Lisboa's a Goer.

Here are my 10 humble recommendations for Lisbon/Portugal:

1 Olá! is hello, Bom dia is good morning (a nice one to know), Obrigado is thankyou, Por favor is please/excuse me. These will make the locals very happy and they'll then teach you anything else you need to know.

2 Try and stay as close to the river end of Av de Liberdade as you can, on the Bairro Alto side. There are good hostels in Baixa/Chiado and Bairro Alto areas, and these are great for nightlife, but down near Av de Liberdade will be quieter (and still close).

3 Spend some afternoons at the little kiosk cafes up and down the middle of Av de Liberdade - there's six to choose from and they all have different vibes, live music, and play the football if it is on.

4 Get lost in Alfama for an afternoon. It's pretty easy to do. Don't even try to use a map, just use your 5 senses instead.

5 Pastéis de Belém is THE place to go for the Portugese tart (Pastel de nata - said pashta d'nada). You can get them everywhere, but this is the ultimate (and of course touristy) tick box for Lisbon, and the Portugese are very proud of it. So get on the train and go to Belém, and then afterwards you can walk it off back up the river to the city (you'll also go under the big bridge - good for photos). Stop at the Dock area under the bridge for dinner too - there are some really good restaurants there.

6 By far the best and least known lookout (when I was there) is Miradouro da Senhora do Monte. The most fun to try and find, but totally worth it when you get there. Allllll the Lisbon hotspots in one shot, and some nice leafy trees to sit under and cool down smile emoticon

7 A little bit out of Lisbon for half day trips - Sintra - you MUST visit the castles in Sintra. And Cascais is good for the beach and sweet little village to wander around and eat ice cream in.

8 Have an afternoon beer up at Jardim de S. Pedro de Alcântara for the opposite views of the city you'll get at Senhora do Monte. It's so nice up there!

9 The best free walking tour - if you're down for it - is this one (http://lisbonfreetour.blogspot.com.au/) and it goes every morning at 10:30. It's really good for learning some history and stories you might otherwise miss. You just tip them what you think it is worth at the end.

10 Order Bruschetta at the big yellow cafe in the corner of the big main square where the Palace is (Praça do Comércio). Best. Bruschetta. of. my. life.

I spent most of our week in Lisbon itself (I went with my dad), except for a day up in Espinho, but the South and North of Portugal are very different, and competitive (like Sydney vs Melbourne), so I hope you have the time to get out and see the rest of the country too.

Até mais (see you later)! BIG LOVE X

Shovel.

Visuals by Timmy Green... the shiz.

Japan. Japow.

Japan... blew my mind.

We'd talked about it before. Oh you know, it'd be cool to head for the pow, but I'm never too serious about booking my travel. I'm that girl who's all like... goddamn I don't got the caaaash... You know that girl - yeah well that's me. I'm that shit one.

Til all of sudden my mate Laus was like, you know what dickhead, you missed out and I want you to come. It's six weeks out so I pull my shit together, grab my gear and throw down that money.

You only live once. I think someone said that before... Oh yep. It was Laura.

6 March 14

Ketts and I are walking... outside the Melbourne International Airport terminal, searching for the smoking area. We find it - pleasant-ness left to be desired - whatever. Eight hours later we're sucking away in Singapore... before we grab a Boost juice. Smoking areas in airports suck; and at the same time throw an amazing insight into where you actually are when travelling. You wouldn't really walk outside otherwise, right? Stuffy and humid.

It's like, 7:30am. I don't even know. I didn't even look at flight times when I signed up for this shit. I pictured my best mates - Laus and Ketts and I - just in Japan in the snow. Suddenly we're looking for a bus, it's pretty fucking freezing, and we got one. We're taking pasty selfies on the way into a city we'd never comprehended before. It's basically just how I imagined, but better.

Tall buildings flash past, but not as tall as I'd pictured in my head. Due to the fact that Japan sits on the tectonic equivalent of a huge broken plate, the likelihood of earthquakes means that there are no buildings with floors in excess of thirty. Every fifth window has a little red triangle on it, to mark a clear rescue path. Our hotel is located virtually on top of Shibuya Crossing, smack bang amongst the action, and we're here for almost a week. It's a sunny crisp day, so we check in, drop our bags in the lobby and saunter out with only the blatantly touristy prerogative of discovering our first vending machine.

Shopping in Shibuya is sick. Before I even knew it, I was the owner of 5 new flat-brims and a tall Michael Jordan hoodie. I made friends with Max, an African-American from LA with a five story clothing boutique; and hit up a heap of retail assistants about where was good to go out, and when. Quite unexpectedly, by literally walking into an unmarked elevator and pressing buttons, we stumbled upon a sky high, dingy cafe, inside which one could smoke and gaze out through caramel, coffee coloured glass at what was now becoming an overcast day. Lo and behold, by the time we re-emerged, there were tiny snowflakes tumbling down around our ears, which is pretty rare for Tokyo city! Needless to say - a pleasing start to an end-of-season snow trip.

As far as areas and stops on the underground- Harajuku was my favourite. It just felt cosy and comfortable and like the kind of place I would have hoped existed, somewhere. The day we were there the sun was clear, frosty and bright, the walkways wide and set out with stone brocades and separators - and when I think of Harajuku in colours, it is brown, khaki and grey. Dignified, straight up. The shopping there is quality too - fresh, street-style designs, and beautiful vintage olds reworked into something quaint, quirky and new.

The rest of the week passed by too quickly in a flurry of nightclubs, boutiques, gyozas, spicy ramens, epileptic lights and new sights. We started each day with Starbucks from the station below our hotel and finished it with beers and cheap vodka from the vending machine in the laundry room- which we would literally clean out with our spare change. We visited Fuji and rode roller coasters, shopped our faces off, drank Grey Goose to Cafe Patron to hot chocolates from vending machines, shook Polaroids and laughed a lot. But by the end of the week, when it was time to head up to the mountains, the three of us were just chomping at the bit: we were ready to hit pow like it was going out of fashion.

^^*^*^^

The shuttle that picks us up from the airport is by no means a luxury coach, but I'm so tired I don't care. I pull a thick scarf out of my bag, roll it up against the dark, freezing glass and am asleep against the window before we've left the outskirts of Tokyo city. I wake again five hours later - thanking my lucky stars for the ability to literally sleep anywhere - just in time to see the lights of Hakuba struggling to twinkle through black, frosty air as we pull in at the lodge. Its 2am. Down come our ski bags, we sleepily collect our keys from check in and wind our way through passages like little rabbit warrens, finally passing out in tiny rooms of two under fluffy, down covers.

March in Hakuba means bluebird days, halfpipes, coke in big cups, lift passes, ramen, cigarettes and new friends.

Our first was spent at Happo One, the mountain directly above our lodge. Its serviced by the main gondola, which gets you fucking high, though on this day it was pretty heavy riding - it was sleeting and too slushy as they'd been waiting about a week for a good fall. I was also getting used to my new all mountain Armada TSTws, which were quite a bit wider than what I've generally ridden in the past [oh wow - by the end of the week though, these babies were like an extension of my legs, and it actually made me want to cry taking off my boots at the end of each day. Simon from Bumps is a god - thanks Simon!]. You know what though? After apres, dinner and an impressive bar hop session we must've all fallen asleep with our fingers crossed, because the dump we got overnight was exactly what the doctor ordered.

Day two morning hangovers were shrugged off, coffee was draaank and we met up with a couple of the boys from Perth to max Hakuba 47, a veritable playground. This mountain is SICK. So sick, in fact, that we end up back there again for day three to ensure that we've really smacked it properly, like a bad baby. H47 has a massive halfpipe with full park, fast lifts and short sharp runs that are super fun, peppered with sneaky little jumps and tree runs. We made like the mountain goats and couldn't spend enough time up there.

Our third and final summit of choice (not a fucking easy feat when there's nine, NINE MOUNTAINS, at your very beck and call), Iwatake, was F U N. You could literally ride almost every inch of this bad boy... snow everywhere. Like, you could actually jump off the chairlifts in some spots and be fine. A super rad park with some big kickers (there went half my day) and huge, sweeping mountain bowls leading down into tight valleys, fast runs with sharp turns and a bunch of really different terrains linked by a dogfight of chairlifts. Laus and I lost our shit and went on the grommets version of an eight hour acid trip - we were in. the. zone. and it was getting so warm that I stripped down to thermals and my tee. We didn't stop for lunch... we just shredded that mountain from top to tip as many times as we could. We finally met up with the others for the last two runs of the trip; and that's when I stacked it and twisted my knee. Errrrrmmm I copped an earful of snow, hard, and you know it was worth every bit.

Our last day was spent visiting the snow monkeys and recovering from the night before. The snow monkeys were a bit anti-climatic, and I would've much rather been back on skis trying to ward off the impending sense of gloom and doom that is synonymous with a return date... but it was good to get out into the country beyond the mountains and see some more of the rural aspects of Japanese culture. My love for Japan has a lot to do with the visual textures and colours of their foliage, architecture and landscapes... It's a truly different country, and a pocket of the world I am sure I'll wear by my heart for a long, long time.

The next day, as we piled back into the bus, I was devastated... I sat right up the back, leaning against Ketts with my beanie pulled down around my ears, my sunglasses on and my headphones in, crying. Yes, properly crying. I was very hungover, and halfway back I realised I'd left my favourite black ski jacket from Switzerland at the bar, but I was also inconsolable to the fact that we were leaving such a beautiful place with such rad people and incredible mountains. Visiting a traditional Samuri temple on the way back helped. But otherwise I was a mess.

So hopefully I will now be going back for two weeks in November of this year... too long between visits definitely, but in the meantime I'm going for ramen and gyoza every second day of the week, so I'm coping, clearly. If you're ever down for that delicious spicy soup, you let me know. You, me, Little Ramen Bar, Little Bourke St.

Love you Japan, you babe.

A Poem for Ezbon.

If I were a boy, I'd be Alexander Wang
(And, for the purpose of this exercise, into ladies)
My reasoning? It revolves 'round his true elegance and style
Oh my -! Just imagine if we were to have babies

I mean, firstly - that hair. Lovely black, luscious locks
I suppose not dissimilar to your own...
Although it IS hard to tell, I've seen yours undone perhaps thrice
Even then, unlike Wang's, not prop'ly grown

I envy the way that he orders his day
24 hours on him writes an interesting read
There's more to him than one thinks, behind that black uniform
He's so shy, for the life that he leads

Things in common? He's driven, and a thinker who can sleep anywhere
He loves sneakers and the culture surrounding them
Unlike me though, he feels he can't pull crazy ones off
So today? You guessed - black ones again

Do you think, if we met, he'd appreciate me like you do?
Would we get along like a house that's on fire?
(Which occurred me then, is a silly expression
Because a house that's on fire is dire)

In any case, he's inspired me, and look at that - my first poem!
It's for you and I hope that you like it like emoticon
I feel on top of the world! What a song, who'da thought?
All this time, without knowing it, I was a poet!

Good Stuff.

I found this in my drafts, unfinished. I remember reading back through it and hating how 'about me' it was, and that I felt selfish for writing it so I put it away. But now I think that its a really good indication of how I was living at that time and that I deserved that me time! And now it's helping me to get back on that level of looking after myself... as since I went to Japan as mentioned, I seem to have lost the art in the business of life...

'So I've been having really good thoughts lately.

I know this because they are about cool things and I've actually decided to take action instead of just thinking about them like I normally would. This is partly due to that fact that I've been doing very well for myself at work lately (which is no coincidence - it's an every day choice), which means that I now have a little bit more money to play with. In turn, this has also prompted me to be a lot more wise about the money I was already earning as well, in order to start rewarding myself when I do a good job. I've come to believe that this is more important than I realised.

I have been looking after my body on new levels. My cousin and I have been 'consciously food combining' - ensuring that we are only eating foods that agree with each other at any given time. For example, proteins should never be eaten with any kind of starchy foods, and starchies not with proteins - though eggs and dairy are more acceptable than flesh proteins. Fruit should be eaten on an empty stomach, on its own, and not less than 20 minutes before eating anything else. Sugar is kept to a minimum (although we never say no - if we have a craving we will eat little treats like 70% organic dark chocolate, or mum's smoked almonds, which are both perfectly fine, and even good for you), and dairy also. I look at the label of every single thing I put in my shopping basket now - to find out exactly what is in it and where it's from. I'm happy because I discovered that I've always bought quite good products anyway, but it wasn't until I read 'Make Peace with Your Plate' by Jess Ainscough that I learnt the extended benefits of organic, clean eating, and I feel like I've been given a gift that will last a lifetime. My main vice is portion sizing - I blame it on reading too many British children's classics when I was little - the kind where the children tumble in from a full day on the Moore to a generous mumma who piles their plate high with jolly, good food like buttery mashed potato and pork with apple sauce and three serves of pudding. But I've cut down, almost by half, and you know what - it is still enough! I'm getting to a point now where I dislike feeling full, and am learning to eat slowly so that I can stop in time.

This has gone on for two weeks now, and I'm feeling really good, much less bloated and visibly slimmer, which I'm happy with considering I now find it so easy to eat like this. I love the saying that goes, 'Most people on this planet have no idea just how good their body was designed to feel.'

We attended our first yoga class yesterday, which was very nice. I have wanted this for so, so long. We finally found out that a lovely gallery around the corner from our house has bi-weekly classes in a spacious, light-filled second-story room, and though I wouldn't be able to make it home from Collingwood in time for the Wednesday evening session, I can go every Sunday at 4:30 in the afternoon, which is quite a nice time to do yoga, I think.

Morning and/or afternoon walks with my cousin or Trusha-from-next-door respectively, running to be picked up from the corner of Chapel St for work, and Bronni times at the St Kilda Sea Baths (half an hour of assorted laps, ten minutes in the hot tub and five minutes in the steam room) round out my exercise for the week. And the odd BMX ride around the neighbourhood. Oh and Yann's said I can go sailing with him and his friends some weeknights at six. We were supposed to go tonight, but he had to work late.

But my rewards!

In two weeks I depart for my first proper overseas trip in around two years. I am a travel agent. A stupid one! To Japan I am steered, with two of my best friends from my company - Ketts and Laus. Five nights in Tokyo, then up we go to Hakuba in the mountains (about four hours from the city by transfer), for a week of that infamous Japanese pow which, at the mere mention, has everyone in the ski industry sighing and going glassy-eyed.'

Unfortunately this is when my article stopped, so I really can't remember what my other rewards were, but I'm quite sure they were along the lines of purchasing my very own set of skis, boots and everything - I finally have all my own ski gear! It has been a goal of mine for about 4 years now.

I'd say this was written around the 20th of Feb '14

Last Week of 2013. Almost Half of 24th Year.

eating / whatever i can get while my cousin/housemate is away for the festive season. usually pizza or takeaway.
drinking / fresh juiced apple, beetroot, carrot, orange and ginger... and gin and tonics.
learning / that there are lots of people out in the world with great, great ideas. and to listen to them.
practicing / the art of looking after myself... i have quite a long way to go.
mastering / sales. for one month anyway.
playing / progressive deep house. a lot.
finishing / a recent transitional phase... this one included cleaning out my cupboards to refine my personal style, and obtaining all new grown up bedding... charcoal and bright yellow.
reading / http://bleubirdvintage.typepad.com/blog 
watching / TED videos.
walking / nowhere near enough. time to get my ass back into gear.
wearing / oh! summer singlets, black mid-rise skinny jeans and kicks. wish to be more girly though.
cooking / been a shithead. nothing.
working / hard.
traveling / out of my mind.

wanting / to be less lazy and more fit and healthy.

It's a Bit Late, But Churr For That.

A mass thank you to my boy Teums for taking me to Fat Freddy's Drop on the first night of Spring, in honour of my birthday. Too good. That's the face of a day made!

I Love Those Nights When You Get Home...

into your bedroom, late, and everything is cool.

And you're like - Yessss, base.

Sick On So Many Levels - on Tunes and the Flu.

Everyone knows I love a few sick beats. Here are a couple I found today, as I stuffed around in my little house suffering a cold I managed to pick up over the weekend.

Such a productive day though. My CV is back in order and ready for action, my brain is overflowing with inspiration, new learnings, and ideas that'll promote more interesting writing.

In other news, yesterday I had Andy teach me the rules of cricket so I'm ready for the Boxing Day Test, and also the structures and gameplay of international Rugby ie. the Lions vs Wallabies Tour 2103. I learn so much from that boy... he's like the twin brother I never had. I always felt I should have been a twin - I like having people around too much.

Well we can't change the world

But we sure can change the way we live

We can't only take 

Also got to learn to give

Bonobo, Bajka - Between the Lines 

After the rain comes sun

After the sun comes rain again

After the rain comes sun

After the sun comes rain again...

This must be underwater love

The way I feel it slipping all over me

This must be underwater love

The way I feel it

Smoke City - Underwater Love

Astronautalis - Mr Blessington's Imperialist Plot

Easy Star All-Stars - Paranoid Android

Artichaut - Chinese Man

The Black Seeds - Come To Me

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - Ballicki Bone

Electric Wire Hustle - They Don't Want

Rudimental - Free ft. Emeli Sandé

Anything by Psychemajik, Koan Sound, and Mr. Little Jeans.

... All, in my humble opinion, four to five star tunes. You can thank me later. Also, just on the off-chance that anyone would like to sponsor me in my quest for tomorrow's most stokey playlist addition, I would be happy to accept - in the form of payment of my increasingly devastating phone bills.

Lastly - I wanted to link to a blog that has really opened my mind in so many areas over the last couple of days. I would move to Texas just to be mentored by this woman. Got time? Head to And Baby Makes 6. Prepare to have your mind blown by a surf-gremlin mother of four, happily married for 20+ years to a rad surfer dude, and who's also crazy about triathlons, duathlons, every kind of push-yourself activity in between, and photography. Did I mention surfing? Yeah they live on the Gulf of Mexico. And she says stoke a LOT. Get on it and froth along to life with her - truly rad stuff.

St Kilda Living... Winter 'Thirteen.

There's a definite sense of satisfaction posting raw, candid shots straight from my camera and other devices - good, bad and ugly - however the global rise of Instagram and it's appy friends is hard to ignore. So I won't... instead I'll show you some of my favourites from this weekend.

Happy birthday Roomie.

Man love.

De-facto File.

Then there are Sunday mornings here - my only guaranteed day off with Ez. We like to do nice things that involve fresh air, juice, exercise, sun, coffee, books, markets and food.

SLOU.

Pier.

Round robin.

St Kilda steeze.

x 2.

x 3.

Clean.

SLOU x 2.

Fitzroy palms.

¿Por qué no sólo tenemos tanto?

So here I sit in my little house, in a very Mexican-like Vila located in the heart of St Kilda. The heater is slightly on, and wind rustles the trees outside my first story lounge-room window; it's gusty and overcast outside, but today alone it has turned progressively rainy and sunny about 5 times over........ I love Melbourne!

Last month marks the two year anniversary of my becoming a Melbournite. Two years is a long time! I have spent much of it fairly dashing about town (and even the rest of the world) doing amazing things... and therefore helping to complete, in real life, the picture I had in my head when I first hit my new lifestyle down here.

Recently...

'Doing the Great Ocean Road' in a beaten up old van with my honey cousin: took a Polaroid story (which now is now proudly displayed on our living room wall), ate porridge cooked on the gas burner at the back of the van, picked through coastal foliage and observed the lighthouse made famous in 'Round the Twist' (blast from the past!), drank wine and smoked cigarettes on camp stools before heading out for dinner in the evenings, learnt about the history of the coast and it's shipwrecks, all the while stopping for coffee and scones at the cute little teahouses peppered along the way.

'Just Popping over to Tasmania' the week before Easter to surprise Mumma Bear for her birthday: which of course didn't end up being a surprise due to my lack of discretion on Facebook. I was more particularly disturbed by the fact the incident occurred one week out from my intended arrival, when I had booked it at least a month in advance, and that one week prior to THAT had drunkenly decided (at an amazing house party) to quit Facebook entirely. Is your brain fried yet? Yep.

Tassie was lovely though... I spent time with Nan and Pa who picked me up from the airport late on Friday night (conversation in the car for that half an hour was surprisingly stimulating, taking into account my state when I left Melbourne), and went out to the farm early Saturday morning to jump on my mumma before she got up. Baby sister was left with dadda, not-so-baby-sister Fran met up with us and out we went for the day.

Devonport was lovely - the new home for my impending franchise of greatness. Did the mouth of the Tamar. Drove halfway to Hobart to meet my old friend Tyce-from-Thredders and paid a vist to the Cider House. Fran's haunt. Then spent an hour in the park to sober up. Nice one.

All in all fun. You wish you were me. I'm like a cheerleader for Life.

Some Steezy Vids.

So it isn't summer by any means down here in St Kilda... but goddam' we just left behind one of the best to date. Anyway, summer's a great segway into some super steezy vids...

Berliner and Berliner

This is fucking ridiculous. This time last year I was three days off boarding my flight HOME FROM Europe, and here I am a year later still trying to flog out my travel recaps. Just do it B - fuck's sake.

19 January '12

Travelling by train is so typically European... I love it and in winter it's an awesome way to get around. Both times I've hit up Europe I've been in possession of a Eurail Pass (this will save you so much cash, but you need to get your hands on it prior to your departure from Australia). My longest single train trip to date was from Amsterdam to Oslo on a 24hr sojourn by sleeper. That was when I was 10, and at the time I didn't realise how remarkable it is that the train gets onto a ferry electronically in order to cross the waters to Norway.

This time was different because I was travelling through Germany by myself and I had to change at a couple of smaller local stations to get the best travelling time. In Germany, they make much less of an effort to accomodate those who don't know the language... I really love this about anywhere I travel to, but I did wig out a little bit when I couldn't find platform 3 with two minutes remaining to change - those trains are immaculately to schedule at all times too. You become a master at sign language and sweet talking big German women - turns out platform 3 didn't exist.

I got to Berlin around 7pm and caught the bus to my hostel. I knew it was the right one because, when the driver couldn't comprehend whether my stop was on his line, I stood up the front and quite shamelessly pronounced the name of my junction very loudly - and with quite the impressive german accent I might add - hoping someone would notice and confirm that the bus was going to go there. One guy did, so job done. I'm not going to lie - I was proud to arrive again unscathed, without a phone or the time.

Hard stuff done! The hostel I had picked was called Circus and was the raddest hostel I've ever stayed in ever. The boy at the desk was a loveheart. And there was a LIFT. Always one to watch out for. Upon entering my dorm, I was pleased to meet two boy roomates - one my age from Sweden, and the other a bit older but from Brisbane. I renamed the Swedish guy Crackfox (affectionately of course), and the guy from Queensland... well, Brisbane (I tend to do this when overseas and with expats).

Two hours later I had accepted a challenge to try every cocktail featured on the menu in the bar downstairs, and together with Martina (London/Italy) and Nick (Utah, USA), we were well on our way to the kind of all-nighter oblivion I'm sure many of you have experienced in Berlin.

That night stays on the camera. You'd have to beat me with a stick to see those photos.

Anyway, the next day we did the obligatory walking tour. I cried twice. It was amazing and I collapsed into bed that night after what I still think was one of the most emotionally charging days of my life. The best things in life are free, right?

I don't know when the boys turned up - all I know is I had three really big nights - topped off by the infamous Berghain. I can't describe it anywhere near as well as this guy did. FUCKING RIDICULOUS.

All too soon it's time I left Berlin (and time YOU went there), on an overnight train bound for Switzerland this time... got on it with an oversized, red-haired Australian boy who was friends of a friend my boys met up with sometime, and who - out of sheer luck - was intending to at least make it to Basil on the same night. I hadn't been looking forward to paying 100 Euros for a private sleeper cabin, and in the end only had to split the bill. Cool how the world works!

Fuck Yes. Serious Froth Material.

Superheroes of Stoke Trailer from MSP Films on Vimeo.