Sydney

(Strand Arcade)

Viv and I decided to venture into the big city of Sydney on our 5th day there. I took barely any snaps because I way way too busy busting through my 6 month's worth of savings. We didn't spend too much time in the city, and wondered through Oxford street on our way home. I spent most of my money at American Apparel and many of the thrift stores along Crown street.

Sydney; Grandma Takes A Trip

Like I mentioned previously, I didn't take a great deal of snaps whilst in Sydney as most days were spent at the festival. The times when I did take snaps I was using a disposable merely because it was easier to lug around town with me and they have yet to be developed.



On one of the first few days in Bondi, Ella showed us one of her favourite stores in Sydney called Grandma Takes a Trip. We ended up visiting the two stores that reside in Sydney (one is in Bondi and one is on Crown Street closer to the city centre). Grandma takes a Trip sources most of their items from Europe and ensure that each piece was actually produced in the period that is intended.



Viv bought the coolest 90's orange Versace jeans, pictured bottom, as well as a 60s orange tunic. We all tried on the most gorgeous Laura Ashley 80's white ball gown that I would've loved to have purchased except for the fact that I would've had to have taken out a few ribs to fit into it. It sucks that most of the retro pieces are suited for body types that no longer exist in this modern age. I only purchased one item from the Bondi store, a full-piece purple swimsuit from the 60's however bought 2 dresses from the second store; a 60s white lace dress and a green shirt-dress with gold buttons.



The whole store was set up like a wardrobe filled with all different dresses, skirts, shirts from all different periods. It was like a treasure hunt in the store and we spent a decent hour or so trying on everything.

Flickerfest days

During the festival we did pretty basic jobs like collecting tickets and cleaning up the theaters but it meant we could watch all the films for free plus attend the opening and closing parties. I watched all sessions (there are 5 Australian sessions and 5 International session which showcase over 100 short films) except for a few. The first few days we stayed around the Bondi area, settling into our accommodation and whatnot. The first four nights we spent in the local Bondi Backpackers, which was a really fun experience. It wasn't the best quality place to stay, but we met so many international people who were really friendly and really easy to talk too. After that, we moved into a local apartment which was much much more comfortable.

Flickerfest: Opening Night

The blog posts from here on in may be a little chronologically out of order, but i'll try my hardest to update everything over the past two months before I start on new stuff ^_^

During the first two weeks of January I boarded a four and a half hour flight from small town Perth to big town Sydney to volunteer at Australia's only Academy Award accredited film festival called Flickerfest. Flickerfest is an annual short film festival which is screened over the course of 10 days. Like always, it was held at the Bondi Pavilion right on Bondi Beach. My two best friends, Ella and Viv, traveled with me (Ella has helped out at the festival the past three years running). We stayed in Bondi however managed to take a few days off from the festival to do some shopping and venture into the city.



Opening night was amazing fun. We danced with characters from Star Wars (as a result of this years theme of Flickerfest being Star Wars) but also worked super hard due to the summer rain kicking in and thus everyone scattered from the outdoor cinema to the covers. We had to deal with chaos (the rain showed no sign of stopping, thus the opening night screening almost didn't take place!) We eventually moved everyone into the indoor cinema, which housed about half the size of everyone who arrived whilst the volunteers cleaned the outdoor cinema in the pouring rain. But it was all worth it for the after party.



We served pizza and drinks to the one and only Kris Marshall (okay, for those of you who don't know, he played the English guy who traveled to America in Love Actually). Yeah, that guy. He was hilarious, in real life and we even got the pizza box that he ate from signed by him! I met various other Australian actors which included Bryan Brown (who stars in Heath Ledger's acting debut and one of my favourite Australian films Two Hands (1999)). I also had a good chat to the director, producer and writer of the film David Michôd. He was extremely modest and flattered at all the attention the film was receiving. Two years prior he had also entered a film into Flickerfest proving that the film festival was a stepping stone for directors to make feature films.



Viv, Ella and I had a few drinks and danced to Cee Lo, all in all it was a super cool night which made us excited for the two weeks ahead of us.

Southbound

(disposables)

Next up was Southbound, which spanned across the first three days of the year (1st, 2nd and 3rd of January). For those of you who aren't from the west coast, Southbound is a music festival held about 3 hours south of Perth, Western Australia. Most people camp on the site, in where there are club rooms open til the wee hours in the morning but you can get day passes and sleep in the comfortable confines of nearby accommodation. My best friend, Viv, and I decided that camping was the best and only way to really experience Southbound. It was dirty, exhausting and terrible- but I really wouldn't of done it any other way. On the first day we got there bright and early at around 11am. Hungover from the New Years Eve celebrations of the night before, all we really felt like doing was re-hydrating and chilling out. Our other fellow tent members hadn't yet arrived, so we dumped our bags in the first tent and roamed around. Bands from the first day included- Goodnight Tiger, The Growl, 6's & 7's, Angus & Julia Stone, Hot Hot Heat and Interpol.

One word to describe Southbound was HOT. The second day reached over °43, and this just happened to be the day that we chose to stand in the sun for 4 hours- in the harshest hours of the sun too might I add. But it was well worth it, as the third day displayed some of the best in both Australian and International music. The day started of with local band Brow Horn Orchestra, which is a funky ska-rock band. We stayed on the paper stage for Boy & Bear- merely just to hear their amazing cover of Crowded House's Fall at Your Feet (if you haven't heard it already- youtube it now!). We ran to hear the next 3 bands on the rock stage, which was right in the middle of the sun. It started with The Jezabels, then Washington and finally Cold War Kids. As hot as it was (my scalp was completely burnt by the evening) they were definitely some of the best bands of the festival. We crashed and burned after that, barely able to move through the sites. We finally regained energy for Children Collide and The Soft Pack before heading over to festival highlight, The National. I was front row centre and managed to catch the guitarists pick!

The third day was exhausting. We were literally on our last straws and fell asleep in the only air-conditioned place on the camp site. Due to this I missed pond- but Viv and I really could not move an inch. I managed to regain enough energy for Cloud Control but then crashed again until Sleigh Bells and Jamaica. I very soon realized the only way to get through the day was to get absolutely smashed so we headed back to a friends tent to drink some illegally brought in vodka. We got to the Strongbow boat and sipped on cider whilst listening to Tim & Jean. Stayed drunk for Tame Impala, The Rapture and The Klaxons and then it was game over. Our car left that night (too exhausted to stay on) and got home at 1am in the morning.

Two days later Viv, Ella and I boarded our plane to Sydney (see previous posts).

NYE Celebrations

Okay- lets back track a bit. Here's what the last three months has offered. Posts WILL be frequent from here on in, let's hope. Three months later I finally find the time to upload these photo's and recap my new years experience. New Years Eve fell unfortunately right before a three-day long music festival held three hours south of Perth called Southbound. Or should I say, Southbound was unfortunately scheduled on New Years Day. Anyways, my good friend Oscar decided to have everyone that was going to Southbound over at his humble abode (which was a shed) in a small country town called Cowarumup, which was about a 20minute drive to the festival. Several different social groups merged together, in what was a little bit of an awkward beginning but by the end of the night we were all dancing in the moonlight and became the best of friends.


We slept under the stars, and we were exhausted the next day. But it was all worth it. And I am a true believer that days that are expected to be good (i.e. Australia Day and New Years Eve) never are, however was proven quite wrong this evening. I think it was the fact that we were stranded in the middle of nowhere, so no one could rock up or bail just before the clock striked midnight. It was like a school camp in where everyone who attends is forced to get to know each other by the weeks end (ofcourse, the consumption of alcohol obviously accelerated this.)



(disposables)

It was the best start to the new years, and bright and early in the morning Oscar's lovely parents cooked us a delicious healthy bacon and eggs breakfast. We packed up our bags and were on our way for another three days of camping and music fun.

Back in Business.

(holga 120mm film)

It's a New Year and so, hiatus is over.

4 months sans blogging. 4 months of not sleeping when the sun goes down. 4 months of drinking, working and socializing. Life has been crazy hectic over the last 4 months, in the very best way possible. Blogging seemed less appealing as the hipsters of the sleepy deathtoll town starting invading the interwebs and my time was spent out and about as opposed to behind a screen. The computer was there only for a quick facebook check from time to time and syncing my ipod to new trashy party music. But alas, the start of my university life is creeping up on me and therefore I have recommenced blogging. Hopefully i'll be able to maintain a steady flow of posts and snaps. On verra!



(Beautiful Dreamer; Teen Vogue March 2009 via tfs)

So what's new in the life of an 18-year-old girl stuck in the most isolated suburbia in the world? Let's keep this short; I've moved house, worked almost everyday of December, saw several concerts (which includes Lisa Mitchell, Gorillaz and Muse), spent the new year in a friends shed about 3 hours south of Perth, danced the days away at Southbound (in where I managed to get the bassist of The National's guitar pick), spent ten days in Sydney volunteering at Flickerfest and grown up a little bit, I hope. So that's that in a nutshell.


(polaroid disposable)

Now it's 2011 and I've already had the best start to the year. So let's look at the year ahead... (Yes, I am aware that the new year started 18 days ago therefore I'm incredibly late. Just keep in mind that I've spent a grand total of 3 nights in my own bed this year so access to a decent internet source has been limited.) This year I start my first year of my Arts Communications degree at the local university. I'm thinking of taking French, Politics, History and English as my first four units (subjects almost identical to my high school days). I'm deathly excited to get back into studying again. I'm saving up for a bike so I can ride into uni instead of having to pay to catch the bus everyday. I'm still working at Hunt Leather, which is treating me really well. I have a great group of friends (cue soppy music) that I love dearly and wouldn't replace for the world. Okay, that's as cliche as i'm going to get. I'm half-way through Love in the Time of Cholera (a book i've been meaning to read for a couple of years now), still obsessed with Glee, trying to learn Spanish and currently listening to Kanye West.

Hopefully you guys are still interested to follow the blog. I'll be developing 4 rolls of film as soon as I get some cash. As for now, I'll be uploading my limited snaps that I took from Sydney and perhaps a wardrobe update over the following weeks.