31 Griffin Street

My Pa is selling his house soon. Selfishly, I am very very sad at the thought of him not living there anymore. This is the house in Geelong I have been going to my whole life. It's where my mum, aunt and uncle grew up. It's the house my Nanna passed away in. And when it sells it will probably be demolished to make way for flats.. the same thing that is happening in almost every city around the world.

Of course it makes sense that he moves somewhere more manageable for him and his wife Leila. But I struggle to think of him living anywhere else. He has been there 62 years. The bird cage out the back, the back room where his train set is, the swing in the back yard that I remember from my childhood, and even from my mum's childhood (seen in photos) - it's all a part of my memories visiting as a child and as an adult. 

I luckily got the chance to take a few photos when I was in Australia a month ago when I visited for a couple of days. These will help me never forget the front room full of family photos, the spoons that my Nanna used to collect and the cabinets in the kitchen full of fancy china never used. 

retro post :: sister trip to Iceland :: August 2014

Um wow. Iceland. What a place and what a trip. I will never ever forget it. My sister and I went last August for just over a week and saw so much more than I expected we would. 

We did it on the cheap and stayed in hostels so that we could afford to do some activities and eat all the seafood we could stuff in our faces! 

We travelled from the capital Reykjavik (I still have to look up how to spell it) down the south coast past mountains, glaciers and waterfalls to our first destination Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon. It was incredible what we saw, even just as we drove past. We then stayed in a tiny town called Hofn and had an incredible seafood dinner. 

The next day we backtracked the way we came as we didn't quite have enough time to continue up the east coast. It was a long day of driving and we stayed near a waterfall called Skogar. 

We then continued on to see the three most popular tourist destinations - Geysir (which was a little underwhelming), the waterfall Gulfoss (beautiful but Lauren and I have seen many a waterfall in our time so it takes a lot to impress us!), and national park and historic place Pingvellir (super interesting!).

After a quiet night in another hostel we continued on up the west coast to probably our favourite area we stayed - the Snaefellsness Peninsula. We spent a couple of days here, driving around and walking and exploring. The mountain in the middle of the national park has a glacier on top of it and is famous for being the beginning of the journey in Jules Verne's book "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth".

Our last night was spent near the airport as we had a super early flight back to the UK.

It was an incredible bonding experience for Lauren and I, one that I will never forget. We are planning to go back to see more of the island. I hope soon!