Cant beleive its taken me so long to write this post! Theres been a lot of exciting stuff to write about so I've had to split this latest post into two parts.
So yes the last few weeks have been very eventful indeed. Of highest importance has been the successful selling of Olivia - our sexy campervan, who was beginning to become a bit of a burden unfortunately. After a few interested parties we were contacted by a man who had just returned to Aus from Hawaii and was looking for a van to go on a road trip back to where he lives (in Perth). He was truly a blessing in disguise, and the solution to all of our van related problems.
You see, amongst other things (wont go into it here) we'd been having lots of trouble with the registration (Rego). Like tax in the UK, all vehicles have to be re-registered every year but they have to be registered using a residential address from the state they are licenced in (something we were unaware of when we bought Olivia, who was licenced in Western Australia). Since we could not give identification with a WA address and the Rego was up for renewal in February it meant we either had to re-register the van in this state (NSW) which is a lengthy and very costly process... Or try and reverse the sale of the van back to the people we bought it off and let them deal with it (you don't have to 'own' the van / have it registered in your name to be able to sell it). Anyway, cutting a long story short, it just so happened that this guy who was interested lives in Western Australia...meaning he could re-register it using his Western Australia address. And luckily he was wanting to set off ASAP which was just as well seeing as it only had a week left on it before the Rego expired. Hallelujah!
So in the end we sold it for $1000 less than what we paid for it, meaning that for we travelled the East Coast in our own wheels, on our own accord, in our own time for $500 each which is pretty damn good considering the outrageous costs of renting. We would have got more for it but we had it serviced and paid $650 to get it in top notch condition which helped sell it in the end.
So we are van free again and I must say it feels great knowing that we don't have to worry about anything holding us back from beginning the next chapter of our adventure.
Would we do it again? We would, for sure, but next time we would be investing time reading up on everything and researching all we can before we buy! It was just a case of finding something suitable very quickly when we were first looking but we both agree we should have read up on the facts about buying and selling a vehicle in Aus first.
Well that didn't exactly go to plan. After drinking vodka double blacks, shots of tequila and champagne in the store, then eating roasted crickets at a Mexican, I found myself throwing up in a toilet in what looked to be a trendy bar overlooking the beach. I really embarrassed myself that night so let that be a lesson to me.
Tom has been working a lot recently. Not only has been lucky enough to have extended his contract he's managed to get really good hours too. Plenty of weekend shifts so higher pay. He is earning a small fortune and saving up loads of $ so good for him.
With my spare time I've been spending a lot of it at Centennial park - Sydney's largest suburban parkland area. Mainly because it is peaceful, naturally beautiful and doesn't cost anything. It's nice to chill out and go for a walk or a run anytime of the day. The parklands are so vast and theres lots of paths and trails to explore. I fall in love with it a little more each time I go. All my decent pictures of it are on my DSLR as is always the case with the pictures I have been capturing.
Recently I went on a little walk to try and find some of the filming spots they used to shoot parts of the Great Gatsby movie. I love that film and now I know 95% of it was shot in Sydney rather than NY I love it even more. They used quite a lot of the parklands for various scenes and much of the film was actually shot in Fox Studios (just across the road from the park) where they built the sets.
Gatsbys funeral scene was shot at Waverley Cemetary which, like the park, is 5 mins away from our flat and overlooks the sea from the famous coastal path walk.
They are actually preparing to shoot another big film there now. They've cordoned off quite a generous chunk of part of the park and looks like they are going to be building temporary structure of there to shoot around - like they did on the Great Gatsby.
I asked the security guy if he knew what film it was but he said they never tell him anything until the actors show up.
Quite a long way to go yet. I very much doubt ill see the set finished before we head off to the ranch course. It's all very interesting though!
Sketching some ideas down on a sunny afternoon. I miss architecture and design quite a lot sometimes. Always keep getting ideas so need to record them. I keep meaning to go a do some sketches of some buildings I've seen in the city.
Watching the sun go down with a can of cider
SURFING!
Well finally! We managed to sort out a day to take the board down to Makenzies Bay on the coastal path! Its been so long since we've had chance to have a proper surf. Just shy of six months since we started learning how to surf back at Surf Camp so needless to say we were a little rusty. However, despite the rough conditions and lack of practice we both managed to stand up and ride at couple of waves in from the back which wasn't a bad effort when considering.
Within 10 minutes of getting into the water Tom had got caught out by a wave and had been washed up on some (thankfully) smooth faced rocks which he literally slid across before hitting a large boulder. Luckily there was no significant damage to the board! ...
Haha... and Tom of course...Haha he got away with some bruised ribs and a grazed foot fortunately.
SLSC Est. 1906!
Bronte bay and park
Last week I managed to bag four shifts at Gerog Jensen in Chatswood (that's north Sydney) and two of them were Saturday and Sunday which was good (for the extra $).
I've been lucky enough that the people at that store have such busy social lives that they have often been asking me to cover for them which has been ideal since my contracted hours came to an end at Georg Jensen Bondi in mid January and its been tough having to not spend as much.
The differences between the two stores have made going to Chatswood seem rather dull and stressful but I can't really complain as its money well needed at the end of the day. Plus the commute to the store involves take the train or e bus over the iconic iron monster which is the Sydney Harbour Bridge which is not a bad journey to go on anytime of the day!
Thursday was probably my last shift at Georg Jensen. We've only got one more week left here in sydney before the ranch course. It was a nice laid back one to finish luckily. Oh and I stupidly left my phone in a taxi on Wednesday evening while out with Peter and the girls from Bondi so they can't contact really me for any more shifts anyway.
I'm phoning the cab company on monday morning hoping that my faith in mankind will be retained if the driver has took it back with him and put it in lost property. Otherwise ill have to fork out for a new handset which will really annoy me. Fingers crossed they have it. I would have rang sooner but had to go to Optus and find out e manufacturing number which is how they identify it apparently.
Recently I've been going on a few nights out with Tom and a few of his work friends which has been nice.
We went to a place called Watsons Bay the other day after sampling the weird and wonderful flavours from probably Sydney's best ice cream parlour Messina. Considering I'm not that bothered by ice cream and usually microwave it slightly before eating it, it was actually pretty nice. So you know it's good! I had a scoop combo of apple and caramel pie and almond croissant!
At Watsons Bay we chilled on a little beach tucked away round by the headland below a part of the national park and had a dip in the sea with the shining lights of the City skyline in the background shimmering on the water. It was so peaceful and such an incredible view whilst still being cosy and private.
One of Toms friends is a gay guy called Kristian. One night we went for drinks in the city and he persuaded us and some others to go to this gay bar. Reluctant at first, we thought whats the worst that could happen. This guy is such a laugh and is full of life and energy, it will be fun. Plus it was a few days until Mardi Gras so there are going to be loads of places packed out with men who are as camp as a field of tents anyway.
Well to cut a long story short, yes we did have a fun, eventful and utterly hilarious time...but... at a cost as you might of guessed. Thankfully with Tom being the better looking one out of the two of us he was getting the most attention from, ahem, other men while I just stood there and laughed uncontrolobly. It was one of the few times I wasn't slightly envious of his abs.
Kristian would frequently call over anyone and everyone he fancied and lift up Toms shirt and say "look, have a feel." Within the hour he'd been kissed, fondled, but-pinched, hugged and groped by all sorts of people including a horny 50 something old woman and a gay man dressed entirely as a priest. (There's a photo of that on his Facebook if you fancy a laugh but for your convenience I've included it below). Yes his masculinity had truly been violated and thank god he held it together and managed to laugh it off with his trademark smile instead of beating the crap out of anyone who touched him or invaded his personal space.
One thing that made me laugh was when Kristian called over a tall and butch cross dresser who had just performed an alarming rendition of "I Will Survive" and asked 'her' who looked the campest out of Tom and I. Haha you should of seen Tom's face!
Unfortunately I didn't escape without some unwanted male attention either and had to redirect Kristian many a time as his dancing and thrusting got rather out of hand when he kept trying to come on to me.
I didn't get away with pulling that face as you can see below
It was a strange and twisted eye-opener in the sense that I now know and can relate to how uncomfortable and frankly annoyed girls get when they go out to a bar or club and have to deal with the constant and unwanted attention of hopeful blokes who won't leave them alone. It's not nice at all and I sympathise with you, girls.
The picture above was taken shortly after I'd just spotted (of all people) Gok Wan at the bar with two friends and a beefy bodyguard. Should have had a camp picture with him as well but he left shortly after. I did say hey to him on the way out and he smiled and said hi back. After all, you can't help but be fascinated by watching a famous person from tv from literally across the room. Even if you are sat in a gay bar surrounded by pervy men.
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