My Gap Year

North Yorkshire Show

2011-06-23T12:57:00.002+01:00

The most recent show i sold my oil at was the North Yorkshire show in Northallerton. It was quite a large show and i managed to sell enough things to make me happy. I had just bought 2 large banners and a traditional looking Catalonia table cloth so my stand looked the part. At this rate, i may even be able to afford to do a bit more travelling before going to uni.

I managed to get a good spot at the show and the stand opposite me was a local brewer from Northallerton, they brewed some good beers and gave me a discounted rate, so i wasn't complaining. This is also one of the perks of doing agricultural shows, i can have pint and a bacon sandwich while i work.

When i'm not doing the shows, i'm attempting to arrange meetings with deli's and farmshops who will hopefully start stocking the oil. My sales patter is starting to sound pretty good.
I've still got no more plans to travel this year but hopefully i might be able to afford a few weeks in Europe before i have to go to uni.

Thorncliffe Farm Shop

2011-06-12T19:08:00.003+01:00

Yesterday i spent the day selling olive oil at one of the local farm shops i live near. I had planned to sell my products outside the door, so knowing what the weather in England is like, i though i better buy a gazebo for a bit of shelter. I arrive at the farm shop half an hour early so i could set up, this all went well until the minute i set up when a big gust of wind blew, which lifted up my gazebo and smashed it into the farm shop, wrecking it in the process. To add insult to injury, a jar of honey was knocked off the table and smashed on the floor which lead to me cutting my finger when clearing up the mess! It's safe to say it was not a good start to my day.

After causing a scene outside the shop, the owner asked me if i wanted to stand inside the shop instead which i graciously accepted. It was a steady day but i managed to sell a few products and promote Prima Oliva, i also saw Christa (our local evening news reader) which was one for the book.

I don't have any photos from the day, i took my camera but realised that i'd forgotten the memory card for it. You live and learn!

Kenilworth Show

2011-06-05T12:04:00.002+01:00

Yesterday i did my first show of the summer, Kenilworth show, selling my olive oil and other Spanish products. Despite the French stopping the lorry carrying our latest order, meaning it didn't arrive in time for the show, we had a great day and sold plenty of oil.

At the show, we were located in the food hall. The people next to us in there were a Mediterranean business selling nuts and olives (which we also sell as well as the olive oil), this hindered the sales a little but the majority of people who tried our Arbequina Olives bought them and by lunchtime i had my sales patter down to a tee!

We handed out plenty of business cards at the show which will hopefully drive some traffic to our website in the future (www.prima-oliva.co.uk).

Next week, i'll be going around the local farm shops and Delicatessens trying to get my oil stocked. Hopefully i'll sell lots more oil in the next week!

My New Ride!

2011-06-01T15:48:00.000+01:00

I bought my first van last week, a Citroen Berlingo! This now makes me a white van man, some may say the scum of society, i'd say it makes me a legitimate business man!

I've got no more plans to travel abroad this year due to a lack a money, however i'll be touring the UK in my van, going to various agricultural shows. The purpose of buying a van is so i can transport my olive oil (my business venture) to the shows around the UK and with a bit of luck make a load of money. My business is called 'Prima Oliva', a web based business selling olive oil, olives, almonds and honey. I'm doing the agricultural shows to try and get my business established and hopefully drive some traffic to the website.

This Saturday i will selling at the Kenilworth show so if anyone's going to be there, come and pay me a visit and i'll persuade you to buy something!

Eight Elephants Hostel Taipei!

2011-05-18T16:06:00.001+01:00

I've just arrived home from spending a month in Taipei in Taiwan. I'd planned to try and see a lot more in Taiwan than just Taipei but after a few days i realised that Taipei is huge and i would need most of the month to see everything there.

In Taipei i stayed in a hostel called Eight Elephants hostel, this is probably the best hostel i've stayed in in the last 8 months of travelling. Everything about the hostel was awesome, especially the staff and people staying there. The hostel had a great atmosphere and i spent many days and nights just chilling there having a few beers with whoever was there at the time.

Even though i was staying in Taipei by myself, i rarely went sightseeing or on nights out by myself. On the first night for example, i was the only person in the hostel but when the staff working finished there shift they took me out to a karaoke bar with some of there friends. The only problem with this was that, on a good day i am a terrible singer, and after a 14 hour flight i was even worse; they on the other had were all awesome at singing.

As well as being amazing at singing, the staff at the hostel we also really friendly and outgoing. When i arrived in Taipei, they helped me to find some Chinese lessons, suggested places i could go and see and always let me in when i forgot my key (this happened quite often, sorry guys!). If you ever needed an address they'd always help you find it, even if you wanted a pizza ordering to the hostel they'd do it for you. It was as though they were also guests at the hostel, they'd always be down it the lounge with us and were easy to get along with and would even come with us on the occasional night out.

Anyone going to Taipei has to stay here, you'll regret it if you don't!

The last night at the hostel was one of the best nights i had in Taipei, after a few beers at the hostel we decided to go to karaoke again. I had to leave for the airport at about 6am and didn't want to go to sleep that night because i knew i wouldn't be able to wake up in the morning. Everyone was awesome and stayed up with me, we stayed at karaoke for about 5 hours and got a train back to the hostel at about 6.30am (a little later than expected but i still made it to the airport on time). Once again my singing was awful but i came to the conclusion that it got better with the more beers i drank! It was a night to remember.

Thanks to everyone who worked, stayed at Eight Elephants and came out with us, you made my trip awesome!

I'll be back for sure!

Siaoyoukang & Yehlie Geopark, Taiwan

2011-05-16T14:12:00.001+01:00

It's been raining in Taipei constantly for the last 3 days, and the day i went to Siaoyoukang was no different, in fact i think it rained the more that day than the last 2 combined. Siaoyoukang is a national park about an hour north of Taipei. Apparently there are large areas of hot springs due to the volcanic activity below. Unfortunaley i wasn't able to see much of it due to the thick fog that only allowed you to see a few feet in front of you. The picture below is what we went to see, the second is us standing about 5 metres in front of it...

Even though we didn't see the main feature of the area, we still saw some small hot springs bubbling away. I was even able to warm my hand us on some of the surrounding rocks.

After attempting to see the springs, we headed further north and went to the Yehlie Geopark. This a beach full of weirdly shaped rock formations, supposedly one shaped like the queens head. Its an iconic symbol in Taiwan. We spent a fair amount of time walking around the area before going to a restaurant to try some of the famous sea food.

The Queens Head

The Princesses head, when the Queen neck errodes/ collapses, the princess will be the new Queen to keep the tourism going!

When we had refuelled and dried slightly, we ventured back out into the pouring rain and down the cost to an old gold mining area that used to be run by the Japanese. We we able to go in some old restored Japanese houses and i even touched a bar of gold worth over 3 hundred million Taiwanese dollars.

When we'd finished drooling over the gold bar, we headed back to Taipei for a steak, i hadn't had a steak in over a month so it went down a treat!

The waterfall above flowed over an old gold mining area, where the river met the sea you could the colour difference between sea water and the fresh water due to the yellow sediment from the hills.

Wulai, Taipei

2011-05-14T19:44:00.000+01:00

The other day was the hottest day i've had in Taiwan so far, it was 35 degrees with 70% humidity! So stupidly i decided to go to Wulai and walk 16km in this heat. Wulai is a small town in Taipei famous for its hot springs and aboriginal culture. Most people go to Wulai to visit the hot spring or the Wulai waterfall, we saw these things within the first hour of being there so decided to explore some more, what was going to be a 1 hour walk up the river turned into a 4 hour hike! We also gave the hot spring a miss because it was a little too warm.

Before jumping in at the deep end, we decided to get some food to build up our energy for the day ahead. We'd heard that Wulai was famous for its fresh vegetables and wild bore. We found a restaurant and ordered a bunch of stuff and were sure we ordered some wild bore but i'm not convinced that we actually had any. Nether the less the food was pretty enjoyable.

After refuelling, we set off on our hike. However, we felt a little bloated so instead of walking the first part of the journey we took a little train about 2km up the valley. This took us to the Wulai waterfall and a few aboriginal shops. From here we walked about 4km to a woodland area with another waterfall and some walking tracks up one of the mountains. The waterfall was quite beautiful but we did not expect the walk that was to come. Once again we set off without a map and just followed our noses (this turned out to be a bad idea, we took one track for 2km up the mountain, when we go to the end of the track there was nothing there, not even a view, so we had to turn back and walk all the way back down.

We saw a fair amount of wildlife that day including lizards and frogs, i was more interested in seeing snakes but that day it seemed that it wasn't meant to be!

Maokong, Taipei

2011-05-11T17:11:00.000+01:00

Moakong is the name given to the Southern hills of Taipei, they have a history of tea growing and there are numerous tea shops dotted around. This is where i went the other day and is probably my favorite place in Taipei. Despite spending 10 hours here, i still didn't have time to see all the sights here, in fact i think i saw very little. My main problem is planning, or a lack of; this normally means that i arrive at place and wander around for about an hour hoping to discover something, when this fails i usually go the information booth and find a map and some information. This is pretty much how my day started.

To get to the top of Moakong, you take a 20 minute gondola which had some pretty amazing views, they would have been more amazing if it wasn't cloudy/ Taipei wasn't so polluted. The gondola had a few stops to get off at, one being Taipei zoo. I didn't get off here because i'd been here before; the second stop however stopped at a place called Zhinan Temple. I got off here an had a look round for a while, there were a couple of temples here and a few short walks round the mountain. There wasn't so much to see here so after about an hour i got back onto the gondola and proceeded to the top!

A 10 minute gondola ride later i had arrived at the top. This is when i did my usual thing of walking around aimlessly for an hour. I had heard that there was a temple over the other side of the mountain, that had a tunnel in it that came out behind a waterfall, i though this sounded like a pretty good place to go. Even though i didn't know where it was or have a map, i decided to try and find it. The search started pretty well, there was a sign post for a trail i knew would take me close to the falls. The only problem was that i had to get to the top of the mountain which mean climbing about 700 steps, due to a combination of me not doing much exercise in a long and the weather being very humid meant that this was a struggle and by the time i got to the top i was knackered! At the top was a very small path with a sign leading down the other side of the mountain, it look as though no one had been down in a very long time but i thought 'what's the worst that can happen' and continued on anyway.

I walked down this path to the bottom of the valley for about an hour, it wasn't the easiest track in the world, some parts of the part had worn away, others were covered in slippery rock and on some bits, the decent was so steep that a rope had been tied round a tree to help you down. It was after about 40 minutes down this path when i realised that there weren't any signposts or markers but i didn't think anything of this and keep pushing on. Little did i know that 20 minutes later the path forked and I'd be in a bit of a dilemma. When this happened, i walked down each path for 10 minutes and didn't find anything so i gave up and walked back up the the top of the mountain. I was a little annoyed to say the least and to add insult to injury, when i got to the top, i looked in my backpack for some water and found my lonely planet guide which when i read though properly, it told me which direction to go. This has not put me off though, i will be going back to Moakong before i leave to find this place, if it's an anticlimax when i get there i won't be happy!

Needless to say i needed a rest after my pointless trek, so i went into one of the many tea shops and tried some local green tea and had a waffle to perk me up again. Maybe it was just because i was tired but this was the best waffle i'd ever eaten.

I think i stayed in the teashop for about 2 and a half hours before thinking that i should probably get a bit more exercise so went for another search of the area. I soon found an old Kitchen/ tea drying room which was quite interesting, but i was soon chased off by an angry sounding dog. I still don't know weather it was a tourist attraction or if i'd walked into someone's house by mistake.

I spent the rest of the day walking around the right hand side of Moakong, i visited another temple and saw numerous tea plantations and crops. It was a really cool place but i think i only saw about half of it and there are a few museums and other attractions i am yet to see so i'm planning to head back there before i return home. It's definitely a place i'd recommend to anyone going to Taiwan!

Taipei 101, The Grand Hotel & Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall

2011-05-10T14:51:00.000+01:00

I now only have a week left in Taiwan so i'm trying to do as much as i can each day. This is not as easy as it sounds and is quite a challenge! Partly because i can't seem to wake up before 10am and partly because the last 3 days have been around 30 degrees and very humid, when the weathers like this it is very tempting to spend the afternoon in a nice air conditioned bar! Nether the less, i fell i have been quite productive over the last few days.

I've been to Danshui again, i'd been here once before but didn't manage to see everything. I had another wander round the street markets and visited Fort San Domingo, a Spanish fort from the 18 hundreds. However, this was about all we saw because tiredness and the heat go the better of us so we retreated to a bar to grab a beer!

On the way back from Danshui, we stopped in at Taipei 101, the worlds second tallest building and took the worlds fastest elevator to the 90th (top) floor, this took about 36 seconds, pretty impressive i thought. The view from the top was nothing spectacular but i did get a beer float which was, in my opinion, a culinary sensation. It's basically a cup of beer with a scoop of ice cream in it. It was worth paying to go up Taipei 101 just to have one!

Last Sunday was Mothers day (sorry i didn't ring mum, it's too expensive) and i was taken out to the grand hotel by my boss in Taiwan and his family. I had a great meal (roast beef) and had a really good day. We ate in the hotel club restaurant; i am lucky because you have to be a member to go there so most tourists cannot go there.

The next day i went to the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial hall, i know even less about this guy than i did about Chiang Kai-shek, come to think of it i know nothing about Sun Yat-sen. I didn't even go inside the hall because it was too busy and i wasn't prepared to queue. I did wander round the place though and snap a few pictures. I had a good view of Taipei 101 from here too.

I didn't spend too much time at the memorial hall and decided to head towards Taipei 101 again so i could go up it in the daytime. On arrive, i realised that i wasn't willing to pay again to go up, it was very expensive compared to other attractions. Instead of going up, i went to an Irish bar with a view of the tower and had a Guinness!

Palace Museum, Din Tai Fung, Beef Noodles & Snake Alley!

2011-05-06T15:44:00.001+01:00

I think i did more walking today than i have over my entire trip in Taiwan. In the morning i went to Taipei Palace Museum, it wasn't the most exciting museum and i wasn't aloud to take pictures inside. There were hundreds of Jade, bronze and clay artefacts as well as lots of painting and parchments. I don't know how i managed to, but i was looking around for about 3 hours.

After 3 hours of walking around a museum, i had worked up a monster appetite, so i went to a famous dumpling restaurant called 'Din Tai Fung', i've eaten loads of dumpling while i've been in Taipei but these were by far the best i've ever tasted! The restaurant had 3 floors and each one was packed for most of the day, Luckily we arrive at about 3pm so didn't have to queue but if you go after 4.30pm there is normally a 2 hour wait and queue a block long.

The dumpling were amazing but there was still more to come. Close to the dumpling place was a restaurant with the best beef noodles in Taipei, since i was so close i figured i better go. I was glad i did and the noodles lived up to expectations, i had to bring some home with me though because i couldn't finish them, they'll do nicely for breakfast!

After filling up on some fine cuisine, we went to get some green tea to clear the pallet. There was a really good organic tea shop near the restaurant so we went there and i learnt how to properly brew green tea.

I'd heard about a place called snake alley which is in one of the many night markets in Taipei so our next aim of the day (technically it was dusk by this point) was to find it. After a lot of getting lost and a very long walk we finally found the market, in snake alley there are lots of restaurants that sell snake soup, which consist of meat, snake blood and snake venom, it cost $700 to buy so i didn't buy any but i've heard it tastes as bad as it sounds. You could also buy a shot of snake wine, a snake is put into a jar full of alcohol and venom, this also tastes as bad as it sounds. There was also turtle soup available, maybe i'll try it one day!

Panda Watch, Taipei Zoo

2011-05-05T04:34:00.000+01:00

I went to Taipei zoo today after deciding i wanted to be a kid for the day and realising that i'd never see a panda in my life! It was a great place, even dare i say it, better than Chester zoo (if you've not been there and you're not from England you haven't lived). Despite raining (again) for most of the day, i had an awesome time and didn't let the weather get me down. The zoo was huge and had heaps of animals to see but i couldn't for the life in me find a real giraffe, however i did find the pandas, hippos and penguins so i left a happy man. There's not much else to say about it really because at the end of the day its a zoo, and most zoos are pretty similar. I would however, recommend it to anyone going to Taipei, it's well worth a visit.

Here are a few pictures:

Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall Taipei

2011-05-03T15:48:00.000+01:00

For the last week i have been hard at work for a company in Taipei, i have now finished working for them and have 2 weeks left for sightseeing! I only had half to sightsee today because i had a Chinese lesson in the morning, i feel like i'm back at school. So i decided to go to the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, i don't know much about Taiwanese history so i thought i'd give it a go.

Chiang Kai-Shek was the political and military leader of Taiwan from 1928 - 1931, and thats about all i know about him. The Memorial hall covers 240,000 square meters and is made of concrete and marble. I picked a bad day to go and take pictures of the memorial because it was a bit overcast and rainy; its just my luck, last week when i was working, every day was between 27 and 33 degrees Celsius with blue sky's. This week however, it is forecast to rain every day, typical...

I've had some great food while i've been here though, especially for my lunch during work, tonight i went to a restaurant and had Steamed orange duck and pate and then Roast pork Shank, not a very tradition Taiwanese meal but it was still good no the less. Tomorrow i'm planning on going to the Taipei Zoo, hopefully i will see my first panda!

Taiwan, Taipei, Week 1!

2011-04-26T12:47:00.001+01:00

After about 2 months, i have finally been able to go on a decent length trip again. I've come to Taiwan for 1 month, to sight see, work and learn Chinese! It's the end of my first week and i've had a great time so far, i've sampled local food, beer, night clubs, visited temples and squat villages, played a piano on whilst on the toilet, got hit by a firework, lost numerous times and learnt some Chinese!

Taipei is a huge city and there's always plenty to do day and night. On my first few days, i took the underground to various places. I didn't have a map so i just got on a train and hoped for the best. This worked out quite well as there's something different at every station. In the day i'd visit temples, such as Longshang temple, which is full of people praying or just sitting around relaxing and by night i'd check out the night markets where you can buy all sorts of local dishes, a hearty meal costs around £2, so i never go hungry.

2 days ago i went to treasure hill artist village, it was an amazing place and used to be the home of hundreds of squatters, there is various street art throughout the alley, mainly stencils. In the village, there was a small cafe where we went for an afternoon beer, my favourite part of this cafe was the toilet, the toilet itself was fairly bog standard (bad pun) but next to it was a small piano, which was great to play, needless to say, there was a queue when i came out.

The other night, i went to a night market and had my first near death experience. Every night in Taipei you can hear fire works going off. This particular night, there were more than usual so we went to check out where they were being set off, it was in the middle of a night market and was not cordoned off at all so you could literally stand right next to the fireworks as they were going off, health and safety in England would have a fit if they saw it. There were also guys dressed up in traditional clothing who ran through big patches of fire crackers, it was crazy. We watched the fireworks for a about 10 minutes and then turned around to go find a bar, as we turned round, the fireworks must have fallen over because the next think i know is fireworks firing into the crowd and me getting hit on my leg and ankle by one. Luckily we were facing with our backs to them so we didn't get too battered. I'll keep my distance, possible had behind a box next time i go to see some.

Next week, i'm doing some work to earn some cash and planning some day trip to various places in Taiwan. I'm also doing two hours a day of Chinese lessons which are going well but it really difficult. It feels like its going to be a very good trip.

A quick visit to Spain!

2011-04-17T15:11:00.001+01:00

Yesterday i returned from a short two day trip abroad to a small village in Catalonia called Granyena. The reason for this trip was to meet two of the farmers from the village who i am now selling olive oil for in the UK. Granyena only has a population of 150 and relies mainly on the production and sales of olive oil. I decided this year to take on the task of setting up a business to selling the oil and other products produced in the village.

Granyena

Me Stood next to an olive tree over 1000 years old!

I'd spoke to them by email before going to Spain but felt like i needed to visit to learn more about the oil and where it came from. So that's what i did. I was taken of a tour of the mills and the olive groves which went on for miles and miles. As well as the olives and oil, they also produce almonds which grow between the olive trees and organic honey made by there own bees. It was a great trip and i could tell that Xavi and Cisco (the farmers) were extremely passionate about what they were doing which has made me want the make this business work even more.

The Old Mill

The Old Olive Grinder

These used to separate the water from the oil

The Old Reservoir for Granyena

An Old Well, still fills with water when there is rain

Cisco cutting down an olive branch so more sunlight gets to the tree

The farmers use tools as a pose to machinery so they do not damage their trees

Cisco, Me and Xavi

Me, Brian (Irish Translator and farmers friend), My Dad, Cisco & Xavi

I've set up a website from where i'm going to sell their products (www.prima-oliva.co.uk). This summer, as a way of promoting the site, i will be touring around the UK in a van attending various agricultural shows and also visiting delis and farmshops to try and get them to stock the products. I'm also on the lookout for anyone who knows and celebrity chefs to try and get them hooked too.

I'm back in England now but not for long; tomorrow i will be flying out to Taiwan where i'm going to do some sight seeing, some work and hopefully learn a little Chinese. I'll be travelling by myself which might be quite different as i only know how to say hello and thank you in Chinese, this could pose a problem. It's going to be extremely different to what i'm used to but should be a bit of a challenge, i can't wait!

Big Snow Festival 2011 (March 13th-20th)

2011-03-27T23:07:00.003+01:00

Last week i finally got to travel again! Me and a mate went to Andorra for a week on skiing/ music festival. Andorra is great for a few reasons, firstly its tax free which means you can buy litre bottles of vodka for 3 euros which makes for a cheap night out, and you can also get a bit of skiing in which is always a bonus.

As you can probably guess we were feeling a little delicate most morning, especially day one where we decided we'd get in a full day of skiing even if it meant we only had 3 hours sleep. This was our first mistake as we made it until around 12 and then could ski any more so went for lunch and pint to perk us up!
We did learn from this mistake though and from then on, we got up at a sensible 10am.

The best day for me was the Wednesday, where the party started at 6pm up the mountain. There were 3 acts that evening, Goldie, Devlin and DJ Fresh who performed in the snow on a stage about 2000ft up a mountain, a surreal experience to say the least.

There's not much else to say about the trip because everyday consisted of waking up, feeling a bit rough, skiing until we were feeling better, do some apres ski (drinking), go for dinner and then go back out again to watch some bands. It was a really good week and has got me ready to travel again. My only regret was that i didn't buy and cheap booze and cigarettes to sell when i got home. There's always next year though.

Back Home!

2011-02-23T17:48:00.000+00:00

I've been back home now for just over two weeks and i think it's safe to say that i wish i was back in OZ. For starters i miss the heat and i'm now well on my way to looking pastey again and secondly i don't have any money and have to beg my parents for money. Borrowing money of my parents when i was in Oz was part of the experience but now its just depressing and i feel like a tramp!

On the bright side i'm going skiing in 2 weeks to a music festival in Andorra which should be good. This isn't really helping the money situation but i'm trying not to think about this! On an unrelated I also heard about the recent earthquake in Christchurch and now realise that i was extremely lucky that i was there for the 4th september earthquake. They're not having much look at the other side of the world this year.

I also seem to have alot of spare time nowadays and find myself planning my next excursion, so far i've half planned a month trip to Taiwan to learn Chinese and a months road trip round Europe.

I don't really have much else to write about being home although it is good in a way to be home and i enjoy not having to wear the same things for weeks at a time. I'll try keep updating my blog when and if anything interesting or exciting happens.

Last week of Australia

2011-02-17T16:32:00.003+00:00

After finishing a long stint of voluntary work, i had about a week and a half before my visa expired and i had to come home! For the first few days i went to the Blue Mountains about 2 hours inland of Sydney, with 3 other volunteers i'd met in various places. We stayed in Katoomba, the most touristy and probably only town where you can stay at the Blue Mountains. There's not much to do here apart from sight seeing and bush walking, so thats what we did. After finding our hostel, we bought a hop on hop off bus ticket to get us the all the sights we wanted to see. The main places we went were called the 3 sisters, leura cascade, honey moon lookout and Wentworth falls. The scenery and walks around the area was awesome and it was a good start to my final few days.

After our time in the Blue Mountains, we traveled back to Sydney to spend the remainder of of time. We booked a hostel in Kingscross, this is close to the center of Sydney but is probably the cheapest and roughest place to stay. It is also the red light district of Sydney.

While in Sydney we saw the usual sights, opera house, harbor bridge, sky tower, Bondi and Manly beach and the various parks and gardens. The time we were in Sydney was the best weather we'd seen as it was the beginning of a heat wave. We didn't have a day cooler than 32 degrees and on my second to last day was 45 degrees. When its that hot, there is not really much you can do apart for have a few cold beers and stay in the sea as long as possible. Luckily, i'd already gone through my lobster stage and have a good tan so i didn't get too sunburnt.

Our days consisted of waking up at 8 am due to the heat, going to the beach, sleeping on the beach for a few hours and then heading back to the hostel for food and drinks. Its probably the most relaxed i've been in a long time.

Another big day for us was Australia, although no one in our hostel was Australian, we decided we'd all be an Aussie for the night, so we all did what Australians do best; Drank lots of extortionately priced beer!

On my last weekend, my 2nd cousin invited me to stay with her and her friends in a beach house an hour and a half north of Sydney. I snapped up the offer as i only had around 50 dollars left which would cover about 2 nights accommodation and i had 4 days left. The beach house was 5 star compared to the hostel we were staying in and the was free food and beer galore! It was also good to sleep on a new beach and have some food that wasn't macdonals or super noodles.

After the weekend when i was back in Sydney one of my cousins friends took me surfing for the morning, it was going pretty well, although i was getting pummeled because i'd been thrown in at the deep end and that day the smaller waves were 4ft. The surfing was going pretty well but then some blue bottles drifted inshore and my cousins friend got quite badly stung, so we had to go find some ice for her. For the rest of the day i went for a sleep on Coogee beach until i woke up with a burnt stomach and headed back for the hostel. That night i went our in Sydney with a few people from the hostel; what was going to be a quite night turned into quite a lively one and we didn't end up getting home till around 6 am. So the next day all i could really do was head down to the botanical gardens for a few hours sleep under a tree.

That next evening (my last night) i met up with my cousin, her mum and dad and a few of her friends to have a few drinks before i had to head off.

I few home the next morning back to cold cold England. The parents met me at the airport we went for a few drinks with them and my brothers, It was great to have a proper beer but not so great leaving the 36 degree heat of Australia. I'll definatley be heading back there as soon as i can!

A few details about Australia!

Australia, Last Week of work, Belmont Lagoon

2011-01-21T05:44:00.000+00:00

I have just finished my last day of conservation work, i've completed 720 hours of voluntary work and it feels like it. Whilst doing this work i've planted around 4,000 trees (50,000 as a team) pulled up thousands of weeds, put in 35 posts along bush tracks, collected hundreds of seeds, built 12 bridges, built 2 nursaries to grow seedlings, set traps to catch pets in protected rainforrest, and cleared over a tonne of litter off beaches and lagoons. This week was clearing weeds and clearing rubbish at belmont lagoon. I've also been in touch with nature this week; i picked up a poisonous spider thinking it wasn't poisonous (luckily i was wearing thick gardening gloves), caught a baby brown snake (also deadly) and got bitten around 7 times by bull ants (inch long ants with a very painfull bite). I feel like i deserve a rest now before i come home so i'm spending a few days in the blue mountains doing some bush walking and other activities and then spending 9 days on the sydney beaches before flying home.

We had a relaxed day today, finishing at 12 and having a bbq with all the staff. We're going for a few beers with them later to celebrate the end of 18 weeks of volunteering. Dispite all the conservation work i've done, i'm not sure if i've offset my carbon footprint, i like to think i have though.

Australia Week 5, Nobbys Beach

2011-01-17T05:58:00.000+00:00

Nobbys beach is one of the 4 main beaches in Newcastle, the streach of beach is covered by sanddunes which in turn are covered by a weed called Bitou, this weed creates mounds in the sanddund (similar to moguls on the ski slopes only bigger), these mounds then channel the wind which increases errosion of the dunes. The beach is also popular at night for partying so there is a fair amount of litter and broken glass throughout the dunes. Our Job for the week was to pickup as much of the litter and glass as possible, clear some of the bitou mounds and plant some native trees that would help to stabalise the sanddunes and in time increase biodiversity along the coast.

It was another hot week and whilst we were working we were not aloud to swimm due to conservation volunteers policies, which was a bit of a bummer. We planted around 500 trees in the week and the local paper and took a photo of us working, its not a good photo because i'm staring out to see whilst everyone else is working. I was caught off guard.

As usual we spent all day saturday and sunday on the beach but on saturday night in the park near our house, there was a free outdoor cinema provided by the local council. Shrek 3 was playing so we all went down to watch it with cold pizza and a few beers. Next week is my last week at work (free accomodation) and i'm running out of money fast. I dont want to have to borrow anymore money so i looked up ways of getting free accomodation and found something called couch surfing, its where random people offer a couch of bed for the night to other travellers. So i'm planning on signing up abd hopefully will get a couple of free night accomodation in sydney. If i havn't posted another blog within the next 3 weeks i think you can safely assume that i have been hacked up and burried in the bush by some wierd hippy type!

Australia, Newcastle work week 3, Belmont Lagoon and NYE!

2011-01-05T06:22:00.000+00:00

Last week was a tough week, we spent everyday weeding 3 types of weeds around the Belmont Lagoon (35mins drive out of newcastle) so that the native plants would be able to grow without having competition from the weeds. We had to pull the weeds out by hand in 30 degree heat so it was pretty tiring, on wednesday lunch, the heat got the better of me so i jumped in the lagoon and subsequietly had to spent the afternoon working in my boxer shorts as my trousers were wet and rubbing my legs! I was terrified of getting bitten by a snake or sitting on a thistle but i survived ok.
The lagoon (as they so often are) was by the sea and we were working on the sanddunes. On the thursday our team leader took us for a drive on the sanddunes in the 4x4 which was good fun. The beach we were on was the only beach in the area where anyone could drive on so there were alot of people driving around which was a strange sight to see!

New Years Eve was on the friday and we wanted to spend the night in Sydney so we decided to bunk off work and head down early. We spent the day and most of the following night in a park on the harbour edge facing the harbour bridge and opera house. It was an awesome view. I think we were in the park for the last 14 hours of 2010 and for most of that time the temperature was around 30-35 degrees, we also made a fatal mistake with our cool bag; the zip was broken and after about the first our we were drinking hot beer. We did manage to cool off for a while by going for a swim in the harbour, this was short lived however when someone told us that there are most sharks in the harbour than around the beaches.

Dispite some confusion with the countdown at NYE, it was a great night and the fireworks were amazing, i'd definatly recomend seeing them if you ever get the chance.

On new years day we were a little tired to say the least so we got an open top tour bus around sydney for 2 hours which dropped up off at the one and only Bondi beach (probably the most well known beach in sydney). It was another scorcher and i burnt my belly and thighs but thats all part of the experince i guess. The beach was packed with mainly young backpackers and tourists so the atmosphere was good, one of my highlights was eating a hungry jack (burger king) on the beach in 30 degree heat.

We got the train back saturday night and slept all sunday morning (my birthday) we then once again hit up the beach which my sunburn was not happy about and had a bottle of champaigne on the beach. (i say champaigne but it was really sparkling wine, we can't afford the good stuff). We also had the following monday off which was our day for relaxing and sleep. Thing are all good in OZ, England are looking as though we'll win the last 5 days so i recon 2011 will be a good year!

Australia, Christmas Weekend!

2010-12-29T06:47:00.000+00:00

Merry Christmas!

Its been a good christmas in australia dispite not feeling like christmas! We had hot weather, good food and plenty of beer!
For christmas eve i cooked a beautiful bbq consisting of steak, burgers, sausage and onion (you've got to have some veg!) It went down a storm and was a good start to the christmas weekend. After the bbq we went to the local irish pub and stayed there untill the early hours of christmas day!

On christmas morning (around 1pm) we discovered that santa had infact come to the volunteer house!

If you are reading this grandma, you will be very proud of me; on Christmas day i decided to take on the monster task of christmas dinner. We had a couple of roast chickens (already stuffed) and all the usual veggies apart from brussel sprouts. I cooked it all myself and got nothing but praise. I even went above and beyond my own expectations by making a trifle from scratch and decorating a pavolova!

We spent the rest of the day in 30 degree heat on the beach with a cool box full of beer, left overs and sparkling wine (we cannot afford champaign, we're only volunteers). Boxing day was spent the same way minus the big meal!

It was a great weekend on the whole, even though i missed out on a white christmas. Next weekend is 4 days long and includes New Year and my Birthday so the partys will continue!

Australia, Newcastle Work, Week 2

2010-12-29T06:04:00.000+00:00

Last week was christmas week and believe it or not i had to work, dispite being hot and not feeling like christmas at all, i still sported a santa hat all week. We were working in an area of wetlands in Newcastle planting native trees to try and increase biodiversity in the wetlands and increase the population of some of the native wildlife. I think we planted around 200 trees and did a bit of weeding too. I also managed to get my face in the local paper, although i was a little dissapointed that they used the team leaders quote instead of mine!
On the thursday before christmas eve we finished work at 12 because conservation volunteers were providing us with a christmas bbq. We turned up expecting to be smothered with burgers and sausages only to find out that we had to cook the barbie ourselves. It was a good bbq though non the less apart for a goose stealing my hot dog from my hand.
After work we spent most evenings on the beach, we'd go for a swim before the shark came out to play and relax on the beach for a while. Every beach here has a swimming pool (filled with sea water) at the edge of the beach so if there a rips or the waves are too strong we can swim in them. We finished early another day that week and our team leader took us to a wild life reserve where i got to see my first Koala and for $3.50 i got to pet it.

One of the night (i cannot remember which) we hear that there was a luner eclipse, so we went to memorial hill (a high hill near our house) via the liqour store and spent the night having a few beers and watching the stars.

It was a good week on the whole, and we had high hopes for christmas! One more thing, i also bought a micro scooter this week from aldi, it cost the equivilant of 12 pounds. Its my early christmas present to myself!

Back to Work, Week 1

2010-12-20T05:10:00.000+00:00

I'm now living in Newcastle for my last 6 weeks of conservation work. I arrived last weekend but we spent the week in a very small town about 3 hours drive inland from Newcastle. It was the best accomodation i've stayed in so far on all my trip! We were in the biggest house in the town which had around 8 bedrooms, this meant we all had a room to ourselves and my room had a 4 poster bed in it, so i was happy. The house also had a plunge pool and the owners had bought a 63inch 3d tv the day before we arrived!
We spent most of the week weeding some ivy type plants called morning glory along river banks which grows around native trees and smothers them, it wasn't very interesting the weather was good so we didn't complain too much. One of the days we planted about 400 trees which was good fun, and one afternoon our team leader took us to some caves which we explored for a few hours, they went for miles and parts of them were unexplored.

For the weekend we were back in Newcastle, and on saturday we went up the coast to a place called port stevens, which has loads of sand dunes, you can go sandboarding and camel riding on the so i plan to do that at somepoint. We also went to a backpackers hostel that look after injured animals, it was quite interesting and we go to see a Walliby that was about 2 months old.

If you look closely there is a dolphin!

One the sunday we had a chill out day and went to the beach, took a few beers and had a bit of a swim! Santa even came to the beach on a speed boat and was throwing around sweets to little kids, apparently i'm not a kid anymore so didn't get any!

Last days of week off, Sydney/Newcastle

2010-12-11T01:29:00.000+00:00

After chilling in Byron bay for the first 4 days of my week off, i headed to Sydney for a few days. I was staying with my second cousin Jacqui, who lives in an apartment 10 minutes from the city centre. For the first night she was away in China so i had the apartment to myself, which was a change from living in a room with 10 people and having to sleep in a bunk bed.
When she got back the next day she showed me around and i spent the day being a tourist and wandering around sydney, going to the harbour bridge, the opera house and sky tower. We also checked out a couple of the many beaches and i went for my first swim in australia in 29 degree heat. It was amazing untill she reminded me about sharks when we were about 300 metres away from the shore.
That evening she showed me round some of the good touristy bars in Sydney the good thing about family is that i didn't have to buy a single drink! (Don't worry mum, i did offer to pay).
The next day was Jacquis works christmas party which was a bbq on on of the beaches. We went with her friend Lizzy who gave me a lift up to Newcastle where i'm staying now. But not before taking a detour to one of sydneys most famous beaches, Bondi beach. The christmas party was really good although it didn't feel christmassy at all and i have learnt that it is not a good idea to go swimming when you are full of free burgers and beer! However, i don't think i have learnt my lesson and will probably be doing the same again at one of the beaches in Newcastle.
Newcastle here is quite similar to the newcastle back home, by that i mean they drink about the same amount. I even found out that this is the only city in OZ where you can't by a shot of spirits because alcohol related violence used to be really high.
Apart from that though its a pretty cool place and the house i'm staying in now is by far the best house i've stayed in so far and we have the choice of 3 different beaches which are about 10 minutes walk away.

First fews days of my week off!

2010-12-07T05:41:00.000+00:00

I have spent most of my week off in Byron Bay, a small town about an hours drive from the Gold Coast. The towns right on the beach and has a really good vibe. There is good surf and a lot of hippies!
The weathers not been too great this week, we're still getting light rain and thunderstorms but its really humid.
Yesterday i did a 14,000ft skydive which was amazing and i'll definatly be doing again when i get the chance. I never thought throwing yourself from plane could feel so good. That was the only real activity i've done this week, the rest of the time i've just been chilling on the beach and exploring. I should have booked a surf lesson but never got round to it. I think i'll give surfing a try when i get to Newcastle.

Tomorrow i'm flying to sydney and staying there for a few days before i start my conservation work again. Dads second cousin Jacqui has offered to let me stay at here house dispite the fact that she is away in China. She has an apartment about 20mins from the centre of sydney so i've struck lucky i think. Its save me some money which is good because OZ is continuing to bleed me dry!