THE BEST SYDNEY SUNSET | PHOTO DIARY

Hello everyone! 

Last week there was no post, and there's no excuses really. I just had no idea what to write about, which is why this week i'm bringing you a photo diary. Less typing for me, and you get to see some of my Australia photos. 

So here's a little back story to put these photos into a concept. 

I was going from Circular Quay to Darling Harbour, and we got on the ferry and as we turned the corner we noticed that the sun was beginning to set. Perfect timing some would say! It was also one of the best sunsets i'd seen during my travels. The lighting was perfect, with that slight orange haze and made for some great photos. Thank goodness i had my camera on me! We weren't on a special sunset cruise around the harbour, which i know you can do, we just paid our normal fare and were lucky enough to see what we saw. 

 It was amazing to see how the sun light was bouncing off the Opera House and changing the colour of it! 

One of the places were the boat stops, en route to Darling Harbour, is at Luna Park. Now for those who don't know, this is a small theme park company. They have parks in a few Australian cities. Most famous for the face on the entrance to the park, as seen below. What you cannot see, as it is hidden, is the huge grin that this face has. 

 As you can see, the colour of the sky is beautiful! I hope you enjoyed looking at my photos, and i'll hopefully see you next week! 

Thanks for reading, xo

GUNNERS BARRACKS

I love the idea of going for Afternoon Tea, especially when the sun is shining and you're surrounded by great company. Whilst in Sydney over Christmas i got to visit Gunners Barracks in Mosman, which offers spectacular views of the harbour, and amazing afternoon tea.

We originally had vouchers for the Champagne Afternoon Tea, but opted to upgrade to the Cocktail Afternoon Tea for $10 extra, bringing the total cost to $60 (around £30, but it's worth it). 

First of all we picked our cocktails. I went for the 'Toblerone' which consists of amaretto, kahlua and frangelico shaken over cream with a shot of caffeine. It tasted like a chocolate milkshake, and went down far too easy!

Then we were served our finger sandwiches and cakes, presented on a three tiered stand, followed by warm scones and savory pastries. Along with a pot full of tea for each individual, served in beautiful china with flowers to match the scenery.

Everything was delicious, and surprisingly very filling. But why should you come all the way to the other side of the harbour, just for the afternoon tea? Good question. This is why: 

The views from the veranda are what makes this place stand out from the rest, especially when there's not a cloud in the sky! There is a small garden at the rear which gives uninterrupted views, and which is great for photo shoots.

There are a few attractions around as well, so you can make a day of it. Taronga Zoo just up the road on one side and Balmoral Beach on the other. Or if you want to take a nice stroll then the actual restaurant is situated within Sydney Harbour National Park.

Be sure to let me know some great places around the world for Afternoon Tea, as i'm always on the hunt for restaurants/cafe's to add to my never ending 'To Visit' list.

Thanks for reading,
xo

5 PLACES TO EAT IN SYDNEY + SURROUNDS

Spending a year traveling around such a large country, you end up eating in some amazing places. When writing this post i discovered that a lot of mine where in Sydney, and i suppose that is because i used this city as my base. I was there at the beginning, at the end and other occasions during the middle of my trip. Therefore i present to you a list of My Top Five Restaurants/Cafe's In Sydney (in no particular order). Now i know that Sydney has a thousand and one places to chose from food-wise, and i only managed to visit a small portion of these places therefore my list only includes my personal favourites and the meals i ate there. 

1. Clean Slate Cafe, Katoomba.

We stumbled across this small independent cafe after viewing the infamous Three Sisters, on a foggy rainy miserable day, and let me tell you something. This is by far the best eggs benedict that i have ever tasted. I mean, just look at that presentation. The poached eggs oozed perfectly when cut into, and the perfect amount of hollandaise sauce was poured over the top. I had mine with smoked salmon and spinach, but other options were available. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

This cafe is on the main road through the town, and there's about about twenty independent cafe's to choose from. The coffee here is great too, and i could have easily guzzled down a whole kettle full! 

Katoomba is about forty minutes to an hour away from Central Sydney, depending on traffic. So this is only a place that you would visit if you were going this way, which you should because i mean who goes to Sydney and doesn't visit The Blue Mountains? So if you're heading this way, then this is the place for you!  

2. Moo Burgers, Bondi.

I got off the bus at South Bondi, and the rain was beginning to fall. It was midday and i had not yet eaten, so i decided to stumble into this restaurant that i passed that just so happened to be called Moo. Focusing on a whole selection of different burgers, this small restaurant is now a place i would recommend to anyone visiting Sydney. The restaurant at Bondi Beach gives you a spectacular view of the famous sand and sea. 

I opted for the falafel and halloumi burger, that comes with tzatziki, sweet chilli and hummus all on the side. I ordered with a portion of really great sweet potato fries. This burger can also easily be made vegan for all you out there that are, by simply not adding the tzatziki. It was delicious and i have already gone back for seconds, giving the onion rings a try this time round. Why did i not get them the first time? Amazing. 

3. Searock Grill, The Rocks.

I love a good curry. And when you can eat in a what you would call 'posh' restaurant for an okay price, with good food and an even better view, you just can't go wrong. We had finished work for the day (picking fruit, for those wondering) so decided to drive into Sydney and have a walk around, grabbing lunch as we went. We were making our way to The Opera House when we saw this restaurant with a lunch deal, we could choose a meal and a drink for a set price. We had been living off noodles for a while now so some proper food sounded great. 

This was a seafood curry, with coconut, prawns, mussels, scallops, vegetables and probably other ingredients that i'm not aware of. A delicious meal mixed with a Corona and a view that stretches across the harbour makes you feel well and truly content, especially with the sun shining down on you. 

You can choose to eat outside or on the inside. But let me warn you now that there are quite a few seagulls that fly around, attempting to also get their fill. 

I did go back later on in my trip, but the lunch deal wasn't on as it was later in the day, my own fault really. So i settled for a tuna panini which was great, but that's a meal that you don't tend to have too many expectations for. So definitely try and get their before the deals end for the day.

4. Mamaks, Chinatown.

One piece of advise i have for anyone visiting Mamaks is too get their as early as possible. This place constantly has a queue, and i don't blame them because the food here is outstanding. It's an award winning Malaysian restaurant. 

I have eaten many things off the menu and i couldn't pick a favourite. The roti is spectacular, the satay is full of flavour and that's before you even get to the mains. Whatever you eat you just make sure you leave room for the giant roti cone at the end. Sweet, crisp and mouth watering good. I've never seen nor tasted anything like it. So good, i'm even putting two pictures on!

If you only eat out once in Sydney, this is your place of choice. 

 5. The Potting Shed, The Grounds, Alexandria

Out of all the places i have mentioned so far, this one stands out for one particular reason. It's hard to describe but as the name suggests, imagine a potting shed. Hanging plants, pretty pots, timber beams, everything with a garden theme. Homemade lemonade and iced teas, cocktails that you can drink from a hanging bucket (not as weird as it sounds). Burgers are served on a shovel, and even the salads have flowers in them.

I ordered the pulled pork sandwich, which was more then enough to feed at least two people. It came with sweet potato scallops which were insane, and coleslaw.

The Potting Shed takes full advantage of the Australian sun shine, making you feel as though you are outside even if their is a roof over your head. It's like being in a greenhouse, even to the point where there are small sprinklers spraying mist to keep you cool.

I feel though this is a place that many people would miss, and one that Sydney goers are keen to keep to themselves. A place to meet, eat, drink and relax with friends from lunch time to the evening. I love it, and i know whoever goes will love it.

 Be sure to let me know if you have ever been to any of these places, and what you thought of them? Also if you have any recommendations for me, for when i am next out in Sydney then please let me know.

Thanks for reading,
xo

BACK TO BLOGGING

So now that i'm back home and settled down into some sense of reality, i want to give this blogging thing another go! 

Almost exactly three months ago to the day, i landed at Heathrow Airport, ending a great year of adventures. A week later i started working and then decided i was too busy to focus on anything else, even though all i do is watch Netflix on repeat in my pajamas. 

But now i think it's time that i start doing something with my life. Which is why i want to start blogging again. 

It won't be half the adventure it used to be, and will only have a small portion to do with travelling. (I've only left my hometown twice since being back.) And although i spent a year adventuring around Australia, it's not what i'm doing at the moment. 

Which is why my blog is going to become a sort of lifestyle blog. 

I have definitely changed as a person in the past year, and  have been lucky enough to have some amazing experiences, which i still want to share with you all but i also want to include some of my other interests as well; from eating and drinking, to makeup and clothes. 

I am also currently a member of Slimming World, which is something not too many people know about and not something that i will dwindle on too much, but some of my posts may include recipes that revolve around being Slimming World friendly, and which is why i am now much more interested in making myself not look like trash.

Photography is a big part of my life as i love having the ability to document everything (and i mean everything) that happens around me. Therefore it will play a big part in the look of my blog. It's also something that i need to bring back into my life, as since being home i just haven't felt that same excitement as i did when taking photos of sunsets, coral reefs, wildlife and other Australian beauty. So this will give me a goal to go out more and enjoy what i see. 

So that's my plans for the next up coming months.

I'd love to make blogging a regular thing, but first of all i need a month trial period for myself, just to see if i can actually put down in words, the ideas in my head. 

There we have it. My first post in a long time, and hopefully the start of many more posts to come this year. Let's give it a shot! 

xo

2 MONTHS GONE

My oh my, has it really been 2 months since the last update? Yes. That is correct.

Since we last spoke i have been all over Australia, currently in a little town called Portland about 4 hours from Adelaide.

We did eventually find jobs in Sydney. Which meant we had to drive 40 hours straight to make it back to the big city in time to begin. It was at a fruit farm, pruning flowers and then the fruit later on. It started out okay, good enough pay for what it was and we had a cheap campsite. Eventually though we had to leave because they were in trouble with the council and then finding somewhere to stay became harder and more expensive. In total it was around 5 weeks before we packed up and left. We had almost two weeks without any work because the fruit was not growing as quickly as expected and we felt we were being treated unfairly. Our friendly employers were becoming not so friendly. So we left. For me it was only two days before i was scheduled to leave anyway but for my companions it was a good couple of weeks. But y'know, some things work out for the better.

We stayed in Sydney for around a week and my friend from the UK flew in. Then we decided to drive to Melbourne and do the Great Ocean Road. This is something me and George have already done about a month into our Australian adventure, but it was amazing and it wasn't entirely the same, we made sure the change it up. Including going to a wildlife sanctuary and seeing the cutest baby dingo i have ever laid my eyes on!

Just before we hit Melbourne we decided to rent a house on Phillip Island, infamous for it's penguin parade every evening. Here we celebrated my 20th birthday and then a few days later got robbed. Yup, this happened to us whilst we were having a lovely walk along a beach and came back to find our lock had been forced and i was short of my wallet. An Ipad and a camera were also in the mix. Not a lot got taken, but the most valuable to us. My wallet has two memory cards full of pictures from the past 7 months, which have now gone forever pretty much and the other two were also full of photos. C'est la vie. We didn't let this hold us back. Just a few tears were shed.

That evening we drove into Melbourne were me and Jordan were booked into a hostel for the night. One of the best i have stayed in so far, might i add. (Discovery Hostel) It was bang slap next door to The Queen Victoria Markets. We went for lunch with a lovely couple he had met on his flight over. We explored the markets, bought an engraved ring for $15! and a dog tag for my dog back home. We also went to the Eureka Tower which is the tallest building in the city and from there we could see the MCG and watch the AFL final! Pretty awesome. We also went to a market called Finders, which was full of independent stores and, dare i say it,  basically Pinterest as a market. Cute little knick-knacks and food and drinks everywhere! I loved the place.

Our next stop was the Great Ocean Road, i have written about it in a post before and nothing has changed. It is just as beautiful. Except this time we went swimming in Loch Ard Gorge and saw an awesome sunset. The weather was in the high 30's for a change so it was a lovely drive.

The next few days are going to consist of wineries, German towns and Adelaide. After that we will all go our separate ways until Christmas! I am going to explore Western Australia, the others are finding work and Jordan is popping back to Melbourne before meeting me in Perth.

I'm excited to see what the next few months bring me! See ya! x

LEAVING BRISBANE, AND BACK IN CAIRNS

Well hello! It's been a while, a few months!

So what has happened since i last made contact with this blog? Quite a lot actually!

I ended up spending two months in Brisbane, a month of which was working for accommodation at Base Central Backpackers. Here i was a housekeeper, which was an okay job and it gave me free rent which saved me $600. I made a tonne of new friends and said goodbye to some other ones, and then eventually to all of them when i decided to pack up and leave just short of a month ago! But we'll get back to that in a moment. First of all, what did i get up to whilst in one city for that long?Many things i can assure you, but quite important to me was the fact that i could finally unpack and not live out of a backpack!

There are lots of little treasures in this wonderful city and although i dreamed of escaping and traveling once again, i wouldn't change this little adventure for anything. Sunday sessions on the green at Southbank played a big part in my ability to stay sane and every weekend we'd go to the bottle shop and purchase the cheapest bottle of wine we could find, pick up some cups and catch the free ferry across the river to the green. Here we could chill out and listen to free music, drink wine and watch the sun go down over the city.

A few times we went to Eat Street Markets which is a big food market (obviously!) which contains may food stalls, serving food from all over the world! My first time i was like a kid Disneyland and it took me a good few loops to decide on what i wanted to eat. I chose yaki soba, langos and a cronut with a syringe on Nutella! Sounds like heaven right? I did try to not get the same thing and also tried the lanksa, currywurst and few other heavenly foods! Some locals do not even know of the existence of this place, we found out, even though it is a weekly event.

We also went to the Soutbank markets a few times, where i purchased a new ring. There was also a food market at the end of the mall every Wednesday where we would go around trying all of the foods.

Towards the end of our time in Brisbane we finally got around to visiting Mt Coot-ha, which is a lookout with spectacular views across the city and surrounds, and therefore became one of my favorite places. Here we were to say our final farewells to the city that became home for a few months.

Me and two friends, one who i've been traveling with ever since we met in our first ever week in hostels in Sydney and one we met in Cairns, decided that we wanted to leave! And that we did. on Gumtree i discovered a camper van that seated five people and slept four, for a reasonable price. The following day we met with the owners to have a look around and then the day after purchase our beloved Trevor. One week later and we were outta there!

Our 3 weeks travelling up to Cairns has bought us to many places we visited on our first East Coast adventure, but now with the ability to drive ourselves we got to see many new sites that Australia has to offer! Lots of lookouts, lot of sunsets, lots of waterfalls and many evenings playing card games. Our waterfall collection includes the infamous Milaa Milaa waterfall known for being the waterfall used in the herbal essence adverts! I have been nominated as chef, which i enjoy. Even though we have minimal room and the smallest pans in the world where i was having to cook for four hungry mouths! But now it's just as easy as cooking in a normal kitchen, though i still cannot seem to get the correct amount of rice and end up with tonnes of the stuff! But somehow we have gone down to two meals a day and eating rather healthy, due to buying mountains of fruit and veg from little stalls along the road where everything is as cheap as chips. Our stomachs have seemed to have shrunk a lot in the past months since leaving the city life.

Now it is back to the job hunting. We are currently in a little place called Ingham staying at a free campsite 20km west, near to Wallaman Falls. (Australia's tallest single drop waterfall, a stunning place) Trying to find farm work is seemingly harder then it seems, although we are at an advantage with our own transport and accommodation. We are thinking of heading down south any time soon, as that's where the promising phone calls seem to come from. But we'll see.

Lots of driving, and being in the middle of nowhere means that i have had the opportunity to read again and therefore since leaving Brisbane i have got back into books. The Girl On The Train, Dracula and now i am currently reading Be My Guest by Conrad Hilton, the man who built the Hilton Hotel empire! It's actually an interesting read and has given me many more facts to add to my random fact collection in my brain!

Oh, before i leave i would like to inform to the fact that i still haven't gotten my laptop fixed and have basically been carrying a dead wait with me for over 3 months. I also ended up braking my phone so had to purchase a new one, and have also been given the crown for most clumsiest and messiest person people have ever met. Saying that though, i have become a much more confident person and can speak to people! Hallelujah!

Anyway, the job searching awaits and i have taken a half an hour brake to finally get round to updating you all, so i must get back!

Thanks for reading!

P.S. Check out my Instagram for photos of all my travels! @wanderlustandfree and give me a follow if you so wish!

THE OUTBACK

Hello!

I know, i know. It's been over a month since i last posted on here. Firstly, i spent almost two weeks travelling through the outback. Starting in Darwin and finishing thousands of kilometres later in Adelaide, which is when i realised that i have a busted laptop screen and still haven't gotten round to getting it fixed because i don't want to spend money on it until it becomes necassary.

So, let's have a catchup shall we?

We decided in Cairns to do the middle, whilst we still had money and weren't desperatley seeking a job. There we found ourselves planning the next part to our adventure.

After a week in Cairns, we took a flight across the country to Darwin. Here was had a good couple of days before our tour started.

The first tour, which took us 6 days and down to Alice Springs was with a company abtly named WayOutback. It was decided into two sections.

For the first 3 days we travelled down to Litchfield National Park, and then across to Kakadu National Park. We spent out time swimming in waterfalls, crusing in crocodile infested rivers (where we saw two saltwater crocs! Crikey mate!), viewing ancient Aboriginal Art, seeking out some amazing views and meeting some awesome people.

The next 3 days we had a different tour guide, taking us down to Alice Springs. Again, we started in Darwin and then drove and drove and drove! Again, we met some lovely people and did some amazing things. Such as swimming in thermal pools, watching glorious sunsets, climbing The Devils Marbles, visiting the infamous Daly Waters, hiking to view Katherine Gorge and also cutting my knee open. Yes, this is something that happened and the following day i passed out at a service station whilst trying to get the bandage off. All fun and games here.

Finally we made it to Alice Springs. One place i have always wanted to visit, one place that isn't high on my list to visit again. It was an experience, and was pretty. But there isn't exactly alot to do without a car and the crime rate is very high. Someone described it to me as 'the bad side of Cape Town, for Australia'. We did end up in a weird little "club" though, which was an experience. On our second, and final, night in Alice we were downstairs and overheard the women at reception telling another women who had just arrived, that she wasn't allowed to go out after 10pm on her own because the risks were too high. Saying all this though, it was a good few days spent with friends.

I preferred the second tour to the first one, mainly because i fianlly got to see Uluru (Ayers Rock), which is something that i have been waiting to do pretty much my whole life. We did this tour with a company called Groovy Grape. The first day we got picked up around 6am and drove straight to Kings Canyon, which is a big canyon with amazing views. It also includes The Garden Of Eden, which is a big waterhole with trees everywhere, in the middle of all this dry sandstone. It was truly beautiful, and a lovely (apart from the uphill climbing) hike. On our drive here we stopped at the only service station, and ended up bumping into a friend we met on Fraser Island and continued to follow up the East Coast... how weird!

We then spent one night at Kings Canyon before continuing on to Uluru. We arrived around lunch time and ate food. Then we drove into the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and hiked Kata Tjuta, also named The Olgas. They are made up of 36 individual rocks, which altogether is bigger then Uluru but equally as beautiful in my opinion. It is also lesser known, due to the fact you cannot take photos for commercial use or for photography that will then be sold.

Sometime between 5 and 6pm we walked up to the Uluru Sunset lookout, and viewed a pretty amazing sunset. Although the one on the second night was better. When the sun is setting, it glows off the rock creating an intense red colour. The next day we woke up early and viewed the sunrise, which made Uluru go a beautiful purple colour. We then hiked around the base of Uluru, and i took some great photos which are unfortunately stuck on my camera because i can't transfer the images onto my broken laptop.

Finally it was time to leave this incredible, spiritual place and head to a town called Coober Pedy, the opal capital of the world! We had to leave at 4am and the drive was near enough 8 hours long, which meant that i slept for the majority of the morning until we arrived at lunch time. After a bit to eat we headed to an Opal Museum, where i spent alot of money of buying jewellry, we also got to take a look at an underground house. This is what makes this place so special in my opinion, about 80% of the people who live here, do so in underground houses. Which just seems so awesome to me! Next on the list was to go to a Kangaroo Sanctuary, one of the only ones in South Australia. Here we fed the kangaroos and saw a joey who was so tiny and adorable. We then went for pizza and then our tour guide and asked a DJ to play for us, so we partied until the early hours of the morning.

The next day was got a lay in... 7am! And after a night spent in our underground hostel, we were as fresh as a daisy, if not then a little hungover. But we had one more long drive, which meant more sleeping! Sometime in the evening we made it to our last camping spot for our outback adventure. We pulled up at our campsite, situated somewhere in the Flinders Ranges. Here we drunk some more and gave one of our new friends a terrible hair cut, much to his dismay.

Our final day was spent hiking through a section of the Flinders Ranges, before driving to Adelaide. Bringing this incredible experience to an end...

If you are travelling in Australia, then this should all be on your list of cool stuff to do because it was phenomenal and probably my favourite part of my year out here so far.

I then went on to spend a week in Adelaide, which has come to be one of my favourtie cities, and am currently back in Brisbane looking for work. Hopefully i will get my laptop fixed soon, and then i have alot of catching up to do with putting photos on this blog. But i will get there eventually! Anyway, thank you for reading! xxx