I was never warned about the winter here in Australia. We aren’t as Brits, we just see the golden beaches, the clear waters and are pretty happy to go with that perception. And as I was finally getting back to my place last night, taking off my soaked jeans and dipping jacket, I decided to look through some pictures of the summer I have oh-so missed as I made my way down the east coast of Australia.
Green Island- CairnsWhitsundaysCairns from Pullman Cairns InternationalFraser Island, the world’s largest sand islandLooking out to Gold Coast from the Q1 TowerA yellow taxi in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge
I have been pretty lucky to be fair. I arrived in the summer of 2017 and as winter was creeping up, decided to do my farmwork in far north Queensland. Despite the odd heavy thunderstorm the days were warm. The nights were cold, but nothing a heavy duvet and a couple of beers with a bunch of fellow international backpackers couldn’t fix.
And after August and the beginnings of summer I made my way to Brisbane. A more humid city than Sydney, but I will always remember the day Sydney hit 47c. January 8th 2018 was a pretty brutal day, the breeze was no relief and felt like a hairdryer to the face. Brisbane however was hot but I enjoyed the simpler life. T-shirt, shorts and flip flops on the way to work, that kind of thing. But from March 2019 and the beginning of winter my contract ended and there was one last city I needed to visit. Melbourne.
Now Melbourne has had some nice weather since I have been here, such as the day I took this shot above. But it isn’t unusual for me to wear a scarf and two jackets walking through the city.
And as my last day in Australia will be August 27th, I will be heading to Europe at the back end of what seems like a great summer and again, preparing for winter.
Fantastic.
I mean I don’t mind a British winter at all, the Christmas Markets and mulled wine and all that, but after a heatwave to cool off from. I am going to have a winter shortly after a winter, whilst the UK (and seemingly everyone outside of Melbourne!) enjoys some glorious sunshine.
Winter is coming. Well it just won’t leave me.
What’s the weather like where you are, are you enjoying the heatwave yourself? Let me know and feel free to make me more jealous than I already am.
Thank you again to all my followers and regular readers, and hello to you if you are new to my blog!
I honestly reside a two minute walk from this market. And ever since I arrived in Melbourne I have heard the same ‘why haven’t you visited Queen Victoria Market yet?!’, and it is a question I have asked myself a lot too.
Maybe the fact that it is right on my doorstep has given me less urgency. Maybe it is because I have been doing a lot of morning shifts at work. I don’t know. But now that the winter markets are taking place every Wednesday evening I decided to take a very quick look for myself.
I will warn you, it was very quick.
As I was walking up to it I could sense the scale of it. The smoke escaping the tent from the various meat stalls, the sound of the live band playing and chatter of hundreds of people enjoying their mulled wine and finger foods. That and the neon signs pointing to the entrance and various stalls made this a very exciting and inviting first impression.
I mean it was packed. There was enough room around the market to find space to stop and eat your chosen grub, and seating didn’t seem to much of an issue. The first thing I did was head to the bar, what else gets you more in the mood for food than beer?
In fact, the queue was that short I didn’t even have time to snap a picture of it before being asked my order. I grabbed a pale ale and did a lap of the floor. Here is what I found.
Firstly, meat. Lots of meat.
The smells were amazing. And it was an obvious choice looking at the lines, usually a good indicator as to how good the food is going to be. IMPORTANT RULE: Always trust the locals. Although I am unsure as to how many of the people here are locals with this being such a popular venue.
I kept walking around and almost got knocked over by this silent disco train…. I have seen these a couple of times wandering through the streets in Melbourne, the last one was a hen party. Must be something you can hire… Have you seen this in your city?
The looked like they were having a good time.
I need to come here during the daytime, I have seen many pictures from this position and the skyline makes for an impressive backdrop.
Thanks to the guy in the hi-vis below for providing the light.
Melted cheese anyone?
And of course, there were vegetarian and vegan options, although I am not sure how much choice there was as I didn’t really look out for them. The below stall is one with vegan choices, I am sure this was food stuffed into a pineapple. It looked very different, but very good.
What would the world be without live music? I don’t want to know.
Now this was a very quick run through of the market, as I had a busy night ahead of me and needed to meet friends from both Sydney and my work on the opposite side of the CBD. However as I got there quite late, things were wrapping up anyway. I then noticed this huge parting of the crowds in front of me, which I assumed was the grand finale of some sort. The lights moved around on the floor like a nightclub, the music was pretty dramatic as if we were expecting a close encounter with the third kind.
As everyone held their breath in anticipation….
Actually, that was it. It led to a bit of confusion as it was a bit of an anti-climax, loud music, lights all concentrated onto this small patch of ground that people circled, maybe I was late and missed all the fun. But it all stopped and we all started walking again. Picture it like a crosswalk basically. An overly dramatic crosswalk.
Now as this was a very brief tour I aim to go again very soon. I also aim to do the day market too and see what this has to offer. However this was a very fun run around and I would recommend anyone in Melbourne to take a look, whether during the day or winter market. Look out for another post from here in the near future!!
Winter Market: Every Wednesday 5pm-10pm, 5th June- 28th August.
Thank you again to all my followers and regular readers, and hello to you if you are new to my blog!
Want to introduce yourself and your blog and discover new ones? Click here for my meet and greet page. Also please feel free to connect on the following links:
This has been on my Melbourne bucket list for as long as I have known I was moving to Melbourne. Even in Brisbane many people told me it is a must when I am down in Victoria, visiting the 100,000 seater Melbourne Cricket Ground for an Aussie Rules Football game.
The MCG, Australia’s Wembley for my British readers. Australia’s Madison Square Garden, I think? I don’t know, you will have to tell me what your biggest or most beloved stadiums are in your home country so I have a place to watch some great sports if I make it to your corner of the world. Don’t be biased though. Sports fans never are anyway… 😉
This was a very quick ride from where I was in the city, we all met in a bar called Stomping Ground, appropriately named as we bought a can for the road and discreetly yet very elegantly drank them on route to Australia’s biggest and most famous stadium.
The bar was in Collingwood, as this was the team we were watching play against Melbourne. Interestingly enough for those not too familiar with the sport, the majority of the AFL teams are based in Melbourne. Ten of the 18 are in the state of Victoria, and nine in Melbourne’s metropolitan area.
Apparently this says 11… which ones are no longer?
As you can see above, Collingwood sport black and white colours. For me this was an easy team to cheer on.
Or so I thought. Black and white stripes with the nickname ‘the magpies’? Just like Newcastle, the city I lived in back in England. Easy choice!!
However it seems people that aren’t Collingwood fans, well, like to tell me not to be a Collingwood fan. Apparently it is a bogan/chav/redneck team, as are their fans. I mean in the stadium everyone including my Melbourne friend seemed to be pretty nice people, is this a myth? I guess I will let the locals decide…
The Big Freeze at the ‘G’
Melbourne vs Collingwood is an annual game held on the Queens Birthday. On this day an event called the ‘The Big Freeze’ takes place before the game. This is a fun charity event with the aim of raising awareness for Motor Neurone Disease, a condition former Melbourne coach Neale Daniher suffers from and now aims to raise funds fighting for a cure.
On the charity website, fightmnd.org.au it states about the event that:
‘Each year, a group of ‘A-List’ celebrities take the icy plunge sliding into the Big Freeze pool all in the name of raising critical funds to help fine a treatment and cure for MND.’
As you can see below, the celebrities ride down a slide on a sled and into the ice water, often in fancy dress. I noticed people started to clap the intro to ‘We Will Rock You’, and with that out came Freddie Mercury himself. Freddie was always at home in a stadium.
And the plunge…
It was a glorious day for football. Well, I say glorious, it didn’t rain. And the Melbourne skyline looked fantastic from here with the Eureka Tower dominating as always.
Now for the game itself. It is a sport that always looked rather funny to me, as does Gaelic football, with the variety of things going on whilst the players run. Sometimes bouncing it, something punching it, sometimes kicking it. Sometimes kicking each other. Once I understood the rules a little better it was much more fun to follow and appreciate.
I was under the impression that this game evolved from Gaelic Football, but after some quick research it turns out this may be a myth. Historians consider that the game Marn Grook that was played by Aboriginals in Australia possibly has more of a connection. One reason is due to one of the founders of AFL- Tom Wills- having watched the game being played.
Here is a picture of Tom Wills, believed to have been taken on a very early Nokia.
The basic rules are this. Six points are awarded if the ball is kicked in the middle goal. one point if it is kicked between the outer posts. The games lasts four 20-minute quarters and starts with a ruck. In the event of a crocodile, any player is considered ‘fair game’ and the team suffering the loss can substitute another player on without penalty. This is when you see the referee do this.
The ball up is an interesting start to the game. As the umpire throws the ball off the ground, the players then try to take possession as it is bounced into the air. A bit like a basketball tip off really, but with what resembles a mild kids temper tantrum. The throw-ins are equally unique too. As the ball goes out the opposition team does not get to throw it back in, instead one of the umpires throws it over his head, wedding bouquet style. The difference is the guys actually run to grab it first.
The ball is passed between players via a handball, in which the ball is punched with a clenched fist from the other hand. This is the only hand pass allowed. Players can also kick the ball to opponents, and can ‘mark’ the ball by catching a pass that has been kicked over 15 meters without being touched or bouncing (I think). A mark gives the receiving player a free kick without the threat of a tackle. Players running with the ball have to bounce it every 15 meters. This and the kicking rule got me thinking how umpires (or anyone really) can tell what exactly 15 meters is on the field in such a fast game. I mean, does anyone really have the ability without computers to determine what was a 14, 15 or 16 meter pass or sprint? It seems pretty hard to do. I asked my friend and he replied with ‘they don’t’. Fair enough.
But knowing these rules made the game more fun to watch. Like any sport actually investing a few minutes to getting to know the rules means we can relate to the cheers and geers from the fans, and can actually join in. It was a great atmosphere and I would certainly do it again.
I would recommend to anyone reading to go to a local sports game, even if you aren’t a sports fan. It is a great way to embrace the local culture, meet some of the cities most passionate people and try some of the local junk food, which is more than often delicious with a beer. It might not make sense at first, but think of it like trying new foods. You don’t know what it is or what to expect, but regardless of the outcome it is another memory to look back on. And I am certainly glad I had this one.
Pssst, if you want to see the pro-shot of the glorious ‘Freddie’ slide, here it is…
I have been away from this for a long time. For me it has been a long time anyway, after blogging every day for so long 11 days or so seems like much longer. It has been a mix of moving, starting work and getting into the swing of things, meeting friends that I have in the city and simply exploring. But enough of the excuses already, I am back with a few posts to give you for the week ahead.
This is my view from work. The 35th floor and from here the south of Melbourne and the ocean are clearly visible. You see the tallest tower dead ahead? That is the Eureka Tower and has a sky deck at the top. For $20 you can take the elevator up which I don’t think is a bad deal and I may have to do it soon. I haven’t even checked out the surrounding suburbs yet apart from St Kilda as I am currently living and working in the CBD. I managed to get a transfer so got straight back into work pretty quickly, but I have been spending the past week or so stretching my legs and getting out there.
I feel it is so much harder getting back into the groove the longer you leave it. But this post, although fairly short, is my slip road back onto the highway and heading for that fast lane again. I don’t like leaving my blog untouched although I have, it is always on my mind. A bit like not going to the gym for a while after having such a consistent and frequent schedule. I would imagine. It just doesn’t feel right and you know that it is having an effect on progress.
So hello again everyone, it is nice to be back. I have a few posts lined up (with draft title’s and photographs but nothing more as of yet), and I will have them typed up and posted in the next couple weeks. There are quite a few so I should easily stick to my plan of three or four posts a week for the foreseeable future.
It’s nice to be back and to see your beautiful faces again.
Sam
Thank you again to all my followers and regular readers, and hello to you if you are new to my blog!
I have used this image recently but I don’t care, it works beautifully with a post about indecisiveness. I have made the decision to share my posts on other social media platforms as I felt it was the right time, however with this wonder whether I should post less frequently.
I am currently blogging at least once a day and only being on one platform still requires a lot of free time as many of you know. The first hour of my day is spent responding to your comments, and I would never not respond to comments. Also taking time to look at my About Me and Introduce Yourself section’s and trying to check out blogs really makes time fly by. Then I upload a post and engage with you all on an evening. But this means that every post is pretty short in length and I am wondering if cutting down and maybe posting 3 or 4 times a week would be beneficial moving forward.
This would mean that I could maybe type more lengthy and in depth posts, however honestly fear I may not see as much engagement with followers if it is not as frequent. It has made such a difference to me posting daily and this is why I have kept it up. It also helps keep me motivated to carry on. But I know that many of you are on social media too and of course taking more time out here would mean I could see you all on Instagram and Twitter more.
I am really shit at multi tasking. I find it much easier to watch all the plates fall than to jog back and forth between them and keep them spinning. But if I take just a tiny step back on WordPress I think I could manage a little better. Or maybe I will just bite the bullet and keep up the pace and see if I can use social media more often. I’ll sleep on it.
How many of you also use social media? How do you balance the time and do you use certain platforms more than others? Let me know as I would greatly appreciate the feedback!
Thank you again to all my followers and regular readers, and hello to you if you are new to my blog!
I was recently inspired by a conversation I had in the comment section of a post. It was about the nations we come from and how we can lose appreciation for it, simply because we live there.
It is easy to get bored and if we haven’t traveled, easy to take for granted what we have that other countries don’t.
My example of this was when I moved to the USA. Back in 2010 I had only flown long haul twice, two short visits to NYC with college just before the big move. All my holidays were within Europe prior to this and after living outside of the UK for a whole year I began to realise why people visit the UK. It was hard to think that people would flock to such a rainy nation in vast numbers, but now I understand.
For one, I took our history for granted. The USA is a relativity modern country and is amazing for other reasons. The diverse landscapes and huge modern cities. Amazing foods, movies, music and sports. We often travel to get something we can’t back home. I wanted to live in great weather, watch an american football game and hear different accents when I walk to my local grocery store. That is actually true by the way, when I knew I was moving one of the things I looked forward to the most was going to Walmart and seeing how it was different from Asda. Buying peanut butter and jam and putting it in a sandwich together. Madness, but I’m up for it.
What I realised in this year was how old our buildings are back home and how amazing the architecture is. The high school I went to was 400 years old for crying out loud! But growing up this was a boring fact for me. Even this was relatively modern compared to the castles I have visited and I used to walk by castles everyday. Durham Castle and Newcastle Castle mainly, and many major towns and cities in the UK have one. I know when I am back I will gaze up at them and marvel the design and history instead of seeing it as just another building in the street.
I took the picture below when I was wandering the city centre back in Newcastle. Probably before or just after work as I worked around the corner to the right in a hotel. The picture is of St Nicholas’ Cathedral in the foreground and Newcastle Castle in the background. You can still climb to the top of the castle (with amazing views) and I once had dinner in there during an event.
The little windy streets we have looked a lot more appealing when I went home again 13 months later. The style of traffic lights and pedestrian crossings, with ‘Look Right’ painted on the road for those not familiar with our left hand driving. When we see that our nations designs aren’t universal, they become more unique and we can appreciate them a little more.
And it isn’t just visual of course. The foods, the accents and languages, sports, cultures… everywhere I have been I have appreciated something that I couldn’t get back home. And what makes us unique helps us to understand why people pay for a flight here.
So with this in mind I ask you, what is it you think you have back home that makes people visit? And what do you want to see when you travel to a different country?
I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
Thank you again to all my followers and regular readers, and hello to you if you are new to my blog!
I was walking to grab a coffee from 7-Eleven today, I saw a lady taking a photo down this small side street. I noticed the blue, plastic nature of the art and realised it must be another piece of work by the artist Blu Art Xinja. I wrote a short post about the artist here after finding some work near the Botanic Gardens.
If anyone is wondering the location, it is on George Street opposite the Treasury Casino.
Notice in the picture above that the bee is yellow, however in the artists Instagram post below it is blue. Also notice how this street is seemingly a favourite for those wanting to be sick. I imagine the casino plays a role in that…
Just a little update on my most recent wanders. Happy hunting!
Thank you again to all my followers and regular readers, and hello to you if you are new to my blog!
Yesterday I took a walk through the Botanic Gardens and gazed up at the new Skytower. I decided to do a quick post as it has grown to be the tallest building in Brisbane and the third tallest in Australia.
I want to say thank you to @emilyblackwrites for allowing me to share this next view from what seems to be the very top of the building. It is a great shot looking down at the gardens I was walking through in my featured image.
What a great shot! The gardens look tiny from here, as does everything. To think this is going to be the daily view for hundreds of residents is something to envy, but thanks to Instagram we all get to share it for a moment.
What do you think of the building? Let me know!
Thank you again to all my followers and regular readers, and hello to you if you are new to my blog!
I’m rather astounded that most of the countries here are in a certain shade of pink. That means there are only a small number of nations I haven’t engaged with in some way. According to the stats, the number of countries engaged with is 162.
Interestingly the European Union is listed below, so I guess it is 161. I don’t know why sometimes views comes through as the EU instead of a specific nation, I am sure there is a reason for that. And also, there are a couple of places on the list that I believe may be dependencies instead of countries. But the list is fascinating and I am so glad so many nations share their stories on WordPress.
Here is the list, and I was looking through to see the ones I have been to (so far):
Is your country here? If not, you’re my first visitor from your lands!! A few of these nations have given me one view, so thank you for placing your flag upon my blog.
Hello to you all, wherever you may be!
Thank you again to all my followers and regular readers, and hello to you if you are new to my blog!
New to this site? Click here to visit my About My Blog section
Want to keep up with my travels? Click here for my Travel Diaryor follow me @samest89 on Instagram
Want to introduce yourself and your blog and discover new ones? Click here for my meet and greet page.
Yesterday I posted about the time I celebrated 500 followers. Today it is two years exactly since it was posted and I remember it like it was yesterday. I was delighted to have received this news and to try to visualize 500 people reading my posts was pretty cool even if a little difficult to do. But to visualize it makes it more real to me. On a screen full of text and numbers it can be easy to disregard such numbers. WordPress alone has over 75,000,000 sites according to online sources, I mean how are we supposed to comprehend such a number!?
I remember some of the very first followers I ever had. You know who you are, I still talk to some of you every day and it is fantastic. When we are talking numbers in the tens it is much easier to take in, however fun to think about. What I sometimes imagined was sitting on my computer at home and having ten people listening and watching me as I chatted away and typed up a post. I mean that is pretty nerve-racking to have ten people listen to you. I hated it during presentations in school and even as an adult in meetings. Presenting to an audience is not my thing.
So yes, imagine ten people listening to you read your blog posts out loud in your home, suddenly it doesn’t seem like a small number anymore.
I visualize everything. The views, the visitor numbers, anything that turns a number into a picture to help me analyse what’s going on. And before you know it, all that hardcore blogging pays off and you have 500 followers looking forward to each post. Amazing. I’ll add here what I posted in the link above when this notification from WordPress came my way back in 2017. It certainly shows how significant this number is.
Again, thanks to moth dad over on Twitter to help with this visual. Now I admit, we have to space everyone out a mile to get the distance, but 500 is still a very large number. It doesn’t seem so with the ridiculous follower numbers we see some people have on Instagram, however some people are just freaks. I mean another way I think of how significant 500 is, is this. Imagine you were sentenced to 500 days in prison, or told it would take 500 days for your WiFi to start working again. Or if 500 wasps were heading to your home or your team lost by 500 points. All will ensure sheer turmoil, and this gives me a nice little boost for the day.
But anyway, back to the map. If you have 500 followers, this is how far they would stretch if a mile apart. Supposing Brexit didn’t cause a problem at the border that is. If you don’t quite have that number of followers yet that’s cool, as 500 views works too and is a nice number to aim for moving forward.
My best month ever views-wise was January 2018. I hit 10,877 views for the month, visitor numbers were half this. But lets go with the 10,877, you know it’s our blog so we can make those kinds of decisions. We’re now talking about a small town population here. One with at least five pubs, there’s always one you just don’t go into as an outsider if you want to come out alive. One of those sized towns. Instead of seeing a number I see a thriving community, I see actual people all doing their own thing and living their own lives. Imagine that, a small town following what you do online and talking about it in the local fish and chip shop as they wrap the chips in the newspaper with your name as a headline.
I am providing the stereotypical British village/town visual for everyone, but I am sure you have figured that out by now. Feel free to change this for your local village setting.
And then, lets increase the statistics timeframe to one year. In that same year of 2018, I totalled 57,140 views and 23,961 visitors. But again lets go for the larger number. Why not? It gives me an added boost to see the glass half full. Now lets imagine we are walking up the steps of a football stadium and step out to this view…
This is the Vicente Calderón, a 54,907 seater stadium in Madrid. If these blog views were people, this venue would hit full capacity. Think of the noise this amount of people would make. The atmosphere and the buzz. Amazing. Now I know none of us are going to be sitting in the centre circle of such a venue with such a crowd simultaneously, that’s not how blogging works. But I just wanted to share how I visualize the numbers over the years. From a room full of people to a stadium full of people. Wherever you are on the scale, keep moving forward and keep watching your blog and community grow. My community is amazing and I have been very lucky to meet and talk to so many cool and interesting people through this site.
I hope this was helpful, even if a little weird, hopefully both. But we need weird or we are doomed.
Thanks for reading, and let me know if you do anything similar!
One Chance to See the World 