Once upon a fine winters morning I touched down in Melbourne for a little getaway from my own life. Earlier that year my cousin Isabella made the grand move from Brisbane to studying full-time at RMIT. She had set herself up in the lovely Brunswick area, which is where I was calling home for the next few days. 

On the first day I left for Melbourne I left Bella in Brisbane, so I had to make my way to her apartment in an area I wasn’t acquainted with at all. This was perhaps the most boring of all my days… Despite this, I was so stoked I was finally able to wear a jacket in the amazing Melbourne climate, so I rugged up and I wandered up and down Sydney Road craving chai lattes and lunch. I found a little popup Green Refectory and ate my body weight in all-day breakfast and sweets. From there I just kept wandering and waiting for Bella to arrive home. 

Keep scrolling through the photos to read more about my little trip.

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Digital photos taken with Fujifilm X-Pro2. Film photos taken with Hasselblad 500cm and 80mm f2.8. Film used was Portra 400 and Ilford HP5+.

My second day was perhaps the best. Bella and myself met up with her friend Eliza at the cafe she worked in, starting our morning (technically lunch) off the right way with chair and coffee in hand. We then ventured to NGV for a little arty day, and later on grabbed some beers in the city meeting up with more of Bella's friends.

As the sun began to set we ran home quickly to arrive just in time to purchases dinner necessities from the Mediterranean wholesales shop in Brunswick. We all soon realised my cousins place was very poorly stocked with the necessities to prepare a meal; such as a vegetable cutting knife, a cheese grater, a cork screw... but we made to with a blunt butter knife, pasta drainer, and screwdriver... The screwdriver was especially a nightmare and we ended up having to strain the wine of its cork remnants ahh!

Despite all of that we enjoyed red wine, Limoncello liqueur and a Mediterranean pasta on Bella's balcony, then ventured to the local pub for a few beers and some pool. 

The following day was a day well spent in bed watching The Handmaid's Tale and ordering Uber Eats McDonald's for our poor hungover souls...

After a long hungover day we decided to make the most of our fourth day together, so we headed to Fitzroy to meet up with another creative - Sophie Banh is one of Bella's textile design degree friends, as well as a gorgeous freelancer who creates marvellous textile and graphic designs. We all had a few beers and some pinxos together before heading back to Sophie's lovely home and spending the afternoon capturing some of her designs on digital and film.

Once I have my next post ready with the photos I took that day, I'll link it back in this post :3

The next day we all spent together again. Bella and myself decided that getting a little bit of exercises might be a good idea. It definitely wasn't. We walked from Brunswick to Fitzroy and I struggled the entire time wearing super uncomfortable Doc Martens... So very painful. We walked to the Melbourne museum and met up with Sophie, then, as per usual, got more beers, pizza, and cocktails. It was a lovely casual day of doing nothing. 

On our third and second last days together Bella and myself spent our time doing a little wandering. 

Our third final day we went for lunch at Lentils as Anything, eating our bodyweight vegan deliciousness, then enjoyed a casual walk about Abbotsford Convent. We walked around all the lovely gardens before deciding it was too cold, then headed inside. We found this cosy little nook with a couple of couches and relaxed reading for a couple of hours. I'm fairly certain Bella had a nap whilst I read most of the time... but that's okay, we had had a long few days and had consumed too much beer. 

The second final day we went for a walk from Brunswick to Ceres Community Environmental Park to cuddle chickens and relax in the greenery. It was a boring day of doing nothing, but sometimes those are the best days.... Then again, this followed by Thai curry takeout and beer, so it wasn't all that relaxing. 

Our final morning together was spent consuming all the foods and chai at Green Refectory, just like my first day in Melbourne. Very soon after this I said my cuddly goodbyes to Bells, got in my uber to the airport and caught my flight back to reality. 

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