But I'm stuck in the UK

You know that song by Planet Funk called 'Who Said: stuck in the uk'. Here is a link to it It's lyrics go something like: I've never been to the USA, I'm a slave to the minimum wage. Detroit, New York and LA, but I'm stuck in the UK.

Yep. That sums me up pretty well at the moment. Except perhaps if you were to replace the USA with Eastern Europe. See, that's where I'm off to next on my travels and I cannot wait. I leave the UK on the 22nd July but until that time I am working in a very 'rural'- the view is of sheep; nice sheep, but sheep all the same- pub.

I am staying with my grandparents too. They have been very kind to have put me up and to have let a few of my friends visit and stay with them, but living with older people certainly has it's challenges. Spontaneity is rather difficult when you're older, or at least that's what I have learnt since living here.

Mind you, I have done some typically English things like picking asparagus just before summer solstice, and also picking raspberries (with which we made a delicious raspberry coulis) which i have enjoyed. I also visited Oxford last week with Sarah-Jane, who visited for two days. But getting back to my rather obscure song reference, I feel rather stuck at the moment. See I am literally being paid minimum wage for my pub job and, although I have never worked in a pub before, it seems hard to justify the hours for such little money. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers or whatever they say to make you feel better.

On a plus though, I have managed to take some time off work for three days to go up to London on Monday which I am very excited about. My two good friends - both called Sarah- are arriving from Australia and so we will do some sightseeing together. I am lucky enough to be staying with my English cousin in Putney which should be nice too. I am hoping to visit the Tate Modern while in London because, firstly, I enjoy modern art and, secondly, it has been spoken of so highly by my highly cultured Dutch family with whom I spent a very special five days at the end of my Western Europe backpacking trip (extended blog post to come on my adventures in Amsterdam). They told me it was definitely a 'must see'!

I am now starting to get super excited for the reunion with my family in early September. It's funny how after being away for so long you crave such weird but familiar things like simply going to our local Coles supermarket with my mum to do the weekly shop. Or to walk my dog Charlie on our routine walk from Middle Harbour to Manly. Only two months to go.

As an aside, my Apple MacBook laptop, which I usually rave about and talk up incessantly - as in "I would never go back to a PC since I got my MacBook pro" - has totally broken down. It has stopped working and takes about two days to log in - serves me right for bragging. Hence my blog posts are rather sporadic; they are dependent on me being able to access a computer. I will make a more concerted effort to write regularly now though, albeit on my iPhone. It's actually not as hard as I thought to write on a screen the size of a pea, but please excuse all the mistakes.

What I wanted to know though, and please feel free to comment, is: what home (or local) comforts do you miss most when you're away?

Where in the world ...

Here is a map of where I have been so far on my backpacking adventures.

I'll be sure to keep adding to it as I go.

View Full Size Travel Map at Travellerspoint

Nice is, well, very nice.

Plage Mala

Tonight is my last night here in beautiful Nice, located on the South-Eastern coast of France, on what is known as the French Riviera.

It is a stunning area and it has a feint familiarity to Australia, not least because they actually have gum trees (I got excited seeing them because it's been more than six months since I've seen one). It's funny when you're away from home. If asked what I was missing about Australia, within my top 50 responses, a gum tree would not have been on the list. When I saw one, it was a beautiful reminder of good old Oz.

Since arriving in Nice I have visited the Vieux Nice, with cute little alleyways full of shops and boutiques, and flower markets and restaurants that border plazas. We have been lucky enough to have enjoyed mostly great weather (although it is raining as I type), and so I have been to several beaches along the riviera.

Today I went to my favourite one. It is called Plage Mala and it is a few towns before Monaco. It is a bit difficult to find but, located in Cap D'Ail (which means the garlic cape), when you find it, it's well worth the scramble down the steep stairs. The beach has vibrant turquoise water and to the right of the beach are caves you can swim to. There are some nice little white beach huts and beach beds if you wanted to hire them, but I was more than happy on the sand!

I have also visited a beach area called Beaulieu sur Mer, and have been to Cannes beach. When I went to Cannes this morning I saw where the Cannes film festival is held, and saw concrete moulds of Sharon Stone's hands and Gerard Depardieu's, to name a few. Cannes is okay, but it was just a very luxurious shopping strip. If I had a lazy $10,000 I'm sure I would have loved it.

Monaco Casino

Yesterday I took a day-trip to Monaco-Montecarlo, where the Monaco Grand Prix was held last weekend. Monaco is like nothing else. My friend and I walked up the hill to the Monaco Casino, beside the Monaco race track, with luxury car after luxury car just cruising on by. While we were outside the Casino I saw Porsches, Lamborghinis, Maseratis, Aston Martins, two Bentleys, a Rolls Royce Phantom - I definitely felt like I was in a James Bond film. And that was without mentioning the endless Prada, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and  other high end brands scattered nearby. So much money.

Then, on the way back down, we walked along the docks checking out the superyachts and the massive cruising boats. They must be worth around 30 million euros each and are all run by personal staff (up to 20 staff per boat). The entire experience was just unbelievable, but it was fun to pretend that I was living that lifestyle as I sipped my latte walking along the pier.

During my stay I have also visited Grasse, which is where 90% of perfume essences come from. I went through a guided tour of a factory called Fragonard, and saw and learned about the equipment they use to make perfume. I also learned the difference between an Eau de Toilette, an Eau de Parfum and then a Parfum.

Fragonard factory, Grasse

After visiting Grasse, I spent the afternoon in lovely Antibes. The beach in Antibes was really nice, it was sheltered from the wind and had proper sand rather than pebbles. Everyone seems to be so nice and tanned though, so I need to work on that a bit more I think.

Tomorrow I am going to Nimes to visit my host family. I am really looking forward to seeing them again, and it will be interesting to return as I haven't been there since 2006.

I will then be heading to Barcelona for four nights, and after that I will take an 18 hour train ride (oh no!) to Antwerp, where I will stay for two nights, before spending two nights in Bruges. I am super excited to be then going to Amsterdam, where I will stay for about five nights with family. Then it's back to England for about three weeks. I think that by that stage I will be desperate for a bath and to be in my own room. I don't particularly mind sharing a dorm with other people, but sometimes the dorms are up to 14 people, and that means 14 hiking packs and not much room to move. Still, it doesn't cost too much to stay in backpackers and  it means I can spend money on other things. Take for example, yesterday, when I had a nice lunch in a restaurant and ate the customary Moules that are so popular on the Riviera. It seemed a shame to stay in Nice and to not try any - they were really yummy, cooked in a white wine and parsley sauce and it felt so civilized sitting in a restaurant rather than eating a sandwich on a bench.

I am enjoying the ability to communicate with the French since I have been here. I have been having nice little conversations with old ladies, with kids sitting next to me on the train, and even a frantic mother who had been getting angry at her kid. It's refreshing to understand the language having spent the past two weeks in Italy, only it really just makes me want to learn more languages so that I never have to experience not being able to understand someone.

I wish I could put up some of my photos - there are so many - and I will definitely put them up once I am back in the UK, but for now, I will just have to put a generic Nice photo in the blog.

Hoping that all my Aussie friends and fam are well - I'm really starting to look forward to heading home (arriving on September 3rd!)

Love,

Melissa

Backpacking through Europe

I wish wish wish I could tell you ALL about my tales of traveling through Italy. So far I have been to Cinque Terre, Florence, Rome and I am now spending my last night in Naples (which is awesome- having seen the Amalfi coast and Pompeii).

Tomorrow night I am going to catch an overnight train to Nice where I will be staying for three or four nights- I can't wait to be there. Having struggled to find accommodation for Saturday night I realized the Monaco grand prix is currently on, so hopefully there will be lots of buzz around Nice on Sunday. I hope to go to Monaco for a day, and also to Grasse (home of perfume).

From Nice I am going to visit my host family who I lived with in 2005. I am super excited to see them again and can't wait to see the girls all grown up.

Backpacking is lots of fun (though at times it can be hard) but when you go out with a big group of new friends to a cool piazza to drink beer with Italians at midnight, or you see the Pope give his weekly address outside St Peter's Basilica, life seems so incredibly good I wouldn't want to be anywhere else!

It's quite hard to get the opportunity to use the Internet, but I will be sure to update the blog as and when I can.

From Italia, ciao Bella xx

Angry Boys

Summer Heights High is one of my favourite Australian comedies, written by and starring Chris Lilley.

But the newest kid on Chris Lilley's block is Angry Boys and, having watched the first episode (released this week), it is fair to say it will challenge Summer Heights High for top spot in my favourites.

Some of the characters from We Can Be Heroes - one of Chris Lilley's first series, prior to Summer Heights High - feature in Angry Boys, including Daniel and Nathan who are 17 year-old twin boys. Lilley plays both twins, one of which is deaf. Their past-times include doing 'mainies', (where you drive up and down the main street of town), taking profile pictures of themselves, and tormenting their mum's new boyfriend's dog.

Chris Lilley also plays a juvenile detention centre justice warden called Gran, who has been working in the centre for over 20 years. She is unbelievably politically incorrect, but it shouldn't be taken seriously - it's all tongue in cheek. For example, she separates the soccer team into 'darkies' and 'whities', and makes 'punked' jokes like "go grab your gear, we've just found out you're getting an early release." She even makes the child walk to the front gates of the prison, asking him "where can your mother be?" before exclaiming "Gotcha!". Gran likes to make superhero pyjamas for the boys, including Superman, Batman and Mr Incredible, as well as the zebra from Madagascar, all with doona covers to match.

It's one of those shows some people might take too seriously, but it's easy to see that Chris Lilley means no harm with his humour and that it is intended to make you laugh, rather than to offend.

I look forward to seeing the rest of the series as it is released over the coming months.

Unusually though, the Sydney Morning Herald didn't give Angry Boys a great review. You can read their review here.

It will be interesting to see whether the audience ratings reflect a positive response to Chris Lilley's latest show.

London Town

On Friday my Mum and I took the train into London for a full day (and night) of sight-seeing - after all, it wouldn't be a proper visit to England without a visit to London.

 We had a really fun time strolling through the Burlington Arcade, which is probably one of my favourite places in London. It is an arcade full of the best antique jewellery shops, featuring pieces such as antique Cartier and Tiffany & Co diamond rings, plus the biggest sapphires and emeralds i've ever seen.

We then visited the British Museum and saw the Egyptian rooms. Amongst the collection were the Rosetta Stone, incredible sphinx sculptures and enormous statues (with an individual arm spanning over two metres in length). Some of the items in the collection were dated back to 2000BC - it's hard to get your head around time when something is that ancient.

 In the afternoon we headed towards another of my favourite endroits of London: Covent Garden. I think there is a really fun vibe to Covent Garden, with buskers always guaranteed to be performing. We were lucky enough to see a string quintet that danced while they played, as well as human statues in both bronze and gold. The buskers were great fun to watch, and there were also markets we checked out, which had fabulous Banksy artworks.

We then made our way to the King's Road in Chelsea, which is probably similar to Oxford Street in Sydney's Paddington. It's where Kate Middleton is often seen and it certainly had a very distinctive 'sloane ranger' vibe. Lots of nice shops and lovely buildings too.

After a nice, quick Italian dinner, Mum and I ventured over to the Victoria Apollo Theatre to see the musical Wicked. Most of my school friends in Australia had raved to me about it, my friend Sarah Harding in particular is a strong Wicked advocate (I think she's seen it three times). Fortunately it did not disappoint. Although we had the understudy as Glinda (the good witch), the performance was fantastic and Elpheba had an incredible voice. The costumes were really fun and the music was catchy. I can now join Sarah in thoroughly recommending it.

A really fun day was had in London and, although we arrived home after midnight, the long day was well worth it!

Spring Sun and Stately Homes

Stourhead Gardens

Sorry for the prolonged silence ... sometimes when blogging you lose the desire to write and, for me, I have experienced that over the past month.

All that aside, I finished my ski season on the 27th April and from there, Janine, Paul and I all traveled back via countless trains and the Eurostar to Wimbledon, where I stayed overnight. I then made the journey to Reading and have since been staying with my grandparents.

I was lucky enough to visit several amazing places during my stay here in the UK, a highlight of which was The Vyne in Basingstoke; a National Trust stately home and it's stunningly green gardens. My Auntie and Uncle took me there for the day and we packed a picnic and soaked up the beautifully warm Spring sun on the lawns, before touring the house. What is special about it is that it features architectural styles from many periods, including Tudor and Adam.

Inside The Vyne

The Vyne and the lake

The Servants' Bells

On the subject of stately homes, I had a three-day visit down to Devon (to visit our family - who spoiled us rotten), Somerset and Bath. During my time with my lovely friend Claire - who did a Gap Year to Australia and lived with me at my boarding school - we went to Stourhead, another National Trust house.

Stourhead is made famous by Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, the 2005 movie features Stourhead's gardens, and one of the temples in the gardens, The Apollo Temple. The gardens were teeming with blooming flowers, particularly rhododendrons. Ducks floated along happily on the lake and it was one of the most picturesque scenes I think I've ever seen. Funnily, when you're in that kind of setting, you lose concept of time - it could easily have been the 19th century and I doubt things would have looked much different at all.

Claire and I enjoying our lake walk

As seen in Pride and Prejudice

Such lush greenery

It is so bizarre going from the white, snowy, alpine landscapes to such vividly coloured flowers and greenery. I've enjoyed having some time to rest, re-group and detox - I have hardly touched any alcohol (only one glass of champagne I believe) since I finished the season.

Since my Mum arrived we have been enjoying each other's company and yesterday took a huge day-trip into London, doing things like visiting the British Museum and seeing Wicked The Musical. I hope to blog about that really soon.

The big backpacking adventure starts on Monday so I have lots of packing to do between now and then, but excitement is certainly starting to build.

Ou est le Swimming Pool?

Today was my day off and so I decided to splash out (pardon the pun) and go to the Tignes Spa for a relaxing few hours.

I'm trying to be really healthy at the moment so I started the day with a power walk and a bowl of muesli and pear before heading out with a few friends to the swim centre. The cool thing about being here is that, while normally, you would hop in your car or walk to the local pool, we skied.

And it was worth the journey. It was my first time to the Tignes leisure centre and it was an absolutely incredible swimming centre (but you'd hope so for 15 euros). I started by doing laps of the pool. But not your regular pool. This pool played music under water, so you could listen to music as you swam. Amazing!

Then we enjoyed Turkish baths, a sauna and spa as well as sun-baking on sun-beds on a sun-deck overlooking the snow-covered mountains just next to us.

All of the facilities had glass windows that looked onto the pistes and so, as we did our breaststroke, we could take in the incredible view.

After the relaxing swim I got dressed, put my ski boots on and skied home. Brilliant.

I will definitely miss the convenience of traveling by skis- even after five months the novelty still hasn't really warn off!

This Is The Life - Two Door Cinema Club

Loving this song at the moment. So full of energy!

Hot enough to sunbake

Sun-baking on the deck

Today we blitzed changeover (where we make up all the rooms fresh and ready for our new guests) so quickly that we had the entire afternoon off to relax.

The snowy slopes in the background

Of course, with the sun blazing down and temperatures of 12 degrees, I couldn't resist joining two of my Aussie co-workers in a bit of sun-baking on a little deck near the lake just behind our hotel.

Most of the ground snow has melted in Les Brevieres

I would never have thought I would be wanting to tan at only 12 degrees but it felt boiling hot - as if it were a thirty degree day in Sydney... I guess everything is relative. After five months of minus temperatures, anything above five degrees feels warm!