FRENCH & BOWLING

I love being able to run. Every time I run that little bit further or faster or longer, I just get so proud of myself, because running is hard! Well, for me at least. At the moment, though, I can't do it. I got sore knees after jumping back into it too hard after not running for months. So while I wait for my knees to repair themselves - I'm sure they will soon, right? - I'm back to biking. Which I also love.
This morning I rode along the Capital City Trail which goes past my old high school, and I'm 90% certain I rode past two of my old teachers - awkward. They were both teachers I really liked (Rainer and Jamie) but I didn't particularly feel the need to bump into them with greasy hair and a red face.

I came home, jumped in the shower, did some french, took Kelly for a walk, did some more french, DIED at how beautiful Salem, MA is - particularly in Autumn (or 'fall'). I want to go there soo much, and essentially I could just book a flight and GO. But can I really? Part of me wants to be spontaneous and crazy and just do it, for real, but the other part of me is too concerned about judgemental people, and about how I wouldn't know anyone. But it's kind of my last chance to go during halloween, which is legit my DREAM. Plus, I won't be able to do it for another four years because of uni and exams...

After French class, I was walking to Melbourne Central when a boy, probably about my age, came up to me and asked if I was German. It wasn't really in a creepy or annoying way, it was just kind of funny. He said I looked German because of my blonde hair and blue eyes, although my eyes are really more grey/green. He tried to introduce himself but I was kind of in a hurry to meet Beth and I didn't want to give him the wrong idea or anything, so I just said I had to meet my friend, and he was totally cool about it. Ten or so minutes later, when I had made it to Melbourne Central and was on an escalator right near our meeting spot, I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check the time and another guy started talking to me. He asked if my lock screen was a picture of a cat, to which I said no, and showed him the picture of Kelly. He then proceeded to show me a picture of his kitten, ask me about uni, tell me about how he wanted to change courses because there wasn't much of a job market in the field he was currently studying, ask me to play touch football, ask me for my Facebook and ask my for my phone number until I said 'umm maybe not...' and managed to get away! He seemed nice but he wouldn't let me leave! I then greeted Beth, we got burgers at Grill'd (the vegan burger there was surprisingly nice! It had pineapple which I wasn't expecting, but it totally made it) and then played three games of bowling before getting really tired and going home.

I originally intended to take at least one photo of Beth at the bowling place, I even brought my DSLR, but I felt so awkward pulling it out. I definitely need to work on being more carefree with stuff like that - who cares if I'm taking a photo of my friend anyway?

That concludes day... 4? xx

BRIGHT 2016

Over the weekend, myself and some family took a little trip to Bright. I had heard from a friend that in Autumn, the trees all turned a wonderful orange, which is something you don't come across much in Australia. Or, at least, in Melbourne you don't. And given that I'm more than slightly obsessed with American Autumns - which include many an orange leaf - I absolutely wanted to check out this Autumn-Wonderland-Town.
Upon arrival, I was only a tiny bit disappointed to find that it wasn't quite the orange wonderland I had expected, we had come too early. Nevertheless, the trees were beginning to turn, some had already turned completely, and the town was still very picturesque.
Once we had checked out the cottage we were staying in, which had a very aesthetically pleasing bathroom mind you, we went for a drive through the streets and up to Huggin's Lookout.






This was easily among some of the best views I've seen, in my 18 short years, and I can't say that the camera shots do it justice.

After Huggins Lookout, we drove down to the Arboretum (a memorial park, I think) and while this was not exactly filled with colour, as we had been told, it certainly contained some beautiful views and I managed to get some good shots of Rodney.

On our way back to the cottage, we detoured down a long road scouting for some Autumnal magic, and though we didn't find quite what we were looking for, it was a nice drive anyway.

Later that afternoon, we went for a stroll around the park near our accommodation and then retired for the day.

One thing I do wish I had brought with me, was some DVD's or my laptop. I found that I didn't have much to do when we weren't out exploring and I read nearly an entire book in the two days that we were there. (City of Ashes, if you were wondering).


The next day wasn't as eventful, but I managed to get some photos in the morning when we went down 'Cherry Walk'.



 The rest of the day was spent driving around the mountains, through most of which I managed to sleep. It wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but it made Rodney happy which was good.

Let me know where your last holiday was!

LIFE UPDATE!

Rachael walking Louie along the lake across from our air BnB - right before we left!

HI
Okay, so I got back from Paynesville just under a week ago - twas fun but I am glad to be back!
I didn't take many photos there because I didn't bring my DSLR, but I do have a few on my phone (and there are a few on my 'Phhhoto' account: @fishbowl).
We came back on Sunday after a short trip that included lots of dog walking, cave exploring, winery visits and me practically binge reading The Maze Runner series.

My week since our return has been very busy up until now. The day I got back, I began obsessively watching the new 'Shadowhunters' TV show on Freeform!! I've seen the first episode probably four or five times now?

In a few sentences, my past week has included:

Monday: my friend Madison came over and we basically just made soup and watched Shadowhunters.
Tuesday: I hung out with two other friends, again watching Shadowhunters, and making vegan + gluten free Anzac biscuits.
Wednesday: I had a sleepover with my friend Izzy and we played Animal Crossing and made rice paper rolls for dinner.
Thursday: I went op shopping with Madison, hoping to find some 90s style clothes.
Friday: I went to another friend's house to play Animal Crossing and plan our joint birthday party, although we didn't end up having much to plan.

(I actually sound like a little kid with all this Animal Crossing... I swear I'll be a legal adult in 7 days.)

The clothes I bought whilst op-shopping included a velvet-looking black hoodie, a black cardigan and an oversized navy blue t-shirt with embroidery on the front.

I just thought I'd show the shirt (the cardigan and hoodie don't need much imagination to picture haha)

I've been a little bit stressed lately because I found out what university I'll be going to, and struggling with the decision to defer or not... so if anyone else is going through/has gone through the same thing, let me know what you did! Although at this point in time, I'm leaning towards a deferral - I don't feel ready for school again, ew.

I've also been feeling really jealous in some of my friendships recently, which isn't that unusual, except for the fact that it's sticking for longer than a minute or two this time. I don't really know the best way to go about this and it's hard to let go of these sorts of feelings but I think the best thing to do is take a step back and let yourself realise that you're not co-dependent on this person, you have a life outside of them and just reacquaint yourself with yourself! Maybe even spend a day with other friends.
I'm just writing this incase anyone reading it can relate, because it's a pretty frustrating feeling that I don't think we have all that much control over.

Anyway, sorry if this post was all over the place, just wanted to update everything! Leave a comment and I'll be happy to talk to you! :) x

APOLLO BAY

Just over a week ago, my friend Emma and I left Melbourne for a five day trip to Apollo Bay.
I slept over at Emma's house the night before we left and it was the first time I'd seen her in over 10 months. We departed her house at about 10am the next morning and I just have to mention that while we were waiting for our train we ate the best dumplings I've probably ever had.

After roughly eight hours of travelling, we had arrived in Apollo Bay and were checking into our hostel. We stayed at the YHA Eco Hostel, chosen both for the price and the good reviews, and in no way were we disappointed. Neither Emma nor I had ever stayed in a hostel before so we were pretty much expecting the worst - especially after hearing hostel horror stories from family members and pieces online - but this hostel was as clean as any hotel, the people were super friendly (yet not too friendly), happy to help and I didn't feel like my belongings were in any way unsafe, although of course that didnt stop me from taking all the precautions!

While we were eating dinner the first night (massive bowls of pasta), we were sitting on a deck just outside the kitchen and a guy a few years older than us came outside and spoke to us. It turned out he was also vegan and was pretty chuffed about the fact that at that moment in time and space, 100% of the people sitting/standing on that deck were vegan. I guess it was pretty cool.

Day 2 of our trip was cool and cloudy, so we decided to rug up and go for a walk through Marengo to Shelly beach.
Of course I managed to completely forget about sunscreen until we were back in Apollo Bay and my usually-very-pale-face was well on it's way to becoming Belthazor (aka Cole's red-faced demon form from 'Charmed').

Beach - what more can I say

The trail from Marengo to Shelly beach

The rocks here were amazing! Very slippery too

The lighting isn't great here but I felt like I had to show at least one photo of myself hahaha

The thing I love most about Apollo Bay is that you have the beach one way and these beautiful hills the other, unique compared to other beach towns along the Great Ocean Road

As we were eating dinner that night - do all interesting things happen during food time or do we just eat 24/7? - we were swarmed by seagulls and for a moment there I was genuinely scared. Probably more than a moment considering birds are very near the top of my 'things to be scared of' list. Luckily, Emma had no problem channeling her inner demon and protecting our chips from being bird-napped.

After chips we went for a walk along the beach and the water was soo beautiful

Day 3 was a very chill day. I didn't feel too great due to the suburn on my face and the fact that I had been consistently layering my face with any sort of moisturiser I could find. It left me feeling sluggish, although I suppose that momentary relief was worth it at the time. I did naht want a peely face.
We stayed in our room pretty much all day, aside from being temporarily locked out, until we decided to go for a 'walk' up to Mariner's Lookout. I put the word 'walk' in quotation marks because that isn't exactly how we got there...
According the the receptionist at our hostel, it was about an hours walk each way, up and down a steep hill, but we had to do something that day. Maybe two minutes into the walk, a taxi drove past and all it took was one look at eachother and we were on our way, cruising up the hill in a yellow taxi - at a slightly alarming speed, might I add.
The view from the lookout was really nice, we could see all of Apollo Bay + more, and once returning from our walk (yep, we actually managed to walk back) we had a quick look at the view from the top of our hostel before retiring to our room to play Animal Crossing, like the adults we are.

The view from Mariner's Lookout

A sheep we saw on the way back from the lookout! I snapped probably like twenty photos of it's bum and like four of it's face - this is the money shot

The last two days were relatively similar, there wasn't heaps to do without a car or a bike, so on our last night we both got an icypole (the sorbet place was closed, unfortunately) and had a bit of a laugh while *attempting* to exercise, and pretty much all of the next day was spent travelling. It also included me not feeling so great on the bus ride back, losing my wallet (which held I sterling silver toe ring I bought) and some interesting characters on the train - one of whom legitimately sounded like a pimp.
Three things I have taken away from this trip are:

1. Do not forget to be sun safe, even/especially when it's cloudy!! (This is one I already knew, but clearly it needed reinforcement)
   
2. Wheely bags/backpacks will greatly improve your quality of life. My brother of course took my suitcase the day before I needed it, so I was stuck with lugging around a heavy suitcase in my hand - painful and impractical, don't do it.
   
3. Sweet chilli sauce has a lot of sugar - we went temporarily mad.
   

Sorry if this was super long, I had so much to write about. I also have heaps more photos to share so I may or may not do a second post mainly with photos and not much writing (I always find that those sort of posts keep my attention longer too)

-Gracie

ME (Belthazor)