Melbourne Part 1

I am back from my weekend away in Melbourne. Despite the fact that Melbourne is a major Australian city I had never been there before so I was very interested to explore the city and see what it is like in comparison to Sydney. I was under the impression that the two cities were similar but I found them very different. I thought that Sydney was much busier with many more tourist attractions and generally a lot more to do and Melbourne was more organised and safer with very amazing shops. I appreciate that I was only in the city for three days and didn't get to explore anything beyond the CBD. I thought that Melbourne was a lovely city and would be a very desireable place to live.

Overall Rydog and I had a fun and enjoyable weekend but the disappointing part was the weather. It rained for the entire weekend and on Sunday it was so cold. As usual I packed inappropriately and only had summer dresses because I had just left the most perfect summer weather in Sydney. I had to buy a cardigan while I was there. On Saturday there was almost no break from the rain and it poured continually so this made it very difficult to take pictures and explore the city. We tried not to let the weather ruin the trip and since we only had three days in Melbourne we visted most of the tourist attractions in the rain anyway. Looking back I'm so pleased we made the most of the situation but at the time I was not very happy about it at all.

Rydog and I stayed at the Intercontinental Melbourne- The Rialto which was so beautiful and stunning. I think the choice of accommodation makes such a difference to a trip. It was a good central location because we explored most of the city through walking. I loved the shops in Melbourne and I have now found a new favourite brand called Dangerfield. We have Dangerfield here in Sydney but it is so much bigger in Melbourne and there were many Dangerfield stores just in the CBD alone. I went a little crazy in there and spent lots of money because I felt like I had found my shop. Even though it was an expensive trip it was worth it. We had been saving up for the trip for a long time and I think we deserve such experiences occassionally. I certainly won't be spending any more money in a long time now though.

We visted locations such as Federation Square, Sports Centre, Shrine of Remembrance, Southbank, Flinders Street Statition, Parliament House and Bourke Street Mall. We went on the free tourist bus which was very useful service.

Southbank


Flinders Street Station and Melbourne City


Southgate


St Paul's Cathedral


Southbank


St Paul's Cathedral


Shrine of Remembrance


Flinders Street Station


Shrine of Remembrance


Southbank


Yarra River


Melbourne City


Flinders Street Station


Flinders Street Station (from Southbank)


Southbank


St Paul's Cathedral


Shrine of Remembrance


Melbourne Cricket Ground


Flinders Street Station (from Southbank)


I have so many photos from my Melbourne trip so I will divide them into a few different posts.

I am FREE

I have finally finished my exams and completed my third year at university! The last couple of weeks passed so slowly and there were many times where it felt like it would never end. I have thought about this day so many times before and sometimes it doesn't even feel real that it has finally come and the academic semester is over. Ever since I finished my last exam on Saturday evening I have to keep reminding myself that this is actually real. It feels incredible. In my opinion, there is no better feeling than finishing exams and knowing that I am free for the entire summer. As many of you know I have found this year extremely hard and I have faced so many challenges both related and unrelated to university. I think back to the first week of this year and how close I was to quitting university and also how many times I have found the strength to keep going with sometime that I dislike so much. Against this background, I am so incredibly pleased and proud of myself for making it this far. The best part is that, depending on my results for the semester, I should have completed the requirements of my commerce degree. I need to decide if I will continue with my law degree or just leave with my commerce degree and get a job next year. This is an incredible achievement for me. I never thought I could do it and it makes me so emotional to think about it because of all the obstacles I have outcome to get to where I am now. Apart from when I finished high school I have not felt such a sense of achievement. There is no real way to describe how I feel right now. I have so much to look forward to in the next few months and I also need to decide which direction in want to take in life from here.

This is Rydog's dad's cat Bushy who I have come to know well in the last few weeks. She is the most beautiful cat and I thought she would make a lovely accompaniment to this post.



I have missed you all so much. One of the first things I wanted to do when I finished my last exam was to come on here. I will be back to regular blogging and outfit posting in a couple of days. There are so many things that I want to do these holidays. I don't even want to sleep because I am so excited as it feels like I have my life back. I want to enjoy these moments.

Fort Denison

On Sunday I spent the day in Sydney City celebrating my sister's 18th birthday. We went to Fort Denison for lunch which is one of Sydney's historic landmarks and is an island located in the centre of Sydney Harbour. Despite living in Sydney for my entire life I had never been there before. It is such a beautiful place with fabulous views of the harbour, the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. It was a wonderful place for photos. The restaurant was amazing. My family and I all agreed that it was definitely some of the best food we had ever tasted. I heard that they frequently conduct wedding receptions at this restaurant which made me think that maybe I would like to get married there. It is obviously much too early to decide now but it just made me think...













I am planning to make a separate outfit post about the dress that I am wearing because it is definitely one of my favourite dresses that I have ever owned. The whole day that I was out on Sunday I didn't even realise that both my sister and I were wearing polka dots. I was thinking about taking a break from blogging until after the university semester finishes but I have decided that I probably won't because I will miss you all too much and blogging helps me to remain happy during this difficult and otherwise boring couple of weeks of my life. I won't be posting much and comments will be slower than usual but I will still be around to some extent.

Purchases

On the weekend I went shopping and became a little crazy with my spending in the Forever New buy one get one free sale. I'm pleased with my purchases and I have already made a few different outfits with them. I especially like the gold skirt which I wore to work on Thursday. I have had my eye on the polka dot dress for many months now so I was very happy when it came on sale. I also bought a mini hair straightener this week particularly to use regularly on my fringe. Its so small and will be perfect for holidays and weekends away.

1. Forever New Floral Skirt

2. Forever New Bow Top

3. Vidal Sassoon Mini Hair Straightener

4. Forever New Polka Dot Dress


5. Forever New Sparkly Skirt


That will be the end of my spending for awhile. I must save money for my short trip away which is in three weeks.

The Social Network

Last night I went to the movies and saw 'The Social Network' with Rydog. Overall I enjoyed the movie and learned a lot of interesting facts and details about the creation of facebook. I am definitely a facebook addict since I can barely go for half an hour without checking the site so it was very relevant for my interests. I also liked it how the movie was partially set at a university since I am also in university although I must admit that it was very different to the one that I currently attend. 'The Social Network' was a movie that both Rydog and I liked and that does not happen very often.

So...has anyone seen 'The Social Network?'

Photos from Ace Show Biz