BW Film: Turkey

I always have these bouts every now and then where I feel that I should be out there doing something. It really comes down to my wanderlust flaring up and I am just itching to travel and explore the world.  But alas, practically I can't be jetting off to other countries all the time. And of course, between saving as much money as I can for a deposit for property and travelling the world, something has to give.

Some travel photos from Turkey. An incredible country and one I want to return to ... one day. Too many places to see, too little time.













Love Valley.




The clay was crazy. I actually forgot about it until I saw this photo.

Warragamba Dam & Burragorang lookout

Last Sunday, I headed to Warragamba Dam and Burragorang lookout. Warragamba Dam supplies 80% of Sydney's drinking water and was built in 1958. When I was growing up in Sydney, drought restrictions were such a normal part of my life and in 2007 the damn fell to levels below 33%! I remember when they were discussing about building desalination plants and how by 2015 (ish) we would run out of water. Thankfully the drought eased and the dam is now at 93% capacity.








The Burragorang Lookout overlooks the Burragorang Valley which was drowned to create the lake and subsequently, provide Sydney's water supply. During the construction of the dam, the inhabitants of the valley were vacated and some of the buildings were dismantled. However, apparently some of the buildings remained and are now underneath the waters of the lake so when the water level is low, parts of the town reappears.

I thought the lookout was absolutely stunning and it was very nice to see quite a few people having a picnic in the area. However my biggest gripe was that someone was flying their drone which was so incredibly noisy and ruined the peace. It sounded like a line trimmer/whipper snipper. How annoying!





It was a very nice drive and I loved being out of the city. What I didn't know that the area is part of the Blue Mountains National Park; I didn't realise it stretched that far south! I am also 80% sure that I saw a small orange Qantas plane near some farmhouses!

This was my second trip of 2016 for my #take12trips. To see my previous trips please click here.

Revolver Cafe

It is honestly hard to keep track of cafes in Sydney because new ones are always popping up. There are cafes that are quite popular and trendy for a few months (largely attributed to Instagram) and then they fade away a little. Revolver was a cafe that I had heard about a little a few years ago but never managed to visit until a few weekends ago.


The chai latte was a little too spicy, but not in a good way.

The Ultimate Cheeseburger | 16.5 | Beef patty, smoked mozzarella, beetroot, old school pickle, house made slaw with aioli, and BBQ sauce in a Sonoma bun with chat potatoes on the side


Trout Rosti | 17.5 | House smoked, Tasmanian ocean trout on a corn rosti with smoky roast capsicum relish, baby spinach and avocado 

I ordered the trout rosti and it was disappointing. Firstly, the trout was cold which made me suspect that either a) it came from the fridge or b) was canned. I love potatoes and everyone who knows me knows that is pretty much the most defining thing about me. I thought that the corn rosti would include potatoes (as the term rosti would imply) but either the potato was almost non existent or it was just corn.

I also tried the Cheeseburger. The best part of that dish were the potatoes which were very close to perfection! The burger itself though was very average.

Overall, not a place that I would necessarily visit again unless I was in the area of Annadale.

Horse Riding

On my second day of my long weekend, I headed out to Ingleburn for horse riding! I had never been on a horse before and it was something on my 30 before 30 list. This will be counted as my first trip (1/12) since Ingleburn is hardly in Sydney.











This was an hour horse ride (walk only) and it was quite a nice experience. I was on a horse called Zorba who slowly plodded along, a little too slow in my opinion in comparison to the other horses. It was definitely a very cool experience and I am glad that I did it. Although half way through the ride, my allergies kicked in and I was sneezing constantly.

I am thinking about going on a horse tour/ride in Mongolia so this was a very much needed experience.

Bike Riding at Centennial Park

During my 4 day long weekend, I headed to Centennial Park for a bit of bike riding. I hadn't been on a bike for over 10 years and to be honest, I didn't hire a proper bike. Rather, I hired a two seater pedal car!




Wearing a dress was, in hindsight, not a good choice.




It is now two days later and my butt hurts a lot. To be fair, it's because my bones stick out when I'm sitting for extended periods of time. But it was a very fun experience and quite amusing!

#Take12Trips

This year, I will try to complete the #Take12Trips. Essentially, it requires you to take 12 trips or one trip a month. This was started by Clare at Need Another Holiday a few years ago. I love to travel and I miss it constantly. In fact, I've been feeling quite restless for the past three months now so discovering this challenge was very fitting. That being said, as you may or may not have realised from my blog, I definitely do try to take as many trips as I can. But it is not as often as I would like.

Everyone's definition of a trip is different and taking a trip overseas is not feasible or practical considering I live in Australia and am actually in the middle of nowhere. Even flying to another city is so expensive. My definition of a trip is something outside of Sydney excluding national parks which are within Sydney.

I have a lot of months empty right now but there are some concrete plans. Later this month, I will spend 3D/2N at Port Stephens. A coastal area and right now it seems that it will be raining! Of course. I have also booked my trip to Mongolia in August! Over my Easter long weekend, my idea is to drive to Mount Kosciusko and the NSW/VIC border. But that is not concrete and it's still a little all up in the air.

The downside to already having the mentality about utilising my weekends to its potential is that I have been to a lot of the day trip suggestions near Sydney already.

For any Sydneysiders, what are some of your favourite day trips outside of Sydney? 

Hermitage Foreshore Walk

Living in Sydney has its upsides and downsides. The upside is the fact that there is the endless coastline to explore. The downside is that the coast all begins to look the same after a while.

Shuk

One of the perks about housesitting near Bondi was the fact that there were so many cafes nearby. Although I do need to make a disclaimer: my definition of close is anything that can be reached in under an hour, or 5 km, by walking.


I am writing this in the room that I am staying in; I am staying in the 8 year old daughter's bedroom. This would have been my dream bedroom as a kid, lilac walls, purple curtains and a vanity table. I have a cat lying on the bed and he has been sleeping for 6 hours now!

It is a shame that Yelp isn't used more widely in Australia as I much prefer it over Zomato. However, I did manage to find a cafe which was Shuk.

This was a 40 minute, 4.8km walk. As I started the walk at 6.30am, Bondi Beach was the quietest I had ever seen in my life.



Shuk was located a bit further back from all the other cafes in Bondi and North Bondi and was at the corner of two streets. I ordered The Cure which was quite good, however I squeezed far too much lime onto my salad.




cured salmon, 60/60 egg, sweet potato & quinoa
croquettes, mix leaf, spinach, dill sour cream, almonds $18 



On the way back to the house, I spotted this tree with a bunch of notes!