Worlds Greatest Shave

Hi Guys,

As I sure many of you know we are in the middle of travelling around the world and are having to work to help fund our journey.

I am currently working as a Barista in Brisbane. A few of my colleagues have signed up for a charity event for Leukaemia Foundation in which they are shaving their heads to raise money for the foundation. I had not started work when they signed up for this but have decided to take part anyway, and in typical Jonathan Lara fashion am pleased to announce that TOMORROW (Friday) I will be shaving my head.

I am looking to raise $200 and if you would are able to donate it would be very much appreciated, however large or small. Please find the link to donate below. By clicking on this link you will also be able to find out a lot more about the charity.

http://my.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/jonathanlara

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this email and thank you in advance for any contributions.

We will put some before and after photos on here as soon as we have them.
Hope your all well,

J x
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As promised here are the before and after photos . . . . . . . .

Before .  . . .

After . . . .

Australia Zoo, Brighton Beach, Mt Coot-Tha, The Gabba and Brisbane life

We have had a rather busy few weeks; both of us have been working hard. Jonny is now working as a barista in a coffee shop in the city centre. I have been working for Deloitte for the past 7 weeks and I’m now being placed with another company in the city centre; I love working in the city skyscrapers. We have been lucky when it comes to shifts as we both work Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 which means our weekends have become rather important.

My office with a view

Here are a few of the more fun things we have been doing with our weekends.

We have found a little spot in Brisbane that we have fallen in love with; it has become our own little retreat. Mount Coot-Tha is a peek which is almost 300 metres above sea level offering unbeatable views of the city. It is just a 20 minute drive from our house so we have become regular visitors to the look out. We particularly love heading up the mountain after work with a picnic to watch the sunset over the city.  

View of city from Coot-tha

Sun goes down

City lights

It was our anniversary in February and we decided to treat ourselves with a day out at the home of the Crocodile Hunter, Australia Zoo. 

Jonny with the one and only

Our first stop at the zoo was the new Africa safari. As with all the enclosures at the zoo it was huge with plenty of different spaces for the animals to enjoy. The Africa section was home to Zebra, Rhinos, Giraffe and Cheaters. However their biggest Rhino had to be separated from the rest at the time we were visiting as it was mating season and he started showing his dominance towards the poor Giraffes.

Our next stop was to see the Asian Elephants, seeing the beautiful, enormous creatures brought back some of our amazing memories of the time we spent at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai. Seeing these gorgeous animals again made us realise just how much we learnt to appreciate their intelligence and gracious mannerisms.

With Steve Irwin being known as the Crocodile Hunter and for his love of reptiles it was no surprise this was the area where the zoo excelled. The enclosures for crocodiles act as a centre point of the zoo. Most of the crocs had been rescued by Steve from all different parts of Australia. He captured them from rivers and creeks where they were causing issues for the locals by attacking pets and scarring away tourist.

Feeding time

Jonny the croc hunter?

My knid of croc

This was actually my second visit to the zoo; I have always claimed that visiting the zoo cured my fear of snakes. Before visiting the zoo for the first time I couldn’t even look at a snake on the TV without wanting to cry with fear. At the zoo staff were able to educate me teaching that snakes do not need to be feared if they are understood. I left the zoo with a new found respect for snakes not being able to remember what I had been so scared of. When Jonny and I decided to visit the zoo together, I wanted to prove to myself I was over my fear of snakes by holding one. Jonny was not so impressed with the idea; he didn’t even want to be in the same room as me and a snake to take the photo. However when we arrived and saw the snakes we spoke to the staff and Jonny found he was becoming more relaxed around the reptiles. Before we knew it we were both sitting with Charlie, a 5 year old, 9 foot python wrapped around us.

Us with Charlie

The zoo carried a strong message of conservation, they educate visitors about animals in such a way people leave wanting to do their part. They allow more interactive with the animals than any other zoo we have known. We were able to feed Kangaroos, stroke Koala's and hold baby alligators which were experiences we will never forget.



Me feeding a Kangaroo

With the baby croc

Jonny feeding the roo

New best mate|? 

Our Koala

We had a day out on Brighton beach; I couldn’t resist a visiting my cities namesake. As expected Brighton in Queensland was very different to the Brighton I left behind. There are no funfair rides, crowds of tourist or killer seagulls; instead there is a beach where the sea goes out for miles leaving wet sand which is adored by seabirds. We did enjoy walking along the beach and sitting in the sunshine with a picnic but it did feel like a long way from home.

Australia has its very own Brighton beach?

We managed to get tickets to see Australia vs Sri Lanka in a one day match at the Gabba. Watching an international cricket game was something that Jonny was desperate to experience during our travels. The game was much closer than expected and as we were secretly cheering on Sri Lanka we were disappointed they were unable to beat the Ozzys. We were very much entertained throughout the day as the colourful audience got involved and behind their teams. Even though we sat in sticky hot conditions for 9 hours the time flew and we had a great time.

The Gabba

The Ozzy's win

 
Finally we wanted to share an experience which we found so impressive. Last Wednesday a power line came down on a train line just before rush hour. As expected this caused the trains to stop temporarily and therefore some people had delays of up to 90 minutes. A 90 minute delay is not unheard of in England however here 90 minutes was described as chaos and unacceptable. As a way to say sorry the following day Queensland government gave all public transport users free transport. Therefore every bus, ferry and train would be running for anyone without a charge. We took full advantage of this and used the ferry as a tour bus and viewed the city from the water for the first time which was just lovely.

City view from Brisbane river

We are still very much enjoying our travels, we always knew this part of our trip would have a slower pace but were pleased to be keeping busy at the weekends.

Oz up date and a little video of Asia

We haven’t written a blog in a while as we have been doing much the same thing every day – JOB HUNTING. Amber has managed to find a temporary role through an agency, working in a finance office in the city. The job is enjoyable; the problem is it is just for now so it has been hard to make many plans. Jonny has been getting the odd day temping but nothing serious as of yet.

We have now found somewhere to live. We have found a room in a house which we can call home for a few months. We are living in a beautiful area of Brisbane called Kangaroo point; it’s next to the lovely Brisbane River and a short walk to the gorgeous south bank and city. It has been so nice to have some of our home comforts. It has been the first time in months we have had our own TV and Amber has officially caught up with Neighbours and Home & Away. We are also able to enjoy home cooking again, tonight we had our first jacket potato with baked beans and cheddar cheese since leaving the UK, it went down a treat.

Anyway, we still can’t believe our time in Asia as been and gone, after all those months of planning and getting excited. As a fun way to look back and remember our times we have put some of our favourite photos to music, we have copied the link if you would like to have a look.  Due to copyrights you are unable to watch it on your phones, but for those of you viewing this on a computer then you can watch it. We hope you enjoy it.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isT_FgZ6ka8

Anyway were off to do more job hunting . . . . We’re be in touch soon.

Amber and Jonny x

Sydney - New Years Eve

When we arrived in Sydney we took the train straight to Circular Quay were we were treated to the iconic sights of Sydney. We boarded the ferry to Manly which takes the most beautiful route around the river past the Harbour Bridge and close by the Opera House. We took a walk along the gorgeous sandy Manly beach as the sun was setting and it seemed like a true paradise.

View of The Harbour Bridge from the Manly ferry

View of The Opera House from the Manly ferry

New Years Eve we wasted no time and headed back to the beach for another walk and saw the 100s of suffers. Most of which were taking part in lessons but there were so many people getting involved they filled the whole beach. We headed into central Sydney early as recommended to ensure we got a good spot to see the fireworks. We went to the area we wanted to spend the evening but this was already full and it had been since 11 in the morning. Due to its popularity we found out people would camp over night to ensure they got in. So we headed for our next chose which was by the East Quay, opposite the Harbour Bridge and just before the Opera House. We only just made it as they closed the area and stopped letting people in by 4:30 as this area also became full. They have the policy of once your there your in so we had a lot of waiting around. Thankfully, just by chance we happened to have a cinema in our area, so we burnt a few hours by watching a film. Also to my delight they were serving alcohol in the cinema and as alcohol was band outside we emptied a bottle of wine into a coke cup and sneaked it out. It kept us going for a little while but it’s fair to say it was our most sober New Years Eve for many years. When 9 o’clock came round the “family fireworks” started up and they were very good, full of surprises as the whole sky lit up, including the skyscrapers, it was hard to know where to look first. The midnight fireworks were even more impressive and it was a strange feeling knowing that we were one of the first people to see in 2012 and everyone back home hadn’t even started getting ready for their nights out.

Fireworks on the buildings

Fireworks on the Harbour Bridge

Fireworks that fill the sky

During the rest of our time in Sydney we went on self tours. We took one of the city ferries to Darling Harbour which we loved. The restaurants, pubs and rather glamorous boats that lined the harbour made it a more luxurious version of Brighton Marina. We walked up to Hyde Park which was another little reminder of home. Wondering round the city streets was a lovely was to see the city and a great way to spend our first day of 2012. We couldn’t have a trip to Sydney in the summer without a trip to Bondi beach. It had the blue sky, blue sea and golden sands so it was nice that’s if you don’t mind sharing with 1000s of other sun-lovers and suffers. We had never been to a beach that was so packed out and to be honest it was not as impressive as the beautiful Manly beach. We ended our trip with by going up one of the pillars on the Harbour Bridge which gave us a spectacular view of Sydney and gave us a taster of things to come when we return.

BUSY Bondi Beach

View of city from The Harbour Bridge

Enjoying the views

 Our trip would not have been possible without our Christmas present from Lorraine and David and without Duncan and Jen kindly letting us stay. So thank you very much.

Lastly if we haven’t had the chance to text, email or talk to you already then we would like to wish you a very happy and prosperous 2012.

Biddaddaba for Christmas

Biddaddaba For Christmas

Before we had left the UK we were kindly offered to spend Christmas with Karen and Glen, Maureen and Graham in what i swore was a made up name until we arrived - Biddaddaba.

Biddaddaba is a very small Hamlet of farms stretched over a 12 kilometre road. We arrived the day before Christmas Eve and were made instantly feel very welcome. I know it was not that long ago that we saw Dad but it was so nice to think that we would be spending this special time of the year with some very friendly faces.

On Christmas Eve we had a lovely day with Graham when we went to visit the Gold Coast. Grahams showed us all the best places to go for future visits. We had a walk along a pier just south of Stradbrook Island. It was unbelievable that it was christmas considering that the temperature was in the mid twenties.

Christmas day came and we were all up early to have Glens breakfast of bacon and egg sandwiches which slipped down an absolute treat. This was followed by christmas presents and the a delicious Christmas dinner which Maureen and Karen had been cooking throughout the morning. In the afternoon we did another Christmas first and went for a swim in the pool as the temperature was rising nicely. Glen then kindly took us in the Ute up to the mountain located just behind their property. The weather was lovely and the views were amazing. It was incredible as we could see Brisbane from what must have been nearly 100km away.

Boxing day was lovely and relaxed and in Australia is a big sporting day. We all sat down in the morning, to watch the Boxing Day Cricket Test match which this year involved Australia taking on India. Now having spent Christmas in Australia with a part Australian family it seemed only fair that we supported Australia. But being a 'Pom' as we are know here, I have to admit there was more than half of me willing for a Australia collapse and an India win. In the afternoon Amber and I were invited to a Gilmore family BBQ. The day would not have been completed however with out a little family game of cricket. The weather was gorgeous and having a BBQ around a local dam with some stunning scenery to compliment, completed christmas for us.

For the rest of the week we were lucky enough to be taken out my Maureen and Graham to see the local area. Some of the places included going for a lovely drive to a seaside resort called Salt where we had the most lovely lunch and walk along the beach. We also went for a drive down the Lions Highway which is a road that was built as a shortcut for people to be able to get from Queensland to New South Wales. The following day we were taken to see the Natural Bridge which is a bridge shaped rock which has been carved perfectly by the water of the river that flows beneath it. The scenery  was just spectacular as i'm sure you will agree from the pictures below.

Other key points during our week was seeing Amber having her first experience of horse riding. She was a little nervous, but lets face it you cant get much of a better teacher than Glen Gilmore.

We had the most lovely christmas this year and we would like to thank Karen, Glen, Maureen, Graham, Lachie and Lucia all so much for everything that they did for us and allowing us to stay with them. We still cant  get over having a hot christmas but it is certainly and experience that we will never forget.

Thank you so much.