Just Another Smith...

I always knew that my first Christmas away from home and my family and Mum's incredible cooking would be weird. I didn't consider my festive job, Christmas songs playing in the searing heat and attendance at a Surf Camp. Safe to say it didn't feel like Christmas at all. Whilst working I'd enjoyed asking the locals what they'd be doing for Christmas. I wanted to get an idea of a true Aussie Christmas.. turns out it's exactly what I expected. Barbeques, drinking, chilling with friends and family, and going to the beach. I was surprised to find a lot of people would spend the 25th with their friends, rather than their family. To me, Christmas is all about family and getting everyone together! As you know, I had Surf Camp booked with the Base Family. I had planned to work until the 22nd, but unfortunately didn't sleep all night so had my last Reindeer Day early. It had felt very odd wishing people a "Merry Christmas" next to a person handing out free...

If you'd have told me before I left England that I would end up selling reindeer antlers for charity... to be honest I would have probably believed you! It seems like such a "me" thing to be doing. Although it's a world away from Sainsbury's, there are actually lots of similarities.. smiling at people no matter what, experiencing language barriers and spending hours on end with no natural light. I jest, I love it. I know I'm also really lucky to have found a job for the festive season that pays well and has flexible hours. Let alone one in a new field, that I'm apparently quite good at. Rather than bore you with the ins and outs of the job, I thought I'd list pros and cons that I found over the Christmas and New Year campaigns. Pros • Hourly Pay : I was so happy when I realised this wasn't a commission based job. It's nice to know that there is a minimum I will get paid after each shift. On the occasions I received bonuses, it was even bet...

Wow . Where to even begin..?! My first day was pretty uneventful. I got off the plane and decided I'd make my own way to the hostel. Jumped on the airport line to Wynyard. Using the limited WiFi I could steal from here and there and street maps on the way, I finally found the hostel. Did get severely lost, walk the wrong way up the street for a good 20mins and have an impressive sweat patch from the backpack... but I made it. Couldn't check in until 2pm, so I dumped the bag and headed out to see what I could find. Darling Harbour is only 5mins walk from the hostel. I spent my morning wandering around and taking in the sights, sounds and smells of Sydney. Well, of the Harbour. I walked as far as I could in each direction and enjoyed a vanilla milkshake by the Maritime Museum. I then popped into the Chinese Garden of Friendship. It was beautiful and so peaceful. I may have had a mini nap sitting near one of the pagoda. I woke myself up with a hot chocolate in the cafe and left ...

After a later night than planned (I blame Boom) the alarm went off at 5am. We were already packed and ready so were downstairs for half past. Everyone was so on the ball that we had time to sing a rowdy Happy Birthday to Jen and were piling into taxis not long after. Back to the fancy bus station and back outside McDonald's. Our bus was at 6.30 and McDonald's didn't open until just after 6, safe to say there was tension. Amy somehow ended up with an extra Milo so I enjoyed that! Back on our fancy coach I filled out the immigration form necessary. At least I filled out what I could until the lights were turned off, everyone wanted to go back to sleep. Being a morning person, I caught up with my blog and then actually read my book for the first time. Did have a little nap, but was in a much better mood than others. It only took a few hours for us to get to the border, wasn't looking forward to the hassle. We arrived at the border of Malaysia and got stamped out (again m...

It was "first foot out the door at 8.44" this morning. Due to our early night and organisation, we were downstairs and ready for 8. We had time to eat breakfast, and I even popped to 7Eleven for a hot chocolate before we saw anyone else. Some cut it a bit fine, Natoya only woke up when Boom rang. We had to leave to get on our shuttle bus so Boom left her instructions and we ran. With a pile of our bags in the middle of the bus, we all found a seat. 30mins later we made it to the bus station and Boom went to get our tickets. We were left at McDonald's and some of the guys decided to help their hangovers. We then all got piled on to another bus to get to the actual bus station. This one was impressive, more like an airport! We had a bit more time here so I treated myself to Dunkin' Donuts. I then got an iced water from Subway, god I missed crunching. Natoya arrived just after 10, she got a taxi in the end. Our tickets were almost like boarding passes, and sure enough ...

An early breakfast this morning, I had a hot chocolate and scones. Me and Amy were first ready, no rushing around for us! We were all a bit nervous as this morning was public transport to Kuala Lumpur. We needn't have worried, these buses were much better than anything we'd travelled on so far. It was like a really nice National Express, with reclining seats! The journey was not too bad, we arrived around midday and made our way to our hotel. Just a quick walk around the corner in the rain, but it felt a lifetime. Especially up the hill! This city was so much more cosmopolitan than anywhere we'd been yet, lots of traffic too. We had a quick refresh and were ready for our tour of the city. By the time we were ready to leave it was absolutely chucking it down. I mean like a full on storm! The roads were flooding and I'm amazed the drivers could see where they were going. Our first stop was the National Mosque. Everyone on our bus was given a little umbrella to walk from...

We had ourselves another long journey to look forward to from George Town to Cameron Highlands. I had planned on waking up early to hunt out the art, but instead I may have slept in. Oops. Me and Amy packed our stuff and checked-out, then headed to the cafe next door for brunch. Our belongings were all crammed into the tiny boots of the mini buses. I was on the back row with Sarah and Natoya, a few bags dangerously close to our heads. We were all soon in the land of the nod so weren't too fussed. It wasn't the most comfortable ride, didn't help that we were climbing higher and higher and the roads were winding. Boom had promised us cooler temperatures, and sure enough when we got there it was raining. Just like home. We were dropped right outside our hotel, so we didn't get too wet clambering up the stairs to the lobby. The Birds Nest Hotel was on a steady incline, and so it was higher rooms had better views. However there wasn't a lift. We didn't know what...