The Versatile Blogger Award

Given my sporadic posting, it’s truly heart-warming to have people follow, read and comment on my posts. So as you can probably imagine, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I got a note from the lovely Laura (http://alifeindisguise.blogspot.it) telling me she had nominated me for the Versatile Blogger Award! I’m delighted to have been nominated by someone with the most daydream-inspiring photos, honest, witty and scholarly commentary, not to mention a mutual affinity for punk rock. Thank you so much Laura!

 

The Versatile Blogger Award rules:

1. Show the award on your blog.

2. Thank the person who nominated you.

3. Share 7 facts about yourself.

4. Nominate 15 blogs.

5. Link your nominees’ blogs and let them know.

1. I live in Melbourne, Australia. Melbourne the place to be for the food/coffee, live music and art obsessed. It’s Tokyo, San Francisco and Paris all rolled into one. This multicultural metropolis hypnotised me and stole my heart way back when I was underage teenager travelling up with my friends to sneak into punk shows at dive bars. I made the leap to the big smoke 8 years ago now, with the love affair growing bigger by the year. Having grown up on a farm/property on the outskirts of a southern Victorian country town, I will have a soft spot for the Australian bush though.

2. I  love heavy metal, hardcore and punk. When I tell people at work this, I usually get, “WHAAAAT?? HAHAHA....NO!!!?”.  Yep, for realz. The louder, faster, more brutal, the better. A pencil skirt and sleek corporate ponytail has proven to be a pretty good disguise for this little thrash demon.

3. I adore animals. In particular, I love dogs. I am THAT girl that will follow you down the street so I can pat and dote over your dog. Alas, I don’t have any pets, so I get to googling whenever I need a furry emotional outlet.  If I find that I’m stressed, I’ll google baby pigmy marmosets. If ever I’m sad, baby platypi. Annoyed; named and shamed dogs (seriously google this one, it’s hilarious! I challenge you not to break out into a fit of laughter flicking through pages of this).  Happy; baby donkeys. And so on. You get the picture...

4. I’m as blind as a bat but some reason really good at darts...

5. I am a natural redhead. A genetic mutation I perceived as a curse and tried to dye away from existence until I was 23 years old. Much like my relationship with mushrooms, something in my head just switched one day and completely changed my tune. I really dig it now. Red hair is actually awesome.

6. I’m a travel junkie, but I did not step foot on an airplane until I was 19 years old. I grew up, the youngest of four kids, raised by my single mother. Holidays and flights just weren’t something our family could ever afford. 

7. I met my boyfriend at a bachelor party. And no, I wasn’t the entertainment! The groom was a really good friend of mine and invited me because he considered me ‘one of the guys and it wouldn’t be the same’ without me there.  

Now to nominate the blogs I think are worthy of an award! Drum roll please...

Flora Amalie - http://princessinferno.blogspot.com/

Jessica - http://globalgirltravels.com

Beth - http://www.alphabeth.co.uk

Emsy - http://www.emsypickle.co.uk/

Haley - http://delicateteeth.blogspot.com

Joana - http://ijoanaemma.blogspot.pt/

Emma - http://rougeinlove97.blogspot.com/

Tabitha - http://Amour-tabitha.blogspot.co.uk

Emma - http://onawildhunt.blogspot.com

Becky - http://milkbubbletea.blogspot.com/

Abigail - http://travelstrainersandtea.com/

Emily - http://human-qualities.blogspot.com

Ciara - http://marblmoon.blogspot.co.uk/

Adrianna - http://www.acozykitchen.com

Maria - http://Beardieboo.blogspot.

Life latey

These past few weeks have been a whirlwind of plenty and nothing in particular (if that's possible!).
Recently I made the brave move to relocate from my little place in the north of Melbourne to the south east to move in with my beau, Evan. A new and exciting chapter for little romantic story.
We hired a truck and relocated in just one day which proved to be an exciting and fun, albeit exhausting experience.
Our pad has been a chaotic disarray of boxes, record crates and travel trinkets. And while the clutter has been frustrating, namely the development of my new Olympic-like skill of pole-vault with a kitchen broom, it's been a therapeutic and organic move for us a couple.

So just like that, a new set of braces (yep, that's right!), a birthday, a few shows, a couple of social drinks and a what feels like an eternity of charity clothing donations later, 3 weeks have disappeared before my very eyes! Oh mon Dieu!



Move day selfie

There's always time to eat!

Gish on her birthday

 Train tracks

 Drinks with Phil
 

We came, we ate, we napped

Delicious eats made and purchased recently...

 

Top L to R: Touchwood in Richmond VIC - Avocado toast (beetroot relish, burnt lime, pickled red onion, coriander, mixed seeds, sumac salt) ; Donuts made by yours truly for RSPCA Cupcake Day work fundraiser; street taco night at home; that time we bought a COSTCO membership

 

10am roast roll and fries on the drive back home from the farm; Boundary Espresso in Preston VIC - Green

eggs and ham (baked eggs, pesto & Barkly Smokehouse grandmother ham), homemade pizza

8+ Sher Wagyu scotch fillet from Teppankai in South Yarra VIC; lunchtime home Mexican eats; more goodies at Teppankai in South Yarra VIC.

Japan, I miss you

I think I'm going to make a second home of Japan.

Since we got back, I've been obsessing over the idea of moving there.

I don't speak Japanese, everything in every possible way imaginable is far superior to anything I can offer the nation at this point in my life. I will however, eventually figure out my niche and boy when I do, tiny island nation, I'm coming for you. In the meantime, plenty of not-yet-planned holidays will have to do. 

Deary  me, it's taken a while to comb through the billions of photos I snapped during our second/last week in Japan! These may not be in the realm of Nat Geo photographic journalism finesse but nevertheless, I think summarises it pretty well.

Maaaan I was such a sloth this weekend

...and I loved every minute of it!

Nerding out with my man like a boss. We ate crap food, sat on the central heating, watched a buttload of anime (while reminiscing about Japan) and napped. A pretty solid and successful pog of a first weekend back in fair ol Melbourne town. 

As promised, here's a summary our first week in Japan in absolutely no particular order:

Clockwise from top right: Night-time adventuring through Shinjuku; the famous Japanese toilet; crab hat; Ginza line subway

 

Little shiba me; cute schoolgirls at Sensō-ji temple, Asakusa; rooftop view of Sensō-ji complex and market from the tourist information centre; supermarket sushi 

Just your average little river friends; Evan at the ryokan in Takayama; Shibuya crossing; Giants game at Tokyo Dome 

 

Doting father with puppy pram; ticket machine udon in Akihabra; kimonos; very expensive samurai swords

 

Photo booth manga eyes; shopping; trying new drinks from vending machines; beautiful 5 story pagoda in Asakusa

 

Beautiful snow capped mountain views from Takayama; friendly little cuties that we met on the way to the Ghibli Museum; traditional house at Hida no Sato (folk village); one of the 5000 record digs which happened over the fortnight

One of many awesome bike rides; Evan looking pretty and me hugging a sarubobo (happy monkey baby) at the folk village; eating sundaes, looking cute and feeling like creeps at a maid café in Akihabara; puppies!!!!

Eating adorable kitty sundaes at aforementioned creepy cafe trying to be adorable too; tanuki; little shiba; friendly schoolgirls 

Yamakyu Ryokan in Takayama, the first place I've ever been publicly nude (well kind of...ladies onsen); forever stuffing my face; very cool samurai statue; beautiful photo of a beautiful boy

Me; eating hida beef sashimi, a moment I wish I could relive every minute of everyday; Ghibli Museum!!!; long armed, pot bellied little dude

 

Laputan robot at the Ghibli Museum; hydrangeas; the much coveted melon fanta; the priceless and unashamed happiness of a boy who lost his phone on a Shinkansen and had it miraculously returned to him a day later. 

Jim Carrey, you've inspired me.

"So many of us choose our path out of fear disguised as practicality...what we really want seems impossibly out of reach, ridiculous to expect so we never dare to ask the universe for it..." 

Ev and I watched this video while we getting ready one morning in our hostel in Tokyo a couple a weeks of ago.

Honestly, Jim Carey has more sense to me in 1 minute than what procrastinating for over a year about what I need to do with myself at the end of my work contract/end of my lease/in 2015 has.

"...you can fail at what you don't want, so you might as well take a chance at doing what you love."

Wow.

Boracay

It's crazy how quickly life-as-usual resumes. It's like the last month was like a terrific dream that was over in a blink. Nothing quite like a shrill 6am alarm and cold rainy Melbourne morning to snap you back to reality, hey? 

 

I left you last 3 weeks ago in El Nido. Another island, another country and what feels like another planet later, I'm sitting on the tram anxiously awaiting my first day back at work. 

To continue the tale, I'll regress to week 2; Boracay.
Postcard perfect, party resort island. I binged daily on buffet breakfasts, beachfront banana lounge massages and tropical cocktails. Such a decadent, relaxing and fun week.
On a side note, can you believe I left here with the flu?!  

 

 

El Nido

From Port Barton, we jeepney-ed an hour through the island countryside to seek out an air conditioned bus to El Nido from Roxas.

250 pesos, a couple of travel pills and 6 comatose hours later, we had arrived in the surreal and unspoiled archipelago utopia of El Nido, Palawan. 

The unrelenting beauty of this place will make you gasp for air thinking you've seriously died and gone to heaven. The crystal turquoise waters framed by steaming Jurassic Park-like jungle and prehistoric limestone cliff faces is probably the most beautiful thing a person in this lifetime will ever be fortunate enough to see.

4 straight days of binging on food, booze, seawater and epic scenery. Amazing. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Philippines!

I'm sipping away on a San Miguel listening to the thunder and rain roll in while burying my feet in the cool sand. Ev is working away furiously but seems very at home in this island paradise. Man, I love this place. 

We're on holiday in the Philippines, right now in Port Barton on the island of Palawan, disconnecting from the world (literally, the wifi has dropped out and there's no power until 6pm) and recharging the batteries before we hit the psychosomatic yet seemingly endearing obscurity of Japan. A place I've always dreamed of going. 

We're travelling with Evan's family for the Philippines leg of the trip and so far it's been awesome. It's been spontaneous, adventurous and hilarious with this silly bunch. The McLellan clan are a good sort with wicked senses of humour and have a unique yet harmonious way about them, hell-bent on sinking back beers, over-sharing travel experiences (Papa McLellan), accidentally tanning and learning everything there is to know about anything and everything. A particularly handy asset being Tagalog speaking Mama McLellan.

I'm having a wonderful time. I can't believe it's only the beginning. Here's a little a look at the rad adventures so far: