Lux Life’s October, November, December 2016.

My October started in Dubai. You can read all about my epic week in Dubai here. I loved every second of that trip, and am insanely grateful to Nige for putting up with me (and my 3 suitcases/65kg of luggage) for my time out there!

He showed me the best possible time in Dubai, which involved 11 different bars, three nightclubs, two beach club parties, a boat party, a day trip to Zaya Nurai Island, dinner at Hakkasan and Zuma, dinner at the highest restaurant in the world at the Burj Khalifa, spending the day at the Sofitel The Palm Resort, visiting the Mall of the Emirates and Dubai Mall, and seeing the Burj Khalifa fountain at night. I also had an incredible ‘treat’ stay one night at the Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach!

As well as Dubai I also spent two nights in Doha, Qatar. Here we stayed at the luxury Shangri-La Hotel Doha, had the best massages EVER, went for drinks at Illusion at Kempinski The Pearl with the lovely Polly, went on a desert tour, sat on the sand in the desert with two local Qataris as the sun set and chatted about their falcons, partied at Crystal at the W Hotel, and even checked out a Doha Nando’s (sometimes you really just need peri-peri chicken).

And then it was time for my 48 Hours in Oman, a country I’d longed to visit for so long. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and I’m so glad I went!

I arrived in Perth at 2am to my two besties holding up this sign…hahahaha!

We hugged and shrieked and hugged some more. Then we went to the 24 hour Hungry Jack’s (Burger King) and got nuggets and chips.

Six Weeks in Perth

My first day back I picked up my hire car, and drove straight to the beach for some chill out time. It was pretty cold in October as it was still spring, so I was in jeans for a while. But it was the most magical feeling sitting in the beach knowing that I didn’t have to leave in a couple of weeks, knowing that Australia was now my home again…just brought a total wave of calm over me.

The day after I landed the girls and I (and Tristan, who is one of the girls) all went to The Claremont for drinks, and then ended up taking a detour home via our old school…haha!

My first week back in Perth was a mix of seeing friends, going out, and eating. Obvs. There was also a BBQ with ‘the group’ which involved all of us sitting out the back at El’s eating hot dogs, drinking wine, and dancing in the kitchen. The day after Anna and I had a night out at Eve, which was weird AF. It was a Sunday evening and the club was half empty haha, but it was R&B and hip-hop night so we had loads of fun dancing!

I had a big job interview that week so half the week was taken up with interview prep! I also had a day with Hannah and Caitlin, Hannah and I went for brunch at Flora and Fauna, and then took the dog for a walk on the beach before picking Caitlin up and heading to Matisse Beach Club for pizza and cocktails. It was such a lovely day!

That weekend Uncle Gray was back home after being away with work, so we took the new Ferrari out for a spin around the city. The sound it made was EPIC. So, so epic.

Saturday night Anna and I went to Mack Daddy’s Pizza for New York style pizza, and then Malt Supper Club (which has since closed down, sob) for dancing! Then Sunday morning I went to South Cott Beach with Rach, which was the perfect hangover cure.

I had another interview this week so again it was pretty quiet, I went to the beach some evenings to just relax and take my mind off things. I also went to Whisk Creamery in Subi and got an epic and super delish ice-cream. And then the weekend marked my best friend Caitlin’s 25th Birthday! She had a party on the Saturday night which was meme and internet themed, so obvs I went dressed as Ja’mie Private School Girl.

We had SUCH a fun night! I stayed at Rach’s, and then the next morning I went to pick Caitlin up and we stopped off at Hungry Jack’s (HJs) on the way back to Rach’s. We literally all just sat on Rach’s bed nursing our epic hangovers with HJs, and then we walked round the corner to Gill’s as she’d baked Cait an incredible salted caramel birthday cake!

The week that followed was a rather exciting one; I attended the Mirage Melbourne Cup Lunch at Crown, and then had a day out with Anna at Pixel Coffee Brewers and Lesmurdie Falls!

Caitlin and I helped Rach move house, and finished the day with a classic dinner of Fish & Chips from the local chippy. The group and I spent the day on the beach on Saturday, and then I left them to go for dinner at Bib & Tucker with my friend Andrew and his new boyfriend.  then had a ‘cheese and wine’ night at Rach’s place on Saturday night, and then me, Caitlin, and Kate went out into Freo for a night out.

The next day I had ANOTHER night out. I know right. Anna and I started the afternoon at the Cottesloe Beach Club, having dinner and cocktails, planning on starting early so we could both have early nights. Then after a couple of cocktails we thought it would be a great idea to go home, get changed, and then go to Botanica for their hip-hop night. LOLZ. It ended up being a crazy night out and we ended up in Eve yet again. Awks.

That week I concentrated on more interviews (interview processes are loooong), apart from a nice little lunch with Hannah at Coast Port Beach, and then had yet another night out with Anna the following Sunday, we went to a Caribbean sunday sesh in Northbridge, which was super fun! But also a little awkward…legit like six guys who I’d given my fake number to at Eve and Botanica were there. Perth is just way, way too small.

Monday morning I had my final interview, and then I headed up North with Hannah for some beach time! It was in the mid-thirties, so perfect weather for swimming in the ocean and roadtripping up the coast. I’ll tell you all about that in more detail soon though 🙂

By the end of the week I had a job offer! I was moving to Sydney in under two weeks to start my DREAM job! Eeek. Anna and I celebrated with brunch at Hamptons City Beach the next day, and then I went to see The Nutcracker at His Majesty’s Theatre on Saturday with Immanuel, one of my old friends from London who moved to Perth a couple of years ago to look after his mother. He’s been mentioned a few times in the blog before over the years. The Nutcracker was wonderful and made me feel super festive! We went for a drink at The Aviary afterwards, and then I headed home to get some much needed sleep.

With just one full week until I moved to Sydney, I suddenly had loads to tick off on my list, as well as find somewhere to live in Sydney! My last week consisted of a day trip to Rottnest Island (more about this soon), catch ups with friends, beach time, and then a final night out on the Saturday night with Hannah and Caitlin. We did a bar crawl in the city, which I’ll tell you all about soon!

And then it was time to make the big move East…the final journey on my adventure…

The New Job & Sydney Life

Sydney-wise I arrived on 29th November,  and I’m slowly getting myself sorted. I only had less than two weeks between the job offer and me starting work over 2,000 miles away from Perth, so I started off by sub-letting in Paddington for two weeks until I found somewhere more long-term. I managed to find a really beautiful townhouse in Paddington (I sort of fell in love with the area while I was sub-letting there) with a really lovely housemate, and so far I’m loving it and finally feel a bit more settled! 

My journey to Sydney was a very relaxed one – I upgraded myself to business class and was super impressed with the Virgin Atlantic Business Class product; very sleek and classy, really delicious food, and the service was amazing. I actually preferred it to Emirates – it was much smaller and quieter than the Emirates Business Class cabins.

My first day in Sydney was mainly filled with seeing friends and shopping; the food shop, shoes (my fave black sandals broke just before I left London, so needed new ones), and a dress (which was an ‘oops’ purchase whilst looking for shoes). 

I also took myself to brunch at Bill’s, which is the original Granger & Co, and was just round the corner from where I was staying. The food was pretty much exactly the same as the food in the Notting Hill one, so of course I had my fave; the Ricotta Hotcakes! After brunch I took myself to lunch at Opera Bar at the Sydney Opera House, and had a delish Scallop Ceviche. 

Nikki who you may remember from this vlog and this post, is living in Sydney at the mo (she’s a Perth friend), and Anna was in town visiting her for a few days so I spent the Wednesday and Thursday evenings with them having drinks and dinner. Can’t for the life of me remember which places we went to, but they were really good!

Work has been awesome so far, and I’ve had a number of Christmas parties and drinks, which has been so much fun! For our team Christmas party we all went to Shelley Beach and spent the afternoon on the beach and having a BBQ, and then we headed to a bar at Manly Beach where we all enjoyed the live music and copious drinks.

The agency-wide Christmas party was probably the most epic work party I’ve ever been to; they hired out a huge warehouse, and the theme was Rockabilly, so they filled the warehouse with classic cars and walls of vintage motorcyles, had loads of food trucks and bars (a beer bar, champagne bar, cocktail bar etc), and then a DJ in the BACK of an old truck! SO cool! They even had Rockabilly dancers and a tap dancer. So so awesome!

The day I moved into my new place my housemate Joe invited me to a boat party with his friends, it was a hens party and I had the BEST time! Everyone was so nice and we literally spent five hours on a yacht cruising up and down the Sydney river and swimming at Quarantine Beach. I only found out later on though that they get loads of bull sharks in the river there, so I probs won’t be swimming in the river again….haha.

We had a big after-party afterwards back at ours, and it’s safe to say my Ikea run the next day was very, very painful. So painful I went to McDonalds twice – once on the way there to get hash browns, and then on the way back to get nuggets and chips. SO awks.

Sydney is super different to Perth, but so far I’m loving it! It’s a nice mix between Perth and a busy major city (aka, London); big buildings, lots of historic architecture, people everywhere, but with a very chilled and laid back vibe. It felt way more Christmassy than Perth too, with Christmas trees and pretty lights everywhere, and carol singers in the CBD area, which was really nice! Also I’m gradually working my way around the bars and restaurants thanks to my awesome colleagues haha – my first Friday at work we had a bar crawl around Surry Hills!

I headed back to Perth on Christmas Eve for a week, so I’m spending this week relaxing on the beach, seeing friends, and just recovering from my first few weeks in Sydney! I’ll be back in Sydney on 1st January, and can’t wait to start blogging about the city and all the exciting things going on there!

Aside from regular blog posts I know I’ve been a bit MIA the past few months, with an extreme lack of interaction and commenting on other blogs, I’ve just had a really crazy few months chasing my dreams, and I had to prioritize a bit. Hopefully as I settle into Sydney more I’ll figure out a good schedule to fit everything in.

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