days and weekend. Went to shore club again on Thursday and I had a dance off with one of the guys, Jeff, was so funny... and i defo won!!!! was so good haha, and i don't actually really remember it. Shark Bar again this weekend, everywhere was absolutely packed because it was the open of surfing finals! so there were queues around every bar. But when we got in there it was such good fun. I'm hanging out with the girls and the surfer guys a lot more now and they are really nice so its a good set up. Have a good laugh all out together! Bought some new stuff too on Thursday, two new dresses and a pair of killer heels which i can't walk in. Haha, but i absolutely love the outfits and the girls i go out with always looks pristine so i have needed to step up from my usual denim shorts and t shirt combos for dresses and heels haha but its actually been nice to make an effort for a change :) last night we went to sugar lounge and then to shore club but we were so knackered from thursday, friday and saturday then sunday took its toll and i was in bed by midnight!

got a chat with the mc saatchi lady this after noon and a meeting face to face tomorrow so going to clue up on the company a lot more this morning and totally wow them :-/ please everyone keep your fingers crossed for me. i really want this! :)

really loving manly at the moment, the girls are great, jess, bronte and i call each other a little asian family because we are all half ''something'' (jess is italian, bronte is spanish and me iranian of course) and we all have dark hair and dark skin so we get on really well altogether. Claire is a new girl who is sound but she is leaving tuesday which is sad. jess and bronte are sticking around for ages which is cool! :) and amelia and sarah of course :) maggie the german girl has an au pair job now so lives out with the family so she comes back at the weekends! yay. speak to katie still too even though she is gone. miss her a lot. and of course martha hannah and polly i miss all the times too :) they were the best. so glad i have made great new friends too though.

my healthy eating plan is going well too, feel a lot better and the tan is shaping up nicely because the weather has been fantastic over the last week! my hours at moo are getting really bad, i only have a few here and there... at least i have my design work hours. obviously i can't live or save on that wage so i am having to look else where which is sad... there is a job going at sugar lounge, a cocktail bar for 30-40 hours a week... one of the surfer guys mentioned it to us cos he works there but... he said they are bad with pay, which may be a turn off... :-/ anyway so if the mc saatchi job doesn't work out then at least i know i have options.

got another order for mycoolcv.com as well, she wants two cvs designed which is good :) she is a dietician but wants a normal cv for casual jobs too. the marketing online job i haven't done anything for in a while. i have a few days off so if the weather goes bad then i will have a few days to catch up on everything and actually save!!!

my savings have all gone now cos of buying and spending etc. I may be getting free rent though soon (fingers crossed) because the owner of the hostel has an autistic son they want me to help socialise with everyone and integrate into the group for a few hours a week and i get free rent in return so that sounds great and something that i feel would really benefit him :) so yeah lots going on, i feel so lucky every day that i have the chance to be out here, with people i love, doing design work i love (plus a little waitressing) and in a beautiful surroundings. just wish that i could be with all my friends and family too!!! congratulations by the way to my beautiful cousin laura on her engagement to adam! :) so happy for you both and for olivia :)

mel is coming out here in 5 weeks and i can't believe it!!!!! time flies!!!!!! can't believe i have been here 4 months nearly, i love it, don't want to leave, don't want things to change but don't want things to stay the same either..... haha.

love you all i will keep you updated with the how the job situation goes!!!! its jess's birthday next tuesday so we are going out in the city on saturday night :) should be fun!!!! :)

xxxxxxx

Moo Designs

Lots of things going on!...

Hey guys!

Its been a while since my last post, sorry about that I have been a busy bee over the last week.

We went out at the weekend to The Steyne and that was a pretty messy one, a lot of vodka consumed and not very much sleep. But I have been sleeping in a lot more now which is a bonus! I've been working at Moo doing a lot more design work on top of waitressing hours which means a bit more money and I can obviously start promoting my designs and mycoolcv.com as well. Moo agreed for me to put a promotional mycoolcv.com poster to put in their stores to help promote it too which is good :) I've also been around to a few of the local restaurant and bars in Manly asking them if they need any menus designed so maybe I'll get some more money from that. Also, I really need to start that Online Marketing course but i've been working so much on other things it's sort of gone to the back of my list...

I made a Thai Green Curry for 12 people on Friday night, Ken, my japanese friend made the rice and i made the curry. Everyone paid $5 and really loved it i think. Want to do another big dinner like a roast or something!! We went down to the Surfing competition on Monday as well which is great. It was lovely weather so did some more sun bathing (while the sun is still here!!!) and had a look at the surfing talent. Going to pop down again today I think and I really want to make a t-shirt ''Life is better in...'' and then you add in whatever you want! It's a Billabong thing and everyone writes what they want... like all the bar staff in Shark Bar have t-shirts that say ''life is better in shark bar'' Haha! Don't know what to say on mine...!!!?? Any ideas?! Life is better in Manly, Life is better in a tan...?? Life is better in speedos! Life is better in the buff! Life is better in...

http://www.billabong.com/lifesbetter/

So yeah, just been working, going out and waving people off. Best mate Katie has left and also Jack. Jo, who has been here for over a year has also left... everyone is going up north! But the girls are here in 001 (my room) which is great! :) love my room!! :) Also majorly looking forward to Mel coming out here so we can move onto somewhere else soon as well.

But, saying that, a new girl just moved into our room, one of Jess's friends, and.... She knows someone that works for Mc Saatchi (as in saatchi and saatchi) ... and... I have an interview for an Account Manager position there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Absolutely buzzing!!!!!! So even though I am loving the design work at Moo I'm going to go for the interview and see what happens!!! Just imagine though!

http://www.mcsaatchi.com/

Lots of love to all, and happy valentines day as well! The girls and I went out last night to Shark Bar to celebrate but it was a pretty tame one really. Have a few days off now so going to enjoy the sun, go down to the surfing comp, carry on at the gym and surfing and do loads of designing! same as every week. it's on the surfer guys birthdays at the weekend too so i think i may make a chocolate guiness cake for everyone as a birthday treat!

:)

xxx

Designs for Moo Gourmet Burger, Manly

What do you think? x

Weekend

Hello all

Managed to get Friday Saturday and Sunday off of work this weekend so even though the weather is crappy i'm trying to get a few people together to do something ... I'm thinking blue mountains saturday and maybe Tarronga zoo on sunday. There are some new french guys which have arrived who are keen for blue mountains so may go with them.. apart from they are going at 6am tomorrow morning and we are all going out tonight.... :-/.... haha. quite a few more people are leaving now and over the next few weeks so its a sad time... hopefully we will get a few more long term-ers staying but because of the bad weather and the lack of casual jobs, there isn't much draw to manly. people usually come here first and then want to stay, but can't because its the beginning of their trip. people always come back to manly though, there is something about it which sticks - a beautiful place :)

Moo is going well, the staff party last night was good we had free beer and wine all night then went out for a few drinks to Boat Shed.

We have karaoke tonight which should be fun! :)

Just a quick update, feeling good, positive, but quite a few people are feeling a bit depressed about the weather and job situation so trying to surround myself with new people who are keen for doing things and being happy and open :)

xxx

Australia Day and Opportunities...

Hello all!

Thanks for following my blog; my mum tells me that people are reading it and enjoying it which is nice to hear. Sorry if i ramble on too much.

The weather hasn't been too great at the moment so my volley ball skills haven't been able to improve, and I have been working quite a bit at the moment as well. We have had quite a few new people at the hostel and have been doing a few fun things - Australia Day was really fun I finished work by 2 and then me and a few of the boys from the hostel went to the city to The Rocks which is a nice area with cool bars, restaurants and a market with live music etc! was great, we went to a bar called the arcade i think :-/ where there was an open air bbq and we drank german beer. then we went to darling harbour, drank more, watched the fireworks which were amazing!!! and then went back to manly for the evening to see everyone else (who couldn't afford the trip, loads of people are jobless) and then we went out to shark bar (aka the new brighton hotel). a lovely day - one of the best in while in terms of activities!!

Today i went to meeting malcolm auld - who i am doing marketing social media work for... got more work coming which is great... and he has just enrolled me on an online marketing course worth $700 ... which is amazing :) he is an ace guy and i really enjoy the work i am doing, and great opportunity to learn more. he has also given me his friends book and advertising books too to read :) great!

tonight i am working but we are going out because katie's brother has just arrived from germany for a few days then after work tomorrow all of the girls and guys at moo are going out :) staff party yay! and then maybe a night out in the city on friday with dan and hopefully the zoo on sunday as it is my only day off with everyone (who works mon-friday!!!) :)

so just a quick update - also there is an opportunity that i may become actual entertainment manager as someone is leaving... fingers crossed !!! which will obviously mean free rent :) yay that would be amazing obviously...

so ill keep you updated :)

love and hugs to all

xxxxxxxx

Mooing, Marketing and Volleyball

Hello all,

Apologies I have been out of touch for a while. Time flies and the last three weeks have gone by so quickly.

Moo Gourmet burger is still good, we have a new store manager now which is good so i am not responsible for absolutely everything now which is good. my hours have gone down though because we are not very busy and we have a few new girls starting.

I have some marketing work at the moment though which is great; so have been earning $25/hour for 16 hours a week which is a great bit of extra money - tax free :) and the work i can do remotely from the hostel which means i can do it in the morning when everyone is either hungover or at work. all the boys have labouring, building and removal jobs which start early, so people aren't going out for heavy one as much as they used to, but the weekends are fun and i still finish at moo quite early (10pm) so i can meet people out afterwards.

I have appointed myself activities manager at the hostel; there are entertainment managers who sort out official bbqs and stuff but on my days and evenings off i like to do different things and go places so i have started to play volleyball which we are doing nearly every day now and the boys have started football every monday and we are looking at going to some new bars, live music gigs and comedy nights. but mainly sporty stuff because people are broke cos jobs here are bad. everyone is looking since christmas so there are no jobs :( I'm lucky i have two i feel greedy. the boys have started to get lucky though and have a few removal and painting jobs like i said. so there are jobs, its just the girls i think because they are mainly wanting retail and waitressing! but they have cleaning jobs in the hostel at the moment in order to at least get free rent. they have to do 15hours a week to get free rent which is 210/week.

the set up in the hostel is really great at the moment. i thought it would be awful because martha hannah and polly left and they are my best mates but as soon as i got to hostel i couldn't even remember why i left!! no idea. so glad i moved out of the house and i am back here. i love all of the people; the boys are amazing, really good mates and a good laugh and the girls are lush too :) everyone is friends there are no cliques or groups so the set up is great at the moment. my best mate katie is leaving in a few weeks though so i will be gutted; but her brother is coming from germany in a week so we will go out and do loads of things then including kayaking and bike riding and sight seeing, so that will be a fun last week with her :) one of our best mates jack is getting deported though because he faked his second year visa application :( gutted he is leaving he is a lush guy. would miss anyone who leaves, want it to stay the same!!! but things always change and improve so thats ok, hopefully the visa people will get off of his back and he can stay!

this week james (one of the boys from the old crew) is back from new zealand (he has been away three weeks ) and we are going out thursday to ivanhoe to do karaoke haha i did it the last few weeks always singing ''single ladies'' beyonce and because i sound so awful and put on quite a show, i have actually started to quite enjoy it, so i will probably do the same song this week, beyonce tribute act!!!! :) haha I'm taking requests!

we are playing volley ball today and tomorrow. katie and i are having a few drinks tonight because she is off tomorrow day. i am working 1045-3. for australia day we are probably going to the beach but if it is crap weather we may just have a party in the hostel all day! and then go out.
today i went shopping, as i did last week... i have spent quite a bit on clothes recently; bit of retail therapy :) bought a few new bikinis for $130... they are beautiful and a few new dresses and tops for about $200 haha :) money well spent, the clothes here are beautiful.

south park and the simpsons is on all of the time here haha but its quite funny i suppose. hard when you're trying to work but nice background sound. we have been watching a lot of tennis since the grand slam has been on. now i better get on with some marketing work... and i have a new cv to design from mycoolcv.com!!! :)

speak soon, love to all <3

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Nothing stays the same!

Got an email from the owner of 12 Below; a Digital Marketing, Communications and Web Design agency in Sydney. He said he has no immediate positions available, but is keen to meet for a coffee to meet me and see what I can do. I met him this morning at 8:30 (woah, too early) and had a chat. He said that he thinks I have a great vibe about me and thinks I'd fit into the company well, but it would be about a month before they'd be looking to take someone on on the Marketing / Account Management side of things. BUT, the fact he said he thought i'd fit in, has really spurred me onto look for something else. He also (as promised) emailed me a list of contacts he has and said that if any of them take my fancy, he'd send them my CV and put in a good word for me... :-0 so I am on Cloud 9 today.

Just been chilling at the house for the rest of the afternoon downloading some new music. Loving Rihanna's new album Talk that Talk :) and been getting into Bliss n Eso Hip Hop. Woo. So I have work in a few hours at 6 then I'm heading to Shore Club tonight for Reggae night with Andy and his mates. Cant actually wait, haven't been in ages! Live Reggae bands and such a chilled vibe <3

Moving out of the house and into the Hostel Saturday evening. Gah, hate packing!! lol. So will probably do that tomorrow evening when I get back from work. Then will spend Saturday evening with Martha and Hannah cos they are off after that :( Gonna miss them a tonne but hopefully will make some more friends when I get back to the hostel. Also a guy called Jose Franco, from Peru i've been in contact with and he wants to get a cheap two bed place on the beach, so if we can find somewhere cheaper than the hostel and as near to the beach then I'll look into that too. Keeping all of my options open!!! :)

Weather has gone back to clouds now I've gone back to work... lol. Want it to be lush again! Fingers crossed! So everything is changing from day to day here, is crazy.

Anyway better get in the shower and get ready for work - wanna have a sneaky look around town before work ;) may find a reggae style dress for tonight :) Im absolutely knackered though - so tomorrow 1045-3 / 6-close split shift should be fun :-/

Love to everyone
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