Time goes so fast
Can’t believe that 2011 is over already, I slept so much last year I feel like I slept through it!
Also can’t believe that it’s been an entire month since we went on the cruise, it feels insane that after months of planning and excitement it’s already in the past! So I thought I’d write down a few thoughts and share some of my favourite pics so I don’t forget everything.
The flight to Sydney was great, Sarah was already there with Nina so it was just me, Steph and Masha and we were so loud we got told off which meant I ended up in tears from laughing so hard.
I’d forgotten how different the vibe is of Sydney to Melbourne, I can’t quite put my finger on it to describe it. It’s also really hilly, and a lot more humid. We went to the Harry Potter expo which was awesome, then to the Harbour Bridge, Opera House and then Bondi Beach for dins.
We stayed in potentially the worst hotel ever, the bed Masha and I shared was covered in stains and we ended up sleeping on top of the doona, so icky. Half the reason we picked that one was because it included breakfast the next morning, breakfast was stale bread and some weetbix. :| Australian Heritage Hotel, if anybody was wondering. DON’T STAY THERE.
After picking up a few last minute things (seasickness tablets, energy drinks and chocolateeee) we finally boarded P&O’s Pacific Jewel! Our itinerary for the cruise was as follows:
30 Nov - Embark
01 Dec - At Sea
02 Dec - At Sea
03 Dec - Isle of Pines, New Caledonia
04 Dec - Lifou, New Caledonia
05 Dec - Port Vila, Vanuatu
06 Dec - Mystery Island, Vanuatu
07 Dec - Noumea, New Caledonia
08 Dec - At Sea
09 Dec - At Sea
10 Dec - Disembark
To be honest, the first few days we spent at sea are a complete blur. I remember going on deck on the first day for the much anticipated sailaway party and my first cruise cocktail, but wow are seasickness tablets and alcohol a baaaaad combination. Halfway through my first cocktail my eyesight just completely fucked up, my vision went completely blurry and I couldn’t focus on anything without blinking heaps. It was, to put it mildly, a bit freaky, so I went back to our cabin to try and flush the alcohol out of my system with water and lie down until I felt a bit better. I think Sarah or Masha was feeling a bit seasick at this point so everyone ended up coming back to the cabin which would begin our habit of watching Twilight, New Moon or Eclipse in the cabin about 5000 times each. After our first dinner we went to see Pacific Cirque perform in the atrium, then we watched a variety show in the Marquee Theatre.
The days at sea are a blur of sleeping half the day, getting up for lunch then going to trivia, watching Twilight on the TV in the cabin, going to the Casbah for a pre-dinner drink, then dinner, back to the Casbah to watch JIM <3 the old ginger eye-less (not literally) pianist (he was so beautiful), then to the Marquee to see a show, afterwards to Connexions for the entertainment and not so much on the first few days but ending the night at the Attic nightclub.
The islands were as expected - incredible. Isle of Pines is so picturesque, it’s almost too ridiculous.
Lifou was just as I remembered it, except it was upsetting to find that they had knocked down the beautiful white church at the top of the hill and were in the process of rebuilding it. The snorkelling at Lifou is absolutely spectacular, the way our Cruise Director Sandy made out it’s almost unusual that we didn’t see any turtles. We also didn’t see the bull shark or reef sharks he mentioned, thank God!
Port Vila in one word was AMAZING. I was so unimpressed by Vila on my first cruise with my family, we took a taxi to the city and I was overwhelmed by the poverty of it. It was hot, humid, dirty and it stank. There was nothing to do in the city either except for a couple of souvenir shops and duty-free shops, so we ended up going back to ship, disappointed. This time I made sure we didn’t waste our time in Vila, so we organised to do shore tours going to Ekasup Cultural Village and the Mele Cascade Waterfalls which I had read so much about.
Ekasup was incredible, I didn’t realise that so many people in Vanuatu still lived in tribes, virtually untouched by the Westernization of society in the city. Whilst globalisation is generally looked upon as a positive thing, I struggle to appreciate it when it’s responsible for turning all of the beautiful, unique cultures in the world into a giant, dull, homogenous society. I dread the day when everybody will adhere to the Western notions of the nuclear family, education, house, career, life… but Ekasup has assured me, for the time being, that it may not necessarily be the case. Because what a boring world it would be if everything was the same.
Ekasup is a community of roughly 500 people who live in a Vanuatuan tribe. They live in huts, weave their own clothes, catch their own food, deliver their own babies, bury their own dead, etcetera etcetera. Whilst there was a part of me that so vehemently wanted to preserve their culture and shield it from becoming Westernized, there was another part of me that struggled to accept a culture that appeared to me to so strongly restrict women to a life of domesticity, bearing and raising children. I have also always struggled with the idea of arranged marriage, however after visiting Ekasup (and reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Committed”) I feel I have a better understanding and appreciation for it now. Marriage and love aren’t mutually exclusive concepts like they are in areas of civilization, instead, marriage is a duty. The tribesman who conducted the tour for us explained that in a different tribe, to indicate when a woman is arranged to be married they knock out her front teeth so it is known she is a taken woman. But then he said that he know it sounds awful but it’s just the way of life for this tribe, and it’s the way it has always been. And he said it so matter of factly that it sounded normal.
The bus trip to the Cascade Waterfalls was great. Masha and I sat in the front next to the driver (I think his name was Sam?) He said he was from the largest tribe in Vila at the foothills of the waterfalls in Mele. This confused me a bit, because after our trip to Ekasup I had been led to believe that the tribespeople didn’t intersperse with anything outside of their own culture and here was a tribesman driving a bus and talking to us in English. Regardless, he told us that the tribe he was from had 5000 people in it… And they all knew each other by name!! In fact, when he was driving us from ship to waterfalls and vice versa he would regularly wind down the window and greet people he knew, and there were a lot!
The waterfalls were lovely. I knew I would it before I got there, because after two days at the sunny beach covered in blisters from the sun, sand and salt, the idea of swimming in freshwater pools at the bottom of the waterfall sounded tantalizingly heavenly. We were dropped at the bottom of the waterfall and had to walk up the sides of the waterfalls maybe 20 minutes, including walking through the waterfall at one point, until we reached the falls themselves. We went swimming in the waterfall, stood UNDER the waterfall, and used one part of the waterfall as a water slide and slid down it into the pool below.
We then had island night that night. So overall, it was a top day!
Mystery Island was a disappointment, I was sort of over the water by this stage, it was overcast, and it didn’t compare to anything we had been to over the last 3 days. Masha got stung by a jellyfish so after being laughed at by the ships’ medics we took the tender (lifeboat) back to the ship. The trip back was truly horrendous, due to the swell the ship hadn’t been able to anchor close to the island at all, so it was a moderately long trip in choppy water, and after getting our ID scanned and going through customs on the ship, one of the security personnel had to unlock a crew toilet for me to spew my guts in. Blahhhh. That wasn’t fun. Sarah was seasick as well so she’d gone back up to the cabin whilst Steph and Masha waited for me below, I felt perky again almost instantly so I have a feeling we probably went to the buffet afterwards.
Noumea was also pretty shit, I’d enjoyed it the first time, but we’d docked at night, it was our first port and I was excited to have stepped foot for the first time in New Caledonia. The second time round, trying to save everyone money, I’d found a hop on/hop off bus that went to all the main landmarks. The problem with this bus was it was too full and it was too infrequent. After getting off at a fail of a market, we got back on and went to Lemon Bay. The beach itself is shit, but we had nice crepes there. Mmm authentic French crepes. Then we got on again and went to Tjibaou Cultural Centre. That was boooring. We then got off at Coconut Square, and walked to McDonalds. We were so sick of the ship food. What was the most satisfying meal of my life was also the crappest meal of my life. I had cheeseburger cravings so bad so the minute that beast got in my mouth I think I died a little. But on the second bite I realised my bread was soggy, they hadn’t thawed it properly. :/ Also I don’t know if they’re having like a potato famine in New Caledonia but a regular fries cost me the Australian equivalent of $5!!! And they were teeny and crap! Sarah stayed at Maccas to talk to Nina (free wifi) whilst Steph, Masha and I walked back through the city to go to the supermarket to spend the rest of our Pacific Francs on French chocolateeeeee mmmmm. We dropped Masha off at the ship (she was tired? I think) then went to pick Sarah up from Maccas. The streets of Noumea are terrifying. Not only can people NOT DRIVE PROPERLY, there are a LOT of shady people walking around. Steph and I looked like teeny little white girls next to the imposing islanders who at one point shouted something at us in French when we walked past. So we were glad to pick up Sarah from Maccas who as a tall African girl could totally defend us in a fight. Or not… But atleast we looked a bit less vulnerable.
Now that we’d stopped at all our ports we had another 2 days at sea. God knows how we did it, but Masha and I set our alarms the next day and went to MORNING trivia. We’d only ever been to afternoon and evening trivia before, and ONCE I think to lunch trivia. Morning trivia was a new experience. Of course, at 9 am, trivia isn’t probably what most people are doing. In fact, there were only about 5 people there besides Masha and I, as opposed to a packed bar of atleast 100 at afternoon trivia. But Masha and I were determined to win trivia atleast once on the cruise (well, Masha was more determined to see Rory) so we went. Embarrassingly, against 5 people (all bogans) we LOST. So shameful. We went to every trivia that day. And the day after as well. I think it was afternoon trivia on the 8th Dec though that was the last trivia Rory was hosting. Because he wasn’t hosting any more (the other entertainment staff were) he handed out a LOT of prizes. We didn’t win (naturally) but we begged so much for a prize that he finally took pity and let us have a P&O cap each. WOO! At another trivia session, it must be noted that we won bottle openers for scoring the lowest. Another great success.
That same night there was an intense storm, it was formal night so we had dinner in one of the dining rooms instead of the buffet and I spend a good deal of time staring at the storm through the windows, the waves were insane and there was lots of lightening. We went on the cruise during “cyclone season” so the water was quite choppy and I felt seasick a few times, but out of all the times I felt ill I felt great in this weather! Maybe it was the seasickness tablet I’d taken earlier, but I hadn’t expected it to work. We were pretty sick of food in the dining room and Sarah had the ingenuity to ask for the kid’s menu, so I had kid’s spag bol which was yummy and a nice change.
There was lots of entertainment on this night, between the Champagne Waterfall, the laser show, Pacific Cirque, the variety show and of course the nightclub. In the nightclub on this night, everyone would literally slide from side to side because of the waves. It was painful, but a lot of fun.
We spent the last night watching Rory :O the Pacific Showband and JIM sing/play music in the atrium. Then Sarah and I watched as Masha had the most awkward conversation with Rory (but she claims it was a comfortable silence). For those reading, Rory is a 32 year old member of the entertainment staff from Yorkshire who Masha is absolutely enamoured with. In all truth though, we thought originally that he was in his 40s, and gay, so that should give you a good idea as to what he looks like.
The last night was sad, there was a definite change to the atmosphere as everyone knew we were disembarking the next morning. Our holiday had finally come to an end. It was the last time we’d hear “Please mind the doors”, the last time Dilson (our cabin steward) would make us towel animals and leave chocolates on our beds, our last cocktails, our last trivia, our last time sprawled on the bunk beds watching Twilight, Masha’s last conversation with Rory, my last perve on Robbie (Pacific Entertainer singer/dancer extraodinaire), our last sighting at the ethereal Arran, our last meals, our last martinis in the Casbah with Melvin Marlon listening to Jim, and the last time we’d try to find pictures of us in the photography section.
Finally, our cruise was OVER! The only thing I was looking forward to about home was that I would stop hearing “I can (verb) whatever I wanna (verb)” and “Yeah you are!”
And in the most vague way I can put it but it needs to be documented… One night, Steph dragged a cat in…
Just getting in the mood for my cruise…
Isle of Pines
Cascade Waterfalls, Port Vila
Mystery Island
Lifou
Noumea
Going with 3 of my best friends first to Sydney and then on this 10 night cruise. Sooooooooo excited. 29 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can’t believe it’s been an entire year!
Since I graduated
My entire Facebook newsfeed as of late has been zillions of photos of costume days, muck up day, leavers assembly, valedictory dinner, and status upon status of farewells and pledging love to PLC.
And to be honest, I’m a little upset!
The whole newsfeed right now has got me feeling more than a little nostalgic, but more than that I’m upset that a whole year has passed before my eyes and I don’t have a great deal to show for it.
Maybe it’s that uni hasn’t entirely lived up to my expectations, despite the fact that I hate one of my degrees and if my course transfer application is rejected I might actually gouge my eyes out, I don’t know, I just feel like there’s been something lacking.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve made a shitload of new friends, become much more independent, wasted all my money on uni parties, spent a good majority of the year drunk, lost my dignity more than I would have liked and by the end of the year I will have done quite a bit of travelling, but I just feel like I should have enjoyed it more than I have.
Maybe it’s just Monash, or university in general, or maybe it’s just me?
I wish uni was like how it is in Legally Blonde! I should be going to Harvard :(
Love this pic <3
So um fuck
Last night I accidentally hooked up with a guy whose best friend is in love with me and whose other best friend I’m in like with.
Got dirty looks from their circle of friends all night.
Gooooooooooooooooooooooooood.
I’m going on a cruise around Europe next year with my nan
Who just so happens to be subsidising half the trip for me
FUCK YEAH!
I like being dramatic
All I want to do right now is write a book from the point of view of a self loathing English man which will win me zillions of literary awards, and then I want to go out and do shots. Lots of them.
I really ceebs going to work tomorrow, FMLLLLLLLLLLLL
WAH :(
Ahhh so much relief!!
Monash has just updated their online recordings of lectures page and now it says journalism WILL be recorded this semester. I’ve been like freaking out because I’ve got a clash, so can’t go to the lecture and I thought I’d have to withdraw from journalism this semester because I couldn’t watch the lectures.
But they ARE being recorded, so REJOICE!!!!
Exciting shit
Gotta love uni holidays, 4 weeks doesn’t seem long enough anymore
Heading down to Anglesea (mini roadtrip weeeeew) with a few sweet bitches tomorrow, cool stuff will happen.
Going down for a touch of surfing (I doubt it will really happen, waaaay too cold), horse-riding, drinking, over-indulging and general good-natured frivolities.
I pretty much expect the car trip to look like this to people in other cars:
Except with the addition of this other cool bitch, I like to call her Angela but apparently her name is Nina, and Masha will be in the front seat driving, awks if she isn’t, that means we’ve probably crashed into a ditch…
We’re even gonna look hardcore, Masha’s strapping Steph’s surfboard to the top of her car so everyone on the freeway’s gonna be like HOLY SHIT THEY MUST BE GOOD but the locals will scorn us.
Farkkk it
Freaking out!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So my Monash results transcript came out yesterday and I’ve apparently failed journalism. I am 99% sure this is impossible.
There were 2 main assignments (with sub assessments this semester), I narrowly missed a high distinction for the first half of semester, but I never received results for the bundle of stuff I handed in for the second half which is why I’m presuming they just haven’t corrected it and that’s why my transcript says I’ve failed.
Unless I got 0% on my radio assignment and self reflections, it’s impossible that I haven’t passed. I think the problem has arisen from the fact that I submitted my assignment ONE WEEK EARLY because I was going overseas and wouldn’t have the internet (being on a ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and all) and had to submit it online in the folder for the previous assignment because a folder for the current assignment hadn’t been created yet. I worried that this might be a problem but I emailed my tutor explaining the situation and he replied assuring me that it was fine and that he’d find it. Obviously, he hasn’t.
To top this shit off, I’ve just been sent an email from Monash telling me I’ve been unenrolled in journalism for next semester because I “failed” it this semester :|
I’ve emailed my tutor and he said he’d look into it and reply this afternoon, I’M WAITING AND DYING HERE!!!!!!!
And before anybody suggests I failed the exam - there is no exam for journalism.
