the beginning of catching up

So it seems that I haven’t yet been able to bite the non-blogging demon and it has again been over a week since I last posted.  As such – below is the beginning of me recapping the occurrences of late:

Since last we left me I had just been to the Kimbra concert (ah-mazing) and I had bought her album on vinyl – although I did have one slight problem, my record player was broken. My lovely mother picked up on this within my inane ramblings about everything and anything and managed to grab me a new record player on catch of the day (thanks mum!) It won’t be the best quality – but it will allow me some time to save up to get a super-duper awesome player that I really want (one that looks vintage, possible in a wood casing…). I just picked it up from the Post Office today and I am loving hear that distinctly ‘vinyl’ sound…it is bliss to the ears.

Last weekend was a bit of an out of the ordinary for me. On Friday afternoon I headed up to Sydney for a work function and it was the definition of a whirlwind trip! We (my colleagues and I) landed in Sydney at about 6pm in the evening and we raced from the airport to the NRL game which my company sponsors (Sydney sporting experience done!). I was a bit lost in the rules of the game – but the atmosphere was amazing.

From the game we then caught a river taxi (OMG awesome – I didn’t even know these existed – might need to add I had only been to Sydney once before when I was a wee one) to our hotel and managed to pass under the Harbour Bridge and also by the Sydney Opera house (major landmarks done!).

We headed across to a local pub for a drink, before moving the party onto the Ivy (Sydney major nightclub spot done!). We partied on late until the night, and stumbled back to our hotel rooms only to fall asleep at 7am in the morning. This was short-lived as my alarm was set for 930 to get going for my midday flight. It truly was a jam-packed night – and I spent most of Saturday recovering from it – but I had an absolute blast! Once my travel benefits kick in where I work (151 days to go - not counting or anything…) I will need to head back and see the city.

Phew – that is enough recapping for right now – I will have the rest of goings on soon!

flights are booked!

Whilst back in Perth over the weekend I booked my flights for a holiday in January of next year – and I am so excited!

So far I only have booked my flights from Melbourne -> Singapore and then back from Singapore -> Melbourne, but the plan will be to spend some time in Singapore and then head up to Phuket, Thailand for over a week, and then either head up to Bangkok or to Chiang Mai for a couple of days, I haven’t decided yet. Nothing else has been booked  yet, but I definitely want to plan some activities for when I am away – I can only usually do the lie by the beach thing for a day or so as my fair skin isn’t really conducive to sun baking – so I have started my spreadsheet of potential activities to do. The one definite so far is a cooking course in Phuket, so I can learn how to make real Pad Thai.

Have you been to Thailand? What would you recommend seeing and doing? How about in Singapore?

heading out west

Tonight I am heading back home for a long weekend and I can’t wait! Although I’ll be getting in at midnight Perth time (three am Melbourne time) I imagine I will be full of energy, just excited to be back home. Although I have been in Melbourne two years now, and have even bought my own house here, I still call Perth home, maybe more because it’s where all my family is.  The weekend is fairly unplanned as the thing I love best about going home is just relaxing at our house, and being around my brother and parents.  Although some must do’s for when I go home to Perth include:

• Buying some Biltong from the South African shop. Not many South African expats seem to make it over to Melbourne, which results in a severe lack of good Biltong here – Perth has heaps of good South African stores so I will definitely be chowing down all I can eat whilst I am there
• Eating Fish & Chips – no fish & chips in Melbourne have yet to come close to the deliciousness of the fish at our local fish and chip shop back in Perth
• Visit Shoe Show – I am sure I just haven’t found the equivalent yet in Melbourne, but Shoe Show in Perth is a chain of stores that carry brand name shoes (think I Love Billy to Tony Bianco) for cheaper prices. It is always good to pop in there when I am in Perth and see if any good bargains are to be had
• Head to Edo in Subiaco for a Chicken Katsu Bento Box – best chicken katsu I’ve ever had! And so reasonably priced, I highly recommend you pop in and grab any one of their bento boxes for a lunch or a takeaway dinner.
• Visit Karrinyup shopping centre – I worked in this shopping centre for over 3  years whilst at Uni, and love to pop in to see what has changed. It also has a really great range of shops now, so perfect for a quick shop and coffee with mum!

Now a lot of my must dos seem to centre around food – but I suppose that is just how most of my life is – I certainly live to eat, not eat to live! I’ll have some updates on how my Perth adventures go over the weekend soon.

picture posters

So it seems to be that time of year where you receive a million and one emails from online stores with different sales and offers. Most of mine are deleted (the christmas presents are already bought – so no more spending for me!) however a recent snapfish.com.au email took my fancy when they were offering 40% some of their best sellers – which included posters.  You could blow up one of your existing photographs up to 50x75cm (if you’re mega pixels will allow) for $24, and anything smaller was even cheaper. So, despite my self-imposed spending ban, I purchased 5 posters. Below are the photos of the posters I bought – I am not sure quite where they will fit into my house yet, but I’ll be sure to take photos when they have arrived and they are hanging in the house.

the gondolas from my trip to Venice

a view of the trees in the dandenongs

the fushimi inari shrine in Kyoto

a small church in Santorini

one of my favourite photos, the paper cranes from a Japanese temple .

The cranes photo I ordered in 50x75cm, the biggest you could get. All the others were 50x60cm. I am hoping this assortment of bright colours can add some ‘pop’ to my home. Most of these images were adjusted slightly in picnik.com – mostly just adding a boost of colour to all of them to improve the brightness. Hopefully the posters arrive before I head home for Christmas! Or else I will be waiting until I head back to work in the middle of January next year.

walks in the dandenongs (when it wasn’t raining)

taking the opportunity of a long weekend to see more of Victoria, I have just returned from four days in the Dandenongs. Some shots of scenery are below:

Pity about all the rain though – I managed to capture these images in a rare hour or so of dryness…

a tourist in your home town

I have nearly been in Melbourne now for 2 years and find myself amazed that I haven’t seen most of what Melbourne and Victoria have to offer. I’ve decided to try to be more proactive and spend more of my weekends on mini adventures and day trips to see the must sees for both Melbourne and Victoria – really become a tourist of this vast state.  I’ve come up with a to do list (love a good list!) of things I will need to try to cross off:

To Do in Melbourne:

• Melbourne aquarium – I have avoided it so far due to the cost, but maybe if I can time a visit with some sort of discount it should be worth it.
• Phillip Island – when the weather gets warmer it will be nice to head out and see the Penguins
• Miscellaneous laneways wandering in the city – despite being to the city many times, I haven’t really just wandered. I’d like to spend a day just wandering the small streets and laneways with my camera.
• Black light mini golf – this just sounds awesome, it’s in the Docklands and sounds like a real fun spin on mini golf.
• Weribee open range zoo – I was reasonably impressed with the Melbourne Zoo, so I am intrigued with the concept of the open range zoo, and it could be a prelude to my african adventure next year.
• Bridge road shops – strangely enough I haven’t been down Bridge road for shopping, I have been a few times for dinner, but I will need to make an effort to get down during the day.

Things to do in Victoria:

• Dandenong ranges – thankfully I have a long weekend coming up in the Dandenongs, I am really excited to see the beautiful scenery and surrounds.
• Twelve apostles
• Ninety mile beach
• Buchan caves
• Trentham Falls
• Every other region of Victoria; Mornington Penisula, Daylesford, Gippsland….

There would be many more specifics I’m sure – but this should be a good starting point to start seeing some of the sites!

the week that was

Being back in Melbourne for a week now and I am already reminiscing on the fantastic relaxing week I had up in Kalbarri with the family. Some of my favourite photos from the week below:

 

ahh….to back in the sand!

 

weekend adventures and rosemary rolls

Phil and I headed down the Great Ocean Road for the weekend – never having ventured outside of Melbourne when it comes to Victoria I was excited to see the region. The twists and turns of the great ocean road certainly was a scenic drive, and despite the weather the beauty of seeing the sea again certainly heighten my mood from the oncoming illness. Below are some photos of our gorgeous apartment and the view from it.

Back to the normal world I decided to cook something different for a side tonight – taking a leaf out of the Pioneer Woman’s book and made rosemary and butter rolls.

They turned out perfectly! Using a basic dough recipe and adding fresh rosemary and rock salt it was easy to whip up! A definite keeper.

heading home

Day nine

My last day in Japan! I could hardly believed it had gone so quickly. It was a sunday so I went back to Harajuku to see if I could see more of the famed Harajuku Girls – I did have a few more sightings that with Jane the day before, but I was disappointed not to see that many at all, maybe winter isn’t the time for them. I’ll just have to go back to Japan, sigh.

Sunday did however bring a lot more activity around Harajuku, the streets were packed with shoppers and all the stores were a buzz. I walked the streets enjoying the energy, and making sure I had bought everything that I wanted from Japan. About mid afternoon I was ready for a break – enter the crepe shop! The french and Japanese fusion is just not one you would expect, but you find french bakeries, patisseries and creperies all around Japan. I ordered a ice cream, banana, and chocolate crepe – I love ice cream in the winter!

yummy

I also had a first when walking around Harajuku – I saw my first graffiti in Japan. For such a clean city (despite the lack of rubbish bins?!) I had never seen any graffiti or needless destruction of any kind.

graffiti in a Harajuku street

Even in Japan the graffiti is still clean and precise. So I left Harajuku a little disappointed but on wards and upwards to Shinjuku. I had planned to visit Shinjuku as the Lonely Planet had suggested a book store which had english books – and since I finished my trip book on the plane over, I required some reading for the way home. It was a bit tricky to find, but once I did it was a god send. An entire floor with english books – I ended up buying The Watchman, and also Sophie’s World. I knew the Watchman was on my 1001 books to read book which I had been working my way through. Sophie’s World was a book I had read when I was younger, and remember enjoying it hugely, I thought it deserved a re-read.

And with that I headed back to Tokyo station and began my journey home. It was such an amazing experience – Japan was such a different world to what I was used to – I am so looking forward to continuing my exploration of this amazing country oh so soon!

goodbye to jane

Day eight

Saturday was Jane’s last day in Tokyo before she headed to the snow so we went to Harajuku hoping that the cosplay costumes came out on saturday as well as sunday – however  no luck! Again I think the rain discouraged many to venture on the streets.

All, however, was not lost. We discovered Forever 21 – which has insanely cheap clothes, I’d liken it to a Temt or Valleygirl, but with a better selection. It was 4 floors of clothes and more clothes – with accessories all in between. Not wanting to add to my suitcase size too more I only bought a few accessories – namely more scarves and Berets to keep me warm! After walking through some of the smaller Harajuku streets we stumbled upon another Kiddyland and ventured through the levels of toys, gadgets and things you could never need. This venturing brought us to lunch – which we decided to have back at Tokyo station, as this is where Jane had to depart from.

After browsing through Restaurant St, as Tokyo station called it, we settled on a humble Japanese restaurant that served a bento box for Jane and Chicken Katsu curry for myself. It was the first Katsu I had had with the curry – and I was pleasantly surprised.

I soon left Jane at the station and headed over to Ikebukuro to have another look around some more Tokyo stores and to have one last look through Loft and Tokyu Hands. The top storey of this Tokyu Hands had something quite unique – it was a room which you could pay to enter, and to hang out with….cats! By paying 600 yen you could go through to the cat room and spend as long as you wanted and just sit and play with the cats. I couldn’t believe there was a market for this sort of interaction. I was missing my Bailey by this stage (my 8 month old ragdoll) so I paid the fee to spend some time with the kittens.

it was like a cats utopia – cat runs, scratching posts and all the pats they could want

After what was a rather uneventful afternoon (except for the cats) – I headed back to the restaurant where Jane and I previously had Chicken Katsu and tried their other appealing dish, a sizzling beef with lemon and ginger.

it certainly was sizzling

On the way home I managed to stop by the local 7/11 and bought one of my favourite Japanese snacks

It was a frozen treat, with some sort of dough around vanilla ice cream – it even came with a stick to eat it on. I am going to miss what ever these are.

And that was my last night in Japan…