3 Years of Blogging & City2Surf

I have taken a step back from the blogging these past two months.

The break was mainly due to a trip back home to England after 3 years in Australia and a visit to my boyfriends home, Ireland. I just logged back on tonight. I find writing about all the stuff I get up to therapeutic. Not sure whether people enjoy the blog or not but now I think its more for me.

Well WordPress and I have been writing together for 3 years…I have blogged my trip around South East Asia and all the adventures and trips I have done in Australia.

Big changes happening in the personal life, moving in with my boyfriend, visa’s (whats new) and trying to get fit!

We have booked our Christmas holiday to Fiji and started hiking for our base camp hike  next year. Looking forward to those trips…I am sure there will be a few small ones in between with the trusty tent.

A few blogs to tackle about our trip home and moving..these will be after I have tackled the Ikea furniture in our living room. I have realized  I was not meant to be a Ikea customer as we have had a few issues putting everything together.

I also ran/ walked the City2Surf this past weekend to raise awareness and money for MS. Our family has had a personal connection with this disease it felt good to help raise some funds. If you would like to give to my donate page click on the link below…everything helps!

Click Here to Donate

 

Here’s to another 3 years of blogging this adventure we are on …

Kirsty

xx

 

 

 

 

Winter Camping in NSW

A couple of weeks ago now I packed up the car and hit the road last minuet for a camping trip with a friend. We did not want to travel far but needed a break from the city.

I asked one of my camping pro friends and she suggested Coledale Camp Site so we decided to check it out.

I keep all my camping stuff in a big plastic box and clean it after every use…this was extremely handy this weekend. We set off Saturday morning and I threw the plastic box, table and tent into the car.

The drive was easy and scenic. We merged onto the coastal road and winded through lots of small coastal towns until we hit Coledale. The campsite is right on the beach and has all the basic facilities you would need. The campsite is close to the RSL and the town making it a short walk for a drink or dinner.

It was extremely windy when we arrived. We set the tent up battling the wind and then headed into the town for lunch. Most of the cafes stop serving at 2PM but we did eventually find one in Thirroul called Revive 2515. The cafe does sandwiches cakes and wraps. We grabbed a sandwich and got a cake to go. There is also a Coles in Thirroul were we grabbed some last minuet things.

The rest of the night consisted of making dinner a walk on the beach and a fair bit of wine! On the Sunday we ha d a quick breakfast at Earth Walker which very tasty. Then back in the car with a pit stop we planned. We stopped in Helenburgh to see the abandoned train tunnels.

There are three tunnels in total. I would recommend wearing good shoes as it is extremely muddy. The tunnels are super creepy but make for good photos they look like they have come right out of a American horror movie.

Any of these towns around Coledale are ideal for a weekend escape with your tent. From the inner west it took us just over a hour to get there it was short and pretty drive. It was cold but we had enough blankets to keep us warm and a hot shower in the morning to warm us up.

 

Vivid Weekend Warrior Edition

Its the time of the year when the CBD is packed every weekend with people wanting to get that perfect picture of the sky line lit up!

Vivid Avoiding Crowds

My boyfriend was down last weekend from his project and he had said I don’t like crowds I don’t want to go to vivid. A small min trick later I had him in the Rocks and loan behold we were technically in Vivid but without the crowds.

I am fine with crowds they do not bother me and I love the vivid festival so I really wanted to go especially as he was down from Coffs for the weekend.

We got off the train at Martins place around 5:30 so it was dark and we walked down to the Rocks and through to the Palasides. I showed MC the view from the top of the bar which is a spectacular view of Sydney and its also a different view of Sydney Harbour.

We settled in the pub downstairs near a window and we could see the Vivid lights on the Shangri – La. We were joined by a few friends and had dinner in the pub which is good pub grub. Around 9:15PM we walked around to the the Theatre Bar. Yet again another great view of the Harbor Bridge and Luna Park. It was great watching all the boats on the water with there lights on for Vivid. The bar was very quiet and relaxing.

When you come out of the bar turn left and walk down the road a little way to the steps going up. At the top of those steps is a amazing view of the Sydney Opera House Sails.

Walking back through the Rocks we got told by a passer by to go up the alley way down the side of the pub ‘ Phillip Foote ‘ there is a Vivid exhibit using 3D graphics….it looks very cool on Boomerang app. Check out the video on my Instagram Keeks9272016

 

Vivid By Boat

I did a boat trip on Sunday with my house mate and it was fantastic. We bought the tickets through Groupon for $38 each. The boat was a catamaran and seated 30 people. You could bring alcohol on board if you wished. The boat supplied soft drinks wraps and sandwiches.

The boat was massive with room to walk about to get the perfect photo. The route went around to Darling Harbor where we caught the water show then back round to the Opera House and around the botanical gardens. Its a lovely way to experience the lights on the water. The company we went with was Sea Sydney Harbour.

Vivid By Foot

I am going by foot this week to Vivid with my friends since as MC is not a crowd lover. Once I have gone by foot I shall update this section. Hopefully going to check out the Botanical Gardens, The Rocks and maybe Martins Place!

 

 

 

Kmart Camping….

My last blog was about our time spent in South West Rocks…I thought I might try a few additional post about how we did it on a budget. Also decided to refer to my boyfriend as MC because boyfriend was getting used far to often.

We were both on budgets for the camping equipment as we do not know if we will use it that often and we have a trip home coming up as well as skiing to book. We bought everything from Kmart and I can not fault it. Below is a list of everything we used.

The only thing we needed which we didn’t have was a proper cool box. The sun did come out and a lot of our food went off before we could use it.

Equipment we bought for the trip

• Tent – $109 We bought a 4 person tent which was a pop up. So easy to put up and down. It was also high enough for you to stand in. I did love our side windows as well, it was nice to see the sea in the morning.
• Foam Mats – $10 These are used outside the tent so you can take your shoes off and not drag dirt or sand inside.
• Portable Gas Stove – $20 We made diner and two breakfasts on the stove, it was brilliant easy to use.
• Fleece Blanket – $18 This blanket really kept us warm at night and it made the tent look so homely having it at the foot of the bed during the day.
• Gas for the Stove – $4 For three cans, we used two over the weekend.
• Egg Carrier – $4 We only had a few casualties on the way up. 
• Pot Pan – $10
• Frying Pan – $20
• Air Bed – $29 We got the biggest one which didn’t fill up the tent but gave us plenty of room and stayed inflated for a long time.
• Pump – $6 Key for the bed.
• Plastic Box – $25 I have stored nearly everything in this box and it made it easier to transfer everything up to the campsite.
• Pillow – $8 It is shaped like a log and this may have been purchased for a cute factor.
• Lantern – $30 MC bought this from Aldi. Very handy little purchase that had two small flash lights fold out of the lantern.
• Pocket Knife – $10 Also bought from Aldi.
• Table – $19 Well you don’t want to eat and cook on your knees.

Other things we already had /took from home

• 2 camping chairs
• Kettle
• Scissors
• Tongs
• Bed sheet
• Duvet
• Plates /Cups/Mugs/Cutlery
• Small cool box with two ice packs
• Bin Bags
• Bottles of Water
• Chopping board

***Also download CamperMate app onto your phone it shows you all the campsites around Australia and breaks them down into price ranges.Lots of not so well known free sites on the app. ***

Spring Forward

I feel after this weekend it is safe to say winter is on its way out!

The weather was beautiful this weekend and perfect to get outside. Friday night was very relaxing with just having a quick bite to eat at The Ritz in Marrickville. The food is basic but good pub food and they also had live music on a Friday. The rest of the night was spent watching the Olympics…I just can not get enough of it all.

**Go Team GB**

Saturday I was at my partners house with his roommates and we just went to get a Vietnamese Roll from their local shop. Personally I am not a massive fan but they are obsessed with them. It is also ranked the number 2 place to eat in Marrickville, so I’ll put the link in this post. Once I was back home in Randwick it was usual weekend chores then a quick change for my friends Birthday. Disaster struck at 4PM when the restaurant we had booked all 20 of us into had a fire and had to remain shut this weekend. We did manage to get a booking at a Indian restaurant in Coogee called The Clove. Now back home Indian food is amazing and I have never really found anything as good here in Australia. The Clove though came very close it was great food and service to say they had to deal with 20 individual orders.The food was delicious and after way to much of it and wine we tackled a homemade Birthday cake before heading to Coogee Pavilion. I am honestly not the biggest fan of Coogee Pavilion…its just not usually my scene. But this Saturday I really enjoyed it having a few nice cocktails and playing table tennis and giant Jenga with friends was a great way to celebrate our friends Birthday.

The sun was out Sunday so it was straight to the beach in the morning with a coffee. A few brave swimmers ventures in but I was very content on the sand. The afternoon was spent in the Coogee Bay Hotel to watch the Conor McGregor fight. I am not a massive fan of UFC fighting at all but having a few Irish friends and a Irish boyfriend makes the fight a fun day out. I did miss the fight by a few seconds but the atmosphere doesn’t fade. The sun was out and so were the Sunday drinkers. Having to get up at the crack of dawn it was a early exit from the festive’s for some dinner and sleep. I have a suspicion a few of my friends did carry on and enjoyed Sunday night to the fullest.