Melbourne to Singapore

As the lovely people they are, Sammy and Pat offered to drive me to the airport. We made really good time, which was lucky considering the drama that ensued….

After queuing up to check-in and having my bags weighed, I was given the shocking news that my luggage was so over the limit that it was going to cost me about $300AUD in excess to get it to Singapore AND then when boarding my flight from Singapore to the UK that they would charge me again! Bearing in mind I was already shipping one of my bags as I knew I was over my limit! So we had to basically empty half of my luggage and move things around until we thought it was substantially lighter and making sure the one I was shipping was bulging out at the seams. We then queued again and I was still over and it was going to cost me over a $100AUD. I had nowhere near this amount of money on me but again, due to incredible friends, Pat lent me the money.

So once all the drama was over and all my luggage was sorted, I had to say my goodbyes. It was really hard, as despite only really meeting them about a month from the end of my trip, we spent a lot of time together and we had become really close. They also gave me a little poem they wrote with drawings on it. It was so sweet of them and really made me smile.

On to Singapore…

Last night in Melbourne

So it was my last night in Melbourne and the final of the Rugby World Cup.  As i'd been staying at Sammy's for a few days, Pat came to pick me up. Sadly Sammy couldn't come with us cause she had to work but it was nice to see her for a while :)

Me and Pat ended up going to a bar on Chapel Street to meet a bunch of people from uni. We had some drinks and busted some jokes and met some crazzzzzy Kiwi’s who were celebrating their World Cup win. It was a fun night and it was nice to see them before I had to leave.

[Cameron and Nick]

 

[Tom, Nav and Sam]

 

[Nick]

 

 [Pat and Me]

 

[Me and Cameron]

 

[Pat, Me and Jarryd]

 

[Me and Pat]

 

[Callum]

Tattoo by Mick Squires

I really wanted to get tattooed while I was in Australia and after pinging a few emails back and forth, me and Mick set a date. I told him I wanted a conch on the side of my left hand, and tried to send him as best a reference as I could. This wasn’t a very easy task as most of the images you find of them, is just their shells, after they’ve been killed. I also tried to get my mum to take photos of our conchs…more specifically, Claude, who I wanted to get tattooed. Now as much as I love my mother, taking photos is not one of her strong points. And whilst I understand they aren’t the easiest things to photograph…her pictures were just terrible!

So my time in Australia was coming to an end and only had a few days left. Me and half of International House had been kicked out of our apartments due to miscommunication and a bitch of a manager who fucked up the leasing dates, and everyone had to find other places to stay. Luckily, having the amazing friends I do, Sammy said I could stay with her.
So I have maybe 3 days left? And I decide to look in my diary, I don’t remember why but it was lucky I did, as I realised I had an appointment with Mick the next day! I quickly asked Sammy if she could take me but she had to do something for uni. Luckily Pat said he was free and didn’t mind driving me.

The next day turned into a bit of a rush with us trying to use his satnav to find this street that was in area you couldn’t drive down. We had to park the car and try and find it on foot. We managed to get there pretty much just on time and I looked over the counter and saw Mick was still tattooing someone anyway. I told the receptionist that I was here for my appointment with Mick and she said she’d tell him. I took a seat and waited….and waited…and waited. Pat decided to go and have a look in the shops nearby and still, I waited. I must have been there an hour or so before one of the other artists came and asked me who I was waiting for. I said Mick and she asked if he’d been told. I said the receptionist said she was going to tell him and she said okay. I was then there maybe another 2hours before she looked over and saw me still waiting and went and grabbed him. He said he didn’t know I was here and that he thought I hadn’t showed up :/ He apologised for the misunderstanding and grabbed his sketch book. He started sketching in front of me and with a few minor changes, we were good to go.
Right before we started, he thought it would be a good idea to tell me that he hated hand tattoos and they really hurt….i was just like, thanks then…haha! He did turn out to be kinda right though, they aren’t very pleasant in places, just because it’s so bony but It wasn’t as bad as I was expecting after that comment! He did some beautiful things with the shell and added in little hints of green and purple. He really did a great job and I’d love to get a bigger piece by him sometime in the future.

Hiking with my boy Jarryd

So after promising I could come over and see his extensive reptile collection (and no that’s not a euphemism) our time was running out. It was the exam period and after cancelling on me earlier in the week due to being called into work, I was sceptical that our plans would materialise.

That morning I had an exam. It sucked, as exams usually do. When it was over, we all came out and were talking about…how much it sucked, basically. I then saw Jarryd. We said hi and I asked if it was still good for me to come over today. He said it was fine and that he thought it would be cool if we went to look for some snakes at this National Park. I of course was pretty excited and we headed off.

We drove to his house, which was immaculately clean. I mean, to the point of, you don’t want to touch anything in case you make it dirty, kind of clean. It was a lovely house though. I got to meet his mum, who was such a sweetheart. She kept asking me if I wanted anything to drink or eat, and despite saying I was fine, when she heard we were going hiking, she made me a packed lunch! I also met his sister who was really nice too.

After Jarryd had an argument with his mum and it was all quite awkward…especially as they both kept asking me questions and trying to get my opinions on things, which obviously I was more than reluctant to give…we went out to his shed. As aforementioned, his mum is quite OCD when it comes to cleaning, so that’s why Jarryd has his own shed for his reptiles haha!

I must say, his collection didn’t disappoint. He showed me the various individuals and we got a few out. He really does have quite the menagerie; with his bearded dragons, tiger snakes, pythons and the newest addition, who I instantly fell in love with, his baby monitor lizard. It was just so beautiful and tiny!

When we were done, Jarryd grabbed his snake hook and we headed to the National Park. Now being the sweetie that he is, he repeatedly said that he wouldn’t interact with anything we found unless I was okay with it but I was pretty excited at the thought of getting close to some venomous snakes! I’d gone nearly 4months without seeing one, and I know it was the Aussie winter but still, near the end of my time there it had started to get quite warm. And this day was no exception.

As soon as we got out of the car the heat just hit you. We grabbed what we needed and you could tell how serious I was considering I even tied my shoes! Jarryd took this opportunity to try out my camera.

 

We headed off down a path and just started walking really. It was really nice getting to spend time with Jarryd. We’d only met maybe a few weeks prior to this but just hit it off really. We bonded over reptiles and that was just it. Our conversation covered pretty much everything and we got to know each other a lot better.

We didn’t have much luck on the snake front, in fact I think no luck better describes it. We didn’t see a single snake but we came to the conclusion that it was probably due to it being too hot.

 

After a while we came to this look out post. We walked up the steps and took a rest at the top. I found it funny how tired Jarryd was compared to me, considering he spends a lot of time in the gym and I do virtually no exercise. I guess it makes sense though considering he does more weight training than cardio but still, I thought it was pretty funny. Anyway, the view was pretty amazing; you could see the whole park and beyond.

 

It also gave us an idea of which way to walk, as we were pretty much ‘lost’ at this point…well, not lost so much as we weren’t sure which way we wanted to head. So we kept walking and then all of a sudden, we both spotted a lizard ahead on the path. Jarryd being the cream-crackered weight lifter he is lagged behind while I ran up to grab it. It was lucky I did too as I managed to grab it just as it started to go into some bushes. It was a blue tongue! And considering I’ve had a soft spot for blue tongues since I was a kid, I was pretty chuffed we just happened to come across one. It was surprisingly calm and only had the odd burst of being pissy and opened its mouth to us. We decided to put it down so we could take some photos of it. It had clearly had enough though and ran into the bush as soon as it hit the ground. I started pulling back a bit of the undergrowth so we could take a couple but it was hissing and mouthing while I did, so I didn’t get to move very much of it out the way.

 

 

 

 

When we felt we’d bothered it enough, we decided to make our way back in the general direction of the car. It took us quite a while to find our way back but the surroundings were beautiful so I didn’t mind.

We then made the drive back to Burwood and I will never forget Jarryd singing ‘It Girl’ by Jason Derulo in the car haha!

We may not have seen any snakes but it was still a really great day! J

The Royal Botanical Gardens & The Shrine of Remembrance

As I was running out of time in Melbourne, I wanted to cram in as much as humanly possible as there was still things I wanted to see/do. I was so happy when Sammy and Pat agreed to come to the Royal Botanical Gardens with me.

We spent the day in the sun, wandering around looking at the trees and flowers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a really relaxing day…well apart from the play fighting of course haha!

 

After a fun day at the botanical gardens, we were talking about what else I wanted to do before I left and I mentioned The Shrine of Remembrance. Sammy then told me that we could cross it off the list right now as it was just across the road from The Royal Botanical Gardens. So off we went!

 

 

 

The building was really pretty and I loved reading the inscriptions carved all around it. Then we headed inside to see the rest of the shrine.

 

 

It was such a grand looking building inside; just stone and marble everywhere. All around the outside were flags, including the Union Jack.

 

At the other end of the building was a museum. It featured various war memorabilia including some uniforms.

 

It was a really nice day, and informative too!

 

 



Leaving BBQ @ International House

As my time was coming to an end in Melbourne, I thought it would be a nice idea to round up some of my new aussie pals and have a BBQ. It ended up being more of a passing through event as it was during the exam period but I was thankful people made the time.

[Sian, Bridget, Megan and Sammy]

 

I was the designated BBQ’er and cooked up a storm.

 

When we’d all had our fill, we played some pool for a while, before calling it a day.

[Nav]

Research Methods Trip @ The Grampians

In the beginning I was really not looking forward to the trip, mostly because it meant leaving the hot, relaxing atmosphere of Byron Bay and The Gold Coast but in the end, I was SO glad I went.

My group for the trip consisted of me, Sian, Bridget, Mark and Megan.

[Megan, Me, Bridget, Sian and Mark]

[Sian, Me, Bridget, Mark and Megan]

 

Of course we had to spend most of our days conducting our projects for Research Methods but the rest of the time was our own. Which sometimes we did spend helping out other groups that were getting behind.

I also got to see some pretty cool animals like an echidna! I was told that if I didn’t see one in the Grampians that I was extremely unlucky as they were everywhere. Then the next day we were walking and one came plodding over a soil mound. It was beyond cute and made me really happy.

My friend Jared also caught a Shingleback Lizard who was wondering through camp one day. He was about a foot long and covered in like armour plating type scales (for those not familiar with the species). I felt really sorry for him actually, as he had 2 huge ticks under his right fore-leg. I wish I could have removed them but we didn’t have any tick removers and I didn’t want to risk it getting infected and cause him more problems :/

What was pretty cool was in the dining hall we had a big white board, and every time someone spotted a new species of animal, we added it to the board. By the end of the trip the board was covered with different species, from kangaroos to lizards to eagles. Oh and we even found a trap door spider in one of our quadrats!

It was just nice to be back in a more rural setting, surrounded by wildlife. The downside being I was completely bitten to shreds by insects, even though the majority of my body was covered! They really do find a way don’t they!