The Bird Finally Leaves Her Nest

Berlin, Germany

Sun, 17 Jun 2018 10:30:00 +0200

Nice and early wake up today to meet a local tour guide in town for a 3 hour walking tour of the city of Berlin. I could not believe how much history there was in the beautiful city and how much it had gone through in both WWI and WWII. Probably the most interesting thing of the tour was when our tour guide took us to a dirt car park and we were like uhmm? Then she told us that there was an old bunker below and that was the place where Hitler committed suicide. ?????? How crazy is that? We were literally in a dirt car park and it had no sign of the history of the spot and just showed how much the German people did not want to set up memorial for Hitler. We then got to learn the history of the Berlin Wall and how crazy that it only came down in the 1990’s!? Lots of history in the city and could’ve stayed here a few more days just to learn about it all! After a lot of walking I got very hungry and I was craving mussaman curry so I made sure I found an Asian restaurant and finally had rice for the first time my whole trip haha. The culture of the city was very loud today as it happened to be the football World Cup game of Germany vs Mexico so there were people everywhere on the street - it was quite amazing to see! To finish the day we had a street art tour which was pretty amazing! Berlin is very graffitied and at first I thought it was really ugly but after the tour it helped me see some reasoning and beauty behind some of the work it was pretty cool! Then after that we had a bar crawl of Berlin with all the family and added another crazy night to the list!

Holocaust memorial

Now these gates have a history to them!!

Love

East side gallery - memorial wall of Berlin wall

The famous painting

Dresden, Germany

Sat, 16 Jun 2018 10:30:00 +0200

Once we left Prague, we made our way back into the beautiful Germany... with the beautiful police hehe... and made a quick lunch stop at a beautiful city called Dresden. It was full of amazing old huge building and heaps of them were multicoloured?? Then our tour leader told us that this was a spot that the US bombed in the war that was just populated with innocent German population and no military forces at all. So the parts of the old buildings were still burn marks from all the damage of the bombs and the other colours were new repairs for the building (see photos). After a quick tour and some lunch we hoped back onto the bus to finish our journey to Berlin!

Memorial

Prague, Czech Republic

Thu, 14 Jun 2018 10:30:00 +0200

After a sad few others at the camp we left to make our way into Czech Republic (which has now had its name changed to just ‘Czech’ last year). PRAGUE PRAGUE PRAGUE!!! Oh my god. Ab-so-lute-ly beautiful. The best way I could explain it is being so old but so new at the same time. Absolutely beautiful old buildings filled up most of the town but it still had all the up to date shopping malls and just didn’t feel foreign considering it looks like the 1800’s. This is definitely a place I could live (if it had a backyard big enough for beau and Pepsi of course). Dan - our tour leader took us for a walking tour around the beautiful city and that’s when I found my dream castle. Again it was gothic, but the most beautiful piece of work I have ever seen. This was my most favourite building in the whole of Europe for sure (see photos). After a nice and easy dinner the family met back up and we put on our dancing shoes and made our way to a very famous nightclub. It was a 5 story night club with a different genre of music on each level!? So it didn’t matter if you were old or young or hip or techno... it catered for all! The 1st floor was the radio hits genre so had the most popular songs at the moment from all over the world. The 2nd floor was a ice bar floor where everything was made of ice! Even the cups haha. The 3rd floor was the robot DJ floor and it had heavy techno music that was played by a robot! The 4th floor was the oldies floor that played music hits from the 70’s-80’s-90’s. And the final floor was RnB hits which was probably my favourite! Was such a good night with the family and loved seeing how everyone’s dance styles changed between each floor hehe. Prague also happens to be famous for its ‘absenth shots’ so that definitely helped the night get pretty crazy too as you could imagine haha. The next day we had a free day in Prague and me and my main girl Helen went exploring. We went into the main square and out the corner of my eye I saw a horse and carriage and boom. Done. Next thing I know I was in this gorgeous carriage behind these gorgeous big horses riding around the most beautiful city in the world. That’s hell of a bucket list tick for me! We then went to explore the old Jewish town because of how special it is because it survived the war. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who thought Prague was a beautiful city... Hitler had plans to retire and live in Prague after the war because how perfect it was and that’s was the Jewish town in Prague was not destroyed in the war. After an amazing day exploring, we had a special dinner organised for us at a medieval dungeon. We walk in and it’s all candle lit and decorated in a way that it went from 2018 right back to 1600’s in a few seconds! A special 5 course dinner with live entertainment all night made another amazing experience with the whole family. Definitely could’ve stayed a lot longer here and was very sad to leave the next morning :( To my girlfriends: WE ARE COMING HERE FOR MY HENS NIGHT - START SAVING!

This ladies and gentleman .... is what I have fallen inlove with

Just a casual street but still so beautiful

View of my baby from the town hall tower

Beautiful city

Living my best dream

Love love loveeeee

Munich, Germany

Wed, 13 Jun 2018 10:30:00 +0200

As soon as we crossed the border into Germany... I was in love already. Wow oh wow are the German police SEXY!? We got into Munich pretty late that afternoon and for the first day since the whole tour started... it was raining!! :( It didn’t stop us and the walking tour still went forward and everyone had their ponchos and rain jackets on of course. It had an amazing gothic building and I absolutely loved it (look in photos). To finish our walking tour we ended up at one of the oldest beer halls in all of Germany called the Hofbra House. We got to go in for a German dinner and the biggest pint of beer you will ever see haha. With an amazing ompa band planning and German cultural entertainment, it was a great night and even an early night afterwards. The next morning we set off to one of the first and most important concentration camps of the Nazi regime. It was called the Dacheu concentration camp and was on the out skirts of the Munich city. From being use to our crazy loud party group, it turned absolutely dead silent when we arrived as we were all in shock. You hear all the stories of WII but to see what it was actually like, was a whole other level. Seeing the bunkers, the torture rooms, the ovens and especially the gas chambers... I don’t think I could mention too many names on the tour that didn’t get a bit of water in their eye. I was talking to a lovely lady in the book store and she was telling me how passionate she is about all the books she sells and organising all the memorials events at the camp and she even recommended I buy a book that is only sold at that book shop, written by a man who survived the Dacheu camp and made an amazing book to share his story. I’m reading it at the moment and it’s terrible and amazing at the same time - so I would be more than happy to share with anyone if they are interested!

City gates

So tall couldn’t even get it in the picture

Now how beautiful is this gothic building !? I’m inlove!!

The amazing beer hall!!

Venice, Italy

Tue, 12 Jun 2018 10:30:00 +0200

Today we got up nice and early to get on the bus and drive to the outskirts of Venice. We all had to hop off the bus and taken a train into the city because there was no public transport allowed any further and when I finally saw the city I could understand why haha! Alleyway, bridge, alleyway, bridge... that’s a lot of what Venice consisted of haha! So many canals and buildings built to high and close to each other. There was some beautiful old building too amongst the crowded city. It actually just blows my mind how half of Venice is built on water... like how could they even do that back in the days?? What technology did they have and what a crazy idea! Dan our group leader took us on our walking tour and then took us to a gondola dock and put us all on a gondola - yay!! This gondola ride is so underrated omg it was sooo cool! Amazing to see their culture from behind the scenes and see parts of the city you can only see by boat! So so beautiful and would love to do it again. Because Venice doesn’t have roads or anything, literally everything is done by boat. Like mail, rubbish, food, transport, everything! Was absolutely amazing to see and be apart of even if it was just for a day. On our walking tour we also went to a lace making school to see how the venesion lace was made and how unique it is to their city. After a big day of walking and exploring we headed back to the caravan park and had another yummy dinner and then had a ‘few’ drinks for a farewell because one of the gorgeous girls on the group had finished her tour in Venice. And by a few I mean chicks standing up on the bar pouring bottles and bottles of vodka into everyone’s mouth haha. Was pretty fun but kind of regretted it the next day haha ooops! Off to Munich, Germany tomorrow! Yayyyyyyy xx

Food markets that go down the canals

Very good view from up here !!

So so beautiful

Me and my girl Helen having an amazing time on the gondola ride through Venice

Beautiful views from the high tower

Busy busy busy

Postojna, Slovenia

Mon, 11 Jun 2018 12:30:00 +0200

Nice early start and we were off to Venice for the night, but with a quick stop in Slovenia to go to their famous Postojna Caves. It was super hot outside but as soon as we got into the caves we were freezing ! It was so nice to feel the cold again after dripping in sweat during the days for so long haha. A cute little train took us down 100m and then we got to get out and look around. The cave was soooo big my gosh. It took us around an hour to walk around and then we got to meet the owners of the caves... some salamanders which were pretty cool. Train back out and into the hot weather. With a quick lunch of schnitty and mash, we were back on the bus before we knew it. We drove the rest of the way back into Italy to the floating and sinking city of Venice. We were staying at a caravan park just outside of the city and got there pretty late so we didn’t get to explore the city that first night but instead had an amazing dinner cooked by a Topdeck team and met 7 new members of our topdeck family! 3 Australians, 3 South Africans and 1 American. They are all so friendly but they have a lot to learn to keep up with us originals. For examples - they didn’t know how to party with us that night and were super loud and energetic on the bus when the rest of us wanted to sleep grrr haha! Excited to explore the city tomorrow yay!

Caves!

My gorgeous family members - Rach and Emma in the caves

They just kept going and going!!

Me and little Joe - he might look big and scary but he is the most nicest, selfless, caring most beautiful person I have ever met. Love him to bits!

Zadar, Croatia

Sun, 10 Jun 2018 17:20:00 +0200

Today we drove to Zadar which is a gorgeous little city on the coast of Croatia. Like Dubrovnik, Zadar has an old town that was surrounded by walls and had no roads and lots of old buildings and even Roman ruins! Our great group leader took us on a walking tour of the small town that didn’t take very long because it was so small haha but he did show us a very unique and amazing thing is Zadar which brings a lot of the tourists into the city. It was a sea organ! It was made so that the waves of the ocean would push air into pipes and then these pipes all had a different tune and it created the most beautiful music. I thought it was pretty amazing! Had a delicious dinner at a garden restaurant and Mum this time I got myself an apple and Gorgonzola risotto and I am going to make so much risotto when I get home now be prepared! Other family you’re most welcome to join too haha. After dinner we went to the dock and sat down with the family and watched the sun set! So pretty and a cute moment with the family. Having an early night in at the hostel tonight (before 11pm!!) and got an early start tomorrow! Keep watch :)

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Fri, 08 Jun 2018 17:20:00 +0200

Crossed the border and made it to the beautiful city of Dubrovnik in Croatia. The tour group has hit the sickness pretty bad now and there won’t be a silent 10 second gap on the bus without someone coughing yuck! Thank god my sickness went away after like 2 days whereas some people have been sick almost the whole trip! We got to Dubrovnik pretty late that day so we had a quick shower and went to a family dinner. Afterwards we met up with our tour guide in the old city and started a beautiful walking tour at the break of night and everything was lit up so beautifully! And as soon as you walk through the gates into the old city it just feels like you were in another century. As some of you probably remember from Taylies trip, there was a rock thing on the wall that you had to try stand on, take off your shirt and put it back on without falling off and then your wish would come true. I didn’t try it at that time but I do when I was a bit tipsy and I did not stand a chance haha. But to make me feel better, no one in my group could do it - it was soooo hard haha! After the walking tour our amazing tour leader Dan managed to get us all free tickets to a famous DJ who was performing at a nightclub that was in one of the forts of the old city and it was amazing! It was like partying in a castle it was soo cool. He was a cool DJ and the whole family had a great time with streamer cannons and smoke machines but with drinks costing around $15 each eeeeeewwwwww! Unfortunately the next morning we looked out the window to thunderstorms and lots of rain which resulted our seas kayaking adventure to be cancelled :( me and some kiwis still made it into town and walk up on the walls of the old city and even though it was raining.... still the most amazing time with some amazing views (check out the pictures!) when ended the day with an amazing family Mexican night and celebrated one of the gorgeous girls birthday with a bit of a boogie. I’m now currently on the bus driving out of Croatia, and through Bosnia and back into Croatia to reach a cute little town called Zadar. Until next time xxxx Personal messages to home: Mum: I was thinking of you when walking around the old city of Dubrovnik because of how you loved game of thrones, and know you would absolutely love it here! So when you come here take me with you! Haha also your VIP poo is a big hit and has almost run out cause everyone uses it hahaha! And Mum you would be so proud of me... while I was in Greece I was having 2 Greek salads a day haha! Love me some Feta! Also I made everyone on the bus watch Thor hehe. Tayla: thank you for all your advice you gave me before the trip because it’s all come to bloody good use !! Having a blanket had been the best and everyone envy’s me, not hooking up with any of the guys on the group has saved me so much drama haha, just being myself cause I have met some amazing people, taking lots of cold and flu medication cause it’s been needed haha, and using the time on the bus to catch up on much needed sleep instead of saying no to nights out ;) Dad: so I definitely ate goat in Albania without even knowing it whoops haha! And I tried some fish which tasted super salty ew, but wasn’t toooo bad! I also lost a bet and had to eat a fish eye... cannot recommend !! Also I swear I saw someone geocaching in Florence hahaha like they definitely pull a piece of paper from under a statue and wrote on it? Haha Kylie: walked past one of the local schools near the Leaning Tower of Pisa and they were singing twinkle twinkle little star in their language on the playground at lunch and omg it was soo cute! I love seeing the school life in different countries and seeing the differences and similarities! Pepsi: aww my baby girl I miss you so much :( don’t worry I haven’t petted another dog while I’ve been over here and I look at your face every time I look at my phone. Hope tayla is taking good care of you ! Xxx

Good view of the city when driving in

Part of the wall

Budva, Montenegro

Fri, 08 Jun 2018 12:20:00 +0200

Montenegro was such a cute little country with beautiful beaches and was super cheap. Wish we could’ve spent more time here and before we knew it we were back on the bus driving into Croatia.

Tirana, Albania

Fri, 08 Jun 2018 07:00:00 +0200

8th June we got to have another awesome day where we had breakfast in one country, lunch in another and dinner in another country. Breakfast was in Albania and we made our way over the border into Montenegro.

Lefkáda, Greece

Sun, 03 Jun 2018 15:00:00 +0300

So I know I said it would be an early night last night... that didn’t end up happening haha ...was definitely one of the biggest nights for everyone on the trip and we are all regretting it today haha! 3rd June we made our way down to the coast of Italy and hopped on a massive ferry for an overnight trip. It was a pretty big ferry with a pool, 3 bars, 4 restaurants and really nice outdoor areas. Although, all of us used this time to catch up on a lot of missed sleep haha. Nice and early the next morning we hopped off the ferry and drove the bus another 4 hours down the Greece west coast until we got to a small little village with a massive sailing boat! It was such a cool boat! One of the biggest sail boats I’ve ever seen and could comfortably fit all 33 of us + crew on board! One of the best ways to describe Greece was that it had no grass haha just rock and bushes/trees. Even just walking up the ramp and looking down to the water it had the most beautiful clear blue coloured water and could already see heaps of little fishies swimming around. We took off on our sailing adventure and had a delicious lunch by one of the best chefs in the world oh my goodness. He made our food look like amazing art works with capsicums cut out as flowers and gorgeous rainbow vegetable plates AND he made the most yummiest mashed potatoes ever omg sooo good. Anyways we sailed for a bit we swam for a bit and then we docked into a cute little village on a Greek island for the night. It was a very small island but we made sure we did find a bar of course haha. I also got given the title of the ‘funnest person when drunk’ by the group leader so not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not hahaha but I’ll take it! We all slept under the stars that night on top of the boat on the sun beds and it was amazing and so cool seeing the sunrise too :) Everyone on the island were so nice and made lots of fun Greece friends! We sailed back out to sea the next morning and swam, ate, tanned, and swam some more. It’s been so nice doing absolutely nothing after some crazy busy days! Everyone was a bit sad when we got off our beautiful sail boat and back on the boring bus :( can definitely recommend sailing in Greece! We are now having an overnight stop in Albania on the way to Croatia. And yes Albania is the country with the bad guys from ‘taken’ and yes our group leader made us watch taken 1 and taken 2 on the way here haha. Albania is such a weird country. They build a two story house but only complete the bottom level because if they have an ‘unfinished house’ they don’t have to pay house tax hahaha so where ever you look there is unfinished houses everywhere it’s so weird! They also have terrible roads because their previous leadership in the 1900’s was a bit crazy and built 50,000 bunkers and used up all their concrete materials and money so only the highway has concrete for us to drive on haha. So you can see bunkers everywhere too which is pretty unusual but cool to look at - I really want to go in one! We are staying at a nice resort tonight and an early night for a crazy busy day tomorrow! I’ve also lastest half the trip without getting sick but now it’s my time to join everyone else and enjoy the running nose and coughing throat :( Enjoy all the photos and don’t get too jealous !!! Bye guys :)

The over night ferry

Reliving the famous titanic moment with my friend Jess!

The beautiful big sail boat !

Group floating sessions

Me and my girl Helen looking at the gorgeous views

Some of the crew and a beautiful waterfall we found in Greece :)

Rome, Italy

Fri, 01 Jun 2018 21:10:00 +0200

31st May - we left beautiful Nice and made our way over the border into Italy once again but this time we were here to stay! First stop was Florence with a quick stop at the leaning tower of Pisa on the way. In Florence we arrived pretty late so after we settled in and had dinner we made our way over to a Karaoke bar and had a great night listening to everyone’s beautiful voice haha. I made a staring in ‘Summer Nights’ off grease and I crushed it if I stay so myself (even after a few drinks down haha). The next morning we had a walking tour of Florence which didn’t take too long because it is a pretty small city but we also went to a leather factory/shop which Florence is famous for so that was pretty cool! It had felt like we had only just arrived when we packed our bags again and made our way to...... Roommeeee Yayayayyy! As soon as we got there we hopped off the bus and started another walking tour. At first I complained because they said it would be 5 hours !!!! But when we got into the main city I could see how it would be hard to bus around haha. I will add all the photos from the beautiful walk but we saw some amazing buildings and ruins that were sooooo old it was crazy cool. We had a yummy dinner half way through the tour and I treated myself to some delicious lasagna which did not disappoint! Once the tour was over we made our way back to our hostel and had a nice early night (well before midnight again haha). Had a nice early start this morning waking up at 6am ewww... but drove into the city and dropped most of the group off at the Vatican City and then I made my way into town by myself and went back to Trevi fountain because yesterday I threw my wishing coins with my wrong hand to what the myth says you have to do soooo I went back and just sat and really enjoy watching the funny tourist making funny poses haha but then I threw my 2 coins. 1 coin = return to Rome 2 coins = finds love 3 coins = gets married So then I got hungry so found myself a cute café and walked in to find my Prince Charming. The Trevi fountain had already worked. Mum, Dad... I’ve found myself an Italian stallion hehe! I’m about to head to the Italy day street festival which will be amazing so be posted for photos! But because it’s a public holiday and sooo many people - I might miss out on doing the Colosseum :( Anyways, we are on a Ferry for tomorrow night and then sailing in grease for a few days so not sure how much I’ll be able to get online to post but I’ll update you all as much as I can :) ! Bye guys <3 Updated : OH MY GOSH GUYS... The parade was absolutely amazing !! It was such a cool cultural experience and they had literally every type of military group there examples: - army - Navy - Airforce etc But then they had like guys with snow skis? They had like building guys, guys with gas masks, builders, scuba divers... dude it was awesome! And they had soo many dogs too! Oh and horses <3 It was so hot though, standing in the sun for over two hours and the ambo would be pulling someone out of the crowd like every 5 minutes cause they have fainted eeeeek! But it was sooo worth it and I had an amazing spot! I then had a delicious lunch which was a pear and wallnut risotto with balsamic vinegar ... sooooo yummy! Mum remember I have to cook this when I get back! And of course a glass of Rosè to go with hehe. When I got back I had to say goodbye to my two new friends Kelly and sheriah as they left to go home :( Anyways time for a swim for me now at the hostel pool and early night for big adventures tomorrow yay!!

Trevi fountain

Street performers here are great haha

My yummy risotto

At the parade

Family pic !

Nice, France

Tue, 29 May 2018 16:00:00 +0200

29th we sadly left Switzerland very hungover and made our way to Italy! We had to go through Italy to get back into France so we ended up having breakfast in Switzerland, lunch in Italy and dinner in France! Which we all thought was pretty cool. We arrived into Nice pretty late in the day but did an amazing driving tour and then helped ourself to a gorgeous dinner in the old city of Nice. We then made our way to a local pub for yet another drink.... my tour group isn’t the best influences haha. We got to the pub, had a few drinks and then as soon as a band started playing amazing live music they announced “alright guys, if your feet are on the ground - you’re going to be kicked out of the clubs so everyone up on the tables and chairs and lets party!” It was such a fun night and safe to say I lived through the dangers of it all - some other people of the tour weren’t so lucky coming home with a few bruises haha. Woke up the next morning feeling fresh and got the other girls up out of bed and ready to walk up to an amazing Chateau for a beautiful view! Alright I might just give you a quick brief of my close friends on the tour so you know who’s who when I talk about them in my blog :) Kelly - so Kelly was probably the first real close friend I made on the tour and we clicked straight away! She is so shy but soo funny when she gets a bit more comfortable haha! She is 24 and is probably what you call a ‘bogan’ Kiwi from South south New Zealand. She probably has one of the funniest accents and can have a good laugh about our differences which makes it lots of fun! Helen - so Helen is 21 and is another Kiwi but her accent isn’t so bad haha. Her parents are British and she lived in France for over 2 years so her accent is a bit of everything really haha. She is studying marine biology and is so super smart! She helped us out a lot in France and she sure knows how to party so we get along really well too! Sheriah - soooo Sheriah is 26 but is 21 at heart haha. She is from Melbourne but originally comes from ******. She has a very fun and loud personality and helps me gang up on the Kiwis when need be hahaha. Unfortunately both Sheriah and Kelly are leaving us in Rome as they were on a shorter tour so Helen and I will be very sad when they have to leave us :( Others - we have quite a lot of people from both New Zealand and Australia but we also have 2 boys from America, 1 boy from Mexico, 1 girl from Berlin and 2 from Samoa which are all very amusing in their own unique ways too! I’m so happy with this group as we have all clicked so well and have become a big family only 2 days into the trip haha. Anyways, back to ME! Hehehe. So we ventured through the beautiful City of Nice and made our way up sooooo many stairs to reach the top look of a beautiful Chateau (translate to like a castle in French) and got to see the whole of the city and it was beautiful! The blue water was so pretty and clear but the pebble beach definitely wasn’t my favourite. Took me a long time to get comfy if I ever did haha. We had a bake by the beach and a walk through the markets with fresh fruit and flowers which made my senses go crazy! We then went to a gelato shop and they had 100 different flavours to choose from !!!! Only took us about 10 minutes to choose hahaha but I ended up with watermelon and lemon sorbet which was soooo good and refreshing. We then went back to the hostel and got into our finest clothes and put a bit of makeup on because we were going to spend the night in Monaco. One of the smallest but richest countries in the world. Yes I went to the Monte Carlo Casino but noooo I did not dare to bet anything cause most things were like $100 minimum haha eeeek! So that was fun pretending I was rich for a night but unfortunately I didn’t find me a sugar daddy this time :( haha! Early night for me that night (well before midnight atleast haha) as tomorrow is suppose to be a big night in Florence yay! Sorry my blogs are a bit slow but boy have I been busy haha. Starting to miss my Pepsi girl but she is pretty famous on the tour for being the cutest dog ever hehe. Bye byeee talk to you soon :)

Fresh strawberries from the markets

The two flavours i picked from the 100 flavours

Perfumery we went too :)

The beautiful Monaco

Couldve wait for Italy haha

Monte Carlo Casino

Switzerland, Switzerland

Sun, 27 May 2018 17:00:00 +0000

27th I entered into the beautiful country of Switzerland and boy it did not disappoint! It took a massive 10 hour trip which wasn’t the best especially because now I’m already sick of the groups ‘wake up’ song. It was soo peaceful and everyone was so happy and respectful and why wouldn’t you be living in a place like that !? They are known for their cows being the happiest cows in the world as they are so spoilt! They are taken to the greenest grass on the top of the hills in summer and then kept in warm barns for the winter! For dinner we had a lovely group dinner cooked by some personal Topdeck chefs and had a nice early night to catch up on some sleep. The next day we took a train through the beautiful mountains and saw the most beautiful sights I have ever seen! I will attach lots of photos but they definitely didn’t capture the true beauty of it all so everyone is just going to have to go check it out for themselves haha! The train took us up to the ‘top of Europe’ and we were 3,572m high and we all struggled to walk up the stairs as it was so hard to breathe. We then made our way back to the small village we were staying in and had a look around. They had random drinking fountains all throughout the town as it came straight from the waterfall and it was delicious! It was super clean and nice and cold. They had a noise curfew at 10pm-8am because of where the village was - between two massive cliffs, noise bounce around the valley very easily! It was so quiet and peaceful at night as well so it was great listening to the cows bells ringing and the waterfalls crashing. That night we all made our way to the local pub and the alcohol was quite enjoyable once again so a lot of drunk dancing happened that night and I’m happy to say I was voted the best at the party Hahahaha. Off to France again tomorrow to stay in the beautiful Nice! Fun Facts 101: So on my journey I’ve made some great kiwi friends and have really enjoyed making fun of their accents so I thought I would share some with you hahaha Togs = Swimmers Jandals = Thongs Sex = Six Bit = Beat Fripple = Frozen nipples Hungry bum = wedgie They mix their i’s and e’s up with each other so most of the kiwis call me ‘Kem’. Anyways I’ll keep you all updated :) Au revoir

Some of the drinking fountains for fresh water around the town

Me and my new friend Kelly!

They had these really cool ice caves in the mountain!

Right up the top !! Shame the view isn’t the best :(

Amazinnnggggg

Can’t get enough of this view!!!

Paris, France

Sat, 26 May 2018 17:00:00 +0200

Saturday was a full day is Paris to do what ever I wanted! But the problem was....there is just so much to do :( I ended up going to the Louvre in the morning and seeing probably maybe 100 art pieces out of 30,000 haha but of course one of them was the Mona Lisa! (Selfie will be included in photos). I then went over to the Notre Dame so I could put a face to the name from all my childhood stories and shows of Quasimodo! It was just as amazing as I imagined and an incredible building. I then went to have a baguette for lunch on the river near the Eiffel Tower and I felt so French haha. Then I met up with a few others from the group and we all went for a Bike tour of Paris! Oh. My. God. It definitely gave us a good taste of the crazy traffic but was so amazing getting up close and personal with quite a few of the most important buildings in Paris. After the bike tour we made our way home to get ready for a tradition French cabaret. With a delicious crepe for dinner, we left as a group for the show and received our free bottle of wine for the show. The wine tastes amazing over here and must be very strong because save to say the whole group was buckled before half time of the show haha. This made a perfect opportunity for all us to really get out of our comfort some and meet everyone on the tour and have a good dance. We went back to the hostel bar and probably drank way too much but hey, tomorrow is a 10 hour drive to the Swiss Alps so we can all sleep and recover then hahaha. Paris was absolutely amazing and I’m pretty disappointed we don’t have more time here but I would definitely come back! Can’t wait for the amazing landscapes I’ll be seeing tomorrow yay I’ll keep you updated :D

Paris, France

Fri, 25 May 2018 17:00:00 +0200

5am start and down meeting my new bus buddies for the next 27 days at 6am! Too early for socialising I say but I forced myself to meet everyone with fake happy smiles that turned into natural smiles as some of the people on my tour group are so nice and funny! We jumped into the bus and headed for France and took a massive ferry over the water which was a pretty cool experience. So many cute cottages in farm fields on rolling green hills and lots of massive white wind mills. Then we came into the city where we saw a lot of homeless dark skinned people who have fled Syria and seeking refuge in the European countries and it was quite confronting but our tour leader let us know how much France is actually doing to try help them and a bit of a back story which I found very interesting! We did a driving tour around Paris and oh. My. God. Paris is beautiful. I couldn’t believe it. I’ve heard a few people say that Paris is over rated but noooo way not to me! To see the amazing cultured buildings and statues and to get a bit of a back story from our guide was such a good experience! Like wow... some of the building here are beyond incredible! We then had an amazing picnic right underneath the Eiffel Tower and yes. I did it. I ate frogs legs and snails. The snail was a struggle to keep down and I can definitely recommended not to eat one ... ever hahaha. Yuuuccckkyyy!! Frogs legs tasted like a fishy chicken bland taste so wasn’t yuck but wasn’t good enough for me to keep eating

How amazing is this !!

This is the little picnic that was set up for us under the tower :)

Two of my new Kiwi friends - Kelly and Tessa

The only good thing about the Paris traffic is that you can stare at the beautiful sites for so long !

Could this meal can anymore French !? And yes that is snail and frogs legs!!!

Yaaaaaay

Some of the gang ! :)

London, United Kingdom

Thu, 24 May 2018 16:00:00 +0100

London, United Kingdom

Wed, 23 May 2018 23:30:00 +0100

Andddddd she made it :) Wooooohoooooo! That first flight (14.5 hours) was a killer! Ankles swollen to the size of my neck and eyes as dry as raisins haha. Qatar was a very beautiful, very rich airport! My three hour break went pretty quick and I was onto my second flight (7 hours) before I knew it! This flight was great because I had all 3 seats to myself and spent most of my time laying down sleeping - yay finally haha. Here at my hostel in Kings Cross London now and enjoying the range of accents around me as well as the red double decker buses and castle looking buildings everywhere outside! Time for me to think of what is next in Kim’s adventure while I’m here in London by myself! Feel free to comment any ideas!!! Watch this space! I’m sure I’ll do another post soon with some London experiences

I’ve never been awake this early before to see a sunrise haha

You would think this should be a castle or church... nah just an average hotel haha

Canberra

Thu, 10 May 2018 22:10:00 +1000

Laying in bed now and it just dawns on me that I still have so much to do before I leave!! Eeeek! Especially working out how this blog works so it can be amazing for you guys to follow and for me to look back on :) Hearing Pepsi snoring is something I’ll definitely miss :( NOT haha 11 days till take off! Getting real now! I’ll keep you posted

Enjoying Pepsi cuddles in the cold before I have to leave in 11 days !!