The Reason I Hate The UK But Don't Want To Leave.

What I’m about to write almost feels like a plea for help. Begging whoever reads this to miraculously come up with an answer to my problem and the problem of so many others who choose to live in a different country to the one they were born in. The problem is with the visa requirements. I am currently living and working in London on a Tier 5 (youth mobility) visa which allows me to live and work in the UK for 24 months. Sure, two years in great when all you want to do is travel and make some money, but what about those of us who want to stay? Those of us who have partners and friends and jobs which we have to leave behind with no foreseeable opportunity to return to live in the UK because the visa laws are so strict. Some of the most skilled workers, and people whom contribute most to society and the economy cannot remain here because we aren’t married to someone who has residency in the UK. It’s now 2016, the ideal of marriage is outdated. Creating these restrictions and forcing young people to marry one another before they are ready, assuming they want to marry in the first place, is only contributing to higher divorce rates.

But if you have a partner, why not apply for a partner visa you say? Sorry but no. You can currently only apply for a partner visa if you can prove that you have lived together for more than two years. Hang on a second, doesn’t the Tier 5 visa only entitle you to 24 months at which point you must return to your ‘home’ country? Right you are. Even if I had met my partner the day after I got to the UK and we immediately began living together, I still would not qualify for a partner visa. These are ridiculous and unrealistic standards, which are impossible to meet. I know people who have been together for shorter amounts of time that already have a child together. Why does the government not recognise a relationship as credible if you haven’t lived together for 24 months?

I am also aware of the new visa laws which mandate how much money you must earn to be able to remain in the United Kingdom. Whilst this is not a primary concern of mine, it is for many others living in the UK now and in the future. The amount of Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians coming to the United Kingdom is going to significantly drop and considering the amount of visas issued to people from these countries, who are currently working and paying taxes in the UK, must be cause for concern in the government.  The UK is no longer as desirable a destination and its reputation as being one the most sought out destinations for Australians is being harmed. In fact the number of Australians heading the UK to work has dropped by 50% in the past 2-3 years.

We need to see a change. Australia, New Zealand and Canada, to name a few, are all part of the Commonwealth, yet we are still held under these strict visa laws which are separating loved ones and creating tensions between these countries. As part of the Commonwealth we should be working together to allow our citizens the right to work and live where they please rather than forcing them to leave. 

Please click here to sign a petition promoting the free movement of citizens between the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Sun's Out

The sun is out in London, finally. On Wednesday the 8th we took a trip to Greenwich Park, and despite the skepticism of the local ice-cream man, we did walk the 2 miles from North Greenwich. Showed him. Imagine sitting with a fresh baguette, some dip and strawberries and looking out onto the London skyline. For Thor fanatics (Dad, this means you), you should recognise one of the buildings from the movie.

Maritime Museum and London Skyline

Despite the picturesque views, the best part of the day was definitely when we stood in Tesco for 15 minutes disagreeing on what drink to get. For anyone interested, we went with a mango and passion fruit juice. 

Wow, this blog post is interesting....We also saw a really big dog or a very small woman. What a great day.

In Bruges

First time to mainland Europe. A two hour drive through the UK, two hours on a ferry and an hours drive through France and Belgium to Bruges. A weekend full of Belgian waffles, chocolate and beers. Over the last weekend of February I travelled to Bruges for a few days. It was incredible. Obviously the line 'It's a fucking fairtale' was quoted one too many times over the course of the weekend, but it really is. 

Belgian Waffles

Belgian Beer Wall

View of Bruges from the top of the Belfry.

Bruges Carnaval and the Belfry

Mouthful of bread at De Hobbit

Whilst away in Bruges I definitely got more touristy than I normally would tolerate. We took a boat tour around the canals and visited the Salvador Dali exhibition. Climbed the well known belfry made famous by the movie 'In Bruges' and on our last day took a bike ride around the cobbled streets and Minnewater Park.

On our walks around the town we did stumble across some pretty wonderful places. The restaurant De Hobbit is just one place. It's menus and decor was modelled on Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. It has all you can eat ribs and giant 'pints' of beer! 

't Brugs Beertje is arguably the best bar in Bruges. It has over 300 different kinds of Belgian beers. The bar staff were super friendly and we met a few locals and others from the UK while we were there. It's also a fantastic place to get inherently drunk on beer which is twice as strong as beer from the UK.

London Eats | No.1

Distrito Federal, Mexico City, D/F Mexico
Moving on from Melbourne Eats, I now bring you London Eats! D/F Mexico was one of the first restaurants I visited. Before this I was eating mostly only cheap take away or wraps from Waitrose. A time I like to forget.

Melbourne in generally known as the food capital, I'm set out to see if London can rival this. If you've ever eaten at Mamasita in Melbourne, you'll know how amazing the food is. Well this is the Mamasita of London Town.

Pork Pibil Tacos

Passion fruit and Raspberry and Hibiscus Frozen Margaritas 

I've visited D/F Mexico twice now. I've had the bad boy burritos and the pulled pork tacos. Both absolutely mouth watering. The only negative to the mulitude of positive feedback I have about this place is the portion size. Both times the portions were massive and I couldn't eat it all... actually that's a positive as well right? Reasonably priced and you definitely get what you pay for. Some fantastic sides to choose from and free drink refills! What more can one ask for? Frozen Margaritas. Well they have them too. Check, check and check. Check out the menu HERE. 

Harry Potter Studio Tour

Since going overseas doesn't make you immune to being sick, here are some of the better photos from my visit to the Harry Potter Studio in Watford for you to muse over until i'm well enough to explore some more. 

Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surry.

A perfectly normal house, on a perfectly normal street.

Each person who worked on the Harry Potter series have each had a wand individually made for them and displayed in what I imagine the inside of Ollivander's to look like.

The dimly-lit potions classroom.

"There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class"

What the picture doesn't capture are the self-stirring cauldrons and the individually labelled bottles which complete the set.

There was so much to see on the tour. These photos only show some of my favourite parts.

Generic Travel Post | No.2

Two weeks in The Lakes District. Two weeks in Far Sawrey. Two weeks in the remoteness of Cumbria. Bit of a change from London to here. My new picturesque, typical English countryside home is certainly the perfect spot to escape the noise and hustle and bustle of the city, unfortunately I don't want to escape that. 

To get to this area you need to catch a car ferry across Lake Windermere and then prepare yourself for a 30 minute walk up through the hills. If you're lucky the ferry won't even be running because the weather is too "extreme". Trains also seem to have this problem. This particular fault in the English public transport system ended up costing me over £120 GBP.

The regularity of the train and ferry cancellations must be due to the poor method of measuring the severity of the weather. I can only assume that they are taking a stack of newspapers and placing them in the middle of the road and saying 'right, if just one of the these papers moves we're stopping everything'. 

Despite my fairly negative opinion of the place. It is beautiful and if you enjoy the fresh air and a walk in the countryside I would definitely recommend you visit Far Sawrey. 

Generic Travel Post | No.1

Two weeks in London, saw a few sights, did a medium amount of shopping and slept a lot. Here's my two week round up of a few of the things that I have taken part in during my time in London. 

Harry Potter Studios 

I'll start with my trip to the Harry Potter studio tour. Something I've wanted to do for a very long time and even though I was by myself, it was something I couldn't miss while in London. I can't even begin to describe how amazing it was to see all the props and the sets where the movies were made. I almost don't want to give too much away because my description won't do it justice, and it would ruin the magic a bit if you knew what to expect before you had been.

The studio is also one of only two or three places in the entire world where you can try butterbeer. A drink depicted in the Harry Potter franchise. Obviously I had to try some. It was very sweet. Almost a mixture of creamy soda and butterscotch. 

Winter Wonderland

The next stop was Winter Wonderland which is hosted in Hyde Park. Complete with ice skating rink, ferris wheel and a strange amount of German food. The night consisted mostly of drinking mulled wine and cider, eating German food, laughing at people who can't ice-skate and sitting in the Bavarian Village listening to euro trash and song covers. 

For those who are wondering, I have seen a few sights. Have I done London right? 

St Paul's Cathedral 

View of The Shard from the Thames 

Camden Lock Market 

Regents Canal 

Some small differences i've noticed are; firstly, chocolate in the UK does not taste the same as it does in Australia. Not at all. It's not bad, it's just not as good. Secondly, the chocolate might be worse here, but the yoghurt is definitely better. The Waitrose brand yoghurt for 80p is hand crafted by angels and sent down from heaven on a rainbow. It's delicious and I could probably eat that, and only that for the rest of my life. 

Melbourne Eats | No. 4

Manchester Press

Just a quick review again. But before I even get into how great the food was. Let me just say this, all day breakfast. Breakfast is the best meal of the day, so all day breakfast is my favourite thing.
Huddled in a little lane way off a lane way (typical Melbourne), Manchester Press specialises in bagels, and my god are they good.I treated myself and had a bagel with bacon, maple syrup, bananas and mascapone. 

The service here was also exceptional. When we arrived there were the beginnings of a line. We quickly wrote our names down on the waiting list and within 10 minutes we had been seated. 

Manchester Press is deceptively small. From the outside it looks like a large warehouse, but is much smaller on the inside. Saying this, it is also a comfortable, relaxing place to sit and have a meal, or even sit down with a book and coffee. The owners have used the space well, and have of course incorporated some quirky "Melbourne" artwork. The large bowling pin in the corner of the cafe would seem out of place anywhere else. 

Banana & Blueberry Loaf

Having lived out of home for almost two years I hardly ever baked. In fact, I hardly even cooked a fancy meal. My diet consisted of mostly jar pasta sauce and toasted cheese sandwiches. Earlier this month though I had to move back into my parents place, which means I can bake a lot more often now.

I'm going to put a twist on the classic Banana Bread and am going to attempt to bake a semi-edible Banana and Blueberry Loaf.

For this recipe you will need -
1/2 cup (125ml) mashed overripe banana
1/2 cup caster sugar
140g apple fruit puree
2 eggs
1/2 (125 ml) reduced-fat milk
1 tbls olive oil
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
3/4 blueberries

Firstly you will need to preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Now it's time to mash your bananas. They're supposed to be overripe bananas, but I didn't have any for the occasion and had to settle for freshly bought ones. 

Combine the banana, sugar, apple, eggs, milk and oil in a large bowl. Then sift the flour over the mixture.

Combine the flour and banana mixture. When it is mostly combined, add the blueberries and gently fold them through.

Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. You're kitchen should now smell like heaven.  (Whatever heaven smells like)

Then let your loaf sit for 10 minutes to cool. 

I should tell you that despite the recipe working, I accidentally added three times the amount of apple puree needed, and had to scoop it all out. (oops) 

If you liked this recipe and you have any suggestions as to what I can make next, comment them below. 
If anyone does make this recipe, take a photo and tag me in it on either twitter or instagram so I can see how they turned out! :)

Dr Martens

Dr Martens, you either love them or you hate them. There is no in between I don't think. I used to hate these shoes. Recently though I've seen a few people wearing them, and I absolutely loved how they were worn. 

Another thing you should know about me is that I am one of those people who bad things happen to at precisely the wrong time. For example, as a teenager I had reasonably good skin, hardly any pimples, then the day before school photos or a date I would get a pimple to rival all pimples, ever. 

My point is, I'm moving to England in November and I can almost guarantee that something is going to happen immediately before I leave or as soon as I arrive. Probably a sickness.

So these Dr Martens are not only to try and attempt 'style', but to prevent my toes from freezing. Because without them, I'll probably get frost bite. I could be in in a snow suit, with several blankets, in front of a fire and still manage to get frost bite. 

I'm expecting another delivery of some Autumn clothes and England essentials next week. In the meantime, if anyone has any style tips for wearing Dr Martens or to survive the cold weather, comment them below. 

Melbourne Eats | No.3

Mamasita

I have finally got to visit this place! The whole time I have lived in Melbourne I keep hearing about how great it is. It was only just down the road to my place as well, and it took me 2 years to finally get here. I made it though, and it was worth it. 

It's easy to get lost trying to find this place though. Like many places in Melbourne it's hidden away. The buildng looks like an old recording studio. But don't be fooled! Just inside is the busy, little restaurant 

I was lucky when I visited as we managed to beat the lunch rush. Apparently though the line to get into Mamsita can run out the door and down the street on the best of nights. At least that's a good indication as to how delicious the food is. 

You can't eat here without trying their signature dish. The Elote callejero or as us non-spanish speakers like to call it, “street style” chargrilled corn garnished with queso, chipotle mayo & lime. At first bite I didn't really like the corn. However, I kept eating it and I definitely enjoyed it. The cheese flavour was strong, but the chili and chipotle mayo balanced the flavour nicely, and of course the sweet taste of corn. Absolutely recommend!

Elote Callejero

To add to the experience, the wait staff were lovely. They were helpful explaining what everything was, and gave good food suggestions. I would love to go back, maybe this time at night, and maybe I'll get myself a cocktail - which they had plenty to pick from. Click HERE to go to the website to check out the whole menu, drinks list and more.

Melbourne Eats | No.2

My restaurant review posts are back for a second time. Introducing another of my favourite places in Melbourne to eat - Cookie

Filled with paper dollies, rose patterned plates and golden books you can't go wrong. They typically serve Thai food. Which is amazing by the way!
I visited Cookie earlier this year for my birthday. It can be very stressful choosing a restaurant to host a dinner at. I am always worried someone is going to dislike it but I try my best to please everyone. In this case, everyone absolutely loved my choice. I definitely recommended it.

Cookie also has a magnificent rooftop terrace overlooking the Melbourne CBD. Not only that but they serve some delicious drinks - You can even create your own frozen cocktails (which are massive and super tasty)!

I had the Thai Green Curry with Sticky Rice  the last time I visited and I can't wait to return to get some more of their food in me. 

Living On A Budget

Since I've been saving my money for when I move overseas in November I have inadvertently become amazing at living on a shoestring. Here's how you can identify if you're as poor as me, or if you'd prefer - 'tips for living on a budget'.

1. Your eating habits become affected. 
Unfortunately you can't always eat the food you want and you definitely don't get to treat yourself as often. I could walk around the supermarket for hours. I visit every isle at least twice to compare prices of everything I am going to buy. Sale items are my hero. You need to be careful though because sometimes the sale items aren't the cheapest option. And like me, you might have to settle for the home brand products. 

2. You can't justify spending money on items that aren't essential at keeping you alive.
Haircuts mostly. Especially if you're a girl, the cost of having your hair done could feed a small country. I can't justify spending hundreds of dollars on something that isn't clothes, food or shelter. I've gone 7 months without visiting a hairdressers. The secret - wear a lot of hats. And that expensive makeup you want, you can all but forget it. Drug store makeup will get you through and there are honestly a lot of cheap make up products out there that are quite good. 

3. Your social life takes a turn for the worst.
Your social life definitely gets affected. I constantly find myself turning down offers to go out for dinner or to a bar because I simply don't have the money to spend. But having friends over to watch movies, or going for a walk or a window shop are good ways to save money and get out of the house. Fortunately for me, I know my efforts to save will be worth it once I'm in London.

4. You realise that you have way too much stuff you don't use. 
You start questioning why you bought that top or that dress in the first place. I've realised 90% of my wardrobe never even gets worn. I also have millions of miscellaneous items that I'll never use again and that could earn me a little bit of money and which will help fund my holiday or pay my next bill. Sell everything you don't need! 

5. You become an accidental vegetarian. 
I read this one in an article the other day and as I was reading it I realised just how true it was. I can't remember the last time I ate meat! Fruit, vegetables, pasta, bread, cheese, milk and jar pasta sauce are just about the only food items I own.

Being motivated to save for something really gives insight into how much things cost. It's worth cutting down on some things once you realise how much money you can save. And if you don't have a jar full of spare coins then you're doing it wrong.

If you have any tips for saving then comment them below - Happy saving. 

Melbourne Eats | No. 1

Melbourne is one of the best places in the world to find quirky bars, cafes and restaurants. There is also a vast variety of food because of Melbourne's huge mix of cultures. I thought I would take the opportunity through my blog to share some of my favourite places. So here's number 1. 

Hammer & Tong 412

Goats Butter Linquini

Soft Shell Crab Burger

All I can say is, amazing! This little place is located in a grungy type lane way just off Brunswick street in Fitzroy. The food in this quirky cafe/restaurant is unique and super tasty. The interior is cosy yet sophisticated and the honey for my chai latte was served in a little beaker! So cute. When I was there last I had the goats butter linquini with cured egg yolk, roquette, chilli pecorino and fried parsley (yum, I know). Hammer & Tong also serve up food at the Queen Victoria Night Markets throughout summer and winter. The price of food also doesn't break the bank. The linquini cost me $20 AUD, which is not too bad for a massive bowl of pasta. It is definitely worth a visit! Their soft shell crab burgers are also supposed to be delicious! Click HERE to check out their website.