October was busy! (Hence the gap with catching up on all this!)
As well as all the normal stuff, it was fringe festival, so I excitedly (and perhaps stupidly) went to a few late night shows.
I also crammed every second of free time into hanging out with friends and doing fun stuff.
One highlight was meeting up with my friend Riki from school, who I hadn't seen in about 10 years (he'd lived in Vancouver). It was like no time had passed and we had a top laugh. He also reminded me that when we were 15 we said that we'd marry each other if we weren't married by 30! We've decided to postpone the wedding for another decade haha.
Another great day was mine and my friend Rose's day out in the Yarra Valley. Back in August, Rose had kindly offered to show me around (you need a car really) so we had planned an epic day out. The Yarra Valley is an area near Melbourne famous for its wine and countrysideness. It actually was remarkably like the UK, but perhaps that's because it was drizzling. First up, we hiked up the 1000 steps, which is a big hill that the army use for training and relates to something to do with the Vietnam war. Then we went to a view point that looks out over Melbourne. Then a tulip festival, followed by a vineyard. For the grand finale, we visited a chocolaterie and ate our weight in DELICIOUS chocolaty desserts.
Thus I had my last week at work. We had a nice lunch and after work drinks out with the team and I received a lovely gift which included a Christmas tree decoration with a Koala. I was really sad to leave my team, I honestly loved my work and of all the places it really felt like "home" there. But knew it was the right decision so I could go and do the travelling I had planned to do 6 months earlier!
My last Saturday was a good one. Football in the morning, followed by my leaving BBQ. They have public BBQs everywhere in Australia, so it was easy enough to find one centralish and by the river. It was a great turn out, with people from Improv, football, work and some of my expat pals coming. I felt very blessed to have met so many lovely people since I arrived in Melbourne and was so glad I stuck it out when times were tough earlier on in the year.
Sunday was spent hecticly making sure everything was packed up or taken to a charity shop. Although I was quite conservative, it was amazing how much stuff you accumulate. This included lugging a 10kg box to the post office to be sent home. Moving house is so boring and even harder when you are by yourself and leaving the country.
I probably didn't give myself enough time, but some how I was on a plane to Cairns by the late afternoon having moved out.
Cairns was the one place I hadn't made it to on this trip. A 3hour flight and so much to do there would mean a minimum of four days inc travel. It proved to be a good decision as it was a great finale to my time in Aus. It might be my fave place in Aus!
After a day chilling out, I had my great barrier reef snorkling tour. Last time I had attempted this in 2014, there had been a cyclone that cut the trip short, and so I was keen to do it. It did not disappoint! It was like swimming in an aquarium, surrounded by beautiful fish and coral. Most people scuba dived, but I opted to just snorkel (my ears can't handle it). This was a good choice as you were only a few metres away from a lot of the reef anyway, plus more time in the water and less faffing.
The following day I went on a trip to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation, which was awesome. Lots of viewpoints, Rainforest walks and swimming in a croc free water hole. It's also the only place in the world where two UNESCO sites meet- the great barrier reef and the Daintree Rainforest. There was heaps of interesting wildlife too- a golden orb spider, some red crabs in the mangroves, a few Roos. We went on a crocodile boat in the afternoon too, but only saw a baby one. The area has lots of dangerous animals- spiders, snakes, jellyfish, sharks, crocs, cassorwarries, stingrays, plus poisonous coral. Which I actually found quite exciting.
My final night was a fun one, my pal Hannah from Bristol was up in Cairns too with her partner, so we went to a bar that was laundry themed that you enter through a slide. As you do. Needless to say I was feeling pretty rough the next day.
And with that, I flew back to Melbourne for my last night in Australia! To get to Vietnam, you had to fly from Melbourne or Sydney anyway, which was annoying as I was halfway there. But it gave me a window to have a couple of drinks with my impro pals, plus my room hadn't been filled yet so I was able to sleep in my own bed. A quick breakfast with my housemate Daniel in the morning, then on to Vietnam...
Last football sesh
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