We meant to drive up Cradle Mountain during the day, but left it too late and nightfall came and we were still on the road…. Snow started falling as well. We called the hotel to check if it was safe to drive up and they said that it was. Nevertheless I started to feel a bit nervous because parts of the mountain road looked like it didn’t have side barriers, and not having driven up those roads before – I didn’t know how far down the drop was (later on when we were driving down, I found out that it was perfectly safe). We got to the hotel and snow started falling quite furiously. Luckily they had a fireplace lit up in the lobby and our room had a spa that we could fill with hot water to soak in.
When we woke up in the morning, it was like winter wonderland outside our windows… 🙂
Went walking/hiking in the wilderness. One of the most stunning walks we’ve ever been to. Simply amazing. And coooooooooooooooooold. 😉
We went to the Philippines to attend my cousin’s massive (400+ guests from around the Philippines/overseas) and opulent wedding, as well as soak in all the sites. Manila was in equal measures riveting and terrifying – the performance walk called Walk this Way was very passionate and provided a peak into the history of this crazy city, whist the airport post-Typhoon Mario was as stressful as these photos can attest to. Palawan was a real paradise and am not surprised it’s starting to turn up in various must go to destinations all over the place. I’m kinda hoping they stop writing about it so much, so that it can remain unspoilt from excess tourism, but that’s not how the world works. I was quite lucky that one of my maternal grandmothers lived in Puerto Princessa in Palawan w/ her family and she took us around to see various things over the 5 days we were there. We managed to get to the Subterranean River in Sabang Island on Day 2, and did some spelungking at Ugong Rock on day 3. Day 4 we went to Bakers Hill & got egged on by my grandmother to try Tamilok (a woodworm which is one of their specialty’s in Palawan) at dinner, and day 5 was just chilling in the baywalk before our flight back to Cebu for the wedding. After the grand occasion we had some time to do a day trip to Oslob to visit the famous whale sharks, and light some candles at the sprawling Simala Church. This church is something to behold. It’s some kind of naive architecture designed by one of the local nuns and it’s absolutely massive – and it’s only partly finished.
Dunsborough XmasVintage Car Collection at Aravina Winery
I teach when I am not doing arty/creative projects, so it was back to work for most of the year, but we did go to Perth for Xmas. In Perth we got to see the Bell Tower, Elizabeth Quay while it was under construction, Hillary’s Boat Harbour and Dunsborough. We stayed in Dunsborough for several days and it is seriously one of the most beautiful places I have been to. There were some 50 vineyards next to each other next to pristine beaches! We made a point of going to Aravina, the winery that had a really cool vintage car collection on display, as well as the Margaret River Chocolate Factory. Because it’s Christmas after all… 🙂
So that was my 2014. Incredibly grateful for all the happiness and blessings.
Hope you had a good one too! See you in the New Year 🙂
