Missing Home, (Sian)

I can honestly say that for the first time in our travels I am feeling really home sick.

Melbourne is a great city I am sure, but I cannot help but compare it to London without all of my friends and family.

Maybe It is beacause I have not worked for 6 months and bumming around Asia was brilliant.
Steve and I are working this week in possibly the most boring job in the world... an office doing Market research.

Finding work here has also not been as easy as I though either, don't think the Ozzy's like the Brits as much as we are lead to beleive.

I have also given up smoking... no fags for 2 weeks now!

Over the weekend Steve, Kate and I made a half hearted attempt at a scavenger hunt with our dear friend Barbie. We got to see a few of the Melbourne sights which was great, but lost at the scavenger hunt when we went home instead of joining the other back packers for an evening drinking! Steve and I also met A few of Jessy's friends and saw a great band. We have also met a friend of Tom's who is lovely too!

Will hopefully have more news to report next time, but in the mean time if anyone can think of a way to combat home sickness please let me know!

18/4/05 - Ramsey Street!!!! This was Madge and Harold's house. Brings back such good childhood memories!! 

17/4/05 - Ummm, the waters really warm. Not!! Cowes on Phillip Island is (funnily enough) twinned with its namesake on the Isle of Wight, and the waters the same temp too!! 

17/4/05 - More penguins. 

17/4/05 - A little friend under the walkway on Phillip Island. 

17/4/05 - Phillip Island. No explanation needed. 

17/4/05 - Phillip Island. Nice. 

17/4/05 - The Aussies say it like it is...... 

16/4/05 - Melbourne. 

16/4/05 - Waiting for Trams is a very happy event in Melbourne. 

16/4/05 - Kylie was very friendly at our house warming party!!  

16/4/05 - Kylie Exhibition. Very nice, great bit of self promotion, bless her. 

16/4/05 - My anger management classes were'nt working. 

16/4/05 - Sian and Trenna demonstrated perfection in Ice Cream Cone Syncronisity. 

Penguins & Poorpers (Sian)

We are still in the process of trying to find work, but luckily we now have a lovely house which we moved in to 2 days ago. We have moved in with our friend Kate who we met in Hong Kong.

Our most recent weekend activities was a mixed affair. Steve and I had a quiet night in on Friday and took a midnight stroll to the beach, it's lovely to able able to do that!

On Saturday afternoon we motivated ourselves enough to go to the Kylie exhibition. It is a show of a lot of Kylie's clothes that she wore in shows and videos. It took me right back to my childhood! They even had Kylie's overalls that she wore in Neighbours.

On Sunday we hired a car and Trenna, Kate, Steve and I took ourselves to Phillip Island, a beautiful island twinned with the Isle of wight, it even had a place called Cowes! Phillip Island was beautiful, the sea was really rough I could've spent hours watching the waves crash on the rocks.

Monday was a big neighbours day, whilst I was at a job interveiw Steve, trenna and Kate wenht to Pinnow Close the Neighbours set. They found pinnock close twice, the first time it was wrong, the second correct! In the evening we watched Carl Robinsons band in the local pub!

It is great being in Melbourne, we both really want to find work and fast though!

14/4/05 - A street in Melbourne, interesting isnt it? Only because we dont have any more pictures......... 

15/4/05 - If they opened thier eyes they'd see the bowl was empty!  

13/4/05 - The beach at St Kilda, nice.  

12/4/05 - Two rather pointless objects peering inside a building, and two odd metal statues. Couldnt resist..... 

11/4/05 - Re-united with Kate (far right) and Trenna (second left). 

Down Under for a while (Steve)

16/4/05 - After a gruelling 24 hours travelling from Japan to get to Melbourne we arrived on the 11th at 6am. At least everythings in English now, Japan was without doubt the most difficult place we've been to as far as language goes, so it was nice for a while to be able to communicate properly with people.

The Aussies certainly say what they think, even if it does appear they are being rude to us, one lettings agent was a total bitch!! That said most people are really cool and very nice to us.

We have been reunited with Trenna and Kate who we had met in India and Hong Kong respectively, and have all been exploring a bit. Its comedy festival time in Melbourne and we decided that Rich Hall would be good to watch, he was funny although did a bit too much of the 'I'm American and I'm sorry' type of political stuff. Still the Llama lady was very amusing........

We are also having to cope with stress of returning to normal living, looking for a house, a job and having mobile phones again. I can hear all your sympathy from here. Going to hire a car on Sunday and do our own Neighbours tour, cant wait, remember the opening titles where they are playing cricket........we feel a re-enactment coming on. We can also feel a trip to a pub where the cast go twice a week, pictures of Harold Bishop here we come!! Then we'll hit Phillip Island for a spot of Penguin dancing, and general bungleing around.

Thats it as far as whats been going on, back to boring reality for a while, but if anyone fancies a cheap holiday to Oz just drop us an email or send a carrier pidgeon as we should have a house soon.......

Goodbye Japan! (Sian)

We are now in Singapore airport for the third time on this trip, we have been here so much it feels like coming home.I have a sad feeling inside me about leaving Japan. Not only is it a fascinating country, it was wonderful to see James, Kaoru, and Emma. I had just started to feel home sick again and theese guys and gals made everything seem so much better.
I will miss the Sakura, the temples, the language, the food, the cute hotels and tiny "hobbit world" bathrooms. I will also miss the transport, the Karaoke, the hot baths and all the sake.
I hope one day we can make a trip back. I am sure we will.
I had another sinking feeling as we flew over Malaysia a few minutes ago, hopefully one day we can make it back their too.
Am sure Melboure will be brilliant, the thought of work feels a little daunting at the moment!

9/4/05 - Sakora, the Japanese are mad for it!! 

9/4/05 - Aren't they pretty, and the cherry blossom is alright too. 

9/4/05 - Our last day with Emma, spent in Kyoto, partly at Nijo Jo, a very old castle made entirely not of stone. 

8/4/05 - Kyoto, Gion. Our second visit here, this time with Emma. More Meiko than last time, cherry blossom is out and Kyoto is packed!! 

8/8/1945 - This is Hiroshima two days after the bomb........ 

7/4/05 - Hiroshima. One of many reminders of the reasons behind this city's fame. This building was under the explosion so some of it remained standing, nothing else did. 

7/4/05 - Hiroshima. Outside the re-built castle.