Always Been Like a Hummingbird

I love the Weepies and I love this song.  I know that people say this all the time and that every time they do it just ends up making them sound really stupid and cliche but I'm gonna say it anyways: I really feel like this song describes me.  Yes, really.

"Always been like a hummingbird and I can't keep still.  Listen up, lover listen up, I never will."  

My whole life, I've always felt restless, always wanting to flit from place to place, never satisfied with where I am and always looking for something bigger.  A sweeter or more vibrant flower, if you want to continue on with the hummingbird simile.  Or perhaps it's more that I don't want to stop until I've visited every flower in the garden.  I know it's not always a good way to be and I do try to enjoy the present and live in the moment and all that good stuff. But perhaps it's not all bad.  My restless nature means I'm always moving, never sitting still.  Hence my blog's website name, "at least she isn't standing still".  I know that I can never be happy if my life is too stagnant.  It keeps things interesting, that's for sure.

Anyways, here's a picture of the adorable couple that calls themselves The Weepies:

If you've never heard of the Weepies, be sure to check em out.  They're kind of like a mix between indie and easy listening I think and they're one of my favorite things to listen to when I just want to sit back, relax and be lighthearted.

The Most Mentionable Unmentionables

So I have another confession to make and this may seem a little bit strange, but I have recently become completely obsessed with buying pretty lingerie.  Is that weird?  Or do most girls obsess over having perfectly matched bras and panties (blech I hate that word) like I do?  


Anyways, after having worn the same five ugly, worn-out bras over and over again for the past year straight (ya know, because I'm a backpacker and didn't exactly have the luggage space pack a bra for every occasion), I decided that it was time to invest in some new ones.  Given that I currently live in a rather remote location, and also that the closest physical shops selling lingerie are either Target or ones that cater to teenagers, I opted for a little online shopping.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing Target, I think Target is great.  I was just after something with a little more sex appeal.  


Also, out of curiosity, I tried to use the internet to find out what kind of lingerie guys actually like since I know that a lot of the times the things that I think are sexy may not actually be all that sexy.  It turns out that every guy is different (go figure).  Some guys like little lacy things, some like basic cotton, some prefer garters and stockings, and some guys prefer you to wear nothing at all.  The conclusion that I finally came to after all of this intensive research is that, ladies, you should just wear whatever the hell makes you feel good because there is no way you can possibly please 'em all.


Now I guess you're probably hoping that I'll eventually get to the point of this post.  Ok, here it is:  I love La Senza lingerie.  Now I bet you are thinking "why the %$&*# couldn't you have just said that and saved me the trouble of reading all that other crap?"  Because that's just not how I roll.  So get over it.  


La Senza is an Australian lingerie line that has physical shops all over the country, but also has a pretty nifty online store that you can visit by clicking here.  I know that it can be pretty intimidating trying to buy bras that you can't actually try on but I guarantee you that if you use La Senza's bra measuring guide and fitting chart, you will end up with a perfect fit every time.  Their lingerie is super sexy, high quality, great fitting, and most importantly, AFFORDABLE!  


Check out some of these super mentionable unmentionables that you can score at La Senza:

 

    

Like 'em?  Here're some more:

 

 



I highly recommend the No-Show Brazilian, the black lace one pictured underneath the aqua blue bra.  It's comfortable, sexy, and definitely lives up to its no-show promise.  I definitely recommend investing in some pretty underpinnings.  As frivolous as it may sound, wearing something fierce underneath your work clothes can make a woman feel a little bit more fierce all that way through.


In other news, it was nice and sunny today in Dingo Beach but it was still cold.  I don't particularly like the cold weather because it severely limits my choice of activities to do on my days off.  But I guess it's good practice for the chilliness that I'm in for when I head over to New Zealand in a couple weeks, right?  Optimism is good.


I hope you all are having a lovely day, where ever in the world you are!


Cheers,


Amanda

Things Backpackers Do

Throughout the course of my travels, especially over the past few months since I left Sippy Downs, I've noticed some funny things about backpackers.  Much like college freshmen, young travelers on a budget often do things or find themselves in circumstances that would be socially unacceptable, or at least frowned upon (not to mention frequently illegal) by most of modernized society.  The following is a list of things that backpackers do to save or make a few bucks (yes, I'm including myself here) that they would probably never dream of doing on their home turf.  If you ever get caught doing one of these things, It's probably best to use one of the following phrases to explain your actions: "I'm a backpacker" or "I just wanted to remember the good old days when I was backpacking around (insert continent here)"

Ready to board the train at Nambour Station.  Maybe I should call myself a suitcaser.

Ok here goes...


When you are backpacking, it is perfectly acceptable to:

• Earn travel money by doing back-breaking physical labor, no matter what qualifications or previous job experience you may have.  Even better if it's on a farm or involves 'housekeeping', a.k.a. cleaning hotel rooms.

• Sleep on the beach, in your car, on a park bench, in the woods/bush, or on any other surface where you can lay out a sleeping bag or tent.  Hopefully you've been smart enough to avoid well-patrolled areas, otherwise you are likely to get arrested or fined.

• Sleep in super sketchy hostels that cost $10 per night for a bed in a dorm room that you share with 19 other smelly backpackers.

• Sleep on couches that belong to random people that you met on the internet.  It's called couch surfing, dude.  It has the word 'surfing' in it.  That makes it cool!

• Hitch-hike.  I think that one is self-explanatory.

• Walk really far distances carrying ridiculous amounts of stuff on your back and/or in your arms.

• Buy a really cheap unregistered car from a complete stranger and hope that it doesn't fall apart before you make it to (insert city or land mark here).

• Stuff said car full of everything you could possibly need for your trip until it starts to resemble a homeless man's shopping trolley.  Make sure it's so full that you can't actually find anything when you need it.  Also, a real backpacker would never, ever clean their car.  Ever.

• Heat a tin of beans on a portable camping stove and then eat it straight out of the pan.  For a backpacker, this is a perfectly acceptable and healthy dinner alternative to McDonald's.

• Go to events or night clubs just because they are offering you free food.

• Actually eat the sketchy looking free pizza or sausages that they give out at aforementioned events.

• Get drunk on wine that comes in a silver bag.  This is called goon.  Goon is your friend.  Drink it straight out of the bag, because you most likely won't have any cups around.  It would also be acceptable to pour the wine out of the bag and into a bowl or coffee mug in order to enhance your goon-drinking experience.  Make sure you finish the whole bag of wine in one night.

• Inflate said empty wine bag and use it as a pillow when you pass out for the night.  On a picnic table in a public park.

• Not shower for a few days at a time.  Same goes for shaving and tooth-brushing.

• Find wild-growing fruits, nuts, and veggies and eat them.  Or 'buy' them from unattended produce stands that have been set up along the side of the road.  These stands usually operate on the 'honor system' but we already know that backpackers have no honor, so usually these foods can be procured for free.

• Hook up with a different person every night.  Even better if they don't speak your language.  Even betterer if you play European country bingo... you know... one from each country in Europe.  Wait, is that slutty?  Oops.

This is all  I can think of for now but feel free to add your own in the comments.  I will keep adding more as I think of them.  Backpacking is awesome.  Yay!  Also, this doesn't mean that I have actually done all of these things... or does it?


In other news, it's rainy and cold in Dingo Beach today.  That makes me an unhappy camper.  After nearly a solid year of non-stop summer, I had almost forgotten what it felt like to be cold.  Me no likey!  Also, it's looking like I will finish working here after the Queen's birthday long weekend, which is the weekend of June 10th.  After that, I will stick around for a few days and hang out with all of the awesome residents of Dingo Beach before I head of on my next adventure.  Hopefully it won't rain the whole time.


Cheers,


Amanda

A video tour of the Dingo Beach Hotel

Hi there!


Ever wondered what it would be like to walk through the Dingo Beach pub?  Well if so, you are in luck!  I just happen to have this awesome video here that shows me walking from my apartment, through the pub, and all the way out to the beach!  

It's pretty much the first video I have ever made. Ever.  So I know it's not very professional but I was mostly making for the purpose of showing my family where in the world I've been hanging out lately so go easy on me ok?


I hope you enjoy my little tour!

Cheers,

Amanda

I have a confession to make...

... When I walk out onto Dingo Beach and I find that there's no one else around, I put in my headphones, turn up my iPod, and dance...

And sometimes I climb rocks and do yoga...

But I definitely don't use my camera's timer function to take silly self portraits.

Yes.  Yes, it was.

In other news, I am still loving life here at Dingo Beach.  It's simple, relaxing, and beautiful in every way.  Sadly, though, my time here is quickly coming to an end.  I will be spending some time this week planning out the 'grand finale' of my crazy roller-coaster year of travel.  I'll be journeying across the big blue to go to New Zealand and experience a little winter wonderland before heading back stateside.  But not to worry, I may be leaving Oz soon but the adventures are far from over.

Cheers,

Amanda

How I Want My Life to Look

Last year, STA Travel sent three friends on an epic six week journey around the world.  All of their amazing experiences were jumbled all together and crammed into this amazing 1-minute promotional video.  STA Travel is another Australian travel company that caters specifically to students and young people, much like the company that I currently work for, Peterpans.  They may be a rival but STA's commercial was just too bad ass for me to not share it!

 

So in case you somehow missed out on the title of this post, THIS is what I want my life to look like.  To some, this lifestyle -trekking around the world like this, moving from place to place, being broke and dirty, sleeping on a hard mattress in a dorm room with 7 other people, making new friends with strangers every day- may sound like a nightmare.  To me, this looks like the ultimate adventure! 

Change is in the Air!

Dear readers,

I have taken a long sabbatical from writing in my blog in light of some unexpected life changes that came about a few months ago.  I will take the time later to enlighten you about those changes, but for now, I have been working on a new design and new concept for my blog.  Yep, things are going to be a little bit different around here from now on.  I will be focusing much more on my travels and adventures here in Australia and much less on... well, all the other stuff.   You can look forward a new post or two all about the amazing week that I had at the Mooloolaba Beach Backpackers and perhaps a little bit about what I've been doing since the last time I posted.  Until then, please check out my new page which is entitled "My Story" to learn a little bit more about me and my previous travel adventures.  It can be found amongst the tabs at the top of the page.  It's a work in progress, as always, but I'm feeling really good about the upcoming changes in my life and on this blog.

Stay classy, planet Earth!

Cheers,

Amanda