Blue Mountains

This post is from mid April and is about my trip to the Blue Mountains.

After breakfast at Henri Marc, we headed to Wentforth Falls in the Blue Mountains. The last time I visited was - surprisingly- in 2012! I hadn't actually realised it was that long ago! The aim for the day was to do a short walk at Wentworth Falls. I am a hiker and I love it; unfortunately Mr Paella is not quite the hiker / outdoor-sy kind of person. I don't mind it generally, however it does make it a little difficult when we are doing something together. Something that is deemed a Grade 1 (very easy) is right up his alley whereas I don't really look at any hike that is below a Grade 3 (moderate / hard). I enjoy hikes that are at least 9km round trip whereas he is more comfortable with 1km. For Wentworth Falls, we were just going to walk to the bottom and then back up the death stairs.

Henri Marc

This review is a massive throwback! I visited Henri Marc on the way to the Blue Mountains back in mid April.

The cafe was quite busy at 8am when I visited and it was very quirky! It honestly looked like it used to be a garage of some sort, converted into a cafe. The coolest part was their sink which was made from a re-purposed gas cylinder. I was seated at the bar and had a great view of the kitchen!


The table was so high that the bar stools all had an extra 30cm added to the legs for the extra height. Never been seated so high up ever! 

Buttercup

Buttercup is a Dee Why cafe that opened up earlier this year. I have walked past it numerous times as it is on my weekly walking route and I had always wanted to give it a try.

I popped in for breakfast last week and immediately enjoyed the bright décor - especially the yellow! It is very modern and quite different to the other cafes at Dee Why. It is located a bit further away from the rest of the restaurants at The Strand and is where the old Indian restaurant and laundromat was located.

May Update

It is the end of the month again! Crazy how fast time is flying by. I "missed" the previous month. In actual fact, I had something written but then my mind was wandering and blogging was the furthest thing from my mind. And by that stage, it was just too far gone. I have been quite MIA on my blog - only two blog posts for May which is absurd! - as I try to post at least weekly.

Work
+ My manager is killing me. I have been broken and I really need to start filtering what I say. Any time anyone mentions anything related to them the bitching starts and I let everyone and their cat know my greatest displeasure.

+ My direct line manager is alright these days. I yo-yo greatly with my opinion. Some days I realise that he is young and is trying / doing his best. At the end of the day, his best is all I can ask for. Other days I think he is a condescending ass and needs to stop thinking that he is top shit (especially as he is only one year older than me).

+ I have been looking at jobs daily, but haven't applied for anything yet. I have now applied for three jobs.

+ I have also become quite aggressive at work and making sure that people know what I am thinking and what I want.

+ I took a mental health day last week after having a completely horrible day on Monday. My direct line manager spent 10 minutes explaining why I was rejected for the permanent role in his team. It was horrible. I think the 'best' part was when he asked how I felt after he rejected me. Lol.

Life
+ I have booked myself 3 x introductory pottery classes for next month which I am excited for. I did pottery earlier this year and it was painful due to the studio. Long story short, I would not recommend The Pottery Shed in Paddington.

+ Didn't get up to too much this month; mainly stayed at home which was also probably not conducive to my mood.

+ My TV shows are all reaching their summer hiatus! I absolutely loved Quantico and cannot wait for the next season. The funny thing is that the show was a bit of a nothing / mindless show in the very beginning but over the course of the season, I really got into it!

This quote has really resonated with me this month:

As long as you feel like you are doing the right thing then in the long run that’s all that’s gonna matter because, yno, you’re the one lying awake  at night alone in bed and thinking about your life. And if you have compromised your life you’ll know.
Ingrid Michaelson

+ Tea Was Here kindly asked me to write a little piece for her Travel Bloggers' Passport Stamp Stories.

+ Music favourites: Jake Owen "American Country Love Song" (I listened to this song for a whole work day, I was also quite unhappy too); Georgia Florida Line "H.O.L.Y"

+ Travel itchy feet rating: ★★★★★

Wollongong & Helensburgh

Long time no talk! I have been absent from my blog for a little while now (I schedule my posts usually) which is quite unlike me. Things have been happening, but I guess that will be more apt in my end of month roundup post.

Over the weekend, I headed down south to Wollongong once again. It feels that I didn't visit the city that long ago however it seems that it was back in March which is crazy! Time is flying by and in fact, my previous visit was almost 3 months ago. Crazy!

The only item on my agenda was to head out of Sydney and I didn't have anything in mind for Wollongong. We took the Grand Pacific Drive and walked on the Sea Cliff which was quite beautiful. It was a warm-ish day but a tad overcast.


Bald Hill Lookout





Actually loving this aerial / overhead shot


In my previous post, I had mentioned that I had wanted to visit Nan Tien Temple which is the largest Buddhist Temple in the Southern Hemisphere. This time I did get around to it but was quite disappointed. It was very underwhelming and I am quite surprised that that is the largest temple on my side of the world.







On the way back to Sydney, I suggested that we visit the Helensburgh Metropolitan Tunnel. This tunnel (along with a few others) had openened in 1888 and was closed in 1915. It was filled with water up until the past two decades where it was drained and now is accessible by the public. I had visited in November last year but didn't have a good torch and didn't manage to walk into the tunnel. This time I was more prepared, with torch in tow! There has been a lot of backburning in the Sydney region lately which has mean there is this permanent haze / smoke in the air. Interestingly enough, the haze wasn't too evident outside the tunnel but inside it was so hazy! It was a very cool experience especially when I discovered that the tunnel was filled with glow worms! We didn't venture too far into the tunnel as it was very muddy / slippery but this was definitely the highlight of my day.






This was my sixth trip as part of #take12trips. To see previous trips please click here.

Cave Beach & Catherine Hill Bay

For the last day of the long weekend, we woke up early to catch the sunrise. It was a little overcast on the drive to Zenith Beach but thankfully there was a break in the clouds and it was quite a gorgeous sunrise especially as we were the only ones on the beach.




On the way back to Sydney, we stopped at  Cave Beach. However as it was high tide, we didn't manage to visit the caves.




There was also a quick stop at Catherine Hill Bay Beach to visit the historic jetty that used to transport coal. Apparently it was damaged considerably in a fire however I didn't believe it was too obvious. Catherine Hill Bay felt like it was a world away from the rest of the central coast. It is a coastal village and it really did feel as though it was in the middle of no where.

Not entirely sure why there is a noose there.

This was my fifth trip as part of #take12trips. To see previous trips please click here.

Mount Tomaree & Kayaking

Shortly after sunrise, Mr Paella and I headed up Mount Tomaree which was a reasonably easy hike to the lookout. It was a 45min walk up however wasn't as challenging as some other lookouts (namely Barrenjoey Headland in Sydney which is a short 15 minute walk but quite strenuous). It was at the lookout that I truly realised and remembered how beautiful Australia can be. The view was breathtaking. The coolest part was seeing an elderly woman (probably 60+) who was slowly making her way up to the lookout. I want to be her when I am older.

Newcastle & Stockton Sand Dunes

I am very much someone who unconsciously thinks that grass is greener on the other side. Life and the world is more interesting overseas and Australia/Sydney/NSW is boring. However since starting a full time job, my time is quite limited. And in fact, so many people think that Australia is so interesting and would love to visit. So why do I feel this way? It really comes down to the fact that it's familiar and, sadly, I am a little desensitised to the beauty of it. I have been making a conscious effort in 2016 to see more of Australia or the very least, more of NSW outside of Sydney.

Long introduction aside, that is why over the ANZAC long weekend I headed up north to Port Stephens. The furthest north I had ever been was Newcastle many many years ago as a day trip and honestly, I don't remember too much about it. Mr Paella and I headed onto the Pacific Highway which was quite frankly a very very boring drive. It is really the only road up the coast so taking the smaller highways wasn't an option.

Newcastle was the first stop and it was so incredibly windy! The photos don't capture how strong the winds were and I really felt that I was being moved by the wind. As the photos show, it was a beautiful day. We also discovered the Memorial Walk by accident as we were driving by and it was definitely worth walking on! It provided stunning views of the ocean and I believe the best vantage point of Newcastle. Something that I didn't know prior to the trip was that Newcastle has the largest coal exporting harbour in the world. It was insane to see the size of the machinery and equipment at the docks.