the best photo i took in hawaii (and all the other ones.)

here it is: the best photo i took in hawaii. this sums up honolulu: the real palm trees flourishing next to a painted mural of yet more palm trees, because why not, let’s make it abundant. i like that i caught the stars and stripes, and the limo driving by, both opulent but dwarfed by the amount of sheer green going on here.

in evidence of how everyday and incidental this lushness is in honolulu: when i took this, i had my back to an IHOP.

this trip happened last year, almost by accident: my tax return, leave entitlement and a flights sale converged and suddenly i was on my way. it happened in a heartbeat, and let me tell you: i would go back in a heartbeat.

some geography: waikiki is the central beach district in the city of honolulu on the island of oahu in the state of hawaii. i landed alone, after a sleepless flight, at 6am. mum wouldn’t be landing for hours. for me, the best part of the trip was those intervening hours, when i was set free in a different country on the other side of the world.

kingston foreshore (for sure)

i’ve been trying to make more of an effort to get out after work and explore my new hood. last week, that let me to the kingston foreshore – an area of the inner south on the bank of lake burley griffin – and i was so glad it did.

i arrived on sunset. the streets were full of groups of friends strolling to dinner, joggers, and dog walkers. there’s a park full of winding paths and little secret bridges at one end:

and then sunset set in properly.

then there’s the waterfront itself. all along the side of it is bright bubbling restaurants, so that the water reflected hundreds of golden lights as the sun went down.

on either side of the lake are these embankment-style walkways, where you can walk right next to the water – somehow, the town planners must have decided that we were all responsible grown-ups because there’s no fence at the edge, it’s just walkway and then water. walking along here while i do phone calls back home is one of my new favourite things.

I can’t wait to head back there, grab an ice cream and sit and do some people-watching pretty soon.

xoxo

Dora

akiba

when my sydney friends came to town we had some plans in place, but you always end up wandering around blankly looking for something to do or, in this case, somewhere to eat. a couple of us had heard good things about akiba so we checked it out and boy was that a good call.

this place is SICK.

akiba’s aesthetic is sort of a cross between a big ol’ hipster wine bar and a bright and feverish street market. it was so full of details that I ended up leaving our table in between courses so I could just walk around snapping pictures.

as for the food itself, all I can say is that it was too good to stop and photograph. I got as far as the place setting and the first dish that came out and then I lost my freaking MIND. we shelled out for the $33 kobe beef, which was charcoal and luscious and 10/10 worth it. we got edamame beans, because you always should get edamame beans, and these ones came with crunchy salt and spices and were h e a v e n l y. we got fried chicken and dumplings and ate and laughed and  and caught up after months apart and marvelled at how delicious everything was.

the bar was a sight to be reckoned with but inevitably all of us wanted to stay sober so they made us custom fruit juices! I got watermelon and passionfruit, and that started a bit of a trend.

dessert was, of course, jaw droppingly beautiful: this was a mandarin-chocolate bar cake.

if you’re in Canberra, GET YOURSELF THERE.

love love,

Dora

flower child

flower child is this ridiculously gorgeous cafe that opened last year in my area. it’s full of hanging plants and tiny vases of flowers everywhere, and their food is off the charts yummy. it’s been a great place to go with friends for special occasions, especially when they’ve got a new job or achieved a dream and I want to go somewhere unusual with them to celebrate!

every time I’m there I have my phone out taking photos of everything with zero shame. dig in, you guys.

xx

Dora

out and about in Canberrifornia

Canberrifornia! there, didn’t I say it would sound cool!

as well as staying in a magical airbnb in the country on our recent road trip to Canberra, my friends and I did actually do some exploring in the city itself. crazy, I know.

here’s what we did:

saturday night: we pulled into our guesthouse, got unpacked, did some much needed stretching and phone-recharging and exploring.

then we had tickets for the Sunset Cinema in the national botanic gardens, which was a treat! we watched something called Keeping Up with the Joneses, a suburban American comedy about an ordinary couple who become entangled with the world of sexy high-paced spies. the movie was nothing special but watching it with a pulled pork burger from the onsite food van, curled up with friends on the bean bags provided, and watching the sun go down and the birds fly overhead was pretty great.

sunday morning:

first, an important croissant breakfast to charge up our batteries.

then, to check out the Sunday market scene! we went to the old bus depot markets in the suburb of kingston. it was a lot bigger than we expected, and full of artists and crafters selling their wares to early christmas shoppers. plus, many doughnut vans and other food businesses. I bought a candle and marvelled over the potted plants area – when I live in canberra I’ll be coming back!

we also got coffee and milkshakes from this adorable coffee van outside:

for lunch we went to brodburger, which is a bit of a canberra institution – so much so that the wait time to get our burgers was 40 minutes! we snaffled a table and spent the time playing cards. yes, those are dora the explorer cards.

the burgers were definitely worth the wait!

I didn’t get many good photos of Brodburger’s decor, but I did love this internal window. I suppose I’ll just have to go get another burger sometime to justify taking more photos of their cool interior.

sunday afternoon: 

we all wanted another look at the botanic gardens after seeing them at sunset the previous night. they’re our national botanic gardens, so they were pretty fancy! just in case any visiting foreign diplomats want to see some australian flora.

this is a desert plant called sturt’s desert pea that i remember getting taught about at school! they’re a bit of an australian icon – always printed on tourist things like tea towels and shirts – but I don’t think I’d ever seen a real one until now. so waxy and shiny! i was impressed.

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in the middle of the gardens is a special area designed to imitate the conditions of the central australian desert. this was one of our favourite parts. all the red sand everywhere made it feel like we really were somewhere else.

it was already a hot day, but this bit was boiling. that was about when we decided we wanted to go home and sit in the shade with cold drinks.

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monday: 

we spent this entire day having hands-on fun, so there aren’t many photos! of course we had to go to questacon, one of canberra’s biggest attractions – it’s a science museum designed especially for kids, with a big emphasis on interactive exhibits (read: toys). think life-size jigsaw puzzles, water mazes, and levers and buttons galore.

it’s designed to be fun rather than beautiful, but I did love this exhibit from the light section:

we went home exhausted, ordered thai and took sunset photos while we waited for it to arrive.

tuesday morning:

going home day. we had to be out of our airbnb by 11am, so we packed up, had a last breakfast out on the balcony, and took ourselves to a dumpling place and drowned our sorrows in pork buns.

after that? we hit the road.

 

xx

Dora

sunset in Bywong

last weekend, I roadtripped with some old school friends to Bywong, a tiny part of the world just outside Australia’s capital city of Canberra.

the airbnb where we stayed was great. Bywong seems to be essentially a strip of road in amongst diving hills and bushland, so the whole time we felt secluded. maybe a bit like we were getting back to nature. i had the time of my life taking thousands upon thousands of photos of the house, inside and out. you can see my post about it all over here.

we did also venture from our country retreat into the city of Canberra and ate good food, explored and had adventures! a post about all of that is coming soon (and, since I’m moving to Canberra permanently in a few short months, will be only the first of many.)

then, on the final evening we were there, the house really stole the show again. down the back of the garden past rose bushes and leafy trees, the back fence had broken away and my friend Chloe and I ventured into the field beyond. it was right on sunset and the grass just lit right up in the sunbeams.

I brought my camera and we made some magic.

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the best bit was that we saw a kangaroo! watching us gently, big flying-saucer ears swivelling around to make sure we weren’t messing with him. then he cruised away again. you can just make him out in the middle of this photo.

xx

Dora