I am gonna miss you!

If you know me well enough, you know I absolutely love food. I love cooking, trying new things and sitting at the table eating and talking about food. It might be cause I am Italian or it might be cause I was a starving child in my previous life, not sure yet!

A lot of travelling has also been about food, I completely fell in love with Asian food (yes, I do miss you, my lovely pizza but... noodles, c'mon!) and I can't wait to go back to have some more rice/fried crickets/curries/whatever...

But one thing I am gonna miss about Australia is VEGEMITE: this spread that looks like Nutella but it's thick and savoury, it goes perfectly on toast with cheese, or avocado... or anything, really! I have heard that they also sell it in the UK... so guess where I'll be heading soon :) just for a bit of spread!

I am dreaming of a sunny Christmas!

And, yes, it's that time of the year again! After last Christmas in Thailand (and the Thai massage as a Christmas present to myself), here we go with another hot Christmas.
No definite plans just yet, maybe beach, maybe pub... but surely no Christmas jumpers!

BUON NATALE to everyone, wherever you are - I hope I'll see you all again soon!

On the road...

That's it - the end of this chapter is very near.
I am going out to St Kilda for a few drinks tonight but then that's it in Melbourne for me, the place where my life has been filmed for the last 7months.
It'll be hard to say good bye, pack all my stuff in my small 65L backpack (panic), download the pictures from the camera and move on. And that weird feeling, when you say goodbye, because you know some people, some places, some emotions, some memories will never come back, will never be the same... I thought I was well used to this but this overwhelming feeling is always there when you're just about to leave again, like an old actor who's getting ready to go on stage...
I have so much to look forward to, some new adventures, meeting new people, seeing new places (shouldn't really complain since I am going to fecking Fiji!) and I know every thing will be allright once I get on that plane to New Zealand... but for now I just want to breathe it all in and I have the right to feel a bit emotional!

Chilling in Torquay

Since I have finished working a bit before I am supposed to fly out to New Zealand, I decided to take a couple day off the city life and head down to Torquay (yes, it's pronounced like Turkey more or less so everyone asked me why I was going to Turkey for two days, but it doesn't matter...), a surf village on the Great Ocean Road, in Victoria.

I spend a couple of days doing nothing, eating Aussie pies and fries, reading my books, falling asleep in front of the sea and looking at the surfers walking barefeet around the place!

The funniest bit was the 3 German guys I shared a room with, 18 and loaded on goon as they were trying to forget their car broke down on the first leg of their Ocean Road trip but, as they said.. "We'll zee if ve kan get it vixed" :D

Italy vs Ireland

It almost always surprises people, after they heard me speaking for a while, when I say I am Italian. They get quite confused by my mixed accent - some say it's Irish, some says it sounds like I have been hanging around with English people for too long. The other day the taxi driver asked me if I was from Lebanon...
But I was as Italian as I could last night, watching the Rugby World Cup. Was drinking Peroni, screaming a few "merda"s here and there, trying to support the Azzurri in the sea of Irish jerseys.
The first half was really good, the Italians really got into the game and I was well excited. A few drinks and 40mins later, Ireland won 36-6 and I was a crushed Italian woman, getting beaten up by all the Irish people around me (most of all my friends!).
Good thing is, next time, I could draw a few freckles on my face, sculling pints of Guinness and cheer for the Irish team... hoping they make it all the way to the final - as I'll be in New Zealand for that!
Go the boys in green!

Girls night out!

Take some stressed childcare workers, my leaving do, a few bottles of champagnes and some naked men... brilliant time at the strippers!
My amazing girls from City Kids took me out to Melbourne's best male strip club.
We were all so excited we knew all the best acts already: Pistol Pete in his policeman uniform, some Italian stallion (wtf, he couldn't even say "ciao" in Italian!) and some Spanish dancer to show you how to salsa...
We had a great time, I got to dance on stage and, last but not least, I also got a goodie bag... I'll let you guess what's in the strippers' goodie bag! ;)

An average Sunday afternoon...

As it happens, we're trying to make the most of our time Australia.
That means feeding the kangaroos, being afraid of spiders and all... but sometimes I just forget I am in the land down under!
Not only we live in a part of Melbourne crowded with Irish people (so much we call it Co. St Kilda!) but we have also found an Irish bar called "The Craíc".
They serve Guinness, they have live Irish music... and we ended up having a Sunday session, playing spoons and dancing to some Irish songs: we know all the lyrics now... and none of us is Irish!

Change of plans (...and planes!)

MS ELENA GIULIA VENTURINI

Itinerary Details:

From To Flight Date Departure Arrival Cabin Baggage

NADI MELBOURNE FJ 931 22NOV11 18:25 23:45 ECONOMY 23 KG

Ticket Details:

Ticket Number: 260242119****
Guess I always knew that I was not coming home in December...
I just bought a ticket back into Australia, coming back here after a month of traveling between NZ and Fiji.

I haven't got many plans, I just want to come back to Oz and see what life takes me from there.
Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Leeds, Edinburgh - I don't know... we'll just wait and see!

Now I have officially no flight home - exciiiiiiiiiiiiiting!

Passenger Details:

The Goon

If you've never been backpacking through Australia, the Goon is hard to understand.

The Goon tower in our house.

It's wine in a box, it's really cheap and it's very popular. It comes in a bag within the box, you "slap" it when it's almost finished... and if you had too much of it, you can even use it as a pillow! Handy, uh??

You can be proud of the fact "you're on the Goon for the week end" and, if you mix it with apple juice, it's not even that bad... but, beware... it gives you a mighty hangover! I've been there!

Not doing much, really...

I haven't been very busy lately, still haven't started work properly so I am just chilling every day. I have found a house so I am pretty busy watching the only fuzzy channel that we have (there seems to be cooking programmes all the time!!), cleaning out the fridge (there were only guys living in here first so I'll let you guess what's hiding in there!!), sitting out in the garden and sunbathing with my housemates when it's nice weather.

Hard life, isn't it?

I once met a girl called Adelaide

Took a couple of days off my very busy life (worked for 4days straight and was sooo tired!) to go check Adelaide out, people said there is not much going on but I had a great time!

The bus ride over there was crazy... 10hours, not too bad... but we went through literally the middle of nowhere! Towns that look like they're still in the '50s, with one café and old people having Sat breakfast in!

Night life is amazing, went out the first night (with people I met 4minutes earlier!) and came back at 3 resisting the temptation of a falafel on the way back - not to mention that I got lost, had to get a taxi after walking 40mins... just to discover I was 500m away from the hostel!

Went around the city a bit (nice Migration Museum!) and then spent the Monday on the beach in palindromic Glenelg, had the biggest ice-cream with marshmellows and loved every single moment of it!!

Great Ocean Road

I know I should be job hunting and all, especially after moaning about it for so long... but I am in Australia (which is the other side of the world, right??) and I guess I am still traveling... so... I went a bit mad and went on a tour to the Great Ocean Road today, amazing.

Some places looked like the Cliffs of Moher, Co. Clare, Ireland... but with 10degrees more and a fit surfers as well! Wow!

And, on the way there, we stopped at a rainforest to have a little walk and in an eucaliptus forest... to see some furry friends - koalas! They are really sleepy, slow and a bit hard to spot but... so cute!

Back to reality

And here we are, in Melbourne.

It's a bit overwhelming altogether, thinking that I have no job (yet!), no friends (maybe I'll have some later when I hit the hostel bar with wine for 3dollars!), no house (mind you, I am sharing a room with 3 Irish people... all the way here to live with Irish people! Go figure!) and all.

But tomorrow I'll do a bit of shopping and officially start the job hunt... haven't seen one bit of the city yet, been busy moaning and feeling sorry for myself... need a rocket up me arse! :)

You keep your fingers crossed and I will be fine!

Walking in Sydney

Got in early this morning (it was 630 in Oz time... but 230 in my Bangkok body, ouch! so tired I fell asleep in the park like drunkards!!) and took the whole day to walk around this new city... Seeing the Opera House in Sydney Harbour was soooo cool, can'tbelieve I am actually here!

And seeing the signs around here... I am sure my new Australian life will be fun!