Nights out in Melbourne;

Living in Melbourne, I’ve always got friends visiting from Perth, Sydney and NZ. Now that’s been 19 months since I moved to this incredible city, I’ve got quite the list of places I’ve visited & enjoyed.

Depending on the night and company, I will either go to one place or several. Chapel Street is my all time favourite (recommendations coming next!) but the CBD is slowly coming close to the favourite spot.

These are my top three CBD picks at the moment.

Image source: Hidden City Secrets

State of Grace

Cool bar and restaurant on Collins Street with cosy velvet couches which has an extensive food & drinks list. But my all time favourite is Fall from Grace, an underground bar accessed via a secret book shelf (just ask the staff to show you!)

Both State of Grace and Fall from Grace are super cosy spots for winter date nights. But word of warning: Friday and Saturday nights are super busy! Best to go elsewhere if you’re looking to have intimate conversations.

Image source: Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde is a mexican style tapas bar situated in the Curtin House. It gets really busy (and loud) for dinner but if you go slightly later, it’s the perfect spot for drinks and tapas with friends (or a date).

Touche Hombre. Image source: The City Lane

Touche Hombre`

So I’m a massive mexican lover and this place does incredible dishes plus has all the tequila you could dream of. Amazing vibe and it’s close to Curtin House too!

Other suggestions can be found via The Urban List.

Happy exploring!

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Yosemite National Park;

Upper Yosemite Falls

One of the places we were both dying to go to was Yosemite National Park. We’ve both seen SO many pictures from this place but it’s all just so much more incredible in person. We spent a few days hiking and sitting by the fire at night.

We camped at Hogdgon Meadows which is approximately 30 mins drive out of the valley but it was an amazing ride into the valley each day so no complaints in that regard.

Trying to find free camping spots on the National Park Service website was near impossible so when I finally found a campground, I booked it immediately. My suggestion would be, if you wanted to make the most of your hiking time, definitely book something within the valley.

Mirror Lake

Another suggestion: research what hikes are available when you’re looking to go. I really wanted to do the Half Dome hike but we were there two weeks shy of that trail opening for the season. Massive bummer!

The view from the top of Upper Yosemite Falls

Tank top one minute; long sleeve and ski jacket the next!

We ended up doing the Upper Yosemite Falls hike which took us approximately 6 hours in total which includes stopping for lunch & a million photos along the way!

We also walked around Mirror Lake but made the walk SO much longer than we needed to by going off the trail and adding 2-3 hours that day. Haha, oops!

Mirror Lake

In total, we were in Yosemite NP for two full days and two half days either side (three nights). Three full days would of been ideal but really, I could of spent a week here and still not have done everything.

The Valley

Until next time Yosemite!

Motorbike roadtrip through California;

Last month, I flew to San Francisco (via LA) and hopped on the back of a motorbike for one hell of an adventure. In the space of two weeks, we covered 3,000 km’s by bike and 106 km’s by foot. We rode from San Fran to Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park and then LA via the 101 & 1. From LA, we went east via Angeles Crest Highway and then made our way to Vegas via Joshua Tree National Park and Salvation Mountain.

Here are some of my favourite pics from the road trip.

The usual!

Biking around San Fran – such a good way to see the city!

The road to Lake Tahoe…when the forecast says snow, believe it!

Lake Tahoe as perfect as ever!

Exploring the woods near our campsite and we found this cabin!

The highlight of our trip: Yosemite!

The day we rode 515 km’s from Big Sur to LA. Look at Malibu though!

Eight years since I was last in this exact spot ❤

The view of LA from Griffith Observatory

So stoked to have spotted this on the trip!

Joshua Tree National Park

Skull rock at Joshua Tree NP

Salvation Mountain

 

Next up: full post about Yosemite!

 

 

 

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Melbourne Food Guide (2)

Over the last few months, I have tried & tested many cafes, restaurants and bars and these are the ones that have made the cut (I do not recommend places where the food or atmosphere was average).

EAT (BREKKIE/LUNCH)

CBD: Grand Trailer Park (amazing burgers and mac n cheese croquettes!)

Grand Trailer Park

INNER NORTH: Industry Beans, Fitzroy — Hammer & Tong 412, Fitzroy — Green Refectory, Brunswick

Hammer & Tong 412

The most incredible bubblegum popping candy pancakes from Hammer & Tong 412

INNER EAST: Legacy, Camberwell — Patch Cafe, Richmond — Kitty Burns, Abbotsford

INNER SOUTH: Kettle Black, South Melbourne — The Petty officer, Albert Park — Urban Projuice, Albert Park — Dundas Fausset, Albert Park — Uncommon, Windsor — SOS cafe, South Yarra — Le Petit Prince, Armadale — High Society Cafe, Armadale — Matcha Mylkbar, St Kilda — Left Field, Carnegie

Tiramisu & espresso buckwheat hotcakes from SOS cafe

Cookies & cream donut sliders from Left Field

EAT (DINNER)

Mr Miyagi, Windsor

Mr Miyagi goodness!

DESSERT

Messina Gelato, Collingwood & Windsor

DRINK

State of Grace, CBD (make sure you ask about fall from Grace) // Mesa Verde, CBD

 

Enjoy!

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Monthly Round Up: February;

Other than the usual F45 sessions & drives out to the 1,000 steps, I checked out Laneway Festival with C and ate my way through Melbourne when my Perth friend K came to visit.

Laneway Festival in Footscray, Melbourne. What a spot, what a view!

C & I before Laneway Festival

Monthly Round Up: January;

I welcomed the first day of January with some holiday planning, blogging & finally put my bucket list together, after years of having it scattered across iphone notes, emails & pinterest prompts. I’ve never been one for chasing material possessions but it’s interesting to stand back and see that not one item on my bucket list is something I want to own.

Things that kept me busy this month //

F45 Functional Training

If you haven’t tried it, I’m sure you would of heard of it by now. It’s 45 minutes of strength and/or conditioning type exercises with different classes every day, each class varies every week & there’s always new classes popping up. Perfect for someone like me who loves variety!

So Frenchy So Chic

2015: the summary;

As I’m sitting on the couch with a glass of bubbles in hand, a fruit & cheese platter on the table & music playing in the background with no intention of leaving my lounge room this afternoon/evening, I can’t help but think how much I’ve grown and changed this year.

Monthly Round Up: December;

Hawaii bliss!

After the most incredible two weeks of my life in Hawaii, I flew back to Melbourne and spent the night at C’s place before unpacking my new place and heading straight back to work (not the brightest idea let me tell you!)

Hawaii adventures;

View from the top of Diamond Head

Back in July, I booked flights to Hawaii on the whim. It’s been a place on my bucket list FOREVER but it wasn’t until a certain bearded man moved to Canada that Hawaii looked like an attractive half way point for us. We both wanted to go hiking & explore so chose O’ahu & Maui for our two week adventure.

Monthly Round Up: November;

Another day, another pop up! This time it was a pop up floating bar by the guys at Arbory. Other than Ponyfish Island, it would be good to have more permanent bars on the water because it’s so lovely being near the river on a warm afternoon.

Arbory Afloat