Home again, home again

Well, I've been home for about 3.5 weeks now and I have to say it's pretty nice. But my feet are getting itchy again already! Ideally, I'd be headed off to some tropical location (perhaps Palau if money was no issue) to further my scuba diving levels and basically dive all day, everyday. Since I'm not in that dream world, I will have to happily settle for a new adventure in moving back to Toronto. Since I've been home, I have had two interviews for internships at ad agencies which is very exciting. If I am a successful candidate, I'll be couchsurfing my way down to Toronto by mid May while looking for a room to sublet for the summer. 

Other than work-wise, I have been visiting with lots of friends that I have missed over the past two months which is lovely! Before I left, I made sure to put some money aside for when I came back, because when I got home from Australia I was in the red and didn't even have money to put gas in my car to go job hunting. It was seriously depressing and I was convinced that I would be unemployed and living at home for my whole life! Luckily, I came across the job posting for Alice's, and it all worked itself out as I knew it would. I definitely recommend this to anyone going on an extended trip, leave some money at home that you cannot access while travelling for when you get back, you will be happy you did :)

I've also been doing loads of creative outlets such as painting, needlepoint, as well as experimenting with jewellery making with the shells I brought home from Central America. All of these things are turning out quite well, and I plan on selling my jewellery when I have a collection built up, along with doing hair wraps! I've also been back into eating much much better than I was while traveling and am feeling great! I sure missed my morning smoothies :) 

As much as my feet, heart and soul are longing to be back on the road, I know that now is the time for me to buckle down and start my career. Hopefully with time and experience, I will be able to not only travel for work, but maybe relocate somewhere altogether! Who knows what the future holds? For now, all signs are pointing to Toronto, the bright lights and big world of advertising. Wish me luck! I'm ready to jump in.

Until the next adventure,

Soph

My favourite welcoming committee <3

Guess which one is mine? #mermaidlife

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

                            

                                          

                                         

life in the top end

i've been living in darwin for about 5 weeks now, and it isn't like any place i've ever visited in my life. it's known in Australia as the "top end" as it is in the northernmost part of the Northern Territory. you can't go in the ocean because deadly jellyfish and crocodiles inhabit the waters, so it is a littttle bit different than living in margaret river, where i was in the ocean pretty much every day. it's really weird for me and as i left indonesia, i realized that it would be my last time in the sea for a long time, which made me so sad! bry left about 2 weeks ago for a month in indonesia. it was sad saying bye to her since we've been together pretty much every day for the past 9 months, but i know she is having a wicked time there so i'm happy for her :) there isn't a whole heck of a lot to do in darwin, unless you like partying every night, which most backpackers do lol there isn't a night here that you go out and the main bar monsoons isn't full. it's crazy! i've been trying to get back into running, but it's about 35 degrees here and sunny every day. for the first 2 weeks we got here, it was still wet season so the humidity was 95% and it was 35 degrees. picture me running around town handing out 30 resumes and getting no where. it wasn't the best days of my life lol! now the humidity has dropped a TON, but its still scorching hot everyday. i'm going to remember the feeling for when i'm home this winter. ugh i don't want to think about it right now! there are also these really cool night markets twice a week which i went to on the opening night to see the fireworks. there is so much cool stuff to buy there which is why i've only been once haha trying to save money! i really want to buy a digeridoo, but there is no way i could bring that home in my backpack :P

i'm still working at the restaurant. i'm getting better at being a waitress and making way less mistakes then i was at the beginning haha. i moved into the ymca which is trying really hard to be a hostel, but it's basically low income housing which is fine with me because it is about $75 cheaper per week than the hostels in town so, i'll take it! i booked a glass blown bead making workshop at the local arts centre for the end of may, which i am extremely stoked about. i've been wanting to work with glass for a really long time and have never had the chance so i think this is going to be super cool. when bry was here and working at croc cove (a crocodile park in the middle of darwin city) i went there to check it out and it was amazing! i got to feed teenager crocodiles pieces of meat on a fishing rod and they jumped right out of the water! we also saw the adults getting fed, and the noise of their jaws clamping together is something i'll never forget. those are the 5-6m guys swimming in the waters around here... no swimming! 

i was pretty down here for a while because i'm not darwin's biggest fan, and i had nothing to work towards, i just had no idea what i was doing. i really wanted to go see uluru and all that, so one day i just walked into the adventure tours place to check out the 3-5 day tours. wellll... i ended up booking a 14 day tour through the centre of australia from darwin down to melbourne. it hits every major landmark, uluru, alice springs, devils marbles, adelaide, great ocean road etc etc. i leave on june 9th, and get into melbourne on the 22nd. i'm really looking forward to seeing melbourne as well. a lot of people have told me that they think i'll like it there, so it will be neat to do some exploring. i finished off the day by maxing out my credit card because i bought my flight home! i leave australia on june 25th. melbourne > manila philippines > san fransisco > TORONTO. i booked my flight to toronto as it was actually cheaper to fly there than right to ottawa. ill have a few days in TO with my college peeps (and massive amounts of sneaky dees nachos) and then take the train home. i have mixed feelings about leaving. i am so excited to leave darwin and do some more travelling but i'm sad about leaving australia. I have had the most amazing time here, met some awesome people, and learned so much about myself and this epic world we live in. i know that being home is going to be great for the first little while and i'm so excited to see my family and friends, but how do you go back to a place that has basically stayed the same when you have changed so much? all i know is that i'm not done travelling just yet, so hopefully it won't be long before i dust off the old backpack and whip out my visa card to start booking flights again. 

i still have a month in this beautiful country, which is plenty of time to drink lots of lemon lime bitters, check out the weird aussie fashions (furry sweaters and jelly sandals... so strange!) and hopefully see a few more precious kangies before i head back to canada. thank god it will be summer when i get home so i'll be able to slowly readjust to the canadian climate! although it's winter in the south of australia right now, so about 10ish degrees in melbourne....ICK! 

anyways mates, (aka mom) just wanted to post a quick update on what's new on my side of the globe! i'll be seeing you all in just over a month, can't wait! xx