Last week in Australia

Baywatch.. or something.

I now have one week left in Australia. That’s right – ONE WEEK. What is this madness? I have had a brilliant time the past fortnight since being back from Sydney, and so here’s what I’ve been up to!

I’ve done a few swim tours, including a surprise one on my last official day volunteering at the DDC. It was the best swim tour I’ve been on, too! I swam alongside a male dolphin for about ten minutes straight – he was swimming synchronised with me, turning when I turned etc – it’s such an amazing experience swimming underwater with a dolphin that close. I also had a swim where I was surrounded by four adult dolphins which was cool too!

Selina & Me

The other awesome thing that happened – you remember I said goodbye to Selina, who was heading up North? Well, last week I was at the DDC, and I felt two hands on my shoulders. YES it was Selina back! I jumped on her and we had the most enormously squeezy hug – the other people there looked incredibly confused. She was back in Bunbury for a few more days, and so that was a brilliant surprise!

Feeding kangeroos

Selina, Christine, and I visited Big Swamp Wildlife Park, where you could feed and cuddle kangeroos and birds. The kangeroos are the most adorable things, and the birds land in your hair and try to eat everything.

Barrage of birds

The three of us also went on a little road trip with Ferne and Matthias to the Black Diamond Lakes. Spent the afternoon swimming and jumping off logs, then headed back to Christine’s house for tea, cards, and didgeridoo playing (Selina’s determination is admirable).

Skill, hey?

On Selina’s last night (her real last night, this time!) we had a bbq on Koombana beach – I introduced everyone to bbq’d bananas with chocolate in the middle, which was much loved!

Black Diamond Lakes

I spent Tuesday in Busselton with Mandy visiting the underwater observatory and eating far too much food. Yesterday I went to Kaitlin’s eighteenth birthday party where I painted a ceramic penguin, and had my last Macca’s (sob). Went on another swim tour today, and then swimming at Back Beach with Dylan – waves were pretty darn crazy! Tomorrow I’m going to Gnomesville with Ferne and the family, and I’m going kayaking with her sometime before I leave!

Guess who's in that Louie the Dolphin costume... yes, that's me.

It’s a strange feeling, leaving Australia and everything here behind. The May family have become my second family, and not seeing them every day will be so weird. The friends I’ve made here are from all over the world, so I suppose at least I have a good excuse to travel! I’m excited about everything that lies ahead of me. Seeing Joe, my family, and friends again, and then backpacking around Europe (official start date 19^th May!). And then, after a summer of bbq’s and nights out, road trips and ice cream, camping and beaches (albeit slightly colder than those here!), I’ll be going off to University! So although one adventure is nearly over – debatable if it can ever be ‘over’, I’ve made friends for life here – there are many more adventures just waiting to begin.

P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, SYDNEY!

Opera House & Harbour Bridge

Home in three weeks now! Crazy eh?

Christine (France), Selina (Germany), me (UK). We like to joke about what people back in 1914 would have thought of this friendship...

I said goodbye to Selina the sea cucumber just before I went to Sydney, which was sad! She plans on heading home to Berlin a little earlier than planned so she’s there when me and Joe pass through on our interrail trip in June though, so it won’t be long until I see her! We spent our last day together taking a TON of photos on the beach with Christine, and then went to the cinema to see The Host. She was worried she might not be able to follow all the English, but I only had to explain a couple of things – ‘interrogate’ and ‘pity’ are two words she didn’t know.

I went on a road trip the day before flying – we drove for over six hours to the outback which was crazy – seeing these ‘towns’ in the middle of nowhere with just two houses and a church. Saw a road train, and stopped off at a salt lake, which is essentially just thick white salt where all the water has evaporated in the heat and lack of rain. They’re pretty beautiful.

Walking across a salt lake

My flight out to Sydney was delayed, and my one back was too – I’m thinking there’s something with me and flights! In the airport I left my travel folder in a shop, containing tickets, hostel info, and passport. I went back and thankfully it was still there! Going to excuse myself as it was 11pm, but I’m sure mum is regretting letting me come out here alone! (haven’t told her I did that yet, so sorry mum! Haha)

Sunset on the Opera House

I stayed in a hostel for the first three nights, and then went to stay with Eliza, my penpal (I talked about this in an earlier post, so read back!) The hostel was in Kings Cross, which is summed up in the guidebooks as being “only a ten-minute walk from the city, with its own train station and is always lively. In recent years, it has shakedn the worst of its renowned red-light and drug-abuse sleaze and is once again popular with backpackers.” It wasn’t that bad!

Me with Harbour Bridge

I headed straight out to the harbour to see the bridge and the Opera House. Seeing that sight with your own eyes is just… captivating. I spent so long just taking it in. I visited Customs House, which had a scale model of Sydney underneath a glass floor that you could walk across, the State Library, which was a really old-school kind of library, Hyde Park Convict Barracks Museum, which was a really old building with a fascinating history, and St Mary’s Cathedral. I also went around the NSW Parliament building by accident! I was looking for a post office and was told the nearest one was inside there, so I went through the security and posted my letters, and was then asked if I fancied seeing the upper house chamber! Of course I did! The security there was much less strict than in the UK – I was just left alone in the chamber to do what I wanted. I saw fireworks over the harbour, as well as my first koala in the entrance to a Wildlife Park! I walked across Harbour Bridge and then got a ferry back across the harbour. I went shopping in Darling Harbour (woops – going to struggle so much getting everything back home), and made new friends in the hostel. Eliza and I got on well, and her family are some of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. I spent Friday night at Hillsong Sydney’s youth group (about 500 youth!) where Eliza is a youth leader, and then the whole of Sunday at Hillsong Church. It was pretty awesome being at the ‘original’ Hillsong!

Blue Mountains

I spent a day exploring the Blue Mountains. This is such a beautiful area, where I saw waterfalls, the Three Sisters, and climbed up the Giant’s Staircase (over 900 steps!)

A full day hiking through the Blue Mountains

On my last day I’d wanted to go to Bondi Beach, but Sydney’s unpredictable weather decided to pour with rain, so instead I just stayed in the city. I actually spent the morning drinking coffee with Hugo and his girlfriend Honor – mine and Hugo’s families were really close when we were younger and then he moved away. We haven’t actually seen each other in about 5 years, but were in Sydney at the same time, so hey, why not? It was great catching up, if a little surreal!

When saying goodbye to Eliza’s family, her mum gave me some necklaces from the Philippines (where she’s from) so that I “remember them when I wear them”. Like I said, they’re the sweetest family. I had about an hours sleep, and then got up to leave the house at 3am! Sitting in a station in Sydney for an hour at 4 in the morning was an interesting experience…

Half Way!

So now I’m back in Bunbury! I got home to a letter from Joe (finally! :P), a postcard from Emma in Switzerland, a card from Harry in Rwanda (which he’d posted three months ago – the African postal system is unique…), a bracelet and card from Joe’s family, and an Easter parcel from mum. Unfortunately the parcel was full of chocolate, which had all melted. An hour in the freezer and it’s (nearly) as good as new though!

Easter parcel chocolate carnage

Month Two of Life Down Under

I haven’t updated this in around a month (woops!) Been very busy, which is a good thing, so I hope you can forgive me!

Part One – 26^th Feb – 13^th March

Things at the DDC (Dolphin Discovery Centre) are going great! Making so many amazing friends from all over the world, all with varying levels of English which has been a good experience! Also, I don’t think I’ve ever used my French so much since I’ve been in Australia – talking to French tourists when their English isn’t so good – I never thought I’d be using my A Level so much!

One thing that’s great about Australia is that wherever you are, there’s a beach. Going for spontaneous swims after working a morning at the DDC is pretty fun :) I’m getting to recognise the dolphins much more, and have a favourite – Eclipse. She’s about 6, and it so playful, swimming really close to you, rolling over onto her back, splashing water at you – she’s brilliant!

Kids Fun Day

We had a kids fun day at the centre which was really good fun. I was in charge of the badge making and now have a small collection of badges that were made for me by various children. At the end of the day we were just settling down for drinks on the deck when we had a phone call from the research team who were bringing in a dead dolphin that had been found in the harbour. It was only about a year old, and smelled disgusting. I stuck around to help out though, and consequently have thrown away a pair of flip flops as they were covered in dolphin blood. We lifted it (yep, I can now add touching a dead dolphin to my list of achievements) into the freezer to await an autopsy. If anyone goes looking for an ice cream in there, they’ll get a 

surprise!

Possum!

Joey :)

I have been Stand Up Paddle Boarding (yes, it’s a thing!) which involves standing up on a board (similar to a surf board) with a long paddle and propelling yourself through the water. Was pretty sure I’d fall in, but I actually wasn’t bad! Also been for a few coffees, and had a bbq on Back Beach with some other volunteers which was fun :) Did my first couple of swim tours too - going out on the boat and swimming with dolphins! I think that’s all that’s noteworthy, but it’s hard to remember everything! Really, I’ve just been busy, but had a lot of fun, and made some great friends :)

Swim tour: Selina, Ferne, me, Lisa

Part Two: Perth

Perth was great! It was nice to see a city, to tell the truth. It reminded me of Birmingham, lots of tall buildings and concrete, but there were lots of little quirks in Perth that gave it a great character.

Night view of Perth

I’ve been shopping far too much in the Op Shops (basically charity shops) but they are so cheap here! Also all the shops are having their end of summer sales, which is perfect to me because when I arrive back in England it will be just in time for summer!

Fremantle

Fremantle is a town just south of Perth, and I went there for a day and fell in love with the place. The markets were amazing, all these quirky little stalls, street performers and live music. It was like Covent Garden, only less pretentious. The atmosphere was brilliant. Walked along the seafront watching the sun set, and listening to people playing guitar… seriously, Fremantle is gorgeous.

Piano at Fremantle markets

I explored the museum in Perth which featured a huge collection of meteorites, and a section on European colonisation which I soaked up (missing learning about history!) and I even took notes on a scrap of paper I had in my bag. Commitment, eh? Haha. I also visited Parliament House - which has nothing on the UK Houses of Parliament in terms of architecture – and King’s Park, the world’s biggest inner city park (even bigger than NY’s Central Park!) The views over the city and Swan River were gorgeous. I visited AQWA – the aquarium – and loved it! There was a 98m underwater tunnel with giant manta rays, a huge loggerhead turtle, and lots of sharks which swam right over your head! On Sunday night I found a cute little church to go to – it was just the Pastor and his wife, and a congregation of around ten, but it was a really good little place; felt very welcome.

Shark at AQWA

A further thing that happened that week was some very good news I got at about 4 am… Joe got into university to become a vet! If you know us at all, you will know how much of a journey this has been, but yes, he is now going to be a vet! I was so happy! (An emotion I rarely feel being woken at 3.30 am!)

Sunset in Freo

Part Three: Back home.

It has been great to be back home (Australian home) with my second family. I had a few days of feeling pretty down actually. Firstly, the journey back from Perth was a nightmare. I was meeting a friend from the DDC, Conny, who was giving me a lift back, but on my way to meet her the wheel on my suitcase broke, so I had to literally drag it through Perth. It was awful. Then on the freeway on the drive home a huge rock flew up and put a pretty big crack in the windscreen, which was scary! That evening I found out some stuff from England that set me thinking, and all in all I was not in a brilliant mood! The past few days at the DDC though, have been really good in teaching me that wherever you go, you will find friends. I was struggling with not having my friends from the UK around me, but then when I got talking to the girls from the DDC it hit me that we’re all in the same boat – away from home, with these new friends we’ve only known a few weeks. We all spilled some stuff, and there were some tears, but it’s pretty amazing knowing that you can talk about all this stuff. Also have been talking to Mandy (my stand-in mum here) and she was brilliant to talk to. The problem is that people assume that ‘real life’ doesn’t happen because you’re in Australia, but believe me, it does! You just have to learn that you do have friends around you, just not the ones you’re used to!

Have been saying a few goodbyes lately, so the Sundowner on Friday was the last ‘social’ event with some of the girls! Anouchka left on Saturday, Lisa on Sunday, and I’ll have to say goodbye to Selina this week as she’ll be gone by the time I get back from Sydney! I’m definitely going to visit her in Berlin though – we get on so well, and we’ve only been friends a few weeks. I spent Sunday being followed by a camera  - Lisa (Sweden) is filming a pilot documentary to send to some companies about people who work with dolphins, and she stalked me for the day to shoot ‘A day in the life of a volunteer’. It was strange, but fun!

Busy being a tourist...

I’m headed to Perth (again) on Friday to fly out to Sydney on Sunday night, and will be back in WA on the 10^th of April, at which point I’ll only have three weeks left in Australia! This trip has absolutely flown by, but I am looking forward to seeing Joe, family, and friends again. And then to backpacking around Europe!

I've been here a month?!

(wrote this midweek)

Yep, that’s right, I have officially been in Australia for one whole month. Actually, more than a month, but I’ve been pretty busy these past couple of weeks so the update has had to wait until now. I’ll try to be brief!

Car washing

On Friday, Greg took me to the Speedway. It was pretty awesome! A car set on fire, and there were a few crashes – I was biting my nails the whole time. On Saturday night, I went out with the girls for Bronte’s birthday to a Chinese restaurant (yes, I survived!) Afterwards we went for a late night beach trip, and then onto Henry’s for coffee and smoothies. It was strange being in a group of all girls because most of my closest friends are guys. I’d forgotten how much drama there is with a big group of girls!

The girls

Sunday was the long-awaited ‘Mystery Tour’ for Greg’s birthday. It was also the day I saw my first Australian rain! It turned out that we were going on a Bushtucker Canoe tour! It was such an amazing day! We canoed all up the Margaret River – well, we tried. Our boat was not the most successful at the canoeing – in the boat race we got out and pushed as it turned out to be faster… We stopped along the river for a proper bushtucker lunch – I had wild fruits and then tried kangaroo (yum), emu (bland), and crocodile (too fishy in texture for me). The kangaroo went nicely with the sundried tomato bread and bush chutney! Next stop was a cave. Now, I’m pretty claustrophobic, and was reluctant to even go into the cave, but I did. Then, we were offered the chance to do a cave tunnel crawl. I really wanted to seize the opportunity, but was worried I’d panic in the middle of the tunnel. In the end, Bec just grabbed me and pulled me in behind her! I’m so glad I did it though! You had to crawl through gaps that were only just big enough to fit through, and there were parts where you had to pull yourself along on your elbows and belly. I was so proud of myself when I came out the other end! Went for a quick swim in the river to wash some of the mud off. After the canoe tour was done, we stopped off at the Margaret River Chocolate Factory. It’s a good thing I don’t live in Margaret River, because I would be at that place all the time. It was completely free, and you could just help yourself to as much chocolate as you wanted! I had so much that I couldn’t even eat bring myself to eat ice cream afterwards.

Canoe Crew

This was my first week at the Dolphin Discovery Centre, which I am loving! There’s an aquarium with a crazy octopus, seahorses and starfish the kids can touch, and a turtle that’s being rehabilitated. I fed the turtle the other day which was awesome :) The centre is right on the beach, and there’s a group of wild dolphins which swim in pretty much every morning. Big Nick practically never leaves. When a dolphin comes in, all the volunteers head to the beach and guide the public into the water to stand in a line at about thigh-deep level. The dolphins love people, and swim right in front of you, so close that you could touch them. It’s a pretty amazing experience – and I do it every day! Aside from the dolphins and other animals, the other volunteers there are brilliant. There’s loads of people around my age (although I think I’m the youngest!) and I’m making friends from all over the world! We had our first Sundowner on Friday after work, which is drinks and a bbq at the centre. I bought a 1.18 ltr bottle of Bud for $8 – bargain! Don’t worry, I didn’t drink it all myself, Julia (from Germany) shared it.

I spent a good half a day at the library on Thursday sorting out university-related things, and I still haven’t achieved much! It’s hard to think about all that while I’m in Oz, although I am missing education – I spent last night teaching Bec about sibilance and multiple co-ordination, haha. Yesterday, Mandy and I drove to Busselton and had lunch and went for a swim. When I came out of the sea, I had a weird itchy swelling on my back, with no clue as to how I’d got it. It could have been a jellyfish, but surely I would have felt it as it stung me?

The legend Big Nick

It’s just over a fortnight till I head to Perth for a week, and then I have just over a week at home before flying to Sydney for ten days! When I’m back from there, I only have three weeks left in Australia! The time here is going far too quickly for my liking!

Listening to the radio – feel proud to hear the ‘Poms’ Ed Sheeran and McFly played!