Out & About

Brisbane, Sydney & Melbourne!

What a week! This week I’ve spent time in the three biggest cities in Australia. I was in Brisbane for four nights for Dad’s birthday and to see family, I was in Sydney for one night catching up with friends and discovering a part of Sydney I love, and ended the weekend seeing a new part of Melbourne.

Keep your eyes peeled for posts from Sydney, Brisbane and Williamstown later this week.

APT 8 at GoMA, Brisbane

The Asia-Pacific Triennial is the Gallery of Modern Art’s flagship exhibition. It celebrates the work of artists from Asia, the Pacific and Australia through a variety of mediums, including large-scale installations, sculpture, photography, paintings, film and mixed media. This year more than 80 artists were represented. I visited with my parents on Dad’s birthday, it was such a fun way to spend an afternoon with my family.

My favourite pieces were a series of insanely realistic sketches from a Thai artist and a cool photography/painted mixed media piece from a Sri Lankan artists.

One thing I really appreciate about GoMa is that it’s not snobby at all. There are useful descriptions for most pieces, but many also have a second explanation for children, making it accessible and welcoming for kids…and useful for when the adult description goes over your head. 😉

Eating & Drinking

Shouk, Brisbane

I had my ultimate eating day in Brisbane on Tuesday, when I went to Shouk for breakfast with my best friend, followed by a late lunch at Moga with my family.

Shouk is my favourite cafe in Brisbane, and I’m not alone – it’s one of the few cafes where you’ll wait for a table on weekends. We were seated straight away on Tuesday, but their midweek menu is more limited than on weekends.

Moga, Brisbane

Moga is my favourite sushi place in Brisbane, and therefore Australia. The Gold Coast also has some good sushi trains, but so far I’ve found Melbourne to have pretty limited options in the sushi department. Moga serves an interesting variety of fresh, tasty sushi, has a sweet cocktail list and unlike pretty much every other sushi joint, doesn’t look cheap. Beautiful decor & solid wine list = great date spot, casual dinner spot, celebratory lunch spot…Moga is my go-to for pretty much every occasion.

Du Nord, Melbourne

Last Friday I went for drinks with some girlfriends at Du Nord, a Nordic-style bar on Little Bourke St. We grabbed a big table at the back, where it was slightly quieter than the front of the bar. Loved that DuNord is one of the few bars that manages to be a cool place, without having staff that are too cool. That shit is tiring. Extra points for an espresso cocktail that comes served with chocolate. Coffee and chocolate are the quickest ways to my heart.

Giddiup, South Melbourne

As it turns out, there’s a reason this hole-in-the-wall cafe on Coventry St is permanently packed. Brunch standards are high in Australia, especially in Melbourne, so these days it takes a lot to get my attention. Their pumpkin & sweet potato smash with poached eggs and the smoked salmon, rocket & eggs, both did the trick.

Reading

Shamefully, I’ve hardly read this week. I read a few pages here and there during my three flights this week, but mostly I tried to appreciate the down time, screen-free.

What I’ve been reading the most is my French workbook – it’s coming along nicely! Languages are so testing because one week it’s all clicking and you feel like you’re making leaps and strides, other weeks it is a huge drain and you feel like you’ve hit a plateau. This week was the former, which was nice.

Photo of the week

I spent three hours on Tuesday morning walking around Paddington in Brisbane. This is one of my favourite shots because it epitomises “home”. A summer storm is rolling in, so it was humid as hell. The lush, subtropical foliage obscure everything except a few colourful houses peeping out from between the trees. Tin rooves and wide verandahs characterise “Queenslanders”, the style of house designed for Queensland living.

And of course, the hills. Brisbane is a hilly city and in suburbs like Paddington it provides great little vistas around every corner. It was so good to be home.

On Instagram

On @thewanderbugworld this week, this sunset photo of the beach in Nice was the most popular with 399 likes – making it one of my most popular photos ever!

If you’re looking for more travel inspiration, check out @sondererstravel on Instagram. Sonderers is a new travel magazine launching in early 2016, which I am very proud to be a part of. Our team of eight writers and photographers from around the world has been working hard to develop a medium for sharing travel stories that celebrate

 

Fresh off the press

Melbourne Night Noodle Markets: Classics, cult favourites and a pinch of crazy

Discovering my inner baseball fan at Yankee Stadium.Travel is responsible for helping me discover new interests and passions I’d never have tried had I stayed at home.

A Grand Tomb for the Little Emperor: Hotel des Invalides. 

Highs

Spending time with family and friends – it was especially exciting to see Dad and Nana’s reactions because my visit was a surprise!

First successful night photography session, thanks to my new camera tripod – an early birthday present from my parents.

Freelancing is on the up this month. I’m really excited to be working on articles for a number of travel and food/travel publications – can’t wait to share more details soon!

Lows

Honestly, right now I’m reflecting on the past week and feeling incredibly happy. Not to say that my life is some perfect, snag-free existence, but I think it’s important to acknowledge those special weeks when overall, everything is pretty peachy. A few years ago after a friend passed away, I found myself looking at old photos and thinking “We were so happy, and we had no idea.” I never want to have no idea how happy I am, ever again. All things considered, this week was pretty good.

Words

What you think, you create.

What you create, you become.

What you become, you express.

What you express, you experience.

What you experience, you are.

What you are, you think.

The circle is complete.

(Author unknown)