Mugshot

a.k.a my new passport picture

Byron Bay

We went to my favourite, favourite place here in Australia, Byron Bay, the other weekend. It's a very chillaxed, laid back, surf loving, almost bohemic little town. It also happens to be the most easterly (or eastern/easternly/eastish whateva) place of Australia. I happened to have three days off from work in a row so we flew up to the Gold Coast on cheap Virgin Australia staff tickets.

The nature in Byron Bay is incredible. It's a much more tropical climate than Sydney and you tend to find quite a few weird plants, birds, animals and trees.

 Our friendly neighbour, a gecco called Lenny that resided under our cabin.

Some colourful parrots!

Byron Bay is all about surfing and spending time on the beach. The beaches here are beutiful and the waves near perfect, even on a bad day.

 

Byron Bay is also known for it's organic and locally sourced food. There is an organic cafee in almost every corner. I also bought some organic skin care made in Byron.

The yummiest paella I've ever had! Pallea for two at The Balcony xxx

The after surf 'aftersurf' is not that bad either. :)

 

Today I woke up late, at about 12 and went for a 1km swim in the pool. Sooo refreshing after a night out!

My January holiday

So I had one week off from work this month. Wohoo!! Anna had arrived from Finland a few days before and we started off by going to the Kooks concert here in Sydney.

The first thing I did on my first day off was to paint my nails in different bright colours. As I work for airlines it's really strict regarding grooming and we're only allowed french manicure or clear polish. This was my way to REALLY feel like I'm on holiday. Plus it put a smile on my face every time I looked at my hands.

One evening we went up to the Sky Tower, Sydney's highest building (I believe). They have a bar up hiiiigh on the top and we had some wine and snacks while we watched the sun set over the city.

We also had time to visit the Museum of Sydney. They have an exhibition on at the moment called Surf City. It's about how surfing has developed in Sydney over the years. Definitely worth seeing!

EDIT. Just realized you've seen this picture before! hahhah! Here's me 'surfing' again..

The pictures below are from Manly, one of Sydney's best surf beaches.

The rest of my holiday was spent eating, drinking, relaxing, walking (from Coogee to Bondi), watching movies - I hadn't seen Bridesmaids until now, soooo funny!, we also saw the Descendants at the cinema - very much worth seeing!, paddling on a board at Bondi (wouldn't call it surfing..), having a one hour massage, voting in the Finnish presidential elections, applying for a new passport and lots of other fun stuff. It's just too bad that one week goes by so quickly. I'm longing for another holiday already! (fingers crossed that we get to fly staff travel to Byron Bay in a few weeks time :)

Bring on the sunshine

Yes, I'm still alive and well. I've been at work, on holiday, back to work and from tomorrow I have two days off. We've had Anna stay with us but she's now moved to a shared apartment in Bondi. Sooo happy for her - she gets to go to the beach every day! Because of all the fun times and lovely, beachy summer weather I haven't really spent much time in front of the computer. Maybe I'll tell you more about my holiday in the next couple of days when I'm off. Can't promise anything tho' - if it's sunny I wont be here  :)

Christmas and New Year 2012

Okey guys, I'm back! My beloved friend Anna has stayed with us in Sydney for a week now and I've got to speak Swedish all day every day. Yeyyyy!! :)  So from now on I'll write my blog posts in English again.

Christmas month of December started with a Lucia mass at the Swedish church here in Sydney. Lucia is a Nordic tradition where one girl is elected 'Lucia' - the bearer of light, and she walks around with candles on her hair and sings songs. That's the short version, OK?

There were also a few guys in the Lucia proceedings, known as stjärngossar, a.k.a. 'star boys'...

On Christmas eve we turned on the blue lighting decoration that's on our balcony

..and lit a bird on fire.

I was working on X-mas day, Boxing day and the rest so we only really celebrated on Christmas eve.

Marcus mum paid us a visit from New Zealand over Christmas and New Years. We drank some fine wine, hit the shops and the sales and had a fabulous New Years Eve at the Taronga Zoo!!

NYE 2012!!

Didn't take any pictures of the fireworks, I was wayyy too mesmerized!

God Jul och Gott Nytt År!

Här har det firats jul på australienskt vis, det vill säga picnic/grillning på stranden. :) Många fina julklappar hämta julgubben i år också. Till och med mitt jobb hade kommit ihåg mej med en sån här (med personlig ingravering på baksidan. very impressed!)

Blivande svärmor har varit här o hälsat på från Auckland i en vecka nu. Vi har hunnit med många långa middagar, rea shopping samt fantastiskt nyår med bästa utsikten över hamnen och raketerna (bilder kommer senare). Men lite så här såg det ut..

Imorgon på morgonen åker Marcus mamma hem o vi bäddar om gäst sängen för världens bästa Anna som anländer från Finland. Hon har nu kommit halvvägs, chattade lite på fb med henne för en stund sedan o då var hon i Singapore. Snart, snart!

Två veckor till jul!

men ingen stress.. :)  Inga julklappar inhandlade, inga juldekorationer upphängda (int för att jag har några), inga julkort skickade. Egentligen ingen julfiilis heller. Men den kommer väl. Det e int första gången som jag lämnat julhandladet till typ sista veckan. Nu e här ju sommar, så allt som har med julgran och snö att göra passar liksom int in. Men, för att försöka få upp fiilisen liiite så köpte jag jul ljus/ute ljus för balkongen. Alltså såndäna som man brukar typ hänga runt julgranen men jag snurra dom runt balkongsräcket istället. Blåa till färgen. Dom fungerar med solpanel och borde lysa upp sådär fint när det blir mörkt. Får se hur det går, dom kosta about 10 euro o ännu lyser dom int iallafall. I'll keep u posted.

För att få upp julstämningen här på bloggen lite så bjuder jag på en bild från Bondi shopping mall. Här ser ni en modern julgubbe som knapprar på kännykän i pausen efter att barnen fått sitta i Santas lap..

För övrigt så har jag haft en väldigt produktiv dag idag. Har ledigt från jobbet, idag och igår. Morgonen började med att väckarklockan ringde 6.30 för lite skypande med min kära syster. Det e nu 9 timmars tidskillnad till Finland så morgonen här e kväll där. Linda visade runt mej i deras nyrenoverade hem via kameran o det såg super mysigt ut! Åtta tiden for jag ut på morgonlenk, 40 minuter. Sprang utan musik, har fått mega stygn de sista gångerna då jag sprungit o tänkt att det kanske beror på andningen eller dålig kondition helt enkelt. Fick int stygn idag - yess! och gjorde sedan en kuntopiiri + tänjning. Vid dethär laget börja det se ganska regnsjukt ut så jag cyklade snabbt iväg till butiken för att inhandla kvällens middag. Ikväll blir det en vegan bönsallad (som jag redan gjort och nu sitter o väntar i kylskåpet) med hallon plättar och egen gjord "mango madness" sås till efterrätt. mmmmmm..!

Till lunch lagade jag en delikat halloumi sallad med bl.a. jordgubbar och sparris

Man brukar säga att allt e större Down Under (i Australien) och det stämmer faktiskt. T.ex jordgubbarna här e gigantiskt enorma. Som halva handen!

Har idag också hunnit ligga i solstolen på eftermiddan då solen skymtade fram bland molnen och snart blir det skype med Linda igen! Kanske jag ännu hinner städa lite och tvätta byke före det e middagsdax. Tehopäivä!