When the Cheshire emerges...

With a lack of blogs coming your way, you can probably tell I've kept myself quite busy lately. Working as hard as I feel I do, I come home not wanting to do much more than cook and then crash on the couch to watch TV.

Because of this I've realised more and more that I'm working for the weekend. Whether that's a two-day break or split shifts it doesn't matter, my days off are becoming precious commodities. And while I haven't been able to get out on the road or even do the real touristy Darwin things like I thought I would, I'm still making the most of my spare time.

A large part of that has included nights out. I've done a few different things, from gigs to birthday drinks - but it's the amount of clubbing (Darwin-style, where anything goes) I've done that's surprised me. I knew I still had something in me after Dubbo purely because my time there had provided somewhat of a hiatus from heavy bouts of nighttime madness. But going out just about every weekend here has made me feel 19 again - like my energy has fully returned after some time.

Look at this! I mean, I'm not exactly old but I feel this is a decent achievement. I guess why I feel like my youth's back is that I'm just really enjoying myself while actually maintaining stamina. This weekend was big in that I went out Friday, worked Saturday, went out bigger that night and still socialised for the bulk of yesterday. And I felt alright in hindsight.

Talking with friends, I know by the mid-20s going out hard loses its appeal to a lot of people. And that's fair enough, we all look for different things. For me, to know I still have the energy to do it is a positive. I think the climate and chilled lifestyle here has a bit to do with having that - it's warm all the time and you want to stay out, and there's people nearly always willing to do something. This is just something that suits me extremely well right now.

Not me. But I was runner-up, so I got pretty close!

Photos: CHERYL BURKE, Daily Liberal

At this point in my life, after having moved from home and promising myself 2012 was going to be another adventure, the chance to become Dubbo Showgirl came along and I was encouraged to enter.

But what the hell was a showgirl?

I found out very quickly that these contests are taken very seriously as winners represent their city/town's annual show and help to promote it through their 12-month involvement. It's about understanding how agriculture affects your area, but also promoting how much effort goes into creating the event that showcases the best in everything from animals to cookery to crafts.

But on top of that it's just as much about promoting yourself and getting out there to network with people, so I thought "why not?" and took a chance. I didn't think it mattered that I was a newcomer to the city - figured I could always use a bit of self-promotion for that reason, and travelling to assist with other shows on top of Dubbo's sounded like a lot of fun.

To be completely honest, there were some awesome prizes involved too. Uh, holiday anyone?



The first and third placegetters, Kennedy and Sarah, were lovely and both around my age. I've detailed before how moving can take its toll socially, and it was nice to meet a couple of like-minded girls for a nice day out.

We were interviewed separately before being treated to a nice luncheon, and given our entrant sashes which were red.

A potential faux pas was dismissed as I was encouraged to still wear my red dress for the night presentation as I had planned.




Turns out that was eventually covered by a light blue one with some added bling which is awesome. I've never had a sash before, so to get two was a pretty big deal by night's end. The presentation, a cocktail party with family, friends and sponsors, was good fun. I believe I spoke well when briefly interviewed in front of the party and was glad that Jess and her friend Lorah visiting from Sydney came out as my support. I also found support later from others who congratulated me for stepping outside of my comfort zone, another example of the friendliness of the place.

I was relieved that the process was all within one day... and I'm so happy with this result. I'm still involved in the Dubbo Show to some degree with Kennedy (placing sashes on cattle was mentioned), so I'll be sure to write up on my involvement in two weeks time. And hey, I got sashes, gorgeous flowers and good (free) food. Good times :D

PS: Still found time on returning home to watch the Crows beat Sydney. Double win.

-------

*I have two photos entered in the current Qatar Reflections competition. Please show your support for me by voting for either photo! Short backstory and links here.

That was meant to be my last cake for a while, but I needed to use up ingredients. After this I should stop or I'll make people fat.

The time you spend on overseas trips should be amazing. It's a time where you forget about everything you know and just roll with what you want to see and do.
(Okay, you can't forget your bankcard details and how to say 'hello, how are you' in any given language...)

Writing for a living now, I expected that a three-week holiday wouldn't present any problems in keeping up to date with my thoughts. The two weeks in New Zealand particularly were meant to be very relaxed.

But as I discovered once again, I'm notorious for not being able to keep up to speed.

Edinburgh, 2011

In New Zealand and on my European trips, I loved sitting in a cafe and just wiling away a couple of hours over decent sweets and processing my recent experiences. Sitting in JK Rowling's seat at The Elephant House writing as she did for Harry Potter was pretty awe-inspiring to say the least.

But all in all, my European travels were bad. For trip one (2010) I wrote about 30,000 words after coming home, which I think took the better part of two weeks, or months maybe. Trip two last year is even worse. Yes, IS.

I'm still trying to recount events.

From as early as April when I left. IT'S APRIL AGAIN NOW. Let's just say I've had a huge weight on my shoulders for some time.

Queenstown, 2012

Back on New Zealand, I had too good a time to be writing to myself every night. It was more chilled overall but I still wandered around places more than expected. So instead of writing a blog for my lovely readers last night (whoever you may be, make yourselves known one day and say hi :D ), I focused on finishing the latest thing that I'd started. And at 11:58pm I was DONE.

A massive wave of relief came over me, as well as a blistered finger and cramped arm. Yes, I hand-wrote it all. And that was only for a three-week trip.

I've been working on and off on collecting Europe 2011 thoughts for some time, but with this achievement (and a welcome change in working hours) I think I'm on a roll. The sense of achievement I'll feel when this is done will be UN.BE.LEIVE.A.BLE, because I AM going to do it.

DO you have a bad record with diary entries on holidays? I feel like I'm the worst in the world so I'd love to hear what anyone thinks!