Drawing Room Rocks Hike with my Best Friends

A Hike: Drawing Room Rocks @ Barren Grounds Nature Reserve, Brogers Creek Road, Berry NSW. All photos taken on Canon D70 DSLR and Google Pixel 3 XL.

When the work week is over and we don't get to share our lives because we are so busy answering emails, taking work calls, looking after children and taking care of ourselves, its so nice to reconnect with friends.

I have lots of friends, but few best friends such as Erin, Jaye and Betty <3

When we plan trips, it's almost like we share one mind and come up with similar ideas. Three years earlier, we made the trip to Berry to eat their famous donuts and do the local Drawing Room Hikes and we just decided to recreate those memories. Also we must've been in the mood for some delicious donuts. The two hour road-trip meant we spent the entire time sharing what our work weeks were like - frustrating co-workers, our ten to twelve hour work days, what Betty's kids learnt that week, quests to move to other countries for love. We also talk about what snacks we bought along for the hike, as sustenance are essentials. Usually Betty made us cupcakes or sandwiches and Erin brings a big bag of lollies.

Arriving in quaint Berry, one must embrace life and go get some fresh, steaming hot cinnamon donuts from the Famous Berry Donut Van with a side of hot coffee. We did just that, lining up patiently for a bag of them. We sat outside and devoured them like little kids, playfully convincing each other that we would burn off all those calories at the hike. We were wrong, we just kept eating them while on the hike, haha.

We did this hike a few weeks ago but I only thought it was a good time to blog about it now as we actually completed a different hike at the Blue Mountains today. I guess I'm feeling sentimental and I just wanted to share my love for these girls who constantly make me laugh and feel so comfortable. 

Here is a story I shared with my friends today, from one of my days at the office. 

- My soul left my body this week at work. I had to reset the factory settings on my Walkman because it started to corrupt. All was fixed but it meant that I had to reconnect my work speaker by Bluetooth again. I always listen to music at work but at very low volume so I can only hear. The work speaker decided to reset itself to a louder volume so of course at 8am in the morning, when all was quiet in the office, I played my first song. Which was of course... Cardi B's WAP (Wet Ass P*ssy) and is a pretty explicit and crude song and definitely NOT safe for work. Anyways the first few seconds of "There's some wh*res in this HOUSE" played three times so loudly that my SOUL DEFINITELY LEFT MY BODY. I scrambled around to shut down that work speaker so quickly. I did and I found my breath again and almost threw my Walkman away in embarrassment. Although no-one commented on the song that played, it felt like the loudest sound in the world to me. LoL. A lesson was learnt that day. Mistakes were definitely made.

Knowing my dirty-minded friends (actually I'm just looking at Betty here), we all had a good laugh and it felt so nice to let some walls down and share stupid life fails with them. It really takes your mind off on how mundane the week can be.

The Drawing Room Rocks Hike is simple and only a few minutes drive away from the Famous Berry Donut Van. You have to park at Brogers Creek Road, but do not park in front of any private properties. It's hard to U-turn so ensure you are confident you will find a parking spot before reaching all the way to the top. The walk is just straight up - 4.5km return and about a 2.5 hour round trip. The Lookout is rewarding as you can view NSW coastal line and the surrounding valleys.

We took our time navigating the slippery path (it was raining that week) and talking about how unfit we were heading up and how weak our legs were when descending. We spent thirty minutes at the lookout eating lollies and enjoying the view, taking some sweet photos of each other to celebrate making it to the top. Walking down we danced to "Walk like a Man" like they did in the movie Heart and Souls and sang the theme song to Moana and Frozen 2 as they were Betty's kids' favourite songs that week.

We always have such a good time together, always heading home with a belly full of food and cheeks hurting from laughter. We already started planning out next outing which would be around mid September. Can't wait <3

A Day at National Gallery of Australia

A day at the National Gallery of Australia visited March 2019; near Parliament House, the High Court of Australia and next door to the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra Australia. Photos taken by Hai and I with my Canon D70 DSLR and Google Pixel 3 Phone

Hai and I visited the National Gallery of Australia which is located in the heart of Australia: Canberra. Lots of people think Sydney or Melbourne is the capital city but no, it's actually peaceful and sleepy Canberra. Driving there is three hours from Sydney and its long straight highways and once you reach Canberra, the roads are just wider and even quieter. 

We even followed Google Maps and you know how the roads get coloured orange when there is predicted delays due to lots of traffic? Well we got to one of those orange coloured roads and expected lots of cars but in reality it was only ONE car. The delays were minimal but because Canberra is so sleepy this must have been big news, haha.

One of the main reasons Hai and I made this trip was to visit the amazing exhibition Yayoi Kusama's The Spirits of the Pumpkins Dsecended into the Heavans which is the bright yellow installation you see in my photos. It was so unique and the artist really gets her to immerse yourself in her claustrophobic and infinite space world. It's now closed but we were happy to visit at the time especially since we were in lockdown since March 2020. 

One of my favourite things to do is to visit museums or art galleries and I've visited so many. I personally like going by myself because I enjoy the peace and quiet (but I also like the sound of echoed foot steps?) and I love to admire all the artworks and reading the artist's back stories and inspirations. I always bring my glasses because I read everything, especially in the low lighting situations that galleries seem to love so much.

And I absolutely take my time, I don't like being rushed. I walk around with my arms crossed, studying hard, and bend over backwards to try and understand a piece of art from corner to corner. And If I had more time, I usually circle a museum or art gallery twice because often I'd find I miss something the first time around. 

For this visit, I was with Hai and we walked around together. Hai was very patient with me. There was lots of areas to explore and there were spaces dedicated to eras and countries of origin. He sometimes left me alone to explore and he took some pretty photos of me when the area was quiet. He's a good husband, hehe. Afterwards I of course browsed the gift shop and picked up some books to take home, which is also one of my favourite things to do. I can spend hours in bookshops. But since I already spent many hours in this gallery, I made sure to make my book purchases quick so we could head out and grab a beer during Canberra's Happy Hour.

Japan Diaries: Nozawa Onsen Fire Festival (Part One)

Japan Diaries: Fire Festival (Dosojin Matsuri) at Nozawa Onsen Village, Japan on 15th January 2019. Photos taken by me and Hai with Canon D70 DSLR and Canon Pixel 3XL.

Every year, on the 15th of January, the quaint and sleepy Nozawa Onsen village starts finishing up their preparations for their annual Fire Festival. It's a exciting and fun festival and Hai and I arrived to this village two days before just to witness it. In fact, we planned our whole Japan four week honeymoon around this festival. Hai had intended to come here last time he went to Japan  but he missed it by a few days. This time around, we booked a room at the Elizabeth Hotel for three nights. We absolutely suggest booking early as accommodation gets booked out early!

Held on the same day every year, this festival pays tribute to the Fire Gods (also known as dosojin). The festival originally was a folklore cultural event asking the gods to bring good harvest, health, good ski season and good fortune for the upcoming year. Now its done to celebrate the birth of a family’s first child, to dispel evil spirits and also to pray for happy marriage.

13th and 14th of January

The trees start getting cut down in October and bought down from the surrounding mountains and the wood is prepared. It takes approximately 100 villagers to build the huge structure that would be the main attraction at the festival. It is also known as the shrine or shaden and it starts getting built on the 13th of January continuing until late at night on the 14th. The main event starts on the 15th: the "Fire-Setting Battle". This staged battle is performed by only men that are 42 and 25 years of age which are deemed as "unlucky ages".

The morning of 15th January

Hai and I went down to the main grounds to witness the villagers complete the shaden on the 15th. The villagers work hard - tightening the structure with ropes, place piles of wicks at the top, and shovelling snow up so the area is clean before the main event starts.  Stripped down logs are assembled into a tall 7m high shaden with a platform at the top for the group of the 42 year old men to sit on during the staged battle. The 25 year olds will stand at the bottom standing guard.

When the shaden has been completed, the priest from the Kosuge shrine performs a ceremony endowing it with a dosojin. 

Hai and I went back to the main street to have dinner and to prepare to come back at night. We came back and gathered around the shaden while other villagers and tourists waited with us. There were thousands of people waiting and as the sun set, the festival began. 

Part Two: The night of 15th January

Stayed tuned as Part Two blog post will feature the night time of the 15th. We were so excited to see this once in a lifetime event!