12 Things for 12 Months
Life is a funny thing, isn't it. Funny as in 'a real fucker' not 'funny haha'.
I had great plans to kickstart this blog when I hopped on that plane to Oz last year. I was ready to supply you with tips about working holiday visas, recommendations for the hottest new places to eat and drink in Sydney, and post beach pictures so beautiful that you blow your overdraft on booking tickets to come out and join me.
But 2 months after we left the UK my dad died.
Despite being relatively healthy his entire life, it turns out that actually, as great as they are, Manuka honey and cod liver oil tablets don't actually stop you from getting bowel cancer. Revelation, I know.
Long story short, a Wednesday morning doctor's appointment lead to intensive care by the Friday. 2 weeks later, we were on a last minute flight home to give permission to remove life support. That evening he passed away.
Another 2 months passed and we were heading back to Australia to carry on our trip with a stiff upper lip.
But life thought it was on a comedy roll and just a week after we landed back on Aussie soil, my wonderful, sassy, glamorous, hilarious, kind, caring, most beautiful granny in the world passed away too. HA. HA. HA.
It didn't take too much longer to realise that I was probably a *bit* depressed.
I'm not sure whether it was the fact I tried to spend every minute of the day wrapped up in a duvet in a dark room OR the fact that one day I only managed to walk from bed to freezer in order to eat 5 fabs in a row and definitely still didn't feel fab OR the fact I found myself actively wishing that perhaps, just for once, it was me that could get physically sick just so I wouldn't have to make a decision for a few weeks but at some point my brain yelled out "Hey Beci babes, I don't think you're too healthy right now"
Now the past few months certainly haven't been a walk in the park but I started to pay attention to that little voice, cut myself some slack and began focusing on what I did have rather than what I didn't. And you know what, slowly but surely I've become happier, calmer, and more content. I've started to enjoy life again (woohoo)
And what better way to reboot this little slice of internet than with a refresh and a reminder that even the (mostly) worst year of your life can bring you some of the very best bits too.
So without further ado, I present 12 (a very loose 12 because hey life didn't actually completely suck) things from the past 12 months that were actually really rather special:
1. I lived in Sydney
Overall the 8 and a bit months we ended up having in Sydney were great.
We discovered nearly every stretch of sand from Palm Beach to Bundeena (more on that later), moved into a lovely little flat in Darling Harbour, tried and tested every bar and restaurant we could manage, and made some wonderful friends.
Here's a snippet:
2. Danny ran City to Surf
We'd been talking about this for a while but after several months of zero training and eating Athena's out of all the vanilla and black forest ice cream they could hope to make when Danny suggested 2 weeks before the start line klaxon that we actually sign up I was all like:
L-O-L. Are you having a laugh babes?
Danny was in fact not having a laugh. He did indeed sign up and in just 14 days managed to go from struggling to walk up 4 flights of stairs to running 14km and beating Heartbreak Hill.
It was such an incredible achievement and he made me so proud. And to top it all off he ran in memory of my dad. Isn't he an angel.
3. We explored Cockatoo Island
Disclaimer: There are no cockatoos on this island
Cockatoo Island is a UNESCO World Heritage site slap bang in the middle of Sydney harbour and is brimming with history. It started modern life in 1839 as prison for convicts who were forced to quarry stone and build ships. It also played home to a reformatory school for girls in 1871 before becoming solely focused on ship repairs through World War I and II.
We had such an interesting day out here. It's great for learning more about Sydney's history and for some harbour views too.
4. We went to Melbourne for Danny's birthday
This long weekend was amazing. We packed in so many things that it was a real struggle to cut down the pics here (maybe I'll do a weekend guide for you?). Anyway here's wonderwall...
Just messing, here are the highlights:
Visiting the MCG (I literally could not care less about stadiums and I still enjoyed this)
The views of the city from both The Shrine of Remembrance and the Eureka Skydeck (although the latter is hideously overpriced)
Watching England beat PNG in the Rugby League World Cup Quarter Finals.
5. We celebrated Christmas on Bondi Beach
Christmas was a goodie.
We kicked off the festivities in November lol. Our lovely flatmates went home for Christmas so we had a pre-crimbo so we could also celebrate with them and it was pretty damn magical.
But once the real Christmas rolled around we started with a day trip to Palm Beach where we swam, hiked and took cute Christmassy photos to make everyone jealous of the sun.
Christmas Eve was at our place. I put on a spread of all the best bits of a Christmas dinner (pigs in blankets, roasties and yorkshires) plus a cheeseboard, some other nibbles, and we had a whole other buffet for dessert. We dressed up and played games and sang along to Christmas tunes.
Having friends like these certainly made not seeing family a lot easier!
Christmas Day was spent half between the beach and half getting drunk and eating slow cooked pulled pork so can't complain there.
And we rounded everything off with getting dressed up to the nines, drinking a lot of Pimms, and having a bit of a flutter at the Boxing Day Races.
6. We watched the NYE fireworks over the Harbour Bridge and Opera House
New Year was another cracker. We waved a much needed goodbye to 2017 and brought in 2018 full of hope (and beer) for things to only get better.
7. We spent a weekend in the Blue Mountains and went on the steepest passenger railway in the world
A wonderful weekend of hikes, breathtaking views, insane lightning storms, and laughing at families holding amateur photoshoots in waterfalls.
Oh and spending an obscene amount of money on the steepest passenger railway in the world that lasted for 30 seconds and was mostly covered by a rock. Woo.
8. We got temporarily stranded in the Royal National Park
Royal National Park is about 30km south of Sydney CBD and is best known for Wedding Cake Rock and the Figure 8 Pools. Although when we hopped in our Car Next Door we weren't expecting our trip there to be known for neither of these things.
The day started off wonderfully, we had a nice drive, the weather was good and when we pulled into Bundeena we were ready to tick Wedding Cake Rock off our list.
What people don't tell you is that the rock is actually completely fenced off AND guarded by a man so how people get those infamous photos hanging off I do not know. Here's the best picture we could take.
Cracking, I know.
After that slight disappointment we were ready to carry on down further into the park to experience the Figure 8 Pools. But no no no, life had other plans as there in front of us, blocking our path in and out of the park was a great big, massive, fuck off bushfire.
We weren't going anywhere.
Instead we headed back to Bundeena where we frolicked on the beach, panic bought all the water and snacks we could lay our hands on, played countless games of Hangman, and updated the Fire Rescue page every couple of minutes to see if we were going to be evacuated.
After several hours wondering if we'd parked safely or if we might wake up to the trees around us on fire, we got the all clear to drive home.
We took one look at the sky ahead (a lot less blurry in real life lol), gritted our teeth and my god did we drive.
Can confirm most terrifying but exhilarating drive of my life.
9. We watched a show at the Sydney Opera House
For our final night in Sydney I surprised Danny with tickets to see Limbo Unhinged at the Opera House. I have a couple of things to say about this.
Firstly, Heather Holliday is the sexiest being to ever walk this planet. Google her. It's a fact.
Secondly, this show was INCREDIBLE. Like jaw-droppingly, heart-stoppingly, edge-of-the-seat-grippingly, mesmerisingly, hilariously incredible. We have never seen anything like it in our lives.
While I have no photos of the show we did take some snaps in the Sydney golden hour, what a way to remember our favourite city.
We miss you, Sydney!
10. We went to Perth!
Jobs were low on the ground for us here so we enjoyed the unexpected mini-holiday and packed in as much as our small budget would allow.
We revelled in the beautiful weather and made the most of the warm Indian Ocean from Cottesloe to Scarborough to Fremantle.
We saw countless incredible, only-find-them-in-WA sunsets
We spent a LOT of time in Fremantle desperate for more hustle and bustle than we were getting in Perth City. We went on the Little Creatures Brewery Tour and got far too pissed in the beer tasting section. We explored all the beaches and I went a bit mental at the Dog Beach. We (window) shopped, dined (at Zambreros) and went to the cinema (budget blowout for Black Panther). And of course soaked up some history at the Prison.
Other highlights included views from Kings Park, watching Oscar winners at Rooftop Movies, the Fringe Festival and 1 wild night out featuring some fab pubs and clubs and Danny's gymnastics debut (ask me about that later).
11. We moved to Auckland
Before we knew it our visas for Australia were up and it was time for us to move onto the next leg of our journey - New Zealand!
I could not have been more excited to head back and to show Danny just how incredible this place is. And so far it has not disappointed.
We are currently based in Auckland while we save to travel the rest of the country. We have jobs and are looking to move out of our hostel A$AP Rocky as 4 months of hostel life is starting to lose its novelty.
Some of our highlights so far have been swimming at Mission Bay...
...the views from Mount Eden...
...and my personal favourite, that time we went to Dominos and learnt the Kiwi lingo
12. I turned 25
We celebrated by having a little staycation in Auckland in a gorgeous airbnb in the city. We ate far too much takeaway, watched too much netflix, danced Saturday night away in a Irish bar, pruned up in our first baths in nearly a year and DID NOT SLEEP IN BUNK BEDS FOR 2 NIGHTS PRAISE THE LORD
The evening of my birthday we went out to Everybody's where I had the best steak of my life. Basically all you need to know.
After eating far too much we nipped downstairs to Jefferson's for a 10pm nightcap. How wild. Here's to the mid-twenties crew!
See, the past 12 months weren't all bad.
In the wise words of Dumbledore, 'Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light'.
If you're struggling with turning on that light, please have a look through the links below for advice and if you have any cash to spare please donate generously. These charities do great works.
https://www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk
https://www.cruse.org.uk
https://www.mind.org.uk
It's not always easy, but my god is it worth it.
P.S. if you've made it this far give yourself a pat on the back, you made it to the end of the world's longest blog post!!
I had great plans to kickstart this blog when I hopped on that plane to Oz last year. I was ready to supply you with tips about working holiday visas, recommendations for the hottest new places to eat and drink in Sydney, and post beach pictures so beautiful that you blow your overdraft on booking tickets to come out and join me.
But 2 months after we left the UK my dad died.
Despite being relatively healthy his entire life, it turns out that actually, as great as they are, Manuka honey and cod liver oil tablets don't actually stop you from getting bowel cancer. Revelation, I know.
Long story short, a Wednesday morning doctor's appointment lead to intensive care by the Friday. 2 weeks later, we were on a last minute flight home to give permission to remove life support. That evening he passed away.
Another 2 months passed and we were heading back to Australia to carry on our trip with a stiff upper lip.
But life thought it was on a comedy roll and just a week after we landed back on Aussie soil, my wonderful, sassy, glamorous, hilarious, kind, caring, most beautiful granny in the world passed away too. HA. HA. HA.
It didn't take too much longer to realise that I was probably a *bit* depressed.
I'm not sure whether it was the fact I tried to spend every minute of the day wrapped up in a duvet in a dark room OR the fact that one day I only managed to walk from bed to freezer in order to eat 5 fabs in a row and definitely still didn't feel fab OR the fact I found myself actively wishing that perhaps, just for once, it was me that could get physically sick just so I wouldn't have to make a decision for a few weeks but at some point my brain yelled out "Hey Beci babes, I don't think you're too healthy right now"
Now the past few months certainly haven't been a walk in the park but I started to pay attention to that little voice, cut myself some slack and began focusing on what I did have rather than what I didn't. And you know what, slowly but surely I've become happier, calmer, and more content. I've started to enjoy life again (woohoo)
And what better way to reboot this little slice of internet than with a refresh and a reminder that even the (mostly) worst year of your life can bring you some of the very best bits too.
So without further ado, I present 12 (a very loose 12 because hey life didn't actually completely suck) things from the past 12 months that were actually really rather special:
1. I lived in Sydney
Overall the 8 and a bit months we ended up having in Sydney were great.
We discovered nearly every stretch of sand from Palm Beach to Bundeena (more on that later), moved into a lovely little flat in Darling Harbour, tried and tested every bar and restaurant we could manage, and made some wonderful friends.
Here's a snippet:
Palm Beach
Darling Harbour by night
Raising a glass to Granny at Opera Bar
The view from Wendy's Secret Garden
The extremely tranquil Chinese Garden of Friendship
Shelly Beach
Pedalling round Darling Harbour
Rose Bay Dog Beach
Moving into our flat on our 2nd Anniversary called for Uber Eats!
Weekend swims at the North Sydney Olympic Pool
Soaking up e-numbers at The Grounds of Alexandria
Our favourite spot in Bondi
Celebrating our NZ visas being approved with a sunshine dip at Andrew 'Boy' Charlton pool
Loading up on snacks at the Smooth Festival of Chocolate
Cheering on St. George Illawarra Dragons
We'd been talking about this for a while but after several months of zero training and eating Athena's out of all the vanilla and black forest ice cream they could hope to make when Danny suggested 2 weeks before the start line klaxon that we actually sign up I was all like:
L-O-L. Are you having a laugh babes?
Danny was in fact not having a laugh. He did indeed sign up and in just 14 days managed to go from struggling to walk up 4 flights of stairs to running 14km and beating Heartbreak Hill.
It was such an incredible achievement and he made me so proud. And to top it all off he ran in memory of my dad. Isn't he an angel.
3. We explored Cockatoo Island
Disclaimer: There are no cockatoos on this island
Cockatoo Island is a UNESCO World Heritage site slap bang in the middle of Sydney harbour and is brimming with history. It started modern life in 1839 as prison for convicts who were forced to quarry stone and build ships. It also played home to a reformatory school for girls in 1871 before becoming solely focused on ship repairs through World War I and II.
We had such an interesting day out here. It's great for learning more about Sydney's history and for some harbour views too.
4. We went to Melbourne for Danny's birthday
This long weekend was amazing. We packed in so many things that it was a real struggle to cut down the pics here (maybe I'll do a weekend guide for you?). Anyway here's wonderwall...
Just messing, here are the highlights:
Visiting the MCG (I literally could not care less about stadiums and I still enjoyed this)
Bowery to Williamsburg. One of the best brunch spots I have ever been to. And Danny even got over his hatred for the word brunch to enjoy this place. We still talk about it today. If you're in Melbourne, GO GO GO!
The views of the city from both The Shrine of Remembrance and the Eureka Skydeck (although the latter is hideously overpriced)
Watching England beat PNG in the Rugby League World Cup Quarter Finals.
Exploring all the graffiti covered laneways from Hosier Lane to Union Lane to Fitzroy.
We both loved Melbourne and managed to fit in a lot more amazing things I wish I had the word count to tell you about!
5. We celebrated Christmas on Bondi Beach
Christmas was a goodie.
We kicked off the festivities in November lol. Our lovely flatmates went home for Christmas so we had a pre-crimbo so we could also celebrate with them and it was pretty damn magical.
But once the real Christmas rolled around we started with a day trip to Palm Beach where we swam, hiked and took cute Christmassy photos to make everyone jealous of the sun.
Christmas Eve was at our place. I put on a spread of all the best bits of a Christmas dinner (pigs in blankets, roasties and yorkshires) plus a cheeseboard, some other nibbles, and we had a whole other buffet for dessert. We dressed up and played games and sang along to Christmas tunes.
Christmas Day was spent half between the beach and half getting drunk and eating slow cooked pulled pork so can't complain there.
And we rounded everything off with getting dressed up to the nines, drinking a lot of Pimms, and having a bit of a flutter at the Boxing Day Races.
6. We watched the NYE fireworks over the Harbour Bridge and Opera House
New Year was another cracker. We waved a much needed goodbye to 2017 and brought in 2018 full of hope (and beer) for things to only get better.
7. We spent a weekend in the Blue Mountains and went on the steepest passenger railway in the world
A wonderful weekend of hikes, breathtaking views, insane lightning storms, and laughing at families holding amateur photoshoots in waterfalls.
Oh and spending an obscene amount of money on the steepest passenger railway in the world that lasted for 30 seconds and was mostly covered by a rock. Woo.
8. We got temporarily stranded in the Royal National Park
Royal National Park is about 30km south of Sydney CBD and is best known for Wedding Cake Rock and the Figure 8 Pools. Although when we hopped in our Car Next Door we weren't expecting our trip there to be known for neither of these things.
The day started off wonderfully, we had a nice drive, the weather was good and when we pulled into Bundeena we were ready to tick Wedding Cake Rock off our list.
What people don't tell you is that the rock is actually completely fenced off AND guarded by a man so how people get those infamous photos hanging off I do not know. Here's the best picture we could take.
Cracking, I know.
After that slight disappointment we were ready to carry on down further into the park to experience the Figure 8 Pools. But no no no, life had other plans as there in front of us, blocking our path in and out of the park was a great big, massive, fuck off bushfire.
We weren't going anywhere.
Instead we headed back to Bundeena where we frolicked on the beach, panic bought all the water and snacks we could lay our hands on, played countless games of Hangman, and updated the Fire Rescue page every couple of minutes to see if we were going to be evacuated.
After several hours wondering if we'd parked safely or if we might wake up to the trees around us on fire, we got the all clear to drive home.
We took one look at the sky ahead (a lot less blurry in real life lol), gritted our teeth and my god did we drive.
Can confirm most terrifying but exhilarating drive of my life.
9. We watched a show at the Sydney Opera House
For our final night in Sydney I surprised Danny with tickets to see Limbo Unhinged at the Opera House. I have a couple of things to say about this.
Firstly, Heather Holliday is the sexiest being to ever walk this planet. Google her. It's a fact.
Secondly, this show was INCREDIBLE. Like jaw-droppingly, heart-stoppingly, edge-of-the-seat-grippingly, mesmerisingly, hilariously incredible. We have never seen anything like it in our lives.
While I have no photos of the show we did take some snaps in the Sydney golden hour, what a way to remember our favourite city.
We miss you, Sydney!
10. We went to Perth!
Jobs were low on the ground for us here so we enjoyed the unexpected mini-holiday and packed in as much as our small budget would allow.
We revelled in the beautiful weather and made the most of the warm Indian Ocean from Cottesloe to Scarborough to Fremantle.
Bathers Beach where they bring the cocktails direct to your deckchair...does it get any better?
Answer: No.
We saw countless incredible, only-find-them-in-WA sunsets
South Beach Sunset Markets
We spent a LOT of time in Fremantle desperate for more hustle and bustle than we were getting in Perth City. We went on the Little Creatures Brewery Tour and got far too pissed in the beer tasting section. We explored all the beaches and I went a bit mental at the Dog Beach. We (window) shopped, dined (at Zambreros) and went to the cinema (budget blowout for Black Panther). And of course soaked up some history at the Prison.
Other highlights included views from Kings Park, watching Oscar winners at Rooftop Movies, the Fringe Festival and 1 wild night out featuring some fab pubs and clubs and Danny's gymnastics debut (ask me about that later).
11. We moved to Auckland
Before we knew it our visas for Australia were up and it was time for us to move onto the next leg of our journey - New Zealand!
I could not have been more excited to head back and to show Danny just how incredible this place is. And so far it has not disappointed.
We are currently based in Auckland while we save to travel the rest of the country. We have jobs and are looking to move out of our hostel A$AP Rocky as 4 months of hostel life is starting to lose its novelty.
Some of our highlights so far have been swimming at Mission Bay...
...finally being able to try a Yorkshire Pudding Wrap aka heaven...
I mean look at that face of joy!
...and my personal favourite, that time we went to Dominos and learnt the Kiwi lingo
We celebrated by having a little staycation in Auckland in a gorgeous airbnb in the city. We ate far too much takeaway, watched too much netflix, danced Saturday night away in a Irish bar, pruned up in our first baths in nearly a year and DID NOT SLEEP IN BUNK BEDS FOR 2 NIGHTS PRAISE THE LORD
Big shout out to Lush who provided me with a bath bomb so yellow that Danny walked in and went "BLOODY HELL LOOKS LIKE YOU'VE PISSED YOURSELF". It really added to the special occasion
The evening of my birthday we went out to Everybody's where I had the best steak of my life. Basically all you need to know.
(soz for the horrendous pic, just know it was SO GOOD)
See, the past 12 months weren't all bad.
In the wise words of Dumbledore, 'Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light'.
If you're struggling with turning on that light, please have a look through the links below for advice and if you have any cash to spare please donate generously. These charities do great works.
https://www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk
https://www.cruse.org.uk
https://www.mind.org.uk
It's not always easy, but my god is it worth it.
P.S. if you've made it this far give yourself a pat on the back, you made it to the end of the world's longest blog post!!
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