28. Buy combined Apple and Pineapple juice in a big carton

Horrible.

Unlike my pleasant reunion with Tiny Teddies, my eagerness to try Berri’s Australian Grown Apple & Pineapple Juice was misplaced.

I recently bought a carton on special offer and was quick to pour myself a glass only to be massively disappointed. It tasted nothing like I remembered and certainly didn’t taste anywhere near as good as the mixed Apple & Pineapple juices I’ve regularly made myself back in the UK.

Well at least I tried it.

I’ll be sticking to Orange Juice or Orange & Mango from now on…

44. Learn about Australian politics

Having recently submitted my final essays for Australia Now it’s safe to say I’ve learnt A LOT about Australian politics whilst I’ve been over here. My previous knowledge of Australian politics was garnered solely from K Rudd’s appearances on Rove so having twelve weeks of lectures revolving around the themes of politics in the country was a real eye opener.

I’ve learnt about Keating’s Redfern address, Howard’s long stint as PM and I still can’t decide what I make of Whitlam.

Although Australia’s political history is short, it has been really interesting to learn about the highs and lows.

Oh, and one last thing. The Australia Day riot was not a riot. Nor was there a mob. I’ve spent far too much time reading up on the story and watching Youtube clips but at least I learned something new…

40. Go to the Logies in some way

They ruined any hopes I ever had of attending…

Ok, this was literally months ago.

And I didn’t manage to go to the Logies. To be honest, I may have been tempted to head down to Crown on the night for the atmosphere if it hadn’t been for One Direction being there and hence herds of screaming teenage girls. Yes, I would’ve also been a teenage girl. But I would not have been screaming. And it would’ve all been too much for me.

Instead Lara and Rachael came over for tacos and table tennis with Channel Nine on in the background. It was a lovely evening.

I guess I’ll just have to save this one for another year.

48. Eat some Tiny Teddies biscuits

I pretty much at the whole box in one day.

Thanks to my friend Katrina kindly buying me these for my birthday I can assure you these were as good as I remembered. They’re basically the same as Cadbury Animals – only cuter.

16. Earn some money

This is more money than I have earned.

Ok, now I’ve reviewed the Missy gig it’s probably time I filled you in on the past month of my life. 

Well I’ve now officially earned $169 since arriving in Australia. I got $30 for participating in psychology experiment and another $139 for working as a Market Researcher at the first State of Origin rugby league match. I had to randomly select visitors to ask a short set of questions to and it turns out people are a lot nicer than I expected. 

Whilst this may have had something to do with the fact I was a 20 year old girl with a British accent and the majority of the patrons were drunken men, I like to think it was my professionalism that won everyone over.

Anyway, I feel that $169 may be all I’m going to earn this time in Australia. I’m expecting it won’t be my last Australian earnings ever though…

17. See Missy Higgins play live

Poor quality photo to contrast the high quality music.

SEVEN YEARS.

Next month it will have been seven years since I first heard The Sound of White in a car we’d borrowed in Sydney. For seven years I’ve patiently waited for her to tour the UK (OK, she did in 2006. But I was in Sicily fearing I was going to be burnt alive by bushfires). Eventually I gave up and moved to Australia. Not really for this sole reason (it definitely wasn’t mentioned on my Statement of Intent), but it was hardly a downside. So whilst I may have looked up flights to the US for her tours before, tonight’s gig only required an hour long flight to Sydney and oh, how everything was worth it.

Missy’s 20-song long set was stunning.

From the opening notes of Secret to the rapturous applause at the end of Steer, I could’ve been anywhere in the world. Whilst The York Theatre in The Seymour Centre was a perfect venue with its 700-odd capacity and semi-circle of seating, the venue didn’t matter to me. For me, it was all about that voice.

There might have been an absence of my all-time-favourite-song Sugarcane, but every song seemed to have the crowd whooping (sometimes too enthusiastically in the more poignant moments of songs) and each performance added something different to the studio versions I’ve heard oh so many times before.

Ably supported by her five-piece band (including support act and The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle Co-Producer Butterfly Boucher), Higgins ploughed through the numbers whilst managing to make it look like she was loving every second of it. Either she truly has rediscovered her true love for music, or she’s simply an immense performer.

Whether it was the cacophony of animal sounds (aided by guest vocalist Jane Tyrrell from The Herd) that added atmosphere to Watering Hole or the revival of an old eighties keytar on Unashamed Desire, every song was arranged to highlight the best it had to offer. Her solo interlude of a heartbreaking Forgive Me and the ever-dramatic Nightminds were particularly memorable but when the band returned for my new favourite Everyone’s Waiting it just added another dynamic.

I’m trying not to make this an essay so I’ll just quickly sum up a few other highlights: Cooling of the Embers was emotional, the inclusion of The River was a very pleasant surprise, Missy had first played Ten Days in the same venue to a crowd that inadvertently included the song’s subject, This Is How It Goes and Scar had everyone dancing and singing along and those long notes on Warm Whispers are even more incredible than on the XM Session recording I own.

It’s safe to say I’m no longer in the running for Missy Higgins’ biggest fan never to have seen her live. Now, if she could just play Sugarcane on Saturday in Melbourne, I think I’d consider this entire list complete.

At least I only have seven days to wait until I see her perform live again.

(A less gushy review will be appearing on Timber and Steel in the coming days.)

Setlist:

• Secret
• River
• Set Me On Fire
• Hello Hello
• 100 Round the Bends
• Ten Days
• Where I Stood
• Cooling of the Embers
• Don’t Ever
• Watering Hole
• Forgive Me
• Nightminds
• Everyone’s Waiting
• This is How it Goes
• Unashamed Desire
• Peachy
• The Special Two
• Warm Whispers
• Scar
• Steer

36. Celebrate my 20th Birthday in a memorable way

The best people to share an Australian birthday with…

Wow.

I had the most lovely day yesterday…

I woke up at 6:30, washed my hair, then positioned myself leaning diagonally on my lounge floor in order to dry my hair next to our heater (so high tech). At this point I heard my first tuneful rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ from my aunt and Lily.

Next up was brunch with Lucy, Katrina, Lara and Anshita at Di Bella Roasting Warehouse on Leveson Street, North Melbourne. Turns out, Lara can make it to places on time. In fact, she was 20 minutes early and was all too keen to make everyone aware of this.

I enjoyed the homemade crumpets with mascarpone and honey as well as a cute little hot chocolate.

Then it was time for two tutorials where I kept my birthday status on the DL before spending an hour in the library munching on the Tiny Teddies that Katrina had kindly bought me (another blog post will follow…)

To finish my Australian University birthday experience I had my final lecture with my incredible Language and Identity lecturer who left Lucy and I unsure whether to laugh or cry as he dramatically imparted his wisdom onto us in a touching farewell. What a babe.

A rushed trip back home allowed me to call home and speak to the fam before heading back into town to venture to Chingon in Richmond for tacos.

They were darn good tacos.

And we consumed many of them.

The whole Melbourne gang came out to celebrate with me and they’d bought me some lovely gifts including the most incredible handmade Neighbours card from Lucy which I shall treasure forever along with a lovely book about Melbourne signed by everyone! The Uni girls also bought me vast quantities of (beautifully wrapped) Lindt which I am working my way through consuming in one day today.

I challenge you to find a greater homemade Neighbours themed card…

After tacos we headed up to the rooftop of the venue to eat the chocolate crownie (cakey-brownie) that Lucy had been talking down. The girl was wasting her time because it was delicious and we continued to devour the entire thing over the course of the night.

Hello annual cocktail…

Next up was cocktails at 1806 where Georgia very kindly bought me a Mitch Martini (seemingly named after the hurricane that I believe I was once nearly hit by) which came with three different taste sensations… First the apple juice hit me (yum), then the alcohol (not yum) and then the peach to finish (yum again). Two elements out of three isn’t bad and so I’m ranking it as my second favourite cocktail I’ve ordered ever after the Mango and Strawberry drink in Asia de Cuba.

We ended the night with a tram ride up Lygon and then I caught a taxi home before skyping half of England (and seemingly a few Caymanians) who had all gathered in my kitchen for various reasons but I enjoyed the manicness of the catch up!

So was my 20th memorable? You bet it was.

I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I’ve made some amazing friends over here who made the day what it was and I wouldn’t be surprised if this isn’t the last Australian birthday I have…

52. Go to South Melbourne Market

Tell me you’ve never seen a more stylish potato shop…

On Saturday morning the sun was shining (which came as quite a surprise) so Lara and I thought there was no better way to spend the morning than to pick a market and go there.

Knowing it was on my list, I took the opportunity to suggest South Melbourne market so we jumped on the 112 and headed south of the Yarra.

South Melbourne market isn’t as big as Queen Vic but it still houses the expected mix of toot and quality produce. There were some cute homeware stores but they were a bit out of my budget so I quickly found myself at home towards the Food Hall.

Having seen the Fritz Gelato buzz around the net I treated myself to a kids cone of Chocolate Indulgence ($3) whilst Lara had the Blood Orange sorbet which she certainly seemed to enjoy.

Did I tell you about that time my family banned me from eating chocolate ice cream?

I also bought myself a beautiful baton of chocolate brioche ($3.50) from a bakery with an incredible array of macarons towards the fresh pasta stool.

Despite the fact I’d already consumed an ice cream, several bread samples and a third of a loaf of chocolate brioche it felt only appropriate that we further explored the suburb with a stop in a local cafe for drinks.

Well, we’d intended just to stop for juice, but when I saw Fruit Toast with Honey Ricottta on the menu at Gas I changed my mind.

Sat in the window of Gas with the sun shining through and one annoying fly trying to eat my ricotta, I decided that I rather like South Melbourne. It’s a very cute suburb and definitely worth crossing the river for.

11. Join a society

What seems like a very, very long time ago, I went to Melbourne’s equivalent of Freshers’ Fair. I signed up to some societies and paid joining fees to quite a few (here you pay a joining fee ranging from about $2 – $15). Of all the societies I joined, I’ve only gotten my money’s worth from one society. And that society is The Chocolate Lovers Society.

Yes, it seems Manchester is all too dull with their society options and there really is more to the world than the Interesting Board Games society (definitely existed in first year) and the Pantomime Society (which I think I may have been coerced into handing my details over to in order to receive a gingerbread man).

So yesterday, Lara (or Lucy Cooke as she was officially known for the afternoon) and I headed to Chokolait – a cute chocolate cafe hidden in one of the alleyways off of Little Collins Street.

We were told we could spend up to $15 each (Myself and the real Lucy had each paid $10 membership) so Lara and I put our money together to buy one ‘Chocolate Heaven’ and one ‘Chocolate Pavlova’.

They were yummy.

This is the chocolate heaven. (By the time the pavlova arrived I was too full to move and Lara was too eager to dive into the mound of chocolate chipped pavlova that we forgot to take a photo.)

From front left to back right we have…

A pot of melted Belgian dark chocolate drizzled with melted milk chocolate, a dark chocolate orange truffle, a strawberry milk chocolate truffle, a caramel truffle, strawberries and a dark chocolate mousse with double cream.

Oh my goodness it was good.

It was also deceivingly filling – even when Lara and I were sharing it. The pavlova topped with cream and strawberries was also delicious if not a little on the sweet side.

So yes, I guess I’ve gotten my money’s worth out of one society. I’d definitely recommend parting with the $10 for future students.

26. See new parts of the country

This week I went on holiday.

Ok, so it was a night away. But we’re counting it as a holiday nonetheless.

On Tuesday morning, Lucy and I headed to Phillip Island with Bunyip Tours via a few wildlife sanctuaries, a heritage farm and a chocolate factory. We fed kangaroos, ate lemon and blueberry cake and then made some probably-inappropriate jokes about the chocolate factory. It also rained a lot. But in a typical cliché, it didn’t dampen our spirits.

Excuse the dorky overexcited face.

We then got to see the Penguin Parade which was pretty impressive – but mainly from the boardwalk. Seriously, get a glimpse of them leaving the sea from the grandstands but then head straight to the boardwalks for the best views.

We stayed at a surprisingly nice hostel on Philip Island before heading off to Wilsons Promontory National Park on Wednesday morning. Oh my goodness, it was beautiful.

Over the course of the sunny day, we did three walks. One up to a viewing point overlooking Tidal River. Then we headed off along Squeaky Beach to Picnic Bay before one final epic hike up one of the Northern peaks. We were initially told we’d be doing an hour and a half of easy-to-moderate walks but actually did about three hours of walking including one which definitely was moderate-to-hard but it was totally worth it.

It’s hard to put the day into words, so here are some pictures…