#1 July 27th, 2006 09:03 PM

Will_79

Member

G'day!

Well, I'm back in bonnie Scotland now after spending the last 6 weeks travelling. I started in Hong Kong before making my way to Sydney, from where I joined a tour which took the next two weeks travelling up the East Coast where it finished in Cairns. I stopped off at Byron Bay where I went kayaking out in the ocean with dolphins, Surfer's Paradise where I went..... surfing. I made it over to Fraser Island where I went swimming in the clear (and freezing) fresh water lake McKenzie. I spent two days living aboard a retired racing yaught around the Whitsundays, and then I went white water rafting and diving the Great Barrier Reef whilst in Cairns.

From there I made my way down to Melbourne which is a fantstic city. I enjoyed Sydney and it had a lot to offer (Romeo & Juliet at the Sydney Opera House), but take away the harbour and it could be any of 100 cities. Melbourne however is a city with an individual charm and character, and if I ever do make the move to emigrate to Australia, it would be Melbourne which would be the top of my list.

I met so many different people from all over the world (though not many Aussies). There were a lot of Canadians, and a lot of fellow Scots. There were also a few English and Americans, a Brazillian, Germans, and one absolutely "Crazy Dutch Bastard".

Hong Kong was also an amazing place to visit. It was made however by the fact I met a Chinese-American girl who was staying at my hotel, and between her and her mom (who only spoke Chinese) I was adopted into the family for a few days. It meant that I was taken to all these weird and wonderful places (mainly restaurants) which I would never have ventured into as a tourist on his own.

The highlight though was the sailing trip around the Whitsundays. The weather wasn't perfect, but it was more than made up for by the company I was with. A few people who were on my tour, and also a few who were their in their own groups. Playing a multi-national game of football on Whithaven beach is something to remember.  It also gave me the chance to fall for one of the girls on my group (it's hard not to be romantic sitting up all night talking on the deck in order to watch the sunrise the following day). It wasn't to be however (despite a rather nice kiss a few days later), but it's still a lovely memory.

And now I'm home, and it's kindof bitter-sweet to be honest. It's good to be home in a way as I have so much to organise before I start my new career, but it's always sad to think that the perhaps the best time of my life is over.

At least for now anyway. I'm hoping to make New Zealand next year.

paintjam

Member

Re: G'day!

Well, I'm back in bonnie Scotland now after spending the last 6 weeks travelling. I started in Hong Kong before making my way to Sydney, from where I joined a tour which took the next two weeks travelling up the East Coast where it finished in Cairns. I stopped off at Byron Bay where I went kayaking out in the ocean with dolphins, Surfer's Paradise where I went..... surfing. I made it over to Fraser Island where I went swimming in the clear (and freezing) fresh water lake McKenzie. I spent two days living aboard a retired racing yaught around the Whitsundays, and then I went white water rafting and diving the Great Barrier Reef whilst in Cairns.

At least for now anyway. I'm hoping to make New Zealand next year.

LLLUUUUCCCKKKYYYYYY!

jamie

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'stay beautiful'

alyce

Member

Re: G'day!

Good to hear you had a great time!

I might be biased, but I agree about Melbourne.

catt

Member

Re: G'day!

Well, I'm back in bonnie Scotland now after spending the last 6 weeks travelling. I started in Hong Kong before making my way to Sydney, from where I joined a tour which took the next two weeks travelling up the East Coast where it finished in Cairns. I stopped off at Byron Bay where I went kayaking out in the ocean with dolphins, Surfer's Paradise where I went..... surfing. I made it over to Fraser Island where I went swimming in the clear (and freezing) fresh water lake McKenzie. I spent two days living aboard a retired racing yaught around the Whitsundays, and then I went white water rafting and diving the Great Barrier Reef whilst in Cairns.

From there I made my way down to Melbourne which is a fantstic city. I enjoyed Sydney and it had a lot to offer (Romeo & Juliet at the Sydney Opera House), but take away the harbour and it could be any of 100 cities. Melbourne however is a city with an individual charm and character, and if I ever do make the move to emigrate to Australia, it would be Melbourne which would be the top of my list.

I met so many different people from all over the world (though not many Aussies). There were a lot of Canadians, and a lot of fellow Scots. There were also a few English and Americans, a Brazillian, Germans, and one absolutely "Crazy Dutch Bastard".

Hong Kong was also an amazing place to visit. It was made however by the fact I met a Chinese-American girl who was staying at my hotel, and between her and her mom (who only spoke Chinese) I was adopted into the family for a few days. It meant that I was taken to all these weird and wonderful places (mainly restaurants) which I would never have ventured into as a tourist on his own.

The highlight though was the sailing trip around the Whitsundays. The weather wasn't perfect, but it was more than made up for by the company I was with. A few people who were on my tour, and also a few who were their in their own groups. Playing a multi-national game of football on Whithaven beach is something to remember.  It also gave me the chance to fall for one of the girls on my group (it's hard not to be romantic sitting up all night talking on the deck in order to watch the sunrise the following day). It wasn't to be however (despite a rather nice kiss a few days later), but it's still a lovely memory.

And now I'm home, and it's kindof bitter-sweet to be honest. It's good to be home in a way as I have so much to organise before I start my new career, but it's always sad to think that the perhaps the best time of my life is over.

At least for now anyway. I'm hoping to make New Zealand next year.

Melbourne IS gorgeous (it's very, very hard for me to leave this place, trust me).  It appears you had an amazing holiday, and yes, you should certainly aim to visit New Zealand sometime soon. 

xxCattxx

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the beauty of simplicity is the complexity it attracts.

blissed

Member

Re: G'day!

Wow you had a great holiday!
I've been thinking again.
I get 4 weeks holiday a year. if I took 2 weeks extra unpaid I could spend 4 weeks doing what you did every year. and still have 2 other weeks to take when I wanted. If you did that you could have this sort of trip every year too.

.

Will_79

Member

Re: G'day!

I would happily take two weeks unpaid every year if it meant I could do something similar every year. I'm joining the police force soon however, and I'm not sure if that's an option. I'm not sure about the whole holiday situation with regards the police. Believe me, it'll be the firdt thing I find out about when I start my training.

I've been climbing the walls the past couple days, not knowing what to be doing with myself. I have to admit to being on a bit of a downer to be back at home. Typical post-holiday blues.

blissed

Member

Re: G'day!

I know someone who joined the police when he finished art college. His dad was the top guy for the whole region which he had to take a lot of stick about. plus my last neighbour is in the police. Some pretty vulnerable people will be looking to you for protection and you can do some work thats really good. I think when you start your police training you won't be on a downer tho, it's challenging (if I was in the police, I'd need to be able to pull out a very large gun when ever I'm threatened or scared and you won't have one) but you learn the techniques of how best to keep the peace and you get the friendship of other people on the course. What people forget is like anywhere, there are lots of different types of people in the police. You'll have your friends and then people you don't like much, but if people have an unprofessional attitude that reflects badly on you, you can report them, and I think you can do that anonymously.

You might find this interesting http://coppersblog.blogspot.com/

You don't automatically get the right to paid holiday. So your leave can be cancelled. Thing is, if you had a month off every year, it would relieve all the stress built up over the previous months since your last holiday Have PM'd you with a cunning plan for doing that and if you see me riding my bicycle on the pavement, you haven't seen me, alright

.

Will_79

Member

Re: G'day!

Thankyou for the PM Blissed, and I do appreciate where you are coming from with your *cunning* plan. However, it's not one that I would be willing to carry through, as ultimately it would do me more harm than good in terms of career. I would not want to gain a reputation as a "sicknote", and in my first couple of years in the force I am still on probation and so I have to be seen to be giving my all.

Besides, it's just not in my makeup to not give my all. I enjoy getting stuck in and working hard, but I also appreciate playng hard also.

One thing for sure though is my desire to emigrate from the UK has been fired up even more than before. Like I said, New Zealand is the next place to visit, and then depending on other factors outwith my control, it would hopefully be NZ or Aus I would be making my life in in say 4(?) years time.

Will.

blissed

Member

Re: G'day!

Thankyou for the PM Blissed, and I do appreciate where you are coming from with your *cunning* plan. However, it's not one that I would be willing to carry through, as ultimately it would do me more harm than good in terms of career.

Perhaps it's not as cunning as I thought then Lol. But you've got your head screwed on and you seem to know where your going, so as you love a challenge, it sounds like you should do well anyway

.