Now it's time to write more posts

I know I have been bad at new posts the last two weeks, I am on holidays and I could not be bothered writing even though I did not have anything better to do. But here is a new post: Last week was Australia Day and even though I would have liked to spend the day at home I still was glad I went to this:
Big Day Out

I was so curious about Australian festivals I bought the tickets the first day they were on sale. It was so different to Austrian festivals! Well to start of with, the whole day before it was pouring. Not just raining, pouring. Pouring like when you step into a paddle (which ALWAYS seems to happen to me) it's not just wetting your shoe, now your whole foot up to the ankle is soaking wet. So I bought a rain jacket to be ready for a rainy festival. The next day it only rained in the morning and Ben convinced me to only bring one of those $2 rain ponchos. I was still wearing my long leggings, in case it might rain later. Well, I looked soooo unfashionable as I realised later on the train. Nobody was wearing long pants! In fact EVERY girl was wearing denim shorts. God, I think I already saw about 500 arse cheeks before I was even at the festival! Well I think Ben would have enjoyed if not most of the girls were about 16. The festival was good, not all my type of music but I had a lot of fun. Australia is quite weird when it comes to drinking alcohol, the only drinks you could purchase were premixed cans that were 3% alcohol and tasted like I would swallow a shot of sugar water. My favorite act was definitely Girl Talk and I think it might have been Nero if I had had enough energy to watch them. After 12 hours of walking and dancing I was done. I could hardly move and just wanted to go home. So at about 1AM I fell into bed for about 5 hours until I had to get up for work. You can imagine what I looked like after that little sleep.

There was one thing that I learned from that festival which I will keep in mind for any upcoming festivals here in Australia:
It doesn't matter what size you are, squeeze yourself into a pair of denim shorts (preferably from when you were 13) and expose your amazing bum cheeks.

Seems like I'm getting old!

I realised after christmas that all the sugar replacements left some bits on my hips and tummy. Umm hello I thought there is NO sugar in it?! Well apart from the fact that it gave me cramps that stupid sugar replacements also made me gain weight. So that's why they landed in my bin! What's frustrating about this is that I can't get rid of those 2 extra kg's on my thighs these days. That just means one thing: I am getting old! The days where I would just eat right for a few days and lose 2kg's are over. I never really had a problem with my weight just needed sometimes to get more toned. I was hoping that I would be an exception with that "when you get older you have to work harder for a great body" thing. This is week 3 of good food and working out and I am feeling really well and I will take measurements in a few days! It was one of my new years' resolutions to become fit and I think I am on my right track. Staying on that daily routine will be hard though. Did you guys ever stay on a diet (successfully)?

Saturday me and Ben went for some drinks in Bondi. Even though it was only the two of us we still had lots of fun. The day before my mum called me that one of my friends died back in my home country and all I could think about was him. I didn't have enough sleep, I was grumpy all day and I just felt exhausted. I saw that Ben was really tired too but he knew I needed some change of location so he took me out to the bar. It was a good decision, I was laughing and forgot all the worries at least for that night. Losing someone so young makes me realise that I have to appreciate every single day, your life can change so fast! My thoughts are with his family in Austria.

Chinese New Year

On Friday we thought we'd go to Chinatown and see some celebrations for the Chinese New Year. I just a glimpse of a street parade at about 6pm but that was it. I was pretty disappointed, I thought there'd be much more celebrations. Ben and I had some drinks at a pub before we met up with our friends. I haven't had any chinese food since I came to Australia, I know that's crazy, right?! We went to a massive restaurant and it was a bit creeped out by the big aquariums they had. There was a whole "Live Menu" that let you choose a any fish or crab in the water and they would cook it for you! Of course I didn't order any of those. The food was really nice with chit chats about old times. A good evening to end the week!

5 days

Fun things in the last 5 days:
* buying the "Labyrinth" board game so we can play instead of watching the same tv shows every evening
* trying to distract Ben during the game while telling him the worst jokes and pulling funny faces
* being successful with my distracting
* watching Ben do some house work, I find that quite sexy
* watching tv and finding out that Foxtel has the option to view tv shows I missed all over the week
* baking cakes that don't look pretty at all but taste delicious
* meeting David Hasselhoff right down the road on Bondi Beach
* having the opportunity to attend an Australian Hens Party
* finally picking up our new dining chairs
* deciding that a picnic on the living room floor is soo much cooler than eating at the table
* chatting away with all my friends from home because I can be up til 2AM and sleep in

Lame things in the last 5 days:
* buying sardines from the fish shop and finding out at home that the guy didn't gut the fish properly nor scaled it
* remembering that I ran out of a bus ticket and fare dodging, being so scared that someone will check tickets that I feel sick
* trying to buy some really healthy food and realising that I just spent $114 on groceries
* driving the car in the worst rain ever, on the highway and on the other side of the road

The trip (Part II)

A day after we visited Michael, which you can read here, we drove all day long to different kind of beaches. Some of them were just breathtaking! As the first one was too windy we decided to look for another smaller beach, which we found after driving around for a bit. It was so hot we jumped into the water and guess what happened next. The guy just a few metres away from us, was fishing and fished a shark. I couldn't believe it!! I had a close look at it, but after that I decided my time in the water was finished.
We met up with our friend Will who we know from London. It was another good night, Ben and I were exhausted by the end of it. Even though we were only gone for 3 days it felt like a week. It was nice to go home on Sunday and just do nothing except lying on the couch and watch movies all day.

Hansi

I had a bird called Hansi. This bird was quite amazing. I got him when he was tiny, little bird from a small pet shop a few kilometres away. I remember they put him into a little box so we could transport him home safely. When we arrived I turned the box around and Hansi didn't move in there. "oh no..." I said to my mum with a sad face, "he's dead already..." but then we opened the box and the tiny bird came out, looking at me angrily as if it was saying "why would you put me into such a tiny black box, it was horrible!" I felt guilty.
This little bird got really attached to me, was sitting on my shoulder while I was watching TV, or greeted me every time I walked into the door. Yes greeted. Every time I called his name he would answer with a happy chirp.
There was a time when I entered the room, he flew directly onto my shoulder. Hansi's cage was always open, so he could decide to get out and fly around whenever he wanted to. Once he had this phase where he always sat onto people's head. It was crazy, as soon as you entered the room you could be sure you'll have a blue budgie on your head in seconds. He freaked out Nico, my dog, who was watching tv. Nico is a Golden Retriever, so Hansi must have mistaken his golden fur with my hair and sat on it. Nico didn't know what the heck was going on and after this little incident he never got any closer than 4m to the cage. As soon as he heard Hansi climbing out of his cage he left the room.
Hansi was also very talented. I learned him how to imitate burps, smacking sounds and whistling. For your information, it was the kind of whistling that boys do when a pretty girl walks past.
When I visited home in November I saw that he had digesting problems due to his age and he became very quiet. I knew it was only a matter of time until this old bird had to leave our world.
Well this amazing bird died today at the age of ten. A reasonable age for a budgie but still, I am very sad. My boyfriend who has never had a pet in his life doesn't really understand the attachment one can have with a pet. For him it is just an animal but I feel like a little piece in my heart is missing, it's aching. I will miss you Hansi, this post is for you, I'll never forget you.

Summer Lovin'

During summer I want to highlight my eyes and cheeks, however I don't want to look shiny on my forehead or nose. So during the hot months I am using mostly powder instead of liquid foundation. I love colourful lipstick but for this post I used neutral colours that also work during the day.
Here are my summer essentials:

                                     1. L'oreal Voluminous Building Mascara in Carbon Black
                                     2. MAC Eye Shadow in Tempting (Lustre)
                                     3. benefit Hoola Bronzing Powder
                                     4. benefit Lipgloss in Life on the A List
                                     5. Jane Iredale Amazing Base Loose Minderal Powder

This...

Eelus print is going to hang in our living room very soon, matching our chairs and carpet!

Source

Australia has weird names for its towns

So the christmas holidays are officially ending today and I wish I could turn back time to do so many more trips with Ben. We just came back from our weekend trip to Ulladulla and Wollongong today. The road trip showed me some new beautiful sights of New South Wales. It reminded me of Austria. Since it's been the worst summer for years with lots of rain, everything is really green. So I guess the rain is at least good for one thing, if not for us. Ben and I took our time driving down to Ulladulla. We stopped in little beach towns and at beaches for lunch and or quick walks. At 6 we finally arrived at our friend's house. We hadn't seen Michael since April so it was a quite exciting reunion! We had a lovely dinner (I had my first oyster in 6 years) and then we went for a few drinks into the local pub.

Being in a country town in Australia is so different than Sydney! Hearing that the neighbors had a massive python in their garden or that you can see the most poisonous snakes during the day was quite scary. I am glad I don't have to think about all that in the city, but I have to admit when I was sitting in the quiet garden I realised how nice it is not to hear cars and ambulances constantly. But not only the traffic and natural surroundings were new to me, also the people, their fashion and their behavior. People seemed younger when we went out and they dressed a lot differently compared to Sydney people. Most of the girls' outfits were very revealing and I couldn't see myself wearing that. As I was tired from being in the car for 8 hours and due to limited luggage I couldn't be bothered to dress up. I have to say though that I certainly felt underdressed with my jeans and flats. Interesting was as well that country people don't like city people BUT city people don't mind country people. It somehow reminded me of Austria.

I don't want this week to be over..

Since Ben has this week off we are trying to do something different every day. It is the first time since I have moved to Australia that we have more than 2 days off together and I am loving it. This week we went to Cronulla and took the ferry to Bundeena a tiny, tiny town in a natural park. The beach was amazing and so were the houses there. I fell in love with a little beach house up on a hill, which zou can see on the first picture. I kind of love old, little houses with detail in the fence or windows, which is weird because when I was younger I always wanted to live in a mansion. I guess I am kind of over that. Anyways, it was another good day of our christmas holiday week. I don't really want this week to be over, only 4 more days to go!

A day at the zoo

After being here for 6 months it was time to visit the zoo. It was a perfect day for it, the sun was shining and everyone seemed relaxed and happy. Sydney's zoo has an amazing view of the city, I start to realise that Sydney is a very pretty city with it's harbors, skylines and many parks.

Even though Ben and I were only there for about 3 hours we were so tired at the end we couldn't wait to be home again. It probably is the heat that's so exhausting. The most interesting animals at Taroonga Zoo were definitely the chimpanzees. I could have watched them for hours climbing their ropes, communicating with each other and even fighting that ended up in smacking the other monkey in the face. So funny!

New Years in Bondi Beach

Happy New Year everyone!
This year (or last year?) was really special, it was so far away from the place I call home. Instead of -10 degrees I celebrated in 25 degree hot weather. I know that I should have probably spent New Years near the Harbour Bridge to watch the fireworks, but I honestly couldn't be bothered to wait 12 hours at a spot then wait hours to get into a bar and more hours to get a cab home. So instead we decided to celebrate in Bondi Beach, and what a good decision that was!!
We had a houseparty at our place, where we had self made Mojitos and Strawberry Daiquiries. Lots of food, drinks and chatting. At about 8 when it was dark we thought it was time to put on the glowsticks and dance in the dark in our living room. I can tell you I have never had more fun in our little apartment.
At 9pm we went down to the beach to see Snoop Dog, Calvin Harris and Pendulum at the Shore Thing Festival. It was phenomenal, we celebrated with thousands of people, watched the fireworks right in front of the beach and danced til 3AM before we walked home. I think I actually had the best New Years of my life.