The Lost Girl

The ginger Scot has ventured down under! ........... Watch me fail at life whilst I try to complete my bucket list!

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Gold Coast - Theme Park Capital of Australia

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Road Trippin

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I will update more soon

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Hi

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New Year in Sydney

Wow

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Christmas in Adelaide

I've been a busy bunny these past 2 weeks! First my oldest friend Colette who is currently living in Newcastle, Australia, came to visit me for a long weekend! We had lots of fun drinking in rooftop bars and shopping and we also went up the Eureka Tower just before sunset which was a super time as we got to see the city by day and by night and watch the sun set in the distance. Currently there is also a King Kong photo feature due to King Kong showing at the theatre in Melbourne until February. However I should warn you not to do what I did and wear green clothes on a green screen...doh!...as much as a floating head makes for a funny and interesting photo you slightly lose the full affect of being held by King Kong above Melbourne! After Colette's visit I was off to Adelaide to spend a week (and Christmas) with the Casey's. The weather in Adelaide was lovely and warm and I spent most of the week eating and sleeping :D

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Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, or worn. It is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace & gratitude.

Denis Waitley

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In Melbourne city last night Santa's were out in the masses! Bringing Xmas joy and bangin beats to all those they passed and I even got to have a dance with not 1 but two Santa's!

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Trying to get into the Australian Christmas spirit…..mmmmmm….. summer + Christmas just doesn’t feel right! 

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On Sunday one of my favourite films was showing at an outdoor cinema in St.Kilda! Obviously this was a WIN in my book...we arrived and the air was warm and the sky had a few clouds, which was perfect as there was no sun in our eyes and we weren't dying of heat. We grabbed our huge comfy beanbags and got some free ice cream and listened to a band (part of Ben and Jerrys Sundae Sessions) whilst we waited for the film to start. I was literally happy as could be as Davie Bowies name flashed on the screen but only minutes later Mother Nature began her evil plan to squash my happiness... the clouds moved in and turned grey and it began spitting...then it got heavier and everyone put up their umbrellas (except me I didn't have an umbrella or a jacket) however I crossed my fingers the rain would pass and it did...well on and off it rained lightly but I was still in my element watching the Labyrinth no one could take this away from me. Alas Mother Nature striked again with around 20 mins till the end the heavens opened :( people started to run for shelter and the rain bounced of our bean bags, soaked my hair and clothes and the grass we were sitting on and we ended up leaving...fail...I ran to the tram looking like a drownt rat. Trust me to book an outdoor cinema for one of my favourite films and it to rain! Lora 0 - Mother Nature 1

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It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas 🎶 shame it doesn't feel like it yet!

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“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!”

Audrey Hepburn 

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Adelaide!

I had a super time in Adelaide last weekend!

It started on Friday when I had quiet a stressful day (to end a stressful week). I went to Southern Cross train station before work to leave my suitcase in a locker and went to work only to miss the train!

Finally I got on a train and was happily on route to work and excited about the weekend ahead until I realised, when it was far to late, that I was on the wrong train! I should of been 45 mins early for work but instead I was running in late :S woopies! The stress continued after work when I had to rush from work at 3.15 back to Melbourne city on the train to then catch a bus out of city to airport for a 5.40 flight! We literally ran most of way, even as we checked in our bags the woman on the desk basically told us to run to the gate...and we did! We arrived at the gate unsure if we had time for a quick toilet stop but decided to chance it, glad we did because if we had waited till the plane we would have waited quiet a while. We were informed our Virgin Australia plane was delayed 10 minutes only to be told 5 minutes later it was a 50 minute delay! 

Finally an hour later than scheduled we were off and as the plane evened out in the sky I looked at the time only to see that I should of technically been landing in Adelaide. It was a shame we missed out on our Friday night in Adelaide but we still squeezed a few activities in although they were slightly rushed. My family friends very kindly picked us up from the airport and took us to Glenelg beach for a walk and a drink before we then went to a very tasty Indian restaurant in North Melbourne.

With all the running about I had done all week mixed in with the sitting about in Melbourne airport I was shattered! When we got to the house which my friend was house sitting at it was time for bed.

Saturday the sun was shinning and the temperature warm. We went for lunch in the Adelaide Hills and then went to visit the wineries. There is fields as far as the eye can see filled with grapes and loads of different popular makes are made here. Firstly, we visited Jacobs Creek and spent time enjoying the surroundings and having a free wine tasting session. After that we moved onto Maggie Beer which had both wine, cider and food that could be sampled (they also had a lovey blue pond outside with TURTLES! I love turtles). We finished of our Adelaide Hills tour by visiting the German village of Hahndorf which had lots of lovely craft shops and sweet shops and we also had something to eat here and I had cider served in a massive beer glass! 

That night we got to experience some of Adelaide's night life. The 6 girls, a mixture of 3 1/2 Scots and 2 1/2 Australians began the night in Fumo Blue were we consumed many Rainbow Shots (which is apparently a secret recipe and the bar staff are very good at keeping the secret!). Afterwards we danced the night away to cheesy songs at Swish and rolled into bed at 5am (I'm pretty proud of myself keeping up with the young ones I can't remember the last time I stayed out till 5am now that I'm in my old age!) 

Sunday we had a lovely Aussie BBQ in our friends back garden and the food was delicious (particularly the meat and the bread....actually all of it!) but sadly we had to leave and head home on the plane back to Melbourne.

I really like Adelaide, its much smaller than Melbourne but around the same size as Glasgow population wise maybe even slightly bigger. Adelaide is the place I spent most of my time in Australia when I was younger and made me fall in love with the place and 17 years on from my first visit I still love it and cant wait to go back (in 3 weeks :D).

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Markets, Markets, Markets!

Melbourne loves a good market! In the past month I have been to 3.

A few Sundays ago I went to a market underneath Fed Square which had lots of cool things like pictures and gadgets for your home, jewellery, clothes and even a bicycle that made smoothies!

This week on Wednesday night I visited the famous Victoria market which runs most days each week but during Summer and Winter they have a Wednesday night market. There was loads of places to eat from, I had paella and Ice cream to finish, but there was lots of other stalls offering a variety of products and there was also live music! Thursday night I had a slightly similar experience with food and music at the Noodle Market which is on for two weeks in Alexandra Gardens. It was packed with people enjoying the food, alcohol and music and all on a work night! The backdrop of the city was also really beautiful. On route to and from the market we caught some acts playing music at Federation Square and we stopped to enjoy the band playing at a RayBan stage that had been set up as part of Melbourne music week.