Australia Update (Part 1)

Yo Peeps!

Well here I is in Melbourne hanging wiv me posse! 

We ve been here nearly a week now and have thoroughly enjoyed being in the company of friends and fam here. (for those of you who dont know my bro Joe is living here with Laura his girlfriend (and my friend!) plus Jose who was living with us in Chichester over the summer lives here with his girlfriend clare) 

Its been brill to have a base for a week and Jos and clare have been hosts with the most.  Seen joe and lau everyday but wed when they were moving house. 

 went to the obligatory Neighbours night - was brill, Dr Karl Kennedy was there and I was getting very excited (Stef Gray - you understand my obsession!) and got quite drunk and had a 'serious' chat with Lyn Scully and got Toadie sat on my lap! ahhhh neighbours! oh then started singing the neighbours theme tune from the top of my lungs even though i had  a microphone - and all fro teh hopes of winning $50 worth of drinks ( i obviously didnt need any more alcohol at that point but it was the principle!) which is only about 20 quid... ahh the things we do when we re drunk ...like getting the guitarist of Dr KArls band to sing 'blue eyed girl' instead of 'brown eyed girl'  and then somehow ending up with his phone number!! hee hee!!

Anyway you ll be pleased to hear that we ve been shopping pretty much every single day as Melbourne has AMAZING shopping, plus we ve been properly treating ourselves by going out to dinner and not budgeting one little bit which has been ace - its been like a proper holiday!  although we fly to Cairns on Monday so will have to get back into the backpacker mentality then. but before that we ve still got a Great Ocean Road Trip this weekend to look forward to so its been a busy ol' time.

Anyhoo we are slowly working our way towards the sunshine so serious tanning is about to commence - shield your eyes from ma pasty white legs - bring on the bronzage!

Anyone whose interested - i passed my resit exam - which means ive no excuse not to be back in england in february now as i have to start my proper job on 28th Feb - just aswell as i ll have some debts to repay! felt properly sick the day the results came out (im fine now though mumma - sorry for blubbing when you told me!)

Keep in touch eveyone - hope england is treating you all well - if not - you know where i am if you want to escape!

Lots of love

jen

Louise Odell - Happy Birthday for 13th! have a wicked day/weekend - dont miss me too much - dont worry i ll def be around for your summer birthday celebrations!!!

Stephanie Gray - check with Jigs that he gets this email - if he doesnt ive got the wrong email address and i need his proper one please sweets. mwah

Anna McCoy - bout time you stopped trying to get a proper job and get yourself out here where you belong. love ya

naz - youve been very quite - espesh after such a promising start - surely youre reading my emails now theyve got drunken stories in them??

HOls - cheers for your emails - have you thought anymore about China?  I think you should go so i can plan my next trip visiting you!

Nanc - hows teaching going you little leg?? teaching any einsteins yet?  keep the updates coming sweetcheeks.

Martin HArris - didnt make it to Skippers Canyon sorry! but had an awesome time in Queenstown nonetheless.  Didint hear anything on the news about the Maori problem.  Hope it all sorts out though cos they seem properly sorted over there - New Zealand is awesome - theyve got everything covered - tourism, recycling, animal protection, country pride and support - england has a lot to learn.

 Everyone else email me and you might get a mention!!

x

The End of An Era (Part 5 - Final Instalment of New Zealand)

We re on route to Christchurch - we ve stopped at some hilbilly village with about 4 people BUT internet for $3 per hour so abusing the hospitality. 

Christchurch will be our last destination in NZ and so this will prob be the last update til we hit ozzy shores - Melbourne here we come!  Those who know them will be pleased to hear that Joe and Laura Bird are organising us a stormer of a stay - Great Ocean Road and Neighbours night!!  woo hoo!! Dr Karl Kennedy get ready!!

Anyway lets tell you what we ve been up to. 

We travelled to Milford Sound (which is not actually a sound it is a Fiord - go figure!) Got on a big ol' yacht and sailed into the wilderness.  We were lucky enough to see a Southern Right Whale and Bottlenose Dolphins.  Also got to see cute litty penguins waddling about whilst we were sea kayaking. Properly felt like we were eons away from civilisation - espesh once it got dark.

From Milford we hot-footed it to Queenstown for weekend alcohol abuse. Met some guys in our hostel two from london - one from Wales and two from Canada and we all went out for some drinks.  I have to say i LOVE queenstown - only here do they give away free alcohol to backpackers!  Had a rip roaring night on approx 10 quid between me and Kate!! Then Halloween did it all again!- in Witches costumes - we looked very fetching i have to say!  Met some locals who invited us out on their boat the next day for a bit of waterskiing/wakeborading action!  however drunkenly declined cos we were heading to the glaciers the next day and thought he was actually trying to get a different kind of action!

So hangovers in tow (youd have thought being upside down would mean that we got hangovers in our toes - toe-aches but no!) we headed to Wanaka to recover - had a thoroughly nice time vegging - went to the cinema and sat on sofas - what a brill idea that is!

Next stop Glaciers.  had booked to do a skydive from 12,000 ft 2 hours after we arrived there.  it was mental - started to properly feel a bit funny once we were up in the worlds smallest plane and then started panicking when i saw Kate being sucked out of the plane plunging to her death - but atch quite enjoyed it once id got over the stomach flipping similarity to the bungy and soaring through the air like youre invincible - nothing better.  got some awesome photos mid parachute and even a little video! 

Also had booked oursleves into doing a full day glacier hike so trundled off not really knowing what we were letting ourselves into. first off - the boots they gave us to wear were like concrete shoes they weighed a ton! then we had to scrabble through the rainforest - ape style - we were going practically vertical i wasnt letting go for dear life! then we hit the ice - very bizzarre - looked a bit like Krypton - y'know when Supermans dad is putting him into the space shuttle to bring him to earth and then clark kent chats to his mum with those icicles - I kept on expecting Lex Luther to pop out at any stage! ANyway wicked day totally knackered but well worth it.  had to get up this morning to drive the 6/7 hour journey to Christchurch via Arthurs Pass. We re half way through - next comes the windy bit...

Anyway peeps thanks for the emails (those of you who are emailling! - you know who you are! Alice Clough and Stephanie Fewings you still alive??)

Lots of kiwi love - next it ll be kanger-love!

x

Jen

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