We often like to kick these blogs off with a little comparison about why the cold, dark wintery gloom of Britain is in such stark juxtaposition with the summer sun and lovely girls in lovely thongs strutting the beaches of Sydney.
Yet as we approached May and, despite years of conditioning to the contrary, we got our hopes up that a beautiful British summer was hiding behind those clouds, just waiting with scorching 15 degree temperatures, irritable wasps looking for a cider to sit in and tattooed football fans looking to fight over whose pint the wasp's drowning in, you can understand our worry over this month's working holiday blog.
But then the rain came.
So, we've had nearly a month of rain here but, in true British fashion, we are also in a drought. Nearly constant, torrential downpour for almost a month and we still can't use our hosepipes, only in Britain. I don't know who wants to use their hosepipes when even the pavement is getting soggy but still, if they wanted to, they couldn't, under penalty of death (or moderate fines).
In conclusion, has our description of why being in Britain in May isn't a good idea ever really been this easy?
Platinum Card members can get across
Australia for just 4 cents a kilometre
with Greyhound buses.
New Offer - Get a Greyhound 500km pass for AU$20!
Didn't think so, so if you're in Australia in May, not only are you the place to be right now but we also have a brand new offer for our platinum card members to add to all this cool stuff going on Down Under in May!
As usual we've got plenty of stuff to do across Australia but this month, for Platinum Card members only we've got Greyhound bus passes for just AU$20!
So what, I hear you say, we don't know how much they normally cost so how is that a saving?
Well, they usually cost AU$107 so I'm sure the quick witted amongst you..........and now the rest of you, have figured out that's a saving of AU$87 and the pass will get you 500km across Australia, that's 4 cents a kilometre!
To capitalise on this most awesome of awesome offers, just go to Greyhound and enter the code VISAKM in the 'promo' code box at checkout!
This might be dead, it might not be.
Grab your fork and find out.
Sea food and eat it.
First up, we've got a lovely bit of grub to kick off May with a bang. If you're sick of discussing whether or not Marmite is nice (it's not), if Kangaroo tastes good (it does) or if Fosters is a decent beer (it's not) then you might be ready for something a little different.
Well if you happen to be in Queensland this week, head on down to Brisbane for the 18th annual Caxton Street Seafood and Wine Festival on the 6th of May for some great seafood and wine on the street, beat that for a description.
15,000 people turned up last year to sample some of the amazing delights on the menu as well as see the great line-up of performers.
It'll definitely be better than drinking Fosters and discussing Marmite.
Killin' it with St Kilda
Film festivals are top places to be, you can watch trashy films that would never make it on TV let alone the cinema and see some incredibly J list celebrities before bragging shamelessly to your friends later that you just watched the new Citizen Kane while being best man at Kevin Spacey's wedding at 'a really underground indy film festival you won't have heard of'.
If you're in Melbourne between the 22nd and the 27th you could have that very opportunity, while you might not meet the K-Space or see the next Citizen Kane, the St Kilda Film Festival 2012 still has plenty of great films from all genres and cultures on show for you to not fully appreciate, and then brag about later.
Them feathers are all natural baby.
I would go out tonight, but I haven't got a stitch to wear
Backpacking is scruffy business: living out of an ageing backpack, washing your clothes as a Christmas present and spending months at a time in Saharan levels of heat probably isn't doing the best for your limited collection of threads.
Don't worry though as anyone in Adelaide between the 24th and 26th you can restock your depleting threads on the cheap, the very cheap. The Salvos Stores MASSIVE Clothing Sale takes place across almost all of the South Australian stores and, best bit, everything is AU$2,99!
Nearly nudity, tassles and boa feathers
We didn't need a more poetic title than that, we've got you now.
Burlesque is a traditionally sensual and evocative art form dedicated to the beauty that is woman which has, unfortunately, been high jacked by stripping and the whole art form has been lumped in with the clear heels, unwashed thongs and slight desperation that all men really see at strip clubs.
At least that's the flawless argument you can use when going to the Perth International Burlesque Festival between the 24th and 27th of this month.
The first annual Burlesque Festival celebrates everything about Burlesque with lessons, live shows, workshops and some of the best names in Burlesque.
Admit it though, we had you at the headline.
The Sydney Opera House during Vivid
Sydney, you're alright, you'll be alright, it'll
wear off soon.
Delight in light in the Sydney sky at night
Sydney's iconic harbour sits comfortably in a list of the world's best sites to see: Times Square, the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, the Visa Bureau offices, the Great Pyramid at Giza, Lassie's gravesite, any self respecting listmaker will always include the Opera House.
So, no doubt if you're over that way you'll already have seen it, perhaps even taken some hilarious picture where you're leaning against it or have your fingers on the top, you're so clever and original.
But if you haven't done that, or even if you have then get yourself back down to the harbour any time after the 25th to see Vivid Sydney, when for 18 days, the city becomes a blank canvas to be covered with light and music in a kaleidoscopic of architecturally epic proportions.
It'll be like an acid trip you can't escape, doesn't that sound nice?
- Dominic Ladden-Powell is the Online Editor with the Australian Visa Bureau, an independent migration consultancy specialising in helping people lodge applications for a Working Holiday Visa to Australia.
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