Around the hood

Spring is here! This is Australia, so it was never too far away, but for the last month or so the flowers started budding like crazy. Lots of magnolias, but also wild freesias, and tons more that I can’t even name. And the animals! I didn’t manage to capture any on camera, but I saw so many birds – cockatoos (obvs!), kookaburras (❤️), lorikeets, bush turkeys, plus rabbits and even a fox! 🦊 And that’s before I go for a walk to our little pocket of bushland (that’s what we call a native Australian forest). It’s totally green and lush and feels like you’re a million miles away, even though it’s 5 minutes (not a typo) from my house.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Diagon Alley

A year and a half ago I visited the Harry Potter World at Universal Studios Florida. At that point I had only vague recollection of Harry Potter from the movies, as I was never an avid fan. Nonetheless I was blown away by how immersive it was, the attention to every last detail, the sounds, the sights, the smells(!), the scale of it.

Well, I just finished reading “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”, and all the memories of that trip came rushing back. Only now do I fully appreciate how great a job they’ve done at Universal Studios. The whole experience feels like walking through the pages of the book alongside Harry and Hagrid on their first trip to Diagon Alley. It truly is a magical place ❤️

Sunday walk

We had a beautiful Sunday, the weather begging to go outside. So we did, but instead of our usual playground or beach, we tried to pick an out-of-the-way spot. We ended up going to one of Sydney’s historic sites with old gun placements, which happens to have beautiful ocean views as well. Some people were walking and running nearby, but everyone was keeping their distance. In the end I’m glad we went, because late on Sunday a new round of social distancing measures went into place, and it looks like this will be our last such outing for the foreseeable future.

Mmm… donuts 🍩

Looking for great donuts in Sydney? Try Short Stop in Barangaroo – the Matcha one is my fave of the bunch 😋

After the rain

Rainy, with a chance of rainbow

Heavy skies

Scarlet

Blue Kingdom

During (way overdue) cleanup of my hard drive, I uncovered a couple of photos from Disneyland from last year. Some turned out really well! I only had one day for sightseeing, so had to decide which park to visit, and landed on Magic Kingdom. Aside from “The Happiest Place on Earth” message being pushed a little too hard at times (or maybe it’s just the Grinch in me), the whole experience was really fun and immersive — 10/10 would go again!

Not long now