Category Archives: Australia

Winter in Sydney – Day Six (and Seven)

Posted by blooberrymuffin in Australia, Balenciaga, Coffee, Eating Out, Food, Sydney, Travel

This is the final installment of my Sydney adventure! It was the one last full day I had, and then the next morning, I was off to the airport.

Right in the morning, we had a mission to carry out for Mr Bb and we hopped into a cab to Darling Harbour. After carrying out the mission, we were famished and found a rooftop bar which looked kinda cool.

The wait staff didn’t seem all that friendly (maybe they don’t like tourists) but we didn’t care.

View from the rooftop bar

This image took a long time to do!

I always thought there was an easy way to post-edit peektures like this. I never knew it was such a manual process! Nonetheless, it was quite therapeutic.

More views from the rooftop

More old and new elements together

Our brekkie venue

Schnitzel for me, burger for him

Those were pretty tasty fries. Crunchy outside, fluffy inside. The schnitzel was good too, and the mushroom sauce made everything even better.

We walked on the bridge after our meal

A blue flag in a blue sky

Little boat chugging away…

I felt like a tourist

But I AM a tourist!

Just love the spectacular skies here

We took a slow walk back to the hotel

Then, we buckled down to work till it was time for our show at the Sydney Opera House!

It’s been a while since I went to a performance, even in Singapore! I think it might have been the Rocky Horror Show at the Esplanade, two years ago!

All the activity bustling nearby

We could feel the buzz of the crowd

Like seashells

The scale of people under the domes

We look uncannily alike here

Brother from another mother? LOL

Inside a dome!

To the right…

To the left!

The seats filled completely after that.

We saw the play, South Pacific. A simple story, with lovely characters and some powerful singing, especially from the male lead. Some of the songs have stuck in my head!

After that, we joined the bustling crowd of after-show diners. We had pizza and yam chips, while enjoying a coupla songs performed live by two ladies at the restaurant.

Good ol’ margherita pizza!

Yam chips!

It was pretty cold that night and I was wearing a dress with tights. The walk back to the hotel felt especially chilly! But it wasn’t too bad if we walked fast. And walked fast, we did. I had to pack once I got back to the room. Packing to go home is always easy. Just throw everything in!

The shuttle bus came to get me really early. I was the very first to board. After that, it was a merry-go-round picking up other people. Sigh. If only I was the last one… Anyway, the funny thing was, while we were parked along the side of a busy street in the city, Henry walked right past! He didn’t see me in the bus, and I couldn’t jump off, so it was just an amusing moment of WTF on my own.

Final meal (for now) in Sydney

This was pretty good for an airport meal. Truffled eggs and mushrooms! The coffee was bad though. I really need a good coffee soon.

The good thing about my flight back was, I upgraded to ScootBiz for only 100 bux. And I managed to get my favourite front row window seat.

Beautiful skies along the way

And no seat in front of me

I worked off my MacAir in comfort and happiness. I even finished my work faster than I expected! I felt sorry for the lady next to me though. She seemed to be trying so hard to sleep, but she just couldn’t. She kept taking her pills… I assume they were sleeping pills. But somehow, she just wasn’t able to sleep. It could have been the crying kid somewhere further back in the cabin.

I wanted to offer her some of my own anti-anxiety pills, but I thought it probably wasn’t a good idea to offer drugs to strangers. :)

Landed at a decent hour in Singapore for once. I always seem to land in the middle of the night somehow. This was the first evening landing for me. And I missed Sydney right away.

I don’t know when, but I will definitely be back. :)

x o x o
bB

Winter in Sydney – Day Five

Posted by blooberrymuffin in Australia, Balenciaga, Coffee, Eating Out, Food, Pretty Things, Sydney, Travel

Day Five was the fullest day for bB! :) This was the day I put on my favourite outfit of the trip, consisting of a turtleneck, a white peasant blouse, denim skirt, leggings and my new UGGs. Mr Bb went off to work and I started to mosey around…

Coupla days ago, we had walked through Nurses Walk briefly on our way back to the hotel. I was intrigued by this little back alley with shops and cafes.

Nurses Walk

Loved this little cafe in the air

The sun was shining happily on me

Missionary Stairs

Courtyard restaurant

Just as I was considering where to have my brekkie, this guy walked by and said, how you doing? I said, good, thanks. He walked by, turned around, came back and tried to chat me up. LOL. Then he asked if I would like to have coffee with him. I said, thanks but no thanks. So, I didn’t really fancy sitting down somewhere in the area and have him suddenly plonk himself at my table.

So I kept walking.

Practising self-portraits with my Sony NEX

Sony NEX decides this is a better close-up

My camera has a mind of its own. It likes to take my portrait peektures and try to make them better. Sometimes, it has quite a good eye. :)

 

I got to the harbour again

I finally settled down at a nice place opposite the Sydney Opera House for lunch. I was starving by then! This was Peter Doyle at the overseas passenger terminal building (Thanks for the information, Mica!) and the staff were a bunch of charming old men, grandfather-style.

The latte was decent

I started with sashimi

It was superbly fresh. The seagulls were very envious. I had to eat quickly or they would have swooped in to steal from me.

Entertaining myself between food

The Tasting Platter

Everything was exquisitely delectable

Taking advantage of my angle at the table

And the seagull models as well

This one was quite co-operative

But this one was cuter

The sparrows were better-behaved

At least they didn’t try to attack leftovers on the tables. The seagulls were quite good at swooping in the minute people left or when the old waiter’s back was turned. And they would, of course, crash into the crockery and make a huge racket, causing the waiter to come running and shoo them off.

Oh, more models!

This one isn’t in focus where I wanted it to be, on the seagulls. But it was pretty bloody bright that day. I could hardly see the LCD!

Models doing their thang

When I was leaving the restaurant, the old bartender was chatting with me. When he heard I was from Singapore, he spoke to me in Mandarin and said I was very pretty. LOL! He also asked me to stay in Sydney. I said I would love to. He said, “Come and stay with me!” and I laughed it off. That’s probably what he says to all the tourists to make them happy. But he was certainly very entertaining!

Then I caught a cab to get to Queen Victoria Building, where I was to meet Liliana!

Queen Victoria Building

I loved the details in this building

Even the ceiling is awesome

She brought me for Max Brenner hot chocolate

Hot chocolate isn’t really the thing to have in Singapore, with our awful humidity. But in winter, in Sydney, it was absolutely lovely.

It was so nice to finally meet Lili! We had such a good chin-wag. She is as gorgeous in person as she is online. Mica, soon I will meet you too! :) And hopefully the rest of our garden girls!

Lili reminded me to snap a peekture of Rose Thulian

Those perfume cards we were handed at the front of the store looked kinda cute next to Rose Thulian MPP!

Someone wanted to take my peekture

So, after Lili and I parted, she went off back to uni for her class and I went walking around. This guy, in a uniform, who was collecting names for a charity or community service, offered to take my peekture with my camera. He took several blurry ones. This one you see here was very poorly positioned (and highly over-exposed) and I did some heavy cropping on it to make it presentable. He was so funny though. I totally thought he was familiar with cameras, the way he said it, but no. LOL. After chatting a bit, he said, “I don’t suppose you could leave your name and sign up with us” and I said, “Sorry, I’m a tourist” and left. :D

This was the street where it happened

This was the peekture I was trying to snap of the street, when the guy came to offer to take my peekture.

And then, I started to try to find my way back to the hotel. I wanted to see if I could make it back without jumping into a cab. I did! But after getting slightly lost… :P

I returned in time to catch the sunset…

Cruise liner docked for a slight change in scenery

No tweaking on the colours

The gradient in the skies

And reflections on the building

In the evening, I joined Mr Bb and his ex-colleague for dinner. We had pre-dinner coffee at my favourite cafe again. Mr Bb wanted cake, so we had pre-dinner dessert too. LOL!

Coffee and cake at the Rocks Cafe

I must say, the coffee was a little burnt. Sadly, none of the subsequent coffees I have had at this cafe matched up to the very first one. I made a mental note to try other cafes before leaving Sydney.

He took us to Chophouse for dinner. I loved the interior. It was primitive and luxurious at the same time. Perfect for devouring huge slabs of succulent steaks.

Awesome skeletal heads as light fixtures

The ceiling reminded me of ribs

Fried pigskin! This rocked very big sox

Paul’s choice of starter was fried pigskin. I thought it would be good before it came to the table, but I didn’t know how good. It was so awesome! Light, crispy, and savoury, dipped into light vinegar for a tangy burst. They need to serve this in Singapore too! I wonder if there is a Chinese version somewhere around here.

Stole this shot on my way to the bathroom

My petit fillet

Mr Bb’s – was it fillet on the bone?

Crunchy beans

Super yummy potato thingy

Nommy portobello mushrooms with shallots

Paul picked the best cut of meat

He let us try some of his and I was blown away. It was rib off the bone, and possibly the best piece of cow I have ever eaten. I must try that for my next steak meal, wherever it is!

And then, we had dessert. :D

Rhubarb and lime cobbler, and Paul’s cheesecake

Both were very good but Paul’s was the winner again! That was one terribly delicious cheesecake. Next time I’m in Sydney, I want an entire steak just like his all to myself, and the same cheesecake too! *oink*

After that, I had to abandon the table and scoot off to meet Penny and Henry in Surry Hills for a quick ketchup! She has been super busy so it was difficult to arrange for a meet-up. We had about an hour, chatting over a plum mocktail which was rather refreshing after my sinfully heavy meal. I was happy to see them anyway, even for a little while.

And then, it was back to the hotel by cab. Traveling through Sydney at night made me feel even more like I was back in Melbourne. The houses, the lights, the streets… It was all so familiar and good.

Stay tuned for Day Six, my final full day in Sydney!

x o x o
bB

Winter in Sydney – Day Four

Posted by blooberrymuffin in Australia, Coffee, Food, Sydney, Travel

It was Monday! We both had a tonne of work, but Mr Bb had more than I did, so I had a good several hours outside, enjoying the Sydney sun!

I started with brekkie at the cafe where I had that awesome latte on Saturday, along with that awesome omelette. But I was a little disappointed.

Vanilla latte, not as good as the first time

They may have mixed in vanilla powder after making the latte, because there was no foam art and I could still see the bubbles from stirring. LOL! I don’t know if it was because the vanilla made it different or because it was a different barista. It just wasn’t as good as before.

I ordered the very same omelette. It came looking different.

Definitely a different chef in the kitchen

It didn’t taste as good either. It wasn’t terrible, of course. But just not as good. A little on the dry side and not oozy enough.

Still, it was lovely to be out and about, having brekkie at a cafe that also reminded me so much of Melbourne. It was fun people-watching through the tall glass windows, as it was on a busy street.

The cafe, documented

Then, I went on a little walkabout.

Spring is almost here

Look at the blue skies

First clear day since I landed

I really liked that lamp post

Sitting on a bench in the sun

Someone else was taking this very same peekture LOL

Enjoying the sun on another bench

The truth was, my long boots were starting to give me grief. The leather was bunching around my ankles in a rather painful way. So I kept parking myself on the benches, which was very enjoyable anyway, with the awesome weather and gentle sun. So this was the day I went out with my long boots and came back to the hotel in my new wedge UGGs, as I’d shown you guys previously with my iPhone peektures. :)

I got back to the hotel in the arvo and it was time to work. At sunset, it was time to play with my Sony NEX again.

Shooting the sunset again from the room

Click to see!

Practising on the panoramic function

It’s a shame manual controls are all off on the panoramic mode. And all the reflection on the glass too. LOL!

We just don’t get sunsets like this in Singapore

It was a less eventful day, due to both of us working. We had a debate about dinner and Mr Bb graciously allowed me to order the junk food I had to eat while I was in Australia – Cheeseburger pizza!

Half cheeseburger, half vegetarian

It was almost as good as ever. The vegetarian was awesome too! We ordered from Domino’s. I wonder why Domino’s in Singapore doesn’t do this cheeseburger flavour? I would probably get really fat if they did, from eating it every other day. :P

Stay tuned for Day Five! I promise it was lots more fun than Day Four. :)

x o x o
bB

Winter in Sydney – Day Three

Posted by blooberrymuffin in Australia, Coffee, Eating Out, Food, Sydney, Travel

The next day was Sunday. I took a tonne of peektures that day!

We got out nice and early for brekkie. There was this little bakery-cafe that we had been looking at every time we passed by, because they had such lovely baked goods in the window! Mr Bb was especially drawn to their blooberry bread pudding (I forgot what it was, just had to ask him LOL). But the coupla times we tried to go get some, the cafe was closed! So finally, there we were for brekkie!

There were giganormous muffins in the display. What are those? cC and bB!

The chockiChip muffin and the blooBerry muffin. Upsized!

The coffees were not as good as the previous place but still not bad

There’s just something so indescribably awesome about having a hot cuppa coffee on a cold wintry day. I personally feel it’s one of the best simple joys in life.

My omelette was a bit of a let-down

Maybe I was spoilt the day before by that kickarse omelette. This one was meant to have cheese and sea salt. There was very little cheese and there was no sea salt at all. The pumpkin soup and banana bread were very good though!

Mr Bb decided to skip the blooberry bread pudding and go back for it later on. This proved to be a mistake!

After filling our tummies, we took a walk to the harbour.

Sydney Opera House in daylight!

Wonderfully industrial building with eateries etc

bB and the Opera House!

The NEX decides to do an auto close-up of me

Trying out the 180º flip LCD

Click to see!

First attempt at a panoramic peekture!

Panoramic with a bB in it!

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Tower thingy

More of the same building – the Quay?

Art direction by Mr Bb

Technical advice by Mr Bb

We never made it onto that bridge

Tower thingy from afar

Checking out the nearby buildings

I love these oldskool buildings

I have problems balancing the horizon

Maybe because I’m a little crooked.

Sydney has a lot of character too

Yes, as much as Melbourne does. I didn’t expect to like Sydney this much. It may not be as “artsy” or “fluid” as Melbourne, but it has a lusciously raw, urbane energy. And like Melbourne, there are tonnes of old brick buildings sitting together with the beautiful modern ones. I love that.

I also love when trees are bare

Goth-bird-creature!

I saw these birds the first evening I landed in Sydney. I was on my way to get my boots fixed. It was dusk, raining and everything was grey. Three of these magnificent birds were sitting in a row on a bench, right outside the underground mall I was to get into. They looked awesome together, huddled with their heads low in the rain. They looked like something out of a Tim Burton movie! I decided to drop my boots off before coming back to snap a peekture of them. But… you guessed it. They were gone! Lesson learnt. Never pass over that moment and then try to go back for it. Grab it when you can! Like everything in life – CHERISH and APPRECIATE. Have no regrets!

So when I saw them walking around at the harbour, I had to stalk them for peektures! Of course, the mood is totally different from the peekture I missed before, but I had to catch them on camera anyway.

After about 50 terrible shots, I finally got into position

I should find out your name, Goth-bird-creature

They must be some sort of a heron-relative.

The old, the new, and the bare

We started to wander back towards our hotel. Suddenly, we remembered we had a blooberry bread pudding to eat! So we headed back to the cafe… But it was not meant to be. They had sold out of it! :( Instant example of grabbing a chance when it is right there. Mr Bb was crushed. The nice bakery peeps told him to try again on Tuesday!

Off we went again, taking a different route back to the hotel.

Distracted along the way

This is what happens when I have a camera again. I want to take peektures of everything.

Awesome eeriness

Light at the end of the tunnel

I was in love with this scene

The gentle glow of the sun setting, the feathery silhouette of the trees, the textures on the stone walls, with that beautiful arc framing it all. I loved it.

I can pretend it was a fortress

Who goes there?

Why is everything so beautiful?

This was truly the right place, at the right time

The Bridge from a different perspective

I kinda wish we had time to go to that carnival thing by the water.

Art direction by Mr Bb

Absolutely no tweaking on this. Good ol’ Mother Nature

Click to see!

After about 50 failed attempts, I got the panoramic I wanted

More of Mother Nature’s untainted beauty

Random kid riding the cannon

Click to see!

More panoramic fun!

Cannon, now alone without its rider

That was a long, unexpected detour we took! Out of the blue and absolutely awesome. It started when I followed the sunlight at the other end of the tunnel… Alice in Wonderland style. And we wouldn’t have gone that way if there weren’t a wedding photoshoot taking place on the staircase we were meant to climb up to get to our hotel. While waiting for the bride and groom to pose for their peektures, I started snapping the tunnel peektures. And then, we followed the light… wandered around blindly, and stumbled upon the gorgeous sunset.

I was very thrilled with my Sony NEX. So glad I grabbed it in time to document my Sydney adventure!

By the time we made it back to the hotel, we were cold, tired and hungry. It was a good time to check out the cool tavern nearby for pizza and beer.

Bacon pizza FTW

Pumpkin and bleu cheese salad

We slept extremely well that night. :)

Stay tuned for Day Four!

x o x o
bB

Winter in Sydney – Day Two

Posted by blooberrymuffin in Australia, Coffee, Eating Out, Food, Sydney, Travel

The next day, Mr Bb got up bright and early and headed off for a work discussion. I slept in and took my time with my shower, then did a bit of work before he came back to the hotel. Then we were off for first explorations!

After walking around the area near the hotel, we picked a nice cafe to have lunch at. Technically, it was my brekkie. :P

My first good latte in Sydney

And then I remembered why I stopped drinking coffee after leaving Melbourne. That was one fantastic latte. <3

bB and her latte

Happy after the first sip

Kickarse omelette!

This was one of my favourite meals of the entire Sydney adventure! The omelette was just perfectly done, with chorizo, red pepper, cheese, and potato.

Shepherd’s Pie!

His Shepherd’s Pie was awesome too!

After the extremely satisfying meal, we took a short walk around and made our way back to the hotel to work. You will be seeing a million peektures of the view I took from our window throughout the entire six days. We just couldn’t resist it, especially the sunsets!

This was the highway where we saw his colleague Pip ride by on her little scooter! And she rode by right when we were both at the window. What are the odds? LOL!

View from the room again

The first sunset of many

It was perfect for getting to know my new camera

Look at those golden rays shining down from above

And then, the colour changed

Glorious colours in the skies

After our little sunset photoshoot, we went out for a walk at night.

The Sydney Opera House

The Harbour Bridge

The Harbour Bridge shot was a HDR shot compressed by my wonderful Sony NEX. I didn’t even know it could do that.

And then, the piglette was hungry. So we popped into one of the nice restaurants along the water.

Wonderfully hearty mushroom soup

Lamb chops! Very tender despite being medium instead of medium rare

His very excellent lobster ravioli

We rolled back to the hotel with happy bellies! :)

Stay tuned for Day Three!

x o x o
bB

Winter in Sydney – Day One

Posted by blooberrymuffin in Australia, Food, Sydney, Travel

Here are the first peektures from my Sony NEX! Some shakiness while learning to use the camera… Some of the food shots weren’t as clear as I thought they were. It’s hard to see from the LCD! Or maybe my eyesight is deteriorating…

It was a 2 am flight I took. I intended to sleep throughout but woke up at about 5 am for a little while.

Sunrise on the plane. Testing my camera for the first time!

It was quite a spectacular sight.

I usually sleep through entire flights so I had never really witnessed kaleidoscopic sunrises from within a plane.

Landed close to noon in Sydney! I found a shuttle bus that services all the major hotels, so it was quite easy getting to the Shangri-La.

At the check-in counter, the lady told me we were getting a room on the 24th floor, in a nice, quiet corner. I’ve shown you the lift lobby and the door of the room. And now, the inside!

The lounge!

There is a lounge room!

The front door opened to this lounge area. This became our walk-in wardrobe. LOL

And I thought these windows were nice…

As I walked in further…

Looking down a corridor to the bedroom

Looking down a corridor to the bedroom

I have never been in a hotel room big enough to have a corridor.

Along the way, I passed the very awesome bathroom.

This was one kickarse bathroom!

Shower cubicle!

Shower cubicle!

And realising that my camera is able to capture the entire cubicle up to the ceiling! My phone could only get half of the cubicle.

A tub!

And a nice tub!

Unfortunately we never used it. But I would have loved to if it weren’t so cold…

And then, I came to the bedroom

I was like, WOAH.

Now, this is a bedroom!

Oh… The view…

The brilliant view from Shangri-La

The brilliant view from room 2401.

This was going on in the sky. It was awesome.

It was like someone up there parting the clouds to let a little sunlight shine through. Perhaps a reminder that life is never all bad. :)

My work table for the next six days!

Working was gonna be quite enjoyable, i reckoned! :)

And a nice dresser too

Mr Bb was about to board his flight from Auckland at this point, and I was texting him peektures from my phone in excitement. After that, it took me a long time to get organised. I was so tired from the flight and scattered in the head, trying to unpack and everything. And I was starving too. But I remembered I had to fix my boots! So I got on the phone with the concierge and they found me a very good cobbler. A storm was brewing but I knew I had to brave it. It would be an adventure!

So I ate some very awesome cherries from the fruit platter they left for us in the room, and freshened up a little. Here’s the camera version of the first outfit peekture I took…

I miss winter dressing so much!

The concierge put me into a cab, and told the cabbie where to go. He also lent me a gigantic umbrella. It getting cold, dark and rainy! I got out at a tiny park in the middle of the city, with an underground mall + train station. And found the cobbler easily…

The awesome cobbler

The awesome cobbler!

He fixed my boots within an hour, and did a fabulous job!

I moseyed around the underground mall for a little while, but I was getting super tired at this point. I found a little cafe and sat down for some food and a cup of hot chocolate. I still have no idea why I picked, out of all things, some very sorry-looking fried potato cakes from the display window. But when I bit into one, it tasted amazing! It was quite an experience. Never judge something by its appearance!

After collecting my boots, I tried to get a cab back to the hotel. That turned out to be a bit of a nightmare because it was Friday night and everyone was needing cabs! I spent about an hour trying to get one from various locations, including a hotel in the city (the concierge was trying to get cabs for everyone but somehow none were turning up). He whispered to me that it would be easier to hail one from the next street, so off I went! When I was on that street (George Street), two people stole cabs from me. You just have to be in the right place at the right split second! Thankfully, even though a Chinese family decided to park themselves right in front of me, a kind cabbie swooshed past them and stopped for me!

I was so relieved to get back to the hotel. As it turned out, I could have walked back if I had known where I was. It was quite near. But I probably would have gotten lost. :)

A little while later, Mr Bb arrived! After hearing my story about trying to get a cab for an hour, he decided we should take it easy and have room service for dinner.

They wheeled this into our room!

Pumpkin! Perfect cold weather food.

The salmon salad was very refreshing and wonderfully textured.

And mini burgers with tender and juicy patties! The chips were excellent too.

I love taking super hot showers when it’s wintertime! I know, so bad for the skin. But it feels so awesome! I need to learn to moisturise as prevention before my skin dries out in the wintry air though. I always leave it till late, when my skin is already complaining! I will aim to do prevention next time!

Stay tuned for Day Two!

x o x o
bB

More Sydney sneak peeks

Posted by blooberrymuffin in Australia, Sydney, Travel

Still messing around with the Sony NEX peektures so here are more from my phone in the meantime!

The room…

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The view…

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Shappo making himself comfy.

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Personalised message on the teevee! I was quite impressed.

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Guess who?

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With a view like that, we were busy snapping peektures every sunset.

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Finally met up with Liliana! She is gorgeous. <3 Wish you were there too, Mica!

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x o x o
bB

Dressing for Sydney!

Posted by blooberrymuffin in Australia, Balenciaga, Fashion, Pretty Things, Shoes, Sydney, Travel

Let’s start with some outfit peektures from my phone before I process my proper ones from my new Sony NEX friend. <3

Arriving at the Shangri-La, Sydney, in my flight outfit — trusty old Juicy Couture velour suit, S$8 UGGs from Taiwan, Balenciaga Sorbet Classic Pompon, nerdy glasses!

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It was a cold and rainy day when I arrived. I had to get my knee-length DUO boots fixed because the soles were cracking after I gave them to Kate to wear to Germany… Neither of us checked the condition and I realised it only a few hours before my flight! And it was Singapore’s National Day to boot (pun intended). No shops or cobblers were open! My flight was at 2 am and I found out that there was an Aldo store at the airport… What’s more, it was in the terminal I was going to! And… it opened till 1 am!

But with the usual last-minute shenanigans that crop up whenever I have to get to the airport, I was about 15 minutes later than I intended. Which would still have been fine, except that when I got the check-in counter, the queue was snaking like a mofo. That was still okay… But trouble struck again. My Oz visa had run out! It was meant to last the life of the passport, but for some strange reason, if it was applied for online, it would only last a year. I last went three years ago.

So I had to do an on-the-spot application, which involved pushing my trolley of luggage to the service counter. At which point, they said they only accepted cash, and all I had was AUD. So off I went to the money changer to change AUD back to SGD. Running with a luggage trolley is pretty fun, I must say. Whooshed back to the service counter, then whooshed back to the check-in-counter. It was almost 1 am. I decided to try my luck ringing the shop. A nice girl answered the phone and I told her I was going to Australia with no shoes. LOL! She agreed to wait for me for 15 minutes. I made it to the store 10 minutes later. :)

With 15 minutes to go before I had to get on the plane, the very nice SA helped me pick a very comfy pair of ankle wedge boots. These turned out to be a lifesaver, especially for the first few days of my arrival in Sydney, and they were absolutely perfect to wear under my jeans. Nonetheless, I was on a mission to try to fix my long boots. With the Shangri-La concierge’s help, a good cobbler was located nearby and I wrapped myself up for the cold, wet evening.

Denim skirt over jeans was my typical get-up for Melbourne winters. Add a thick NafNaf cable-knit turtleneck sweater thrown over a black tee, and my beige 3/4 coat. I was so glad too, that I brought my Balenciaga Black Mini Pompon in prediction of  bad weather. This ensemble worked very well. I was kept warm and happy through the entire cobbler mission, even though I was stuck on the street for hours, trying to get a cab back to the hotel.

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With the boots fixed, I wore them with a denim skirt and leggings when it was less cold on Monday. With no rain, Rose Thulian Mini Pompon came out to play.

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However, the boots still failed me in the end. Maybe the leather didn’t break in properly, but they scrunched around my ankles and started to scratch my skin. They probably fit Kate much better. There was a particular pair of wedge UGGs that I had been eyeing for a while, and could never find them in my size after trying many shops. On Monday, after having a leisurely lunch, I was wandering around the streets of Sydney, snapping peektures and enjoying the sunshine, when I saw this little shoppe full of UGGs and a little Chinese lady inside. I don’t know why I thought I would have any luck there, after trying so many, but I did! They were so comfy… I wore them right away! So I came back to the hotel looking like this…

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The next day, the weather was lovely! This was my favourite outfit of the trip.

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With coat.

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I love wearing dresses over jeans in cold weather. This was my signature look in Melbourne. It was very comfy for Sydney too. Beige dress from H&M, lace cardigan from Bangkok.

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With a fleece jacket and scarf.

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I wish I remembered to take peektures of my daily outfits. I forgot on some days! But I truly miss dressing for cold weather. Need to get away more… Especially back to Australia!

Stay tuned for proper entries with proper peektures on my Sydney adventure!

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The one I’ve been waiting for

Posted by blooberrymuffin in Australia, Gadgets, Sydney, Travel

The Sony NEX-F3. <3

I have wanted a white camera since forever, maybe even almost ten years ago. Maybe eight years. I don’t know. Since the first white iBooks came out and I had a little 12 inch machine, I have wanted a white camera as well. Back then, it was almost impossible to find one which also functioned well. Then, suddenly, there was a boom of white (and other candy coloured) cameras. Somehow, I kept dragging my feet. The Olympus PEN series was cute but nothing was singing to me. Until now.

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And so, I picked up my new toy for my Sydney adventures! :D

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The lovely camera folk at Alan Photo wanted to give me this beautiful (and expensive) camera bag.

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But I switched it for this! Am I stupid? They must have thought I was mad.

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The army green and brown leather trim is just not me… I wish they made it in black or grey. I would feel like I’m wasting it if I took it and end up not using it. Am I stupid?

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