Belt, Tuck & Roll

I wore this dress for my birthday last year (see that post here) and its one of my favourites because its made of silk and so comfortable to wear. Now being the average heighted person I am, I find that a lot of Country Road dresses swamp me if I don’t add a pair of heels into the mix. After spending a week in work heels, I want the most comfortable, slipper like shoe possible!

To make a flat sole possible, I employed my favourite styling technique: the belt, tuck and roll. Basically, you take the thinnest belt you own to your midi dress and pull the fabric over to hide the belt so you’re left with a much shorter, weekend appropriate dress. To make sure people get the message that I’m doing Casual with a capital C, I like to add a cap, slip-ons and my trusty new bucket bag! Its not Mansur Gavriel but the structure is freaking amazing. You can’t get it online anymore, but definitely look into your closet Seed retailer for the last few 🙂

Recreate my look

Purse / Dress / Shoes / Cap / Watch

Topdeck NZ Northern Explorer

When I was initially researching this trip, I looked high and low for a review about this specific Topdeck tour but I couldn’t find anything that answered all my questions and was also recently published. Now that it has been almost a month since my return, I wanted to create a post for anyone who is looking to do the Northern Explorer tour in the future. I will be covering accommodation, food, attractions and the people 🙂

I booked my tour a few months in advance with STA travel but you can also book online directly through Topdeck’s own website. I would definitely recommend doing it in person through an agent because you can ask as many questions as you please, the price is exactly the same and you don’t have to pay the whole trip up front, only a small deposit. If you don’t want the hassle of booking flights and buying insurance separately, STA are happy to hook you up as well but if you want to save some money you can grab those through Webjet which is what I did.

Accommodation

My friend and I went together so we upgraded to twin share which was an extra hundred each. This was a really great decision on our part because our room was always much nicer and we would always have access to our own private bathrooms and amenities. I think the accommodation was fantastic in terms of variety, as you can see we stayed in a ski resort, a Maori Marae (which is the sacred meeting place) and also a small boat!

These are all the places we stayed at:

• Pre-Accommodation at Travelodge Hotel, Wellington
• Skotel Alpine Resort, Mount Ruapehu
• Maori Marae, Rotorua
• Sudima, Rotorua
• Rock the Boat, Bay of Islands
• Tanoa Paihia Hotel, Tanoa

Rotorua Museum of History & Art

Attractions

I paid for three optional extras: Hobbiton, Hell’s Gate mud spa and Rock the Boat. There is a ton of other cool things that you can also participate in such as white water rafting, zorbing, inflatable kayaking and bungee jumping.

Hobbiton: to read more about my Hobbiton experience, you can visit my first New Zealand post here.

Hell’s Gate: was a nice experience after having skipped way too many showers on this trip! We spent an hour in the hot mud and springs where our noses accommodated to the sulphurous scent of Rotorua.

Rock the Boat: this was my favourite part of our entire trip! For 22 hours we went on a tiny little boat and saw all 144 islands with a very enthusiastic local crew. There was a paint balling introduction, fishing for dinner followed by night kayaking which was breathtaking. We paddled out at 10pm and the water was filled with phosphorous algae so when we dipped our paddle or arm in the water, a beautiful trail of glow in the dark algae moved along with us. We also lay in our kayaks and looked up at the glowing night sky and it was quite magical 🙂 After kayaking, the brave kids jumped in for a swim. It was cold but so worth it because as we swam, the algae continued to glow and everyone felt like a mermaid. Once all warmth had escaped our bodies we jumped back out and sat by the fire. The next morning we went snorkelling and hiked up a lush island barefoot. I don’t think I’ve ever had that many adventures in under 24 hours!

The activities that were already included in our tour were just as great and the night at the Marae was my favourite. Some of the things included a hike in Tongariro which you can read more about in my previous post here, a rugby lesson at the NZ Sports Academy and a night learning about Maori culture including the haka and poi dances at the Marae.

If you choose not to participate in an activity you have the option of exploring the city yourself. None of the activities are affiliated with Topdeck so you can do as little or as much as you would like. Here’s a snap of me ‘skydiving’ and another of my friend bungee jumping.

Te Papa Museum

Food

Breakfast is included every morning at the location of the accommodation for the previous night. We had a combination of cold and hot breakfasts and three dinners were included. Lunch was always up to us and we were given the opportunity to go to grocery stores and stock up on water and snacks if we were heading somewhere remote.

People

For the trip we had a tour leader, a driver and an extra person who did both jobs whenever the main people were tired. No tipping is required and they were all very helpful. Most of the the other travellers were Australian like myself but around 30% were from overseas. We had a big group of almost 40 including people from the UK, US, Germany, France and Switzerland. The best way to describe the environment would be like a big school camping trip. I know tours like these have a reputation for being party tours but I think it usually depends on the group itself. This was a bit of a quiet group so there was no pressure to drink if you didn’t want to and the places we travelled to lacked night life so there wasn’t much on offer in terms of after hours entertainment.

Waiotapu Geothermal

Overall, Topdeck tours are very fast paced adventure packed trips. If you want to see lots of scenery, I wouldn’t recommend going on one because we were only allowed 10 to 30 minutes tops at some scenic lookouts. However, they are very well organised so you don’t have to do much thinking aside from getting to the bus on time.

Huka Falls

I never have much use for souvenirs so I only bought one thing for myself – a kiwi charm (only available to purchase in New Zealand) to finish off my pandora bracelet for 2015.

Hopefully this whopper of a post was helpful for some people. If you have any questions in general about Topdeck tours or more specific ones about the northern explorer I would be happy to answer them in the comments below. Thanks for reading and I’ll be back with a fashion post on Friday! Lets hope this weather clears up a bit too eh?!!

Winter Break Polarised

Semester two is well underway which means back to the daily rumble of 6am wake ups, 4 hour back to back lectures and multiple cups of English breakfast and green tea. Regardless, I feel like I’m excited for the next 13 weeks but ask me again next week and the answer may be something different. Here’s a collection of pictures from my break :). I also wanted to mention that my previous every 3 day posting was kind of confusing so if you check SS often, check every Monday and Thursday (or Sunday and Wednesday depending on where you live) for a brand new spanking post

Credit to DanielFoodDiary for Tim Ho Wan photo

DIY Marble Side Table

Thought I would up my bed side table game by hopping on the marble trend in the least expensive way possible. Considering marble will be out of trend within the next few years, I wanted to do something that would cost me next to nothing. I have been contemplating ordering marble contact paper for a few months now but some rolls cost up to $50 on Etsy which is ridiculous since my side table was probably less than half that price!

ONE To create this side table, print off several copies of this marble print (download here). Take out your drawer and unscrew the knob. TWO Then, trim off the whites of your marble paper and affix it to the surface of your drawer using a gluestick. THREE Neatly, cut away all excess paper and fold it behind. FOUR Measure a piece of contact paper large enough to cover the surface of the drawer and the edges too. FIVE Slowly peel back the contact backing and smooth it over your drawer. If you fail at contacting surfaces, maybe practice contacting some old magazines to ensure your final product is always bubble free. SIX Trim off excess contact and re-pierce the hole where the knob is meant to go. SEVEN Screw knob back into place and you are finished! EIGHT (option lol) Artfully style your DIY, take many photographs and boast to family and friends 😉 Make sure they always stand 5 metres away so they can’t tell if its actually marble or not.

OPTIONAL: Before attempting this side table, I actually made a jewellery holder first. I printed off the marble sheets, glued them to card stock, contacted the whole thing and affixed it to my cork board using white push pins.

Monsters Just Trees

I forget how picturesque Hyde Park is sans tourists. Must be why there is always at least one bride and groom getting their pose on. There’s so much green right now but I’ll definitely go back in the spring to see everything in bloom. I wore these jeans for some Sunday Funday shenanigans with the family squad. (HAHAHA you know you’re a social butterfly when you refer to your family as your squad). They are so comfy and I finally see the deal with boyfriend jeans. I hear girlfriend jeans are also a thing now? I’ll probably get on to them in another five years time.

Outfit Photography: Matthew

Stay Gold

I am finished with my first semester of university, exams and all! To celebrate, Adela and I went to our mecca that is Bondi Beach. Its a tourist spot, sure but its endless array of cafes dotted along the seaside is too attractive to pass off. After being holed up for a month, it was such a literal breath of fresh air to be outside. We grabbed brunch from Trio Cafe which is an all day breakfast place and we split the mango and lime buttermilk pancakes and raw salad both of which were de-li-cious and the portions were ge-ne-rous. Then we popped by Pressed Juices to grab something that was indeed, ‘positively life changing’ (as their slogan suggests) so we could have something to drink whilst we sat by the beach and just talked about how great everything was 🙂

I’m so glad I brought along my camera because we set it to self timer mode and went a bit crazy with candids. The following pictures are a few of the gems that I found; most notably, scenes of the sky changing colour as the sun set and Jasmine Dowling’s contribution to Bondi’s street art scene! These pictures remind me about a lot of things but above all else, to stay gold Ponyboy.

Shelfie

Did you know bookshelves say a lot about a person? Take the bookshelf test here and then share your shelfie with me! I am a bit OCD with my Ikea expedit shelves; I need them to be their aesthetic self but at the same time, I need them to be functional and hold as much junk as possible. Here are my tips!

ONE: Collect a bunch of boxes and magazine holders to store the unattractive bits. You can also buy very cheap binders and decorate them like I have done here a la Kate Spade.

TWO: Hold onto those champagne bottles, glass candles and jars and fill them with fresh, dead or fake flowers.

THREE: Display your favourite accessories that you never seem to get to use. For me, these are my quirky clutches and my cat flats which have died a bit.

FOUR: Let it go. Its basically impossible for your shelf to resemble a Pinterest shelf so don’t worry too much. Have fun, switch it out regularly and inject as much personality into your bookcase as possible. Magazines, gift bags, candles, travel memorabilia and picture frames are all great space fillers. Try stacking stuff sideways and if all else fails, shove it in a storage bin and try again tomorrow!

Entertainment By The Sea

The Way We Were // Entertainment by the Sea // Like a transplanted English seaside resort, Coogee Beach attracted large crowds of day-trippers pouring in by tram to enjoy a variety of entertainments, the stone wall promenade, separate swimming baths for men and women and netted enclosure for beach swimming.

I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of the beach even when its not the summertime. In some respects, the cloudier skies and stronger winds makes for an ever better Bondi to Coogee walk or in my case Coogee to Bondi crawl. We took our time on a fine Sunday, grabbing acai bowls from The Courtyard first for some pre strolling fuel before setting off at about 12 pm and making sure to stop and rest at all the beaches in between: Clovelly, Bronte and Tamarama. There are about 7000 beaches in Australia alone but for anyone visiting, this 6km walk will let you see five.

When I was in Santa Monica, California a few years back, I bought the cutest little trinkets from the boardwalk; little thong key rings filled with Cali sand. When I first heard about Little Pieces Of, I fell in love with the similarly designed concept too; pea sized glass bubbles filled with sand from your favourite beaches! You can even send your own collected sand to the amazingly multi talented artist: Katie Shriner and she’ll custom make you a necklace. It’s the perfect summertime momento – I know of a bride who had the sand she stood on for her wedding ceremony turned into a necklace too – how precious is that? Go have a stalk of the Online store, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. 

DIY Lipstick Clutch

I came across this clutch a couple of weeks ago and for a cool 450, you can make it your cutest night out bag. But today, I have a cheap as chips and easy as pie DIY that cost me less than 10 bucks and 10 minutes of my Friday night in. You’ll need a plain box style clutch (mine was $5 from Colette!), a used lipstick and a red rubber. Make sure you visit my blog again next week to see how I styled it for a night out!

Start by scooping out all your old lipstick and filling it with some glue instead. Cut off a chunk of your rubber to create the bullet. I was lucky enough to have a red rubber at my disposal but I think red polymer clay or bluetack stained red could possibly work as well. To ‘shape’ your bullet, rub it against a flat surface so the hard edges disappear. Then push your bullet in the hole and glue the entire lipstick to your clutch! Make sure you glue it on the back side so you can still open your purse.

Emojified / DIY Magnets and Lens Cap

These are stupidly easy DIYs but I thought they were a cute little idea that warranted sharing nonetheless. To add some cheekiness to your lens cap, print off your emoji of choice on some stock card. It might take some trial and error until you get it to the right size for your camera. Then attach some clear contact paper for gloss or you could use mod podge for a similar effect but lets be real – aint no body got time for dat. I affixed my emoji to my lens cap using your basic gluestick since I wasn’t sure how permanent I wanted this to be and it’s been working fine so far!

For the magnets, print off a whole lot of your favourite emojis – I recommend doing the ones that are easiest to cut out. I tried the dancing girl but she’s a bit too fiddly to cut out. Then affix them to magnet paper or if you’re thrifty like moi, scour the house for some free magnetic calendars. Place contact paper on top, cut the magnets out and bam, you have a much more animated and colourful life.