Blue Mountains

Some time ago, Kyle was invited to attend a writing retreat at  his friend's place in Katoomba. It was essentially a handful of PhD students gathered together and forcing each other to work on their thesis. Despite not being a student, Benson and I tagged along for a change in scenery.

Although the sole reason for the trip was catch up on work, or do whatever it is the PhD students do, we managed to fit in little side trips to the surrounding bus hland - Minni Ha Ha reserves and Leura Cascades. We also visited the strip of shops because no visit to the Blue Mountains is complete without a trip to the Leura Candy store!

Sydney Open 2016

Sydney Open is an annual event where select buildings in the city are open to ticket holders to wonder amongst - it was a great chance to gain an appreciation to buildings I would normally walk past without a second thought.

One Farrer Place

I originally ordered my tickets to be posted but a slight mishap on their part meant I had to pick it up on the day. Picking up the tickets worked out well in the end as Kyle and I caught the ferry from Balmain to Circular Quay and spent the day working our way to Sydney Town Hall. 

View from the AMP building

We had a list of buildings in mind that we wanted to see:

• Land Department
• One Farrer Place
• AMP building

• NSW State Library

• Government House

• Parliament House

• The Mint

• Hyde Park Barracks

• St James' church + crypts
• Sydney Town Hall
• Hong Kong House
• The Great Synagogue

 and managed to see all of them except one - the Land Department building which had a long line. We also managed to luckily catch mini events; watching St James' church bells being rung, a short organ recital in the Sydney Town Hall. The highlight of the day for me was seeing the Great Synagogue, unfortunately no photos were allowed to be taken and the security was understandably super beefy.

St James crypt

Despite seeing a lot of people wearing pink wristbands (identifier for Sydney Open guests), buildings weren't crowded and routes between each location was hassle free. I think Kyle and I would attend again next year, I'm thinking to explore the buildings near Barangaroo. 

Parliament House and Sydney Town Hall

L-R clockwise: Sydney Town Hall organ, NSW State Library, city view from Hong Kong House, Sydney Town Hall hallway

It was Halloween the past week, and although Australia doesn't really celebrate it , a lot of houses around my area were participating in the festivities with horror themed houses and free candy. I walked amongst the terror that is children with easy access to sweets as I walked my dog, and really enjoyed the community vibe. It was great to see kids with their friends in costumes (I saw a kid dressed in a plush Venus fly trap costume, a favourite), toddlers dressed as the latest Disney trend, and accompanying parents holding a glass of wine or bottle of beer whilst making minimal costume effort (i.e. capes).

 

 

  

My favourite horror house. Plastic hanging heads, motion activated fog machine, crackling animatronic witch (that scared my dog), dropping of a plastic skeleton from above by the home owner - perfect.

Speaking of the macabre, I've started reading Little Hands Clapping  by Dan Rhodes. It's an odd little book written with simplicity in mind. A mesh of short tales with an undercurrent of sadness with a connection to an unique museum located in Germany; it is an easy and interesting read so far.

Malabar Beach

My birthday was this week so Kyle and I went to our favourite guilty food place on Saturday - Sunny's Take Away in Chiefly.We ordered fries, a battered sav, potato scallops, a pineapple fritter, and their mind blowingly awesome, deep fried chili chicken wings and ate at nearby Malabar Beach. 

The beach has a wealth of rock pools running down one side of the beach during low tide, where sea slugs, small fish and crabs can be found lurking. Only locals tend to visit the beach, with one cafe nearby, making it a great spot to chill out. Or pig out on super junk food.

   

Hi, my name is Connie

Since I was recently tagged on Instagram to share 20 facts of myself, I thought it would also be a suitable first post. The caption layout is beyond my control...

I was tagged by @tsumtendo to share 20 facts about me, it's harder to do than I realised... 1. I'm 26, turning 27 soon! 2. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science and Education and completed honours in biochemistry 3. Currently working as a clinical trial coordinator 4. I was born in Hong Kong and my family immigrated to Sydney, Australia when I  was 2 5. Despite 10+ years of weekend Chinese school I can't read or write in Chinese and have a heavy Australian accent when I speak Cantonese 6. I have an 8 year old beagle, Benson, that I spoil. He's too cute to say no to :( 7. My partner is currently a PhD student studying location based games, mainly Ingress, and recently held a public lecture on Pokemon Go 8. I really got into gaming during university when my friend gave me a Steam code for Left 4 Dead 9. My favourite console is the New 3DSXL 10. My favourite game atm is Overwatch 11. My favourite manga is Yotsuba&! 12. My favourite book is The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss 13. My favourite animal is the shark 14. I'm intensely stubborn 15. And messy 16. My student job was working at a theme park, Luna Park, where I met my partner 17. My partner proposed to me in Bryant Park, New York, next to the carousel because that used to be where I was always put at Luna Park 18. One of my favourite life experiences was staying with a Tibetan refugee family in Nepal for a month (part of my teaching degree) 19. But I hope to travel more 20. I love getting to know more about people, even if I didn't tag you! 😁 Thanks for slogging through this post!

A photo posted by Connie (@moopointt) on Oct 18, 2016 at 1:38pm PDT