Happy new year!

In sticking with my grandmotherly ways, I have decided to stay in tonight on New Year's Eve and have a movie fest and a glass of bubbly :) I spent the last day of 2013 working at Cullen winery doing leaf plucking which was a great way to work on my tan and earn a few extra bucks for my trip! So excited! I leave on Thursday so I'm spending my day tomorrow packing my backpack (just bringing a small one) and organizing all my stuff. Hopefully I'll fit in a surf during the day as well! 

Since I had a lot of time to think today while I was clearing away leaves from the grapes up and down the rows, I had a good reflection about this past year. Conclusion = it was one of my best yet.

In fact, I think I kicked 2013's ass! I'm pretty proud of myself because I knew what I wanted, and worked my tail off to make it happen. I had a lot of firsts this year. I travelled further from home than I ever have in my whole life, bought a car off the internet (learning experience!) stayed in a hostel for the first time, learned how to go underwater without plugging my nose, got up on a surfboard, got smashed by waves and drove on the other side of the road without running anything over. I have met so many amazing people so far from all over the world and I've learned more about myself and the world in these last four months then I have in years. 

I am so thankful for all of these amazing experiences I've had so far and for all of the ones I know will be coming up in 2014! I love my life, I'm obsessed with this epic country and am so blessed to be able to go home for a visit and then come back for another year. 

This year wouldn't have been the same if it were not for getting back together with my long lost friend bryanna. Girl without you this trip wouldn't have been the same and probably wouldn't have happened in the first place! You're a huge inspiration to me to spread my wings, be independent and see where life takes me! Love you very much and I can't wait for the rest of our oz adventure together :)

This trip also wouldn't be the same without all of the support from my beautiful family and friends back home. All of your encouraging words helped me face my worries about leaving, and now that I'm here it's what keeps me going most days! Even though we are a world apart, to know that you guys are just a text message away when I need you (despite the 13 hr time difference!) makes me feel so lucky! I love you guys a lot and even if we don't talk very often, know that I think of everyone all the time! 

Just writing this fills me with so much gratitude for everything that has happened in the past year. I think it is so important to reflect on your experiences, goals and memories, not just at the end of the year, and send out some thankful vibes for everything we have been blessed with! We don't do that enough and I think that such a big part of being happy is reflecting and being thankful for what you have. 

So THANK YOU UNIVERSE for all that you have given me, this beautiful family, friends and experiences I am so lucky to have in my life. 

As for 2014, I am hoping to work on my surfing a lot, being less lazy aka start running, and try to make meditation and journaling a part of my everyday routine. Should be good. 

Much love to you all and a clean slate for 2014! Infinite X's and O's 

Soph 

Merry Christmas!!

Another year another Christmas gone by. This was definitely one of the most unique Christmas holidays I've ever experienced! First of all it was my first Christmas away from my family so that was weird and it was also my first Christmas on the beach!!!! I could get used to that haha ;) 

On Christmas Eve, I opened the presents that my mom had sent me. It was so fun to open gifts and I felt like my mom was right there with me! I got some cute crafts to do some chocolate, some drink mixes and a hello kitty watch haha my aunt and uncle also sent me a hello kitty tshirt which I love! It was pretty rainy and yucky out that day so I just stayed home and read books and chilled out. That night Sarah and I were going to go to cape mentelle to watch wizard of oz but it was a bit cold so we drove down to the beach with a blanket and watched the sunset 

Then we went to the store and bought ice cream (they have so good soy ice cream here it's amazing!) we went home, pushed our beds together, ate ice cream and watched home alone haha it made it seem more Christmasey for sure. I felt a bit like I was pretending because there was no snow, fireplaces, scarves or snowballs!!

Christmas morning I woke up and had ice cream and stollen for breakfast. Stollen is a German fruit cake traditionally eaten in the holiday season. I know it's not gluten free but it was vegan and it had marzipan in the middle how could I say no?! It also made me feel like home because we always have it at Christmas :)

We were packing up our esky (cooler) full of champagne and oj to go to the beach and our friend nat comes knocking with a huge present for me that bryanna sneakily wrapped and stashed before she left!! Wrapped in hello kitty wrapping paper (sense a trend? Haha) I was so excited oh mannn! She phoned me earlier in the morning to say merry Christmas and didn't even say anything about it! Sneaky Santa. She got me all kinds of cool stuff, a mask and snorkel, surf wax, candies, palmers cocoa butter lotion that I love!! It was so awesome and sweet of her to do that it made me smileeee! Sarah and I also exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve. I got her a cheese platter sort of as a joke because one day she said she hadn't had cheese in a long time because I don't eat it and she just doesn't really buy it much haha and she got me a disposable underwater camera which is so cool I'm taking it on my trip for sure!

Then we headed to redgate beach with nat and rick. I brought my board and rick brought a few of his. We had mimosas and crackers and dip and it was a perfect beachy day! We were hanging out and who showed up but another group of our friends! Maria Nathan Mel and Antoine joined us and we all went surfing and swimming and it was just so nice! There were a lot of people at the beach and some guys were surfin in Santa hats haha

After the beach nat, rick, Sarah and I had a BBQ for late lunch. There was so much food it was delish!! I ate so much I pretty much just rolled into bed after and chilled out for the rest of the night. All in all I had a really great Christmas! Although it was very different because of the climate and that I wasn't with my family, it was very special nonetheless! 

On Boxing Day I drove to busselton to get a new digital camera because my "waterproof" one wasn't so waterproof after all haha I got another waterproof digital one but the sales guy told me he has only heard good things about that model. Since I'll be snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef in less than one week, I figured it would be a good choice! I'm so used to living in a small town now, I got a bit anxious being in busselton! I forget what it's like driving on multi lane roads and paying attention to streetlights since Margs doesn't have that stuff haha the store was absolutely packed as well! I got in and got out as fast as I could! Then I headed to smiths to meet the girls for a surf. It was massive and we kept getting smashed by these huge waves! I kept jumping under but the wave would pull my board (and therefore me) back in to shore. By the tenth wave I was so tired I had to take a break! 

Friday I had a full day of work in the vineyard at devils lair which was great for some extra money. Friday night Sarah and I drove to busselton to see anchorman 2 (Margs doesn't have a movie theatre) it was so funny omg they had a part with a "Canadian news team" and they were so full of stereotypes always saying sorry and eh and carrying around hockey sticks. Sarah and I laughed so hard and we were the only ones laughing hahahaaa it was hilarious! 

So that's been my last little while. Everything's great, leaving in 5 days yahoo! Don't really know what I'm doing for New Year's Eve but it's all good. Probably not too much because I'm trying to save moneyyy! 

Hope everyone had an amazing Christmas spent with family friends and loved ones! Have an amazing New Year's Eve, hope you all get to kiss someone cute! ;) 

Missing everyone a lot, I'll be sure to update lots here and on Facebook while I'm on the east coast! 

Lots of looovvvveeeee!!! 

Xo

Soph

There and back again...

... A hobbit's tale by sophie hebert bahaaaa I'm such a nerd! (Can't wait to see the new hobbit movie!) Anyways all this to say that I have officially finished my regional work and can now come back for a second year working visa!!! Seriously so happy about that! I finished on dec 10 and was worrying about finding another job because I'm going away on jan 2, needed some more money and something to do until then but nowhere was hiring! 

Luckily I got put on a team through Vinepower for a few days and started my first work in the vineyards. My god it's hard! If I had to do that for three months I would have given up for sure lol mad props to everyone who works out there! We are doing stringing on baby grape vines so tying strings on the bottom of the vines and then up onto the wire so that they grow straight up. And then putting plastic guards on them so they don't get eaten by kangaroos. Lots of bending and squatting down to reach the plants I pretty much couldn't walk when I got home on the first day! We start at 6am which is great because by the time it's about 10 the sun is beating down on you and it's 30 degrees and you're all sweaty! I wore Sarah's sombrero kind of as a joke the first day but it is awesome! And a fly net to keep the flies off you, there are sooo many!! 

Me in my sexy orange vest and sombrero haha

Thankfully the work will be done this week and it has worked out perfectly to give me a bit of extra cash before I leave on my east coast trip!!! So excited! I can't believe its Christmas soon it really doesn't feel like it! Got a lovely box of presents from my momma so I can't wait to open those :)

Everything is awesome here as usual! New roomie is very cool we get along so well :) just working going to the beach and getting excited for my trip!! Just wanted to give a quick update for everyone and share my happiness about being able to come back to this amazing country! I love it so much. 

Miss everyone hope it's not too cold at home!! Love and Christmas spirit to all xoxoxoxox 

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