I’ve boycotted every Madame Tussaud establishment around the world – it’s not really my thing, standing around with tourists all day gettingthisclose to a wax figure of a celebrity I can’t remember- but recently I visited the two month old Madame Tussaud’s in Sydney which opened in April 2012.

There are nine themed zones ranging from Who the hell is that?  to How the hell did you get his measurements, he’s been dead for 200 years? Not really, the zones are far more politically correct. In the Celebrity, Political Figures and Music zones, the wax figures included Barack Obama, Queen Elizabeth II, Angelina Jolie, Rhianna, Lady Gaga, the Dalai Lama, Gandhi, Johnny Depp, Nelson Mandela, Oprah, Michael Jackson, Brad Pitt and Leonardi DiCaprio to name a few. As you walk around the famous, there is always a faux paparazzi employee running around like a TMZ drop out trying to take your photos. I don’t want my photo taken but I would love a cup of tea.

There were Aussies littered through out, albeit mainly in the sporting and movie section and included Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Dawn Fraser, Greg Norman, Lleyton Hewitt and Rod Laver, Kathy Freeman, Keith Urban, Paul Hogan (ha!) Olivia Newton John, Elle McPherson, and Michael Hutchence (INXS). For those really familiar with OZ, the Flaming Galah himself, Alf Stewart is present and looks royally pissed off.

According to a well placed source who has been to London, LA and Sydney Madame Tussaud’s, Sydney is the smallest with 70 wax figures over 1,800sqm but it is one of the most interactive and has no photographic limitations on guests.

Sydney is an expensive city and entrance fees hover around $30-$40 per attraction which can quickly eat away at your budget. If you book your tickets online you can save  10%. My suggestion if you intend on visiting 2 or more of the attractions at Darling Harbour buy a combo pass online. If you pay in person for both  Madame Tussaud’s and the Sydney Aquarium you will pay $35 for each totalling $70 for one adult. An online combo ticket will give you entry to both for $49.50 saving you $20.50 per adult. Note: The attraction you buy the combo pass from is the attraction you must enter first. Also, if you cannot visit all  attractions on your combo pass, after the first one you have three months to use the others.

Have you been to any of the Madame Tussaud’s? What did you think?

Jørn Utzon

There are very few things that get me excited these days aside from pistachio macaroons, but my inner 10-year-old self insisted I do something I’ve always wanted to do –  tour the inside of the Sydney Opera House.  

Every time I venture into Circular Quay, I swear another 300,000 people have relocated there and are coincidently in line for everything I need. If they aren’t in front of me they are running past me; when I see people running in areas like a ferry terminal, I do not think of exercise, I think, who the hell are the running from? Annoyances aside, I walked the 3 minute route from Circular Quay ferry terminal to the Sydney Opera House for an inside tour of the world heritage listed building.

The tour meeting point was at the lower level, and a bubbly middle-aged woman who sounded suspiciously like Theodore from Alvin and the Chipmunks, walked up and introduced herself while handing out audio headsets. The tour started with a short climb of stairs and an introductory video that outlined the history of the building – in short, that there was an international competition for architects to design a new opera house. The Dane, Jørn Utzon, won in 1957.

For those living under a rock and are not aware, (while I applaud you for living green, living under a rock is limiting your Vitamin D intake and  your chances with the opposite sex) the Opera House is directly across from the Harbour Bridge and the tour offers panoramic views of the Harbour. The Opera House holds 1600+ performances a year and is one of the busiest performing arts centres in the world.

The Concert Hall is, without an ounce of hesitation, breathtaking. It is one of the most intimate stage settings I have seen, and with the size of the seats, no bigger than on a  plane, you might have to get intimate to get comfortable. It has the Grand Organ, one of, if not the largest mechanical tracker action organs in the world with over 10,000 pipes. It is here that we were able to sit and listen to the Sydney Orchestra practice the ‘Tribute to Gershwin.’

At the Opera Hall, I watched (with much interest)  the male counterparts of the Australian Ballet flex some serious gluteus maximus while simultaneously falling in love with Christopher Rodgers-Wilson. For those trying to avoid flexing their own gluteus maximus, the tour consists of around 200 steps (though thankfully for those with ‘no-thankyou exercisus’ a notable few are descending.)

The tour duration was roughly 1.5 hours though I previously saw it advertised for 1 hour. My group was full of teenage American girls asking politely but not too subtly to stay at the Ballet. When the tour guide started talking about how hard it was for men to do the splits we called it a wrap. The ticket for an adult is $29, online concessions for Australian seniors and students. Family discounts available.

There are many, many things to do in Sydney as this is only one of them but to be honest, it should be in your top 3. It is quintessentially Sydney.

Have you toured inside of the Sydney Opera House? What did you think?

It’s probably not a shock that I am preparing to travel around the world again. What’s even less of a shock is I have no idea what to pack to visit the US, UK, Europe and Africa in one suitcase for three seasons.

In the US; Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, New Orléans, New York, and Chicago are booked. I’ve been to all of them before but there is always something I never got to see or do. (Such as Alcatraz)

After touring  the US, I am travelling to Europe again. London is the first stop, one of my favourite cities. From this prime location, I will be flying all over Europe trying to avoid places I have already been and the phone calls from my Russian friends trying to drag me back to Moscow.

After a couple of months and a possible trip back to Australia on one of the longest commercial flights in the world, it’s back to the USA. I was offered a scholarship to study on the East Coast a few miles away from some great medical centres and intern/fellowship opportunities. I’m under the impression the nucleus of the world is somewhere between Harrisburg and Philadelphia as I always end up there.

I am really the last person who needs one but I have started a bucket list. My top 5 cities to try my hardest to get to visit/revisit are;

1. Morocco
2. Cairo
3. Delhi
4. Cape Town
5. Pompeii

Maybe it’s time I signed up for a frequent flyer scheme.

What top 5 places/things to do are on your bucket list? 

For the true basics, all you need is a great cleanser, moisturizer and sunscreen (Aesop is my go to brand) but there are two products I always spend more on – a good primer and highlighter. If I am being lazy, mascara and a bronzed highlighter in my moisturizer are all I use.

Prime Time

Most women I know don’t own any type of primer. Understandably with 7000 products already in the cupboard you hardly need another. But primers are the starting point in the make up process of having a flawless complexion. When used under your foundation, a primer creates an invisible layer between your skin and the foundation, acting as a buffer to outside elements. I often use Nars Pore Refining Primer $32. It’s oil free, refines the look of pores, regulates shine and mattifies the skin.

In terms of ingredients this isn’t too bad for a non organic product. It has pure lentil seed extract, butterbur root, Vitamins A, C and E, no alcohol, oil or synthetic-fragrances and is non-Comedogenic and Dermatologist tested.

I have been using Nars’ primer for about three months as I have been a devoted user of MAC’s primer for years $33. Laura Mercier has a great primer also for around $30. For a decent primer, I would expect to pay between $30 – $50 but it’s worth it.

Tip: Keep primer in the fridge. The coolness will reduce puffiness

An illuminator / Highlighter:

While I love St Tropez’s illuminators in Violet, I always rely on Nars Laguna highlighter. While a highlighter and illuminators are different, the Laguna is a bronzed highlighter so I mix it with my moisturizer and use it for an overall lightly bronzed finish. Nars are renowned around the world for their great highlighters from the cult classic Orgasm to the newer G-Spot (seriously!). Try asking for them with male company, guaranteed they will say wtf at least six times.

These highlighters can be used as either a highlighter or an illuminators and they have won accolades from InStyle magazine, among many others, as the “best overall highlighter’ (2011) Laguna was named best bronzer for fair skin in InStyle. They are quick and easy to apply, have multiple purposes, (bronzer, illuminators, highlighter or used on eyes and cheeks) are natural looking and enriched with vitamin E and açai.

If you are looking for a highlighter to define your cheekbones with, I would suggest Nars highlighter in Orgasm or one of my favourites, Benefit’s High Beam $26.

Do you use a primer or highlighter/illuminator?

All products listed have been personally used. These products work well for me – fair skin, green eyes and naturally light blonde hair.

My last MacBook accompanied me to over 14 countries. It was scanned through so many airports it needed its own passport. It held my life – photos, emails, letters, memories, documents, reminders, favourite apps, TV shows, movies and my gigantic iTunes collection. I decided to give her to my brother and upgrade to the impressive MacBook Pro.

I purchased it for nearly $1500 (including a 3 year international warranty and I got a $100 iTunes voucher for free). One has to ask is it worth it for a four year life span? For me, most definitely.

The MacBook Pro was quick to seduce me. While not overly enthusiastic about the black keys (iSkins, where are you?) it includes so many features it would be impossible to find too many faults whether you use it for business, personal use, as a student or like my friend, as a very expensive storage system for her photos. I use it for all four.

It comes with 4GB of memory, a display screen of 1440 x 900 pixel resolution, a user-friendly operating system, an Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost 2.0, an HD camera, 500GB of hard drive memory and up to seven hours of battery life on a single battery charge. The speakers come with subwoofers, an antiglare screen, 15.4-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy or optional antiglare widescreen display, multi-touch trackpad, and a built-in 77.5-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery.

Shopping online has never been so much fun. (Or expensive)!

Do you own a MacBook Pro? What are your favourite programmes?

Walking through Kensington Market there is evidence of a distinct smell. If it were a perfume the top notes would be nutella crepes, bananas and patchouli which fade into a wet wood aroma. The base notes that linger on your skin, layer scents of fresh lettuce, a hint of marijuana and citrus berries. The area is a bohemian eclectic hang out full of hipsters, vegan non fun-only students, and tourists walking around aimlessly trying to find out why it’s so hip and what the hell gluten is.

The reason I go to Kensington when I am in town is for the food. My favourite two stops are Wanda’s Pie in the Sky and Fresco’s Fish n Chips. Fresco’s have brilliant chips and moist fresh fish, and Wanda’s serves delicious fresh salads and super yummy Muskoka ginger ale. I have written about both of these places before, but for those new to the blog, Wanda’s Pie in the Sky is famous for it’s freshly prepared salads, quiche, sandwiches, muffins and divine gluten-free (of course) cup cakes. Afterwards, to wash it all down, head over to the Cloak and Dagger pub which has 18 different types of beer on tap.

In 2006, Kensington was designated as a National Historic Site of Canada.

Have you been to Kensington Markets? What was your favourite thing to do?

I grew up in Australia only 20 metres above sea level. A place where it’s 30 degrees on average most days and I have fair skin that tans well but is sensitive. It had taken me years to find a product that I loved and that worked for my skin no matter where I was – in sub tropical northern Australia, 10,000 feet above sea level in the US or in -40 degree weather in Russia. After much searching, drawers and drawers of useless products later and thousands of dollars I found Aesop.

I walked into Sydney’s Pitt Street Mall’s Aesop and spoke with a very smooth-faced gentleman (who I was convinced was wax). He reinforced that your skin type, environment where you live, and the climate need to be considered when choosing skin products. Aesop consultants are excellent at this. They do not recommend you buy anything they would not recommend for your skin type and based on their skin evaluation, if it does not work for you take it back with a receipt and get an exchange.

I love the Camellia Nut Facial Hydrating Cream Complex (consisting of both Vitamin E and A) which is super hydrating (but not oily) moisturizer that is a blend of nut and plant extracts that’s absorbed quickly. I also love that it provides almost instant relief from dryness. No matter where I am, or what I am experiencing in terms of travelling, this nifty and quite frankly amazing moisturizer fixes my skin every time.

I also use the Fabulous Facial Cleanser religiously. It is a mild, olive-based cleanser enhanced with extracts of hydrating Aloe Leaf and anti-oxidant Green Tea. It lightly foams and leaves the skin bright, clean and feeling youthful and fresh.

Aesop Parsley Seed products are huge as well for their hydration and non greasiness. Aesop seem to fill the gap for people who have skin that is sensitive and needy. Those who skin is sensitive to the sun, burns easily but still needs moisture without over hydrating. Or those who skin is oily but dries out easily with the wrong soaps and products. Aesop is perfect.

A few months ago I overheard a fellow travel agent say, “This young girl came in for a brochure on the Amazon. What’s so good about the Amazon? Can’t be that good; there are things in it that would rather live in me knob.” While this guy is a bit of a knob himself, I asked what the bollocks was going on and how it was possible to link his knob to the Amazon. Karl Pilkington is apparently whats going on. And this slow little duckling finally caught up with the pack….there was a new Ricky Gervais/Stephen Merchant travel docucomedy on TV.

A shite faux-pommy accent quickly darted into my left ear, “”China’s grey enough, why would you want to see it in HD?” Then another, “(In reference to the Pyramids) You don’t see that in the brochure. Shitty old nappy whizzing through the air. They tend to leave that out.” The pyramids are apparently as shite as the faux accent.

This was my introduction to Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s, “An Idiot Abroad” Series 1. A TV series based on the deadpan, critical and highly sarcastic traveller (Karl Pilkington) being sent on travel quests to the seven wonders of the world – from Egypt to Brazil to China. He has been given a chance to visit the most fascinating places on earth and spends the entire time complaining it’s bollocks, shite and whingeing he wants to go home. Rather than find him painfully annoying he is a brilliant catalyst of a modern satire. I was in tears – literally – one episode from laughter.

Karl represents the throngs of people so wrapped up in the securities of the western world they are unable or unwilling to see the cultural benefits of being immersed in a third world or non english speaking country. In trying to broaden his horizons, Stephen and Ricky manage to broaden his passport mileage but perhaps not his discomfort with the unfamiliar that travel forces you to experience. But it is painfully funny in the true uncomfortable humour style Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington are famous for.

The second series focuses on Ricky and Stephen making Karl choose things from a bucket list of things everyone else (except himself) want to do before they die. In this series he is flown to Australia to swim with dolphins only to find himself in a rattling shark cage which he keenly observes, “I’ve seen sturdier shopping trolleys.” If you are familiar with Karl Pilkington you know he is fluent in pessimism which makes this second season even funnier as he chooses the things from the list and still can’t stand them.

I have been in love with Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais since The Office UK and Extras, pretty much everything they are known for, so when An Idiot Abroad was released and I was completely unaware of it, I thought Christmas had come early. I spent a whole weekend watching each season back to front. And it’s still my favourite show.

If you are looking for a hilarious, satirical TV show to think about, to laugh at and ponder I would suggest this one. I don’t watch TV at all except for the above mentioned Gervais and Merchant shows (except Dexter) I would highly recommend this one to you.

You can buy Series 1, Series 2 and Karl Pilkington’s An Idiot Abroad Diaries. 4.5/5

Did you enjoy this show as much as I did?

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The fat kid with a bow and arrow is making a nuisance of himself once again. Not one for flying the flag against childhood obesity, he blatantly promotes it while nude – that’s the only way one understands the meaning of love obviously – through the ass cheeks of a chubby child holding a weapon used to maim and injure.

Valentines Day isn’t my favourite holiday. I prefer Christmas for the glimmer of hope that Ryan Gosling will somehow be stuffed down my chimney. Instead on Valentines day all you see is disgruntled and unprepared men filling the supermarkets looking for semi cheap but decent chocolates and flowers that have not wilted for less than $20. Women are disgruntled that they’re getting chocolates and flowers again but pleased the flowers she secretly hates have not wilted while she wraps his socks she found on special. By the end of it all, I want the fat little kid to shoot me in the head with the arrow and blow my face off Robin Hood style.

So I propose to this to you; make this Valentines Day one you’ll remember. Whether it be a loved one, a wife, a fool around buddy you want less fooling around with and more ‘around’, an ex, a girlfriend or if it’s your best friend, the girl who got away….I dare you to give them your heart in an honest, heartfelt and real way. They will treasure it. I was given a Michael Kors watch this year;  the most beautiful watch I have ever seen and it had to have cost at least $500 but I still prefer the handwritten note that accompanied it.

A letter does not blush. - Marcus Cicero

Grab a good quality pen and a luxuriously silky piece of paper.(I love this company). If you have a present picked out already, use a beautiful card to add to it. Now imagine never seeing the person you love again. Imagine them gone; in another country, on another planet, in another marriage, in a coffin, in the arms of someone else. Whatever it takes to make you feel like you have lost them completely. Imagine never seeing their eyes stare at you again, never have the touch of a hand, or an embrace in a hug, never kiss, never talk to each other. Imagine you have become strangers.

Now write and tell them everything you wish you had said but never did. Tell them things you perhaps did say once or twice, but say it again. Write what you have always wanted to say but never had the guts too. Having done this exercise myself, I got the crushing realisation I loved someone far more than I thought I did. I left my crushed, defeated heart on the paper and it made me realise what I really wanted. Him.

One of the cards I received this year from a friend by letterhappy on etsy.com

Whether you send it in the mail as a keepsake, or you frame it with a bow or even if you write it and destroy it – the best Valentines Day gift was just given. You just gave someone your heart. There is nothing more a person can do than lay down their feelings on paper and hand it over as gently (or aggressively) as they would their heart. It is a sole bearing exercise and perhaps a life changing (for good or bad) consequence but a Valentine’s Day gift that outshines any other that you have ever given as this one is part of you they can keep forever whether you stay together or not.

How many people do you know do not like being told they are liked/loved? Exactly. Doing it in words, to the beat of your own drum is romantic, charming and thoughtful. And that’s what Valentines Day is about right? The letter will be looked at over and over during the years, perhaps handed down to children, it could end up sitting on the wall of a home for generations, in an album. It could end up folded and unread for years, it could be burned in a rage of…passion. At least you had the guts to say it.

“Now that she had nothing to lose, she was free.” ― Paulo Coelho. Try it.

How are you planning on spending the day?

Australia has flourished into one of the most economically successful first world countries in the world. Australia reads more newspapers per capita than any other nation. It’s also roomy: the average world population density is 117 people per square mile, that of the United States 76. Australia’s is only 6. (This ratio does not apply to the beach or even Pitt Street Mall, where your personal space is rented out by the minute).

It’s often a running joke that the English banished their petty (and not so petty) thieves from the gloomy, wet and miserable motherland to the land down under – which, on the backs of the convicts hard work, has become one of the most desired destinations in the world and a place the modern day Brits choose to holiday in.

I took my first trip to the Hyde Park Barracks Museum a few weeks ago. These restructured barracks (a World Heritage site) were the architectural vision of Francis Greenway, a convict himself. They held around 50,000 male convicts from 1819 to 1848. State records show many were charged with property crimes and served either life terms, 7 or 14 years transportation. Can you imagine returning home after 14 years on the other side of the world, taken against your will for a crime as petty as stealing a loaf of bread? I’d storm into my lounge room, “Yo, that bread better have tasted good mofo’s cos from now on, your getting’ your own. I’m bloody knackered, innit.” I suspect I would not enjoy the simple things anymore – like carbohydrates. (Innit, mofo and knackered would all be around in 1848. My example convict was a linguistics pioneer as well as bread stealer)

Less than 20 years after the convicts left the barracks, the buildings became a government asylum for female immigrants; often used for destitute women and was known as “Hyde Park Asylum.” After the 50^th Anniversary of Queen Victoria’s reign in 1887, the barracks became a public administration centre and were used by public servants and legal workers until the late 1970′s. Progressing from convict barracks to an asylum to a building for government workers isn’t such a huge transformation. I’m not shocked that the asylum sounds the most exciting of all three. Or that Queen Victoria’s name is sandwiched between it all.

I digress. Hyde Park Barracks, is today, a Museum dedicated to itself. From the outside it looks incredibly well maintained until you learn of its reconstruction on and around the original barracks. (Original walls and flooring are found inside and are preserved) It almost looks like an exclusive private school – the type you see in documentaries with a boy talking; his face blurred and voice muffled as a sex scandal is uncovered and investigated. The boy says something along the lines of not being able to sleep facing away from the door since 1927 and you become awkward watching it and leave the room even though you had nothing to do with it.

The museum itself covers a diverse and rich history of the convicts themselves through their own personal recollections and belongings. The museum showcases pictures, documents, artefacts, personal objects, tools, torn bibles, original uniforms and shoes, fabrics and utensils found in the historical evidence of an excavation of the area. (A good percentage were salvaged by rats. Good news! They do come in handy. Once in a century, or thereabouts).

I love history and I find this museum a quintessential must do in Sydney. It gives a deeper historical context to the Sydney CBD and Australian history in general as well as a greater understanding and appreciation of the lives that dwelled here.  I find it disturbing that in our day and age someone can avoid prison for murder but a little boy as young as 10 years old paid for stealing a loaf of bread with a cross Atlantic deportation.  And in honor of these people, and the lives that were lost, stolen, degraded, lashed, overworked or on the flip side; the convicts who worked their way to freedom and wealth, our country owes much to you. Just as we salute soldiers that fight in wars I often think we forget to thank the people who built the town in which we live and the vital infrastructure that sustains it. I would highly recommend this museum. (Unless you are easily bored with history, then stay at the café and order a latte)

INFO: Hyde Park Barrack Museum is at….where its always been. Queens Square, Macquarie Street, Sydney, NSW 2000. Phone: 02 8239 2311 Admission: Adult $10 Child/Concession $5 Family $20. Hours: Daily 9.30am — 5.00pm | Closed Good Friday and Christmas Day.

Have you ever been to Hyde Park Barracks Museum? What did you think?