I have 3 favourite quotes. Let me know if you agree with any of them ☺️.
Thanks for checking out this post everyone!!!
Wayne ✌🏽
Bloganuary Day 22
Bloganuary Day 21
This is a tough one today as it’s not something I have ever thought of or desired to do. I guess it would be fun to head back in time to my parents era, kind of like Back to the Future, just to see how they lived and what life was like.
It would be cool to travel to the sixties – the Beatles, flower power and revolutions. Before the Troubles would start in Northern Ireland. I would love to see Ireland as a country when everyone would get along, no matter what religion, before British invasion. This was probably about 500 years ago?!
It would also be nice to maybe spend one day in the future, maybe in 100 years when I know I will no longer be here. What is the world like? Are cars flying yet? Or maybe global warming has had a catastrophic effect and most of the world is under water?!
For now, I will time travel back to my early twenties and relive one my many fun nights out in Belfast with the best group of friends, back to a time when we were allowed to dance and you could go for a night out with £20 and still come back with change. Take me back to 2003 please 😉.
What year would you time travel to?
Wayne ✌🏽
Bloganuary Day 20
I love this question. I love taking photographs with scenery, architecture or anything quaint. I love looking at photographs, I love taking photographs and I think I have a good eye for what subject would make a good photo, however, I’m not that clued into photography. I would love to be but it just flies over my head. I have a “proper” camera but quite often end up using my mobile phone as the IPhone 13 is pretty good at taking decent pictures.
This photograph is one of my favourites. I am a sucker for a good sunset and I like how this image showcases the sunset with a pelican just sitting in the foreground. I love the colour of the sky, the wispy clouds and the ocean at the bottom. This picture was taken in Ballina, NSW in 2020.
I can’t wait to see everyone’s favourite photo ever taken!
Cheers,
Wayne ✌🏽
Bloganuary Day 19
Where do I even start??? There are lots of things that are mysterious to me, that make me ponder. I would love to be able to write something fictional as this post screams fiction to me, however, in the real world there so many mysterious happenings that I do think about.
One that always baffles me and is extremely curious to me is the fact that I have never seen a cockroach in Ireland. Here in Australia we have millions upon millions. Even in the cleanest of homes, you will still be able to spot one. We have had more than our fair share over the years in our home, regularly having to place cockroach killer in spots around the house, mainly the kitchen. In a previous shared house we were inundated with cockroaches. In the middle of the night, the floor would move in the kitchen. You open the cutlery drawer and they can be seen scuttling everywhere. They even lived in the microwave timer screen so we could see them as the minutes on the clock descended. You dare not leave food on the table and turn your back, even for a second or they would be having a field day in your next meal.
Yet, I have never seen them at home in Northern Ireland. I would tell people here in Australia that we don’t have cockroaches as the weather is too cold. No one can believe it here. They are gobsmacked, “you must have cockroaches” they say. Well I don’t think we do, I have never seen them. Carrying out some quick internet googling, apparently we do have some but where are they? Maybe they never come out of the woodwork to see us humans. Other websites say you will never find them in Ireland or the UK 🤷🏼♂️.
So this folks is a real mystery to me. Have you ever seen a cockroach in Northern Ireland, Ireland or the UK?? What about even colder countries again like in Scandinavia or warmer countries in Europe? Are there any cockroaches where you live?
I would be intrigued to hear your answer.
Many thanks,
Wayne ✌🏽
Bloganuary Day 18
I hate to say this but I actually don’t have a book to read next. To be honest, I haven’t read a book in quite some time, except for academic purposes. It’s a little embarrassing but I guess I have other ways to relax. I think coming to Australia I am definitely outdoors a lot more. I walk every day and I frequent the gym 5 or 6 times a week. I love exercise and I have really gained access to a whole new fitness world that was previously unimaginable to me. Also I study often for my employment, so I just haven’t recaptured my love for reading for pleasure as yet.
I used to be an avid reader, smashing a couple of books in a week. I loved the escapism it would offer and it definitely helped with my English writing skills at school.
I really would love to become lost in a good book again. One of those books that you can’t put down as you’re so gripped to turn the page and see what will happen next. I am open to suggestions if anyone is keen to share any. I like fiction that is crime, mystery, fantasy or thriller. I do also enjoy autobiographies and the older classics 📖.
Many thanks,
Wayne 🤓
Bloganuary Day 17 🦸🏼♂️
I would love to have the ability to teleport. That would enable me to see my family and friends in Ireland any time I want. I would also be able to travel the world and save so much time and money on travelling.
The only drawback would be that you miss out on the joy of travelling. However, you would always arrive at your destination refreshed and with money on your account 🤣.
I could always settle for the ability to fly. That way I could still travel wherever I want by air for free. However, I feel that if I had that ability, there would be public interest and I could be taken hostage as a science project. Plus I think I would be fearful to fly over oceans in case I lost the ability to fly and fell into the vast depths of the open waters.
There are just too many superpowers to think of. I could settle for any but I always seem to think of the other side of the coin, the drawbacks. Maybe it’s better not to have a superpower 🤔.
What’s your thoughts?
Wayne ✌🏽
Bloganuary Day 16
It’s funny that this is today’s topic as I was just thinking about the cause that I am passionate about this morning.
I was asked three years ago by a company here in Australia to help promote checking your skin for moles and showcasing the importance of monitoring for any changes in your moles.
This hit home for me as I have a few prominent moles on my back and had a couple removed a few years ago due to always becoming caught on things and causing discomfort.
I have my skin checked every couple of years just to be sure all is ok. I learned that it’s even the small moles that you have to worry about, the ones that you can barely even see. I learned to check my skin regularly, protect your skin with sun cream (I use factor 50 here in Australia) and try avoid the sun at peak times.
The company that I help to promote (in a small way) is called Game on Mole. They do amazing work for skin awareness and offer a lot of useful tips for monitoring your moles. They have many influential people to help promote their ideology and spread their message here in Australia, with many telling their own stories about personal battles with melanoma. You can check out Game on Mole here and also some information from the Cancer Council here that offers some really useful information.
I feel that this is such a worthy cause, not just here in Australia but worldwide. I have people I know that have had minor surgeries to remove cancerous skin cells, not just here but also from back home in the UK.
A family member just messaged me this morning to say they just had their skin checked due to seeing my post on social media. I love how we can spread awareness in even the smallest of ways.
Thanks for reading everyone and remember to wear sunscreen 😉
Wayne ✌🏽
Bloganuary Day 15
A good lesson in life is to be kind to others. I know it sounds simple but many people fail to be able to do this unfortunately. I always have the mentality of treating others how I would want to be treated. So often people are quick to judge someone else, without actually knowing what is going on in their lives. Try living in the other person’s shoes.
I would say every single human being has their own personal issues. May that be family, employment, financial, relationship, psychological, physical, emotional etc etc, we all have something that isn’t perfect in our lives. Therefore it is so important to bear that in mind before we judge or criticise others. Just be kind to others, it shouldn’t be that hard to do ☺️. Life is tough enough without being treated unkindly. I feel like everyone can benefit by treating people with kindness. The giver and the receiver of kindness.
Cheers,
Wayne ✌🏽
Bloganuary Day 14
This one is easy for me. My biggest challenge to date is gaining the skills to be able to move to Australia. I have travelled here many years ago on a working holiday visa and always wanted to come back and live as a resident. This is no easy thing to do. Australia has very strict immigration rules. If you want to live here in Australia, you have to be of value to them, which is fair enough really.
You can live here if you have a skill that is in demand. I had a good look at their skilled visa occupation list and picked something that I thought I could maybe learn to do and enjoy as a new career path.
Some of you will know the career path that I chose was a nursing one. Everywhere in the world is in need of nurses so I thought this would be a great career move and I had always thought of nursing in the back of my mind as I really enjoy working with people and feel like I have a caring and patient nature. Also my mum was a nurse too so I think that definitely helped with making the decision to study nursing.
Before I could study nursing I had to gain some experience in the caring profession in order to discover these two crucial points:
1 – Would I enjoy nursing?
2 – Would I be capable?
Fortunately, I applied and received my first caring role in a residential home looking after older people. To my delight, I thoroughly enjoyed the work. It was something completely different from what I had ever done before and even though it was really hard work, both physically and mentally, I found that loved it. I loved making people smile, brightening their day and I had the opportunity to work with some amazing other care workers. The experience I gained here was immeasurable.
The next question I would have to ask is, would I be eligible to apply for the course? Although nurses are highly sought after, many people also want to be nurses, making it very competitive to enrol in a nursing degree. I was gaining experience as a care assistant but I also needed the relevant qualifications. Thankfully, I had already carried out a degree beforehand and had the adequate A level results so I was able to meet the eligibility criteria.
I applied to university whilst working as a care assistant and to my horror I didn’t receive an offer of acceptance first time round. I was saddened but I had initially applied for mental health nursing and I knew already that it was highly competitive. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise.
I spent another year in the residential home and reapplied to university a year later, this time for general nursing. I became a supervisor in the residential home and continued to really enjoy the work. This gave me the confidence to apply for a nursing assistant job in a hospital, as part of the NHS. Two years after having joined the residential home, I was now working as a nursing assistant in theatres. This was an amazing job opportunity and extremely different from working in a care home.
A few months later, I received a letter to say I had been successful to study general nursing!!! This was SUCH an amazing feeling to finally be another step closer to my Australian dream.
I enrolled in university the following year and continued to work both as a care assistant in the home and as a nursing assistant in the hospital. I was able to work across four different hospitals in numerous wards throughout my journey as a nursing assistant. I will never forget the things I learned here and the amount of amazing nursing assistants and nurses that I met along the way. It showed me the many different varieties of nursing and also allowed me to discover where I enjoyed working and where I maybe wanted to avoid in the future. I would say all nurses have certain tasks that they love performing and others not so much. The joy of nursing is that there is so much choice with regards to different nursing fields. If you don’t like one aspect of nursing, you can choose another that is more suited to you and you can also work in different settings, for example, hospital, community, GP surgery, telehealth etc.
So I studied nursing for three years. A full time degree whilst working part time. Hard, hard work, long hours and very little money but I loved it again. I had the best experiences, both in placements and in the classroom. Every six weeks we would change from being on placement to being back at uni and so on, whilst every placement you were on was in a different setting.
After completing my nursing degree, I became a registered nurse and luckily was able to obtain my first job pretty quickly. There was a huge demand for nurses then in Northern Ireland so all students were able to obtain their first choice of nursing profession. I worked in my first post for two years whist trying to plan my move to Australia. It all paid off in the end. I completed all my paper work and became an Australian resident before emigrating. This was another whole process and that is for another blog down the line. I do have a previous blog post on the nursing application to be a nurse in Australia here but be aware this may have changed since then.
There you have it. My journey to become a nurse and make the move to becoming an Australia resident. The whole process took about seven years. This was my biggest challenge to date and it was a lengthy process to say the least. I am glad I faced it and overcame the process. I could have let my dream pass and stayed living at home. However, I felt that I owed myself to take on the challenge and see what living on the other side of the world would be like for a lengthy period.
Thanks for reading guys. It’s slightly longer than my previous Bloganuary posts.
Wayne ✌🏽
Bloganuary Day 13
I feel very lucky that I have the opportunity to live my ideal day many times a week or month living here in Australia, mainly due to the weather and lifestyle. Even if I am working, I will take the opportunity to carry out activities that I enjoy before or after work.
I will break down an ideal day for me if I am on my day off, that is, not working.
• Wake up after a good sleep about 6am. Make myself a coffee and walk/run to the gym for a strength workout at 7am. An hour later I will come home to shower.
• I then love to have a good breakfast. Sometimes I will head out with my partner or I will meet friends for a catch-up over breakfast.
• After this, I love to go for a walk. Either along the coast, taking in the beaches of the eastern suburbs or around Centennial Park or even more so, a new place to walk. I love finding new spots to explore and taking many, many photographs. Maybe even go for a swim.
• Try to stop for lunch somewhere quaint or perhaps take a packed lunch. I am happy with either ☺️.
• Come home for a lovely home cooked meal and have a couple of glasses of wine or if I’m free in the evening, head out to meet friends for a few sociable drinks after having eaten.
• Finally, I would round the night off with a big cup of tea at home and have a reasonably early night, say 10 or 11pm. I am all about a good nights sleep.
This is my ideal day. Plain and simple.
Wayne ✌🏽
Bloganuary Day 12
This is an interesting post as I have recently been questioning whether emojis are accepted in the blogging world.
I love to use emojis. I feel like one little image can convey a word or feeling so well. I use these a lot in my daily life, in text messages, social media and now blogging. I think because they’re everywhere now, they have almost become integrated into our written language.
They’re useful, especially when you don’t speak or write the same language as others. They are universal and break down language barriers.
I don’t even realise I’m using emojis half of the time. Maybe it’s a bad habit to use emojis in blogging. I feel like they are looked down and frowned on in the blogging world. I did have another blogger once comment on one of my posts about my use of emojis and to be honest, I felt silly for using them and slightly belittled.
I think emojis are here to stay and are a sign of moving with the times. I personally like them and I will continue to use them. I will try to refrain from using too many in my blog posts as perhaps it does take away from the art of writing. However, I do believe in the saying “you do you and I will do me”, so if you want to use emojis, go for it, it is your blog after all.
I love the hug 🤗 emoji. It’s very positive and shows that you care about someone, especially as we cannot really hug people at the moment due to covid. I also love the face palm 🤦🏼♂️ emoji and the shrug 🤷🏼♂️ one, which I obviously haven’t used for a while 😉. The grapes, leaves and sunflower are there simply there because I have just been to a few vineyards recently.
What are your thoughts on emojis? I am generally very interested to hear your opinions, especially when blogging.
Thanks for reading and take care,
Wayne ✌🏽
Bloganuary Day 11
For me, this means grabbing life by the horns and living it to the fullest. It means taking chances, leaving your comfort zone and not being afraid to try new things.
I try to do this as much as I can with travelling, meeting new people, sampling different cuisines and changing my roles of employment. I think these things are so important for character building and broadening our horizons.
I think I still can do more for living boldly and it remains a work in progress, for example, trying not to let other people’s opinions bother me and coming to grips that not everyone thinks the same. I am a person that generally follows rules and try my best to do the right thing. So in this regard I don’t live too boldly but I’m ok with that. I’m not a massive risk taker, I like to play it safe in life. That being said, I do love to be spontaneous at times with a last minute trip away or conversing with random strangers.
So I would probably say that I live life semi – boldly if that makes sense. Every now and again it’s good to live boldly but I still have my limitations. I’m a middle of the road kind of guy ☺️
What about everyone else?
Wayne ✌🏽
Bloganuary Day 10
I love today’s topic. It’s good to reflect and remember to be grateful for things happening in our lives. Too often we become caught up in our busy daily lives and forget to be thankful for the positive things around us that we often take for granted.
1 – As corny as it sounds, I am firstly grateful to waken up, alive and healthy. Not everyone has this luxury.
2 – Being away this weekend in Mudgee with my amazing partner as we celebrate 15 years together.
3 – I’m grateful that I had a great sleep last night, 8.5 hours to be exact. If I have 7 hours sleep at night, I am doing really well. So to wake up and check my Fitbit that read 8.5 hours sleep, I was delighted.
4 – Grateful to have no rain this morning. It is supposed to be stormy all week, so to waken with no rain and blue skies on the horizon, that makes me really happy.
5 – Thankful for a lovely breakfast this morning and having a walk around Mudgee. It’s a really quaint little town with lots of character. I will be creating a blog of this town very soon.
I cannot wait to hear what everyone else is grateful for today 🙏🏼.
Take care and stay safe,
Wayne ☺️
Bloganuary Day 9
Working hard or hardly working?? 🤔
Many of my friends and followers on social media think that I don’t work 😆. I guess this could be for two reasons.
1 – I post frequently on social media, especially Instagram and I do go out a lot. I love walking and try to do this every day, so even if I’m posting pictures of my walk or by the beaches, it’s normally as I’m out and about before or after work. We work 8 hour shifts here as nurses in Australia. Therefore, we can actually do things before or after work. Unlike back home in Northern Ireland where I would have worked 11 or 12 hour shifts. On my days off, I love to go out and see places. I enjoy eating out, be it breakfast, lunch or dinner (never all three in one day 😉). So I think this could give a false impression that I don’t work when I actually do work full time.
2 – I don’t have children. This absolutely gives me freedom to do my own thing, go out when and where I please and I have no ties to be home at a certain time. Also I have no pets as yet. This is something I am really interested in, maybe a couple of dogs in the near future. So having no commitments enables me to carry out my life how I please ☺️. If people on social media compare my social life to theirs, they really shouldn’t. If they have decided to have a family of their own. That’s amazing and it’s their prerogative. They will have many amazing things in their life through experiences with their children (something I do not).
I do work hard in my career but I have a good work/life balance. It may simply appear that I do not work as I often post about the fun things I’m doing. I wouldn’t necessarily be posing about my times in work. To be honest I am more than happy if people assume I don’t work much or work at all. It’s rather amusing. When people say, “Do you ever eat at home?”, it makes me chuckle. I eat at home 5 or 6 days a week. There are worse things to complain about in life than people thinking I don’t work.
Cheers for reading,
Wayne ✌🏽
Bloganuary Day 8
To be honest I have never really thought about my writing or style of writing. I don’t write fiction. I simply write about my experiences, more so, my travel experiences. If I was to think about my writing and what I like about it, it would maybe be the following two points:
• I don’t take my writing too seriously, it’s not a chore for me and I like it that way. That’s not to say that blogging can’t be serious. I write how I speak generally. Therefore, I feel I have a light hearted style of writing. Hopefully people can relate to my writing and see that it comes from a good place.
• I find writing in my blog to be very personal and a good tool for self expression. There’s just something about writing that allows you to put all your thoughts on paper (so to speak) and you instantly feel good about it. Maybe it’s also the fact that I don’t have a huge following and I don’t know many bloggers in person here so it makes it easier to be open and frank. To be honest, this challenge is really the first time I have had the courage or motivation to be more open on my blog. My previous posts have been about travel and so I have not needed to show my more vulnerable side.
There you have it. Short and sweet. I like my writing as it’s light hearted, personal and a great way to express myself.
Any one else have the same thoughts? Please let me know.
Many thanks guys,
Wayne ✍🏼
Bloganuary Day 7 – 1 week ✔️
First of all, can I just say, congratulations to everyone who has it made it through the first week of the blogging daily challenge 🙌🏼. Is anyone else really enjoying it? This blogging daily thing is really good actually. Luckily I have some distance to travel to and from work and fortunately I travel by train. This gives me plenty of time to get my thinking cap on, switch off from the world and write a simple blog.
What makes me laugh? Anything really. I laugh a lot. I love when you laugh for no reason. It could be something silly someone said or you said, or an action or a memory. When you laugh so hard that you cannot stop. Even if you want to stop. For me it often happens at the most inappropriate times. When I really shouldn’t be laughing. It’s never ending, tears are tripping me and my stomach hurts, sides splitting 😆. Even then I cannot stop.
My friends normally end up joining in, even if they don’t necessarily want to. Laughter is so infectious. I used to get into trouble at school for laughing so much, especially in the library when we were supposed to be super silent. I can’t count the amount of times that I was told to leave the library or class room for laughing so much and distracting others. Even through my university days and studying nursing, I would have many outbursts of laughter. I have one friend that just makes me laugh so much and vice versa. When we are together, it’s just a laugh fest. Not very good when you’re trying to learn or be productive.
I also think I laugh when I’m nervous or stressed about something. It’s almost like a coping mechanism. Have you ever heard the saying, “if you didn’t laugh, you would cry”.
However, I believe laughter is good for you. Good for your health, good for the soul. We need laughter. Especially when times are tough. Laughter is a good outlet to let negative things go and enables you to reset. It’s the best medicine. Unless of course you have just had abdominal surgery. Then I would suggest not to laugh too hard 🙈🤣.
What about you? What makes you laugh?
Wayne 😁
Bloganuary Day 6
Good morning folks. This one was tricky. I’m thinking who inspires me? I couldn’t think straight away. The more I thought about being inspired, the more I was confusing myself with what it meant.
So I did the old fashioned thing and looked up the word in the dictionary. According to Cambridge University Press (2022) to inspire someone is “to fill someone with confidence and desire to do something”.
I would say my family, especially my Dad would definitely fill this criteria. He is always filling me with confidence and telling me to do whatever makes me happy in life. I am really grateful for this mentality. Not to take life so seriously. Life is short and we need to make the most of it. I have always been instilled with the importance of having a good work/life balance. My Dad inspires me to be a good person, have morals, work hard but to enjoy life at the same time. Making my Dad proud is definitely something that inspires me through life and he is always letting me know that he is proud ☺️, that’s a great feeling. I’m lucky to have such an open minded, generous and caring Dad 🙏🏼.
Thanks for reading,
Wayne ✌🏽
Bloganuary Day 5
This is a good question to get you thinking. It took me a good few minutes to think what is something I wish I knew how to do. I feel like if it was something you really, really wanted to do, then you would make it your goal to do so, no matter how much time or effort it would take. In saying that, life often gets in the way of these goals. Other factors, like finding the time, finances, family and friends, employment and just generally having a life will all play a key role in whether you have the opportunity to learn something new.
I would love to speak multiple languages. It was always my dream, right through my school years, to university to now living and working in Australia. Seeing how multicultural it is living in Sydney, you can see the advantages of speaking more than one language. Especially being a nurse. I would love to be able to converse to my worldly patients in their own language, more so when they cannot speak English.
Growing up I would speak German with family and learned the language at school. I then picked up French at school too and absolutely loved being able to speak in two different languages (not perfectly by any means). The ability to communicate in German and French whilst visiting those countries was the dream.
However, as I grew older and left the studies behind (for reasons still unknown now) I slowly forgot what I had learned and taken for granted previously. Now I lack the confidence to communicate in these two languages, especially German. I would love to gain the courage to practice this language, especially as I have family from Germany. The last time I visited Germany, I was speaking at a market stall to order some food and the teller answered me in English 😆. I think he was happy that I had simply attempted to speak in his language.
I think I will get back to revisiting these languages, especially German in the future. I might enrol in some classes to revise the language. It’s just making the time is the issue for me but if I really want to do it, I can make it happen. As for other languages, I’m sure I would have the resources. I’m just not sure how difficult I would find them. Also I guess my priorities are not there yet. At the moment I’m focusing on my career, fitness and travelling.
Therefore, this is something that I wish I knew how to do. How to make the time to learn multiple languages, even just one or two. Also, what is the key to knowing multiple languages?
Let me know your thoughts or what you wish you knew how to do.
Thanks for reading,
Wayne ☺️
Bloganuary Day 4
I’m not sure I had a favourite toy. I was obsessed with 80s cartoons, “funnies” as they were known then to me.
As a child it was Thomas the tank engine, which is still going to this day. If I was placed in front of Thomas on the television screen, I would have sat there for hours, not a peep from me, so I’m told. Apparently my nephew is now the same also ☺️
Then growing up in the 80s, I became mad for Thundercats, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Gummi Bears etc etc, any 80s cartoons really. They really captured my imagination. I used to love going to my Grandads house as he had cable tv. Therefore, offering a lot more funnies all throughout the day and not just in the morning. I used to get up super early in the mornings, just to race to the living room to watch the funnies.
So basically, any toy, figurine, comic, annual, video or video game, I was hooked if it featured any of my favourite 80s cartoon characters. As I grew older, I became infatuated with my first games console, the Sega mega drive. Playing Sonic the Hedgehog, Street Fighter or Streets of Rage were my favourite games to play. Anything also that you could play with more than 1 player. Micro machines too come to think of it.
Can anyone else relate to this? An infatuation with 80s cartoons or games consoles? Please let me know.
Many thanks,
Wayne ✌🏽
Bloganuary Day 3
This question I had to think a little about. These days, just leaving our home is leaving our comfort zone, with the omicron virus everywhere. Nobody wants to become the next victim to corona, especially as we have to isolate. However, I feel like this is not a true challenge for me when leaving my comfort zone.
I like to think of the emotions you experience when leaving your comfort zone. For me, it’s feelings of dread, fear, embarrassment, nervousness, anxiety, stomach doing summersaults etc. Even though you know these feelings will not last and you will get through it, you cannot help but shed these emotions.
I last had these feelings when I had my first day of teaching this year. As I’m sure many of you are aware, I am a nurse. Therefore, I am used to teaching others, new staff, colleagues, student nurses etc. However, this is normally on a 1 to 1 basis. Recently, I became a teacher of nursing. It’s a completely different kettle of fish. Standing in front of a large number of students is daunting. Especially on your first day. Luckily for me (and the students) I got through it ok. I was nervous on the inside but hopefully managed to hide that. The more I got into it, I actually really enjoyed it, being able to share my knowledge and experiences. When the students seem to enjoy the class, it makes all the nerves worthwhile and you’re happy they you’re having a positive impact of their future nursing careers.
So my advice for others leaving your comfort soon is to know that it will be short term. The dread won’t last forever. Everyone experiences these feelings when leaving their comfort zone. Furthermore, we grow as people when we leave our comfort zones. It makes us stronger, braver and more confident in ourselves. It is a good thing to challenge ourselves, push ourselves out of our comfort zones and grow as human beings.
Thanks for reading guys,
Wayne ☺️
Bloganuary Day 2
The Indian Pacific – Sydney to Perth. You can read all about it here. It is a railway journey travelling across Australia and it takes a few days. Maybe not the most conventional road trip but I still consider it a road trip, albeit by rail.
You sleep here, wine and dine, meet other travellers and stop off at a few different locations along the way, all whilst taking in the magnificent views of the Australian outback. It kind of reminds me of Australia’s version of the Orient Express.
This trip is on my wish list big time. Unfortunately, it’s so hard to plan anything like this due to the ongoing pandemic and restrictions constantly changing here. Hopefully, one day, I will be able to experience this amazing road trip by rail.
If I were to travel by car. I would love to drive from Perth to Broome, driving up the west coast of Australia. The only thing is I would like to drive with a few other people. Safety in numbers. Have you ever seen Wolf Creek? 🙈
Thanks for reading guys. I cannot wait to hear what your favourite road trips would be.
Take care and stay safe,
Wayne ☺️
Bloganuary Day 1
What an interesting and rather deep question for the first day of bloganuary, where we are given a daily prompt to encourage us to blog and interact with other bloggers. I’m happy that it’s a question that we can all relate to and offer our own perspective. This is also a question that features on every season of RuPaul’s Drag Race 🙂
I really wish we could offer some advice to our teenage selves. It would certainly help you through those tumultuous times and allow you to see the light at the end of that long, dark adolescent tunnel. Being a teenager is hard enough in itself, hormone changes (voice breaking, pimples), discovering who you are, trying to act as a grown up, without all the extra challenges that are thrown in for good measure. Being bullied by other teenagers, for no other reason, than for their own amusement, having family and at home issues, struggling with school, living in a small minded country town and balancing a part time job. All of these issues I struggled with on a daily basis. Throw in the confusion of sexuality and coming to terms with being gay and at the time, trying to be a Christian, I’m surprised I managed to crawl out of my teenage years alive. I know I am not alone with these issues. We all have our own struggles to deal with and there are many more struggles that I am so fortunate to have escaped.
The advice I would offer myself would be to :
- Believe in yourself. You will accomplish many great things in life, both in your personal and academic endeavors.
- Do not worry about what other people think of you, it is irrelevant.
- It is ok to be a gay man, there is nothing wrong with that. You were born that way. Just as people are born heterosexual. I love the question: When did you choose to be straight? Erm, I didn’t choose, I was born that way. EXACTLY! It’s the same for homosexual people. I wish I had heard this as a teenager, instead of feeling ashamed and scared. I think my family knew I was gay from as early as 6 years old. Looking back on life, I think I knew subconsciously from about 15 years and I didn’t fully come to terms with this until I was about 21/22 years old. Insane really how society plays such a part in this. I am so happy to see times are changing for the better and teenagers hopefully do not have that cringeworthy and terrifying moment of having to ‘come out as gay’.
- Do not let small minded people define you. You are going to travel the world and meet so many open minded people who are welcoming and will teach you so much about life.
- Do not worry about having few close friends at school. When you go to university, you are going to become so popular and well liked, just for being yourself and will make the most wonderful friends for life.
- Do not worry and stress about your family situation. Things will settle when you move out of home and you can all put things in the past and get along with each other better than ever.
This is the advice I would give my teenage self. I think it honestly would have helped me through those tough years (don’t get me wrong, I had many, many great times as a teenager). Let me know what advice you would give your teenage self. I am honestly so intrigued by this question. Thanks #bloganuary, great first question to kick off the new year.
Thanks for reading everyone and Happy New Year. Here’s hoping 2022 will be better than the last two years.
Take care and stay safe,
Wayne
Goodbye 2021, Hello 2022
It’s a funny time we’re living in. I’m not even excited for the new year to be honest. This time last year, after having lived through 2020, I was super excited to see the back of that year. 2021 had so much promise and potential to be the year things would return to normal. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case. It actually ended up being worse, especially here in Australia, where we were to have our longest lockdown to date.
Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a terrible year by any means. For me personally, I had some incredible highs regarding my employment endeavours. The biggest low, however, was not being able to travel internationally for a second year in a row. Meaning it’s been 2.5 years since I have seen my family and friends in person.
I had hoped to celebrate the end of 2021. More so as it was my first time taking a break since our lockdown had started eight months ago. Granted, we had a lovely Christmas and were able to travel locally within our state. Unfortunately our holiday plans were cut short and we’re now in isolation at home. Covid numbers have continued to soar here in Australia, as we have also seen worldwide. The omicron variant is just so darn contagious.
I became a close contact and therefore had to isolate. It was on the cards. People here have been trying their hardest not to get caught by the virus, so that plans over Christmas would not be ruined. Anyway, my time ran out. Even having to get a PCR test here has been a shambles. Many testing centres are closed over Christmas. Rapid tests are near impossible to get a hold of and if you do manage to grab one, be aware, it will cost a small fortune as prices have been jacked up by the retailers.
On the plus side, it is nice to be at home for a few days. Sorting things out, cleaning, organising and relaxing. At least I will feel well rested and refreshed for the new year and heading back to work. I’m grateful to be negative from covid, presumably thanks to my booster shot that I received a couple of weeks ago 🙏🏼.
I hope you all have a really wonderful 2022 and that things will improve for us all on a world scale. I am really excited for the blogging challenge set out by WordPress this month, Bloganuary. Has anyone heard of this? It will provide prompts daily for us to inspire and encourage us with blogging into the new year. Is anyone else participating in this challenge? How is everyone else feeling regarding the new year ahead? Excited? Anxious? Let me know your thoughts.
Thanks for reading guys & gals, take care and stay safe.
Wayne ☺️
Merry Christmas everyone 🎅🏽
I hope all my blogger and WordPress friends are having a lovely festive holiday period. Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, it’s a nice time to meet up with friends and family and have a well deserved break.
Enjoy your time off, wherever you are in the world. Hopefully everyone stays safe and can avoid covid. It’s a challenge these days to avoid coronavirus and escape having to get a covid swab, having to isolate and missing the festivities 🙈. I know a few people who have tested positive and unfortunately have to isolate over Christmas 🥲.
It’s still a little strange for us in Australia as it’s summer time here. As much as I really love the heat and being poolside, you can’t help but miss the cold back home, games with the family, cosy by a roaring fire and a pint of Guinness or cup of mulled wine.
Stay safe everyone and I hope you have a lovely time 🤗.
12 months and 12 photos (2021)
A new year and we started it with a trip to Hunter Valley! This place was amazing for their cheese & wine matching experience at Two Fat Blokes.
Weekending in the Southern Highlands with friends. We were introduced to this venue Mount Ashby Estate and it was love at first sight. The Southern Highlands has become a firm favourite of ours to visit.
Trip to the Gold Coast, returning after 11 years. We stayed at the Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort. Stunning hotel and it was awesome to be back and see how the Gold Coast has changed over time.
Another great holiday in Queensland. This time was in Noosa for a special birthday ( 1 year later due to Covid) and a long overdue catch up with friends. What a fantastic town with so much to see and do.
Celebrating with my good friends for finally finishing our course that would enable us to teach nursing. I’m so glad I completed this and it was a highlight of the year to help me land a teaching job in nursing.
The Art Gallery of NSW. We loved this place and little did we know that another (much longer) lockdown was just around the corner.
Who was to know that this lockdown would last 4 months! We were limited to a 5km radius from where we lived. Thankfully we could go for daily walks in Centennial Park.
My first lockdown birthday and hopefully the last. My one wish was to see the sunrise at Bronte. It was really special 🌅. I’ve seen it many times but it never gets old.
Continuing with my daily workouts at home, maintaining my fitness and keeping my sanity.
After 107 days lockdown is over (for now). It was so nice to be able to leave our 5km radius and see Sydney come back to life. You always remember you live in Sydney when sitting at the Opera Bar ☺️
Getting out and about again. We’re still appreciating what Sydney has to offer. Here we attended the musical Come From Away at the Capitol Theatre. We love being in the theatre so this was a real treat.
Cheers to surviving 2021. A great day trip to Hunter Valley and a great wine tasting at Vinden Wines. It’s funny, I started the year in the Hunter and now seems fitting to complete the year here. The wine and many lockdown cocktails have certainly helped 😉
Thanks everyone for having a read. When you look back at the year, it actually wasn’t too bad. We still have our health and the hope that 2022 will be better. Stay safe and sane everyone.
Wayne ☺️
Covid booster received!
Hi everyone. So I had my covid booster yesterday. No nasty symptoms as yet, just a very sore arm. I’m delighted I have received it now as the Omicron variant is rampant now all over the world and here in Sydney the numbers are dramatically rising.
Just for your interest, I had two AstraZeneca vaccines and my booster was Moderna. We can now receive the booster after 5 months, instead of the initial 6 months, simply due to the rapid spike in cases. It’s funny when you have the vaccine, as you hear all sorts of signs and symptoms from friends and you are waiting yourself to experience something. Luckily I have nothing as yet but then I am only day 2 post shot.
Is anyone else planning to have the covid booster?
Stay safe everyone 😊
Wayne
Hunter Valley – in a day 🍷
Hunter Valley, NSW, an amazing place to taste some fine wines. Stunning scenery, boutique wineries, friendly people, what more could you wish for. I have been here quite a few times now and have always stayed at least two nights. I guess because it’s quite far away and it’s the ideal place to have a mini vacation. So when I was asked by my friends and work colleagues to join them for a day trip, I was excited to see what we could experience in a day. At least with the 2.5 hour drive each way, we could chat and catch up with each other 😊.
We had booked a day trip with Teds Tours. A company that specialises in wine tours and has a very friendly mentos. You can click https://www.tedstours.com.au/hunter-valley-tours/tour-packages for more information. Our driver Kris was amazing. He was a great laugh and very accommodating, picking us up from Wolli Creek and taking us there and back, whilst driving us also around three different vineyards and also to the pub for lunch. Nothing was a bother for him and he managed to keep us all within the time limits, no easy feat when everyone has had a few wines 🤪.
The three vineyards we had the pleasure of visiting were: Saltire 🏴, Vinden Wines and Tatler. All three were good on there own merit, however, Saltire really stuck out for us. The scenery was unreal. Delicious wines, fantastic setting, a Scottish heritage and the service was extremely warm and inviting. All in all, this vineyard set the bar high and the staff had a really good knowledge and appreciation of their products 🍷.
All in all, this was a great day out. We loved the company, the vineyards and the wines. Would I travel 2.5 hours each way again for a day trip, probably not. However, I would definitely use Teds Tours again, especially if staying in the Hunter in the future. I hope it inspires you to visit Hunter Valley, for a day or a longer stay. You won’t be disappointed.
Thanks for reading guys, take care and stay safe.
Wayne ☺️
Come From Away ✈️ 🎭
I want to share with you my experience of seeing this musical and hopefully inspire you to go also 🙌🏼. I’m not sure if you have heard of this one as it’s relatively new so I will give a quick synopsis soon. First of all, being back in the theatre to see any show was such a novelty and a welcome back to normality. It’s one thing that I have really missed, live entertainment. I used to work in a theatre in Belfast, The Grand Opera House and it was from there, where my love for theatre began and grew. Being able to see every show that entered the Opera House many, many times was such a treat, especially the musicals as they’re right up my street. Anyway, being able to return to the theatre for a musical that I have been dying to see for ages was a real joy 🤩 (postponed so many times due to covid). Even just having a drink at the theatre bar was amazing!
Come From Away takes place from 11th September 2001 (can you believe it’s 20 years ago?) over a few days and tells the remarkable true story of those stranded after the events that occurred that day. I’m sure we all remember or know about the 9/11 attacks and the Twin Towers/Pentagon etc. However, you may not be as familiar with the aeroplanes that could not land as they were diverted due to the American airspace having completely shut down.
A total of 38 aeroplanes were told to land suddenly in the small town of Gander in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada as part of Operation Yellow Ribbon (to clear the American airspace). The characters in the musical are based on real Gander residents who rallied around to help the 7,000 stranded travelers that had just landed there. They found them accommodation, provided food for the people and showed great kindness and hospitality. People were stranded there for several days and it managed to double the entire population of Gander temporarily. On a side note, those people not from Gander are known locally as those who “come from away”. Interesting fact ✌🏽.
I won’t say too much as I don’t want to spoil it for you but the story is really fascinating and one that I had never heard before. The music is amazing, really uplifting and memorable and tells the story wonderfully. It makes you realise also how far we have come from that time space, for example, no one really having mobile phones then, making it harder to call loved ones etc when in a time of panic and uncertainty.
If you’re looking for a night out that lifts your spirits and highlights the kind nature of human beings in troublesome times, then this is the show for you! I feel like we can all relate to this in some way, especially now with us living through a pandemic and needing to be empathetic with one another.
This musical is only 1 hour and 40 minutes long with no interval. So bring your drinks and snacks in with you. We saw this at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney, one of my favourite venues so far in Sydney 🤩.
Please let me know if you have seen this also or if you plan to see in the nearby future.
Thanks for reading and stay safe!
Wayne ☺️
Jacaranda season 💜
For this post I want to simply show case these amazing trees here in Sydney. I have been a huge fan of Jacarandas since arriving in Australia over 4 years ago. I think it’s the colour of the trees that make them so special and the fact that I had never seen them before. The season starts around mid October until mid November and it really provides that sense of spring being in the air and a gentle reminder that it is almost summer here.
Although it’s easy to think of these trees being native to Australia, they are interestingly a tree originally from South America, predominantly Argentina. If you want some more info on this tree you can find more info here.
These trees, presumably because of their attractive purple/blueish colour have become increasingly popular with social media people, all vying for that perfect snap or selfie. This is great to see people taking such an interest (me included), however, it can prove difficult at times to take some pictures without any other people photo bombing 🙈.
I will show you some of my Jacarandas snaps over the last few years and where they were taken. The good thing is, there are lots of places that Jacarandas can be found 🙌🏼.
If you’re looking for a grove of Jacaranda trees, McDougall Street in Kirribilli is a popular spot for bloggers and social media people.
I think the trees found near Como Hotel in Como, NSW, are pretty special, as are those found at Hogben Park in Kogerah. If you’re simply looking for a random tree or two, you can see these in many different streets in and around Sydney. I see a lot of them where I live in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney.
Como Hotel 
Como
Hogben Park, Kogerah 
Hogben Park, Kogerah
Best spots for more than 1 Jacaranda tree
Paddington 
Randwick 
Woollahra 
Woollahra
You can find lots of these trees in the Eastern Suburbs
of Sydney
Croydon
You can find them in lots of other Sydney suburbs, for example, Croydon.
I hope you all have the chance to see a Jacaranda this season and if not, at least you can see them here 🤗. Thanks for taking an interest in my love for the Jacaranda tree!!
Take care & stay safe,
Wayne ✌🏽
Happy Sunday 🌺
The most epic tree I ever did see 😜 or is it a plant? Does anyone know what we call this fine specimen? I was honestly so delighted to have seen this today. It’s a really stunning tree (or plant). I think it also really stands out due to the white wall behind it. It’s the little things in life, am I right?! ☺️
Have a lovely Sunday everyone, wherever you are in the world.
Wayne ✌🏽
Ps. Post update: apparently this tree is in fact Bougainvillea. Confirmed by my WordPress and Instagram friends. Thanks everyone ☺️
Celebrating my 50th blog post and what I have learned so far ✌🏽
Ok so I know this might not be a big deal for most people but for me, this is a huge milestone 😊. I normally do not write blogs daily or even weekly. I am more an every month kind of blogger or when I feel inspired to write. I don’t put pressure on myself to write a blog. I just have never seen the point 🤷🏼♂️. It’s an achievement for me as I have been blogging for over 4 years now and I am proud to have lasted the distance of time.
I would like to share with you five things that I have learned over the duration of my 50 posts:
1 – Don’t feel pressured to write a blog post all the time. It’s your blog and you can write whenever you want to. No one will judge you. Or if they do, don’t let it bother you 💁🏼♂️.
2 – I know this may seem obvious but it is super important to write about things that interest you. Otherwise it will become a chore.
3 – Always proof read your blog posts or have someone that can check them over before you publish. We’re human and we do make mistakes. Even if you miss something during a proof read, hopefully someone reading can inform you and it’s really easy to fix your mistake 🙌🏼.
4 – Don’t stress about the amount of likes or comments you do or do not receive. I know it can be disheartening when you spend a good amount of time on a post and you receive little to no likes. This concerned me at the beginning. However, I soon realised that many people may still have read my blog and have enjoyed it or been inspired by it. I have had people thanking me for my blogs but maybe were not WordPress users and therefore did not or could not like the post on the WordPress site. This gave me some comfort and reassurance that my efforts were not in vain 👍🏻.
5 – This brings me to my final point. If you want to have people noticing your blog and interacting with you, you have to be social on WordPress. You need to be reading other blogs and showing an interest. This is how you connect, make friends and become involved in the blogging community. I must admit, this is something I have only realised in the past few months. I have a somewhat noteworthy Instagram following and I assumed my Instagram followers would join me on my blogging journey. The reality is, this is just not the case. People perhaps like Instagram solely for pictures and not a lot of dialogue. Therefore, they maybe do not want to read a whole blog piece. It is essential that if you want to grow your blog audience, you need to interact with fellow bloggers and those with similar interests. If you show enthusiasm for other blogs and comment with your own opinions, you will see the same happening for you also ☺️. For me personally, having people react to my blog posts inspires me and encourages me to write more often. This is something I am excited to be doing now and in the future.
I hope this is some help to other bloggers or those who are beginning their blogging journey. Good luck and happy blogging 🤗.
Take care and thanks for reading.
Wayne ✌🏽
NSW on a vaccine high ☺️
90% of people here in New South Wales are double vaccinated. I am so thrilled for everyone here for pulling together, listening to the health professionals and getting their shots. I know it hasn’t been easy with some people divided over having the vaccine. However, the fact that it has been made almost compulsory to have the vaccine has enabled us to be safer in our daily lives and get back to some sort of new normal.
I’m hoping things continue to improve for us here in Australia and for everyone around the world 😷.
Stay safe and sane everyone ✌🏽
Covid 19 Booster
This blog is in response to Fandangos Provocative Question #FPQ, which is: If you have already received your initial COVID-19 vaccinations, are you intending to get a booster shot when it becomes available to you? Why or why not? If you have yet to be vaccinated for COVID-19, are you intending to ever get vaccinated? Why or why not?
Although I’m a travel blogger per se, I think this is such an interesting question and a very topical and divisive topic at present. Personally, I cannot wait to have a booster shot, 3rd vaccine in total to protect against the coronavirus.
I’m a nurse, so I appreciate the importance in protecting ourselves and others from the virus spreading. I am no medical genius by any means but I trust the medical professionals and the advice they have provided. I know with the vaccines you can still be infected and can still pass the virus on to others. However, the chances of this are significantly reduced and if you do happen to become infected, your risk of hospitalisation is decreased drastically. Very few, if any people here in Australia are hospitalised after having the initial 2 shots of the vaccine. This therefore frees the hospital beds for those people that are sick from other illnesses etc.
I believe a 3rd shot is needed to maintain a high number of antibodies in your system. I look at it like a flu shot we receive every year. Different strains may evolve again as we have seen in the past. Therefore, vaccines may need tweaking in the future again and given again to people en mass.
Even with my initial 2 vaccine shots, I still do not want to get covid 19. So bring on my 3rd shot already 🤣🤣. At present we have to wait 6 months for our booster so hopefully I can receive mine next month 🙌🏼. I think we should be extremely thankful that we have the vaccines, especially as some people living in third world countries may find it harder to obtain them or some people may lack the education and knowledge of how the vaccines work.
Stay safe everyone and get vaccinated ✌🏽
Wayne ☺️
1 night in Manly ☺️
When you need a break but can’t have more than a weekend off, 1 night will have to suffice. We just wanted to get away for a couple of days for a change of scenery. So we decided on Manly. Although Manly is still within Sydney and easy to travel to, we have never stayed overnight here. You see, you normally would catch the ferry here from Circular Quay and have a day trip in Manly, normally catching a ferry back home at around sunset. There are a few lovely bars and restaurants at the harbour and we would often have a couple of drinks here while waiting on the ferry to come in and take us home. However, when the craic is great and the drinks are flowing, you seem to just watch the ferries arrive and then they depart, without you on them. There’s always time to catch the next ferry 😉. This could go on for about 3 or 4 ferries until we have decided, enough is enough and head back home.
So this in itself would be a novelty for us to stay here and not have to worry about catching the ferry home. There’s lots to do at Manly and we still hadn’t seen all that is on offer. You have the harbour, bush walks, beaches and rock pools, as well as, amazing bars and restaurants. We decided to stay at Hotel Steyne. It’s a hotel but more so, it is a restaurant and pub, with outdoor areas, a glasshouse bar, whiskey bar and a rooftop with stunning views of Manly beach. It has charm, character and is right in the heart of everything Manly has to offer. We loved this place.
Hotel Steyne 
Boutique rooms 
Love the decor 
Balcony views 
Glass House 
Coffee with a view
I could not recommend Manly enough for a short stay (more than 1 night would have been amazing) or a longer holiday. It honestly has everything and really feels like a holiday destination. I am seriously looking forward to a longer break but for now, 1 night will have to do 🙏🏼
Daniel San – this Japanese restaurant was amazing 🤩
European feels 
The beaches and walks are stunning. We didn’t do any bush walks this time but they’re really worth checking out.
Is anyone else planning a night away? Where’s your favourite place to travel for a weekend break?
Thanks everyone for reading!
Keep safe,
Wayne ☺️
Halloween anyone? 🎃
Is Halloween a big deal where you live? I feel like it’s pretty big here in Sydney. Parents go to great lengths to make it fun for the children. They really decorate their houses well and also outside their houses. I once seen hoards of children and their parents travelling the streets en mass here to go trick or treating. I had never seen this before.
Where I’m from in Northern Ireland, the kids would get dressed up and parade the streets to find sweets and candy from the neighbouring houses (you were devastated if someone gave you fruit or nuts!). I had never seen parents also getting dressed up and travelling with their children. Maybe that’s a sign of the times.
I used to love Halloween as a student. It was a great chance to be dressed up in anything really and head to a party with other like minded souls. The outfits didn’t have to be particularly scary. I never really understood that part. As I grow older, Halloween means less and less to me sadly. What about you? Does anyone else look forward to Halloween and it’s festivities?
Wayne 🧙♂️
E.G. Waterhouse National Camellia Gardens
I happened to stumble across these gardens when working in Caringbah, within the Sutherland Shire recently. I was trying to walk somewhere pleasant and increase my step count when these gardens appeared like an oasis in a desert. It was such a awesome surprise to find. I just wanted to share some pictures of the gardens and the nearby Kareena Park Reserve. Here you can find an abundance of camellias and other flowers, a quaint tea house, numerous bird species and many sleepy flying foxes. This is the perfect spot for a picnic or simply getting lost in nature. If you want to read about the history of the gardens you can click here.
This is somewhere you should check out if looking for a day trip out of Sydney to see something a little different. It honestly made my day to spend some time here and I felt I should share with others who may not have heard of this spot.
Take care and thanks for reading 🙏🏼
Wayne 😊
Sydney lockdown is officially over 🙏🏼
We made it guys! After 106 days we are now officially out of lockdown. Boy it feels good…but also a bit nerve wrecking. It’s so nice to have our freedom again, seeing people out and about, hustle and bustle everywhere. However, you can’t help but think, the virus is still out there. I’m still in favour of social distancing and trying to be as safe as possible. Although I’m double vaccinated, I’m still keen to avoid contracting coronavirus 😬.
People of Sydney, or anywhere in the world that has lived through a lockdown (I’m sure everyone has), what was the first thing you did when the lockdown was lifted???
For me, it was work as usual. Being a nurse, we didn’t have any time off during lockdown. Yes I am forever grateful to have been in employment and have some sort of normality. At least we could see our work colleagues and chat about the ever changing pandemic days whilst still earning an income. However, I’m sure I speak for many nurses, it would have been lovely to have a couple of weeks off at home. Not annual leave or being off sick but just days at home to chill out and reset. Alas it wasn’t meant to be and that’s ok.
Finishing work, it was really amazing to see people out on the streets, seeing people sitting through cafe windows enjoying their soy caps and shopping malls with shop doors finally opened again. There was a real buzz around Sydney today and it felt good, albeit a bit strange. The first thing I did was go to the gym. As much as I was slightly nervous, I couldn’t wait to get back to training and seeing friends. Finally I could lift a heavy weight again 🏋️♂️ and maybe feel the burn the next day 😅.
I hope you all enjoy the next few days/weeks of having no lockdown. What are you excited to do/see? I personally can not wait to be able to travel again ✈️.
Thanks for reading guys and stay safe 🙏🏼
Wayne 😜
Last weekend of lockdown!
Sydney Lockdown: My 5km radius
This week we enter our 15th week of lockdown and hopefully the last, as restrictions will ease here next week. As you may or may not be aware, we have been restricted to moving within 5km of where we live or our local government area. I can honestly say, I have exhausted my 5km radius, having walked almost every area possible 🤣. I want to display a few photos to show you my 5km radius from when lockdown here began and you will see for yourself how diverse a small area in Sydney can be 🙌🏼.
1 – Coastal walks – Bondi to Coogee (or anywhere in between)
2 – Centennial Park
3 – Double Bay
4 – Rose Bay
5 – Hermitage Foreshore Walk
This encompasses many of Sydney’s intimate beaches along the harbour with great views of the Sydney city skyline. Includes Milk Beach, Parsley Bay & Nielsen Park.
6 – Paddington
That’s it folks. Thanks for taking a look around my 5km radius. It has been great to be able to show some photos again as it has been a while.
Take care and stay safe everyone.
Wayne ☺️
Lockdown week 10 🤦🏼♂️
How are you all keeping out there??? What’s happening with covid where you are? We remain in lockdown here in Sydney, Australia. This is week 10, with another few weeks to go. Lockdown will start to ease here when we reach 80% vaccination rates. Currently we are at 70% which is amazing in such a short space of time (we were slow to begin vaccinations).
I’m getting on with everyday life. Working, walking, exercising, eating, drinking, sleeping and repeat. I’m still grateful for the little things, fresh air, good company, nice scenery, the ability to still work etc etc. When you look at how Afghanistan is doing, how can we not be grateful for what we have. I honestly think about Afghanistan on a daily basis. Heartbreaking. It’s even sadder that people around the world (myself included) will get on with life and Afghanistan will slip from our minds on a regular basis, unless we see some fresh news via the media. I hope the people will get some freedom/relief from the current struggles. I don’t know how that will happen 🤷🏼♂️.
Anyway, I just want to remain connected to those in the blogging community. Stay safe for those that are dealing with lockdowns/covid and try to see the good things we have in our lives. Others are not so fortunate.
Wayne ☺️
Blogger Interview With Wayne
I had the honour of being interviewed by a fellow blogger that I really admire. Thank you Pooja of Lifesfinewhine! This is my 4 year blog anniversary and it feels fitting that this should appear as my 40th blog post. I am delighted to have made it this far and I am still thoroughly enjoying being a small part of the blogging community and connecting with other like minded people. Have a read of my interview with Pooja below 👇🏼
I would like to thank Wayne for stopping by lifesfinewhine- he has one of the best travel blogs I’ve had the pleasure of reading so be sure to stop …
Blogger Interview With Wayne
Lockdown 2.0
Hey everyone! I thought I would write a quick blog post without any photographs and just let the writing do the talking (so to speak). Seeing as we cannot travel yet again, this won’t be too difficult. I actually have no photos to showcase interesting places recently. We can’t even travel locally now as we have been in lockdown since Monday. I think everyone here, in Sydney at least, knew this day would come again.
With the vaccination rate being one of the lowest in the world, this was bound to happen. Covid cases have jumped dramatically from 1 known case. The only way to curb the increase is to go into another lockdown, maintain strict social distancing and wear a mask. Other essential things to practice include hand washing, coughing and sneezing into your elbow and wearing your mask correctly 🤦🏼♂️.
The number one thing people can do here in Australia is to become vaccinated. It hasn’t helped that the media has continually reported on the negative aspects of the vaccines, for example, the blood clot incidents from AstraZeneca. Scare mongering people and creating a fear of the vaccine. Every medicine/vaccine will have some side effects. The odds of receiving life threatening side effects are minimal (yes of course there is a risk with anything). If a person was not vaccinated, would said person have worse outcomes with receiving the virus itself? Who knows 🤷🏼♂️.
The lack of travel is understandable and of course we can live without it for a short time. The main thing is for everyone to be safe and healthy. My only concern is when will be return to some sort of normality? There are so many questions that cannot be answered as yet unfortunately. When we will be able to travel internationally to see our families? Will the Australian border be closed forever? Are the states in Australia more divided than ever before? Will we all be vaccinated this year?
Anyway. That’s my little rant 🤣. I hope everyone will abide by the rules, become vaccinated, stay safe and look after each other. This may get worse before it gets better. I am still forever grateful to be in the position we are in here in Australia and feel thankful to have a premier who has done good by NSW #gladys 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
The Southern Highlands
Hey guys and gals. I have wanted to write a blog for so so long regarding the Southern Highlands. Having been there three times now, it’s safe to say we have fallen in love with this area. For those of you who may not know where this is, it’s an area of NSW about 110km south west of Sydney. By car it’s an hour and a half away or you can catch a train to a number of towns within the highlands and takes about three hours. The highlands is a district that is centered on the commercial towns of Mittagong, Bowral, Moss Vale, Burrawang, Bundanoon and Robertson, as well as the historic town of Berrima. There are also some smaller villages that include Burradoo, Sutton Forest, Colo Vale, Avoca, Yerrinbool, Exeter and Welby. As you can see, there are quite a number of towns and villages that make up the highlands. I will showcase the ones that I have been fortunate enough to see and highlight some key places that I enjoyed that you may want to check out for yourself. When I talk about the highlands to friends here in Sydney, they all have heard of Bowral as it is the largest town there, however, there is so much more to see and do in the other smaller towns and villages. Please check out my highlights below. Any towns or villages that I have not mentioned are simply due to the fact that I haven’t explored them as yet but they will definitely be on my to do list.
1- BERRIMA
Leafy, historic and full of character, this is a town not to be missed. The main street of Berrima is extremely quaint and has a lovely rustic feel. Lots of quirky shops with hand made goods. If in Berrima be sure to check out Gallery Whitewall Arts Projects. Lots of amazing art on display, some of which is really well known all over NSW.
Josh’s Cafe is unreal for good food and a wee beverage. 
Loved Pepper Green Estate for a wine tasting. 
Such a warm and inviting space with really friendly staff and locals. 
Blending with the art
2 – BUNDANOON (BUNDY)
The village of Bundanoon is located on the edge of Morton National Park. It’s a really lovely and welcoming village, steeped in history and offering character in abundance. The local pub, The Bundanoon Hotel is a great spot for a drink and pub lunch/dinner. As the name suggests, you can also stay there. We have stayed before and loved it. Staff are also extremely friendly. There are many walks and trails, small or larger if you prefer within the national park. This park is massive. We took a short walk to Echo Point where the views were outstanding. Fitzroy Falls is a very popular feature of Morton Park so be sure to check that out too. I feel like Bundanoon is New South Wales’ best kept secret. I can’t even put into words the love I have for this town. It is also home to the famous Brigadoon Festival where you can see plenty of pipe bands, heavy weight championships and all things Scottish. It aims to bring tourists to the area and raise funds for local charities. This is an event that I cannot wait to experience when it comes back next year.
I love this sign, just beside the train line. 
Quaint streets with local shops and cafes. 
The views are spectecular. Reminded me of the Blue Mountains.
3 – MITTAGONG
This town is known as the gateway to the Highlands and is a good place to begin exploring the area. It has some funky stores and nice places to eat, with Hendriks being a highlight for us. This is a really cool place, Hendriks cognac and wine is a warm and cosy bar that also serves delicious food. Be sure to try the jaffles (see below). For those that have never heard of these (myself included prior to this), a jaffle is a toasted sandwich traditionally made in a jaffle iron (like a toastie maker). This did not disappoint. The fillings you can have are stunning and very filling.
A really nice ambiance here, cool and collected. 
JAFFLE!!! 
Lots of cool and trendy stores/cafes in Mittagong.
4 – BOWRAL
The largest town of the Highlands and is considered the entertainment and business hub. I liked it because it had a lot to offer, yet managed to maintain its character and charm. Dirty Janes was a highlight. This antique store in is home to over 50 different dealers who sell vintage and eclectic items that you may not find anywhere else. This store is huge and you will simply enjoy becoming immersed and meandering around the many, many stalls. Next door is Plantation Café. This café just has a right feel about it. It’s bright and warm, sells amazing coffee and is situated on Green Lane (which lives up to its name, plants everywhere). Next thing to check out is The Mill. It’s basically a really funky outdoor community hub that has vendors in their own spaces, doing their thing and doing it well. The large area has been transformed from an old timber and hardware supplier from the 1850s. You can find cafes, restaurants, an amazing ice cream store and a few unique stores where you can buy some perfect gifts. You can also hire out spaces if you have an event happening. This space is pretty awesome!
Amazing prints, artwork, ornaments, home decor, clothing and retro items to be found, as well as many other really cool items. 
You could honestly spend hours in here as there is so much to see. 
Plantation Cafe 
They even sell Limincello! 
The Mill 
One of the many really funky streets of Bowral.
5 – ROBERTSON
A charming town with lots of stunning scenery. Also known for being the setting for the movie Babe! First place to stop and see for us was The Cool Room Emporium…and who doesn’t love a good emporium!? This is a really cool place if you’re looking for a gift, perhaps something a bit more unusual. There is a real mix of old and new items, from clothing to books, home wares to toys. The building and grounds are pretty spectacular and provide that country Aussie, rustic feel. Next door to the emporium is the Robertson Cheese Factory. If you’re a lover of cheese, this is totally worth checking out. Here they specialize in local and imported ”off the farm” cheeses, as well as providing more sweet items such as fudges or homemade jams. 7km from Robertson you can find Budderoo National Park, home to the well known Carrington Falls. This waterfall is really impressive at any time of the year and has become a very popular tourist attraction.
Even in winter, the waterfall was magnificent and it’s only a short walk to see the falls.
6 – MOSS VALE
Known as the agricultural hub of the Highlands, this town has grown a lot and has some really cool places to check out, including cafes, restaurants etc. This is one town that I am eager to see more of. We were only able to check out this one place but boy it did not disappoint. I don’t even know where to start with this place. It was absolutely stunning. It is called Mount Ashby Estate and it brings a taste of France to the Australian countryside. Enjoy a glass of wine sitting around the French Farmhouse tables, sample some delicious cuisine and have a stroll around the vineyard for some epic insta worthy photos. There is also a furniture store on site known as Sally Beresford Antiques Shop. This shop show cases restored antique furniture items from Europe. These items are very stylish and definitely worth checking out.
The wines are delicious! 
I honestly felt like i was wining and dining in the south of France, amazing! 
Pumpkin tart, thyme béchamel, feta with salad. Magnifique! 
Dining al fresco 
The furniture store itself looks amazing, providing old country feels, loved it. 
Some of the restored furniture on display.
I hope you have enjoyed seeing a little more of the Southern Highlands. It really is such a special place in NSW and deserves to be visited. If you want some local insights to the Highlands, check out The Fold Southern Highlands here Home Page | The Fold Southern Highlands. It also has a really helpful App that you can download for free from your App store. Also have a look at Visit NSW, it’s a really good place to have a look for anywhere in NSW and it’s my go to site for new places to visit. New South Wales, Australia | Official NSW Tourism Website (visitnsw.com). You can also check both of these out on Facebook or Instagram too.
I will be 100% heading back to the Highlands as soon as I can too, to see what else there is to be discovered in this amazing region.
Take care and thanks everyone for reading,
Wayne 🙂
12 months and 12 photos (2020)
What a year it has been. I think most of us will be glad to see the back of 2020. Coronavirus has a lot to answer for…but it hasn’t been all bad. For me personally, it hasn’t been the worst year. It was sad not to be able to go home this year to see family and friends but thank goodness for the internet and learning to socialize online with video calls etc. Here is a look at my year with 12 photos for each month of 2020.
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
APRIL
MAY
JUNE
JULY
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
Happy New Year everyone! May 2021 be better for you than 2020.
Keep safe everyone,
Wayne ☺️
Malabar Headland National Park
If you are looking for an awesome way to spend your day off in Sydney then this is the place to visit. Many people have done the Bondi to Coogee walk but have you done the Coogee to Malabar walk via Maroubra? If that’s too long, you can catch the bus to Maroubra and walk from there to Malabar. The beginning of the National Park is only a 10 minute walk from Maroubra beach.
Malabar Headland National Park boasts dramatic coastal views and walks between Maroubra and Malabar beaches, in the east of Sydney. Follow the path within the National Park. There are many steps, areas of bushland and at times rocky terrain so my advice is to wear comfortable footwear. It takes about 20 minutes to reach Malabar Beach along the western section of the walk. The views on the route are incredible. The beach itself is quite small but has lots of character and is a really beautiful spot. From the beach you then follow the path along the eastern section of the park. This can be closed at times so be sure to check the opening times at https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/visit-a-park/parks/malabar-headland-national-park. The views on the return leg to Maroubra are stunning and you can often see whales here migrating from May to November on their annual migration route.
Malabar Beach
Honestly, this is one park you will want to check out. I had no idea it was there, a real hidden gem in the eastern suburbs that’s right on your Sydney doorstep.
All the best,
W 🙂
Travel during Covid
As you may or may not be aware, I havent written a blog post in quite some time. I mainly write about my travels and positive experiences in Australia, however, 2020 has been a very strange year so far. Australia had a rough ride at the end of 2019 and entering 2020 with the insane bush fires that were reported all over the world. This coupled with drought was very catastrophic for most of the country. Even here in Sydney the amount of smoke was crazy and pretty scary as you worry about your physical health with regards to breathing and being outdoors ( it was, at one stage, the worst air pollution in the world). You could feel it with every breath, even sitting in your home and sleeping at night. So dear help those who were living in the middle of it all and the poor animals who lost their lives.
This was then followed by severe flooding, which crazily enough, initially made putting the fires out even harder. So when the fires, finally, after many months began to be contained and controlled, people here believed the worst to be over. Enter the coronovirus.
This needs no explaining, as every country in the world and every person is being affected in some way or another. Thankfully, Australia has been doing really well up to this point and long may it continue. I have just been grateful to still have a job and maintain some sort of normality. I think the fact that we can’t travel is the least of anyone’s worries. Everyone just wants to be healthy, both physically and mentally, ensure safety of our loved ones and come out of this covid situation being able to have a new way of normal life.
As we begin to ease out of lockdown here, we begin to live our lives in a new era of social distancing and strict infection control measures. We may not be able to travel internationally here, however, I am extremely grateful that we are now in a situation where we can travel locally and soon to be inter state. For us, it provides the opportunity to see more of Australia, as will be for most people here and in turn will help the economy and the tourist industry. Therefore, I will be continuing to write about day trips to make in and around Sydney for now, with the hope to expand to places more further afield in Australia. We were meant to be travelling home to Ireland this month but that will have to be placed on hold for the time being unfortunately.
Stay tuned and keep safe everyone.
W 🙂
10 reasons to have a cruise vacation.
Hey guys and gals and welcome to 2020. This is my 3rd year of blogging about travel and lifestyle and what better way to start the year than with a cruise blog. I really want to share with you all my 1st time experience of a cruise holiday that we just completed there last month and show you all why it is the most perfect holiday. A cruise holiday is something I have always wanted to try but was always slightly unsure and skeptical of. Hopefully I can eliminate any of the doubts that you yourself may also have and maybe consider a cruise in the future (if you haven’t already done so). We chose the Royal Caribbean: Voyager of the Seas. It has an amazing reputation, was within our budget, was travelling over Christmas (the time period that we wanted) and it was sailing to the South Pacific!!!! The islands that the cruise would be stopping at were on our bucket list. We were very fortunate that we could hop on the cruise at Circular Quay, just down the road from where we live.
1 – Not too pricey
By today’s standards, a cruise holiday can be super afforable. I used to think you had to be rich to travel by cruise ship but thankfully there are many different options that cater to everyones budget. Tip – if you enjoy a beverage, take out the drinks package, you won’t regret it. It’s so nice not to worry about money when you are onboard and it’s really reasonably priced.
2 – Amazing food
People often worry about the food. Will you have enough to eat? Will you be tired of eating at the same places every night? I can honestly say the food was fantastic. You can either eat in the restaurant with table service for your 3 main meals or you can head to the buffet style cantina. You can mix and match these, breakfast at the buffet and dinner in the restaurant. We loved both but definitely preferred the restaurant for dinner. The menu was extensive and was changed daily so you were always able to try something different. There are of course other restaurants on board but you would pay extra for those.
3 – You are NEVER bored!
There is never a dull moment on board when travelling at sea. The entertainment staff do an amazing job at creating fun things for everyone to partake in. You can choose to attend as many things as you want or you can choose not to and lay by the pool. The entertainments staff are crazily good at what they do and how they entertain you. There are quizzes all the time, karaoke, the hugely popular bingo and there’s even an ice rink, complete with an ice show spectecular.
4 – Day trips
We stopped at 4 different islands within Vanauatu and New Caledonia. All 4 of them were stunning. I loved the fact that I was able to brush up on my French language as this is widely spoken here, especially in New Cal and it really goes a long way when you make the effort to speak it.
Noumea
Mystery Island
Maré
Lifou
5 – People you meet
6 – The Staff
7 – The bars
Our most favourite bar – Schooner Bar.
8 – Sunsets
These were just stunning.
9 – An easy holiday
Everything about this holiday was seamless. Boarding the ship was extremely easy and we were in our room within half an hour.
I LOVED that you could always get hold of a cup of tea after a night out, perfect before bed. Your room is only a small walk away from any of the bars, making it super easy to get home.
10 – The atmosphere/ambiance
To conclude, that is my 10 reasons you may want to consider a cruise holiday. As it was my first cruise, I don’t have much experience. However, we found Royal Caribbean to be amazing in every way possible and would absolutely holiday with them again in the future.
Thanks everyone for reading.
W 🙂
12 months and 12 photos (2019)
Hi everybody!!! It has been a while. I haven’t written a blog in about 4 months, sorry for that. To be honest, I haven’t had much to say or write about as there has been no travelling for the past few months (except Melbourne twice but does that even count?!). I have been attempting to lay low and save my pennies/cents for the big year that is to come in 2020. A fellow blogger has been carrying out 12 months and 12 photos and I loved this idea. It’s a great way for me to create a blog and keep me in the game. It’s the first time I saw another blog post and thought, yes, I want to do that. So thanks to Tanja from @theredphoneboxtravels for the inspo. I have picked my 12 photos (not an easy task by the way, if you have a few things going on each month) and added a little caption to each one. I hope you find them of interest 🙂
January – Taveuni
February – Belfast comes to Melbourne
March – Meet my parents in Thailand
April – 10 years later
May – Home
June – A time of reflection
July – Quality time
August – Leura
September – A personal journey
October – Wedding dress shopping
Novemeber – My cousin
December – Christmas time
L E U R A
Leura is a small town situated in the Blue Mountains. We wanted to see somewhere different within the mountains as we have been a good few times now and luckily there is still always something new to see. Blackheath, Katoomba and Leura are the 3 main towns and so we had already visited the other 2 towns. It was my birthday at the start of the month, so we thought it would be fun to have a weekend away, a mini vacation. We wanted somewhere that we could travel to by train, so we could save the hassle of hiring a car like we normally would do. Leura has its own train station and is less than 2 hours to get to from Sydney. Perfect spot because you are within the Blue Mountain region, great for stunning scenery and long walks ☺️. I had heard Leura has lovely cascades with picnic areas, so for me, that’s what I really wanted to see. I also wanted to simply see the mountains and feel a million miles away from the normal daily routine.
We used booking.com to book a lovely cottage in Leura, a 5 minute walk from the train station. The cottage was The Priest’s Cottage at St Raphael (no priests were spotted) and it was really special. Extremely cosy with its own little electric fire and it even had electric blankets that was a really nice touch. It was freezing at night when we were there but luckily you wouldn’t have known staying in this cottage. It was very easy to find and so close to the town. A really quaint little place that was pretty spacious and had all the amenities you would hope to find. Outdoor seating area too that would be great in the summer.
First thing you do on a holiday/mini break, check in and check out your surroundings. We took a walk to the town and had a look around. The main street is really quaint with lots of cafes and really cool shops. Our favourite findings were the vintage shops (particularly The Leura Emporium Vintage Collectables) and the really cool Teddy Sinclair’s Man Cave. This shop was awesome, you could spend all day in it. It smells amazing as you walk in with all the leather wallets, bags, coats, jackets etc and it has lots of men’s accessories from shaving utensils to travel bags, jewellery, watches and gifts.
Flemish Flavours
This is the best spot, in my opinion, for a beer and some food. This bar/restaurant is situated in a heritage listed mansion overlooking Leura. The outdoor space and gardens are stunning. This is a really cool spot to try out some Belgian beers and gourmet food. The beers were delicious and the atmosphere here is quirky and cosy. Be sure to check this place out this month as the restaurant/bar will be leaving the premises here for new pastures.
Bygone Beautys Treasured Teapot Museum
If you love tea as much as I do then this is the place for you. You can pay $5.50 in to see the museum or you can be admitted for free in the condition that you purchase a cup of tea after. The museum has the largest collection of private tea ware in the world and boasts more than 5,500 teapots from all over the world and from different eras. The staff here are super friendly and helpful and the atmosphere and surroundings create the perfect place to have a cup of tea, where you can choose from an array of different varieties.
Leura Cascades
I was super excited to see these!! I was just looking forward to heading out for a walk into unknown territory and seeing something a little different. We walked to the cascades, it takes about 30 minutes from Leura itself. We brought a picnic as we’d heard there are lovely spots to sit and have lunch, plus there are no cafes or shops nearby so best be prepared. The cascades themselves are stunning. Not overly big but tucked away amongst the trees and rocks to create a special ambiance. The walking trail is pretty easy to navigate with some steep stairways if you want to head upwards and see the views overlooking the Blue Mountains. Definitely worth the trek up as the views are spectacular. As soon as you see the mountains it’s a truly breathtaking moment. You really feel the vastness of the area and at one with mother nature. There are lots of areas worthy of having a picnic, with some picnic benches also provided. You can walk as far as Katoomba from here but we decided against it. All in all the walk takes about an hour and a half.
We did, however, head to Katoomba later that day as it’s only 5 minutes from Leura on the train. We always feel we have to see the infamous 3 sisters. Although we’ve now seen them multiple times, they still manage to make us feel in awe.
Two places to check out for dinner:
1- Miss Lilian Tea House
This is authentic Asian casual dining. If you want something tasty but not overly fancy or overpriced, this place is the ticket. Food was delicious and the decor is pretty funky with a stress on birdcages. It’s in Katoomba but a bit of a walk to so we travelled by taxi here. Definitely worth the fare 😉
2- Leura Garage
This award winning restaurant and bar has been on my list for a while as I have always heard good things about it. Using all local ingredients and wines, it was really amazing and didn’t disappoint. It is really handy, basically across the road from the train station. It is always busy so be sure to book ahead.
So that’s my mini weekend guide to Leura. Hopefully some of you find it helpful. This little town is most definitely worth seeing and is often a looked over little gem of a find. Next time your in the Blue Mountains be sure to check it out.
Thanks for reading,
W 😊
Northern Ireland: An alternative guide – part 2 ✌🏽
Hi everyone! As most of you are aware, we have just been home again for a few weeks to see family and friends and of course to attend 2 amazing weddings. Fortunately for us, we were also able to see some new venues and features in Northern Ireland and increase our appreciation for our home country. Keep reading to see if you have visited any of these places and if not, maybe they can be on your bucket list 😉.
Grand Central Hotel Belfast – The Observatory
This is a new hotel recently erected in Belfast and is the second tallest building in the whole of Ireland (second to the Obel Tower, also in Belfast). However, it does boast to have the tallest bar in Ireland. The observatory is on the 23rd floor and has the most amazing view of Belfast. It really is spectacular. You will be taken in the elevator by a concierge and taken to a seating area available. Luckily, we had arrived before most others so we could choose where to sit. You can also take a walk around to see the city from every view possible. The seating areas are stunning and very comfortable. The service is lovely, friendly and welcoming staff. The drinks are pricey, for example £15 for a cocktail and £8 for a pint but to be honest, you get what you pay for. The view is outstanding and I suppose it’s not something you would do every day. It’s a really amazing experience for a special occasion and definitely worth a trip if you are visiting Belfast.
Glass of Thrones
I was fortunate enough to be at home at the same time as the Game of Thrones final season. As many of you know, the majority of filming for this amazing show, is in Belfast!!! To celebrate this milestone of the 8th and final season, 6 stained glass windows were erected around the city centre, 1 for each episode. You can walk from Belfast City Hall to Titanic Studios to witness these Glass of Thrones installations, displaying scenes from seasons one to eight of the show. Each window represents the trials and tribulations of a different house, and at the final window you can take a picture on the Iron Throne. For a map of where to find these, click here. I personally loved seeing a new window being unveiled each week. They are exceptional and if you’re a fan of the show, this is a must see. It’s also a good way to explore Titanic Quarter.
Belfast street art
This was completely accidental but it is amazing to walk through the streets of Belfast and see new street art popping up everywhere. It shows that we are a city to be reckoned with in the culture stakes and we are ever progressing. I did want to find the infamous Belfast mural as I had seen this all over Instagram. Having lived in Belfast for over a decade, I had to see it. You should definitely take a walk through the city to find these art pieces. You can find these mostly in the Gaeltacht Quarter and Cathedral Quarter. Bear in mind these are nothing to do with the peace murals. These would be representative of a more forward thinking and inclusive Belfast IMO.
Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort
Now this is a place that I have been dying to try. So when my sister said she wanted us to go, I was delighted 😁. The spa treatment here is unreal, even better than I had imagined. It had a huuuuge area with lots of facilities. Leave your clothes in a locker (changing facilities are even impressive) and don a Galgorm dressing gown/robe/house coat (whatever you call it in NI). When I entered the spa area I was overwhelmed. It’s like what you would see in a movie. People walking around in the robes, pools, hot tubs, saunas and steam rooms everywhere, indoor and outdoor. There are chill out areas with relaxing chairs and loungers and even an ice room. I was honestly so impressed. We even had the chance to have a Celtic sauna treatment that was fantastic. It was unbelievably hot in the nicest possible way and you receive a nice cold mocktail afterwards. We had lunch here too and you are invited to eat in your robes. A very surreal experience but you will really feel like it’s a special occasion. I cannot recommend this enough peeps. We even went on a cold and wet day but it didn’t faze us at all. Ps. The photos do not so this justice at all.
City of Derry Jazz Festival
The biggest jazz festival in Northern Ireland is held in the amazing Derry ~ Londonderry City. If you don’t know Derry that well, a bit like myself, then this is the perfect chance to explore the city and see it in all its cultural glory. The festival has been happening yearly since 2001 and it is 1 of the leading Irish music events of the year. There are street performers, food stalls and live music performing in all the bars in the city. As the bars are all in close proximity, you can easily hop from 1 bar to another to experience as many live acts as possible. The lineup is HUGE, far too many artists to mention but you can check out the website here. Details are already up for next years event in 2020 🎷 🎶 . Oh and while you’re in Derry, you have to check out the Derry Girls mural, I’m sure you’ve seen the show on Netflix! Hilarious…and the paining of the girls is outstanding.
Portballintrae Causeway Loop
Ok so in my opinion I have saved the best until last. This walk was one of my highlights at home, especially because I was able to do this with my parents. Everybody knows about the Giant’s Causeway but instead of heading straight there and spending a fortune on parking, you can complete a small enough walk from Portballintrae to the causeway and see the breathtaking views the north coast of Ireland has to offer, the best coastline in Ireland IMO, yet often overlooked when people think of the Irish coast. Not only will you see coastline but you also see beaches, rock formations, cliffs, sand dunes, a really old railway line and the most quaint little railway station you have ever seen, bridges, rivers and countryside. It has to be every walkers dream to see all these things!! The walk over the 3 quarter mile bridge is short but it is pretty stunning to walk over the Bush River – apparently so dark as the river runs through Bushmills where they make the whiskey 😋 🤷🏼♂️. I’m not very good at directions but you can find them here. This is a walk you will want to experience and you will finish at the Giants Causeway. I still love coming here even though I’ve seen it many times but when Northern Ireland has a blue sky, this part of the world is fantastic.
Thanks everyone for reading. It’s lovely to showcase Northern Ireland. It has a lot to offer and every time I return home, there is something new to discover. Be sure to check it out if ever visiting Ireland or the UK.
W 😊
My very 1st blog!
Hello there. What’s the craic? I have been debating for a long time whether to start blogging or not, mainly down to the time that may be required. However, I feel it is something that could be fun, therapeautic and provide a platform to interact with others from all walks of life. I’m very new to this so please bare with me.
So a little about me. I’m a man in my near mid thirties and I come from Northern Ireland. I had been living in Belfast for the last decade but my ambition was to 1 day return to the land down under. Having already spent a year in Australia on a working holiday visa, I soon acquired the desire to return in the future. 7 years later a lot has changed in my life and I have reached my goal of becoming a permanent resident. It has been a lengthy process with many highs and lows, however, it has been an incredible journey that is still continuing to this day.
Please follow me on my Australian adventure and I will aim to keep you updated and entertained.
Thanks a lot,
Wayne ✌🏽
WrookieSchU 