Thursday 7 July 2016

Perth Travelogue: Sunset Grace

/ / m a i n / /

gday friends!! 
i'm finally gonna continue with day 2 visuals, but minimal photo repetitions to make this a concise read for you guys:) 

day 2 started with a morning drive and a spontaneous stop along the way to see baby christmas trees!
aussie is just so photogenic everywhere -heart eyes-



daniel has a major love for wide grasslands so he was snapping away with my camera whenever he saw one!
when i got home i was like "why do i have ten thousand photos of grasslands???" hahahah
but in all honesty, its a beautiful view :')


our main destination for the day was wave rock!
natural rock formations curved up high in a shape of a massive wave.


sun too bright to open eyes heh.
lucky we brought our sunnies!
the rock was really quite high, this is probably about half its height pictured!
took some otds as well hehe!



after that we decided to climb up the rock oh goodness.
and we actually did, so of course must take photos to commemorate our feat!!
 candid shot of us selfie-ing!!
 which turned out to be THIS selfie hahaha selfie-ception of some sort eh

also took some group shots below the rock:)


 another attraction near wave rock is hippo's yawn!
which is basically this huge rock shaped like a hippo yawning, self explanatory right heh.




stopped by lake grace on the way to our accommodation for the night.
lake grace isn't as majestic as other major lakes, in fact it looks abit dried up here right?
but still, beautiful colours in this scene.
beyond the pose-y otd photos, lies a very happy and smiley chee!!
through this trip i realized something, a good camera really makes a world of difference.
and i'm glad to invest in good cameras to snap these moments which are so precious!:)
i really like this shot too!
had a hard time choosing between the two for instagram hahah first world problems!
blessed to have witnessed nature's glory in the form of a baked, golden sunset.


day three started off with hiking!
here we are looking happy and energetic so this was obviously taken before the climb haha
20 minutes into the climb, still looking good
1 hour into the climb, NOT looking so good :x
D had to carry my bag for me alr by this time:(

i blogged about the climb in more detail on my dayre , so im gonna kope some excerpts from there.

it was a 5 hour climb, two way, and i'd have to say this is probably the most strenuous activity i have done in my life, esp at my current level of unfit-ness :/
so as you can imagine it was super super tough for me.

we weren't hiking on flat ground, like it wasn't a slope gradient up the mountain.
the steps were basically loose rocks, there weren't proper staircases so it was quite dangerous cos we might just slip and fall since the rocks weren't secure.
also, there weren't barriers at the side to prevent hikers from falling off so it was quite scary!

there were many steps that required a 90 degree lunge, if you get what i mean, so it was really really tiring.
this hike wasn't my preferred activity at all, and many times within the 5 hours i felt like giving up SO BAD, but i'm really proud to say that i didn't!! 

but i definitely couldn't have achieved this without daniel, whom through this experience, i saw a different side of.
he took care of me so so well that he was getting thumbs up and "respect bro!" from fellow hikers who saw what he was doing for me.

he helped me carry all my belongings, bag, camera and whatnot, despite his own heavy load.
the climb was already so tiring by itself but he still had to carry so much stuff, i felt really bad about it but at the same time i was really struggling so i had to let him help me.
2 hours into the hike, my legs were ready to give way.
at this point of time he stood behind me and hoisted me up the rocks by lifting my waist, which must have been really tiring for him too:(

he was constantly asking if i was okay, asking me to drink water, asking if my ears still hurt from the high altitude pressure, rubbing the back of my hands as a silent form of encouragement as we scaled upwards.

and as we almost reached the peak, we were literally surrounded by clouds-yes we were that high up.
being in the clouds was fascinating i guess?
but not very pleasant cos the winds which blew were so strong and slightly moist, making us cold and drying out our eyes.
at some point it was so strong i felt like i was about to be blown away :(
(but then not likely cos not like im very light, gained weight urgh)

he wrapped me in his jacket and protected me from the crazy winds, and as i nestled my face into his neck in a bid to hide from the wind, i thought about how lucky and eternally grateful i am to have him in my life :')

best boyfriend award goes to my love :')




finally felt well enough to whip out my phone to take a selfie.
or rather this time daniel was the one initiating all the selfies cos i was too tired to bother with photos (FOR ONCE hahaha)


 more selfies on the way down the mountain cos i was just so happy to have made it to the top and the thought of going back to the car was such a huge motivation hahaha 



after the hike we moved on to our last destination for the day- the blowholes!
which is a natural hole formed in the rocks near the ocean, the pressure from the waves crashing in causes water to gush out forcefully from the hole, thus forming a blowhole!:)

took some photos on the way to the blowhole cos everywhr was so picture perfect!
we met a fellow tourist who was obviously skilled at photography so we got some really nice shots-score! ;)

this view- a m a z i n g




end of a very very eventful day.
one that i'll remember for life definitely!:)

stay tuned for day 4 updates!!
in the meantime, i got a few SG updates up on dayre!;)
till the next;
xoxo

PS/sorry about the tiny font, i can't change it for some reason urgh:/



Wednesday 22 June 2016

Perth Travelogue: Islander

/ / m a i n / /

hi guys! 
i know i've been missing on this space for quite some time, and... i have no more excuses other than the fact that i haven't been feeling very motivated to post here:(
i upload the photos very quickly as drafts, but when it comes to penning content, i procrastinate so so much.
time to find back the joy in writing really!

okay so anyways, if you guys follow me on instagram (@etherealpeonies) or dayre, you'd have known that i went to perth just a week ago :)
it was an amazing trip, my first overseas, non school based trip without my parents tagging along and it felt really different.
i have made new friends and deeper friendships on this trip and i'm very thankful to everyone for being so accepting and friendly!
daniel and i were the youngest on this trip and honestly we weren't of much help when it came to planning and logistics, and esp driving cos we can't drive yet!
so thank you everyone for putting so much effort into this trip, next time it'll be our turn to contribute much more:)

we took a 3am from SG and reached perth at 8am, which means it was a comfortable 5 hours flight since there's no time difference between the two countries.
this flight to perth was amazing, definitely my favourite one so far in life.
i don't know how it happened but from my right side view, i saw a dark sky filled with so many stars i was just awestrucked by its beauty and at nature's creations.
i spent quite a few good moments there reflecting on life.
and on my left side, it was bright and i saw a sunrise of so many different citrus colours.
how is it that i can see so vastly different things from the same place i was seated?
cliche as it may be but i thought of how aptly this described the word perspective, something many of us think we have but really, there's so much more to it we have not grasped. 

okay sorry for the sidetrack!
so upon arrival we collected our reserved 7 seater car and wow it was huge and so spacious!!
it was a chillax day and the only item on our itinerary was to rottnest island :)

not a very pleasant sounding name for an island but always, don't judge a book by its cover!
now, time to pile on the visuals ;)



my favourite part of rottnest island would be the beach/harbour area!
its really photogenic and calming to look at.
if we had more free time i would have liked to walk along the sandy beach with daniel hehe.

the weather was pretty alright that day!
temperatures throughout the trip were generally between a comfortable 10-15degrees, but it can get really chilly when there are strong winds.
for my day 1 outfit i only wore a thin knit long sleeved top, a medium thick knit cardigan, and bottoms wise just a pair of jeans. 

okay i take back the part where i said the beach/harbour is my fav part of the island!
cos i have to admit that the quokkas take the top spot!!
this, is a quokka, so cute no?:)))
its about the size of a rabbit and its the cutest thing ever!
quokkas are known to 'smile' and the moment u see it it just makes your day hehe.

tree climbing!!!
i was too unflexible in my jeans to get very far up but woah sheena and shanice can really tick this off their bucketlist!
am i the only one who's weird cos when i see such a beautiful scene like this, other than admiring it i also worry about crocodiles lurking hahahah
i am so impressed with this shot!!
cos its TAKEN BY DANIEL hahahaha
if only he takes my otds with such talent as well hahahaha

okay la this one is taken by him and it looks quite nice:)))
thank you b for being so patient with my photo requests!!

i took some for him too hehe!

one of my fav photos of the day!
the angle, the background, the arranged height dynamics!
perfection!!! 
i would like to credit the person who took this photo but honestly idk who took it hahaha


such a nice spot, of cos must take one with my daniel!! 


artistic shot of daniel heheh whose side profile so hamsum!!

we spent quite a fair bit of time feeding the quokkas as well!!
with their natural food of cos, like the leaves and branches lying around the place itself.
they're quite accustomed to humans so its really cute when they reach out their little hands and take the food from us!!
love this shot as well!!

but what really happened behind the scenes was this!
unglam leh hahahah


everyone please tell me that the shots i directed and took of daniel are artsy!!!
cos i really like the photos i took for him hahaha
my fav fav shot of the day <3
lugging a HD cam around really is worth it.

one more photo spot by the harbour before we head back to the main land:)


i remembered feeling immensely thankful on this day, for a safe flight, for perfect weather, for new experiences, for good company.
i think as i've grown older, these few years especially, i've become a much happier person.
thats largely because i started to change the way i look at things, and now i really do celebrate the littlest things in life every single day and reflect on it before i sleep at night.
sure, some things still do upset me or trouble me sometimes, but never again like it did in the past.
i'm glad for this change in my mentality, and i really hope to affect others positively with it:)

thank you friends for reading till the end, i do feel more inspired to post more after kickstarting this post today:)
so stay tuned for more posts which i promise to create with utmost sincerity!

till the next;
xoxo