is it really Christmastime?

hello my friends! my facebook has been bombarded with pics of all the snow you've gotten at home and, i'm not going to lie, i am very glad that i'm not there to experience it in person! haha we have had our own share of rain and cloudy days in the last week or so, but i'd definitely take rain over snow any day! :)

everything has been good here, just working a lot, going to the beach and i even bought a pink fishing rod and went fishing one time. i caught a fish and decided to bring it home to eat it. it was a pretty intense experience and i don't think i'll be going fishing again any time soon lol it is good to know that if i need to, i can survive in the wild by fishing hahaha i'm not sure what type of fish it was that i caught, but it had teeth! it was so crazy lol

bottling is over now, and we are just relabelling some boxes, but the work will go until at least december 10th so i will get my regional work done! yessss!!!! i was so happy when i found that out! only 32 more days until my trip and i'm really stoked for it! i booked my bus ticket to and from perth so that's all set. renewed the registration on my car for another three months, now all i need to do it buy a new camera. everything is working out really well and it makes me sooooooooo happy!!!

bry is leaving for hawaii on monday which is sad, but i know she will have a fab time and i'm so excited for her! we are getting a new roommate for the time she is away. her name is sarah and she is also 23 and from canada (from BC) so i'm excited to meet her and not be alone for the whole time that bry is away! beach buddy yeaaaahhh :) 

also, i just found out yesterday that margaret river has a roller derby team!!! they are called the "cabernet savages" SO AWESOME! i really loved the time i spent practicing with the rollergettes in toronto, so i am definitely going to check out their next practice and hopefully get joined up! bob gnarly is making a comeback folks!!!!

basically just loving life over here, working, counting down the days until my trip! i put up a few christmas decorations because i really can't grasp that it is december soon and that its that time of year when i'm wearing shorts and going to the beach! haha i got one of those gel window stickers that i put up outside and this poor dragonfly got stuck in it and it was such a struggle to free him i was getting so worked up about it lol but i managed to free him in the end and he flew away :)

also, one day last week we both didn't work, bryanna and i drove to dunsborough because it was yucky out and we had brunch at samudra which was such a beautiful treat! i had hot chocolate, tofu scramble and we split a peppermint slice and a piece of caramel pecan pie for dessert (all vegan and gluten free YUMMM) on the way home in town we saw a wicked amazingly cool VW campervan in that lovely turquoise colour i love SO much! i posed with it 

other than that, not much to update on. i've been reading a lot and have rented the first season of how i met your mother to rewatch and o.m.g it is soooo funny! i laugh so hard my neighbours must think i'm nuts :) i'm getting pretty tan which is nice, i feel like i look so much more healthy with a tan haha 

i sent out those postcards to mum about a week ago so hopefully they will get there soon and then she can send them on the canadian part of their journey! hope everything is great with everyone at home, enjoy the snow and STAY WARM! 

missing everyone lots <33

beach out

peace out xoxoxo

red, red wine....

hello my friends! today i have a day off, and it's been really lovely so far. my friend hetta is leaving for her next leg of her adventure. last night was her going away party which was super fun, and today we went to a cute little coffee shop in town and chatted :) now i'm just hanging out at the library currently loving life. i tried to send some post cards home, but it costs $2.60 per card and i have almost 30 soooo that won't be happening. i'm going to send them home to canada in one envelope and then see if my mum can re-post them from there. i think that's a much better idea haha 

so the last few weeks have been fun! i finally STOOD UP ON MY SURFBOARD!!!!!! i went to redgate beach by myself one sunny sunday and was out in the water for about 2 hours and i just did it! it was so fun. this weekend past i went again and stood up for even longer. that beach is seriously so fun and i have a blast every time i go out, even if i just ride the waves in on my stomach. but each time i go i stand up a few more times! yay improvements :)

how big the wave felt:

how big it actually was: 

but it was big enough for me! seriously so fun. also, i made the rookie mistake of leaving a brand new bar of wax in the trunk on my wetsuit.... of course it melted all over and now it looks like a bird took a huge poop down the back of my wetsuit LOL! i got most of it off, but it is sort of in the fabric... don't really know how to get it out but whateverrrr

this past week, there was no bottling because they were preparing for a big cabernet tasting event at cape mentelle. they asked me if i wanted to help by washing glasses and i said of course. it was me and two other people and within a week we had washed and polished almost 1800 glasses! let me tell you about this event, it is so cool! cape mentelle chooses 20 cabernet wines from around the world and the people attending do a blind tasting and rate which ones they like the best. the bottles ranged from about $80 all the way through to $2500 or $4000 i forget. there were 85 people coming, and each person had 20 glasses plus glasses for the dinner and a ton of spares in case any of them broke! it was quite the job, my hands got super pruny and i broke a few glasses here and there but the event happened on saturday and it seemed like everyone had a great time! i was working behind the scenes doing dishes, eating olives and had a glass of champagne. not a bad gig! then on monday, we washed all the glasses again and put them back in the boxes. it was a nice change from bottling for a bit and great to have some work that week! the cape mentelle cab ended up coming in 2nd so that is super! i basically never want to wash another glass again in my life lol but it was good fun :)

last week was my little Daisy's birthday, and my mum sent me these pics from when she was a wee kitten. 

such a darling!

cuddling with her brothers and sisters

i miss her a ton - happy birthday daisy <3 this past weekend, i also saw a miniature horse in town for a store's birthday celebration and he was wearing a red party hat. i got to feed him a carrot and pretty much almost cried because it was the cutest thing ever! it made my whole day :) 

other than that, i'm just reading heaps and i rented the first season of csi from the library.. serious cheesy business, and i love it! 

51 more days until i leave for Cairns, and only 28 more days until i've completed my three months of regional work! ahhhh seriously so excited! i can't wait to come back, i'm obsessed with aus. i'm basically just in quite good spirits, other than the fact that my "waterproof" camera wasn't so waterproof after all and now i need to buy a new one :( but that will be my christmas gift to myself. imagine, christmas on the beach.... it's going to be weird but i think i'll be able to deal with it ;) 

steve is doing alright, i even went for a cruise last night and his lights didn't turn off on the way there or the way back! improvements. he makes a few weird noises, but he still gets me around town, to work and to the beach which is all i need! 

everything is seriously great, i'm so happy, the only thing that would be better is if everyone were here to share it with me! love you guys tons!!!!!!

stay warm over there in the snow ;)

<3 soph

happy halloweeeeeen!

....they don't really do halloween in australia, so i rented hocus pocus and bry made me a halloween candy bag and you better believe i will be chowing down on candies tonight! so excited hahaaa every year i watch hocus pocus with jess, so even though we aren't together this halloween, its cool knowing that we will both do our tradition but on opposite sides of the world :) (expect some texts while im watching, jess haha!) 

so it's been a while since i've written and there is lots to update on! first off, we are now living in the caravan park in town. it was just time for us to move on and each have our own space, but we are very much still on good terms with the awesome lady sue that we were living with before. at first we moved into an actual caravan (aka trailer) but it was full of mold and bry had an allergic reaction to it soooo we moved into a cabin. it is just a bit more per week but it is heaps nicer than the trailer. i'm quite stoked on it! i put some pics up on my facebook :) we don't have internet, but the library that's about a 2 min drive has free wifi so i go there to go on the computer. plus another reason to go to the library! (like i need one haha nerd) 

i've been working a lot which is great, and paying off my trip bit by bit. still a ways to go, but i booked my flights and hostel for the first night so that's all good to go! next week, there is no bottling, but on the saturday they are having a big merlot tasting event so all week i'll be washing glasses and then on the saturday i'll be working doing tons of dishes. i'm so happy that i've got some work next week, and it will be nice to do something a bit different. as of november 10th i will have done two months of my agriculture work and will only need one more month yaaaayyyy! STOKED!

this weekend, we went to the beach twice on sunday, it was SO beautiful! we went to redgate at 7am and i sort of almost half ish stood up on my board! i don't think i would count it as standing up, but i was like 95% there. i'm so excited to go out again this weekend! then in the afternoon, we packed a lunch and drove out to contos beach. what a trek man, we had to go over dirt roads with these little potholes that were so close together, the whole car vibrated when we drove over them lol! i didn't know whether to go fast or slow so i just kind of gunned it and got a bum massage. i was pretty surprised steve didn't die! 

the beach was absolutely gorgeous! the water was turquoise blue and there was an area with big rocks and tidal pools in between and i just chilled out there and watched this sneaky crab and fish and the waves were spraying up on the rocks and it was just so amazing! i definitely want to go back there :) 

other than that, just been working tons, going to the farmers market, chilling at the library and soaking in the life at the trailer park lol it is pretty fun, there are tons of backpackers and i think with summer coming up it's going to be even more busy :) 

so yeah that's my update! 2 months and 3 days until my east coast trip! so looking forward to it. everything is good here, missing everyone as usual! it's starting to get warmer and sunnier so i'm really happy about that. hope you all are doing well!

xoxo soph

i can be a mermaid now!

helloooooo everyone! it's been a while since i've last updated and lots of fun stuff has happened! 

on a life-changing note, i can now jump underwater without plugging my nose! this is a pretty essential skill for learning how to surf and it was just something i couldn't do. i had sort of seriously thought about buying a scuba maskfor surfing, but was pretty sure it would fall off and that i would look like a nutter out there haha so i googled and found out how to do it! so now i can go under! stoooked. i even jumped into a wave today!!! whooo! so fun

we went to redgate on sunday around 530 and played in the whitewash, watched the sun go down and saw a whale! it was so amazing. 

i've been working a lot which is super because i booked an east coast tour! it leaves on january 4th from cairns and goes down to sydney and ends on the 17th. it is with contiki and i've heard great things about them, so i'm looking really forward to that! it's called beaches and reefs which sounds right up my alley :) here is the link if you guys want to check it out http://www.contiki.com/destinations/australia/tours/421-beaches-and-reefs-start-cairns-new i just need to finish paying it off and book my flights then i'll be set! 

today in the morning bry went surfing at grunters with this cool lady she met at the beach last week. she is super nice and showed her where to paddle out and stuff. it was super low tide and its a reef break so there is coral everywhere! i can imagine their poor feet :( i did a little jog/walk/hobble through the sand up and down the beach and it was so nice just to be outside in the sunshine! 

tonight we are going to trivia night at the bar bryanna works at, so that should be fun! i don't work until monday so we will see what my plans are. it's supposed to be pretty rainy and crap all weekend, but i just got some new books from the library so i should be good! and i want to learn some new songs on my ukulele :) 

i also bought a phone card, so if anyone wants to have a phone chat, holla at meee! obviously i want to talk with everyone! xoxo

also we have planned to do a west coast roadtrip for 6 weeks come may. we will probably leave margs, head down south to esperance to check it out and then come back and drive all the way up to darwin! we will definitely be taking bryanna's car, so it will be time to sell steve :( he's been doing ok lately *knock on wood* so he will be good until then or so i keep telling myself ;)

in other good news, i spoke to my supervisor at work this week and he said that the bottling will most likely go until right before christmas which is actually perfect because then i'll have my three months done and i'll be qualified to come back for another year! then ill have a week or two off before i head over to cairns! i am seriously sooo excited! one of the optional activities is to go snorkelling in the outer great barrier reef, which i am obviously doing! so pumped to see lots of beautiful creatures!

so all in all, everything is going great here. as usual, i miss everyone and want everyone to hop on a plane and fly over, but i realize that isn't realistic haha hope you all are doing fantastic! and i'll try to update more frequently! i always put pics up on my facebook, but sometimes i am just too tired to write up a storm.

love you all soooo much sending my hugs and positive vibes around the globe!

soph

the other end of the trail

yesterday we went on an adventure down to augusta to see the cape leeuwin lighthouse. it is the other end of the cape to cape trail. hetta and gab came with us, and we had such a nice day! we stopped at the cutest little beach area on the side of the road that had white sand and clear blue water. still a little cold to swim, but come summer it will be awesome! then we stopped and walked out around some big rocks to get good views of the lighthouse. it was 20 bucks to go up the lighthouse, so we decided not to, but i think the view from far away was even better! then we pulled up to another rocky beachy area and climbed this massive rock! the winds were so strong, we were all leaning into the wind and being pushed back up, it was so fun and i felt like a kite! haha the waves were hitting the rock and spraying, it was just such a cool scene i felt like i was straight out of lord of the rings lol 

then we stopped at a little cafe for a tea slash i had a huge bowl of fries with sweet chili sauce pahhaa it was delish. then when we drove home, we stopped for a bit at boranup forest. literally the most beautiful forest i've ever seen! i think what is so striking about it, is that the trunks of the trees have almost no branches, and all the foliage is at the top. it is so cool and the girls assured me that on a sunny day when the sun breaks through the trees, it is even more beautiful. i felt like i was an elf in the enchanted forest hahaa there were also tons of wild lillies around, they grow everywhere here and are just so pretty! someone had drawn over the walking sign to make the people look like fairies and it was just the cutest thing!

we are definitely going to go back to boranup forest soon and go for a nice long walk, but it was getting a bit late in the afternoon, so we headed home. it was such an awesome day and i'm glad that the rain held off and we were able to spend some time outside with friends :) 

hopefully back to work tomorrow! hope everyone has a great week, thinking of you always! <3 

soph

adventures

well, it has certainly been a while since i've posted! i hadn't been up to much, but this week i did some fun things! last week, i had five days off of work from friday to tuesday. at first, i was a bit frustrated because i trying to save up so i can go on a tour of the east coast from cairns to sydney in january, and it's going to be expensive so i want to work as much as i can! 

on the saturday, i headed down to gracetown beach which is about a 30 minute drive away for a little walk. it was soooo beautiful as is all of the scenery here! it started to rain as i was walking on the beach, so i drove up this big hill to a walking path and it was covered by trees. by that time it was just drizzling and i had my rain jacket so it was good, but i noticed a tickle in my throat. hmm.... 

after that i went back home and that is when i started feeling quite sick. my throat was really sore, i had a fever, was so exhausted and felt cold at the same time. i had a nap and then went to sleep around 8pm under my heated blanket on full blast! i ended up sleeping for about 13 hours and felt massively better, but still not great on sunday. the rest of my days off, i basically spent fighting off this darn cold/flu thing. on a brighter note, i am feeling about 90% better with just a bit of a sore throat and a cough now, a week later so that's good, on the mend! super glad i ended up having those days off to rest!

back to work on wednesday, we finished work early and it was so beautiful out, the sun was out and it was warm in the sunshine! i rushed home to grab my surfboard and wetsuit, i was feeling ready to get back in the water and give it another try. but as i was driving, rational sophie took over my thoughts. i didn't want any chance of this cold hanging on any longer than it had to, so i decided to wait until i am 100% better until i get back in the water. bry had the day off, and i knew she'd be at the beach for sure! she didn't see me, but i ended up relaxing and having a little snooze in the sand and sun. it was lovely! 

thursday was a full day back, and when i got home we decided to go on a big walk with patch. we drove down to ellenbrook and set off on a section of the cape to cape trail. eventually, the trail led down to the beach and we walked the beach back to the car. it was a bit of a hike, as there were some points that were obstructed by big rocks and corals we had to climb over (and through tiny nooks!) there were epic shells, and by the time we got back to the car, my pocket was full. so pretty! there were also really cool tidal pools that i definitely want to go back and check out when it's daytime. we just made it back before the sun set, it was so gorgeous! this beach is really cool because just about 20 or 30 feet off shore, there are massive waves breaking, like probably 10 or 12 feet i'd say, but because of the reef, they get stopped before they hit the beach. so cool to be that close to the power of nature! (more pics up on my facebook!)

i went to bed asap after that walk, i was pooped! who needs squats when you walk on sand for an hour?! friday was another day at work, then we went to the tavern which is the main bar in margs to see a band perform called jinja safari. at first it wasn't too busy but then tons of people showed up! it was so fun! there were lots of cutie  surfer boys there and lots of girls dressed up in cool outfits. it was a super chill night, and the band was amazing! they have a really different sound, like indie afropop, very eclectic. they also use lots of different instruments like bongo drums, a flute, a sitar, just all kinds of cool stuff and they had amazing energy! i definitely think they are one of those bands that sound better live and a whole part of why they are so good is their live show, but here is the video for their new song

so that was really fun! i went to bed late so i'm pretty tired today, but we still hit up the farmers market and got a ton of veggies including two mammoth bunches of kale for $2 each and 10 avocados for $10! yaaaaay! i also had a piece of raw vegan carrot cake that bry's friend kyleigh made. she has a raw food company in yallingup and sells her stuff at local shops and the markets. very delicious!

the fridge can't handle the kale! haha also last week, i bought a new ukulele. my mahalo came in, and as cute as it is, it just plays terribly. i had to re tune it every 5 minutes and i was just getting so frustrated with it. i think i'm going to mail it home and put it up on the wall in my room or something because it is too adorable to send back! i went to the music store in town and bought a really nice uke. it sounds like a dream! it was a bit of an investment, but i don't really mind because i wanted to buy a nice one eventually anyways! once it's nicer out, i can't wait to play it at the beach!

anyways, that's all thats new with me! hope everyone is doing well at home, enjoying the fall leaves! keep me updated on whats going on with all of you :)

love and hugs! xo

soph