PERTH me baby one more time.

Good morning findettes! How are you? Have you missed me?

I am writing this from my studio apartment in Prevally; ten minutes west of Margaret River, in down south Western Australia.  The beautiful Indian Ocean is just across the road, and we are 200 metres from the world famous surf break Surfers Point.  Its 6:02 am here - the wind is howling, the sky is grey, raindrops have fallen, the swell is up around its usual 4-5 metre whitewash so it looks like its going to be another totes MAGNIFICENT day.  So NOT.

Regardless of this.. holiday so far has been fabulous.  I thought since the holiday post would be rather large due to the rather excessive amount of photographs I have been taking (and then uploading and modifying on Instagram – like who has normal photos anymore anyway?) – that I would split it up into to sections: Perth and Margaret River.

This is PERTH:

Thursday – our flight left at 1pm.  We left Ballarat at 6:45 am, as we needed to drop the pooch off at bf’s parents house as the were self-nominated dog sitters for the two weeks.  They happen to reside on the other side of the city.. hence the super early start.  Got there right on time – dog delivered (I didn’t cry!) and we were once again on our way.  A little too on our way it would seem, as we then arrived at the airport a whole three hours before departure.  Oh.  Anyone for a spot of airport retailing? Anyone?

Four and a half hours later – we landed in Perth.  Now, in my previous post re: my recent Brisbane trip, I was excited to have overcome my newly-developed fear of flying.  I was fine for the entire duration of the trip – happily reading my Mia Freedman book I nabbed at the airport and munching on Nobbies nude nut mix, when it happened.  Landing.  Clouds.  Although they look fluffy and innocent, they caused the plane to lurch and rock and drop and did totes wonderful things to my stomach.  My hands were clamming, and I feared for my life.  Fear of flying – welcome back.

Stepping out of the plane (and I could have kissed the runway if bf hadn’t of warned me that he would never speak to me again) we were confronted with heat.  The wind was warm, the sun was shining and it was just fabulous.  HELLO PERTH.

So I am not sure if any of you has seen the Inbetweeners movie, but you know the part when their bus pulls up out the front of this horrid apartment block and it turns out that is where they are staying? Yup.  This was us – totally.  When I booked the ‘studio apartment across the road from the beach in a perfect location complete with floorboards and a glass chandelier’ the photos neglected to show the exterior of the building.  ‘Run down’, ‘dilapadated’, ‘past it’s prime’ and OH ‘horrible’ are a few adjectives which automatically spring to mind.  Chanting the mantra ‘it’s whats on this inside that counts’ – we steeled ourselves up the stairs and into our first floor apartment – and FAB.  It was gorgeous – and just like the pics.  Perfect.

The next day began bright and early at 4:32 am.  Being a super early riser by most standards, adding three hours onto this was not pretty for anyone involved.  We had one of the bf’s mates staying on the sofabed with us (yes – in our studio apartment. IN ONE ROOM.  FOR FOUR DAYS.  Fab) so it wasn’t even like I could get up and sit on the couch.  I played on my phone for about an hour, and then COULD NOT stay in bed one more second.  So I snuck out and went for a run down Cottesloe beach.  AHmazing.  It is such a beautiful place – it was love at first sight.  The beach, the other early risers (see I am not the only insane one), the morning sun on your face… there is nothing better.  This was something I repeated every morning – started each day off with a bang.

The boys were off having breakfast, looking at property and hiring a car.  I firmly excused myself from these activities and headed on down to the nearby Claremont Quarter, for some much needed retail therapy.  I had heard so much about this retail space in my fashion days that I just had to see it firsthand; and YES it is as good as I had hoped it would be.   Zimmermann, Scanlan and Theodore, Gorman, a ton of specialty boutiques – this place has it all.   Although I was there for just under five hours (turns out the boys had a little bit of difficulty hiring a compact auto that was small enough so that I could drive it (my instructions – coming from a Citroen I have difficulty maneuvering anything larger than a Corolla), seems everyone who needed a car had the same idea) the only purchase I made was a pair of Nudie bleached out jeans from DJs on sale for $85. And I don’t even need jeans. Hmmm.

That night I had dinner with a bestie who has moved over here for uni.  Headed down to Fremantle, which seems to be the place to go at nighttime.  We dined at the Mexican Kitchen, and chatted, laughed and did some much needed catching up between corn chips and burritos.  Love it.

Saturday. Today was the day of the wedding.  I had previously booked myself in for a hairdressing appointment at ten, but as the wedding was not until four thirty the chances of my hair lasting all perfect and GHD’d until then was OH slim to none.  So I changed it to 3:15 – thinking I would get all makeuped first and then would only need to get dressed and then go. Sorted. 

That morning was spent down at Scarborough beach.  The waves were massive and I spent most of the time trying to avoid flashing myself to the crowds of people as the strapless Zimmermann bikinis didn’t seem to agree with the swell.  Was heaps of fun though.. bf got slammed by a wave and I increased my salt intake by about 375%.  Fab.  Headed back to the room, for showers slash makeup, then hit the hairdresser.

My thoughts were that I would be out by four – but it seems the hairdresser had different ideas.  I did say that I was pressed for time, but at 4:10pm and several angry texts from the bf I was ready to run out the door.  Jumped into the car at 4:15pm, raced back to the apartment where the mate was still sitting on the couch watching the football.  Looked at me with shock when I screamed ‘ITS FOUR TWENTY WHAT ARE YOU DOING’ at the top of my voice.  Got dressed it literally five minutes flat, and we were back out the door.  Thank god the ceremony was a five min drive away.  Turns out the bridal car had just arrived, and we would have been able to sneak up behind the waiting guests had we known about the back entrance; instead we had to run down the main steps (myself in a maxi dress, heels and statement necklace), much to the amusement of the 200 people at the ceremony.  WOOP.

The ceremony was beautiful; it was held in the Secret Garden, which is an amazing patch of lawn hidden behind stone walls and a magnificent staircase.  The bride descended said staircase; it was just like a fairy tale.  Magical.

The reception was held across the road at Indianas, which is an amazing sandstone building which sits on top of the sea.  The interior was amazing all lit up with candles; the view of the sunset over the water was TDF and the food was exquisite.  It was an amazing night – finished off with dancing, dancing and then more dancing.  Loved it.

The next day - after a bit of a sleep in on my behalf (okay so 7am is not really a sleep in but I did excuse myself from going for a run that morning) - I headed off into the city to meet up with my gf again.  Turns out the CBD is the only place open on Sundays.  They say this and you think ‘sure whatever’ but it is actually true.  NOTHING else is open.  Strange.

Anyway hit the shops again… and this time I picked up an electric blue and beige striped knit from Trenery; turns out the weather down south is going to be quite a bit cooler than I imagined, and my summery dresses, tanks and shorts probably wouldn’t cut the mustard warmth-wise.  So – not an impulse buy but more of a necessity purchase – a girl needs to be warm.  We hit up a popular Yum Cha for lunch in Perth’s version of China Town, and ate our weight in dumplings and bokchoy.  YUM.

The rest of the arvo slash night was spent at a post-wedding function; down at a beach bar called Salt saying goodbye to the happy couple.  Dinner then followed at the infamous Little Creatures brewery – and yes I have been to the Melbourne version on several occasions so I knew what I would be like but I was still chuffed to be in the original Perth version.  And, just like in Melbourne, the chips are TO DIE FOR.

The next day we checked out of our little apartment in Cottesloe.  I was sad to say goodbye (but pleased to no longer be sharing a room/bathroom/everything with two males).  Goodbye early morning beach runs, shopping at the Claremont Quarter, dinner at OBH and swimming at Scarborough.  I had a fabulous time – thank you.  Dropped the mate off at the airport – and next stop Margaret River.

And this is where I am.

Here are some images from the trip so far:

view from our vantage position. 3 whole hours before takeoff

cottesloe beach at 6:30am. Indianas/surf club on the right

amazing view from under the surf club at cottesloe

cottesloe beach another morning.  Indianas (reception venue) on the right

cafeteria under the surf club/Indianas

claremont quarter.  love it here

near scarborough beach. a shark was spotted here the very next day - AWESOME

the happy couple - gorgeous

the reception venue - amazing view over the Indian ocean

yum cha in Perth's *quaint* version of chinatown

a weird 'olde english' lane way in the city

the two measly items I have purchased so far.. and they don't even match

the infamous little creatures brewery in freo

So I shall leave the *longest post in the history of blog posts ever* and head outside.  I can see the sun poking its shining face through the clouds and since he has spent most of his time playing hide from us I am definitely going over to the beach to make the most of it.  I shall continue documenting my time west and stay tuned for the all-important Margaret River update.

Bring on the sun!

FFIFY xx

OH and thank you for all your finds lovelies... I have actually received the highest number of fashion finds throughout the course of my holiday.  As I am *relaxing* and *staying away from technology* (I am writing this whilst the bf is asleep) there may be a super slight delay in getting your personalised product packages back to you.  They are on their way - guaranteed xxxxx

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