Contiki Plans and my first meeting

Hello again,

I'm anal and have to fill you in on everything I do now and my plans so I'm going to let you know what I am doing on my Contiki tour. I had to go to my kick start meeting tonight near Googe st station which was a mission but I got there and Brad you will be so proud!I read a map and followed the street signs to get there!lol It might be difficult getting there tomorrow though because the tubes don't start until 5.30am in most places and I need to be at the Contiki meeting place at 6am. Early start!It was very daunting walking into all of those people at the meeting tonight. There were around 100 people their from 3 tours all doing basically the same tour but breaking off at different places or doing a different amount of days. There were lots of people already there and I was 10 minutes early lol I sat there looking around at the different groups of people, some were in groups already, some people were alone like me and there were lots of people from different countries. I saw some cool people, some nerds, some akward people and some people that seemed so confident!I was nervous but trying not to show it and thinking shit I hope I make some friends on this tour!ha

They ran through all of the information about what we needed to do to get checked in and what we needed. I was already very organised and checked in on line and had my sleeping bag, towel and neck rest (thanks to Cooper and Katrina Taylor) which were all recommended. yay brown noser!lol After that we showed them our passports and filled out contact information and were free to go and have a drink at the hotel bar. I still feel sick from last night and didn't want to go as I had around a 45 minute tube ride/walk home. Lame I know but I have 25 days to drink with these people lol OMG I forgot to tell you this morning when I was on the tube with Holly as she was going to work and I was coming home in the same clothes I was wearing last night I almost had an accident on the tube!lol I was already feeling worse for wear and anyone that knows me knows that I am a vomitron as some have called me lol I said to Holly...I think I'm going to be sick!With no air, noone talking and no sound yep I was about to vomit!So seedy from the night before the tube must have known this as it came to a stand still for what felt like an hour.....I felt my mouth getting all dry and then wet and then I spewed in my mouth. Twice.Gross!All of the people around me were I'm sure thinking omg this girl is about to spew all over us and the floor. I had no where to spew and nothing to spew into so I had to swallow it!Lucky for me it was only and orange and some water that I had had for breakfast!Not my finest moment I know but thought I would share lol

On my tour these are the countries I am visiting and what days I will be there. I am so excited!I have full details on what I am doing in each country but will leave that for my blogs. Hopefully I can get onto the internet and write them while I am away.

Day 1: London-Paris

Day 2: Paris

Day 3: Paris to Beaujolais Wine Region

Day 4: Beaujolais Wine Region

Day 5: Beaujolais Wine Region to Barcelona

Day 6: Barcelona

Day 7: Barcelona-French Riviera

Day 8: French Riviera

Day 9: French Riviera-Florence

Day 10: Florence

Day 11: Florence-Rome

Day 12: Rome

Day 13: Rome-Venice

Day 14: Venice

Day 15: Venice-Vienna

Day 16: Vienna

Day 17: Vienna-Munich

Day 18: Munich-Austrian Tyrol

Day 19: Austrian Tyrol

Day 20: Austrian Tyrol to Swiss Alps

Day 21: Swiss Alps

Day 22: Swiss Alps-Rhine Valley

Day 23: Rhine Valley-Amsterdam

Day 24: Amsterdam

Day 25-Depart Amsterdam-London

Love from the Backpacker

xxx

Bits and Pieces :)

Hi everyone,

Dinner with Holly and the Aussie Bar on Anzac Day:

I went and had dinner with Holly near her house in Ladbroke Grove the other night and that was soooo yummy!I've already put on lots of weight I can feel it through eating lots of yummy food and drinking wine instead of water lol God by the time you guys see me next I'll be the size of a blimp!Be warned lol It was great to see where Holly lived and it's so cute and feels like a home should. I got to meet three of her flatmates when we popped in to grab her laptop which she kindly let me use so that I could back my iphone up and finally get it unlocked. Her friends were so welcoming and cool and they asked me to join them out at the Aussie Bar in Shepards Bush called the 'Walkabout' lol So Aussie!I was keen to do something for Anzac Day and meet some new friends so said I would love to come :) Now last night at the Aussie bar was fun there were so many people there and it was refreshing to hear Australian accents as I had been used to hearing everything but since arriving. They had all Aussie bar staff and sold Tooheys!Too bad I don't like beer...I did get talked into having a 'Snakebite' however which is made of beer,cider and red cordial I think...It didn't taste too bad but I had one and then got back onto vodka and redbull because they were pretty cheap!

I had sooo many drinks too quickly as usual and continued my social smoking, met lots of nice people and sleazebags and had a great night listening to Aussie music from a guy that was singing and playing the guitar. I heard the Song-Run to Paradise and it made me think of dad dancing to it on many drunk occasions straight away!I got my number working that day and thought it would be a great idea to call mum when I was drunk!I can't remember much of the conversation but can remember crying as soon as I heard her voice!Not because I was homesick but because it was sooo good to hear her voice and the thousands of drinks that I had that night didn't help ha Sorry mum you were probably worried :( lol



Georgie and I with a random Caribbean man lol



Me with Holly's roomies-Sarah and Luke/Duncan :)



Holly out for dinner with me <3



Unlocking my phone at Apple :/

This was probably the worst time I'd had since arriving spent trying to restore my phone at the Apple Store in Regent st. I had tried to do this myself and failed as I am not the smartest person when it comes to technology at times. I had called Apple lots of times as well as my Optus network provider back in Australia to try and sort this out. I walked in with Holly's computer and said can someone please help me restore this phone so I can get it unlocked!The guy tried to tell me it was easy and to go back home but I stood my ground and said I'm staying until it's sorted. So 4 and a half hours later whilst sitting acting like I was apart of an Apple Mac IT tutorial, I had a UK phone number!I had to get connected to the Apple wi-fi back it up and restore it which took around an hour because every cat and their dog was in there using the wi-fi!After that I noticed that my sim card had service so I knew immediately that it was unlocked yay!Then I checked my contacts, photos and calender were still right=check done!When I went to check if my music was there I looked and it said I had no songs!!!I went to one of the staff straight away and said where is my music???He said oh that's fine if you go home and plug it into your computer you will be able to get them back on there!Grrrr I said "my computer is in Australia!" lol Anyway he told me I could get my purchased music and applications back from Itunes as I had paid for them. These were the main ones I was worried about because I had paid lots of money for them. The catch was I had to download 156 songs individually from the itunes store!Geez can anything be simple!lol I couldn't get my illegally downloaded songs from my home computer so I guess I'll just have to keep getting them off itunes.

I can now only msg people in the UK or people that have an updated itunes account/iphone :( But at least I have a number yay!

Leaving Earls Court Youth Hostel:

Well it's my last night in the Youth Hostel at Earl's Court before I head off on my Contiki European Escapade 25 day tour tomorrow. I have enjoyed my stay here and have met 3 great new friends along the way but I don't think I will be staying in the same hostel for 2 weeks the next time around lol I have made this place my home over the past two weeks and it is very close to the tube station and central to everything which has been great!I have had weird things happen to me and seen spirits before and I always believe that someone is looking over me. This may sound weird and I know dad is a sceptic and doesn't believe anything I say when I talk about things I have seen....But I do believe that maybe nan and pop have been looking over me while I've been here....I use the internet alot in the reception area of the hostel and when I was a little upset the other night I heard the clock chime exactly the same as the one nan and pop used to have in their lounge room. It might be a coincidence or it might not but whenever I hear that chime it makes me think of them saying "you can do it" or something....Leaving Christina, Chris and Colin tonight was hard tonight I almost started crying because we have become so close since I got here and they really have looked after me and made sure I have been alright.

I think of when I first arrived here 2 weeks ago fresh off the plane with my backpack on looking like a total loser who had no idea of where I was and what I was doing. To now where I can find my way around on the tubes with 12 million other people and have seen so many of the amazing sites and things London has to offer. I have made Earls Court my little comfort zone and it feels like home in away when I get off at the tube station here. I love London and after my tour I am staying with Holly and her flat mates for around a week which is going to be fun!I am so grateful Holly has offered to take me in. I hope do do some of the less touristy things next time I am here and visit some of the markets and other areas that I haven't been to yet. There is so much to do and see here and within the rest of Europe I just want to do it all now!

Love from London

x

Skype Chat with the Family and The Tower of London Tour

Hey everyone well it's been a few days since my last post and as usual I have lots to write about :) I've had another Skype date with all of my family including my number one boyfriend Brad lol I loved getting to see all of there faces. Ashleigh and I got to chat for the first time face to face and she was just like I was last time with not being able to think of things on the spot to talk about ha We still managed to talk for ages just like we usually do at home and she filled me in on all the goss which was great!I even got to see how much her belly has grown in just two weeks :) Sally was more prepared this time even showing me her shopping that she bought in Sydney so that was cool!She makes me laugh with the faces she pulls when she's talking to me!I love my sisters and they are my best friends <3

It was sooo good talking to Brad when he got on because I didn't know that he would be there!I miss seeing him everyday and our crazy laughs and good times but he was good to chat to because he has been over here and knows what things are like. Mum and dad were keen to get on and have a chat!I love seeing their faces too but they make me sad thinking of how much I miss them whenever I Skype. It was easier talking to mum this time I didn't cry when she was saying how proud of me she is like last time :) Dad is always keen to hear all about my travel plans and the things I have seen as he is like me with my travelling we never want to sit around and waste time. We always like making the most of our trips!I remember when we were young him making us go down to the beach with him when we went away rain,hail or shine so we made the most of our fantastic family holidays!He still does it now lol I think I get my enthusiasm from my dad. I got Sally to hang up first this time and as usual I had tears in my eyes because I was so happy to see them but sad to say goodbye. Alright enough about home (it's making me sad) and onto the Tower of London!ha

The Tower of London

This site is one of London's three world Heritage sites. I paid around £20 as my admission fee to enter the Tower as I had read in my 'Europe on a shoestring book' that if it was only one site that you saw in London it had to be this one. So I went along by myself and decided to do a couple of the tours that went around the Tower to make the most of my experience unlike at the National Gallery lol The first tour I was taken around on was interesting and the tour guide was a 'Beefeater' they guard the queen on many of her important outings and parades etc They have some crazy criteria and experience they have to do to even qualify for the job. They have to serve 20 years in the Army along with many other things that I can't remember after my 60 minute tour. Lots of the tour around was very interesting but I wish I knew a little more about British history because lots of the names and things he was talking about were going straight over my head!lol He talked of execution and torture that used to take place within the palace gates. If a traitor was caught they would be hung, stretched and their guts would be cut open and one by one their internal organs would be pulled out!Gross!If a prisoner was beheaded their head would be paraded through the streets of London and then hung from London Bridge as a warning to anyone attempting the same betrayal. Their bodies would then be taken back to one of the palace's church and buried. One of the churches that I went into had 15000 bodies beneath the surface.....freaky!

I explored around the Tower and got to see lots of dungeons and mueseum rooms as well as re-enactments of past events. This was like a window to a gruesome and interesting history from the Roman era to the present. Some of the towers had been there since the 1100 century sooo old!The best part of the visit for me was the CROWN JEWELS.This is were they had videos and written sayings that you could walk past all leading up to the crown jewels. One of the sayings that grabed me and made me understand more about the coronation process was this one 'authority passes from one monarch to the next through the symbolic use of the crown jewels during the coronation ceremony'. I had no idea what I coronation cermony was before entering this amazing building of Royal History. They showed a video of the Queen Elizabeth the 11 coronation on the 2nd of June 1953. It was on a huge screen with music that brought tears to my eyes.I felt like a twat being alone and crying but it was so moving and def my favourite part of the Tower!At the end of the display/exhibition I got to see crown jewels from past Kings and Queens that were amazing!!!They were so sparkly and beautiful I'd never seen anything like that before. The diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and every other stone you could think of were sprinkled all over the many pieces of jeweled headwear. One of the Diamonds that was placed in a glass display was 550 carats!Yikes needless to say the crown jewels were under heavy security!I got to see solid gold Coronation supper items that the royal family use to celebrate the crowning of a new King or Queen. There were plates, wine goblets everything you can imagine in solid gold. I got to see soooo much that words can not explain and loved it, its a shame you weren't allowed to take any photos in there because you would have been able to see what I was talking about!definitely worth going to see if you ever come to London.  



Me outside the Tower of London



About to walk into where the Crown Jewels are held

Beefeaters

King Henry the V11 body armour in a museum inside the Tower



Me and one of the guards guarding the Crown Jewels





My amazing day with Holly doing the Bus Bus Tour :)

Hey everyone,

Well I'm almost up to date with documenting my adventures on this blog. I have had a lazy day at the hostel watching tv with the fam as I now call them!lol Chris, Christina and Colin and I are always hanging out in the tv room and it feels nice to be able to come home from sight seeing and hang out like we have known each other for years. Chris had a job interview the other day and we have our fingers crossed that he gets the job!Chris and Christina are moving into their own apartment this week which is very exciting for them after house hunting and living at the hostel for two months. Colin is applying for jobs everyday and trying his best to find a good job and set himself up here in London. I feel so comfortable around these guys and I will definitely catch up with them when I get back into London after my Contiki tour.

I have got to know and enjoy the company of the tv common room regulars including the middle aged French man called Guy. He actually has turned out to be a wonderful man who makes me laugh everytime I talk to him and is an amazing cook!He lets me try lots of his meals and he actually reminds me of dad in his cooking ability. He is able to whip up beautiful tasting dishes from scratch. Guy has taught me alot about London and seems to know where everything is and how to get there. He always gives me good advice on things to do while I'm here.

I have got to know a man called Tony who was once the trainer of a famous English boxer called Chris Eubank and is living here while he rents his house out in Brighton until he goes back to living in Bangkok. He is a nice and friendly man who I often have conversations with and he has given me some tips on things to do whilst in England also. I met some really nice guys today and they were quite funny and thought alot of the people here were weirdos too lol One of the guys was a kiwi and moved here all alone trying to find work and change up his life. He worked on P & O cruise ships in the entertainment sides of things. He was soo funny and gay so of course we clicked immediately lol The other was a chef looking for somewhere to live in London and the other guy was Canadian and tried to help me unlock my mobile phone. We have become friends on facebook and I might meet up with the kiwi guy for drinks when I get back into London. Anyway onto my amazing day with Holly!

Big Bus Tour with Holly:

I was in contact with Holly since arriving in London and we decided to catch up and do the Big Bus Tour together where you can hop on and off at famous sites and stops along the way. Holly organised the tickets and we met at Earls Court station before heading for some breakfast before the tour. We were both a little hungover so it was just what we needed!lol We ate breakfast at a little place called EAT. which is a franchise in London. Holly had been in London for almost 18 months and hadn't done or seen too much of the tourist stuff as she is living here near Notting Hill and has all the time in the world to see these things lol

We organised to get onto the bus and Holly showed the man our tickets. We decided to do the red tour that has the live tour guide commentary alone the way. We jumped on and the tour guide told us lots of interesting facts along the way. Holly and I had been to some of the stops along the way before but knew the main stops that we wanted to get off at. When you get off at stops to look at things once you have finished you simply wait at the stop you got off at for the next bus to arrive. There are around 16 buses that travel around on the same route daily. We chatted lots about what we have been up to in between listening attentively to the tour guide as heaps of the information was so interesting! We got to see lots of famous landmarks in London such as Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, The London Eye, St Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London and many other interesting sights along the way. At each stop we got off and looked around and took lots of photos as memories!I love taking photos and it was nice to see so many of the sights of London with a good friend. I can't choose a favourite part of the tour as they were all amazing! It was great being able to see all of the city at once and drive over all of the bridges that are over the River Thames. I loved the tour :))) After we had finished the tour we decided to have lunch at a place called Spaghetti house which was lovely Italian food. I had salmon pasta and soup which was delicous!I was so full after it.

Here are some facts that I found interesting about some of the sights I visited. I could go on and on about the things I learned but I'll give you the main facts.

St Paul's Cathedral:

Was built by London's architect Christopher Wren between 1675-1710 sooo old. It was were Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married. It avoided being bombed in the World War 2 bombings.



Holly and I at St Paul's Cathedral



Buckingham Palace:

Is one of the many homes of the Queen. She apparently doesn't like staying here and would rather stay at he other house being Windsor Castle. You can tell if the Queen is home when the royal flag is flying above the palace. The changing of the guard ceremony is held from 11.30am almost everyday.



Holly outside Buckingham Palace



Holly and I with your umbrellas near a beautiful pond outside the Queens Buckingham Palace

Westminster Abbey:
This is were monarchs have been crowned since 1066. This is where Price William and Kate were married.


Westminster Abbey

Houses of Parliament and Big Ben:
It was built in 1840 and the palaces most famous feature is the clock tower Big Ben-actually the name of the 13 ton bell inside the tower.


Holly and I with the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben behind us



The London Eye:

Was originally designed to be a temporary structure to celebrate the millennium the eye is 135m tall. Slowly moving pods offer 25 mile views on a clear day and takes around 30 minutes to rotate.

Tower Bridge:



Us driving over Tower Bridge



Holly and I at the Wellington Arch



Love from the travelling backpacker

xxx

Convent Garden, Piccadilly Circus and a Private Party

Hi my friends and family,

I have lots of time on my hands today as it's raining and freezing cold here today!It is always raining in London and I have always got my 'I love London' umbrella in my bag now to be prepared.

Drinks and dinner in Convent Garden with Natalie Brown:

On a trip to Sydney I met a British girl called Lucy whilst staying at Shane's house. She seemed lovely and we had a fun night out at Ivy and Arq the gay club on Oxford st. Lucy asked me to add a girl called Natalie as she was travelling alone just like me and she thought that we might get along. It was totally random and I would never just meet up with someone I didn't know in Australia but as I am over here alone I thought I would make the most of every opportunity and meet her. We decided to meet at Earls Court Station and leave heading on the tube to Convent Garden from here. She seemed really nice and easy to get along with. She is a Texas girl and had been to London before so new how to get around on the tube also. We looked around not knowing where to go once arriving in Convent Garden and I decided I wanted to go to a pub that had a restaurant upstairs which looked packed outside. It was called the Wellington so how could I walk past it!lol We each got a main meal and shared our entree and desserts. We had deep fried brie for our entree, it was the first time I had tried it and it was delicious!! After our meal I got talked into buying a 'Big Issue' magazine from a homeless man in the street while I was having a smoke. Anyone that knows me knows that I find it hard to say no to people once they start their whole spiel about why I should buy something!ha I was in Armidale NSW one time when I got talked into signing up for contributing to the provention against cutting down trees!ha Of course I cancelled it as soon as I got home but geez I'm hopeless!I had a bottle of wine at dinner so was excited to head to Piccadilly Circus after dinner with Nat.

Piccadilly Circus:

Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End in the city of Westminster. In this context "circus" is a Latin word meaning circle-it is a round open space at a street junction. The Piccadilly Circus is close to major shopping and entertainment areas in the West End. Its status as a major traffic intersection has made Piccadilly Circus a busy meeting place and a tourist attraction. The Circus is particularly known for its video display and neon signs mounted on the corner building on the northern side. I loved Piccadilly Circus at night as it was buzzing with energy and there were so many people there!

There were men everywhere along the street trying to entice people into their clubs. I decided I wanted to go into a club called 'The Ruby Something....' lol Too many drinks!I loved the music in the club as it was playing old school hip hop and R&B music. I wished that I was there with my friends back home when I heard the music that was playing as it was kind of akward dancing with someone I barely knew!lol Nat decided she wanted to go and find another club and then head onto a friend of the person she was staying with private party if that makes sense ha

The Westbury Bar and Nightclub: (http://www.westburybar.com/)

After leaving Piccadilly and Nat trying to contact her friend Millie to find out where the club was we caught tubes and buses only to find that we had gone in the complete wrong direction. I was getting a little annoyed as I just wanted to get there and her friend wasn't picking up the phone to tell us where the party was. grrr Eventually she called back and I told Nat just to get a taxi!So I got to hop into my first London black taxi yay :) It was very spacious and you could fit around 5-6 people into it which was weird. We eventually got the club and the line was huge!It was freezing but London girls obviously have leather skin as they were dressed in barely anything and didn't feel the cold. Here I was rugged up in a shirt,long sleeved jumper and a huge jacket and was still freezing ha Nat spoke to the door people and got us in ahead of the massive line of people as her friend was on the door. Millie's friend was leaving to go overseas to Australia which is kind of ironic as I was only doing something similar a couple of weeks before at my farewell. I got introduced to a few people and we started drinking and being served from a private bar in a private room which was cool.

I started talking to people and mingling and met a guy called Charlie who was British, trendy, had a good personality and was quite goodlooking with my wine googles on lol We started chatting and he asked did I wanna go and dance to the dj in the bar. I did and he was very flirty and seemed to like my bum!lol Anyway this is kinda weird considering my parents will be reading this but I know that my close friends are wondering if I have been hooking up ha We drank a little more and then when it was about time for both of us to go we exhanged details and started pashing lol He was a great kisser and it was nice to meet a fun guy that night. Nat wanted to go home :( so we decided to catch the bus back to where we were staying. I felt so sick on the way home as they bus was stopping and starting brrrrr I felt like spewing but held it in lol All in all it was a good night and I'm glad I got a little taste of the British nightlife. I don't know if Nat and I will catch up again but we had a fun night.

PS I heard from Charlie and he asked to meet me again this week until he was called into work. I have a Contiki meeting and am dropping extra clothing I have decided I don't need and having dinner with Holly this week so it was a little bit of bad timing. We have been keeping in contact and he is going to take me out for drinks and to a mad club apparently in Soho when I get back from my 3 week tour so thats a little exciting :)

Love from London until my next blog

xx

Nat and I at the neon signs in Piccadilly Circus

Nat in a British telephone box

Natalie (Texas girl) and I at Piccadilly Circus 

My day in London Central with Colin

I asked my friend Colin if he would take me into London Central to see the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square. Colin my good friend at the hostel is one of the most knowledgeable people that I have ever met. He knows so much about everything and I often feel silly as I know nothing in comparison to him. I didn't know how he remembers so many facts and stories about everything to do with London and the world in general! We decided to walk which was nice and I hadn't walked into the city before as I usually catch the tube or a bus. He is obviously alot more motivated then I am as I kept asking him along the way if we were almost there yet baahaa So lazy!It took around an hour to get there (not a good idea in ballet flats) and we saw many famous sights along the way which was cool. I got to walk through some road that had very famous designers shops all the way along the street. I only went into Tiffany and Co as it was more in my price range and Colin tells me that Audrey Hepburn in the movie 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' says it makes all her problems go away when she visits the store or something ha

Harrods: http://www.harrods.com/ (visit this site for all the stores that are located in Harrods)

Harrods is an upmarket department store located in Brompton Road in Brompton, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. The store occupies a 5-acre (20,000 m²) site and has over one million square feet (90,000 m²) of selling space in over 330 departments. The UK's second-biggest shop and it was amazing and immaculate from the moment I walked in. I think that you must have to meet a criteria just to work there because all of the workers and floor staff were amazingly goodlooking and were dressed so nicely!I didn't buy anything in there as it was very expensive!They had everything from lollies and chocolates to designer bags and dresses, from pets to diamonds and cars. Ashleigh you would have been in heaven in the Pet Kingdom section. So many dog clothes,toys, collars etc and they even had a pet spa selling dog grooming products lol OMG it was an amazing experience that I will remember and Colin tells me it's the only Harrod in the world. In it's time it has had over 5 owners and in 2010 Mohamed Al-Fayed sold the store to Qatar holdings for £1.5 billion geez!

When we finally got to Trafalgar Square after a it was raining pretty heavily so we had lunch at a place called Garfunkels which was yummy!I had lemon herbed chicken and Colin had chicken wings and a Corona :) When we came out we had to quickly run across Trafalgar Square and into the National Gallery. I was soaking wet and cold :/ lol Not a good feeling going into the art gallery not knowing anything about art!lol It was free admission and had over 50 rooms full of amazing artworks. I only knew Da Vinci and Van Gogh so thats all I really wanted to see. If I wasn't so wet maybe I would have listened to the audio tour but it took an hour and I wasn't in the mood ha I got Colin to ask one of the men that worked in one of the rooms where the good stuff was and he looked at me in disbelief  as if to say what are you talking about!He said everything is good but lead us to rooms where the famous paintings were lol I snapped a self portrait that I have on my previous blogs photos of Rembrandt which I got into trouble for off one of the workers lol funny! I got to see the original and only painting of Van Gogh's Chair and Sunflowers which was great and Da Vinci's painting that the Louvre houses the second painting I can't remember the name ooopps But we listened in on a private walking tour and it was quite interesting to hear the meaning he was trying to get across through the artwork. I obviously need to get into art more to know more about it before the Lourve in Paris but I definately think I'll listen to the audio tour there ha

After seeing everything I wanted to we caught the tube home because I had sore feet and was not in the mood to walk in the rain!I think I pulled a muscle that day because later that night I found it very hard to walk!!!lol Thanks for a great day Colin and all of the interesting facts you told me along the way :)

Love from London

x

Getting used to London Living



Harrods-The only one in the whole world





Rembrandt-very famous Dutch artist (self portrait)



Me and some cool man on a horse lol

The National Gallery





Tiffany and Co


Hi everyone :)

I have been working on making my blog more attractive today as I have had a very relaxed and easy Sunday. I hope it looks better and more enticing for you to read!

Primark:
I had my first Primark experience whilst getting off at Marble Arch underground station the other day. This department store stocking cheap and inexpensive clothing has over 150 stores in the UK and many other stores in Europe. This company's bulk buying store allows them to gain bulk quantities of many clothes,shoes etc at cheaper prices making customers want to shop at this store in droves. When I went in there I was amazed at how many people were in the two story building and how much cheap yet fashionable clothing there was. It was very hard not to buy everything!I found a few things I wanted to try on and had to wait 30 minutes to get into the 30 room change room as the line was enormous!Ashleigh and Sally you would have hated it in there with so many people and none of them moved out of your way. At the start I was moving for everyone and being polite by the end I was knocking into people along the way around the store lol I ended up buying a cheap bikini and a pair of black stretch jeans for around £20 which was great :)

Tubes:
I have found that using the tubes in London has become alot easier. I feel like I know my way around the lines and stations much better than when I first got to London and even listen to my ipod music along the way now rather than listening carefully to which stop is next lol . I topped up my Oyster card for another week which allowed me to gain all tube and bus fairs for £28 well worth it considering I catch them everywhere. I even have the London Tube application on my iphone lol Its a little weird that I catch it so much over here as I hate catching trains in Sydney and usually get a cab but the cabs are expensive over here and I need to save dollars where I can. I quite like the fact I can get straight to the centre of places I want to go as the trains run underground!So cool!

Money:
I have been going through a little bit of money doing all of the tourist things I can in the city and buying food at almost every meal has been expensive. I found out that London has around 12 million (Sydney has around 4 million) accounted for people living here and it is the most expensive city in Europe. So you can see why and it is huge here!If Sydney only has 4 million you can imagine how many people there are in the streets here.

Moving rooms:
I had to move rooms again as there were more rooms needed for group bookings. I had to pack up everything I owned and had bought since arriving and try and fit it back into my backpack!Interesting and I had an extra bag of things also NIGHTMARE!Plus I found out that I was moving to the 5th and very top floor of building three. I had to take breaks just getting up the stairs with my backpack on as it was a long and very steep way up!lol I got there and there was a weird French older lady washing her undies in the sink and a Polish girl sitting on her bed. We introduced ourselves and I unpacked hating life!lol I did however meet an Argentinian girl that was the same age as me who was travelling around London for three days before she starts a 6 month English course in the city. It was good to meet someone normal and she was lovely!I think we may be going into London together tomorrow to watch the Changing of the Guard Ceremony...I went out for drinks with a Texas girl who I have a mutal friend with and when I got home at about 3.30am I was going off saying how I paid much more to stay here than all of the losers off the street and I've had to move twice and I was on the top floor and I hated it because I was with a freaky French lady blah blah blah and I got to move back to my one room bedroom where I was before!soooo much better!And I'm glad I packed up everything when I was drunk because that would have been hell hungover!The guy at reception who is very flirty even bought me pizza when I was drunk after I moved so I'm glad my blue eyes and blonde hair work for something!lol

Drinks and dinner with Georgie in Notting Hill :)

Hello everyone,

Well I have been so busy being a tourist this past few days I have so much to write about. I'll start with my drinks with Georgina Cross. Georgie is a former Wellington/Sydney girl who has been living in London for almost 2 years this year. She has travelled around the world and done many of the things I am going to do on my trip around Europe. I received a message from here whilst on the plane saying that she hoped my farwell at the airport wasn't to sad and she told me how amazing Europe is which gave me heaps of optimisim upon leaving Australia. She offered to meet up so we organised to meet in Notting Hill Gate for her friends farwell drinks. I didn't want to intrude on her drinks but she assured me her friend said the more the merrier!I met her at the Notting Hill Gate tube station and waited for around 10 minutes watching everyone waving to people they were meeting thinking oh is that her lol Funny. When she got there it felt so good to see somebody I knew from Australia. We talked all the way to the pub about what I had been up to since I got here and then walked into the Prince Albert Hotel where we were meeting her friends for dinner and drinks.

They weren't there when we first got there so we sat outside and shared a bottle of wine whilst catching up on everything we had been doing over the past few years. It was great to hear advice and travel tips from someone who had done lots of things I am planning to do whilst here. She went with a group of friends and with Nicole McGuire when she was travelling so it is a little different but she went to lots of countries that I am planning to travel to. She went back inside to check if her friend was in the pub and he was so I was introduced to two couples (3 Aussies and an Irish girl) who all seemed so welcoming. They had all been overseas for almost 2 years and the Australian couple were moving back to Sydney. They called me a freashy meaning that I had arrived just off the plane into England ha. They all had great travel stories and had seen amazing parts of the world. Listening to them talk made me so excited to get going on my travels to different countries. They gave me great travel and flight websites that will save me lots of money and make it easy to find the best deals which was fantastic. We ended up having around 3 bottles of wine between Georgie and I and we quite chatty and giggly lol I had an amazing pub feed of chicken breast wrapped in bacon and filled with brie cheese. Yummo!At around 11.30pm we all said goodbye and Georgie and caught the tube home. I was listening to where she said I had the get off and she actually told me the wrong station so I had to say goodbye and catch a tube in the opposite direction!It was so funny when we were drunk. Even though it was late I still felt safe catching the tube home as there are so many cameras and people around most stations. Thank you Georgie for inspiring me to travel to destinations I hadn't thought of and introducing me to your friends. xxx

I've survived my first week in London :)

Hey everyone,

I'm happy to see everyone is interested and are reading my blogs :) Glad to see I'm not just writing them for myself ha

Well I have been quite busy over the last couple of days!I have meet some interesting people and moved rooms whilst staying at the Youth Hostel in Earls Court, been slowly getting used to the money and coins over here, visited the eccentric Camden Markets, made my first trip to a huge Sainbury's supermarket and had dinner and drinks with a fellow Aussie (Georgina Cross). Nothing major but I still have another week here to see everything else I want to before I leave for my Contiki.

Let me start with some of the happenings and people at Earls Court Youth Hostel....There are a mixture of people staying here from all over the world!Lack of Australians and Georgie tells me that because they all stay with somebody they know over here ha Some people here are travelling in large groups (school/cultural). Others are visiting for a few days whilst setting off again on their travels, some stay overnight and head out into the city and some people actually live in hostels!I have met so many random people who only have small amounts of belongings and stay at hostels as a way of living. They have no job, live off the small income they receive from the government and hang out and around this place....Coming here I thought that the age limit was under 35 years old...Most of the poor people that live or stay here are between 40-50 years old which is sad. They eat noodles and whatever they can afford to buy and cook in the hostel kitchens. They are constantly moving rooms and have little goals in life.

I have met a South African lady that is looking for work through the job centre here which is like Centerlink and wear exactly the same clothes each and everyday...ewww She hangs out in the common room and tries to talk to everyone she sees because she has no other friends living here. I have met an old French bouncer who drinks all day and works as security at night. He talked about doing drugs almost everyday just to stay awake at his job. I actually learned lots about London and France from talking to him though and learned some new French phrases ha I have met a lady that was forced to move to another hostel yesterday and asked me could she keep her bags in my single room. I felt so bad saying not but stuff that!!I have meet a cool group of French people who are staying here for a week in total and always stop and have a chat to me about what they are going to see today and what I'm up to.There are the cutest little French boys named Muhammed and Boyzid.They always try to get my attention, want me to play poker or teach them new English words. My closest friends here have now moved out as the hostel was full of group bookings and the prices were getting too expensive for them to stay whilst Chris looked for work. I was sad to see them go as they were my security and companions in my first week here. I have got their contact numbers and am friends with them on facebook so I am still in contact with them and will catch up with them while I am here.

I am slowly getting used to using the currency here. They use pounds and pence instead of dollars and cents. They have the same amounts as Australia with the exception of their 1 and 2 pence coins. They are all different shapes though and I am so slow when getting them out when buying something ha I made my first trip to a large supermarket over here called Sainbury's. It was a supermarket on steroids!OMG it had everything you could ever need in the one place. It had clothes,alcohol,appliances and groceries I'd never seen before. There are so many English and European foods here and things you would never find in Australia. I went to the checkout to find a lady sitting down behind her counter on a chair and I had to pack my own items into the bags. A weird experience!lol After drinks with Colin the other night I found out that pokie machines are called fruit machines over here and he never heard them called pokies before lol I have finally got used to my surroundings and realised that I am in the centre of London which is Zone 1. London is made up of zones, 1 being the closest to the centre and 6 being the furthest away from the centre. I have used all of my £35 on my oyster card through using tubes and thank god for Georgie telling me about the 7 day pass around Zone 1 for £20 otherwise I would have waisted another chunk of my savings on tube tickets. There is loads of construction going on for the London olympics in much of the city and app 99 days or something until they begin so there is alot of hype about it over here. Anyway there are some random facts and experiences for you!lol

My trip to Camden Town was another great experience!I had wanted to go and Christina need to go and get her National Insurance number so she is able to work and stay in the UK. We went together on the tube all the way to Camden Town and she filled me on Denmark and her life back home. Christina also knows lots about London as she has been here for  two months now so I learned lots . from here too. Camden Town is famous for it's eccentric,quirky almost hippy feel and of course the Camden Market. The buildings have strange shopfronts and the people have crazy style there. The markets have everything such as London souvenirs, dress up costumes, jackets, phone cases, dream catchers, glasses etc It kind of reminded me of Thailand or Bali shopping as their were lots of fake bags, glasses and clothes. You could even barter with the people working within the market. I picked up a beautiful and warm jacket for £35. I went to a sports store called Sport Direct and picked up a pair of Lonsdale tracksuit pants for £6, a  Lonsdale jumper for £10 and a sleeping bag which I need for my Contiki  trip which was £7 sooo cheap!!!Lonsdale in Australia is so exepensive but over here it is so cheap!Expecially because they had a 70% off sale!I ate Vietnamese from a famous little food shop and  walked around the streets of Camden Town. I would recommend anyone wanting to buy things at a cheap price or find vintage clothing to go there. I had the best girly day with Christina and I loved Camden Town!

I had to move rooms for the first time yesterday. The room I was staying in was needed for a group of students traveling through so I was upgraded apparently to a single room for the two nights as I have to move back down there after they leave tomorrow. After packing everything I own here up and heading back to reception I was told I had a very nice single room. I visualised this beautiful spacious room with a tv etc ha I opened the door and was suprised to find stained curtains, cracked walls and it was freezing. The joys of hostel life! lol My room is right next to the common room and where people have breakfast early in the morning so it was quite noisy this morning. I do however have my own tv,sink,mirror and cupboard!It's going to be hard going back to my old room after this single room but it is warmer and has less noise. I am curious to see who I will be rooming with for coming week, hopefully no freaks lol

Yesterday I organised with my family my first ever Skype session. I went around to the local internet cafe and got signed on to Skype all ready with my headphones and microphone firmly on my head ha I was so excited to see my family and thought I was going to cry as soon as I got to see their faces. Sally was the first one I saw and spoke to and looked all cosy in here sexy robe ha I spoke to Sally and dad at the same time and once we got used to the delays in our communication we talked for around an hour!It was sooo good to hear all about what they have been doing and tell them about what I've been up to!It felt like I had so much to tell them and ask them but I went blank once we were connected ha Sally said we will have to set an agenda for the next Skype session so we get to ask everything we want to know lol Good idea. Mum joined in after she got home from getting her nails done and we had a little cry!Kimba was jumping around on mum and could hear me but didn't know what was going on ha Ashleigh was working late at Fuze so it was a little sad I didn't get to speak with her but we have booked another Skype session for next Tuesday!yay!At the end of the conversation it was time to say goodbye and I could see mum,dad,Kimba and Sally. I didn't want to end the call :( We just kept saying goodbye,miss you and I love you and then I clicked the end coversation button and was back to reality in the internet cafe surrounded by randoms ha For that hour I was with my family and forgot about everyone else listening around me.....

Anyway I will talk about my drinks with Georgie in my next post as I am running out of internet minutes.

Love from London until my next blog
xxxx

More of my first few days in London

My internet credit was running out so I had to recharge. This is part two of my new blog lol

Whilst in the city I got to see my first police officers. They dress in all black uniforms and wear those funny black hats with the silver crest on them lol Khadeem tells me that if a pregnant lady needs to pee that they must offer their hat to them to urinate in lol So funny!If you were here Ashleigh I'd love to see you tell them you were busting to go to the toliet!ha so funny!

Anyway my time here has been so amazing already. There is so much to see and do that it is hard to know where to begin. At least I have seen lots of things already but can't wait to explore more!I plan to go and see St Pauls Cathedral, Cruise the River Thames, The Tower Bridge Exhibition etc There is also a Hyde Park here which looks amazing. Lots of people sunbake in the warmer months and everyone rides around those Barclays bikes you might have seen on my facebook pictures. People play hockey, read, relax and do whatever here!Looks great!I want to see lots of London on a hop on hop off tour of London. It costs around £30 I think and takes you everywhere. I might do that this week just don't really want to go alone lol Holly was keen to do this with me so who knows. I am here in London until next Thursday as thats when I begin my Contiki tour!I am looking forward to that!So many countries and everything is organised for me!I go on that for 3 weeks which will allow me to see 10 different countries and experience the best each country has to offer!

Dad/Mum: I hope you are reading this lol I miss you guys so much and sorry I haven't called yet but hearing your voices might make me even more homesick :( I have organised a Skype date with you for Wednesday though so that should be great!Can't wait to see your faces and hear all about what you have been doing and tell you all about my travels!

Anyway so much to tell and I could go on but I will save other topics for my next blog ha I hope they aren't too boring!Comment on my facebook or underneath these posts to let me know what you think and if you have any tips on what I could include in the next posts.

Until next blog post goodbye and love to you all,
Karissa
xxx

First days in London

Hello everyone :)

I have been so busy the past couple of days I haven't had time to sit down and type everything I wanted to talk about. I am slowly settling into London life. Getting to know my way around my hostel and know some of the staff and regulars I see each day. I still only have a small group of friends but they are great people. Chris and Christina are the couple that are living in my room with me. Chris is British and his girlfriend who I hardly see as she works in a Scandinavian restaurant is Danish. It's great to come home and talk to people about their day or sit and have a chat in the common room with people you feel comfortable with. I have also met another guy called Colin who is from a town in England called Devon lol funny!He is someone who is very different to me but knows so much about everything and is looking for work in London. I went out on my second day in Earls Court on a mini pub crawl around the pubs here. It was funny getting to know them better over wine and beer ha We had a fun day/night and started drinking from 3.30pm lol I have been learning lots of new slang and information about London from these two guys.

We watched a very famous horse race over here called the 'Grand National' we all placed bets and of course I didn't win anything ha But omg dad you would have thought it was so weird because I did. There were 40 horses, none of them started in barriers they used a string that they had to put their noses up to=weird. They jump steeples of grass and some of them fall over and jockeys get stomped on=weird. Only 10 out of 40 horses completed the race because they either fell over or the jockey fell off and two horses died in the race=weird!I was horrified that the horses were falling over but everyone here thought it was normal lol

My first few days have been interesting!I have caught the famous London red double decker buses into Oxford st in the centre of London. I wanted to see the sights but also buy a jacket and a handbag as it is freezing!!!OMG people here are all rugged up and I arrived very unprepared ha I managed to buy a nice but inexpensive jacket and hand bag. I wanted a handbag that didn't make me look like such a tourist as I was using my Kathmandu backpack baahaa so not me!I will use that on my tours though....I am staying in Zone 1 which is only about 20-30mins from London's centre. I had no idea which bus to catch but asked a lady at the bus stop and she told me which number bus to catch. When I got into the city it was amazing.There were huge shops and so many people. I felt like I was Babe pig in the city lol But I managed to find what I was  looking for. I tried to get my phone unlocked at a huge Apple store but they said that Optus has not contacted them etc so I have to contact them and get it unlocked. The stupid lady at the Optus shop in Dubbo said it was already unlocked which was WRONG!grrr If it is locked it means I can't use another local sim card to contact people :( I will try and contact Optus in the next few days!

Shopping/Fashion:
The shopping is London is amazing!So many cool things to buy and the fashion here in the shops at the moment is Spring so there were lots of cool dresses and trendy things. Soooo hard not to want to buy anything when I wanted to buy everything!I'm telling you next year in Australia look out for fluro and printed dresses. Lots of colour!Everyone here has a trendy yet stylish look!Clothes are around the same price as in Australia though. Some basics like tank tops and tights etc are lots cheaper.

Language:
I have only met two Australian people briefly in the common room and one girl at the bus stop in the whole time I have been here lol It is very strange to hear everyone talking in different languages when all I am used to hearing is English. The thing is most of them can speak some or fluent English but I can't speak anything else ha It is interesting trying to work out what people are talking about and I have been picking up small phrases from some of the people I meet which is fun!

My hostel room:
When I arrived in my room there were 3 French and 2 British people there. People come and go all the time. There has been a guy from Romania which I have never spoken to as he works all the time and we are asleep lol A Spanish guy that stayed one night. The French people only left today after being here from before me. I liked a guy called Lambert and he spoke to me a fair bit but all the couple did was lay in bed and watch movies. They also like to smoke lots of weed which I hate so found disgusting!You could see them rolling joints and they would grind up their stuff in the room ewww So I'm very glad they are gone plus I get the bottom bed !A new black guy moved in today and has been talking religious crap to himself since he got here!Annoying and he seems crazy so hopefully he doesn't stay for too long!Everyone at these type of hostels gets moved around lots to cater for group bookings so app I am being moved on Wednesday to another room....Our room is very squishy and app one of the smallest in the whole hostel so it could be a plus!

I met a new friend named Khadeem randomly after my pub crawl with Chris and Colin and was a little upset and feeling homesick in the hostel. Khadeem was in the kitchen and offered me a cigarette so we started chatting. He said I was very brave coming here alone and he was interesting and knew lots about London too. We added each other one facebook and decided randomly to go and see the London eye together the following day!He was a great help and showed me how to use the tubes into London. There were lines closed on the weekend so I was so glad he knew what he was doing. He uses google maps all the time Brad like you!lol There tubes are very small and everyone faces each other and squeezes into the sections on the train. The trains seem to come alot more frequently then they do in Sydney. At each station they have huge escalators which you take back up to the street. I stood to the left and got some dirty looks as everyone here stand to the right lol I got to see some different parts of London through getting off at stations around London and the buildings are unlike anything I have ever seen!They are so old and huge!I felt very small in comparison to them. We had to walk through a suburb called Bank which was the business centre and had amazing buildings and architecture!So cool :)

The London Eye:
When we got into the city after about 2 hours of finding out way around the tube stations and catching buses we got to the London eye. It was amazing and so big!We got our tickets and joined the huge line to wait to get into our little egg like section of the Eye. It takes around 30 mins for the London Eye to turn. We got in with around 10-15 people I think. Once inside I felt like I was in a movie as I was seeing everything I'd only seen on tv and heard of for real. I could see the River Thames which is a beautiful river that flows through London. I saw Big Ben,Houses of Parliament, London Tower etc omg amazing!!The view was soooo good!I could see everything and it has a view of the whole city. Once at the top we had a 360 degree view which was something amazing!

All about my departure to London :)

Hey everyone,

My trip started with mum and dad driving me to Sydney. We all drove down and stopped at Lithgow for lunch at this beautiful little restaurant called Vanilla. After lunch I drove to Sydney International airport and checked in my huge packpacking bag. The whole time I was at the airport it hadn't really hit me that I was actually leaving. I didn't want to say goodbye to mum and dad and that was actually one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Just before leaving to go through customs it hit me!I was leaving everything I knew and loved to head over to London/Europe for 8 months ALONE!!arrhhh I cried to whole time whilst saying goodbye to mum and dad and watching them cry made it worse :( I also cried to whole way through customs and to the departure lounge. I was sitting alone texting everyone quickly before getting onto the plane and soon enough it was time to get onto my Emirates flight bound for Bangkok and Dubai.

On the 17 hour flight I was sat next to this nerdy little old man who played games like mindsweeper and suduko lol I had dinner on the flight which was delicious :) Then slept for about 8 hours as it was a night time flight and I wanted to stay in a regular sleeping pattern (the plane even had stars on the roof of the plane to seem like it was nighttime). After I woke up sand Sally you will be proud I watched some movies!ha I watched New Years Eve and Moneyball. I had breakfast and then we stopped over for a quick refuel in Bangkok. You could either get off the plane and wait in the airport or stay on while they cleaned the plane. I chose to stay on as I didn't want to get lost ha I thought I'd be all organised and get out my jacket which was beige and the same colour as the blankets on the flight and they bloody took it while I was walking around the plane stretching and it ended up with the hundreds of other blankets at the airport. First bit of bad luck on the trip!!lol

We continued on the Dubai on another 7 hour flight where I watched more movies and slept. Then I had to leave that flight and find my departure lounge for Heathrow airport. I found it easily as I was more alert than if I was with a group who would organise things for me ha I got to the lounge and the plane was already boarding. I sat next to an Maurician (I think thats how you spell it?) little girl and her mother which was actually nice. We couldn't understand each other but smiled and helped each other with our food and when we needed to get out and go to the toliet ha When arriving at London airport I had to concentrate on where I needed to be and where to collect my baggage. As soon as I got to the baggage terminal I saw my little Aussie badged backpack and had to grab it quickly but because it was sooo heavy I knocked into these two middle aged people baahaa I felt like an idiot and felt silly for laughing at myself!ha After getting my backpack onto my back with difficulty I followed the signs to the train station.

I lined up in the ticket line and ended up getting an all access train card which is called an 'Oyster Card' as I thought it was be the best option and I remember Brad telling me about them. I can also top them up as needed. I took to Picadilly line to Earls Court. It was about 8 stops I think. The trains seem to move alot faster than the trains in Sydney and I was standing so it was hard to not fall over ha another loser moment where I felt like laughing at myself. After arriving at Earls Court I left the train station and asked the lady at this little news stand where Barkston Gardens were...She told me it was the second street on the left so I decided to walk.  The streets were beautiful and I think this must be a nice area as there were lots of BMW and Audi cars around the streets. Yay for me!I found it easily and checked in.

After trying to get into my building for about 15 minutes I realised I was using the wrong entry and thats why my card wasn't working ha I thought I was staying in a single room alone but opened the door where I would be staying for the next 2 weeks to 4 bunk beds and one British man sitting on his bed. We sat and chatted for awhile. I realised my room was sooo tiny and there was barely enough room for all of our bags. After ahwile of getting set in 3 French people showed up. There was a couple about 24ish I think and another guy. They have really weird names that I can't remember but feel to rude to ask again ha....One of them can speak a little English but finds it hard to understand me. He works in a restaurant from 6pm-12pm. We talked a little and then I started feeling sick as I was sooo tired and smelly from the flight ha I forgot to put my deoderant into my carry on=fail!lol I had a shower which was outside my room and was only just warm on full hot water (no cold) and got into bed to sleep. The others were still awake and I was suprised that I could go to sleep with them playing music and talking in French.

I woke up alot last night. Just being in a new environment and around new people was weird. I could hear them speaking and snoring!baahaaa I also woke up and another traveller was in the top bunk bed across from me, I think he is Asian. I wanted to get up and get ready early about 5am but everyone looked so comfy and they were still asleep. After laying in bed for an hour wondering how I was going to get dressed without waking everyone up I got down off the top bunk and quietly took my bags outside near the shower and got ready. After I was ready I went to get back into my room and realised I had left my key on my bed inside!arrrrhhh I knocked quietly and the French girl looking very tired opened the door for me. I locked up my bags and decided to head out for breakfast.

So now after about an hour still on the internet organising how to change my password on my blog so I could get it up and running here I am...There is internet access (8 computers) in the reception area which cost £1 for 75 minutes which is cheap!I want to get wifi access to so I can upload photos from my phone. The man named Ali at reception asked how long I was staying and when I said 2 weeks he said he would change me to a room with an ensuite after the group that is in the room now leaves!Score!He then offered me tea and toast!yay free breakfast ha

Anyway geez I have talked way too much and have to get moving and checking out Earls Court. I have decided to get the basics I need today and try and organise a sim card so I can contact people in London easily. I also want to go on one of those red tour buses that takes you around London showing the sites but it is raining so I'll see how I go. I also need to find a cheap jacket as it's freezing for a little old Aussie!ha

Love you all and I'll keep you posted on what I'm up to :) 

PS I hope this makes sense as I'm running out of internet access to proof read ha
xxx