Nostalgic Nora

Wow, I cannot believe it has been six months since I last blogged. That time has completely flown past. Sam and I easily slipped into our daily routine of eat, sleep, work, repeat. We have saved super hard to top up our funds for our next adventure. We have been living in a beautiful suburb called Eskineville 20 minutes from the heart of the city. I bagged myself a job in fab cafe called Knuckles Sandwich Bar. I completely landed on my feet with such great colleagues and frequent samples of all the house baked treats! Sam is working super hard driving round the city of Sydney, working for a removal company called Designer Transport. With regular Friday night drinks with the boys after work, he's been more than happy there. 

In seven days we move out of our little home, quit our jobs and pack our bags ready for our next big adventure! We're off to Cairns, the gateway to Australia's Great Barrier Reef. It will be a dream come true for the both of us to finally swim the reef. To top it off we've booked to dive on my 23rd birthday, how exciting and memorable. We have booked lots of crazy once in a life time activities, which I will document along the way. So hold tight! 

The past 6 months we have fallen in love with Sydney, we have built our own little life here. In between working we have managed to explored lots. To name a few our days out; we have visited markets, eaten lots of brunch, seen Ben Howard and Enter Shikari live, went to a tattoo convention, went to the cinema, imersed ourselves in serveral city festivals and gone on many lovely coastal walks. We have even played host to Sam's mum when she came to visit at the beginning of August, revisiting some of our favourite places and showing her the sights.

Here are some snaps from the past jam packed six months. 

Wendy's secret garden, Sam took me to this hidden garden and packed us a picnic! So romantic!

Samuel's birthday caaaaaake! Not homemade unfortunately, but still super scrummy (so Sam tells me).

My boy on the bars at Bondi.

Sam at the Aroma Festival, he LOVES his coffee!

I skipped the coffee and had a Chai. The harbour bridge in the background.

 

Sydneys breath taking sunset.

Sam, Sharon and I at darling harbour.

BEN HOWARD! A dream come true, I've always wanted to see him live.

The opera house all lit up during the vivid light festival, it was so refreshing seeing the sails all lit up. 

One of our many trips to the local cinema called Dendy.

Sam the man in his van!

The pair of us sitting on Mrs Macquarie's Chair on Straya Daaaay.

Soaking up the sun at Coogee beach, one of our favourites! The waves were crazy that day.

Me at work with my lovely team. Denisa, Diana, Me & Damo. 

Feeding a wallaby at Featherdale Wildlife park. This fella was such a poser.

Feeling super nostalgic after writing this post. We still need to get a photo of Sam and I outside the opera house and our apartment. It's on the to do list before we flyyyyyyyy.

Love Chailey x

Sandy toes and salty kisses!

Today's throwback Thursday is a only a stones throw away. I also want to tell you all what Sam and I  are up to whilst we're out here aswell as our past travels since we left England. Last weekend Sam and I had a long weekend off together. We decided to explore more of the city and visit the beach! 

On Sunday after a 15 minute bus journey we arrived at a beach called Coogee.  We had been told great things about this beach and thought it was about time to check it out. It was a busy Sunday morning and the coffee shops were already filled with chattering customers. Music was playing in the streets and Sam and I couldn't wait to explore more. We headed straight down to the beach to find the perfect sunbathing spot. The sun was burning so brightly the first thing we wanted to do was get into the sea. The waves were huge, they came toppling over us knocking us over. It was so much fun, brought me back to my childhood at the beach in Hemsby. 

After our swim we came across the beach library. We both loved the idea of being able to borrow a book whilst sunning yourself, as more often than not you forget to bring a book with you to the beach! It was approaching midday by now and we wanted to walk along the beach and up to a park we could seen in the distant. It was only a short walk from the shore and the views were beautiful. 

With our tummies rumbling we headed to find a place for some food. We ate lunch at the courtyard cafe, it had caught our eye on our way down from the bus so we wanted to check it out. I had a chicken ceaser wrap and Sam had a Greek salad. I would definitely recommend visiting if you get a chance as its a lovely relaxed environment with music playing in the background. After lunch we spent the rest of our afternoon in the park reading, just like an old married couple; we both snoozed too! The day was perfect, just what I wanted. A relaxed chilled out beach day! We spent the evening at our local bar called the The Village Crow. It's only recently opened so we wanted to go see what it was all about. The food was great and the drinks were yummy too. We will definitely be returning!

Monday was Australia Day, and judging by the weather you wouldn't have even known we were in Australia. The rain was teeming down and didn't look to improve for the rest of the day. We still wanted to make the most out of our day and decided to go into the city to explore what events had been put on to celebrate Straya Day! There were lots of old fashion cars that lined the streets in the heart of the city. It felt sureal to see such old classic English cars surrounded by sky scrapers, back home they are best suited on a field at a summers country fayre. We then went to explore the botanical gardens, even in all that rain it was such a beautiful peaceful place. We stopped for cup of tea and visited the gift shop, we are a sucker for a gift shop. Sam had been waiting to visit Mrs Macquarie's point ever since discovering it on the map when we arrived. He wanted to know who she was and why she was so important that she had chair named after her. As we approached the famous point we realised what all the fuss was about. The views of the opera house and harbour bridge were phenomenal, it clicked; this is the famous view that you think of when you picture Sydney. We were here, staring straight at it. Even with the dismal weather we managed to find the magic hidden beneath. 

The rest of our afternoon was spent exploring an area called The Rocks, one of Sydney's oldest parts and famous for its cobbled streets. The streets were filled with life and there was live music around every corner. We came across a food market and shared a German hotdog as we had skipped lunch. We also played around in a free photo booth and Sam dressed up as a koala. My dear friend Fleur had arrived in Sydney that morning so I popped by to say hello and check she was okay after that long flight. After that we headed home, our Sunday night was filled with back to back episodes of Friends and a Thai takeaway on the sofa. 

That was my weekend, absolutely perfect if you ask me! 

Speak to you next week,

Love Chailey xxxxx