The Random Days...

So today was my day off from work for the week (I work as an "All rounder' in a hotel to save some pennies for my next venture) and having had quite the A-hole of a boss previously, I was anxious to meet my new ones. Especially because they were on holiday when I got here and I worked 2 weeks before actually meeting them. 

Today one of my bosses (Owen) offered to take me on his farm. 'Bring some drinks' he said, and I knew I was gonna have a good day. As soon as we got there we saw a snake... my first one in all my time here. Oh my good god I was scared haha. Owen drove on as if it was nothing, he even offered to kill it for me - apprently it's a tiger snake. Then he shown me around the shed where he shears the sheep (which he'll be doing next week, hopefully I'll get to go along and I'll take some pictures). 

Then he got on his tractor and loaded some cottonseed for the sheep into his UTE and off we went. The wheels on the tractor were as big as me, I was so gutted I didn't take my phone to take any pictures with. We scooped handfuls of cottonseed as his Mum drove the ute along and scattered it on the ground for them, we saw the sheep all running for the food and some even ate it out of our hands. We went to the cattle farm part and as part of the cows getting used to being without the calves that were sold, we had to walk them around the paddock (is it called?). It was all really different stuff to what I am used to. It was so lovely and I chatted to Owen for ages, it's really made me feel so much better about being here. When you have one bad boss, it really knocks you for six and makes you think they are all like that, it's so refreshing to learn that it's not the case.

We also saw some Emus, Kangaroos, Pigs, Chickens and a peacock! The Peacock was absoloutely stunning, the colours of it were awe inspiring. Nature is so beautiful (Hippie moment). 

I will definately update you all next week when I shear a sheep (or attempt to) and I just want to say, to anyone reading this - thanks for taking the time out of your day to do so. I know I only have a small amount of followers but everytime I get a new one it's unbelieveable to me that anyone would want to read what I write. So thank you and I hope you all have a great day! xxx

So... Where to next?

Here's my dilemma. When I came out to Australia my family were pretty adamant that I would need to buy a return ticket, just in-case of emergency. So I did. Here comes the dilemma... You can only use your return ticket in your first year of travel. CRAP. I came here in November last year, and this means I only have around 8 weeks left in Australia. A truly frightening prospect.

So... what do I do? I have given myself 3 options...

1 - New Zealand.

When I got to Australia I never thought I would want to travel NZ. I knew I'd like to visit, maybe for a week or so, but I never thought of it as a place to spend a prolonged period of time in. That was, until I saw pictures. So many people I have met whilst travelling have showed me the most incredible pictures of New Zealand and oh my god I want to go. I have just stolen some pictures off a friends facebook page to show you what I am talking about. Swoooon.

I should point out these pictures are not taken by a professional which just goes to show how incredible this place looks. Absolutely.... insane. It hurts my head a bit. & the finale -

Ohhhh yeah baby!! Hobbit-land! Amazing! Going to New Zealand obviously has it's perks but it would mean another year or two away from family and friends, going it totally alone and losing out on my plane ticket home as the bloody company will not give me even a partial refund. Swines.

2. Asia.

It may or may not come as a surprise to you that I have an English degree. A Bachelor of the Arts, if you will. Not putting this to use makes me sad, sometimes. In comes the allure of teaching English as a foreign language. New challenges, fantastic scenery and something that will look pretty frickin good on my CV in a few years.

Again, this would mean giving up my plane ticket and spending more time away from home, not to mention the fact my Mother is almost sure that me going to Asia alone is basically asking murderers to turn me into some form of gourmet kebab. I'm thinking Thailand or Vietnam. My friend did it and she got paid well and had the experience of a lifetime but... she was with her boyfriend. Am I brave enough to do this alone? Here, have some pictures...

3. Home/Manchester

Ok, admittedly this does not fill me with as much excitement. The prospect of going home, to find a job to fund my next travels whilst I could just be moving straight onto them seems pretty silly. But oh my god, the lure of spending a Christmas with my family and friends is right up there with travelling to New Zealand! I miss home and my family SO much. The thought of going to lush, stocking up on bath bombs and having hot wine and cake with my Mum and Sisters sounds like heaven to my ears. Also, I have a ticket there already. Am I realistically going to be able to save enough money to get a flight to NZ and spends too before summer comes around? Or do I just go home and spend a few months there and try not to dip into the savings I'll have when I get there? I spent last Christmas away and it killed me. I got drunk on a beach in St Kilda and vowed I would never be away again. So... what do you think I should do? What would you do? This would also mean I can travel the UK a bit, visit my friend in Ireland over Christmas and my friend in Brighton who's visiting from Australia. Help anyone?

Admittedly, not nearly as beautiful but part of me feels like I am putting off real life by travelling and I am hitting 25 in a couple of months so maybe I should just go home and face 'reality'?

I hate being an adult and having to make my own bloody decisions sometimes.

I know, first world problems eh.

Love Sam

x

Do you have a blog?

Hi there! I'm Sam - 24, lover of food, travel, cosmetics, puppys and life.

 If you have a blog you think I'd like, or even know of any under-rated but fabulous blogs, please comment them below for me to check out. I'm a novice and am currently only following mostly major bloggers (Zoella, etccc) and I know there are loads of talented and interesting people out there that I really should be checking out.

Thanks in advance, Sam

 

Selfiiiie!

Snack of September

Ok, I know this one is random but I thought some of you may need a bit of foodie inspiration. It's my favourite snack/breakfast of September so far...

 

 It comprises of fruit, dates and yoghurt and oh my god is it yum! It also feels like such a treat because of the mixture of textures and flavours but is relatively good for you :) I think strawberries with dates & vanilla yoghurt is my favourite, today I have chopped up banana with mango yoghurt and it isn't as good. Oh & if you're feeling super decadent, add in some nutella. Swoooon.

Makes for a really quick and filling breakfast, which is convienient for me starting work at 7am :(

Hope you all have a fab September

Love Sam

Skincare whilst Travelling (Backpacker beauty shall we call it?)

As a 'backpacker', it goes without saying that, sadly you have limited space for luxuries. Gone are the days where I'd have a cheeky stash of 10 lush bathbombs stored for a rainy day and lots of expensive products in glass jars. Travelling makes you re-evaluate what is important in life in EVERY sense of the word - including what goes in that 20-25kg portable method of storage of yours.

 I started out with about 6/7kgs worth of makeup and toiletries. At the time, I didn't know how I'd survive... with only 3 foundations, 2 concealers, 2 face powders, etc... and the other day I was looking through my makeup bag to discover that I'd unwittingly become THAT girl. Don't get me wrong, when I whack out my makeup bag it's still likely to be more than the average backpacker carries (which is not bloody hard, think moisturiser and SPF), however I now own only one of everything - apart from lipstick, a girl's gotta have a vice, right - How did it get this way? When I lived and worked at home, I had what can only be described as an excessive amount of makeup. To the extent, I could have never used it all without it going out of date. So when I made the decision to up sticks and travel, I gave it all away to my little sister, who is training to be a makeup artist. I figured she'd give it the love that I can't.

Having been here for 10 months, I have had no choice but to delve into the world of Australian cosmetics. Most things about Australian cosmetics make me sad, they are sometimes double the price of the UK, the quality is questionable and higher end products are only available in major cities, which is an absolute pain in the ass, how I miss good ole' Boots! Having said all of this, sometimes you unwittingly find a gem of a product and I am about to go barefaced to express my love for this discovery. Enter... Moisturiser.

Don't let the packaging fool you, it is not prescription only (ha, awful jokes ahoy over here). When I first tried this in a smaller tube, I initially bought it for my hands. I was washing a lot of dishes for work (glamorous life I lead, ya know) and they were sooo goddamn dry. I tried this, it worked, woop. Then, I ran out of my regular moisturiser and was forced to use this stuff. My skin was babysoft and I felt like it looked brighter and healthier, so I carried on using it. Without even noticing, every single one of my zits disappeared. Then I ran out of my little tube and went back and bought my normal neutrogina moisturiser without really thinking about it. Then came back the spots. So I went out last week and bought a big tube of this, in the hope it would sort my face situation out and it really bloody delivered. I don't have a 'before' picture of me with all of my spots, sadly, but i do have a picture 5 days after making the switch to this stuff...

If this picture was better quality (goddamn Iphone camera) you'd be able to see some red patches where the scars are healing from the previous spots but that's about it. A little goes a long long way with this stuff and you can get a huge tub for like $8 (about 5 pounds if it is available in the UK). I am astounded and will be stocking up whenever I head home because I don't even need to wear foundation anymore. A drop of this stuff, a dab of SPF, and concealer and I'm good to go. 

So yeah, the secrets out. It's cheap, readily available and it is a bloody miracle worker (for me at least). 

Have you got any secret miracle worker products?

Love, Sam

Queensland! & other things

Ok, after my love affair with Melbourne, in particular the Mornington Peninsula, I thought - this is my favourite place. It can't get any better than this, I am happy. It had culture, Sun, fantastic food and drink, beautiful beaches and the people were just incredible. Then I went to Perth and to be totally honest, I didn't like it nearly as much. I found it to be isolated, overpriced and the people just weren't all that great in my experience. So, I decided to totter off to Queensland, with promises of Sun, Sand and good times. Plus, Australia Zoo made famous by one of my abosloute Idols (hello Steve Irwin) is just down the road. I am visiting Australia Zoo in early October (SO EXCITED SQUEAL)

Just look at him. I am gutted he's gone so I'll never get the chance to see him in action, but seeing where he lived and worked will be amazing.


On this note, I feel I should mention a wildlife Sanctuary type place I visited on Magnetic Island, just a 20 minute ferry away from where we stayed in Townsville. It was incredible! I held a baby saltwater crocodile, lots and lots of reptiles & even a 25 year old snake called Samantha (I felt it was a sign she'd look after me, with us being age and name twins). At one point, I had a reptile on my head and a croc in my hands... shit got cray!! Haha.







Having had a fear of snakes since I was small, the blurry moment above was a real achievement for me, it was celebrated with lots of yummy pear cider :D


During August, my friend Steph and I were lucky enough to housesit in a beautiful house in an awesome city called Townsville (Ironically I thought this meant it was actually a town... it isn't). I LOVED townsville, from the little bars playing the worlds cheesiest music, to bumping into AFL players, the aquarium with the living coral and having my own swimming pool with no rent to pay for 2 weeks was pretttty cool. They were some really happy days and I had a lot of time to just chill out, watch lots of episodes of New Girl and fall in Love with Australia all over again. Here's a delightful picture that sums up my average day there -





As is life, my money quickly dried up and now I am working again to save for my next venture... which is going to be New Zealand! It was never really on the agenda to visit New Zealand for a long amount of time, but having met the amount of people I have and just spied on their photos, it is simply too much of an oppurtunity to pass up, it looks absoloutely incredible. So the original plan of going home for Christmas has been scrapped, in favour for a year off traveling the world again. I never thought I'd have the balls to last a year out here, let alone want to wander off to other countries afterward.




Wow this has been a lengthy post. I also want to mention to anyone who may be reading this by chance, please learn to make the most of and appriciate the life you have. I often look at bloggers/vloggers/youtubers of a similar age and background to me, I compare how much success they have and their lifestyles to myself and I really beat myself up that I'm losing. It's only when you take a step back, stop comparing yourself and appriciate what you have that you realise, it ain't so bad. I am really proud of myself this past year, prouder than I was when I graduated University, when I passed my driving test and when I was brave enough to be someones birthing partner (trust me, with hindsight, that was freaking brave!!). I have come so far - and the liklihood is that you have too, you just don't realise it. It is so easy to sit at a screen and covet someones life - but vlogs/blogs and the like, usually only document the good. & where would we all be without the bad eh? Not appriciating a bloody thing. So I'm going to sign off now, with a picture of a rainbow. When the rain falls, look for your rainbow - even if it's TINY there's one out there :)

Lots of love, Sam