March was a little less hectic than January and February, I started an intense health-kick (and have only lost 3kg, fml), which meant I was cutting down on alcohol, sugar, and going out. I did however, mange to go to a music and wine festival in the Hunter Valley, have a couple of crazy nights out, and then at the end of the month Andrea arrived (and is still here)!
After January and February were full of visitors, in March I had four whole weeks without a visitor…which meant I had to actually make the effort to go out and find new friends in Sydney. I mean obvs I still hung out with my Sydney-siders Nikki, Laura, and my housemate Joe. But I also pushed myself a little and went to my first blogger event here. I used to go to a couple of events a week in London, so it was weird going to my first one in six months, but I LOVED it!
It was a really lovely evening mingling with Sydney bloggers on the rooftop of Red Agency’s office, and I even met Nicole, who is also a member of ROSL in London, and we have a couple of mutual friends! How crazy is that!!
After a wild night out with Nikki (not Nicole…I have too many Nicole’s and Nikki’s in my life haha) I had a quiet weekend and got some work and blog stuff done! Wilbur kept me company, and he has this thing where he doesn’t like being by himself. So he sits as close to you as possible, and as long as he has some sort of contact with a person he’s happy and just curls up and falls asleep. He’s pretty adorbs.
I made the mistake of starting to watch House of Cards, and then lost two weeks of my life to it. My social life was put on hold and literally every day after work I would rush home to watch it. I’ve watched all four seasons now and I WANT MORE. Omg it’s so good!! Anyway, half way through that was the weekend of Hot Dub Wine Machine. Nikki and I drove up to the Hunter Valley and met Laura up there, and partied at the Hope Estate dancing to Hot Dub and Pnau. The next morning we had an amazing brunch in Maitland, then drove back to Sydney and spent the afternoon in Ikea. Rock n Roll.
I also found an appreciation for the NHS (although to be fair, I did last year in this post too), when I had a number of doctors appointments one week, one of which included travel vaccines. My doctor visits, travel vaccines, and new asthma inhaler came to a total of $200. Crazy! My inhaler alone cost $40!!! In the UK it’s £8! On the plus side, the rain finally cleared up for a coupla days and some blue sky decided to appear!
When I finally finished House of Cards I celebrated by getting my social life back. I had a night out with Nicole who I’d met at the blogger event. We started with drinks at Grain at the Four Seasons, then went to NOLA in Barangaroo. We parted ways around 9:30 as she had triathlon training the following morning, and so I headed home to get ready for a night out with my housemate Joe and his friend Henry.
The three of us started off in Stonewall, where there was an Adele drag act, then walked over to Arq! Stonewall and Arq are both gay clubs on Oxford St, but I always manage to find really good looking straight men in them whilst also getting to dance to Bey and Britney, so I’m always happy when Joe wants to go there. The next day I spent the day hungover with Wilbur watching movies.
On the Sunday it was Mother’s Day in the UK, and as I obviously couldn’t be there to have lunch with my mum and nanny, my aunty set up a little surprise for them. She organised for them to go to hers for lunch, and for me to Skype call them so we could chat over video.
My uncle called me on Skype from his office, then went into the living room to get my mum and nan, obvs mum being mum burst into tears and cried, because she’s a sensitive over-emotional soul (I always wondered where I get it from…). We had a lovely long catch up and my dad even held Dylan up so he could see me too! He got super confused though and every time I called his name he thought I was in the garden and went running outside, haha.
The next day Andrea arrived in Sydney! I hadn’t seen her for nearly a year, since the House of Ho event, as she’s been in Hong Kong with work, so she’s been staying with me for the past week. On Monday we had an evening in front of the TV watching Coach Carter and eating Guacamole and chips, and then on Tuesday we had dinner at Opera Bar with a view over the Harbour Bridge and Opera House (just like my mum, Andrea also isn’t completely impressed with them and was quite underwhelmed haha). I’ll update you more on what we did next month!
Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of SEO at Havas Media Group by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.
It's so lovely that you and Andrea are together!
Ahahaha can't believe the Sydney Harbour bridge disappointment made the cut! Loved this post and cute little Wilbs <3 Can't thank you enough for having me to stay, best week ever! <3 Love AP xo
Andrea's Passions