The great ocean road and Phillip Island

After Christmas I was lucky enough to have a friend here in Melbourne with me, and we had the time to do all the things we wanted to do here. As many of you already know, I was really sick for the first few weeks of this year and due to that sickness I wasn't able to do as much as I wanted. I got antibiotics and it got better in a week. We did the great ocean road in 2 days and went to the Phillip islands. We really wanted to see the penguins but they show up around 8 PM and it's 2 hrs drive away from Melbourne so we couldn't stay that late. Luckily, there's penguins in St. Kilda as well! And I already went to see them last Friday. They're so cute.

Anyway, back to the great ocean road.
We drove the fastest way possible to Warrnambool, which is a small town on the other end of the GOR. We spent the first day there, mostly in the Place called Tower Hill wildlife reserve, short 20 min drive away from the town. I highly recommend this place! All the animals there are free, wild animals, not caged or captured. We did 1 hr long walk to the volcano and back, on the way we saw Koalas, Emus and Kangaroos. I could've easily spend the whole day there. Later that day we went to check out the beach and the whale lookout point. It's not the whale watching season but I can imagine how beautiful it would be during the season. The beach was clean and beautiful.

The first time I've seen a koala in the wild.

The next day we drove down the great ocean road and stopped at the 12 Apostles and all the best beaches. It was beautiful and a perfect day despite the 40 degree heat. It's a beautiful drive and definitely worth seeing.

Few days later we went to the Phillip island and it was another perfect day. There's a chocolate factory, multiple beaches, including the penguin point, the animal reserve and multiple restaurants. I can't begin to tell how much I love animals, so to me the animal reserve was the best thing. I fed kangaroos, wallabies, Emu's and cassowaries.  Another priceless experience.

Last few weeks I've been working and getting back to the normal work routine here in Melbourne. Next weekend is a long weekend, so I'm going to Huskisson with bunch of friends. Can't wait! The beaches there are amazing. All about that next week!

Happy incoming Australia day all!

Can there be Christmas in the middle of summer?

Oh Christmas..

What a wonderful time of the year. It's dark and chilly. There's only Christmas lights and white snow.
Days go by under the blankets drinking hot chocolate or warm Glogg. (Traditional Christmas drink)
Christmas songs play everywhere and you spend time with the whole family. And for once nobody is fighting or arguing.

At least that's my vision of Christmas.

In Australia on the other hand, October to March it's summer! The temperatures in Sydney and Melbourne can go up to 46 degrees. People eat prawns and other seafood and go spent their days by the beach. Despite the Christmas decorations I can't feel like it's Christmas. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I feel like I've skipped 2 Christmas's already.

Then again I'm loving the sun. Christmas week only I went to the beach 3 times and I'm going to keep going. I'm willing to give up Christmas in order to enjoy the sun.

This year I did all in my power to feel more like Christmas. My brother brought me some specific food's to Bali and I managed to make a pretty good traditional Christmas dinner with potato and carrot bakes, pickled turkey with Finnish creamy mustard, traditional creamy brown sauce and cinnamon buns. I even managed to find German Glogg from Dan Murphy's. It was close enough.

I moved back to Melbourne on Jan 24th. I've already done heaps of exploring and will write about those adventures later.

Ps. No new years resolution for me, I'm still trying to fulfill the promise I made 3 years ago. 

All about Bali & Lombok

Finally after all the Christmas hassle I'm ready to tell you guys about my holiday in Indonesia!
My last post I wrote about my thoughts on the plane, finally on my way to get where I wanted to go and I'm telling you now my trip did not end up being what I expected.

I got over my home sickness and I finally got to hang out with my brother. I feel like I got my urge to travel and explore back again. And this feeling is amazing!

Without further explanation, let's get to the point: My trip.

My first destination was Ubud. Ubud was beautiful, not at all what I expected. Beautiful rice fields and jungle but also a nice city center with beautiful small cafe's and shops. We had a private villa with an infinity pool. It was surely amazing and an awesome start. Unfortunately I only had 2 days there since I was 4 days late from my original plans. Our only full day in Ubud, we hired a driver who took us to a temple, hot springs, waterfalls, beach and a coffee plantation.

But just as an advice to everyone considering this kind of a trip: Don't take the offer the hotel or Villa offers. Get a private driver and it'll be at least half the price.

The second destination was Gili trawangan, which is one of the gili islands in Lombok.
Early in the morning we had organised a bus for us, to take us to the harbor. We shared a bus with heaps of other backpackers. The bus drive was few hours and following that we had a boat ride for about 1,5 hrs to Gili trawangan. I recommend to take a good backpack, nothing with wheels, they are hard to carry and really inconvenient.  There's no proper harbor so everything extra just stands on your way.

At trawangan we stayed in a hotel, owned by a finnish lady. It was a nice quiet hotel with a pool. ( Then again, everywhere was quiet cause of the volcano.) Personally I think it was the best time to travel there. We rented push bikes and cycled around the island. (Must thing to do!) We found all these beautiful spots with swings and beautiful quiet spots to relax. Most of our time in gili went exploring the island and relaxing at the beach or by the pool.

After trawangan we went to Gili meno. Personally Gili meno was NOT my favourite. I'd say it's for couples and people who wan't to be left alone and just relax in the sun. Our hotel was really, and I mean REALLY close to nature. In our 4 days there I had lizards, birds, a CRAB and a nice huntsman spider in my room or in my stuff. I love animals but all that took my sleep and peace of mind. The crab was somehow in my luggage, so when browsing my stuff I came across it. Yikes. Also the huntsman spider was in my bed. A slight nightmare in the middle of the trip.
We did go snorkeling and it was the best thing in the whole Meno island. After a minor panic attack in the water I got really into snorkeling and definitely going again soon! I saw turtles, statues, shipwreck, a moray eel and heaps of different beautiful fish. Anyways Meno island wasn't my favourite. Everything was really expensive, not much to do and it was hard to cycle around cause of the soft sand. They do have these horse carriage taxis there, but the horses look really miss treated so we decided not to support such business.

Our last destination was Seminyak, Bali. Can't begin to tell you how amazing the Villa was. It was a small paradise in the middle of loud and busy seminyak. Not complaining though, after deadly quiet Meno it was a welcome change. I could've stayed there for another week. We had a pool, a fish pond, living room, full equipped kitchen with a freezer full of magnum ice cream and a big beautiful rooms. My room was furnished with my favourite colour: Blue.

First day there we spend shopping and the second one treating ourselves. I got a manicure, pedicure, massage, waxing and a candle wax treatment. Service was great, but unfortunately the work was bad. So if you wan't to treat yourself, check a place with good ratings.
My brother and his girlfriend Jenna left a day before me, so I had a day just for my self. I saw 3 different temples, went to the local markets and to a monkey temple. I've never seen monkeys in the wild before and it was amazing! One monkey even jumped on my lap out of nowhere. What a hungry cuties. I bought them some peanuts. Unlike I was told, they didn't try to steal anything just curiously following and asking for food.

At first I was worried and thought that Bali would be like Thailand. A lot of people kept telling me that. It was nothing like it. I would go again. Not straight away but at one point. People were really polite and helpful and there was a lot to do and see. I found a few most beautiful places I've seen.

Yes, it's a common thing in Asia that people keep selling you stuff and trying to make you pay for everything, but that's the only similarity I could come up with between Thailand and Bali.

thoughts on the plane

In the beginning of last week mount Angung in Bali started to show signs of eruption and spat out ash and rocks. The government started to evacuate thousands of people and the volcano alert was on red, which is the highest level.
Monday to Wednesday Denpasar airport was shut but I was hopeful that everything will be fine by Saturday. When I got a SMS telling me my flight was cancelled I was devastated.
See I was supposed to go to Bali a year ago, before Australia. And for me it’s not just any holiday, its a vacation with my brother and his girlfriend. We had been planning this for a year. I've been writing before how I'm feeling home sick. I miss my family and friends so much and sometimes i’m second guessing my decision to stay for another year. I don’t want my feeling to impact my decision and this holiday was perfect a way to go and spent time with family. If that doesn’t help home sickness I don’t know what does.
On top of all that I was supposed to get to Bali on my brothes birthday. And I love birthdays, they are so important to me.

Makes sense why I was so broken after getting the cancellation news?

Well life has a funny way of working out and here I am, on the plane. Thankful and happy. After 4 days of heartbreak and stress. Makes me appreciate this trip even more.
I've never had a cancelled flight before and I didn’t know what to do. Luckily I have a gret travel insurance and they are happy to pay me back what the airline wouldn’t. I would say they made this possible.
Afterall everything turned out good and I didnt have to pay too much more from my new flights. Still waiting for all necessary documents from jetstar though..

I wrote this on top of Australian desert, daydreaming about my next adventure.

Life is better at sea

I grew up in an island, called Suomenlinna sea fortress. It's a beautiful place, good place to grow up. There's approx. 900 people living there and there's a elementary school there as well. I studied the first 6 grades there, and the school had 73 students. It's still there but I reckon they have fewer student's nowadays. Among them my 11 year old sister and 9 year old brother.

Suomenlinna is in the heart of Helsinki, it takes 15 mins by boat to get there from the CBD, and especially for tourists it's the place to go. There's heaps of museums and the architecture is beautiful. So much history in one place. My father and 3 of my siblings still live there.

Maybe that's why I always gravitate towards the sea. Something about oceans make me calm and I feel like home. My apartment in Helsinki is also located by the beach and here in Australia I always wanna go by the ocean.

People in Helsinki have cruising and boats close to their hearts. It's easy and fun and part of most peoples lives. I used to take a day cruise to Estonia at least 6 times a year. Cruises to Sweden are a weekend trip but I've done that too for multiple times. Luckiest people also have their own boats and going to an nearby island by the boat and make a barbeque is one of the best part of Finnish summer.

On this Monday, I had a work Christmas party. It was on a massive party boat that took off from the Sydney harbor. I have to admit I didn't expect it to be as good as it was. The theme was white, and everything was decorated white and everyone was wearing white. Except me. I was close though. I didn't want to stand out but I really don't have anything white in my wardrobe. I have a T-shirt and a basic top but I can't wear those to a party this exclusive.

There was a burger buffet, Taco buffet and a Buddha bowl buffet. Since I'm always hungry, free food do I need to say more? Also trays and trays of wine, sparkling wine, ciders and beers.
Despite free drinks, I had 3 drinks. I need a reason to drink.

The day turned out to be beautiful and it was actually hot on the boat. Good music and happy people.
I've worked with this current restaurant chain for 3 weeks, so I reckon the party would've been even better with a good friend.

Compared to previous work Christmas parties the cruise was absolutely amazing.

Sea you later. Ha ha.

Busy, busy, busy

You know the feeling when you feel like your doing absolutely nothing but actually you are doing everything?

I've been doing nothing for the last 2 weeks. And by nothing I mean everything. I've been working my ass off at the gym and working 6 days a week at work. I've been trying to fit my photo shoots somewhere in there as well, while keeping the house clean and eating right. Why is doing nothing so exhausting? Also I don't have a car, so everything takes double time. If I'm going to the gym in the morning, I need to reserve 2,5 hrs even if I'm doing a 1 hr workout. Usually when i'm going to work I need to leave an hour early cause the next bus would be late and by car it would be a 10 min trip. Everybody gets what I'm saying here?

Oh yeah, I'm going to Bali in less than 2 weeks and haven't even had time to think about that. Maybe tomorrow, when it's my first day off this week.

Last weekend I had a friend over, she lives in manly so she decided to spend the night. I haven't seen her in 8 months but I literally had 10 hours with her, since I was working Friday and Sunday and she was working Saturday morning and only got here 4 PM. It was really good seeing her though. I really needed some girl time.

I've been feeling really home sick lately, after all I've been here for a year already. Today's my baby nieces naming party. I wish I could be there. I spoke to my sister on the phone today, and she promised to send me heaps of pictures. I can't believe my sister had a baby almost 4 months ago and I still haven't seen her. I've got a lot of pictures and I must say shes got her mommas beauty.

And all the above is a reason why I got myself a present. It's been ages since I last had an advent calendar, but this year I got the Nyx lippie countdown- calendar. I'm a bit obsessed with lipsticks and I can't wait it to be December! I mean just look at it.

Like I said, few good photo shoots coming next week. Stay tuned, it's going to be awesome.🔜🔜

A fresh start

Like I've written before, I started things here wrong. Okay, maybe not wrong but differently than I planned. I mean I just expected everything to be great and all my problems solved just to learn that it doesn't work that way. And it took me a while to realize that.

Now, after a long 11 months, I finally feel like I'm going in the right direction and doing things the way I intended in the first place. I feel like I've got a fresh start. Another year ahead of me, with no regional work and limitations. I've got heaps of working experience and I'm braver than ever. I've got many positive things to be happy and thankful about, for example;

1. I live in a nice house, where I can be happy and myself.
2. I'm working in a nice environment with less hours.
3. I don't have to stress over long hours and two different jobs and no sleep.
4. My training is going better than ever.
5. I'm going on a holiday soon, somewhere I've never been before and I get to see my brother!
6. Planning on moving to another city in January.
7. I've got a trip planned to go visit Finland next summer! ( winter here, so confusing)
8. Summer is here!

I've been thinking about Christmas too.. Christmas doesn't feel like Christmas here, so I'm just going to have another year here without it and It's fine. My sister Tanja just wrote to me yesterday that she hopes that we could all spend the holidays together. It would be amazing. I invited her here, but will see if it's even possible. Tickets must be ridiculously expensive around holidays.

I have a road trip planned with my best friend around Christmas. It's the perfect getaway. We'll see who's head is going to explode first driving across Australia for 4-5 days in a row. Literally across Australia. And I will be driving at least third of the way. Can't wait. It'll be amazing, just another way to explore all the amazing places!

Now, as soon as the rain is going to stop, I'll switch into my bikinis and go for a swim.

Peace& Love yall