Hollie Moves to Perth

Right. So I've arrived in Perth in one piece - even though it took an outrageous amount of time to get here. I left my parent's place in Whangarei at 6:30am (NZ time) and arrived at Emma and Shane's in Perth at around 5am (NZ time). A lot of flying and hanging out at airports - plus an extra two hours just sitting in the plane in Melbourne airport while they fixed and tested stuff.

Needless to say I was a tired little Hollie by the time I got in.

On the way I took some photos of upside-down sky, and my first glimpse of Australia:

I'm into my third day now, and I'm only just starting to get the hang of the time difference. I constantly feel like I've been wasting the day away, only to look at a clock and find it's 11am! I've been kept busy setting up my room, doing a wee bit of sight-seeing, and a suprising amount of shopping for various bits and pieces for the house.

I was really excited about arriving in much warmer weather than NZ, and being able to swan about in shorts and dresses by the pool. However, it really isn't nearly as warm as I was hoping! Instead of lovely sunshine there has been a big storm! So it's been warm clothing and extra blankets on the bed for me. Lamepants.

My room is pretty sweet. It feels crazy to be in such a big room in a house with no stairs and a huuuuge back yard after my flat in Wellington. The house is pretty neat as well. It has a bit of a batch feel about it: there are two actual bedrooms, two lounges, a random storage area/hallway, kitchen, bathroom, and the toilet is outside. Yes, outside. It's not so bad, it's all covered and I can get there easily from my room - although I'm slightly afraid I'm going to step on a snake one night while I stumble there in the dark. So far the closest thing to a snake I've seen was a cute little caterpillar, but it's early days yet. 

Here are some photos of my new digs:

My super comfy bed

So much space!

Hail in the Pool (taken from my room)

We get a new flatmate tonight, another guy from NZ, so we will be a house full of Kiwis! Except for Shane who is the quintessential Aussie bloke. He owns a ute and a Bronco (does that count as a ute?), watches the 'Footy', and appears to be able to fix anything you point him at. Basically the opposite of me. It also seems that I have no choice but to join in with a whole bunch of exciting activities - Emma has already bought vouchers so that we can learn to kitesurf, is planning camping trips, boat trips, and they are super into diving so I'm sure that will happen too. It's pretty awesome. I'm looking forward to trying a whole bunch of new things. Including going to the gym! I know right! 

Baby Steps

I've just arrived in Auckland after a lovely couple of weeks in Wellington spent lazing around and catching up with friends. And eating. I did a lot of eating. The weather was great the whole time, and it was just so nice to see everyone again. Although I am still gutted that I missed out on the snow. I'm not sure I'll ever get over that, no matter how much people tell me it was kind of crap once it started melting, particularly if you had to be outside for any reason.

I'm at a friend's place (by myself, she's not home until later) and it is surprisingly cold, and predictably overcast. I have "borrowed" her puffy Kathmandu jacket that she raved about when I saw her last (it was on the floor in plain view, what's a girl to do?), and am now seriously considering stowing it in my suitcase and pretending that I never saw it. It is actually like wearing a snuggly cloud.

Actual jacket:

Accurate representation of how it feels to wear the jacket:

I'm sure she won't notice if it disappears.

In the last few days I have packed up all my clothes, furniture, and attempted to throw out a whole lot of stuff (not particularly successfully). I'm ridiculously slow at packing. I always end up spending more time peering through photo albums, reading old essays (cringe), and trying on hats that I haven't seen in a while, than actual packing. I was also SUPER awkward when the moving men came to collect my stuff and basically hid in my flatmate's room until they were gone (even though they were totally professional and did a good job). I'm a bit sore today as they took my bed and I had to sleep on the couch last night. The plus side of that was getting to properly say goodbye to my flatmates this morning as we all rushed out the door at the same time(ish).

I'm really going to miss Wellington - I've made so many friends there over the last 18 months and it makes me sad to wonder when I'll get to see them again. Thank goodness for social networking, or I'd be totally lost. Thanks to technology we can now still drink wine in bed and gossip via skype. Plus it is just so beautiful. Yes, even when it is raining, windy, and the bus is 20 mins late.

Tonight I'm catching up with Auckland friends for MORE eating out before heading home to Whangarei for a tiny while - AND THEN TO PERTH WITH ME!

On Becoming a Free Spirt (Sort Of).

I’m moving to Australia in a few weeks, so I’ve created this blog as an alternative to group emails and also as a travel journal of sorts. I have yet to decide if this is brilliant or lazy. I may also talk about cheese and how I don’t understand people’s obsession with cats. And Facebook. It is likely I will talk about Facebook.

So, WHY AM I MOVING TO PERTH? I’ve just finished my masters, which was hard but worth it, and I feel like doing something a bit different for a while. Plus, an old flatmate of mine lives over there and has offered me her spare room, as well as enticing me with promises of cocktails by the poolside and the ability to get washing dried in the space of a few hours. After 18 months of Wellington dampness the latter prospect is pretty exciting! I also scored some cheap flights (yay airpoints), and am hoping to take full advantage of the higher earning power over the ditch (how cliché). 

This means that the next week is going to be spent packing up my life here in Wellington and saying goodbye to all the lovely friends I’ve made. Sadface. So far I have done nothing towards this – I find packing incredibly depressing and am avoiding it until I absolutely HAVE to do it. We shall see how that pans out (badly, if the past is anything to go by). Of course, the weather isn’t helping by being absolutely stunning and reminding me just how awesome life here can be.