A Day at National Gallery of Australia

A day at the National Gallery of Australia visited March 2019; near Parliament House, the High Court of Australia and next door to the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra Australia. Photos taken by Hai and I with my Canon D70 DSLR and Google Pixel 3 Phone

Hai and I visited the National Gallery of Australia which is located in the heart of Australia: Canberra. Lots of people think Sydney or Melbourne is the capital city but no, it's actually peaceful and sleepy Canberra. Driving there is three hours from Sydney and its long straight highways and once you reach Canberra, the roads are just wider and even quieter. 

We even followed Google Maps and you know how the roads get coloured orange when there is predicted delays due to lots of traffic? Well we got to one of those orange coloured roads and expected lots of cars but in reality it was only ONE car. The delays were minimal but because Canberra is so sleepy this must have been big news, haha.

One of the main reasons Hai and I made this trip was to visit the amazing exhibition Yayoi Kusama's The Spirits of the Pumpkins Dsecended into the Heavans which is the bright yellow installation you see in my photos. It was so unique and the artist really gets her to immerse yourself in her claustrophobic and infinite space world. It's now closed but we were happy to visit at the time especially since we were in lockdown since March 2020. 

One of my favourite things to do is to visit museums or art galleries and I've visited so many. I personally like going by myself because I enjoy the peace and quiet (but I also like the sound of echoed foot steps?) and I love to admire all the artworks and reading the artist's back stories and inspirations. I always bring my glasses because I read everything, especially in the low lighting situations that galleries seem to love so much.

And I absolutely take my time, I don't like being rushed. I walk around with my arms crossed, studying hard, and bend over backwards to try and understand a piece of art from corner to corner. And If I had more time, I usually circle a museum or art gallery twice because often I'd find I miss something the first time around. 

For this visit, I was with Hai and we walked around together. Hai was very patient with me. There was lots of areas to explore and there were spaces dedicated to eras and countries of origin. He sometimes left me alone to explore and he took some pretty photos of me when the area was quiet. He's a good husband, hehe. Afterwards I of course browsed the gift shop and picked up some books to take home, which is also one of my favourite things to do. I can spend hours in bookshops. But since I already spent many hours in this gallery, I made sure to make my book purchases quick so we could head out and grab a beer during Canberra's Happy Hour.

The Circle at Mayfield Gardens

Wearing: Beanie from Nasty Gal; Bettina Liano Jeans; Boots from Asos

Visiting: Mayfield Gardens during Winter Festival, 530 Mayfield Road, Oberon, NSW 2787. Winter Festival fee per person: $26.00 AUD per person. Last garden entry is 3pm. The garden shuts at 4:30pm (during Winter). All photos taken by me and Hai with Canon D70 DSLR

While visiting Mayfield Gardens, we found this amazing Stone Circle in the middle of the field. It was so pretty we stopped to take some photos. Visiting these gardens have been one of the very few highlights during this pandemic. It's a good reminder that we have to stay positive and try to live life as normally as we can during these hard times.

These days, I'm often thinking about staying healthy mentally. It's hard when you can't spend time with your friends and family. Seeing people in real life and physical contact can really life your spirits and feel connected.  I love a good hug, even when sometimes I can appear cold or nonchalant. It melts me. Laughter or a hug is always the best medicine!

My deep subconscious thoughts tell me that if Covid-19 doesn't get me, mental illness will. I have some family members with mental illness so I take it very seriously and keep tabs on myself. Spending time with friends and family helps me alot, so I encourage my friends to try and come out (while practising social distancing and taking extra precautions) so they can get out of the house and claim some normality. I know everyone feels out of place these days. I also want to take care of my loved ones. Life is hard enough as it is and sometimes we just need a break where we can possible.

Keep your chin up, take a break every once in a while, take care of everyone <3

An Autumn day at Breenhold Gardens, Mount Wilson

Breenhold Gardens, 29 The Avenue, Mount Wilson NSW 2786 Australia. Visited in April. Photos taken by myself and Hai with my Canon D70 DSLR

Entry fee: $12.50 for adults; $5 for children (12 years or older); Free for children 12 years and younger. EFTPOS available; Free parking on site.

Ah, isn't Autumn beautiful? It's honestly my favourite season. The yellows, oranges and reds of the leaves makes me so happy. I love hearing the crunch of them beneath my feet and when the air starts to feel crisper. It is most beautiful when you're driving through country NSW when you see quaint houses framed by the colourful trees, grounds and a bright blue sky.

I like to stick my hand out of the car window to feel the cool air on my fingertips while humming to whatever is on the radio. Roadtrips are my favourite escape.

The Breenhold Gardens is a wonderful destination in Autumn. Its a huge 45 hectares filled with gardens, shrubs, native bushland and fauna. It's easy to spend hours here exploring the grounds and that is what we did. It took us two hours to circle around, and that's not including eating our packed lunch. Take a map from the front and this will make your life much easier because there is so much to admire.

I visited this place more then a year ago. I had planned to come here again in 2020 but yeah, lockdown happened. I hope everyone is going well and trying to stay safe.

I managed to gain some of my sanity back after I was allowed to work in the office three days a week and from home two days. This happened for about three weeks and I was coping.

NSW was doing really well and we were able to start resuming life almost as if a pandemic had never happened.

Then a week ago we had 2 confirmed Covid-19 cases in one of the pubs ten minutes drive from my house. Some of my co-workers frequent this pub and they got tested (they got a negative test result) but now because I live so close to this pub, I have been ordered to work from home indefinitely. My residential area is now a 'hot-spot'. And now I've been shunned from the office. My office closed its borders to me! TT

When my boss called me and told me to stay home forever I was not prepared so I told her to wash my coffee cup because I thought I would be returning the next day. Now I'm stuck at home with a bunch of work documents I wish I didn't take home. At least I still have my good calculator.

I then went to my bedroom to sombrely pack away all my nice office clothes and bring out my UGG boots again. Not looking forward to going back to my old routine of the past three months - "Same Bottoms, Rotating Tops" and eating sandwiches due to laziness. 

I am so not cut out for Work From Home. I need human interaction and I get lonely. I didn't know this about myself before lock-down and I was almost prideful that I like to be independent and enjoy my own company/ But I need my friends,especially face to face contact. It's endearing to know this about me but its not endearing when I actually have to be in lock-down.

So, I spent the rest of my evening preparing more Walkman playlists to listen to while I'll be working from home. The connection I feel from listening to music somehow pulls me through. I like to discover new artists and consume their whole discography for the whole day. I'm currently doing that with BTS and I have no regrets.

 I'll continue to keep up my blogging to remind myself of my life before lock-down. I cant believe we   missed out of the entire Autumn of 2020 and I barely got to see Winter. Wish me luck.