he just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich

hello my beautiful people! a lot has happened since my last post. i wasn't in the best wifi zone ever because hmm... i was in the middle of the desert! haha basically the rest of my trip included a side road to uluru kata tjuta national park, back on the stuart highway to adelaide, and then the great ocean road all the way to melbourne. i had the most amazing time, met awesome people and learned a whole lot about the aboriginal cultures of the area. i spent a few days solo in melbourne, getting reacquainted with city life (aka shopping and eating a lot lol) and before i knew it, it was time to get on a plane and begin the long long journey back to canada. i flew to manila, then san fran and finally landed in toronto. i spent the weekend there with my sista jenn, her bf and their cat babies and got to see lots of friends from college. it was an all around great weekend and good adjustment back to canada :) sunday night i took the train to ottawa and headed home! it is definitely strange to be back, but it's only been a few days so i'm still loving it. my bed has never been more comfortable lol 

this past year has been such a wonderful, life changing experience for me. i feel pretty stoked that i had this dream of travelling and worked my tail off to make it happen. i couldn't have done it without the serious support of my family, friends and my travel guru bryanna ;) everyone has been so awesome, always encouraging me to try new things and make the most of every experience. from commenting on my photos, sending me christmas parcels in the mail, and good vibes through the universe. also, knowing that people are actually reading this dang thing instead of me just writing for kicks is really cool. i'm not going to go into all of the details of how i'm this totally new and improved version of myself. you will see that soon enough when we hang out, my smile tells it all.

as for right now, i'm back living at home in good old carp, enjoying some time with my fam and slowly but surely starting the job hunt once again. hoping to continue on with some travels in the new year, thinking about new zealand :) that is still a long ways away so we will see what happens! in the meantime, i'm going to be taking a break from the blog because, let's be honest, my real life is not even half as exciting as my aussie life :P 

thank you again to everyone who supported me on this journey, and to everyone who i met on my travels it has been so great to meet you all. my trip wouldn't have been what it was without all of you! loads of love to all family and friends old and new!

see ya later mate ;) signing off until the next adventure

soph xx 

Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park

Twelve Apostles - Great Ocean Road

                            

                                          

                                         

we put the 'holiday' in working holiday visa

indddddoooooooo!!! these last few weeks have been so epic. i've finally gotten my first taste of asia, and let me tell you, it tastes damn good. besides all of the beautiful beaches, rolling waves, badass scooter rides and serious shopping, there was some of the best food i've ever eaten in my life, and cheap to boot. i will never look at rice the same way again after having eaten nasi goreng (indonesian veg fried rice) so many times. we ate amazing seafood and fish that was literally caught 3 hours ago in the bay right in front of us. indo is also a veggies best friend with so much tempeh and tofu on the menu. i am obsessed with tempeh, it is so good, and although its not a really popular food in western culture, i definitely encourage everyone to try it.. so tasty! we also ate this stuff called water spinach, im pretty sure its a distant cousin of regular spinach that was delish as well. standard dinner was rice, veggies and tempeh or fish. i could really eat like that all day everyday. then for dessert, it was either a coconut smoothie, or a pineapple cut so that you could literally just eat it like a popsicle just holding the stem! i was in heaven. all for 5 bucks or less depending on where you went! 

so typical of me to start off a story with a description of the food bahaha we left margs on march 23 and flew to denpasar, bali. we left the next day and flew to labuan bajo on the island of flores. bry did 4 or 5 days of some serious scuba diving, and i did 3 days of snorkelling. it was one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen. the corals were massive and colourful, i literally felt like i was in finding nemo, especially when a family of clown fish (Marlin, Coral and Nemo) came out of the anemone right in front of me! i saw beautiful parrot fish, trigger fish, rainbow wrasse, about 8 or 9 turtles and a black tip reef shark! i had such a blast and there were many laughs to be had, especially by the second day when they gave me a snorkel guide who couldn't swim and could barely speak english lol we pretty much stayed in LBJ not really exploring that much, as you basically just go there to dive. One of the days we went to Rinca Island in Komodo National Marine Park and got to see komodo dragons! It was super cool and I'm so happy that we made it there :) 

Then we headed back to Bali to meet up with Emma and Christina and some of our other friends from Margs were there as well so we all went out for dinner and drinks and it was so fun! one of the days we were there it was Hindu new year called Nyepi. They had a ton of these really big floats shaped like different bad spirits in the streets the day before and we went to look at them.I took tons of pics on my phone but it broke so i lost them all booo! anyways the next day, they took all the floats down to the beach and burned them,which is supposed to ward off the bad spirits for the upcoming year. We didn't get to see any of that though, because another tradition of nyepi is that you aren't allowed out on the streets. we were all locked in the hotel and served one meal that day. at night, we had to turn off our lights and they brought us this one tiny little candle to use, so we all sat in bed and watched pretty woman lol it felt like a high school sleepover bahaha 

then we headed to lombok on the fast boat. i was pretty hungover for that journey, so it wasn't the most enjoyable, but i knew a bed was in my immidiate future so it was ok haha then we got a drive to kuta beach where we were staying and found a little guesthouse run by this cool dude named jerry. we rented scooters and drove them all around, to the surf breaks, random beaches, drives into the countryside. i was getting pretty good at driving, but then had a mishap going down a dirt road after a massive rainstorm. mud + scooters + potholes = not good. i wasn't super confident after that but i didn't let it stop me. my friends from toronto alex and britt who are travelling asia together met up with us for a few days too! it was so cool to see them again, and we had a really great time together. I tried surfing a few times, saw a dead seasnake, manouvered my scooter around herds of buffalo on the road, saw rice paddies and made friends with a cute little guy named tom who was selling bracelets to save money for school (so i'd like to believe) we were in lombok for 10 days and i absolutely loved it! definitely reccomend everyone who goes to indo for holiday to take the boat to lombok, it is awesome. especially if you're looking for a more exploring/off the beaten track type of holiday. 

emma flew out of lombok, while bry, christina and I headed back to Bali to fly out the next day. By coincidence, our friend from high school and Bry's long time next door neighbour Kail was in Bali with his friend. They changed their boat to the gilis for one more day so we could meet up. we got dinner and ended up having one more night at skygarden in kuta. this place is nuts, it's like 8 nightclubs in one building. they played really good music and we had so much fun dancing and getting caught up on the last few years. we got home at 5:30am and the guys had to get up at 6:45am for their boat to the gilis! i slept until the last possible minute and then we headed to the airport. they put christina on an earlier flight so we had to say bye to her right away which was sad. i'm so happy she came on the trip with us it was great to meet her :) 

now bry and i are in darwin, living at a hostel on the main street downtown. it's weird to get used to, but i'm liking it so far. i managed to get a job at a restaurant, making the drinks and i just had some waitress training today. it's pretty intense, hopefully i don't mess up too much! i really like darwin so far, it reminds me of halifax actually so that's pretty cool :) 

anyways that is my massive update on the last few weeks of life so far! everything's good, i'm stoked that i've been to asia, glad to be back in aus :) 

bye bye hostel

today feels like it was 5 days in one. i was so busy today it was crazy! i woke up and had two bowls of cereal for breakfast, packed an apple and checked out of the hostel. luckily, they had a locked area where i could leave my bags until 6pm, when i was due to walk over to my couchsurfing host's house. that was so so helpful! sundancers is a great hostel, i enjoyed my stay there and met some very nice people :) i think if i were big into partying it would have been more my style, but it was still awesome and i can see why people live there long term!

i was walking around and realized that it was friday aka the markets were on! so i made my way over there and holyyyy what an awesome place! it reminded me of st lawrence market in TO but more spread out i'd say. the smells of all that yummy food cooking was so hard for me to walk away from lmao! there were so many wicked cool stalls with clothes, shoes, knick knacks and anything you could imagine! fresh squeezed juices, handmade candles, fruits and veg, crystals, jewellery, hair wraps, you name it, you could probably find it there. (including pink sparkly cell phone covers mckenzie!) 

the colours of everything were so awesome and just great energy all around! i bought a few things, some new patches for my backpack and a fremantle beanie! i love it, it's like my version of nick's women's confidence trenchcoat on new girl. i feel so legit wearing it and i never want to take it off! 

ps look how weird the aussie money is! the 50 cent coins are seriously massive its so insane!

then walked around a bit more and saw a koala bear! it was from a petting zoo, and you had to pay money to pat him which reeeeeally sucks because i wanted to cuddle it but im so cheap lol what a little cutie. 

then i headed back down to the harbourfront, deciding to go further to find the maritime museum. i walked by bathers beach and into this cool art house gallery thingie, which had some very interesting art with super high price tags. there was also this installation thing where you had to lay down and look up at projections, but i didn't see it because there were people on the benches already and i didn't want to wait around. 

so i headed onwards to victoria quay. and guess what i stumbled upon? MORE MARKETS! haha it was so funny. so i walked through those and it turns out i had already passed the museum. on my way back i stopped in at a dive shop to inquire about padi courses. we chatted about spearfishing as well, which bryanna wants to try when we are in margs, and it seems like an interesting hobby that lost of australian people do on their spare time. they go out on their boats and then do the spearfishing, and then spend the rest of the afternoon cooking up their catch, chowing down and having a few beers. all in all, sounds pretty sweet to me! 

on the way back, i see this huge submarine which made me think of my dad! these photos are for you dad :)

i head over to the museum, but the admission was 10 dollars, and being the cheapo that i am, i decide to pass on it for now. i head back to bathers beach and sit down for a bit and eat my apple. then i head back to town and see what else i can find. on the way in, i see these two tiny bunnies just chilling in the park. i couldn't even believe it! they were so super cute! i tried to get close to them but they just ran away lol so i kept on movin. at this point, ramen noodles weren't sounding too appealing to me, so i went to this takeout place called ali babas and had a falafel and chips. it was seriously good. then i stumbled into the cutest little hippie shop with all these amazing pairs of harem pants aka sophie onesies (they even had ones that were made from a heavier material that would be so so warm! i was tempted). i ended up talking with the shopkeeper for a while. she was watching her adorable little baby girl who had a bindi on her forehead. omg i wanted to scoop her up she was so cute!

this lady had two girls and two boys and they were all going to tasmania in november to rent a campervan for a while and drive around, and then settle in a house in hobart. she was such a nice person to talk to. we talked about my love for vw vans and how she used to  have a 1977 white vw kombi. i showed her the patch i got for my backpack and she loved it! across the way from that store was this store for kids that was all these amazing beautiful fairy and mermaid tutu dress costumes, and little flower crowns, and roses and sparkles and just every beautiful thing you could imagine! they do kids birthday parties and had some pictures of all these little girls dressed up in the outfits. omg i really wanted to wear some of those dresses haha they were awesome! 

i continued on, and i stumbled into a vintage store. there are so many in freo its crazy! i was looking for another sweater (a jumper its called here) because i was literally SO freezing cold. i didn't quite find anything i wanted (or that was in my price range) so i went next door to salvation army where everything was 50% off. i found a knit sweater but it looked better on the hanger than on me, so i left it. then i walked over to coles (grocery store) because i wanted to try custard. it looks like pudding but i dont even know what it is, it just looks good. but they don't sell it in individual sizes, so i guess i'd settle for ANOTHER BAG OF TIM TAMS! luckily, they make snack size bags which have 5 cookies in them, so i got that. i got honeycomb flavour. i don't know what the heck that is, but a lot of things here are honeycomb flavour. and for good reason, because it is delicious! so i head back to the hostel with my new treat and hit up gumtree looking for jobs/surfboards etc etc. just to kill time until it was time to walk to my host's house. 

around 6 i pack up all of my bags and hit the road. the walk was supposed to take about 25 minutes, but i took more like 35 because i got a teensy bit lost, and my bag was so heavy. like this was the worst walk of my life. i felt like i was going to throw up thats how much my back and shoulders were hurting. so bad. i ended up walking past the side street i was supposed to turn down. then it started to rain. COOL. eventually i made it, and met john. he is a very nice guy who lives in a cute house with a lemon tree. we went over the formalities, had a cuppa tea, and he went on his way to a concert he is going to tonight. by this time, i was/am so knackered that i just went upstairs and set up my bed. since that time, i've been writing this, talked on the phone with my mama and now i might read a bit and go to bed. i did so much today and am so pooped from carrying that darn bag, who knows what time i will sleep until tomorrow! 

don't know what i'll do tomorrow, maybe go see the markets again, or actually visit the maritime museum. either way, i'm going to bundle up for sure! 

that was my day today! missing everyone lots and thinking of you 

XOXO soph

PS jess they have an elizabeth's second hand bookstore here too!

the last day: pack-rat vs. super-packer

AHHHH TOMORROW! omg. so the past two days have gone *sort of* how i planned, but everything ended up working out in the end as it always does!

friday was my last day of work. it was so crazy how fast this week went! it was really sad to say bye to everyone, but its all part of the process like i said before, and everyone sent me off with encouraging words! i felt the love :) i also received some cards and beautiful flowers, along with a homemade decorated journal with maple leaves on it from some members and my coworkers! i cried a little.... a lot. haha!

i only worked til 12, and my mum took the day off to help me pack. i had some running around to do after work, and didn't end up getting home until about 3 or 330. then i had some lunch (i was so all over the place at work i had forgotten to eat since 6am!) then we started laying things out to pack around 4/430. we got through toiletries, electronics and miscellaneous, and then we had to eat dinner and then it was time for me to go over to kaitlyn's house with katie, kelly and kaitlin to hang out for a bit and say bye :( i hadn't planned to stay for too long so i could get home and finish packing, but obviously that didn't happen! haha it was so nice to just hang out, we did nails, and they taught me how to use snapchat lol we also facetimed with our friend kristin who is out in alberta starting her new job teaching grade 3! so awesome.

so i basically got home around 1030... organized a few things into piles and went to bed. was going to go to body pump one last time with mom today, but we realized that it would cut too much into our packing time. it's probably really good we didn't go because packing basically took 3 hours! or maybe 4 i forget. 

when it comes to packing, i am the type of person who forgets that im going to another country basically like canada, and that what i dont have, i definitely can buy there. i tried to bring 5 containers of floss, for example. my mom got me down to 2, but i wouldn't budge on that! so we laid out all of my clothes, and as i put stuff in the pile, my mom wrote each thing down in a journal (i told you i was super crazy organized! in a nutty way lol) 

now, my mother is an expert packer. not only in helping cut down on the 15 tshirts and 14 pairs of underwear i was trying to bring, but physically getting everything into the bag. to put this endeavour into perspective: we had to pack and repack a few times. we cut lots of stuff out, and i had to consult my travel guru bryanna a few times over facebook for some advice! needless to say, we got everything in there, zippers busting at the seams. the bag weighs 40lbs which is perfect because the weight limit is 50lbs!

if anyone is interested in seeing my packing list (some people were asking about it earlier) just let me know and i can email it to you :) 

some of my tshirts (they didn't all make it in!)

daisy chillin

most of my stuff laid out

she looks so small! 

then in the afternoon, my friends from work jess sam and mckenzie had planned to come over and hang out and say bye. well, they came and ended up staying until 730! haha we had a really great time, lots of snacks, pizzzaaaaaa, and we laughed so much. definitely hard saying bye, but we will obviously stay in touch and skype often <3 love those girls!

after they left, i skyped with ness and russell again, spoke on the phone with my uncle, and earlier in the day i talked to my dad and grandma, so those were all nice conversations.

then i tackled the final room clean! oh man, it is so tidy my mom will be really happy when she gets up tomorrow and sees everything put away lol! i'm 5. 

now i'm just going to get ready for bed, take my pre jet lag pill and hit the hay! leaving the house around 1030 tomorrow morning and ill turn my phone off right before i leave, so feel free to text me i will write back if i get it! i also will have the iPhone which i can use on wifi in the airports and stuff so we can talk that way :) 

ONE MORE SLEEP AHHHHH! going to be a long few days of travelling, but i know it will be worth it! 

goodnight everyone! 

Soph <3

4 days!

just wanted to do a quick update! 3 more work shifts left and 4 more days! omgomgomg i'm freaking out! it sort of still doesn't feel real, i need to pinch myself every so often haha

i'm on track to get an unlocked iphone 4 (unfortunately, the iphone 3 that jess gave me was unlocked in this super ghetto way which wouldn't allow me to update the iOS to get any apps wah!) so make sure you all add me to iMessage which i will be using when i have a wifi connection in australia, and most likely on my massive layovers in LA and melbourne. even though you all will be sleeping bahaha. add me using my email sophie.i.hebert@gmail.com

i also jumped on the instagram bandwagon @sophhebert. literally no idea how to use this app, of course the one pic i have posted is one of daisy. classic. 

i also have a couchsurfing host lined up for the few days before i meet bryanna, who is arriving on the 20th! so i have a full week to explore aka get adjusted to the time difference lol so this is awesome, i'm really excited to meet some local peeps and get the low down of things to do in freo! 

part of my couchsurfing profile

i bought a ton of cliff bars and emergen-c for the plane ride, just in case the food sucks and/or my veg meal request didn't go through (fingers crossed it does!) 

this long weekend, i went up to ness' cottage and we had some fun playing around with my underwater camera :) we made a few videos, and when we took some of the pics, the flash even went off! this cam is intense i love it. it was really sad to say bye to her, just to know that i'm not a 5 hr greyhound bus ride away anymore... she'll just have to save up and come visit ;) 

i'm really not looking forward to saying the last of my goodbyes, but i know that the leaving part is all a part of travelling and the beginning of a new adventure. thanks to all the technology we have now, friends and family will only be a skype chat away <3

as for the rest of my time here, i'm having a star wars original trilogy marathon, doing a few more workouts (going to miss body pump so much!!!) packing with my mum on friday, and as a final celebration of my trip and the end of shark week (who watches shark week the week before they leave for Australia?!?!), a double feature on saturday night. JAWS and SHARKNADO. i mean, could that have been timed any better, really? #stoked

also, if you have not done so, please inbox me your addresses on facebook. i'm going to try and send out some postcards when i reach the land down unda'. who knows how long the mail will take, so it may end up being a christmas card haha we shall see! and add me on iMessage and SKYPE please! my photo is the same one on my blog profile :)

missing everyone already <3 

love Soph

ps... shout outs to my cousin cindy and her husband dave who had their baby, Tyler Evan Rempel on saturday! can't wait to meet the little guy :) hope everyone is doing well! and hello aunt annette who is in cali with them for a few weeks. love you guys! xoxoxo