At home beside the seaside*

My love of the ocean is no secret to anyone that has been following this blog for a while, or stalks my other social media from time-to-time, but once again I am going to take the chance to brag about my beautiful hometown and extend a special invitation to you all in the process. 

Almost my whole life, I've lived in a small coastal town. There was that one year when I moved to a big, coastal city, but let's try and forget about that, okay? That life was not for me! The life that is for me is a simple one. It's one where the crash of the nearby waves is heard as you buy bread and milk of a morning, where the sun shines at least 9 months of the year and jumpers are worn only sporadically, even in winter. It's one where there is only one decent coffee shop in town, where all the shop owners know your name and ask how your nan is going, where lush green fields meet with sand and sea. I love the small town vibe. I love walking into the shops with no shoes on, I love smiling and waving to everyone I meet down the street, knowing them all by sight, if not by name. I love going to the pub at Christmas time, rekindling old friendships with people back in town for the holidays. I love spending mornings at the beach and afternoons watching the sun set over the cane fields. 

The small town life in Australia is a beautiful one, and my small town is characteristically Australian. Bright and sunny, cheerful and friendly. Full of "g'days" and "howzitgarns" Sure, there is the odd snake or spider lurking in the corner, but life in small town Australia is a beautiful one. 

If my description of Australian small town life has piqued your interest, you should check out True Blue Migrations. True Blue Migrations is a registered migration agent with offices in Perth and Mebourne, to help sort out all your Australian visa needs. Head on over to their website to find out more about them, book a plane ticket and come on over to the land of brilliant beaches. I could use a few new friends in this small town!

Even my university, an hour and 20 minutes' commute from my small town, has beautiful ocean views!



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*This post was sponsored by True Blue Migrations. All opinions presented are 100% my own.

WIWT - An Australian "Autumn" Day

Australian Autumn is a lot more unpredictable than your typical leaves-falling-from-the-trees scenario. You never quite know what you're going to get. Some days will be brisk and windy, with rain falling almost horizontally in the sky. Some days will be dreadfully cloudy, and so humid that you could swear you were choking on your own breath. Then, you have some days that are like today:

Which is lucky for me, since I'm not quite ready to give up on the beach for the year yet.. It's definitely starting to cool down a bit over here though, with tops of 24 today, but Jake and I are still thoroughly enjoying our lazy beach days.

We were just leaving the beach today when Jake snapped these pics of me in my bikini. It's a rare thing that I will let anyone anywhere near me with a camera at the beach, but I guess the above is testament to how much more comfortable with my body I have gotten over the last few months. Judging from my whiteness, it's also a testament to how much more sun-safe I have gotten. A few summers ago you never would have caught me this white - or carrying a bottle of sunscreen, like I was today!

Wearing:

Bikini - Rip Curl (discontinued)

Hat - Roxy (discontinued)

Sunglasses - Prescription from SpecSavers

Lately...

Summer is here and my days are being filled with all my favourite things...

Eating mustache-shaped summer fruits

Christmas light looking/kissing penguins

Scrubbing paint off my hands (okay, not really my favourite, but the DIY the paint is used for definitely is!)

Chilling at the beach and watching this little grommet (my bro) surf :)

What have you been up to lately? I have some great DIY's coming your way soon, and a little more lifestyle posting too since I'm in mega holiday mode already! In the meantime, I am sitting at my computer on a blog following spree. Care to join me? ;)

Last minute holiday! YAY!

So, I have just been informed by my lovely and handsome boyfriend that he has next week off... I have also been informed that he wants to go on a last minute, mini holiday! YAY! I absolutely love it when Jake surprises me like this, especially when it's his shout ;)

The only question now is, where to go on such short notice for such a short amount of time? Jake wants to go south since we basically live at the Gold Coast lately, and will literally be living there soon, but I just can't make up my mind with all the pretty beaches south to where we live to choose from. What do you think?

  Yamba?

Minnie Water?

Woody Head?

These places are all quite close to home and quite beautiful, but for some reason I'm always drawn to the north? Maybe it's my impending excitement about moving there? Maybe its just cos I think it will be warmer? (as if it needs to be! It's 6pm here and still a sweltering 28 degrees!)

Anyway, the place I'd really like to go is Cabarita beach, or maybe Fingal Head? They're both north and both lovely! I don't know why, but they're always my first port of call when an opportunity like this arises!

Of course, I do have a custom order lingering over my head waiting to be done, a handmade gift exchange present to finish and absolutely zero stock for the impending relocation of The Corner Store, but that can all wait right? I mean I can take my crochet with me to do at night time, and the gift exchange present is nearly done - I can't help that I ran out of white cotton for my overlocker!

With all this in hand though, I am still excited for some time away, just me and Jake. Living with parents can be so restricting to a relationship sometimes and it's nice when we get alone time together :) Besides, the gift exchange present is almost done, and I'm starting to wish I could keep it for myself because its turning out so nice! I will have no troubles getting cotton and finishing it over the weekend and I have all the time in the world to get stock made.

Well, someone help me decide where to go next week. Where would you go if you got to have a spur-of-the-moment, mini holiday? Do you know of any other nice places on the Far North Coast of NSW that Jake and I could go to?

Hopefully I will have some more posts about craft and sewing for you soon, I'm very busy trying new things so if they all work out, I should have quite a wealth of things to show you! Bye for now, I'm off to lie in front of a fan somewhere... xx