Probably the last post!

Wow! I cannot believe Im writing what will most probably be my last post of my HUGE europe/middle east adventure! This is nuts! I cant believe Ill be home in less than a WEEK!!! But actually to own the truth - I AM SO FRIKIN EXCITED ABOUT COMING HOME AND SEEING YOU ALL AND BORING YOU CRAZY WITH ALL MY STUPID PHOTOS AND STORIES AND HEARING ALL YOUR, EVERYONE ONE OF YOUR NEWSSSS!!!!

YIPPEEEE!!!!!

So to fill some in, Ive been in Egypt for just over 2 weeks now, touring around with a group, which I think I outlined before. The groups been good, but it is quite diverse, so there were some extremely mild snaps when we were squished into jeeps on long drives for about 4 days in a row. I actually loved the long drives. I mean, come one! We were going through the SAHARA! Pretty awesome! And SO beautiful! But some people dont exactly deal well with long drives, and it pays to be patient.

Before that other things we all the neccessary egypt sights, spend a day and night on a feluca (not NEARLY as scary as what some people say. I LOVED it!), camped out in the Sahara under the stars, spent a morning bike riding around Siwa Oasis (HAS to be the most beautiful oasis EVER!) and sand boarding down some CRAZY dunes! Oh, and the 4-wheel drivers here are NUTS!!!! Definitely occasional fear for my life, or maybe just my buttox upon landing :)

We left the desert today and am not in Alexandria. Our hotel is TOTALLY cool, and my roomie, Sam, and I managed to score the best room, with full 180 degree, unobstructed sea view. NICE!

So Ill be home from next wednesday with plenty more stories, so PREPARE!!!! Im honestly SOOO completely excited about seeing EVERYONE!!! So let me know when you're free for a catch up!

Love love love love for EGYPT!!!!

Egypt Unplugged

Salam elecom all!
Am now in awesome Cairo, and its really not as scary as I thought. In fact, the people here are SOO lovely and friendly and if you're polite to them - NO HASSELLING! They are just lovely back! Woopee!
No photos in this blog sorry, as I am just in a little internet cafe across from our favourite sheesha cafe. Im sorry but Im now RATHER addicted :)

Ive actually started a different tour now, lapping around Egpyt for 15 days. 4 gorgeous girls from my last trip are on this one, plus 8 other people, so pretty packed. But they all seem very nice, though quite varied. Will keep you all informed of hows all going.

So this morning we went to Giza and saw the piramids! And the Sphinx! And went to the Egyptian museum! Hugely fantastic day and am now really quite tired. But I cant wait to show stupid photos of me holding the piramids, kissing the sphinx, etc. Im sorry, but totally neccessary :)

In about an hour I catch an overnight train to Aswan. Have 2 days in Aswan, before catching a classy feluca, hehe, to Luxor.

Im sorry about the pathetic shortness of this message, but must get back to my sheesh :).
Sending love to all, and looking forward to seeing you all IN TWO WEEKS!!!! :D :D :D

xoxoxoxo

FINALLY A COMPUTER WITH INTERNET!!!

HELLOOOOO EVERYONE!!!
Im so sorry that I havent posted in forever, but the middle east is a bugger for gaining internet, and then when you've got internet for some reason some countries here have a thing against blog!!! CRAZY!!!
But now Im in beautiful Jordan, and have a computer, so lets move on.
To be exact, Im in PETRA!!! And it is AMAZING! You hear about the site, and think, yeah it must be pretty good, but seriously, its as unbelievable, better than what they say!
I spent all day there yesterday. We're talking walking down the cliff-squeazed siq at 6am on the dot, and not walking back out again till after 5.30! There wsa just THAT MUCH to see in there. And so much hiking and talking to the bedoin people. They were really friendly and gave us tea and showed us these hidden tombs. Twas great! Spent part of the day wandering by myself, then part with Elizabeth, one of the girls in my group.



Im now travelling in a scheduled tour, started in Istanbul, with only 4 people plus my lovely leader, Jen, then in Jordan we picked up another 5 girls. They are all really lovely, but I think the original 4 of us have formed a special bond, cause there are several times when we end up all together, for example when it comes to getting a shish and tea and sitting up late chatting :) This photo is of our original group of 5 on top of Mount Nemrut, in order, Adam from USA, me, Jen our leader from Condobolin Aus, Jo from Brisbane Aus, and Elizabeth from Melbourne. And yes, there is only one boy, therefore now there is 9 girls and 1 boy! Poor thing!



Some of the highlights from the tour so far have been Quad biking around Cappadocia (VERY awesome way of seeing the amazing rock formations),
the homestay in the turkish village with a really lovely family (this photo is of the father and DAUGHTER showing us how to roll cigarettes, and we slept on the roof under the stars),
floating in the dead sea,
and yesterday at the site of petra.
Theres a thousand other highlights (ag this syrian story teller, who we couldnt understand a word off, but just loved the facial expressions).
It really has been so wonderful, but they will have to wait for story time when I get home. I keep looking at how many photos Ive taken and how many amazing things have happened, and pittying all my gorgeous family and friends at home who will ask to see and hear them :I I will try to EDIT! :)

Love love love love!!!

turkey travels

Hey everyone
Just a very brıef blog as there are heaps of people waıtıng for the computer
But Im ın Goreme now ın Capadocıa. The most AMAZING place. Thınk natural smurf houses and youve basıcally got ıt. Im now travellıng wıth an Intrepıd tour and have already gone paraglıdıng. wadıng waste deep up a gorge. jeep safarı and tomorrow goıng quad bıkıng through the rock formatıons here.
So pretty actıve and great!
The group ıs real small. Only four people and we all get along fantastıcally!
Very cool!
So wıll hopefully post another blog real soon. But thıs tour ıs super full on and basıcally all my tıme ıs cramped full of cool stuff. But never the less am stıll mıssıng you all and hope all are well and smıley.
xooxoxoxoxoxoxo

Carpet Sellıng, Aya Sophıa and an Apple Tea

I know Ive saıd ıt SOOO many tımes, but today was the BEST ever day!!! Lıke I cant stop smılıng! :)
Started the day pretty funny. I went off wıth the owner of the hostel to try and sell carpets! I know, crazy! But know success unfortunately :) It basıcally ınvolved me walkıng around wıth hım ın the sun around Aya Sophıa and the Blue Mosque, and randomly strıkıng up conversatıons wıth people. then encouragıng them to buy a carpet, tellıng them that he wholesales carpets ın Amerıca (he has an Amerıcan accent, because hıs wıfes Amerıcan, ın real lıfe. hehe). Was actually good fun for a mornıng. The funny thıng ıs that he wants me to stay ın Istanbul for a few months and work for hım. As I saıd before, he hıres backpackers to work for hım and ıs REALLY tryıng to convınce me to stay. To the poınt where he wıll gıve me the money that I paıd for my month long tour (whıch Im supposed to start on Sunday), so that I wıll ınstead stay here and help hım sell carpets!
I am honestly not kıddıng!
But dont worry. As much as ıt was kındov fun for a mornıng, I thınk I could DEFINITELY not do ıt for longer. The morals KINDOV get ın the way :) DOnt worry, I stıll have those, despıte my months of selfısh travellıng :D

(lots of smıley faces ın thıs blog :) :) :) )

So I only dıd that tıll about 11.30, then saıd I wanted to go check out Aya Sophıa, as I hadnt seen ıt yet.
Now Aya Sophıa was STUNNING! SOOO huge! Tıs defınıtely one of those MUST sees ın Istanbul.

After Aya Sophıa, I walked over to the area of Fatıh, whıch ıs actually not a tourıst spot, but I wanted to see ıt because ıt was the locatıon of a book Ive just read. But ıt does have one of the larger mosques ın Istanbul, so I went there, and just quıetly walked through, watchıng the men ın prayer. When I came out, I was puttıng on my boots when one of the mosque carers (Im not even goıng to try to spell the word) came up to me, gave me a nod and a smıle and gave me these beads whıch they use for prayer here. How beautıful s that!? And they are so nıce!
Then I got talkıng to these 2 brothers just outsıde the mosque, about relıgıon. They were really ınterestıng to talk to, and so when they asked ıf I was ın a hurry or dıd I want to go have some tea and a shısh wıth them, I agreed. Hence I spent the WHOLE afternoon drınkıng apple tea (SOOO good here!), smokıng an apple shısh and talkıng about relıgıon, polıtıcs, cultural tradıtıons, pop culture and chıldrens tv shows! :) Was SOOO nıce! And they refused to let me pay for my tea (even though they kept callıng for more and more, even before Id fınıshed the last one, so I thınk I had lıke 5!) or shısh!
And there was no creepy catch at the end or anythıng. Just a lovely, tradıtıonal, socıal afternoon.

So that was my wonderful day! So awesome! I love Istanbul!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Today Im goıng to try to sell a carpet... Serıously!

Hı everyone!
So Fırstly let me just update, I GOT MY SYRIA VISA!!!!! WOOPPEEEEE!!!!! And not too much stress or anythıng. I only had to go to the Syrıa Embassy 4 tımes yesterday! Whats 4 tımes? :)
So yeah, am now feelıng back on holıday mode and today Im goıng to try and sell a carpet. And no, Im not kıddıng. Let me explaın.
So on the fırst nıght I was chattıng wıth some of the lovely hostel people ın the hostel bar, when thıs mıddle-aged guy for the next table over leans across and asks me my name and where Im from (for some reason everyone thınks ım from England!). Then he asks how long Ill be ın Istanbul and whether I want a job teachıng Englısh. I just laugh and say how ım joınıng a tour and then goıng home ın June. Then he laughs and says that everyone says that, but that I should thınk about ıt, cause he could get me a job so easıly and I could make good money, etc. Turns out hes the owner of the hostel and a few other busınesses ın Istanbul, and seems to have made a hobby of fındıng backpackers and talkıng them ınto workıng for hım ın Istanbul. Hmm... Dodgy?
Then last nıght when I arrıved back to the hostel wıth a frıend after havıng a drınk at a nearby cafe, the guy ıs out the front talkıng to some people and we all get chattıng. Then he asks ıf I want to come along wıth hım and hıs polıceman frıend to try and sell some carpets to some Amerıcan tourısts from the cruıse shıps. Apparently one of hıs many busınesses ıs carpet sellıng, and theres a Amerıcan cruıse shıp comıng ın, but locals cant get ınto the area, but wıth hıs polıceman frıend, hes all excıted to go and get some customers :)
So better go, cause hes just arrıved. But I promıse Ill be super careful, and wıll let you all know how ıt goes when I get back!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

I CAN POOOOOSSST!!!!!

Woo Hoo! I can post! Or more specifically, I can log on! SOOOO excited!
The last hostel I was at had these frustrating computers that wouldnt let me do a whole heap of things, the big one being log onto my blog.
But the continual frustration is that I cant upload photos again. Bugger. Ill try to work it out, but for now will have to make do with just my banter...
Im in ISTANBUL! Not Constantinople. No, it's Istanbul, not Constantinople. Nanana na na... Sorry, couldnt help myself. Im turning into Dad! :)
But first Ill tell about my last week. I spent last week in Sevilla, Spain, attending the Feria de Abril. Ill explain this, as few people Ive spoken to know about it, and its quite an unusual event.
The Feria de Abril is Sevilla's biggest festival, and one of the biggest festivals in Spain. But it's not a tourist festival, like the running of the bulls, and the tomato throwing craziness (which I SOOO wanna come back for!). Sevilla has a specific site for the Feria's which just has a whole heap of streets, and they set up HEAPS of tents (we're talking OVER 15 hundred!), called Casetas. They vary in size, and are all individually decorated. We're talking wallpaper, frieses, flowers, lanterns, paintings, bull fighting posters, the whole shebang! THey are like little homes!
Now most of the Casetas are privately owned, either by companies or families. I asked a friend about this, and apparently it costs around 20-25 THOUSAND euros a year to hire a Caseta!
To get into these Casetas, you need to be on the guest list, or sometimes if you know someone inside, or if your really good friends with the door guy. So it really pays off to know a local, which of course I didnt. Until the first day.
I was having breakfast, and the kitchen was completely empty. And I couldnt work the coffee machine, so I went to reception and asked, and a guy, who obviously worked there, came and helped me. We got talking and before I knew it, he was inviting me to a rooftop BBQ one of his friends was having.
Now I know what you're thinking- SASCHA! That sounds SOOO dodgy!
But Ive gotten into the habit of really looking at a situation and then judging, and this didnt feel weird. And lucky I did go, because Manuel (thats the guys name) turned out to be totally awesome! He had an American friend staying with him, Sarah, who is one of the most gorgeous girls ive met on my travels! We got along SOO well, that actually she delayed leaving so we could hang out some more.
The rooftop BBQ was SOO nice. Just eating and drinking and flamenco dancing.
I spent the week with Manuel, Sarah, and especially this lovely young married couple, Amy (American) and Manuel (a different Manuel, Spanish). Manuel 1 introduced me to his family at their Caseta, and his dad, then also his mum, taught me some Flamenco dancing! And I found out later that his dad was a bull fighter! Cool! I danced flamenco with a bull fighter!

So that was basically my whole week! Getting up at 11, lunch at 3 or 4, siesta at 7, dinner at 11, and dancing till 4am! No Worries!
Except now my body clock is totally spun out!

I arrived in Istanbul last night, and after FINALLY finding my way to the hostel, I grabbed a kebab (they are SOOO good here, different to at home. More like a sub really. And SOOO cheap. Yay for not being in the euro anymore. 3 liras, equivalent to just under 3 ozzie dollars is expensive!) And I had fully intended to just crash, but then met heaps of people in the hostel, and hence had a beer and chatted... so got to bed around 2ish. Not TOOO late.
:)

Today I needed to go to the Syria Embassy, and the experience was even worse than in Lisbon! Took me 2 hours to find the place, only for them to tell me I needed to obtain a letter of recommendation from my embassy and come between 9 and 11 in the morning, then shut the door in my face! Nevermind that I had NO idea where my embassy was!
Luckily I found a lovely travel company, who found the address for me, then I managed to get the letter. So tomorrow, I have to go back and HOPEFULLY they can give me a visa before Friday. Bugger I HATE visa stuff!
Word to the wise- NEVER book trips to iffy places spur of the moment. The night before you leave Australia so TOOOOO spontaneous, and just causes pain.

But anyway, with the letter of recommendation I REFUSED to be down, so I went to the Spice Market and it was AMAZING!!!! All the colours and noises and smells... I was just overwhelmed! And walked around and around and LOVED it! So feeling really good now, despite the crappy start to the day.
Oh and the baclava here! OMG!!!!!! Im in love! Ooo, and the tea! Thats awesome too!

Okay, so Id better get off the computer. Going to go check out some of this street food for dinner. Wish me luck :)
And wish me double luck with the stupid embassy tomorrow...

The soothing therapy of beer and a band

Thankyou so much Dad and Mark for your posts, you guys are great! Particularly love the big daddy hug and Marks washing updates (yay for domestics!), ooo! And for the $900. Woo Hoo!!!!

So went out last night to a bar which had been told get really busy every night, even Monday nights, with live music. When we arrived, there really was NOT many people, but they insisted on seating us RIGHT in the corner. The band started at 12.30 and by then was PACKED!
And this band was AMAZING!!! They did cover versions (I dont know the word when really the song is totally different, in different style, etc), but mostly in Portugese, with a few English songs thrown in. And the girls voice was SOOO amazing! Im gonna look for their CD today! (who doesnt have their CD for sale at their gigs? Honestly!) And there was this old guy (im talking 80s I reckon!) who was just ROCKING out! Most of the songs were in quite a heavy electronic style, and he was just going nuts, the only one standing up to dance through around the tables. He was awesome, I wanted to go dance with him, except that I think he would have outdanced me in 1 minute! The whole crowd was great! SInging along and clapping and it was just a great night!
Got home about 3ish, and today is beautiful and sunny and Im headed to Sintra and yeah bad mood is well and trully dissapated. Yay!
So wishing everyone love and will post again soon.
Bye!
xoxoxoxo

I hate it when Im in a bad mood!

Bugger bugger BUGGER!!!
I was not in a bad mood when I woke up, despite oversleeping because I didnt realise there are complete shutters on the hostel windows (and many of you will know how Im a morning person and like to get up early), but headed over to the Egypt embassy here in Lisbon. Long story, which I wont bore you all with, but I do need an Egypt visa. Everyone else in the building was SO nice, but of course I had to deal with the witch who deals with visa issues. I honestly felt like crying by the time I got out one and a half hours later! I didnt of course, cause Im a tougher cookie now, but HONESTLY, do I look like some sort of criminal that she had to treat me like one!!!??????
And the REALLY frustrating thing is that they have to keep my passport for 4 DAYS, so I have to GO BACK THERE and see that woman AGAIN!!! And I therefore cant go to Evora, as planned, but must come back to Lisbon. BUGGER!!!!
Okay, move on Sascha.
I then went to the castle here in Lisbon, which really was very nice, but I think just that bad start put me in a shitty mood, and strangely I just havent been able to shake it. Even with icecream!
And just now, when I got back to the hostel, my found dinner for tonight had been thrown in the bin! Like, whats the point in having a fridge for hostel guests if you're just going to throw their food out, and put their coke (which I had spoilt myself in getting for the first time in months), in the free-for-all compartment?
I thought maybe Monday was the cleaning out day, and wanted to check whether if I left things in the fridge tomorrow, they would also be thrown out, but the lovely guy at the reception desk does not speak very good english, and I just got even more frustrated in trying to explain my question, and what had happened. So now I am very frustrated, and will just HAVE to wipe it away by going out tonight with some French-Canadian girls I met this morning, and having an extra drink to make up for it! Good idea Sasch! I thought so too :)
Okay, well I feel much better for this little bitch, thanks guys.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better. In fact, OF COURSE it will be better, cause Im heading to Sintra, a heritage listed town nearby which has been recommended to me THAT many times, so should be great!
I promise to be in a better mood for the next post :)
Love you all! Mwa!

Ola Portugal!

Hi, sorry havent posted for a few days, but have arrived safe and without-much-sleep in Portgual. I cant upload photos at this hostel (Bugger!) but will fill you in on Portugal craziness:

Porto- So I flew into Porto and couch surfed with a fantastic girl call Catarina, who also had a guy from Argentina, Joan, couch surfing with her, but kindly agreed to have me too! OMG she was SOO nice, cooking dinner for us on the first night while Joan and I went out to the nearby pub to watch the Manchester vs Porto football match that was in Porto that night! The next day was POURING rain in the morning, but fined up in the afternoon. Went to the local fresh produce market (becoming a regular habit of mine), then walked around the town for the rest of the morning. Porto is SOOO beautiful! Think winding narrow streets climbing up the hillsides form a blue blue river and think PIRATES!!! Full on, I had these fantasies of Johnny Depp sailing in all day!
On the other side of the river are HEAPS of wine cellars, the home of Port wine, so OF COURSE I HAD to do a tour. Was great cause I checked out a few of the cellars (they all offer tours and tasting, but at different prices and different lengths), and rather than going into the first and most touristy one, I went into Ramos Pinto, which I thought was the most beautiful (with wisteria all flowering around the doorway and a vast tasting room of dark wood furniture and deep green cushions), I paid 2 euro rather than 4, and got a 45 minute tour, rather than 20 minute, which included all the original offices of the excentric founder of the company, the underground cave cellars, an explanation of how port wine is made and the different types and tastings. AWESOME!!!!
So that kindov ate up, or drank up, my day. I met Catarina, Joan and Catarina's roommate, Bruno that evening for dinner, then stayed out drinking till about 4ish, watching the freshmen at Porto university run around and around. Actually, I should probably tell that by the end of the night, I was not feeling crash hot, not from drinking cause I didnt drink THAT much, but was getting a cold :(

Guimaraes- The next day I was feeling pretty crappy, but thanked Catarina for a great time and had planned to head to Braga for the day, then Guimaraes in the evening. Was pouring rain and I managed to get lost just trying to find the station OUT of Porto, not cool, and felt rather drained from carrying my huge pack, so decided to give Braga a miss and head to Guimaraes, a small town north and inland from Porto. When I got to Guimaraes, I was very happy to find that the dorm room I booked had no one else staying in it! Yay! So after walking around the town (lovely medieval town with a 10th century castle and 16th century palace, and craft markets) I racked up the heater, threw heaps of blankets on and had an early night.

Coimbra- Felt SOOOOO much better the next day and after walking around the town a little more in the morning, headed to Coimbra. Coimbra is the original university city of Portugal, built in the late 17th century, and still has HUGE uni student lifes! Again, it was pouring rain when I got there, so with wanting to go out that night (had been told that Coimbra has among the best nightlife in Portugal), I headed straight to the hostel, where I met Hal straight away, a mid-30s guy from the US who had hired a car, and was heading to Lisboa, or Lisbon the next day, so 15 minutes after meeting him, we organised that I would get a ride with him to Lisbon and split the costs for that day. Great, and cheaper than getting the train, which are actually rather expensive here!
Very soon after, met 3 guys from Portugal, 1 from Argentina and 3 girls from Lithawania. Hal had a guitar and sang quite well and the guy from Argentina had an AWESOME voice (we're talking spanish balads, girls... Hmmm...) so we all just hung out all avo, with the rain coming down outside, passing the guitar around and singing.
We did this threw till about 2am, with dinner thrown in there somewhere, THEN headed out to Tapas Bar, which was actually this fantastic bar/nightclub, which alternated between well known dance songs and Portugese or Spanish rock songs, so got a taste of everything, which was great! Danced the night away and got home about 5,5.30ish...
This morning I got going about 9ish, walking around the lovely town of Coimbra. The old university is STUNNING, on the top of the hill with views over the town and river. I went into the Library, built in the early 18th century. Gorgeous, with intricate gold baroke decorations EVERYWHERE! One interesting thing I read about was the ways in which the books (from 16th, 17th and 18th century) are protected from decay in the library. For instance, the walls being 2.11 metres thick and the wood of the shelves giving out an odour that deters insects, but the REALLY cool bit was that there is apparently a colony of bats living in the ceiling of the library, which each night fly about INSIDE the library and eat any insects that do manage to get inside. So EVERY evening, the caretakers have to cover all the furniture and carpets and each morning they clean the WHOLE library before opening. Apparently the library alone is heritage listed, and this is apparently what you do for love of heritage listed things!

Lisbon- So this afternoon I got a lift with Hal to Lisbon, a good 3 hour drive, and now I am sitting here writing to you! So thats my stay in Portugal so far. I should say that the countryside also is STUNNING! So green! And they people particularly have been SOO nice, like oh-you-look-lost-Ill-walk-you-to-your-hostel nice!
Tomorrow am TRYING to sort out some visa stuff (Yuck yuck YUCK!), then checking out the city. For those who dint know, Lisbon is the capital of Portugal and apparently has among the BEST nightlife in all of Europe (a BIG call), so may need to check that out, but tomorrow night, cause tonight I am DEFINITELY crashing early :)

Okay all my loves, sending endless hugs and love and hope you are all well and smiley and having fun in each of your varying lives. If people get time, please write me a comment, I LOVE to read them and hear about stuff from home. Even the most simple things are lovely to read about (these days I get excited about being able to wash my clothes! So Im easily pleased).

Love Love Love Love Love Love Love!!!!!!

What a butiful day!

Wont be a very long post today, cause Im saving some stuff for show and tell for when I get back...
;)
Thatĺl get some suspence going.
But today was my last full day in Barcelona. Flying to Porto, Portugal tomorrow at 3pm. And the weather today was exquisite, as you can see from the photos. But today I was ready for it, and wore my NEW DRESS! Yay! Had to put up a photo to show it off. Its a belt wearing one, so Lollie, your lovely gift is getting a work-out :) Thankyou!
In the morning I headed to the Port/Fishing district/Beach, and was all amazing. Was like your Barcelona postcards, sun, blue blue water, topless sunbathers (sorry guys, I REFUSE to put up photos. Hehe). I walked along the whole length of the boardwalk, gazing at the sand scultures, water and MAYBE the pretty Spanish men ;)
I passed this big line of groups of old men playing dominos and stopped to watch, only to be asked to play! So I played a hand, lost terribly and handed the seat back over to the lovely man, laughing the whole time! Spainś awesome!
After the beach, I walked around the fishing district and in the fish market, then headed into the Gothic quarter, which I love, with all the tiny twisting streets, buskers, gypsy clothes stores and tapas bars. I was desparate to have paella for lunch, as I had not had it yet, but it is suprisingly expensive here! But finally found a not-TOO-bad one, and was REALLY good actually, being a daily menu and also included a fried cod main meal, fruit salad and a glass of wine! Nice!
Then shopped around... But I wont tell you about that!
Then met up with blonde Angela outside the main fresh produce market. We had planned to meet there at 6 to go in for tapas (at that place where we went Georgie. After checking out a number of places, you and I really did go to the best and the cheapest! Yay!), but everything was closing :( So instead I bought a KILO!!! of strawberries (for 90cents!), and we got icecream for dinner instead! :)
We sat and licked and chatted, then shopped a little more before parting and heading back to our hostels, and now here I am, tired and a little headachey after all day in the sun. But feeling immensely awesome about my great day.
So off to Portugal tomorrow, and trying out couchsurfing! Very brave! So I have no idea what this will be like or anything really, but will let you know asap.
Love love love love love!!!

Its alive!!!

So I hear you asking, Whats alive??? Well Georgie, its your camera! Woo Hoo!!! Yay! Thank God! After a long charging session, it now seems back to normal. Will keep a close eye on it and guard it with my... Well maybe not my life, but... something. Youll get something, probably a new camera, if it is stuffed :) but seems happy now, so yay!

So I cant remember is I posted yesterday, but I went to a Easter Sunday service at the main cathedral yesterday, then went out for Tapas, and wine... and a cocktail with brunette Angela (theres 2, so I specify by hair colour). We drank and talked and ate and talked and before we know it it was almost 11pm! So then we headed back to the hostel and drank some more :) Great night!
This photo is actually from earlier in the afternoon, after I had been walking around all day, and was a little tired, so found a bench inside part of the picasso museum and decided to do as the Spanish do, and has a siesta. Was quite lovely, if not for all the American turists around me (Barcelona is full of Americans now!).
Then today I got up early and met up with blonde Angela (shes staying at a different hostel now) and we went to Montserrat, a mountain monastery about an hour and a half outside Barcelona. It was unbelievable and we had the most amazing weather! Im now just a little red, whoops!
We went into the basilica, which was awesome, then decided to do one of the hikes, which was crazy steep! But at the start we met these Croatians, or rather Angela offered to take a photo for them, and before we knew it they were jumping in our photos and inviting us to Croatia to stay with them and go on their boat! Nuts!

So these next photos show how amazing the view was! And they definitely dont do it justice! It was like, you walk 5 meters and then the view catches your breath again and you feel you should stop to take it in. So we hikes basically all day, thankfully not getting hungry, as we each only had a banana with us :) Then got the hour and a half train ride back, then starving, and have just finished eating a nice pasta and salad meal that we whipped up. Very pleasant!
So really a fantastic day! Probably one of the best Ive had. Was so nice to spend time with each of the Angelas, who are super great!

Tomorrows my last day in Barcelona, and I hope hope hope the weather is good. Being now out of Easter holidays, Im heading over to the fishing district, which apparently has good seafood and paella, then doing a spot of shopping (SOOO not like me!), then I think Angela (blonde) and I will meet up for tapas for dinner, with brunette Angela having left today :(

So still sending continual hugs and love to you all. Thankyou so much for the posts. I really do love to hear whats happening and how youre doing, so please post if you have time. I love them!
xoxoxo

Last night

h
Last night I went out with the 2 Angelas that I made friends with here at the hostel. I dont have many photos, but first we went to a bar and had dinner, then went to a really fantastic flamenco dancing concert. Was really nice, and tonight we are going out for tapas and maybe a bar. Should be good.
Wishing everyone a happy easter. The weather has improved somewhat over here, but still seems to want to sway from sunshine to rain and back again.
Im having a few camera issues, where for some reason it doesnt always want to work and turns on and off. Not sure what has happened. But am now charging it full and hoping that fixes it. But dont worry Georgie, if this doesnt work Im taking it to a guys to see if we can fix it. And VERY worse case senario, Ill by another, better one, and you will get it. I promise not to leave you in the lurch my sweet.
So better get going now. Heading off to the huge olympic park today, hoping to have a quieter day. Im kindov feeling a little drained and in need of a quiet one :)
Love you all!
xoxoxo

I have friends!

So today I met two girls staying at the hostel, also staying alone and both called Angela, very easy to remember! We spent the day together and are now just about to go out to a flamenco and salsa club, so should be awesome!

Will post embarressing photos of me trying to dance soon!
Mwa!

Ola Barcelona!

fr

d








Before I go on with the preesnt news, here are a couple of photos from my final days in CZ. The first ones are of me with my Znojmo family, Pepa, Anichka and their daughter, Lenka. Theres a photo of us painting the eggs for easter. They do this every year and I love it. I know i said it last time i visited CZ, but i AM going to do it in Aus next year! Tis cool.

The next photos are of beautiful Cesky Krumlov. I have heaps more, but only put up this one. Then theres Hluboka castle and me in the grass at hluboka castle. See how awesome the weather was!?

Now Iḿ here in not-so-sunny Barcelona. What happened? Prague was supposed to be cold and Barcelona was supposed to be all summer and sunshine. Instead it is cold and rainy here and I find myself longing for Praha warmth. Got rather caught out by the cold today. I didn really dress for cold and rain (thongs are NOT appropriate), but kept saying, no, it might get better, dont make the trek back to the hostel just yet.
So the hostel Im staying at quite nice, but a bit of a trek from the main strip, about half an hour 40 minutes. But despite this I treked in and home rather than taking the metro. And felt VERY good to get exercise at last. I had planned to spend the day walking through the arty parks, being good friday and nothing open. But with the rain, I walked around the latin quarter, where there actually was some things open, but this is a BIG problem! I have become addicted to the spanish mosaic designs. They are so gorgeous with their tiny mosaics in royal blue, red, orange and white. Hard to describe, but if you know Gowdy, you know what I mean. I see all these things that Im like, ooo i want to buy that for Mum, or for Bob and Sals place, or for Ash or Lolly... then I think how i will probably murder myself later for having bought them when my back breaks from carrying them around! But well see, i didnt buy anything today, very restrained! But i did kill my budget. today was to be my cheap day, but i saw this gorgeous dress! And you know me! I just HAD to get it ;) Youll know doubt see it in photos later.
So that was my morning. I then went to a good friday procession which i had heard about on the internet. was supposed to start at 4, but I am in Spain, and 4 apparently means 5.15;) Was unbelievable though and definitely worth the wait. I was in the front row, though had this old guy behind me who apparently did NOT understand the idea of personal space. They seemed to think it necessary to have over a dozen police there, who took it very seriously. How they did this while wearing thoughs stupid hats, i dont know, but i put a photo up for your viewing pleasure. This guys in particular was VERY determined to ensure that know easter procession goers would step out of line.
The procession itself was unlike anything id ever seen. There were lots of people in these black peaked hood thingies. Then they brought out these HUGE floats. There were people crying out and one girl, not much older than me, was sobbing and could hardly stand. There were quite a number of people sobbing actually. It was very full on. The old pady in the photo did these amazing singing chants to the floats and many people were overcome with that. She really was amazing. And yes, that is a tiny peachface bird in her right hand. it is alive and she would gesture about with it and kiss it and the little thing just sat there and took it. This is the only photo I got of her, and I didnt get many of the people actually, as it did feel wrong to be taking photos of people in this important time for them.














So that was my day, and now Im pretty exhausted from all the walking. going to have an earlier night, I think, ready for a big day tomorrow. Will hopefully be nicer weather;)
I´ll try to do another post really soon, but theres these annoying kids staying at the hostel, who seem to think that UTube watching is a valid reason for taking up all the computers! Grr...
Love Love
(But not for thoughs kids!)

Leaving CZ tomorrow :(

Ahoj everyone!
So still am unable to upload photos on these crummy hostel computers. Hopefullz have better luck at the next one.
So I had a tragedy today. I'm talking the worst thing since I lost my Georgie! Or maybe since I accidently bought butter instead of cheese (and didn't realise till AFTER I had bitten into it).
That was also pretty bad.
But today's disaster was super bad! I stepped in this HUGE puddle in my NEW shoes!!!!!
Ahhhh!!!!
Bugger Bugger BUGGER!

:) Okay, so maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but my NEW shoes! Their so pretty and practical (yes, I've been sensible, Mum) and then they were wet and looked so sad for about 5 minutes, till they dried off in the super sunny sun (tis like summer here!), so I got over it in about an hour or so. :)

Firstly I'll just tell how I went to a concert with my cousin Lenka a few nights ago, before leaving Prague. Saw The Subways, UK indy rock band. They were probably more Georgie's style then mine (you would have LOVED them sweet!), but they were so full of energy, and the crowd was amazing! There was heaps of people crowd surfing and stage jumping and nuddy running. It was packed and sweaty and absolutely nuts! I loved it!
They were also supported by this new Czech band, Sunflower Caravan. Lenka couldn't figure out how to discribe them, and I really am not sure either. I guess they're KINDOV a LITTLE like Colplay, in that they had some really beautiful and emotive piano bits (the piano player was the centre and he was AMAZING) and then some really heaving and sometimes electronic bits. Quite original. But I bought their CD, so I can show you when I get home.

I'm back in Prague again after visiting Cesky Krumlov yesterday, staying there last night and today visiting Hluboka. Oh My Goodness they were unbelievable! Cesky Krumlov, for thoughs who don't know, is a medieval town in the south west of Czech, with a heritage town centre and beautiful castle. It's absolutely magical! I got there from Praha about 11am yesterday and wandered around the town centre. Then I went and did a tour of the castle, all murals and valted ceilings. I climbed up the tower, awesome photos!
By the time I finished that it was about 3pm and I was starving, so got a great pub lunch and wandered around the town some more before going to my hostel.
The hostel was fantastic actually. Was in the town centre, on the cliff with this great terrace for sitting, eating, drinking and looking out over to the castle!
Then this morning I went to Hluboka, a little town which I had heard has the most beautiful castle in CZ, or all of Europe according to my cousin, Stanja. Now I hate comparing places. When you travel around in Europe you often talk to people about different places, and there's often thoughs people who are like, yeah this place is okay, but so-en-so was SOOO much better, or my home is SOOO much better. STAY THERE THEN!!! It bugs me.
But I will say that Hluboka castle is probably the most fairy-tale-beautiful castle I have ever seen yet! And that's saying a big thing, because I've seen alot of castles now and they're all exquisite in each of their ways. Whether they are gothic, mysterious, vaulting, painted, gaudy, kitch, pearlescent... and so many other ways to describe all the different ways a castle may stand, they are all so beautiful, and I am definitely not castled-out yet.
It is so frustrating that I cannot put up photos, cause these places were awesome!
When I get to Barcelona, I will try to upload photos of these places.
And so I go to Barcelona tomorrow, around 4pm. Very respectable hour. I'm thinking tomorrow morning I will go to the Museum of Communism here in Prague. I haven't been to it yet, and people here say it is really very good. So my tomorrow morning probably wont be super smiley, but should be good.
Better go now. There's people waiting for the internet.
Thankyou so much for your posts.
Mum-definitely have to keep speaking Czech. I'm coming back here. I'll say it, I'm hooked. CZ is one of my favourite places in all the world!
Dad-I love your phonetic writing. I can just see you loling away thoughs sentences in a silly voice, with big hand gestures :) I miss you and your dad jokes and dad hugs so much! Promise me your storing me up a nice big stash of them for when I get home? Pretty gready I know, but they will be well enjoyed, I promise.
Jessie-Was so good to hear from you honey! I'm glad you sound so well now, apart from the hard work. Hopefully is cooling off now. You deserve a bit of fun and Jessie time every now and then... Actually you deserve that always!! So don't work too hard beautiful! I miss you too! Like crazy! When I get home I am coming walking with you to catch up and here Life of Jessie. I miss it!
Love you all. xoxoxoxoxoxox

Thrown in the deep end

Ahoj rodina, kamarad a kamaradka!

Hope you are all well my beautiful people! So sorry I haven!t posted in so long. Have been visiting the family and didn't really want to use up their internet too much.
They have all been SOOOO nice to me. It's unbelievable! I'm so spoilt with my family!

So let me fill you in on where I've been.
After leaving the farm about a week ago, first I got caught out by the time change that occurred here. It's the same as our daylight savings, and I left the farm very early to get the bus, only to find I was an hour late. I went back to the farm and emailed Pavlina to let her know the new time I would be arriving in Brno. Was really not a big problem, as I just caught a later bus, only arriving in Brno a few hours later. But apparently this was a terrible thing to happen to me. Pavlina was so worried that I would be lost, she called my mum's cousins in Znojmo, who called their daughter in Prague, who had my number, who called me to check I was fine, who then called Pavlina to tell her that I was fine, who then called me to double check that I was fine... Crazy! But it was so lovely to know that if anything really bad DID occur, I had an army of family to run around and worry about me. Huge smiley face. But I WAS so worried that I had worried them. What a mess!

But then I got to Brno fine. Was going to stay with Pavlina in her very small flat with her husband and two little children, but her son, Vitek, super sweet, was sick, so I stayed at her brother's, Stanjo, who was super nice. I had SUCH a nice time, and spent most of my two days in Brno playing with Pavlina and her two children. I was a little thingy about not having a huge amount of time to explore Brno, though I did see the castle. But then it turned about to be a very good thing I spent so much time with her, because Vitek was so sick that they couldn't come to Pavlina's parent's home village with me as planned. But more of that later. Let me first tell that Martin, Pavlina's husband, works at one of the Brno theatres, and got me a ticket to the big Ballet Gala that was on. It was amazing! And I was in one of those front booth things that you always see and wonder who those people know to get such awesome seats. Smiley face. So that was amazing!
So then on Wednesday I said goodbye to Pavlina, Martin, Vitek and tiny crazy Uli, and went to Tvaronza Lhota, a little village where my Baba and Deda come from. I can't really express how it felt to be talking to the brother and sister of my Baba, grandmother, and Deda, grandfather. It didn't really occur to me when I visited 7 years ago, how brave they were to leave their whole family and country, to travel to a place they did not know, knew no one and didn't speak the language! My grandparents were incredibly strong people. It was wonderful to spend a little time there. But was also hilarious, because no one there speaks english. So all Czech for me! A very good way to improve my Czech, and I think I have improved.

Now I am in Znojmo, a bigger town on the Austrian border, with my mum's cousins Pepa and Anichka, and their English speaking, fantastic daughter, Lenka. Today we will be painting eggs in the traditional Czech way for Velikonoce, or Easter, which is HUGE here in the Czech republic.

But I really must go know, as I have been far too long on the internet and can't wait to go embarress myself further with my stumbling attempts at Czech. Smiley face.
Sorry about the lack of photos, but the computer is old and doesn't have an outlet.

I can't really express how much I have loved this last week or so with my family. I love it I love it I love it! A million times over. I am having the most amazing time!

I love you all too! And hope you are all well and smiley, and that the weather is as glorious there as it is here. 33 degrees in the sun yesterday!

Love love!

Ahoj Kroměřiž!

Right, so uploading hopefully heaps of photos for this post, to properly depict the prettiness of my day. Today was my day off, and amongst the many suggestions of places to go, I chose the lovely town of Kroměřiž, and no, I'm not going to try and write how to you should pronounce it.
Smiley face. But rest assured that I have managed to master the reading of Czech. The one thing I have managed to learn properly. Can't shake my accent apparently, but my reading is apparently correct. Yay!
Moving on. So it took me 2 and a half hours to get there, so rather early start. But really, the travelling in public transport through the countryside is amongst my favourite part, so I wasn't concerned about the travel length. The countryside is really SO beautiful here. I've quite fallen in love with it! Lenka tells me I'm crazy, but there is something about cold places, the look of the trees, and brooks, the blue of the cold sky... There's a sort of waiting energy about it which I love!
Moving on again. Sorry.
So the town itself is really gorgeous, as you can see from the first photo. I've got QUITE a few more like this, but I thought I should probably only put up one, for fear of boring you all. It's all cobblestones and pretty coloured buildings, twisting little streets and lovely little craft stores.
But the big draw card of the town was that there is a huge chateau which has massive, old gardens, which you can see in the next photos. I spent about 2 hours just wandering through the gardens. There were all these little private corners with maybe a fountain or an age-teared statue. Lovely big trees and brooks weaving throughout. And then hoping about through the thousand of budding blubs were squirrels, bunnies and duckies. Oh my! Seriously, they were just right there! The next few photos show it. Twas like some unreal children's movie. I'd turned into Snow White! Minus the annoying squeaky singing.














As well as the gardens, I just wandered around the town and had a nice lunch. I've trully discovered the gold that is the pub Denni Menu, that is that many of the pubs will have a set menu, with two or three courses, with a choice of 3 different mains, and usually a beer too. So today I had 2 courses and a beer for 80 karunas, about 6 Ozzie dollars. Yay! And was huge and awesome!

So that was my day. A great day!
The other photos I wanted to put up for you are off one of my culinary experiences. With a French boy from a french goat farm, a Dutch girl from a cheese farm, and an Ozzie girl who is just passionate about food, the kitchen here has become a daily explosion of international experiments. It's fantastic! And hilarious to watch the Dutch and French argue continuously in lightning french about how a crepe should be cooked, or which cheese has the purest flavour.
So here's Gabby and Elfie arguing over the crepe making. Unfortunately we've decided that the frying pan and scrapey thingies here are really not the best and do not aid our experimentations. You can see how angry Gabby is at the frying pan.
But unfortunately he would still insist upon throwing the crepes, which as you can see sometimes ended in tears.


And the last photo is me buying for sympathy, or maybe just showing how hardcore a country girl I've become. This is what both my hands look like now, no matter how much I moisturise. Looks pretty gross, huh? And their not dirty, either, those black cracks are apparently permenant for now. Though I reckon by the time I get back, they will be softened and whitened again by my glutonous, decadent travelling. Hence I thought I should put this photo up now so you all believe me!
Right, so I think that's all I had to tell you. Sending endless hugs and love and hope you are all well. Keep me posted on all the news and I'll hopefully post again soon.
Love love love love!
Mwa!

SUCH a great day!

I'm back at the first farm now, being the one with the goats and the sheep and the people that actually need my help and care slightly if I'm freezing. LOL! Insert smiley face.
Am feeling a MILLION times better and more positive and yesterday was a GREAT day. I decided that rather than just going from Farm B to Farm A, I would stop off and have a couple of hours in some nice town. So I randomly chose a place called Boskovice, which turned out to be absolutely beautiful! The weather was just perfect, blue skies all day, and not any snow to break it up, or even any wind!
The first photo shows the town centre, which had some lovely cafes and a really pretty church and an EVIL sweets store. Mum, they were those chocolate, spongey things like what we had in Telč. I don't really know how to describe them for the rest of you, sorry, but just know that they were great! But don't worry, I restricted myself to 1, it just took me about 15 minutes to decide which ONE!

I then climbed a kilometre up this mountain to reach the castle ruin. Not such a great feet, I can hear you saying, but wait, don't forget that I had mz TWENTY FIVE KILO backpack on, so YES it was a great feet, and I was absolutely dead at the end, and collapsed in the sunshine up the top.
I kicked off my shoes and socks, spread my scarf, sat down and ate a pink grapefruit in the sun.
Perfection!

After walking around the ruin, I spoilt myself with a yummy traditional Czech lunch, ie.meaty lunch, then headed off again.

I've managed to master the Czech public transport system, so if anyone is heading over here ever, I have the BEST website for you.

But anyway, I had also had a stop in Bila Lhota, and by this time it was about 6.30 at night, so was getting dark. Bila Lhota is a tiny little town, only ONE pub! Was getting dark, and with an hour and a half to kill, I went into this single pub. Twas honestly like something out of a movie! There were 2 tables of locals there, and they all stopped talking as I walked in, with my HUGE backpack and just stared at me. I put down my pack, and went to the bar. Still with them staring, I ordered the a large local dark beer. And it was only after they saw what I had ordered that they started talking again.

After awhile, I was watching the ice hockey on the large flat screen telly, a one middle aged guy tried to talk to me. I explained to him in Czech that I didn't speak Czech. I actually started chatting to this table of locals, in Czech. Was absolutely nuts trying to figure out what they were asking, but managed to work it out somehow. They insisted on buying me a slivovice. I think they wanted to see how an Ozzie handles the stuff. For those who don't know it, slivovice is a Czech spirit which is CRAZY strong. It's brandy made of plums, and Nivot and I always joke that Czech blood basically IS slivovice, they drink that much of it. I love the stuff, so downed it with no probs, which I think spured them on more. They wanted to buy me another, but I had to head to my bus, and was already feeling a little TOO happy.

A few of them insisted on taking me to the bus stop, across the road, putting me on the bus and telling the driver where I was going so that he would ensure that I got off at the right stop!

Unbelievable! There must be something about my face that apparently says 'help her, she cannot help herself" Insert another smiley face.

I've found the locals here SOOO incredibly nice and almost TOO helpful! I've lost count of the times that some non-English speaking person has taking it upon themselves to try to help me, even when I keep saying to them in Czech 'I am fine. I am fine', and trully most of those times I don't need any help at all. It's hilarious! But I don't care what people say now, Czech country foke are SOOO nice!

So now I'm back at the goat farm, warmer, happier and feeling great. Last night we made misu. And yes, Mum, I do have a few photos for you. Hehe. Twas pretty cool, but messy.

There's also another WWOOFer here, a really nice Dutch girl called Elfie, so that's cool. I'll be here for a week, then heading off to see all the family.

Better head off now and go study some more Czech.

Love you all! Mwa!

I'm going back!!!

Okay, so no photos for you today, sorry. I left my camera up at my freezing cold house, and I'm not going to go trek up the hill through the snow for it. lol.
But I thought I'd update you all on what's happening. Things have improved here a little. I spent the day yesterday with Aleš, and he's actually quite nice, though VERY black and white. I wish my Czech was better so I could challenge him a bit better on some of the things he was saying... hehe, typical me, I know... But yeah, they are quite nice, though do seem to wish me to keep to my own house and not really BE in the familiy house other than at meals, which apparently I don't eat with them... So things are still a little odd. And I woke this morning with that distinct flu sensation, probably from treking up the hill in the snow, and sleeping in the cold.
So hence my decision to go back to the last farm. The work there was MUCH harder and MUCH longer, but I was enjoying myself more, and was warmer, and more welcome. So YAY! I feel great at the thought of going back, and when I called Lenka to ask if it was okay, her reply was 'YES! Please come back! We miss you!' So that felt real great after the week of silence.
So tomorrow I get a million buses back to Luka Stremeničko, but I have a couple of hours in this town called Boskovice, which apparently has a lovely chataue and some ruins, so that should be cool.

Loving you and leaving you now.
Mwa!

The last farm was LUXURY

Hey everyone,
So I managed to scam some internet, and put up some description and photos of this new farm.
So let's first say that the people are very nice, or at least Jana, that's the wife, easy to remember, is very nice. Aleš, the husband, is a little different and serious, but he doesn't speak much English, so I can't really judge. They have a 2 year old son, šimon, who is very sweet, follows me around everywhere and calls me Teta, which means 'aunt'.
So the farm is actually self sufficient, and has a number of houses on it, in which ALL of Aleš's family lives. So everyday, his 80 year old mother milks the cows, his sister makes the cheese, they do the organic vegetable, etc. etc. So everyone has a job. I am living in a separate house, which is quite large and on the top of the hill. Apparently in Summer they get around 8 or 9 people living there, but now it's just me, so it's a little lonely actually. The first photo shows part of my room. That's my bed, and on the left is the old stove which I make a fire in each afternoon to heat the room, which is normally very cold.
The next photo is of the kitchen, which I don't use very much. I heat water on the stove in my room, and this room is SUPER cold, so I try to stay out of it.

The next photo is just inside the front door, and is kindov my bathroom. That big brown thing on the right is the boiler in which I heat water. I turn on the tap at the back, so it fills. I then make a TINY fire in the oven underneath, which I have to keep filling with TINY peices of wood, every 5-10 minutes for about an hour. I was very skeptical that this rusty thing could actually give me very warm water, but it actually works!!! My shower was super hot, and I think probably felt all the better for all the work I had to put in to get it.


So the actual living conditions here are pretty difficult. I don't think I'd mind if I spent alot of time in the family's home with them, like I did at the last place. THere, I really only slept in my room, that's all. But here, it's like every time I walk into the family's home, they're like, Oh Sascha, you want food, or you want work. They don't really seem to want me to be there just to spend time with them or talk to them.
So it is a little lonely, and we'll see how it goes. If I get too lonely, I may go back to the other farm, where they were VERY keen to have me for longer. But I am learning more Czech here, because Aleš doesn' speak English. So I don't really know. I'm certainly going to give it a try here and see how it goes.


Last night it snowed like crazy, so this morning I woke up and it was so beautiful and white outside. So I went for a walk to the top of the hill and took some photos. The area is very hilly and lovely around here. And the weather today is awesome!!!

So will let you know how it goes. I certainly wont be on the internet as much here as at the last place, but do let me know how you're all doing and what's happening back in sunny Oz.

Love you all and sending massive snow-covered hugs
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo