now a thirtysomething from Brisbane
September 8, 2019. The day started early and like any travel that involves flying half way round the world through time zones was a looooong day.
We landed in Abu Dhabi just after midnight. I was quite delighted to see that the Lego camel was still there. The camel once again got to nibble on some Kate Spade Cup Cake like it did for #Helengoesnorth back in 2015/2016 ( a trip like many that never really made it on to the blog…)
1 year ago today, Mum, Aunty Margaret and I left to go Morocco for a trip that was to last about 5 weeks.
We were heading to Morocco with Take a Walk Adventures to literally take a walk round Morocco 😀 also with quite a bit of driving as well but the general gist of the trip was to walk and in varying ways we did walk and walk some more.
Morocco had been number 1 on my countries to visit for a very long time, since I mid-teens to be precise when I first read The Drifters by James Michener, where Marrakech features as the last destination in the novel. To finally get to travel to Morocco was something that I was very excited about but also a bit scared and anxious about, would Morocco in real life be like the Morocco had I had imaged over the last 17+ years? In a move to hopefully not be disappointed by Morocco and due to the nature of the trip, I purposely did very little research, I did not want to have oodles of photos in my mind taken by others of the places we were to visit, I did not want the stories and experiences of others to flavour the memories I hoped to build on this trip.
Please, click here to continue reading 🙂 “Helen Goes to Morocco Day 1 – Leaving Australia”Wow, that is a bit of mind flash writing those words. 15 years on. When I first started this blog, I didn’t really think about what it would look like in the future. I did know that when other blogs started to fade away, I wanted to keep mine alive. Even if it was not updated regularly but as a snippet of time, forever there on the internet whilst I continued to pay the hosting fees.
Back in April 2005, I posted this post – where I have been and where I want to go
15 years ago, I would have thought there would have been more coloured on this map by 2020 but life happens, adventures happens and some trips have just not yet been made.
I’ve only included countries where I have stayed a night so Singapore and the UAE are not included.
Perhaps in the next 15 years once we are out of the COVID-19 world that we live in currently, there will be more red on this map next time.
If you want to do a map yourself, you are able to do them at this website – Visited Countries
Day 2 was all about the Flamingo 🙂
Lots of them and some other animal encounters at the Honolulu Zoo 🙂
Komodo Dragon
Black Rhinoceros
Look a Fujifilm disposable camera!
Oh sweet gum
Peach Faced Lovebirds
Peach Faced Lovebirds
Superb Starling (Lamprotornis superbus)
Hooded Vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus)
Mosaic Flamingos
Slender-tailed Meerkat
Klipspringer
Some form of antelope, isn’t that striping on the flank gorgeous?
Oh Zeeeeebra!
Zeebra!
Hello Giraffe
Lesser flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor)
Beach Umbrella … also works an umbrella when an impromptu tropical rain shower appears
Indian Elephant and Diamond Head
American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber)
How far to other zoos?
American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber)
American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber)
American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber)
Me and another great mosaic at the zoo
After getting a bit rained out of the Zoo, I headed back to my classy looking hotel for a nap before heading off to Ward Village to have a browse through the shops and area.
After Ward Village, I headed through Ala Moana where I stumbled across this most wonderful reproduction dress on display in Bloomingdales. This dress is part of the Alii Gown Reproduction Project which is been run by the Friends of Iolani Palace. This dress is a reproduction of Queen Kapiolani’s lei hulu (feather lei) gown which she wore to Queen Victoria’s jubilee in 1887. I have lightened the darks a bit in the below photo to try to show the exquisite detail in the bodice. The dress is the most beautiful black velvet with yellow feather embellishments. I would love a dress like this, the detail, the fabric, the cut, the train, the drape, everything! I spent a good time walking round the dress soaking it all up. Refer to this article for more detail.
On the walk back to my hotel, I went past this the Tradewinds Hotel and was totally in love with their breezeblock entry way 😀
And well you can’t have a visit to the USA with out some blueberry pancakes from IHOP 😀
And with a very full stomach, it was back to the hotel and that was Day 2 of Hawaii 😀
The Easter long weekend normally means a trip somewhere, or kind of somewhere
last year it was a trip to the spare room as I prepped for a CA Capstone workshop the following weekend.
the year before it was ?????????
the year before that it was Penang
This year it was Hawaii with two of my friends from uni days Sam and Justin. We flew with Hawaiian Airlines because well 2 x 32kg bags ….vs 1 x 23kg with Jetstar.  Ok so that last bit was more something I was excited about than the others and that may only be because well I brought home some groceries … ok really I bought home a whole bunch of pop tarts, like a lot.
Hawaiian does a cracker of a flight out of Brisbane to Honolulu, a perfect flight for an after work escape on a plane to the middle of the Pacific. Why is it a cracker? Well because the departure time is 9:45pm. Thank you very much HA444. That not too late but not too early flight which means you can leave work at 5pm, go home finish packing, grab a bite to eat and make it to the airport in time. Â Ok so that dinner might only be a jaffle but still … and anyway you will get some sort of snack on the plane once it takes off. The flight takes about 9hrs so again a pretty perfect after work flight because you know that halfway through the first movie you will be fast asleep albeit not in pyjamas and not curled up in your own bed but still you know that when you wake up, you will be a whole lot closer to those islands in the middle of the Pacific, HAWAII! Please, click here to continue reading 🙂 “Hawaii Day 1”
I’ve got four days left at my current job before I embark on a big change and go off to be an accountant. I’ve made three cakes to farewell others in the last 10 days and I’ll be making another one tomorrow night for one of the guys who is posting out on Wednesday. All those cakes will be in another post shortly…
On Saturday I went up the coast. After having my farewell party the night before. I was very good and only had four drinks all night. One of those was a frozen apple pie cocktail. That was divine Just like drinking an apple pie. So, so, so good.  Saturday was not classic beach weather but the water was nice and the waves were quite decent. An old Woodfordia friend was having a vintage garage sale on Saturday -> thus the reason for the trip up the coast. I picked up the most divine Osti shirt dress. So, so divine and just the loveliest colours. A photo may appear at some stage.
Going back to the day before, Friday. Friday marked Chan’s last day working for the company and it marked a week left for me with the company before I change jobs as well. Big things abound for the both of us this year. We’ve been desk buddies etc for the last 18mths 🙁 We met up for one last coffee at Pour Boy, the best coffee consistently in our end of town.
I took my first box of stuff home the other day. That’s the first time it really hit me that I’m changing jobs. Nothing says change like packing up five years of your work life and then walking out the door with an archive box filled to the brim. I’ll bring another box home tomorrow and that should be just about everything I think.
I’ve got my eye set on a few events later this year which mean I need to get my fitness back to a pre-uni and pre-flood level. I moved away from Asics GT 2100 series that I’ve lived in for the past x years and picked up a pair of Mizuno Wave Inspire 9. OMG, I enjoyed my Asics but these shoes are like playing in a whole new ballpark. They’re light, just the right bounce and by darn they are blue.
Just like almost every other house in SQLD, the  mock oranges have flowered and then of course it rained so off came all the petals. Will have to give the patio a very big clean on the weekend as those petals almost bake onto to the tiles. Fun times. People keep commenting on the scent when they visit but I smell nothing 🙁
Chan finally had dinner at Catcus Jack’s after hearing the rest of us at work rave about it for for the past few years. Chocolate Nachos, so, so, so good. One time we will go to Cactus Jack’s and have dessert first I think.
Last Sunday, I finally got my beach wish for the summer. Blue skies, great weather, open beaches, perfect water temperature and darn decent waves. I’ve tried a couple of times this summer to go to the beach but every time I’ve been thwarted by crap weather, closed beaches or last minute plan changes. The girls at work near on couldn’t believe it that I finally got my beach day.
Just loved this detail on the Ladies change rooms at North Burleigh.
I picked up a tray of strawbs at the start of the month for $9. Hello strawberry jam!
Strawberry jam, cooling so I can test it for set.
Strawberries, sugar and lemon juice waiting to become jam.
Glass jars all washed and waiting to go in the oven before they get filled.
And one last picture for this lot. A snipped of one of the baby quilts I’m making at the moment 🙂 Just love that May Gibbs fabric.
There we have. The first ten days or so of Feb-ru-ary in photos.