Farm Diaries- Journey to the farm

Me, Amy and Alex (our newly recruited best friend from Melbourne,) said our goodbyes to the city we'd called home for the last 3 months and got on a plane to Townsville, North Queensland.

Due to an aircraft downgrade, we ended up not sitting together. Amy took one for the team and sat next to the grumpy old woman who instead of getting up to let Amy in, told her to 'just climb over me.'

After an otherwise uneventful flight, we started to see land as we decended into Townsville. When I say land, what I mean is large stretches of nothing, stretching for miles all around us. 

Amy running from a bee after the plane

Though Townsville is actually on the East Coast, between Cairns and Brisbane, it really felt like we'd arrived in the outback. Amy made the executive decision to spend a night in Townsville instead of getting on the bus to Bowen (where the farm is,) that night. 

           Townsville beach front

Townsville, the capital of North Queensland, reminded us a lot of a small holiday town. There's a small strip of shops, with a couple of pubs and restaurants just up from the beach. We probably saw about half a dozen people the whole time we were there. 

 It took us a while to adjust from the British style climate of Melbourne to 30+ degrees of Queensland, but the weather, beach and holiday- style beach front cafes, made us feel like we were on holiday. 

         The beach in Townsville

Once we'd explored Townsville, (probably a bit too well,) we caught a bus to go 3 and a half hours further out the way to the farm town of Bowen. Seeing maybe two cars on the whole journey gave us an indication of how quiet Bowen would be. 

We checked into the hostel and got our names on the list for farm work. Backpackers are granted one visa to stay for a year in Australia, and in order to obtain a second year visa, you have to do 3 months farm work - so here we were!

          Arriving at the hostel

The hostel finds the work, tells you when something is available and takes you to the farm. Unfortunately, the season didn't start until April so had around a week spare.

If Townsville seemed quiet then Bowen is something else. A high street of maybe half a dozen shops, one pub and an IGA was pretty much all Bowen had to offer. The beach, even though quite nice, doesn't have any areas of dry sand and as it's the 'stinging season,' you're not allowed to swim in the sea.

        The beach in Bowen

We made the best of stretching out small activities. Me and Alex went for a walk along the beach, (while Amy watched Hollyoaks!) Walking a little up the road we soon felt like we were in the outback. 

          The Bowen outback...

When Alex's hat flew off into the sea, we decided to walk across the sand to retrieve it from the other side of the beach. We had to abort the mission when we noticed hundreds of tiny crabs whilst walking across the sand!

      One of about a million crabs! 

The next day, we got told we had work that afternoon. And so the fun began....

Top 10 things to do in Melbourne

After living in this beautiful city for nearly 3 months, I thought I'd comprise a list of the best things to do in Melbourne. So here's mine (and Amy's) list of the Melbourne must sees....

1. Obviously we'll have to start the list with the giant purse. Situated outside Bourke Street H&M in the city centre, the purse captures the essence of Melbourne perfectly. A hipster city filled with random statues - from the purse to some giant leaves, to a library in the ground, you won't fail to be impressed.

          Amy with the Giant Purse

2. The botanic gardens make number 2 on the list. Barely out of the city centre, it's incredible how peaceful the gardens are. Perfect for a sunny Sunday afternoon, the gardens are mesmerising- filled with beautiful flowers, unusual trees, lakes and pathways into the unknown. 

        Sunday stroll in the gardens

3. Melbourne Central comes in at number three. While it may look like just a shopping centre/ station, there's everything from markets, to English pubs, to a clock that dances every hour! 

      Melbourne Central dancing clock

4. If you want a view of the whole city, Eureka Sky Deck is the place to go. The tallest residential building in the world is a perfect place to sit and watch the sunset whilst spotting your favourite spots around the city.

      The city at sunset from the top

        

5. Penguins might not be what you would expect to see in Melbourne, which is why St Kilda Peir penguins is number 5. Not only can you see the cutest little penguins appearing from the rocks and swimming in the sea, but you also get an amazing view of the city from across from the bay.

Penguin watching- city across the water

6. Even though Melbourne might not be famous for its beaches, Sandringham beach and Brighton beach are both well worth a visit. Brighton is full of multicoloured beach huts- each one a different design, and Sandringham has clear waters and sandy shores.

             Brighton beach huts

7. If you're in Melbourne in the summer, Queen Victoria Market is the place to go on a Wednesday evening. Cuisines from all over the world, live music, market stalls and entertainment, make it the perfect place to hang out after work.

          Queen Victoria Market

8. Melbourne has a great choice of sporting events, from cricket and football to F1 and tennis-  the latter of which you can watch in Federation Square. Not only does Fed Square televise the entire Australian Open on the big screen, (perfect for a tennis fan like me,) but it also has a whole host of activities held there, as well as some great bars and restaurants. 

      At Fed Square watching Feds

9. The best spot to relax by the River Yarra, has to be Southbank. You can soak in the view of the city, whilst listening to all kinds of talented street performers and musicians. Make sure to go to trivia night at Belgium Beer Cafe on Tuesday -unfortunately no Chicken Parma for $20 though!

     Across the lock bridge to Southbank

10. I couldn't write a top 10 Melbourne list without touching on the music scene. Electronic Picnic is a day festival held on a Sunday (Yep, a Sunday!) where several international DJs play. While I'm not the biggest electronic music fan, EP has a great atmosphere, and held at a different location every week, is a interesting way to see the city! 

               Electronic Picnic

So that's the list... Stay tuned for Farm Diaries! 

First impressions of Melbourne

Amy and I flew from Singapore to Melbourne (on a slightly suspect Malaysian Airways flight,) to find the landing temperature of 15 degrees was far from the tropical climate we had expected from Australia. 

We were soon told by about 600 different people that Melbourne has '4 seasons in a day' which I'd say isn't exactly true but a Melbourne summer is a lot like summer in Britain- it can go from scorching hot, to cold and rainy without much notice at all. 

Melbourne- day one- restaurant tram

Once we were settled, and had sorted out all the essentials (phone, bank and tax file number- yep the unemployed dream was over!) we explored the city.

Melbourne is famous for its street art and multiculturalism. As soon as we got off the tram we discovered this to be true. A giant purse was located randomly outside H and M, and the streets were full of street artists, and musicians.

     Who doesn't love the giant purse?

Our street art hunt took us to a small street with a drawing at the end. Of course Princess Amy didn't think the street art was good enough so after hunting further, we came across a street full of incredible street art. 

 Melbourne street art- Amy liked this bit

We found a flat and job and I sucessfully managed to persuade Amy to come with me to the Australian Open. We got to see some amazing tennis matches- Canada's Raonic winning his 4th round match, a rather entertaining legends doubles match, Jamie Murray's doubles- (of course we were more excited about meeting Judy!) and Amy's future husband, John Isner, who at 6"10 is almost as tall as her! 

    Legend's doubles- Australian Open

Normal size tennis ball- we're just small

We met up with my friend, Bridget, who I'd met in Vietnam, and we went to a vegetarian restaurant called 'Lentil as Anything.' Of course I got lost, but when we'd eventually found it, we discovered it to be a buffet style restaurant, located in a quiet clearing on the outskirts of town. The restaurant is run by volunteers, and you pay what you want for your meal. Amy would have rather had a bit of steak, however it was an awesome experience. 

        Inside Lentil As Anything

There's still loads more of Melbourne we need to see while were here, but we're really loving Melbourne so far! 

A cracking week in Singapore

After 11 weeks apart, I finally got to go to Singapore airport to meet my bestie! Once Amy had slept off her jet lag, and I'd slept off 11 weeks in Asia, we ventured out to go to the Singapore Flyer.

While the Singapore Flyer (basically the London Eye,) is the tallest wheel in the world, next to all the huge buildings it appeared a lot smaller. At 165m it's actually 30meters taller than the London Eye. 

       Us on the Singapore Flyer

The carriage next to us with a view of the 50 years of Singapore display

It was cool to see the whole city. It was really hard to not compare it to London- Marina Bay was just like Canary Whalf, the river could have been the Thames, and the architecture was very western. 

We decided to be a little indulgent and have a drink at the top of Marina Bay Sands, which is a very posh hotel. Even though drinks were really expensive, it was impressive to see the whole city from the top.

50 years since Singapore had become a city

       Us pretending to be posh

The next day we headed to Singapore Zoo. The Zoo doesn't have cages as others do and the animals have more room to roam around the enclosures. There were different sections for each part of the world and we got to see loads animals ranging from kangaroos and snakes to lions, giraffes, penguins and polar bears! 

     Driving the fake zoo car 

          The cute little penguins 

We watched the sea lion show. I was impressed by how clever the sea lion was, from fetching someone's watch to hiding it's face when complimented!

After a pretty mental NYE... (We went to a beach party, - I ended up wondering off on my own and somehow woke up at home, leaving Amy to in the foam party bit on her own!) ...we had a chilled day where we explored China Town and Little India.

                Little India

The beach party was on Sentosa Island. We went back there on the 2nd to do something called 'luge.' You're in a small go-kart type thing without wheels, and go around a track that's sloping down hill. It was lots of fun and to get to the top we got to go in a ski lift which was cool.

           The Luge car on the ski lift

After quickly checking out the beach, which looked very nice but quite man-made, we went to Gardens by the Bay. Naturally I got confused and we ended up at the Botonic Gardens first! It was nice to see that as well though. The Gardens by the Bay have lots of viewing towers which look like they could be some kind of giant flower, that would feature in Harry Potter! 

        The beach on Sentosa Island

The look-out towers at the Gardens by the Bay

Our final day in Singapore was one our best- we went to Universal Studios! There is 7 different sections all themed- Transformers, Madagascar, Shreak, Ancient Egypt, Sesamy Street, Hollywood and Jurrasic Park, and each had different rides and attractions. 

        Us by the Universal Sign

In the Hollywood section, they showed you how special affects are created in films, by simulating a tornado. As well as the rides, and a visit to the castle from Shreak, we watched the Underwater World show, which was full of stunts and special affects. We had a great day, running around the park like big kids! It was a great end to our Singapore trip, before catching a plane to Melbourne, Australia. 

    Us by the castle from Shreak! 

    The firework show at the end

Back to Thailand

After deciding that I didn't want to spend Christmas in the rain in Malaysia- where most backpackers seemed to be just passing through, I headed North to Thailand.

Thailand seems to have its own time and my boat and bus crossing to Koh Lanta ended up being an extra 3 hours more rather than the extra 15 mins I had been told.

        Not 15 mins boat ride! 

I met some guys on the bus from England, Canada, Holland, and Australia. We all spent the next day hiring bikes to explore the island. 

Koh Lanta was a lot bigger than I was expecting. We spent about 2 hours circling the top of the island in search for some caves, in the bottom part of the island. I think there must have been a small turning to access the other road. It was good to see the island nonetheless, and we managed to see some elephants at the side of the road.

            The elephants 

The rain stopped us from doing too much over the next couple of days, though I did get some much needed time at the beach and saw a nice sunset.

        Sunset on Koh Lanta

My original Christmas plans were to go to Koh Phi Phi, but after being pursuaded to join the guys in Krabi, I went to Phi Phi for the day to meet a couple of friends, before catching a boat to Krabi.

       The boats on Koh Phi Phi 

While Krabi isn't as nice as Phi Phi- which is a small, paradise island with incredible beaches and nightlife- it had more to do in the day, especially if it rains. 

We explored the island on bikes- there are a lot of interesting rocks, as well as beaches. We went to a beach full of monkeys. I can't say I'm the biggest fan so I kept my distance, and went for a paddle in the sea instead!

       One of the beaches in Krabi

We spent Christmas meeting Thai Santa, eating duck soup, seeing a bit more of the island and partying hard! 

           Me and Thai Santa

 I'm not the best with the selfie stick...

Duck soup... Still need my Christmas dinner! 

I headed to Phuket the next day, and got to experience another crazy bus driver on the way there. I spent the night in Phuket- I didn't see too much of it, but had a look around the night market. I caught a flight the next day to Singapore and enjoyed a night in a room with the air con on so much I might as well have been in a fridge! 

Experiencing Malaysia in a week

Kuala Lumpur was not what I expected from Malaysia. A built up city with many shopping malls and good transport links, it was definitely the most developed city of anywhere I'd been in Asia so far.

             Street in KL

I did quite like KL however, and spent the day walking around the city with some girls I'd met in the hostel. For sunset we went up KL tower. At 420 meters tall, it's not quite as high as the Petronius Towers (which at 452m were the tallest building in the world until 2004) but gives you a great view of the whole city.

By the towers

Me by the towers

The Petronus Towers from KL Tower

After I'd climbed the 270 stairs to the Batu Caves the next day, and took the picture of the big statue, I met up with Laura and Rich, and we saw the towers at night and a fountain show. They look so much better at night- there's something quite captivating about them. The fountain show was really good as well- there were lots of multicoloured water jets.

The stairs to the Batur Caves

Me with the Towers at night

        The water fountain show

Having ticked most of the sights in KL off the list, we headed North to Penang. The city is well known for its street art. Laura and Rich, and me and Hannah, (who we'd met on the bus,) hired Tandem bikes to get around. While this was hilarious at first, they are so hard to ride and our bike kept breaking! 

    Riding around on a tandem bike! 

The street art was really good though it was more spread out then I'd hoped and it was hard to locate on the map. It's rainy season in Malaysia so the rain made us less motivated to explore more.

    Some of the street art in Penang

           More Penang street art

We got the boat the next day to Langkawi, in the very North of Malaysia. I was expected a small undeveloped island, but we discovered that not only was it the opposite but did not feel like an island at all. 

Main roads ran around the island, and it was considerably bigger than I'd expected- at least an hour drive!

           Langkawi sign

The beach in Langkawi is really nice and once the weather had cleared up, we got to check out the beach. Hannah, me and Beth and Gemma, (2 English girls we'd met,) hired a banana boat which was really fun- you sit on a banana and a boat pulls you along trying to throw you off! 

          Us on the banana boat

        Langkawi beach

We spent the next day at the cable car in Langkawi. It is the longest free span, single rope cable car in the world, covering a distance of 950 meters. 

     Riding the cable car up

The view at the top was amazing- we could see all round Langkawi as well as some neighbouring islands in Thailand. 

Us at the top (was very windy) with the view

I got a boat to Koh Lanta in Thailand the next day- I wanted to go there as we'd missed it last time I was in Thailand.