8 Things That Happen When You Go On Holiday With Your Best Friends

It feels like just yesterday that summer was starting, I was venturing down to London to see T Swizzle, the light of my life, perform live and I was working the weeks away desperate for the end of August to come so that I could finally go on holiday with B and L!  Well believe it or not that holiday came and went and I have been back in miserably, glacial Scotland - chilled to the bone even underneath my new pink Miss Selfridge coat!

Anyway  I returned from America tanned, bankrupt and enlightened!  Here are some of the things that I learned about going on holiday with your friends/here is my American summer blog post.  Fasten your seat belts kids, it's going to be a wild ride!

Concrete jungle where dreams
are made of!

My fave view in NYC

L, B and G with Libby

1- There will be a holiday catch phrase.

Then I said "what about Breakfast At
Tiffany's?"

Our alarm sounded early on the morning of our flight and we journeyed to the airport via tram.  After checking in, heading through security and browsing the shops aimlessly trying to pass the time we finally boarded the plane.  I personally do not care much for plane food - although United airlines may have converted me - yet when the trusted copilot announced the dining options for us (they must have been short of important jobs for him to do that night, bless!) I decided that I would in fact order a meal!  I turned to Lesley and uttered the phrase " when in Rome"  in an ever so matter of fact kind of way and just like that a legend was born.  Suddenly we could do absolutely anything we wanted to do on our trip as long as it was justified with "When in Rome!".  Some would argue that this catch phrase lived and died on the outward journey but I will continue to campaign to make it one of our group's many motto's!

Where Queen B
buys her headbands

Furthermore, the first week of our holiday was spent in Tulsa, Sweet Home Oklahoma - the sooner State, the Paris of Oklahoma some would say!  We stayed at B's house with her family, her mother - who's name is R; she is kind; she is smart; she is important and her hair is attractively arranged - does not condone cussing in any form (she's a classy lady!) which lead to many an utterances of "Oh my Goddddd-ness!"   Ultimately we ended up adopting "oh my goodness" as our own little saying and if one person said it then the other two would chime in and repeat it in a very Annie(1982)-esque kind of fashion!  

2 - Safety?

OU - The day we almost
died!

Maybe it was the overpowering liberty and justice that encompassed us 24/7 while we were in the states?  Maybe it was all the freedom in the air? Whatever it was it had taken ahold of B one day when we embarked on a perilous quest to visit her brother at OU.  It all started when she decided to change lanes on the highway without checking her mirrors first (that old chestnut) and this almost led to us becoming a statistic.  However, on the journey back to T-town things escalated!  B got lost and all she knew was that we had to head left because that was the direction of her house, she kept driving left but you see the problem with her logic was that she had somehow forgotten that a huge river runs through the middle of her home state.  Anyway, we turned left over a railway crossing and immediately knew that this had been a wrong turn, B circled around and the next event happened so fast!  She started driving down the railway tracks and I exclaimed "what the hell are you doing!?  Get back on the road!!!" *points at the road*.  Luckily (and B claims she knew this all along) the railway line was out of use and we safely made it back onto the road.  

We weren't safe for long...

We went from small road, to smaller road, to dirt road, to dirt track, heading left all the time!  We ended up in a place that would be more accurately described as a compound than an apartment complex.  There were warning signs on the gates explaining that fire arms were prohibited on the property,  people stared at us, I was certain we were going to die.  We got the hell out of there as fast as we could, L's request to stop to get a photo denied.  We eventually made it back to a real road and a huge bridge which lead us safely across the Arkansas river... back home and tucked up safely in bed by 10.30pm.



3 - Someone will get injured

It was worth the blood,
sweat and tears.

I guess this one links in to the above point in many ways.  We ventured down to Texas for the weekend to spend a fun filled day at Six Flags theme park, this was great because the Texas and Oklahoma welcome centers provided many a great photo ops!  The problem was that simply standing beside the Texas sign or duck facing beside the Oklahoma sign was, in the words of Cyrus Rose: not enough!  We had to climb!  On the great climb of the Oklahoma sign 2k15 L managed to injure her leg when it connected with some amount of force with the brick sign.  Classic L.  

Magic, madness, heaven and sin!

On our last night in Oklahoma we once again threw safety out the door and welcomed many an opportunity for injury.  We went night swimming and let me tell you this: hypothermia wasn't the only danger lurking near by!  The three of us suffer from a sickness where we need to push things just one step too far.  There was attempts to recreate dirty dancing lifts and professional cheer moves.  There were challenges to see if we could jump onto the huge Taylor Swift #swangoals inflatable swan landing on our feet.  We tried to do an immeasurable amount of less than safe things and its a wonder that the most serious injury was only a slightly sore neck or back.



4 - I'll live off of water and sunshine!
Okay so we said a big goodbye to Oklahoma and an extremely enthusiastic hello to New York City.  New York was the most amazing place that I had ever been and there was an unfathomable number of things to see and do...  This made for the most outstanding holiday ever however all the glitz and glamour and shops and tours and pollution was very distracting and often lead us to forget to stop for food or sleep.  Often we remembered the importance of hydration however the early starts often lead to a missed breakfast and then on the way to lunch we would discover something wonderfully fun to do and before we knew it was dinner time and we had only eaten a sandwich, if anything, and this paired with 12+ miles of walking was probably not helping us achieve our daily recommended calorie intake.  Sometimes you are just having too much fun to stop and

consider if you are fulfilling all of your basic survival needs every day - I was living off of fun and excitement.  I was in love with New York City.  The big city life style had energized me and had filled me to the gunnels so that food was often a passing thought... until one day it all became too much!

Urban Outfitter's offers so much
entertainment

Candid shot in Urban

Oh My God
goodness, look at that face

5 - down in flames

A sad attempt at a smile by myself

Unfortunately you can only survive off of fun, excitement, water and sunshine for so long before you become vexed and irritable.  A few days from the end of our holiday a combination of a lack of sustenance and a deep desperation for our New York trip to not end led to a few bouts of bickering between the Taymoms (thats the name of our group due to our deep admiration of Taylor Momsen, when we add S to the group our name becomes The Whale Wankers but lets move on from that).  It was the deep desire for a wonderful sandwich and the fact I had reached the end of my tether on the bus tour after the tour guide decided to treat us to his one man comedy show jokes 6+ times (per joke) during our journey that led to the huge Queen G downfall of 2015.  There was the clear annoyance expressed towards B and L on the long walk to the museum as fuel was added to the deep fire of rage burning away inside of me.  Then there was the ignoring, the snapping and storming off in the food hall, the secluding, the missing out on the entirety of the Natural History Museum due to tantrum and then ultimately the tears in central park afterwards.  I look back on this day fondly! #noregrets.  That was a lie, I have many regrets.

Then there was the time that to L's horror we left on 30 minutes early for Wicked when the walk took 20 minutes!  The tensions were running high from fears of being late and missing it.  L raced on ahead like a boat against the current.  In protest I trailed behind and got stuck at almost every stop light imaginable.  I befriended a lost Northern Irish couple and passive aggressively told them how I had been left behind by my friend.  The pair of lost lambs had sought me out when then mistook me for a New York local (probably due to my cool exterior and my look of ease as i strutted down the streets).  Initially they had looked disappointed when I told them I was not from New York however when my natural talent for directions came into play and I was able to point them in the right direction to the theater they were eternally grateful.  It's so lucky that I have such a great sense of directions, and that we happened to share a final destination!  B came back for me and we arrived at the Gershwin theater to find that L was not there.  I instantly assumed that she had gone in without us with our tickets and that we would therefore miss the show!  Things looked bleak and friendships were about to be cut off even though B was certain that L wouldn't do that to us.  Suddenly L appeared looking like an angry bull who was seeing red and we went inside.  Before long basic civil conversation started and then in no time all was forgiven right in time of the start of the first song.

I cant pick a fave!

B and L like Glinda best

#SiblingGoals

Throughout the last few days of the trip there were a handful of classic sibling bickering events (99% between myself and L) over everything and anything from post uni expeditions, living arrangements, directions, our 4th year club of choice... you name it, we bickered about it just enough to drive B to insanity.  But fear not loyal readers, this did not dent our friendship at all!  She is still the Serena to my Blair, the heart to my ocean...

6 - Make good choices?

So we went on a day of shopping towards the end of our holiday because when in Rome!  We didn't even think twice about spending over $100 on headbands or necklaces or over $200 on handbags and yet even when it came to the dark days mentioned above when the tensions were running high due to hunger we deeply begrudged spending over $10 on a sandwich...  Classic!

 7 - New vibes, good energy

The best Macaroons in town

One thing that certainly happened on our holiday was that we reflected a lot on what we were like back home in Scotland and we realized how many of the fun activities we had done in New York (such as going for Macaroons from Laduree or visiting cute cafes or nice restaurants) could be recreated, to an extent, back home in Edinburgh.  One of the things that really made us unhappy about returning home was the fact that we didnt want to have to stop having fun or dressing nicely.  We realized that we could still wear nice clothes or do something, anything really, other than Netlflix  (#netflixandchill?) every day!  

The Highline park

We thought a lot about how we wanted to spend our time back home and we decided we would be more outgoing and actually try to plan to participate in different activites.  We could still wear nice clothes as long as we added fun tights, coats and boots to prevent us dying from the cold.  The holiday was ending but the fun could continue if we just put in a bit of effort.  In the words of some random stranger on the Highline Park we just needed to share "good positive energy and feel the good vibes"

 8 - It's gonna be forever

Our last day in NYC. Rowboats. recreating Chuck and
Blair's wedding, Central Parking it up

Most importantly the three of us grew closer than ever.  We now have so many new fun memories together, an abundance of pictures and videos to get us through the dark winter days in the university library.  Sitting bored and ready to blow my brains out in class I can think back to the Gossip Girl Tour, Blair Waldorfing it up on the Met steps.  Dancing around the streets compiling videos for our holiday music video.  Mucking around on Liberty Island.  Basking in the breathtaking view from Top Of The Rock - home of Jimmy Fallon.  Recreating the Blair and Serena photoshoot outside The Empire. We passed urine in the bathrooms of every fancy hotel we seen.  We ogled at everything that Dylan's Candy Bar had to offer.  We all bought expensive brightly coloured handbags, we strutted about central park and up and down all of the streets and avenues, the Taymoms owned that city and they left as the most sturdy friendship group that there ever was - strong and true.

The Empire Hotel bar (They sell a Chuck Bass
cocktail!)

#Viewgoals!

Finally 
Here is one last story before you go!
We boarded the plane in Newark airport at the end of our holiday, relieved to be on the plane after, for reasons I cannot fathom, United airlines managed to overbook our flight by 8 people.  They offered to put 8 people onto the next flight to Glasgow or Belfast (and unless Blefast was merely a stop off on the way to Edinburgh I fear that Americans have a slight knowledge gap of UK geography).  Luckily 8 heroes volunteered up their seets in exchanged for $300 worth of air miles.  Everyone was desperate to take off after the slight delay that this overbooking had caused and their was a shared sigh of relief when the safety video began to play and we taxied to the runway.

Suddenly the safety video stopped.

The captain announced that there was a  passenger missing from their seats and it was a federal offence to play the video without everyone seated and so we would have to wait for this person to return to their seat, hopefully this wouldn't delay take off further.  I asked L to confirm what the captain had said and she told me that we might be delayed because some idiot had gotten out of their seat.  Then the next thing we see is B hurrying back to her seat from the toilet.  Turns out B is such a frequent flier she had taken it upon herself to skip the video and go for a quick bathroom break before take off.  She had singlehandedly managed to completely embarrass herself and piss off everyone else on the plane all at once.  This of course proved very entertaining for L and I, almost as entertaining as my film of choice (Enchanted) which i thoroughly enjoyed!  That was probably the last enjoyable moment of the flight for L before the person on front of her decided to abuse her seat reclining powers and basically crushed L for the entirety of the journey. 

I volunteer as tribute

The Gossip Girl Tour! (Bendels, Constance Billard, The Empire, The Met steps and the famous B and S photoshoot!)

  
 The moral of the story is that you don't really know what you need until you don't have it!

xoxo
Queen G

The Squad Take Islay Day 1

The squad

On Thursday July 17th I woke up at 6am and then proceeded to work a 12 hour shift at work, now usually after my 3rd 12 hour shift of the week I come home, grab a snack, eat it in bed and then go to sleep and sleep for a million years.  On this particular day I returned home from work, grabbed your passport and my hand my rucksack and then B and I jumped in the back seat of S's (a fun friend who was quickly upgraded to a member of Edinburgh's more exclusive friendship group) car.  B and I both chose to sit in the back of the car because neither of us were feeling brave enough to battle with the constant intimidation that S radiates quite yet.  We journeyed to the far off kingdom of almost Glasgow to L's house and then after some very tense board game playing we retired to bed for the night next 4ish hours.  at 04.45 B's alarm sounded and she raised like a phoenix from the ashes to get ready for the great journey that lay ahead of us.  I was so relieved that I didn't have to get up yet and so I went back to sleep feeling #blessed.  At 04.53 my alarm sounded and I got up feeling far more refreshed than I had 8 minutes previous.  We had to leave L's house at 05.15 to start our journey and so at

#IWillGoDownWithThisShip

05.30 we were finally ready to go, 15 minutes late classic us.  We made a quick petrol and snack stop and I bought 2 multi packets of crisps, Irn Bru, a fun duck wrap and then panic bought belvita bars (#regrets).  I had been given full control of the music for the trip which was both exciting and terrifying since great power comes with great responsibility.  We started with some Leighton Meester to soothe us gently into the day, and let me tell you this: that song really builds.  By the end of Blue Afternoon we were all excited and ready to partay.  We were finally on our way, spirits high and music deafeningly loud. 

Thar not one whale blows

During the 3 hour drive to the ferry docks we learned many things such as that Loch Lomand is far larger than any of us had first imagined, that I am a far better DJ than any of them had first imagined and that S is actually far less intimidating that we had first imagined.  We were the first people to arrive for the Ferry, L and S went into the ticket office to collect the tickets and B (bladder bursting due to the fact she had chugged like 6 Pepsi Maxes during the drive) and I (bladder bursting because I hadn't peed in 3 hours and I'm only human) went to the rest room.  During the 30 minute wait for the Ferry to arrive I yelled "THARRR SHE BLOWWWWWS!!" more times than anyone had hoped for, by the 30th yell I think the saying had grown on everyone and they had learned to love it.  

Eventually after we had done our waiting, 12 years of it, in Azkaban it was Ferry Ho! thar she legit blows and it was time to board.  Driving onto the ferry was kind of terrifying due to the fact that S couldn't 100% guarantee she would manage to drive over the ramp and that there was a slight possibility we were all going to end up at the bottom of the ocean - sleeping with the fishes if you will.   Spoiler Alert: we made it.  We were going on a trip in our favourite ocean ship!  I sat by the window eyes pealed with keen anticipation for whales.  Along with attempted whale watching we spent the boat journey playing card games and charades.  At 10.30 L accused B of rigging the cards for snap so that she would

#FerryWankers

win, B had not rigged the cards.  At 10.45 I had still not seen a whale.  At 11.00 I decided i would make my 11.11 wish to see a whale.  At 11.11 I wished to see a whale. We also spent this time discussing what havoc we were going to inflict on Islay because The four of us always come home from nights out with some kind of crazy story and without a fun/outrageous story we aren't satisfied with how the night went. 15 minutes before arriving in Islay we decided to ascend the staircase to B deck aka deck 6 and we spent our final moments on the boat outside on the highest deck recreating scenes from Titanic, looking out for the whales and continuing the "THAR SHE BLOWS, WHALE HO!" chant.   Finally we were approaching Islay and it was time to return to the car, the thing is that B deck was far more slippy than you'd first imagine and so upon descending the stairs back to the car L fell not ones but twice and I couldn't contain my laughter... and then mid laugh I slipped, fell and hit the cold hard ground.  Now nobody on the ferry could contain their laughter and I felt like a fool.  I tried to keep my head held high and I told myself to conceal don't feel. 

We had no idea where we were going once we got off of the ferry. The initial 'lets just drive around and see what happens it will be so fun' mood wore off quicker than you would first expect when an hour later the four of us were lost in Islay with no signal and no idea how to get to J's house.  Our mainland brains were evidently ignorant to ways of island life and we had just assumed that Islay would be so small that we would

L recreating the great fall
of July 2015

just coincidentally end up at J's house if we drove long enough, this obviously was not the case.  We ended up in a small village and it was clear that everyone else in this village knew each other, this was made clear when we walked into a small cafe and everyone customer stopped eating to stare at us, open mouthed, cutlery dropping to the ground, young children pointing and the odd person taking a picture of the fresh new mainland meat.  I was sure we were going to die in that town, I felt like I was in one of those horror movies and I was certain that it was the case that once you visit the island you never leave the island.  Immediately I missed the busy rush of the city where nobody knows anyone, nobody wants to know anyone, nobody has time for anyone, and the only communication you have with strangers is mumbling profanities at them when they bump into you on the streets.  We found an empty hotel restaurant and we sat timidly at the table, on edge the whole time.  We ordered a chicken burger (minus veggie B who had some soup) and B, L and I ordered a vodka cranberry or vodka lemonade (fun fact, L received a glass of flat lemonade and this almost pushed her over the edge right into tear town).  At lunch we also made a deal with eachother, we were city girls through and through and if any of us showed too much of a taking to Islay life they were going to be asked to leave the friend group - in fact they wouldn't be allowed back onto the ferry with the rest of us.  Just to be extra precocious we decided that every time one of us aid something really nice about Islay or showed any indication that they wanted to be a farmer we would punch them (this was put into action several times over the weekend because Islay was very beautiful and it was hard not to comment on it and yes if S, B or L read this post they do have full permission to punch me, lightly, because of that last comment).

Pano

2 hours after arriving on Islay we finally made it J's house.  It was raining - some would call it a perfect storm.  Luckily we were privileged enough to earn ourselves a nice warm bed for a much needed afternoon nap.  After the most wonderful sleep ever, we rose like phoenixes once again and headed down to the kitchen for some baked potatoes.  B (not so stealthily) fed one of J's dogs food off of her plate and my plate while I (not so stealthily) filmed her) and then after dinner we  proceeded to accompany J to decorate the hall for the party which was taking place the next night - #friendgoals.  After a fleeting period of helpfulness L, B and I began to practice our dance moves and Bar Mitzvah lifts in the hall while J, S, B and M (B and M are J's friends who had just arrived...) continued to be productive.  We then returned to J's abode and had a quick whiskey tasting before retiring to bed for the night.  Before drifting off to sleep we lay together, four in a bed, recapping our day, sharing anxieties about sleeping in the marquee the next night during a perfect storm (#Marqueewindhorrorstories) and just generally keeping B awake as she tried desperately to sleep.  

I'M AN ADULT!!
#ONTHEGROUNDDD

I'm trying to conceal my disappointment about the whales

What would happen the next day?  Would we meet Hansel the horse?  What would happen at the party?  Would we get to see the beach?  Would we do something stupid at the party and get banished from Islay forever?  Would we ever be allowed to leave Islay or were we officially lifers?

All of this and more will be answered in part 2 which is coming at some point or another although I'm only human and I have to work since my job pays and this does not (there's not much justice in the world)

The moral of the story is never base your life happiness on the amount of whales you spot on a ferry trip to Islay because you'll only be left feeling empty and dispirited.

Until next time,
xoxo
Queen G

My Trip To Mystic Falls

Blonde G in Mystic Falls

So you might think that I have always been one thing, but I'm about to turn out to be the exact opposite (as 2006 Channing Tatum would say).  You may think that I have always been a die hard Gossip Girl fan but let me tell you, back in the day I was all about The Vampire Diaries... And luckily for me my obsession coincided perfectly with my holiday to America and guess where we were heading?  Georgia, home of Covington AKA Mystic Falls.
The first place we headed was a cute little shop to buy I Heart Damon Tshirts - naturally, and then we grabbed a Mystic Falls map.  
We walked around under the hot Georgia sun to visit Tyler's house, Caroline's House, Elena's house.. basically all of the houses.  Then we went to Scoops for ice-cream... well everyone else got ice cream but I'm too hipster for that so I got popcorn which is my fave snack.  The nice super Southern lady working the till informed us that the cast often stop buy for sweet snacks when they are in town filming but that they were currently out 

Elena's house - fun fact: it was
for sale when I was there.

of town at Comic Con in San Diego (3 guesses where we had just come from before Georgia?  Yes that's right, San Diego!  But guess who didn't get to go to Comic Con... me again.  The world is a fickle fickle place).
Then we stopped for some pictures on front of the famous clock tower were (Spoiler alert) Katherine Pierce made her famous suicide attempt of season 5.  And on front of the Mystic Grill where many a plate of fries have been served up by everyone's favourite blonde haired teddy bear - Matty blue blue.

I wonder if Matt is working?

Want to know another fickle truth of the world?  After Georgia we made our way to Gossip Girl town.  The year was 2011.  Gossip Girl was most definitley filming.  I had never seen Gossip Girl.  I could have witnessed an episode of Gossip Girl being filmed live but I was too lost inside a Gossip Girl-less world, unaware of the power of a simple xoxo.  Never mind thought because I'm returning to New York this summer with B and L (My real life Serena and Nelly - in the words of Uncle Waldo: Whoooopeeee)

**UPDATE** Since releasing this blog post it has been announced that Nina Dobrev will be leaving The Vampire Diaries.  This is heartbreaking in every way that something can be heartbreaking and I think I'll cry for 84 years!!  

The Australian Adventure Part 2

So I decided to split the Australia post up into 2 parts because you know what they say about too much fun, it's not good for the old heart!  But i'm back now with part 2 of my Aussie adventure - fun fact: this part of the trip includes road trips, emus and even more dolphins.  

Classic writing in the sand pic

After Christmas my family and I packed up some things and headed out on the road - half of us in my uncles car and the other half in a hired car.  Myself, my sister and my dad took the hired car and I had full control on the music which was heavenly since I had made a road trip playlist - fundamentals are the building blocks of fun after all.  We were on our way to Monkey Mia which was over 10 hours away in the car, we were stopping half way at a motel in order to split the driving up a bit and I was filled with excitement! I love being in the car, I cant drive yet and so I get to put up my feet, close my eyes and just enjoy the music - I feel like a modern Miss Daisy.  When we arrived at our first destination we went straight for a walk to stretch those leg muscles and for food because food is my favourite part of the day.  Then when we got back to the motel my sister and I proceeded to make a million movie trailers on an app on our Ipads - they were cinematic masterpieces on par with the likes of The Theory Of Everything and Les Mis.  

Riding shotgun

The next day we set out on the open road again listening yo short burst of songs - slow and yet uplifting songs at first to welcome us into the day and then gradually building up to upbeat booty shakers #ProfeshDJOverHere.  Then we made some pit stops at Shell Beach and other fun locations.  Fun Fact:  There is a huge amount of random wild goats wandering around the outback - like there was so sign of civilization for like 2 hours and then we passed a herd of goats!?!?!  Finally we arrived at the celestial, radiant, heaven on earth that is Monkey Mia!  The first thing I noticed about Monkey Mia was all of the emus that wandered around - it was crayyy.  There was no time to waste, I wanted to soak up all of the magic from this place just for myself.  I changed into a bikini, grabbed my snorkel mask and charged to the beach full speed ahead.  My sister and I took to the water and then a wondrous thing happened, the dolphins accepted me as one of their own and they swam among us! 

Emu

Shell Beach

Dolphin

That night was New Years Eve and we spent it partly watching the Sydney New Years shenanigans and party in the hotel bar - There was a live musical act that weren't really talented at all and I got a strong vibe of sexual tension from them even though they were old and wearing matching Hawaiian shorts and shirts but they were a lot of fun.  We danced a bit then we headed to the beach to dip our feet in the ocean for the first time in 2014 and to dance around in the sand then we went to bed.  

Our alarms woke us early the next morning so that we could watch the first dolphin feeding of the new year, I just loved all of the dolphin activities because they are most definitively the greatest of all God's creatures.  Then we headed out to see some sights such as Eagle's Bluff - where we spotted a shark in the ocean and a sort of Aquarium/Marine conservation place - where we watched the shark feeding.  After this we went for dinner then back to the hotel.  On our final day we went for a walk and a swim before heading on a sunset boat ride and then an early bed to prepare us of the 10 hour trip back to Perth.

Romantic sunset boat ride

"I survived the shark feeding" sticker

On the way back we stopped at the Pink Lake, The Pinnacles and Nature's Window.  Fun fact: One member of the party thought that the Pinnacles were kangaroo grave stones and we almost detroyed the hired car going off road to get to Nature's Window.  

Pink is my fave colour

Nature's Window

Me and sissy at the pinnacles

The good, the bad and the ugly

Once back in Perth my dad, sister and I went for a trail ride which was so much fun - the best trail ride I've ever been on!!  I got to ride an ex race horse called Copper and we went for a gallop and small jump - It was the first time I'd been horse riding in ages and I loved it so much! Then before I knew it my mother and sister headed back to Scotland.  

This hat is hot!

 My dad and I then went down to Margaret River for a few days.  We visited the lighthouse where the Southern and Indian oceans meet (Fun Fact: my dad was taking a picture of me with the lighthouse and a snake slithered along the path behind me and instead of warning me he turned and ran leaving me to fend for myself), we explored a cave and (my personal favourite) we discovered Cowaramup!!  Cowaramup was a little town full of fake cows and it was the most random and amazing discovery I've ever made.  I subjected my father to roughly 4 hours of Taylor Swift music on the drive back to my uncle's house and then the day after we got back m grandad flew back to Scotland.  My dad and I spent our last few days in Australia at the zoo and by the pool - the temperature was in the mid 40's, the pool was perfect (except when I got stung by a hornet while I was in the pool!) and I was so upset at the prospect of coming home!  My tan was on point!!  

Happy moooo year

<-Southern Ocean.
Indian Ocean->

At the zooooo

The time came to pack my things, say farewell to my uncle and head to the airport - I had forgotten how much I loved Australia before this holiday and I desperately wanted to stay!  As a wise Canadian has-been(#RudeAndControversial #SorryNelly) once said "All good things come to and end" and this holiday was no exception.  

And just like that it was done - except unlike Rose from Titanic I do have some pictures and it does not exist only in my memory #21stCenturyPerks.

Queen G's Australian Adventure.

During the 2013th year after Christs death there were whispers in the wind hinting at a winter getaway to the land down under.  As the year progressed I had slowly lost hope that this trip would actually happen, similarly to the way that Charlie felt when he disappointingly lost hope of ever winning a golden ticket.  However, as it would turn out my life continued to mirror Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory when just like Charlie I too got my ticket, except mines wasn't golden and it cost me over £1000.   The week beginning December 16th started out treacherously when i had to complete 4 13 hour shifts in a row at my placement, I was going mad with sleep deprivation and I'm pretty sure I couldn't even tell you my own name.  Was I Queen G, was a lost little pig called Babe trying to find my way in a big city? who knew?  As my last shift drew to a close I skipped all the way home, scooped up my cats and took them to the cattery (it took all of my inner strength to leave Harvey, his eyes pierced my soul questioning why? why was I leaving him?  I said a heart felt goodbye to Harv and I think I probably gave Nacho an acknowledging nod and then I left).  Next thing I knew it was the wee hours of the next morning and we were leaving for the airport.  Australia here we come.

A brutal 24ish hours/Two flights/several disgusting airplane meals later 

We finally arrived at Perth International Airport (our suitcases on the other hand did not but hey whatcha gonna do?)  My mother picked us (us being my dad and I) up and drove us to my uncles house.  I borrowed my mothers bikini and I got in that pool and lapped up that vitamin D liked I'd never lapped up anything before! 

So happy to be in the sunshine!

Before I knew it my suite case had arrived and the holiday was in full swing.  The first fun activity I partook in was snorkeling with wild dolphins which was both the most amazing and most terrifying thing I've ever done - you see I watched Jaws at a very young age and now I have an irrational fear of sharks.  The dolphins were celestial and a lot of fun!

Still cute though

So close to the dolphins

Then it was Christmas which for the first time ever comprised of sunshine and BBQ.  There was no time for a moments rest though, sleep is for the weak (or as my mother would say "you can sleep when you're dead #WiseWordsFromMamaBear).  Next it was surfing lessons, I'm 99% sure I gave myself brain damage when the board came down and smashed my head!  And when I couldn't pick up surfing at first my instructor was mean to me which resulted in a classic G huff where I came out of the sea and sat on the beach crying #BlameTheJetLag.  Ultimately I sat on the beach envisioning the surf instructor being devoured by a shark and then I poured myself a drink, put on some lipstick and pulled myself together.  When I went back into the water with my surfboard a random surfer gave me some top tips for mastering the basics - shout out to her for being a top notch human being, and then by the end of my lesson I managed to stand up!!

It was a lot of fun

Surfing lessons

After going home and showering and grabbing a bite to eat we made our way into Perth for the boxing day sales and I treated myself to a Swarovski bracelet.  My poor father had to wander around the shops with me for hours on end before finally we stopped for a bite to eat and a drink.  

Showing of my new purchase not so subtly 

My uncle also treated us to VIP tickets to see Cavalia which was a lot of fun, the show was amazing and I briefly considered giving up on university to become a full time horse riding gymnast before I quickly realised that I aint about that life. There was a lot of delish food in the VIP area and we got to meet the horses after the show #StarTreatment.  My fave was a horse that looked like my old pony - The late Surprise.  

Pre show

With my mother and the ponies

Chillin in the sun in Mandurah

 A few days of lazing around the pool gave us time to recoup from our busy schedules, in this time we also visited Mandurah and  Fremantle.  Fremantle was so cool, we went on a prison tour and had some drinks in a bar.  Mandurah was so pretty!! We stopped for lunch and then found a sort of carnival thing with rides as well which was awesome, Gillian and I went on the waltzers and belly laughed which I personally think is one of the best feelings ever!

Recreating my fave movie Titanic

Carousel in Mandurah 

The next part was our road trip, refer to Australia part 2 to hear all about it!

(Part 2 coming soon)