Not landlocked any more

As pointed out be several people in Perth and Sydney recently, no, I am no longer landlocked. In fact, since the last post (yes, I know that was in October, and it is now March), there have been several trips and, in fact, right now I am in Buenos Aires. Have found a place to live here for the next 7 weeks and am settling in nicely. As you can imagine, the tango scene here is HUGE, and level of dancing is AMAZING. I'm throwing myself into it as much as my body (and feet!) can handle.

This is where I now live (until the 30th March). It looks bigger and a bit nicer in the pictures than it actually is, but pics are mostly fair. Will then moving to here.

Just before BsAs, I got to go home to visit the family for Chinese New Year (happy year of the piggy everyone!).

Perth & Sydney (15th Feb - 2nd March): 12 days in Perth, 3 days in Sydney.
What can I say, Perth is beautiful. Spent a lot of time with the fam, including going to Margaret River for 3 nights as a family trip (beautiful karri forrests, vineyards, and beach - what could be better?), caught up with friends, saw Augie March (fabulous Australian band!) with the WA Symphony Orchestra in an outdoor concert in King's Park, managed to get out for a bit of a salsa grove.

I will pause here to say that my nieces are SO ADORABLE! And this isn't just my bias as a doting auntie (check out the pics below and judge for yourself!) It was wonderful meeting, playing and holding my niece Eliza for the first time (she's 7 months old), and playing with Lilian, who's now over 2 years old and gives kisses and hugs on demand! Especially good is the whole, play-with-them-and-hand-back-when-they-get-cranky-or-need-changing thing. It's great being an auntie!

Ellie









Lilian
















"Sisters, sisters ... there were never such devoted sisters ..." (cue song from the movie "White Christmas")








The FAMILY!








Next thing I knew it was time to head off to Sydney. With only a mere 3 days in town, I think I did pretty well. Day trip to Hunter Valley, dinner at my FAVOURITIST restaurant in Sydney (Spice I Am in Surry Hills, always queues, not cheap considering the no-frills decor and service, but the food is SO worth it!), nights out in Bondi and Darling Harbour, and catching up with some Syd gal pals.

Since I had 44+ hours of travel time from Sydney to BsAs (via LA, Miami, Santiago) it gave me a bit to time to catch up on some of my blogging backlog.

Travels since October ...

Lille (28th - 29th Oct): For Felix and Yang's joint b'day weekend. I love the fact that when deciding what you do for your b'day, popping over to France for the weekend is a valid and viable option!

With Reen on segway tour ... so much fun!









Zell Am See (Austrian alps - 30 Nov - 3rd Dec): Was invited to Giles' mum's place for a spot of snowboarding (does it automatically get "chalet" status if it's in a ski town even though it's really just a flat?). Whilst it would have been highly optimistic (though not out of the question) for there to be snow in Zell at the time (and indeed there wasn't), you can take a bus up to near where the glaciers are, where they pretty much have skiing the whole year round. Was lots of fun, but since the slopes were a bit icier than I would like, I wasn't being particularly adventurous. Falling and hitting my head also didn't help much (not hard enough to do any sort of lasting damage, but enough for me to prefer for it not to happen again).

Antonia (Giles' sister) an myself ... satisfyingly tired ... ahhhhhhh









Giles, Darran, Me, Antonia









Paris (15th - 17th Dec): Hanging with Perthie high school crew doing their big Europe trip. Outcome of the trip being that Di has now managed to convince her boyfriend Nick of the joys of moving to London! (Good work Di-Di!).












Chamonix (22nd - 26th Dec): For some fun in the snow during the Christmas break. Unfortunately, snowboarding conditions weren't ideal (damn that global warming!) and slightly icy conditions meant that again, I didn't take too many risks (though this time I made sure I was more protected with knee pads and helmet - all I need is a coccyx protector and then I'll be invincible!).

Kenya (17th - 29th Jan): Went to Nairobi for Amar's wedding. The trip consisted of:
- 4 day wedding in Nairobi for Amar's wedding. My first Indian wedding. Was amazing and colourful, full of great little games and traditions (shoe stealing, mendhi (henna tattoos), and lots of instances where the groom-to-be has to pay off female relatives, on both sides!
- 2 days of safari in Masai Mara - lions, giraffes, elephants, hippos, warthogs, impalas ... and best of all, all the baby animals. The lions cubs and baby hippo were a definite highlight!
- 4 days in the Voyager in Mombasa (all inclusive resort - a bit like being on a cruise). Snorkeling, diving (finally got to use my open water certification), eating fabulous seafood (robber crab on tiny island during lunch break of snorkeling tour as delicious!), buying local craftwork (got a bit obsessed with hand-carved wooden bowls), and generally just lazing around.









Amar and Deepali - the lovely bride and groom












Such beautiful and graceful animals ...









The best thing about the Kenya travels though was the fabulous group of young uns that made it over for the wedding and post wedding festivities. There was about 40 of us and we rocked! :). Nicolette (one of the guests) has taken some great pics and videos, and has conveniently posted online (with tags) - check it out!!!

Then it was back on London for very hectic 2 weeks (where I finished work, packed up and out of my room, caught up with friends, went dancing, had going away drinks and dinner in Chinatown, and *cough* met a boy. Am guessing that this has probably has already been discussed with the only people still reading this blog :). Timing is a bit unfortunate, but as pointed out a friend, it makes the thought of returning to London after 2 fabulous months in Buenos Aires far less depressing.

In between the above travels, have also been quite active in and around London town.
- Flat parties - We had 2 Christmas mulled wine and mince pies (and other tasty treats) parties, Wine and Cheese night, small New Years Eve gathering (drank champagne and smoked shisha - a potent combination) and brunch (see pic below - was meant to be a small, casual affair, but we of Flat 5 somehow tend to go a bit overboard when it comes to entertaining - though in a good way I think).









- Several visits to the Royal Opera House and Barbican. Really, really, enjoyed seeing (and hearing) Natalie Dessay perform in La Fille du Regiment (opera) - just blew me away. Also Rhapsody / La Sylphide (ballet) was wonderful, especially since Rachmaninov's "Rhapsody on the Theme of Paganini (variation 18)" is one of my favourite classical pieces, the Nutcracker which was fun and very chrimassy, oh, and then there was the Opera Gala Night at the Barbican, which was great, and ... well, will stop it here, otherwise will be here all day.
- Concerts - managed to land an invite to the hugely sold-out and being scalped for gazillons of pounds, Killers concert. Great band. When they played "Mr Brightside" the place just "went off".
- Eating well. So many good places in London if you know where to look ... and so many places still to try! Amongst others, had a fabulous Christmas dinner ("date night") with Loreen at Pied a Terre. Also fancy afternoon tea at Brown's with Perth gals involving little sandwiches, scones and lots of girly chat.









Final note. Whilst in Perth, I was having a conversation with my sis and Jason (brother-in-law) about what has been "best time of your life" (so far). It was quite nice to be able to say that I am currently living it. London is great, I love the city with its endless possibilities in terms of things to do (both in town, and via travels around Europe), and have managed to surround myself with an awesome group of friends (including amazing flatmates *mwah!*) and found my groove dance-wise (though apparently I'm a bit too "happy" for tango and need to become a bit more melancholy :P).

Phew! That was a long 'un. I know I've said this before, but will try to be a bit more regular with my post-age, will be easier whilst here in BsAs ... whilst I'm quite busy here (trying to squeeze in as many dance classes as possible), not having to work all day does somehow free up a lot of time :)