TO-DO LIST: Working Holiday

Item 100: Working Holiday

2011-11-19T20:58:00.001Z

Location: London, United Kingdom So this list finally made it to Item 100. The Working Holiday. Yes as the last 99 items have clearly documented there were numerous weekend trips to lands of faraway (from Oz), amazing food, in search of sunshine, Legoland, new friendships, Christmas markets, affordable fashion, cheap alcohol but there was also the experience of living in Britain through

Item 99: Ryokan

2011-10-12T22:30:00.002+01:00

Location: Wakayama, Japan To balance out the hustle of the city, I toured down Shirahama seaside to stay at a Ryokan -a traditional Japanese style B&B. I'm not really a spa girl myself, but having enjoyed the blue lagoon this year I was open to a bit of relaxation and the hotel offered 'round the clock access to it's private onsen spas.I was escorted to my room where I took off my shoes

Item 98: Dotonbori - Osaka

2011-10-08T16:55:00.001+01:00

body {margin:8px} td,.LW-yrriRe {font:normal small arial} .MsoNormal {margin:0} Location: Dotonbori, Osaka, Japan Dotonbori is busy with tourists and lined with eateries including street vendours selling takoyaki (octopus balls), and the infamous fugu which is easily identified by a giant puffer fish suspended in the air. Visiting this area last week, memories of my visit to Japan

Item 97: Hong Kong - food and markets!!!

2011-10-07T23:08:00.003+01:00

Location: Hong Kong I finally made it back to visit as was my intention during my last stopover in Hong Kong. Not much more was planned but to eat like a machine and shop like crazy. And that I did. During the stay, my brunches were filled with dumplings from the dim sum restaurants en-route through the city to the next shopping destination. As I caught up with friends who lived

Item 96: Summer Barbeque - London

2011-09-12T22:12:00.002+01:00

Location: London, United Kingdom Take that London! You may be rainy and windy with temperamental bursts of sunshine, but I got a barbeque in before the end of Summer! After seeing the weather forecast for a 26 degree day, with a day's notice I managed to round up a good group of random friends, gather them around the mini-Weber on a Saturday evening and light up the coals to make the most of the

Item 95: Bergen, beautifully romantic

2011-09-05T22:48:00.001+01:00

Location: Bergen, Noway Arriving by train in the afternoon, we made our way to one of the top hotels in Bergen. Having only eaten at the station en-route we were very excited to hear the hotel offered afternoon pancakes in the restaurant and also fruit for those who were health concious. After a satisfying afternoon tea, we took the Floibanen funicular up to Mt Floyen which had a few

Item 94: Norway in a Nutshell... Bergen to Flåm return

2011-09-05T21:56:00.001+01:00

Location: Flåm, Norway I picked my friends' brains for inspiration when I planned my final bank holiday of Summer: Norway in a Nutshell round trip from Bergen. I'd seen amazing photos and heard only good things. And friends, you know your stuff! This was one of my most revitalising short breaks since coming to London four years ago. My travel buddies and I collected our tour tickets from Bergen

Item 93: Open Air Theatre - Take Two

2011-08-24T19:22:00.004+01:00

Location: Regents Park Open Air Theatre, London. I still recall the warm fuzzy feeling I had the week after I saw Hello Dolly at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. When I heard that this year's production, "Crazy for You" was produced by the same team I was eager to go and check it out. Reviewers of the show have given it five stars and they have it spot on. With a clever set design, colourful 50'

Item 92: Dubrovnik

2011-08-24T19:09:00.005+01:00

Location: Dubrovnik, Croatia Prior to the scars of the sailing tour down the Dalmatian coast, we spent two days enjoying the beautiful coastal city of Dubrovnik. Amazing views of the city could be seen from the air as we approached. Even the 30 minute bus ride into town showed breathtakingly clear blue waters of the Adriatic. We were dropped off at the Pile gate, one of the two entrances to

Item 91: Travel Talk Tour Croatia - Cabin Fever!

2011-08-22T16:10:00.020+01:00

Location: Dalmation Coast, Croatia Cramped into a cabin with three others, the distance between the two bunk beds the length of my forearm - (wrist to elbow), I'm surprised I only threw up three times on the ship during my week-long sailing tour down the Dalmatian coast. I've never slept in such poorly ventilated conditions in 30-plus degree heat. With one fully opening window having a

Item 90: Stockholm - Hej hej

2011-08-07T17:16:00.007+01:00

Location: Stockholm, Sweden Yes, there is a budget airline that has flights for under 100 quid to Stockholm....well 1hr 20mins from the city of Stockholm actually. Overcoming the hurdle of getting into town, it was a relief to have two days of consistent sun as we soaked up the culture in the Swedish archipelago. Day one was museum day. Firstly to Vasamuseet – The Vasa Museum, to view the

Item 89: Greenwich Market - Sika Boutique

2011-07-17T18:45:00.010+01:00

Location: Greenwich Market, LondonRevisiting the markets from four years ago, the intriguing odds-and-ends on sale have now been overtaken by stalls thrifting standard imports from south-east Asia at ridiculous margins.Luckily my favourite little find - Greenwich Market - is still bustling with a good selection of locally made food, fascinator stands and handy crafts contained in an under cover

Item 88: Chin Chin Laboratorists

2011-07-04T21:23:00.013+01:00

Location: 49-50 Camden Lock Place, NW1 8AFHello Summer! And what better way to celebrate than with an ice-cream.In the craziness of Camden Market, a very well mannered queue was formed outside the Chin Chin Laboratorists - ''London's first nitro ice-cream parlour".We patiently joined the end of the slow moving line and peeked through the windows to glimpse past the engrossed patrons as they

Item 87: Glastonbury Festival

2011-06-29T20:11:00.007+01:00

body {margin:8px} .LW-yrriRe {font:normal small arial} .MsoNormal {margin:0}Location: Worthy Farm, PiltonIt was a well run project, getting tickets to Glastonbury last October. After prior registration on the website, we teamed up in groups of six and woke early on a Sunday morning to log on to seetickets in the hope that one of us would get through the system and put a deposit down for the rest

Item 86: Udderbelly Festival - Wil Anderson

2011-06-19T21:56:00.007+01:00

Location: Jubilee Gardens, Southbank, LondonIn what is a magical set-up of an up-turned cow along the southbank of London, I went along to the Udderbelly Festival on a drizzly Friday evening to see, who was once my favourite breakfast talk-show host, Wil Anderson. I'd seen him at the Melbourne Comedy Festival in the year before I left Australia and was keen to have another enjoyable night

Item 85: Blue Lagoon

2011-06-08T22:19:00.005+01:00

Location: Blue Lagoon, Keflavík, IcelandDuring our weekend in Reykjavík, we were spun many an old wives tale on the discovery and healing powers of the elusive Blue Lagoon.Even still, with the smell after each shower in the hotel we hoped that the tourist price of EUR 30 meant that the establishment afforded do something about the rotten egg smell of the country's hot water system, even though

Item 84: Reykjavik - Golden Circle Tour

2011-06-01T22:36:00.005+01:00

Location: Reykjavik, IcelandThe second ash cloud that hovered over London in the week leading up to the last May bank holiday posed little threat to my fellow travel companions and I as we embarked on our long weekend to the capital of Iceland - Reykjavik.Arriving at midnight, the skies remained the colour of dusk and the rude 5:30am beaming sunlight through our hotel room window only indicated

Item 83: Madrid - Girls' Weekend

2011-05-27T18:31:00.004+01:00

Location: Madrid, SpainMadrid, Madrid, Madrid! Uno, dos, tres. Yes, the weekend just gone was my third visit to the Spanish capital. The fantastic 25 degree weather was perfect for soaking up the sun and culture in one weekend. This time around it was a girls' weekend and we'd arranged a flamenco dance class at a local studio. With worn down floorboards and flowers in our hair it was an hour of

Item 82: Legoland Windsor

2011-04-27T22:53:00.010+01:00

Location: Legoland Windsor, United KingdomI saw my flatmate's box of Cornflakes offering 2 for 1 entry to Legoland and what better time to visit than mid-week, now that the kids are back in school and my out of office is set on my work email account. Although we queued for entry with the most number of prams I have seen at one time, this meant that most of the young visitors did not meet the

Item 81: Kew Gardens

2011-04-24T21:03:00.009+01:00

Location: Kew Gardens, LondonWith a 'heat-wave' passing through the UK, the manicured flower beds of Kew Gardens charge an entry of £13.90 and welcome you to enjoy the equivalent of most other London parks. More positively the pricing barrier weeds out the drunken chavs in their bikini's trying to soak up the bonus summer waves of April.Inside there's the tree top walk which is a disappointing

Item 80: V&A Friday Late

2011-03-28T21:52:00.006+01:00

Location: Victoria and Albert Museum, LondonThere was literally a red carpet welcome on Friday night as I walked into the V&A Friday Late: The Play-House. Slightly embarrassing but it got everyone into the spirit of things as the rehearsed crowd screamed and cheered you into the the building. During the last Friday of each month the museum hosts a themed evening and I made it along to get

Item 79: Brussels and Brugge

2011-03-16T22:18:00.006Z

Location: Brussels and Brugge, BelgiumWith a need for a cruisey holiday, I found a really good deal via the Eurostar website with a two night stay in a five star hotel. The plan was to laze about and eat mussels in Brussels. In the middle of winter, comfort food was definitely required.A nice and easy check-in at Kings Cross St Pancras and on to my beloved train to take me across the English

Item 78: Tromso - chasing Northen Lights

2011-03-03T22:52:00.005Z

Location: Tromso, NorwayMarch may be the optimum time to see the NORTHERN LIGHTS, the Auroa Borealis, the dancing lady of the night, but I went to chase them in December 2010.I booked flights to Tromso, which was researched as an ideal destination to begin my Arctic adventure. With day light hours between 11-2, it was amazing that the people were, as my postcard home read 'really really nice', to

Item 77: Somerset House Ice Skating

2010-12-14T20:16:00.004Z

Location: Somerset House, London Maybe it's because of its corporate sponsor, bit I Iike to think its due to the very nicely decorated Christmas tree that welcomes you into the courtyard of Somerset House which makes it the prettiest place to go ice skating during the festive season.Many thanks to my friend to organised our tickets a month in advance, as the weekend sessions are now sold out.One

Item 76: Leeds Christkindelmarkt

2010-12-05T18:07:00.005Z

Location: Leeds, EnglandWe arrived in Leeds 2.5 hours later than expected, due to train cancellations resulting from "adverse weather conditions," (snow)! With a short walk to Millennium Square from the station, we located the reason for our visit to the north this weekend - Christkindelmarkt German Christmas Market, just in time for lunch. Disappointingly the snow from the week before had begun

Item 75: Hong Kong For a Day

2010-11-28T18:45:00.013Z

Location: Hong KongOn the way back to London during a recent visit to Melbourne, I booked myself a one day stop-over in Hong Kong.I arrived while the city was still sleeping at 5:50am. I collected my luggage at the baggage carousel, bought a return ticket for the Airport Express train and hopped on board to Hong Kong station. As my flight back to London was at 8am the next day, I made use of the

Item 74: Mimco - The Failed Ambassador

2010-11-09T23:00:00.007Z

Location: London, United Kingdom Dear Managing Director of Mimco,As one of the thousands of Australians living in the UK, I always feel privileged to be able to represent home and "buy Australian made".I was very excited to be the recipient of the Mimco 'Viking Day Pouch' handbag in April, purchased from the House of Fraser in London's busy Oxford Street. Not only was it a funky bag, but I was

Item 73: Neuschwanstein and the Bavaria Ticket

2010-09-07T21:18:00.008+01:00

Location: Neuschwanstein Castle, Schwangau Oraganising a day trip from Munich to visit the famous Neuschwanstein Castle was proof that the Germany's defining word is 'efficiency'.Firstly, the DB Bahn website translated into perfect English, as I investigated the best train connections from München Hbf to Füssen. Then discovering the Bayern (Bavaria) train ticket, that allows for groups of up to

Item 72: Proms... with Rodgers and Hammerstein

2010-08-24T21:40:00.003+01:00

Location: Royal Albert Hall, LondonOn Sunday afternoon, we joined the queue at Royal Albert Hall for tickets to "Prom 49: A Celebration of Rodgers and Hammerstein".In the tradition of the event, 500 tickets are released on the day of the performance at an accessible price - £5. And with the familiar tunes from Oklahoma!, The King and I and The Sound of Music, what better way would there have been

Item 71: Cappadocia

2010-07-15T21:25:00.011+01:00

Location: Cappadocia, Turkey Cappadoica did not make it on to our Turkish itinerary until two weeks before our departure when the guidebook arrived in the post. But pictures of the amazing landscapes and reviews from friends encouraged me to find the flights on Turkey's budget airline - Pegasus - and booked two days in Goreme. We arrived at Keysari airport hopped in the pre-booked shuttle for our

Item 70: Istanbul

2010-07-11T13:30:00.008+01:00

Location: Istanbul, Turkey Istanbul was at the top of my travel list for 2010. Having spent a lot of my travels in the European Union I wanted a little more adventure, something to stimulate the senses. The call to daily prayer echoing from the minarets through the city on our first morning was the sign that I was definitely in the right place.We stayed around the Sultanahemt area, within walking

Item 69: Powderfinger

2010-06-15T11:26:00.006+01:00

Location: Brixton Academy, London I haven't bought a Powderfinger CD since Vulture Street was released in 2003. I was offered a second chance to see them on their Farewell tour when their April shows were postponed to June. So off I went to the sticky floors of the Brixton Academy on June 4, Powderfinger played to their London-based Aussie crowd for about an hour. It seems that they haven't

Item 68: Oxford

2010-06-02T21:43:00.016+01:00

Location: Oxford, UKThe last bank holiday of May was another experience of old England.Oxford this time around, starting just outside the university town at Blenheim Palace. The birthplace of Winston Churchill has lovely summertime grounds so we were lucky to have scheduled our visit on a day of sun. Inside the building is a 50 minute animatronic tour recalling the palace's history and also a '

Item 67: Greenwich.. in the Meantime

2010-05-18T20:44:00.009+01:00

Location: Greenwich, UKSo I saved this visit for a day when the sun was shining and the DLR to Greenwich was free of any weekend engineering works. Disembarking the train at Cutty Sark we ventured uphill for a 10 minute walk to the Royal Observatory to find Greenwich Mean Time. It's the line whereby we measure our time for daylight savings, and thank God we're into that over here in the UK!

Item 66: Versailles.... thanks Eurostar

2010-04-20T21:38:00.011+01:00

Location: Versailles Palace, FranceAs mayhem would have it, a giant Icelandic-induced ash cloud is causing chaos to flight schedules and holiday plans throughout Europe, the same weekend as I had booked Eurostar tickets to Paris. So Friday night, after dinner a the Champagne Bar at Kings Cross St Pancras International, I hopped on the fully booked last train to Paris, arriving at Gare du Nord at

Item 65: Cornwall - Easter Road Trip

2010-04-07T21:50:00.018+01:00

Location: Cornwall, United KingdomEaster long weekend came around faster than I expected but thankfully there were spare seats in a friend’s hire car and I hopped on the bandwagon as we headed on my first long weekend road trip down to the south west coast of the UK to Cornwall.Good Friday and Easter Saturday were filled by day with scones with jam and Cornish clotted cream, fish and chips, a

Item 64: Kensington Palace... Enchanted

2010-03-29T20:59:00.007+01:00

Location: London, United KingdomAfter visiting many a 'historic' site during my stay in the UK, Kensington Palace was one at the bottom of the list on account that it is right next to Hyde Park and a possible side excursion to a summer picnic when the weather turned bad.My weekend surprise, however, found me visiting just the place. Unlike the traditional ‘please stick to the walkway’ visit, the

Item 63: York

2010-03-15T20:57:00.009Z

Location: York, United KingdomThe return of sunshine to the UK has given us good reason to get outside. This time York was the destination. It’s a medieval walled city with cobblestone streets, windy narrow paths of the Shambles shopping area and Devonshire tea rooms, York is the picture of old England. Why, the Saturday market even had the wife-beating Punch and Judy Puppet Show on for the kids.

Item 62: Jorvik Viking Centre

2010-03-14T21:57:00.005Z

Location: York, United KingdomYork has a Viking museum! “That one has to be added to the list”, so my inner child screamed. Reopening after a big refurbishment, I had high expectations for our visit to the Jorvik Viking Centre. Adding to the excitement was being able to ‘Gift-aid’ our £8.95 entrance fee which meant donating our ticket price to the centre instead of buying an actual ticket, giving

Item 61: Jet lag

2010-03-07T20:35:00.007Z

Location: London, United KingdomFlight Details: Melbourne to London Total Travel Time : 23:30 hrsJet lag - Can't be avoided. At least the Tim Tam Crush Mint Crisp biscuits I packed makes up for it (almost). Item 61: Jet lag? CHECK!

Item 60: Darwin - More Sunshine!

2010-03-02T21:38:00.006Z

Location: Darwin, AustraliaThe coldest winter in the UK for 31 years! I’m getting as much warmth as I can before I head back – Darwin here I come! In the 33 degree heat, the humidity didn’t hit me as hard as I’d expected when I exited Darwin Airport just after midnight on my four-hour Jetstar flight direct from Melbourne.It’s the wet season in the Northern Territory. The houses are built to

Item 59: Melbourne - Bring on the sunshine (and drinks)!

2010-02-23T05:11:00.010Z

Location: Melbourne, AustraliaA welcome relief from the longest winter of my life in the UK, Melbourne has welcomed me back with days of sunshine!Whipping out the summer clothes and slip-slop-slapping on the sunscreen before heading out to catch-up with some of my favorite people, there's definitely no place like home. Degraves Street amongst the office-worker crowds was a reminder of decent

Item 58: 1001 Inventions @ Science Museum

2010-01-26T23:26:00.011Z

Location: Science Museum, South Kensington, London, UKIn today's national security climate - recently the threat level was upgraded to Severe in the UK - the Science Museum has opened a free exhibition 1001 Inventions, which details the history of science from the Muslim world. The high-calibre showcases demonstrate the Muslim civilisation's ability to share knowledge and inventions during the

Item 57: Decode @ V&A

2010-01-14T17:38:00.007Z

Location: V&A, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL Thanks TimeOut! I only had to pay £2.50 to see "Decode: Digital Design Sensations exhibition", a gallery with digital art (not dissimilar to my laptop screen saver), and flat screen monitors displaying examples of online social networking. Amazing stuff! It's no wonder everyone goes back to the 'exhibit' replaying two girls kissing, the artist's

Item 56: Snow in Yorkshire

2010-01-07T21:11:00.009Z

Location: Yorkshire, United KingdomBack in my day, when I was my age and living in Southern Yorkshire, we saw the endless days of sub-zero temperatures during the winter. In the mornings, as I'd open the curtains to my bedroom, views of snow covered roads and footpaths instantly reminded me of the warmth of my own bed. However, they also validated my impulsive Wellington boot purchase, clearly a

Item 55: Edinburgh - Happy Hogmanay

2010-01-05T17:31:00.010Z

Location: Edinburgh, ScotlandFavourable Hogmanay Edinburgh reviews and a weak Pound Sterling was as good an excuse as any to have a 'stay-cation' and welcome in the new year in the UK. With maximum temperatures of 0 and negative 2 degrees, I packed the ski jacket and ignored my traveller's vanity, (although more appropriate footwear for the icy streets of Edinburgh will be noted down for next

Item 54: Hyde Park Winter Wonderland

2009-12-02T11:24:00.001Z

Location: Hyde Park, London The lights have been up in Oxford Street for weeks now, so it’s been feeling like Christmas for a while coming. With careful planning we got tickets to the fresh ice in the rink at the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland. Pfft, so much for careful preparation! It was raining buckets the whole day. Our session at 7pm, had the ushers sweeping away puddles and after stepping in

Item 53: Roller Disco, brought to you by Primark

2009-12-01T19:50:00.008Z

Location: Roller Disco, Renaissance Rooms, LondonMy reliable source for any dress-up party, Primark, delivered once again. But - Shock horror, my £1 fluro pink leg-warmers appeared to be the prescribed uniform for the majority of girls rolling around one of the two rinks at the Renaissance Rooms on a Saturday evening. Even more of a fashion faux pas were larger than life girls sqeezed into lycra

Item 52: Grin Up North

2009-10-13T21:36:00.006+01:00

Location: Sheffield, United KingdomMy life as a travelling salesman has re-located me to the town of Sheffield during the week.Trying as best I can to make home the place where I lay my hat, a friend offered me tickets to the town's Grin Up North comedy festival. Last Monday I was introduced to the comedic talent of Marcus Brigstocke and his show "Dog Collar". Not having any idea who he was,

Item 51: Jason's Canal Boat Tour

2009-09-20T20:52:00.000+01:00

Location: Little Venice, LondonDuffy put Warwick Avenue back on the map last year with her tube station titled song. I've seen many an English girl exiting the station up the stairs, singing her breakup song. But what else do you do, when you've seen the sign, snapped the photo and ticked that off your list? One option is take a short walk towards the canals of Little Venice and hop on the 100

Item 50: Open Air Theatre presents Hello Dolly

2009-09-06T18:32:00.005+01:00

Location: Regents Park Open Air Theatre, London.Hurry! Book now! The outdoor presentation of 'Hello Dolly' finishes soon. (And so does Summer in the UK).I bought my tickets for £15 on www.lastminute.com. The seats were Row R seats 1 and 2. They were so far up the top and to the edge of the seating plan, the leaves from the trees threatened to obstruct our view of the stage as we waited for the

Item 49: Flatmate Fighting

2009-08-05T14:10:00.015+01:00

Location: LondonBackground: Three boys and a girl live in a friendly sharehouse. Along comes the GFC sending one housemate packing back home to Australia. Gumtree advertisements are posted, interviews for a replacement begins. Little interest and a limited timescale narrows our choice to a man from Leeds and a Ger-man. After a convincing follow-up email, the Ger-man gets offered the room. Moving

Item 48: Nice, wouldn't it be?

2009-06-28T11:41:00.006+01:00

Location: Nice, FranceYay, a weekend out of retail hell, and early morning boarding call at Stansted Airport for an Easy Jet flight to the South of France. How luxurious.South of France. South of France. But where?It was the choice of bettering the devil I know this time, heading to Nice for two days and one night. (Especially since we had left two days to book the hotel at the start of Summer).

Item 47: Ikea - Flat Pack Opera

2009-06-14T21:19:00.007+01:00

Location: IKEA Wembley, United KingdomWednesday 10 June: Tube Strike! Luckily the Jubilee Line was up and running for the World Cup encounter at Wembley stadium. More importantly, the line passes Neasden Tube Station, a fifteen minute walk to Ikea! For four nights, the "Flat Pack Opera" was performed in the store.We followed the viola playing lady between the display rooms, introducing the

Item 46: Iguazú Falls - reminiscing

2009-06-05T20:58:00.014+01:00

Location: Iguazú National Park, Argentina Argentina was more than the tango filled streets of Buenos Aires.An overnight bus ride, or pricier internal flight, north from the capital to Puerto Iguazú paints the picture of a typical sleepy South American town.A further 45 minute bus ride on the local service (filled with tourists), brings you to the UNESCO World Heritage listed Iguazú National Park.

Item 45: Get a Job

2009-05-23T10:23:00.005+01:00

Location: London, United KingdomI bit the bullet and last week was super happy to land a retail job at a 'quintessential British icon', H......My contract stipulates not to publish anything about the ins-and-outs of the store, and I need to make sure I do everything to keep my wage coming in so no further details will be shared here unfortunately.Now it's time to layer on the make-up, suit up in

Item 44: Argentine Tango Lesson

2009-05-06T16:51:00.003+01:00

Location: Confeteria Ideal, Buenos Aires, Argentina