Working Holiday in Melbourne- Part 2

How fast time flies when you're having fun SO BUSY YOU CAN'T EVEN HAVE A JOG!

To be honest I could get up earlier and jog before work but... but... well, there's always a reason, right?

Anyway the reason for my packed schedule is a combination of having kind-of sorted my life out as I intended to in my last post, and also just being so overwhelmed with how much there is to see and do here that I am scared (yes, terrified) of missing out of anything I'd regret! YOLO induces FOMO- fact.

The view from my friend's city pad I stayed in before sorting my life out

A couple of days after my skills test and interview at a temp recruitment agency (Shave HR), I got my first gig working for the Australian Red Cross processing donations for the Queensland Floods, Tasmanian Bushfires and other disaster appeals. It isn't the most... challenging work but I'm always keen to try new things and learn new skills, even if it leads me to the conclusion that I do not want to do this kind of work- I need more stimulation! Though I have made some wonderful friends, gained useful office experience and I do love the notes the elderly tend to include with their donations reading "God Bless the work that you do in times of crisis" and such like- I'd consider working for a not-for-profit again, even if just for those snippets of joy that brighten my day and all the other amazing things about working for a charity, like staff who bake cakes...

I also found a flat! Gumtree is such a great resource for people on a WHV, there are a few other flatmate-finding sites but Gumtree really is the monopolizer of all things free, cheap, short-term and occasionally odd. Amid the ads for 'free rooms depending on what you're willing to do' (GULP) I found a fully-furnished room for short-term let in the cool hipster suburb of Brunswick with a lovely housemate, goldfish and many terrariums. Happy days!

Chinese New Year Market on Southbank

Between work, shopping and exploring the city with my new and old friends it's hard to find time to look for The Job, but I'm working on it. Melbourne has so many festivals and events on during summer (which is drawing to a close here) that I've been spoilt for choice- more on that at a later date! I have had fabulous times at the St Kilda Festival, Chinese New Year celebrations and the Queen Victoria Night Market recently, but I do tend to oversubscribe myself to things I want to do!

St Kilda Festival for my second year in a row- sang along to Pez's Festival Song, fest so apt!

Take last weekend for instance; between after-work drinks in the city (including the cool but crate-clad Section8 and $12 jugs at La La Land), Mexican fare from Guzman y Gomez (bit obsessed with this place atm), laundry, groceries, Skype dates, a jog, some op-shopping in second-hand stores, a rad festival party in St Kilda, a wonderful free outdoor symphony orchestra concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, the artsy White Night festival that took over the CBD, all-you-can-eat Indian, garage sale browsing, markets and a movie marathon- who even has time to check out the pre-Savers sale stock you want to buy never mind job-hunt!? Well, I fitted that in too and got some bargains on their 50% off night on Monday!

Repeat after me: I-Must-Be-Less-Sociable-And-More-Disciplined... but doesn't Live-Life-To-The-Fullest have a better ring to it?

Enjoying Mozart and wine at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl

My Working Holiday in Melbourne- Part 1

On visiting Australia as a tourist less than a year ago (more on that HERE) I absolutely fell in love with this country; I had an amazing time with friends in Sydney and Adelaide and more fun than is probably healthy travelling up the beautiful East Coast to Cairns, though it was the wonderful city of Melbourne that I saw myself returning to.

<3 This City

I was told by a friend that Sydney is like a glamorous trophy girlfriend, but Melbourne is the woman you spend the rest of your life with- a metaphor I think fits perfectly. Almost a year later, here I am in the bosom of my 'wife' on a Working Holiday Visa, (£240 in GBP atm) seeking full-time employment and a fun house-share for at least the rest of the year, and I'm one happy camper (well, lodger) for choosing to do so.

Aussies are like Northerners without coats on; they're friendly, they like to drink and they will go out of their way to help you (or so I have found). Luckily I have fantastic friends and their accommodating families who are letting me stay until I find my feet, and I've almost been having too much fun so far to sort my life out; getting to know the best places to eat and drink (more on that coming soon), attending the Tennis Open, exploring the city and its laneways, its suburbs and shopping districts, making friends and even going wake-boarding on the Murray River during an Australia Day camping weekend- yeah mate!

Having fun at the Open in the freebie and photo-op rich stalls :)

I have however done the basics, all in my first trip to the mall:

• I got an Aussie phone number ($30/month for a pretty good Optus deal, do this first!)
• I set up a Commonwealth Bank account (needs a $50 deposit to get it going for a $6 charge)
• I applied for a Tax File Number (you need this for finding a job but it's super easy to apply for online)
• I registered for Medicare (similar to the NHS but you pay a portion of your fees; Britain has a 'reciprocal agreement' with Australia so we get cut-price healthcare too).

Now my building-a-life activities include adding jobs to my rapidly-growing Seek shortlist, signing up for recruitment agencies for some temping work while I find The Job (TBC), and prowling Gumtree and house-share sites to find a friendly, non-creepy bunch of people I can move in with on a short-term basis. If you're staying in a hostel first you might meet like-minded peeps who you can find a house together with, just make sure they have some degree of personal hygiene first!

Moving to Australia for a year or two needn't be stressful if you adopt the laid-back vibe of those who surround you once you get here. Be prepared, do your research and keep on top of your to-do list once you get here and everything will (hopefully) fall into place, or so I hope :)

Apparently it's snowing in the UK. SHAME :p

Feeling Crafty- Handmade Cards, Gifts and Jewellery

As a gift for my friend's adorable baby I made this little name plaque, to go with the awesome NY Yankees romper I got her in the states. There's loads of cool handcrafted gift ideas on sites like Etsy so why not give it a go, it might even be good enough to actually give as a present (unlike last year's decorated xmas candles that now gather dust on my loft!)

For the M- I punctured holes through thick textured card, threaded through pink ribbon and added a sequin.
A- I did a similar thing with pink beads threaded onto sparkly thread to form an 'A'.
C- I cut the motif from my Christening ribbon (sentimental!) into a 'C' shape.
I- Sparkly sequins threaded together to form a line were finished off with a heart sequin.
E- I cut pink tissue paper into the right shape and stuck on a duck shaped button.
Et Voila!

Also check out these cute handmade cards I made for friends and family this winter in moments of pure and unadulterated crafting bliss...

Mother Bear's card, pamper voucher and handmade leaf earrings (well, I bought the components and put them together!) 

Granda loves living in the Lake District almost as much as he loved my card :)

Metallics, sheer ribbon and buttons add texture to my fancy floral creations

Snazzy card I made for my last day at work.

I'm also partial to a bit of jewellery-making as you may have gathered in previous posts, but here are some of the friendship bracelets I made at camp, and a few necklaces made by my own two manicure-starved hands:

L-R: This tiny bottle and dried flower were a gift from a very creative CouchSurfing host I had the pleasure of meeting in West Philadelphia, which I added to a shoelace. Resourceful!

The swirly black pendant is a Fimo creation made at Camp in New York, as were the galaxy-inspired beads beside it, all threaded onto leather.
The hamsa hand (symbolising protection) and the monochrome amulet were made using copper enameling which I'll go into a little more detail on below, and the wooden cross was a rainy day project in Byron Bay on the east coast of Australia.

The back of the hamsa hand above shows the 'before' finish to these pieces of copper, but they look far more interesting with a little coloured enamel, especially in the ombre style I carefully created above. At camp we sprinkled the sanded copper shaped with coloured powdered enamel (more on that HERE- thanks again eHow!), VERY CAREFULLY carried to the oven and baked. I prefer the one on the suede cord but the beaded one has an ethnic charm I also quite like!

These heart earrings were also made using the copper enameling technique, I just stuck some earring posts to the back to make them functional!

Next I think I'd like to make these cool framed heart-shaped maps of places I love, or this Robert Indiana style 'Love' button creation (ha- love button) from Not On The High Street as I DO love buttons!

Treasured Jewellery; Old and Made-New

I am so full of love for my favourite vintage almost-shiny things that I MUST share their stories with you. 

I emphasise 'stories' because that's what I love about old things; they have their own past, present and future often NOT akin to "manufactured in Asia, distributed to UK, sold in Workington Topshop last week"- though yesterday I did buy this adorable ring-bracelet (ringlet? racelet?! Sounds like an Ann Summers product) in Toppers after watching Great Expectations at the cinema with Pops. It made me happier than the film at least!

Below is a charm bracelet I've been working on and I love it so much I don't actually want to wear it in case I lose it! The chain itself was my Mum's from her 18th Birthday and I added to it some charms from my Great Aunty Margaret's charm bracelet, which mostly consisted of Canadian maple leaves due to her family in Ontario.

I have bought charms in New Zealand, Australia, Tokyo, England and both coasts of the US so far, and am always on the lookout for new ones to add!

Personal favourites so far include the acorn that opens to reveal a squirrel, the mini bible containing tiny printed pages and the statue of liberty- though the gramophone handle actually turns which is just DARLING too!

While in San Fran I dragged my friend to Treasure Island Flea Market to hunt for some treasure of our own and boy did I find some!

The pendant on the left is actually a clip-on earring that I've clipped to the central pearl on an old necklace, and the stone at the top is just threaded onto a gold chain so I have to make sure it doesn't flip over while I'm wearing it. Must fix that... Actually while I was in the Town Hall Antiques shop in Woburn Sands, Milton Keynes last week I got this matching brooch too (oh and if you're in the area, The Black Horse is delicious!).

The tiny cuckoo clock and the key I got in a 'thrift store' in upstate NY where I worked at camp. The woman who owned it was such a darling she gave me a discount on all the things I was buying including this sparkle-tastic embellished cape-top...

The feather earrings I made by just attaching the feathers I got at the flea market to earring hooks using little metal hoops like you find on the ends of necklaces, and I intend to give a pair to my Mum as a gift this Xmas.

I also made these cute-as-a-button earrings by super gluing some of my Gran's beloved button collection to flat-fronted earring backs I had in my old craft box (who am I kidding- one of the many craft boxes that litter my loft!) and gave two pairs of them to my lovely friends for their Birthdays last week. 

I have made loads of button earrings in the past, including the three heart-shaped pairs below I made at camp. The closest ones are actually copper shapes that I sanded and dusted with enamel then baked to set- gotta love Camp's Arts and Crafts department! The middle Cath Kidston buttons and the floral ones were sent to me in Birthday parcels from adoring friends whilst I was in the US- thanks guys! 

If you don't have any earring backs like I've used above you can use old earrings as long as they are flat-ish, I've used flowers and smileys before but the ones below were stuck to old heart studs. 

Back to Aunty Margaret's hand-me-down heirlooms now, just to show you my new favourite old rings...

...And some of my favourite vintage necklaces. This tiny locket was my Mum's from when she was a Bridesmaid and contains photos of her parents (my grandparents), and the larger one contains photos of my Grandad and his Mum <3

These final three tarnished treasures were my Grandma's- the bottom one being a gift my Grandad bought her for their wedding anniversary- they were married 56 years and had the kind of love that just doesn't seem to exist anymore. Watch this space for the love story of their lives that I must get round to writing one of these days... I am sure it would be better than the stories behind the items in my jewellery box!

Xmas Jewelry and Clothing SALE!

SO because of my penchant for shopping and partying, I have a wardrobe that's bursting at the seams with party-perfect dresses and other clobber and a very empty bank balance! PLUS a treasure-chest of jewelry that I can't possibly take with me on my upcoming move to Melbourne,

My remedy- another clear-out SALE! Now any of you readers who also enjoy a bargain can peruse my items and make me an offer- WIN WIN- I get dosh, you get a fabulous new addition to your wardrobe!

Simply comment the post, tweet me @staceybarnes276 or email me at hellostaceybarnes@gmail.com to make me an offer or express your interest!

Happy Shopping!

All Saints Gainborough Dress- Size 10, worn once! Beautiful embellishment (who doesn't love sparkles), SOLD

Size 10 Zara dress- thick material, very flattering, would look adorable with a collared shirt layered underneath! £8

Size 10 ASOS puff-sleeve dress, concealed back zip, silky material,  dusky pink, also in blue (see below!)

£10 each for both for £15- SOLD!

Same as above, different sexy colour! Size 10

Silky pink floral dress, not really the season for it but it's too pretty to leave out! Only worn for this shoot! Would fit size 8 or 10, very short so not suitable for super tall people! £10

Hot Pink silky dress, NEVER WORN! Size 10, pretty bow tie at the back, SOLD

Galactic print jumpsuit from A Wear,  would fit 8-12,  elasticated waist with tie, worn once! SOLD

Forever 21 purple zip dress (watch your friends don't zip it off you on a night out!)  Size 10,  £8

Topshop frilly-sleeve blouse, cute buttons just under bust, very low neckline, would fit size 8 or 10, reminds me of fireworks! £5

Puff sleeve Dorothy Perkins top, would fit size 8, 10 or small -busted 12. £5

Also, fancy something SNUGGLY this cold coming winter?

GLORIOUS double-breasted vintage cardigan, nice and snug, bright and cheery! £5

Looking for something SPARKLY to reem-up a plain outfit?

Sequin floral blazer, feels kinda festive! £5

Vintage brooches with working pin fastenings, make me an offer!

Pea-pod necklace. Awesome

Letter-side of necklace

Postcard side- cute as a button

Chunky heart necklace from House of Fraser,  smooth on front and cut like a precious gem on the back :)

Big Apple necklace

OWLY!

Pretty in pink and pewter statement necklace with ribbon tie

Chunky marble-effect red and grey statement necklace

Charm bracelet with clock- two lovely things in one!