Good Friday

Grace, Goose and I ventured off in the car that Grace is borrowing off her Godmother to Bondi to spend the day enjoying the weather and having a good old girly catch up. The weather out here has been awful recently as we are steadily easing in to the Australian Winter, but thankfully the rain seems to be holding off for the big Easter Weekend and was a bright and sunny 25 degrees!

Grace picked me up from my place and then we swung by to get Goose from hers and drove on to Bondi. All of us were a little hungover from various events the night before and spent the journey relaying some of the ridiculous things that had happened. Grace had been at a wine tasting which had been hosted at her Godmother's house and the girls had succeeded in getting the sommelier pretty drunk and convinced him to open a very expensive red wine, Goose suddenly remembered how we had tried to get a security man to teach us how to use the slot machines in the pub (!?), and I had scratches all over my knees from attempting to break in to the Roundhouse via the external balcony for the event which I had failed to remember to get a ticket for....  I didn't really care about the event at all, it was more just the game of trying to get in. Needless to say, I was found and escorted away. Naughty me.

We found a place to park not too far from the beach and wandered down to find a cafe to grab some breakfast and a coffee to have on the beach. We threw off our shoes and went for a paddle in the sea and had a good giggle watching all the asians take their holiday snaps. This has become one of my favourite passtimes when on the beach in Australia... I mean, does taking a photo of your family really require you to get into the deep squat position!? The sun was blazing and we sat and relaxed in the sand for a while, watching all the surfers do their thing and feeling a little bitter that we hadn't invested more time in learning to surf this year. At one point an aeroplane spelt out 'Jesus = Love' in the sky, which  was.... amusing. I spose it was Good Friday an' all....

...and then she threw me on the ground.

Sadly Grace had to go back home to pack and get herself to the airport as she was flying to New Zealand that afternoon, and so she left Goose and I in a happy hungover heap on the beach. We stayed for a little longer and then went for a wander around the back streets and invested in some retail therapy. There are some really good shops in Bondi, if you know where to look, and most of them had some kind of Easter sale on which proved to be a little taxing for our bank accounts.... whoops. I found some awesome dresses which will be really useful for upcoming 21sts this Summer when I get home and Goose and I actually bought the same pair of sandals, with the promise that we wouldn't wear them on the same day out here, but the quite nice and sentimental idea that when we wear them independently back home we would think of each other and our lovely day spent in Bondi. TWINS! If you're heading down, some good shops to check out are Carousel, Me and Moo, Academy Brand, nANA jUDY and Tuchuzy.

This one's for you, Moo!

We then finally decided to go and get some food and after a browse around the various cuisines on offer we settled on Mad Pizza and shares a sweet potato and feta pizza (sounds strange but it was amazing) and a chicken and rocket salad. 

...and after pizza we moved on to a random little cafe opposite called Shabbaba which had coffee.... AND BAKLAVA! Praise the lord for Shabbaba, I think they saw us coming.

Finally we decided it was about time that we stopped spending money on clothes and food and head home to go and sleep. A lovely girly day and a very Good Friday! I was feeling a little sad about not being at home for Easter as it's one of my favourite times at home, what with all the baking and the Spring walks and, er, well.... chocolate, but now I'm feeling a little better and this weekend is looking set to be a good one.

Happy Easter!

B

Anna's 21st

So our darling little Anna turned 21 last week! The proposed plan was to meet at hers at 5pm and then go over to her Dad and partner's snazzy hotel, Blue Sydney, for a drink, and then on to dinner by 7.30pm. In true Anna style, she was still at Bondi Junction shopping for a dress at 5.15pm and had got caught in a tropical thunderstorm whilst shopping and so not only did she still need to make the 20 min journey home and get ready in the space of fifteen minutes, she also had to shower and wash her hair all over again. This meant that the rest of us all congregated in the corridor outside her room in college and waited, spying on the new freshers who have all just begun their very first semester of university. Talent spotting, as we like to call it.

Finally she made it back, new dress in hand, and we called the restaurant to push the reservation back to give us some more time. After lots of scrambling around from Anna and a few hurried photos on her balcony, we hopped into cabs and zoomed down to Wooloomooloo Warf to meet her Dad and Geraldine at their hotel. 

The bar was amazing, very swanky with awesomely comfy booths to sit in, set in the middle of the hotel with all the rooms overlooking like a kind of courtyard. Hard to explain but basically the whole hotel is a converted shipping yard and is just very modern with high ceilings and glass lifts and stuff. We chose some yummy cocktails made with 42Below vodka as recommended by Ciclely - passionfruit, kiwi and honey to be precise. Delicious! Check out their funky website too.

After a little bit of prezzie opening we went to the restaurant called O Bar & Dining which is a revolving restaurant on the 47th floor in a building in Worlds Square, George St. The view was, of course, incredible and the novelty of the revolving room didn't ware off for the entire 2 hours we spent at dinner. We ordered several more cocktails and had a delicious three course meal, so nice to be able to have some decent fish! (Poor student = no fish.) The whole evening was such fun and a great girly celebration together of our gorgeous Anna. Many hilarious speeches and stifled giggling as we stealthily printed a hand print on the glass so that we knew when we had done a full resolution....!  (It takes 1hr45mins just so y'know.) Thank you to Peter and Geraldine for treating us to such a nice meal, a very special evening. If you've never been to O Bar, then for gods sake go as the views are unforgettable and the food is amazing. Yummmmmm.

Anna's tiny weeny hands! 

Next on the birthday celebration list was a night out in Sydney on Thursday. We all met for drinks again on Anna's balcony which is 7 floors up and has the most outrageous view of the whole university, Randwick Racecorse, and the city skyline in the distance. I really wish my phone could capture how good her view is but sadly it doesn't do it any justice so just imagine twinkly city lights far away. 

We all then went down to Opera Bar and had loads of fun their ordering cocktails and watching them be made at the special pick up point, and just generally enjoying the buzzy atmosphere of the place. It really is such a special place to be, out in the open under the sky, drinking cocktails with your best friends, right next to one of the most iconic buildings in the world. So lucky! There's always live music too and so you can guarantee a good time almost any night of the week.

After that, we trooped up George St and went to The Ivy for a good dance. I bumped into a whole load of people from work which was nice and we had a big old catch up. Some how we all ended up in the same area on the top floor right by the bar with enormous comfy sofa to sit on - it was ideal! Needless to say, we made it our base and partied away into the early hours of the night.

Sober....

Trying to get Harry to stand still for a photo to send home

The special Anna Dance

Happy Birthday gorgeous girl and thank you for being such an amazing friend. Here's to your 22nd year, lets hope it's as good as the last!

B