Rollin, rollin, rollin

So as time has been rolling by, I've been super, super busy. Uni finished forever about four weeks ago and since then it's been non-stop work and organisation.
I have probably done about half the things I need to do before I go to Japan. But then there is also our relocation to Brisbane to plan for which is probably happening late feb/early march.

My Japan trip has now changed due to a epipheny I had over coffee with a friend one day where he posed the question "How are you meant to earn enough money in time?". Which of course got me thinking, then calculating, then reorganising my trip to cut out all my exploring in the first week (Tokyo, Kyoto, Fukuoka. Now I am heading straight to Beppu as cheaply as possible which of course means a few days of travelling in almost every different form (couldn't take a hovercraft on the way, dammit).

Here's how it will go:
Fly Townsville to Cairns early Monday morning.
Fly Cairns to Tokyo Monday lunch, arrive monday night.
Spend Monday night in Tokyo in the most comfy bed I shall have for the next seven weeks.
Bus accross Tokyo to Haneda Airport mid Tuesday morning.
Fly Tokyo to Osaka Tuesday lunch time.
Bus and train to Osaka port, Tuesday arvo.
Ferry overnight from Osaka to Beppu, arrive 7am Wednesday morning.
Bus ride up a mountain to AP house to see Danichan.

Then repeat in reverse to come straigh back to Townsville 5 mins later... kidding.

So until then, life is pretty busy, with work, birthdays, graduation, christmas and family stuff. As well as applying for jobs.

We shall see how it goes...

Typical

Okay, so it's lecture recess, I have a reflection assignment on sexuality to complete before Friday, a conference paper to write and a summary conference poster to complete, both on the topic of the emerging role of Occupational Therapy and refugee resettlement. A stimulating topic I'm sure.

And as usual, instead of actually completing these assignments, bar the cover pages, I'm blogging again. I had decided to keep this blog strictly as a travel journal but I broke that one when I failed to blog about my 3 week trip to Japan.
Although I do think I'll still blog about it but probably at a more convenient time.

This time next month I will be finished my four year bachelor of OT and stumbling around working and gathering money for my next trip to Japan in late December.

This last semester has been so different to what I thought it would be like. I had a wonderful visitor for 5 weeks which consumed me and it felt like I was living in another world but still having to complete uni assignments. I realised I know more about Mental Health and OT than I thought and I watched porn with 20 other people as part of my uni work...

So in the spirit of my new-found determination to actually complete my work to a standard higher than a D, I shall now go and reflect on my opinion on sexuality and disability.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Or not. I'm stuck inside on this lovely, lazy Sunday afternoon trying to make myself sound credible and competent through my professional portfolio assignment. Unfortunately my supervisor decided to word most of my evaluation comments negatively so I cannot put many in without changing them and they uni will pick the changes up when they mark it. Damn. So I'm left clutching at straws, hoping new ideas will jump out at me.
Friday night was a friends 21st birthday party with an under, over and beside the sea theme. I went as a beach bum/tacky hula girl. But at least I was comfy.
My brother comes back from freezing Melbourne tonight for a week. We haven't seen him since Christmas and this time he is girlfriend-less (she's seeing her own family).
This is week is the last week before the ERC Proserpine camp so it's all hands on deck to ensure this thing runs smoothly.
Next weekend is full of "family activities" in honour of my grandfathers birthday and my brothers return.
When am I meant to get this work done I ask you?

Time is what prevents everything from happening at once. ~John Archibald Wheeler

Back in Town

After being so slack with blogging over the past three weeks I'm now back in Townsville and I decided to post a blog as I am currently banned from facebook (literally) till I have done my portfolio and it is actually working. I have done more work in the last hour that I have in the last three days. Plus I managed to eat half a bowl of chicken wings in that time too (my parents decided to have an afternoon snack of chicken wings and red wine...)
I have actually written the rest of my bogs for the UK in a notebook but I've been to lazy to put them up as well. Such laziness and so little time.
Instead I've jumped right back into planning the June Eddie Rice Camp and going to the gym most days of the week.
So I think that with this ban in place I'll probably be blogging more than usual, not that anyone will read it. Hopefully I wont waste too much time on here and actually get my work done too.

Wales

Nanny, Caroline and I went to Wales today to have a look at where Nanny was evacuated to during WWII and have a look at the Roman Ruins and Tintern Abbey (from the famous Wordsworth poem). We went to Caeleon to have a look at the roman baths and amphitheater ruins, stopped in Usk for a lovely roast lunch and pud, took a scenic drive through the Wye Valley and stopped at Tintern Abby before heading back home. It was a very cold and windy day and of course it was the one day I didn't wear socks so my feet were like ice.

I'm in love with a fairytale

"Even though it hurts". Just finished watching Eurovision 2009. It was a great show this year with heaps of awesome entry's and of course the usual "what the?" songs. Norway's song was nice and catchy and really deserved to win.
Today we went to Bath to have a look around. We went into the Pump room but didn't have tea as it was packed. The Pump room features in a few of Jane Austen's novels. You could really imagine all the ladies in their dresses and the men making conversation, dancing and taking waters. We had a nice lunch, gorgeous hot chocolate, had a look around at the cutest shops and came home to watch Eurovision. A very good day.

My brain needs a break

After spending the last 13 weeks being constantly assessed, my brain really needs a break from thinking, analyzing, planning and worrying if I've got it right or not. Most of the time I haven't but I'm not going into that now.
My next week is going to be hellishly busy with Bath tomorrow, Wales on Sunday, nights working on my portfolio and trying to spend as much time with my family as possible. On Monday I am presenting my case study to the ortho team, Thursday brings my final evaluation and Friday brings my last half day and the I'm free!!!!!!!
Somehow in this time I a meant to pack up all my stuff home, send a parcel to Japan, a parcel home, ensure my suitcase is max 20KG and figure out what I'll need in London and I actually can't be bothered to start organising any of that right now to be honest. Call me lazy. At the moment I'm watching deal or no deal with Nanny. It's actually a lot more fun than the one in Australia. The host is interesting, they have theme days, there are no pointless girls in silver dresses and identical wigs only contestants holding and opening the cases and there are always extra surprises every game.

Planning Japan

I'm heading over to Japan for just over two weeks in July. There are a few reasons for this trip. First and foremost I'm going to see a special someone. Then I'm going cause I've loved Japan since I was about ten years old and had my first Japanese lesson. It felt magical then and it still does now. I can not wait to get there and start exploring.

The idea is to fly out of Cairns to Tokyo, take the train from Tokyo to Osaka. Spend a week or so in Osaka and then head over to Beppu on the night ferry. When I'm due to fly home I'll make my way back to Tokyo (it will be a sad, sad day) and I get back just in time for my 21st birthday (not that I'm celebrating it).

I have so many things I want to do:
- sample the food
- see the sights
- relax in an onsen or a few
- go to the Osaka aquarium (whale sharks!!!)
- go shopping for awesome stuff of course
- kareoke
- stumble over the few bits of Japanese I can still remember
- and much, much more

It's going to be absolutely awesome XD

Sidmouth & Longleat

Yesterday Nanny and I went to Sidmouth for the day. It is a lovely seaside town full of retirees and where families come for holidays. It has your typical English seaside strip complete with deckchairs and pebble beaches and clotted cream ice cream (even on the most freezing of days). We had coffee, browsed the most gorgeous home decorating and accessory shops, had cod, chips and peas for lunch, browsed more shops and visited a garden centre on the way home.

Today I went with Sue and her mother-in-law Joyce to Longleat Safari Park. It was even more awesome than last time I went (ten years ago). We went on a boat ride, a train ride and of course we drove through the safari park. The monkey section was closed though as they were in quarantine for an infection. I took some amazing photos but unfortunately I had forgotten my memory card so I have to wait till I get back to Australia to put them on the computer. I saw tons of animals including: meerkat, mongoose, macaw, tortoise, turtle, snakes, lizards, squirrels, porcupines, otters, rabbits, guinea pigs, sea lions, gorilla, hippopotamus, pelicans, flamingos, vultures, rhinos, giraffes, llamas, warthogs, antelope, various breeds of deer, lions, tigers, wolves, leaf cutter ants and numerous others that I can't think of at the moment.

Oh and can you believe that they have cane toads on display here? Just wait till they break out into the wild :P

Madrid

Well it was certainly a MAD weekend with Vicky in Madrid.
After both of us traveled for what seemed like a lifetime we made it to the Stansted Hilton and spent a really comfortable 4 hours sleeping before we had to catch our early early flight (after a fry-up and a pint of cider at the airport wetherspoons of course).
The first thing I noticed about Madrid was that everyone spoke Spanish and nothing was easy to understand but we still managed to find our way into the heart of the city and to our hostel. It was right in the middle of the main pedestrian street so we just had to stroll in whatever direction and we could find something to do.
We spent the first day getting our bearings and wound up in the Retiro park which is HUGE and absolutely stunning, there is something for everyone there (not kidding even beer). Then we wandered around some more and found our way back at our hostel. That night we went on the MADrid pub crawl which was heaps of fun for the time we were there (another story). The next day we had a late brunch and headed in the direction of all the art galleries only to find them to be closed due to it being a national holiday (just our luck) so we ended up having a pint in the park and went to explore the streets around Plaza Mayor and tried to find a bit of authentic Spain (which we did and it was awesome). That night we had tapas(small savory foods) and cana (small beers) with a few new friends from the hostel proceeded to get lost only to eventually find a metro station and get back to the hostel again. Later that night I went out and sampled some more bars and pubs with people from the hostel. There is such a wide variety of European beers in Madrid and it was great getting to try them all for really cheap.
The next day we had a ride on the Telefrico (cable car) which took us over the country side where we saw the royal palace from afar and snow capped mountains as well as lovely gardens and the Spanish suburbia. Afterward we said goodbye to our new friend Rick from Holland and we found out way onto the open-topped tour buses that went around the city. This was a really great way to see everything we had been walking past and find out what they actually were. We also stopped of at the Museo El Prado (historical art museum). That night we went to try and see flamenco dancing with Lindsey from Canada, we didn't end up seeing any (another story for another time) so we ended up in another bar having tapas and cana.
We got up early on our last day in Madrid and went to check out the famous El Rastro markets where you can buy anything and everything (it's true). I picked up the cutest handbag and a few bracelets as gifts for people. Then we headed to check out the Museo Reina Sofia (modern art museum) where Picaso's Gernica was on display. The line up for that particular painting was way too long so Vicky and I had a look at everything else and stopped off to have some Paella before heading to the airport to catch our cheap cheap Ryanair flight back to London.
It was a great weekend and we were sad to only have such a short time there. There is so much more to do and explore and I will definitely being heading back to Spain many times in the future.
In London we were kidnapped by our bus driver and then left on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and still managed to find our hostel. After a lovely dinner pad Thai for dinner we had an early night before checking out a bit of the Science museum the next day. It was so weird that everyone spoke English. Unfortunately as the tube was so slow and there were tons of delays we didn't get to spend much time there and had to head to paddington to catch our trains back home.

Stay tuned for the next installment titled: last few days in London.

Glastonbury

Sue and I took a turn in Glastonbury two weekends ago. I was really looking forward to this trip as I knew it would be something different and it was.
We turned up expecting it to be pelting with rain (and it did eventually but only for a short while). It was the cutest little town with loads of really alternative shops (Indian, African, Celtic, goth, devil-worshiping, elves, dragons, wizardry, fairies, hemp, funky shoes,organic foods etc. Such a nice mix and it's the first time I've not seen a tesco express in the high street.
After we had had our fill of shops we went and explored the Glastonbury Abbey and the long history that went with it. There is so much to explain about it but it's probably more famous for being the place where King Arthur and Gwenivere were buried then dug up and destroyed when Kind Henry VIII got rid of catholic churches in England.
In the afternoon we finally felt brave enough to tackle the Tor. We took the bus up to the path, I mean the STEEP path and gale force winds (literally). However, the view from the top was really worth it unlike the smell of the cow manure used to help the grass grow. We then ambled our way down the not-so steep path and back into town. Our day finished with a spot of birdwatching at the Ashcott Corner hides.

Why twitter is a load of crap?

The answer is simple. After viewing the "what's it all about" video on the twitter home page, I came to the oh so obvious conclusion that twitter is pretty much the same as only having the status updates on your facebook page and nothing else. Why use twitter when you can use facebook and have so much more things to do instead of pry into the lives of everyone you know? Or don't know and met once at party in such a drunken state that you actually think they were awesome enough to accept their friend request.

Easter Sunday

Had a lovely Easter Sunday lunch with my family at Nanny's house. We all had a lot of fun and got a lot of chocolate.
That afternoon Liz and I went to look at the ducks on the river Tone.

Hestercombe Gardens

Today Caroline treated Nanny, Barbara and I to a lovely three course lunch at Hestercombe Gardens. Hestercombe is a large manor house with stables and various other buildings. It has a large formal garden with an orangery and sweeping views over the Somerset countryside. Also, 11 years ago they discovered a huge 18 century ? garden complete with a lake, waterfall, Greek temple, octagon tower, war dormitory ruins, Chinese tent, mortuary, "witches house" and other folleys. It would definitely be a wonderful place for a wedding.

In the afternoon, Caroline and I went to have a look at the new ducklings in Vivary Park. Luckily the seagulls have yet to catch one for their dinner.

Birmingham

On Good Friday Vicky and I met up in Birmingham to do a bit of shopping for Madrid (well that was our excuse). Vicky started by missing her train. We stayed at this new hostel called Hatter's. It was really clean and great value for money.

First up we hit the shops... big time. Six hours and much lighter wallets later we took a taxi back to the hostel cause our bags were so heavy. We started drinking pear cider and cherry wine and met our roommates. There were an Italian couple Valentino and Rosa and a Spanish girl Amaia. We had a great time chatting so we all went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant and headed into "town".

The next day Vicky and I had lunch at a Wetherspoon's, explored the massive Waterstones in the centre of Birmingham and saw "The Boat that Rocked".

By 8pm we were both exhausted and unfortunately I had to endure a train car of teenage boys yelling and throwing things for the 2 hour ride back to Taunton.

Eden Project

Yesterday Nanny, Barbara, Caroline and I went to the Eden Project down in Cornwall.
The Eden Project is an old quarry that has been turned into a global garden. There are three "biomes" which feature plants in different climates all over the world. It was great to see such an awesome display of sustainability and green appreciation.
We had a lunch of traditional cornish pasties and home made lemonade while looking out over the spring blooms.

Exeter

Last weekend my aunt Sue and I went to Exeter for the day. Exeter is a slightly larger town and has a brand new shopping quarter and a bigger high street than Taunton.
We set out rather early and had lovely coffee at Costa's. Then we spent the next four hours browsing through the shops and (I admit) bought a few *cough* many things. We had planned to look inside the Cathedral there but it was 5 pounds and so not worth it. But we did see the Roman ruins, as pictured.
There was the CUTEST stationary shop I've seen (by FAR) so I spent quite a while looking through everything (and yes I bought things... but they were so cute). All in all it was a really good day.

Madrid Weekend

Scrap Paris. After being really stingy and scouring the Ryanair website for REALLY CHEAP flights Vicky and I decided to go to Madrid for the long-weekend instead. Well actually she said to "surprise her" and then gave me her credit card details to book everything... But I managed to get return flights and accommodation for four nights for around $330 Australian each which is a pretty cheap weekend considering we are going to SPAIN! Party capital and future WYD venue.

Lonely planet and Matador have been great resources although the Madrid metro map is quite confusing. Giving directions to zone A when there are only numbers :S

The biggest thing to watch out for are the pickpockets which are meant to be rife in Madrid. A fiver in each pocket and shoe will do.

Paris Weekend

With England being so close to France and the rest of eastern Europe, you can't help but plan a weekend or two away on the "mainland". I'm in the middle of planning a weekend in Paris with Vicky, hopefully on the bank holiday weekend between April and May.
So far flights are just over $200 Aus from London and it'll cost about $100 Aus to get to London by train (this isn't the cheapest way but it gets me there in time to fly out).
Also, it turns out that hotels are cheaper than hostels in Paris. Strange but good.
France is meant to be expensive right now so I am really trying to ensure that my costs stay down but sometimes you have to pay for the privilege.
Things I want to see:
-Eiffel Tower (I don't think I could avoid seeing it tho)
-Notre Dame (there is meant to be a really good boat tour from here through the city)
-A wing of the Louvre (not sure which one yet)
And that is just a start.

Musgrove Park

I have been working at the Musgrove Park Hospital for the last seven weeks as part of my final placement for my Occupational Therapy Degree. Halfway through last year I finally decided to put the effort in and organise to do my placement here in the UK instead of somewhere in Aus (most likely Brisbane). It was a relatively easy option as I have my mum's side of my family over here so it wasn't going to be overly costly apart from flights. The UK is one of the most expensive places you can fly to from Aus.

So I sent letters out and got a reply back from Musgrove offering me a fourteen week placement in Orthopaedics. I am really glad I came. It has been a great experience so far there have been barely any differences between UK and Aus Occupational Therapy practices in an acute setting.

I work on three orthopaedic wards, mainly Gould ward which is trauma. Most of the patients are 70+ and have had falls resulting in # neck of femurs or need revision hip or knee replacements. However, that doesn't mean there aren't tons of other ortho conditions that come in, these are just the main ones I'm meant to work with.

Now that I've gotten the hang of how the place works it has been pretty easy seeing patients and following through with treatment plans. Although Gould ward patients tend to throw a spanner in the works when you least expect it. Like a lady saying that she lives in a 2 floor house but doesn't have any stairs (cognitive issues?). But the most common problem is someone having no family or support at home.

I have decided that when I finally settle down one day I am living in a ground floor bungalow with a walk in shower and grabrails tastefully/strategically places around the toilet, shower and entrances.

London

I met up with Vicky in London a few weekends ago (I've been quite lazy with blog posting).
We started by checking out the Tate Modern which wasn't as thrilling as I'd expected. Although there were some random bits or art like a giant spider towering over masses of bunk beds with books chained to them in the main foyer. There were broomsticks hanging from the ceiling, flattened cutlery and crockery hanging from the ceiling. There was a giant wooden double adapter (again hanging from the ceiling) and what looked like giant poos scattered around the floor. Although the strangest by far was a movie of couples rolling around in their underwear as if they were making out but then I realised that they had raw chickens and fish stuck between them and they were rubbing them on each other using their bodies... strange.

We stayed in the Dover Castle Hostel. It is a pretty cool place, friendly, stinky and run down but with interesting people and cheap drinks in the bar. I found cider at the corner shop for just under 3 pounds. It was 2Ltrs with 9 drinks. After the cider, half a bottle of cherry wine, smirnoff red and some magnas Vicky and I were well on our way.... to Wicked. We made the show just in time and had the most amazing experience of our lives (though Vicky ended up in the wrong row at the other side of the theatre, I don't know how). So we made our way back the hostel to check out the bar and find a dance club somewhere. Vicky introduced me to aftershock shots which tasted nice at the time but definitely not the next day when it came back up on a tree outside the hostel.

Saturday started with a lovely fry-up at the nearest Witherspoons (cheap, scrummy pubs all around the UK) before we headed to Piccadilly Circus to check out the shops. We got off the tube, couldn't see any shops and walked straight into the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum which was an awesome 3 hours of amazement and amusement. We had a go in the mirror maze which wasn't a heap of different mirrors making us look funny but a maze of identical mirrors which freaked you out when you saw yourself straight up to you when you thought you were walking down a straight corridor.
The London inner city is awesome. Pubs and bars everywhere and so much to see and do. We walked around till we found china town, walked straight through it and into an Irish pub at the end of the street and had drinks in the middle of hundreds of Irish and scotts cheering on the rugby.

The next day Vicky left back to Ireland and I wandered around the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Natural History Museum. Both are worth seeing particularly the Natural History Museum. It's quite interactive with some amazing exhibits including an (estimated) life size tyrannosaurus rex and an actual scale model blue whale.

It was a packed weekend and there is still tons more to do next time.

The Quantocks

This is a large mass of wilderness in the middle of Somerset (the county where I live).

I've been up there twice now. The first time Sue (my aunt) took me up on my first weekend in England there were still piles of snow. It was such a surreal experience finally touching and seeing snow without a screen between. I was going to make a snow angel but I didn't have a camera and it wasn't worth getting wet and even colder for no benefit.

Last weekend Caroline (another aunt) took me and Millie (Nanny's westie) up and we hiked for close to four hours and had a picnic which was interrupted by wiled ponies.

We walked up many steep hills and finally found the Triscombe Stone which turned out to be the most unexciting crumbly looking mass of rock I've ever seen. You could barely tell it was there. It was a crossroads marker for old day English farmers who were leading their cows/sheep through the area. We ended up at the highest point in Somerset and promptly walked to the car and drove home. Millie was pooped and collapsed on the floor as soon as we returned.

Meeting family

I arrived in London at midday and was surprisingly awake.
What surprised me most about heathrow (well terminal 3/5) is the lack of security. There wasn't anyone around to check bags or accuse you of smuggling drugs in your surfboard case. They didn't even ask if you had goods to declare. I even tried walking through the declare corridor and neither of the two bored looking staff asked me anything. So much for security against terrorist threats. Although there weren't any rubbish bins around. They now use clear plastic bags suspended by metal rings so they can see any "bombs" that might be left in them.

My aunt met me from the airport and took me back to a friends place on the edge of London where I had my first experience of "snow", which was just a muddle ice pile on the side of the road which I kicked for a bit and felt thoroughly dissapointed.

The next day we met my aunts aunt/ my great aunt Barbara at the airport and drove down to Taunton (2 1/2 hrs south west of London) to where my grandmother and my aunts live.

Settling in was rather easy. I'm living with my grandmother (Nanny) and Barbara in Nanny's townhouse which is very posh. It is really comfortable. I have a room on the 3rd floor with my own bathroom. It overlooks the garden and a hockey pitch where the school next door play hockey most afternoons.

It's a 2 minute walk into town through Vivary Park which is beautiful, green and full of flowers you only see in books in Australia. Here there are crocuses, daffodils, pansies and now tulips (and probably a lot more that I don't know the names of but are gorgeous just the same). There is a stream and a bit of a lake with ducks, geese and swans. The new ducklings are starting to appear, but then so are the seagulls to snatch them and take them away :( I love walking through the park every day watching winter turn into spring.

Over 24 hours on a plane

Well three planes to be exact.

I flew from Townsville to Brisbane, Brisbane to Dubai then Dubai to London.

Dubai was an experience. A huge cocoon shaped airport which is so sleek, new and easy to get around. It was still quite hot there and the hair smelt like spices. No joke.

I had my first experience of an A380 and it was kind of a let down. It was just a bigger version of a 747 with slightly bigger toilets and nicer toilets. Emirates is fantastic to fly with anyway so the A380 didn't add much to the experience. They serve way too much food on Emirates and everyone is really nice and just want to make you as comfortable as possible. Definitely worth flying with once in your life time. Just be careful not to let the great experience ruin your flights on every other airline. Note: I can only really compare this to Qantas, JAL, Virgin & Jetstar.

They had way too many movies to watch and television and radio and numerous mp3's. I did contemplate writing a list of everything I wanted to watch/hear but in the end I just watched movie after movie which made the time fly.

Preparing...

It's just under two weeks till I hop on a plane for the UK. I'm still getting things ready and trying to decide if I should start packing now. I feel overly responsible starting so early. But it might be a good idea to stop forgetting anything important. I put all of my savings onto a cash passport in GBP's today. It's worth just under half now, which is kind of depressing.

Pierre and Toy leave tomorrow morning for Melbourne as he has a job interview with Adobe so tonight is a family night of steak and Mahjong. Should be good apart from the fact I am missing Duncan's 20th birthday party at Cactus Jacks tonight. Oh well.

We had an Australia Day party at Daniel's yesterday. Just a day of beer, cricket and snags. It went pretty well and most people seemed to enjoy themselves. I had a great time and wasn't affected by alcohol at all. Yay.

Kickoff

New year, fresh start. I have revamped and cleared my blog ready for a lifetime of travel. First up I'm heading to Taunton, England to do my fourth year placement for uni. I am staying with my Nanny Margo and my aunts Caroline, Sue and Liz and probably with various other relatives on the weekends.

While this might be fun and all, I am quite bummed that I leave the gorgeous Daniel behind. He's taking off to Japan for a year of study an AWESOME experiences. Sooooooooo jealous. Sigh. But I get to go see him in July.

I don't leave till Feb 9, but until then there are a number of outings and social events to attend as well as HEAPS to organise. Leaving the country is just not that easy anymore.

I was on the Thorn Tree Forum earlier and saw a post by a guy saying that he has to attend a conference in London in two days and found out that his passport expired yesterday. I was going to reply "idiot" but about 14 other people had already said similar things. Sometimes you just wonder how people get by on their own.