week twenty five | battambang, cambodia

When I was a little girl I always dreamt of being able to travel for work … and at age 22 I actually get to!   A couple of weeks ago, just one week before Christmas, Tom, Adam, Steve and I boarded our flights for our three working-day trip to Battambang Cambodia.

I have been to Cambodia a couple of times as a child, and while I had never been to Battambang itself the fact it was only about 3hrs from Bangkok meant I felt completely at home - and also a little silly for not arranging a pre or post-trip visit to my friends in Bangkok (next time guys!).

We were visiting Battambang to meet with one of Oaktree’s partners and to film for the upcoming Live Below The Line (LBL) campaign; my job (as the boys will happily point out) was really just logistics and supervision of the team as most of the heavy lifting had been done pre-departure.

We were actually only in Battambang town for three days, but were lucky enough to do quite a bit during our down-time, most of which consisted of naps in hammocks, catching up on some reading and drinking about a million watermelon shakes (which are my absolute favorite).

Battambang is Cambodia’s second biggest city, with a population of 4 million  people – although I don’t think you could tell that by being there because of the lack of hustle and bustle on the streets and also because of the absence of tall buildings.  The city itself is built along a wide river and like Bangkok, the cool weather at dusk brought everyone out of their homes ready to spend time with family and friends, walk in the gardens by the river, work out on the outdoor exercise equipment and join some kick ass public aerobics classes.

Cambodia is a beautiful place, filled with an incredibly sad history, but also with so much hope and promise for the future. Meeting the people who worked at our partner project was hugely inspirational and I could not be more thrilled with the work they are doing there.

Apart from work, we also ate lots of great food, made some lovely friends, ate some more great food, drank a few beers, ate a few fried crickets and cockroaches, lost a pub quiz, got massages and took a ride on the legendary “bamboo train”. Then we blinked and it was all over … just four days later we got back on a plane and headed home.

It was awesome.

TRIP RATING: 5/5 WATERMELON SHAKES

week twenty four | richmond, victoria

If you view life as one big adventure then it’s safe to say I adventure in Richmond quite a lot. My office is based right by Richmond train station and so many a happy lunch time is spent wondering along Swan Street searching out good food and hunting down the best cafes to work in when the office internet has cracked the shits. Richmond, unlike the north, is a very shiny place. Filled with lots of young beautiful people with high heels and good hair – not that the north lacks beauty but boy does it feel different. 

It’s actually a really nice part of town, with many excellent food options as well as some cute shops selling things you see in pintrest for far too much money.

On the other side, a little further from our HQ is a road called Bridge Road, still filled with café’s and bars but also filled with a strange assortment of clothing outlets and bridal shops. It’s all a little odd, and quite frankly with so many ‘For Lease’ signs everywhere at the moment it’s starting to feel more like a ghost town then I remember.

On good sunny days we try and take meetings outside, get some sun and fresh air. With so many gardens so close it’s easy to find a shady grassy spot to set up near the Richmond football team’s practice field and the MCG stadium. We also take a good number of strolls when talks need to be had outside office walls, many a good good life check in’s happen in the narrow streets filled with tiny homes and picket fences.

I love working in Richmond, it has a good feel to it and is perfectly situated close to my other job, the city, and my place - all the good things. I’m pretty lucky to spend a few mornings a week riding into work, grabbing a quick coffee from a friend and starting the day in the sunshine ready to get to work on projects I adore and work I believe in.

TRIP (AREA) RATING: 4/5 COFFEE MEETINGS

week twenty three | thornbury, victoria

It’s pretty hard to believe that I’ve lived in my little flat in Thornbury for two and a half years. It has been home and marked some of the best of times and some of the worst.

In the last couple of years Thornbury has also grown, from the daggy northern friend of trendy Northcote to the tiny pocket of excellence it is now. We’ve got far more cafes, bars, restaurants, shops, and general cuteness then ever before so I thought I would make mention of my 3 favorite Thornbury things – while not strictly an adventure for me, it could one day be for you.

1)   Jerry Joys café.

Just around the corner from my flat this is everyone’s go to café and you’ll find me here at least 3 mornings a week with a different assortment of my best friends drinking too much coffee and eating their fantastic food. It is also our go to stop for take away coffee when we have to drive somewhere very far very early. It is also my solid working café and has been the setting to many a uni essay or a planning morning.

2)   Rossmoyne Street.

This is my flat mate Clare’s top pick. Just three streets down from my home is a street from picture books with a committee of homeowners that do lots of fun ‘street event’ type things. Anything from street parties, street wide garage sales, street involved working bees, communal flower beds and veggie patch’s as well as the icing on the cake – the Rossmoyne street annual scarecrow competition, judged by Steve the mail man. It’s all charm, it’s all cuteness.

3)   Pender’s Park.

My ‘backyard’ of sorts - this little block of grass complete with a cute playground always covered in kids, a solid barbeque area and even a basketball hoop. Flat living is nothing new to me but it’s so nice to have this park so close by where we can eat dinner outside on warm evenings, read books on days off and generally see green on our rides home.

Thornbury is just adorable and I’m extremely lucky to have it as my home base for this time in my life as I muddle through the adventure that is life in our early 20’s.

TRIP (AREA) RATING: 5/5 HOME COMINGS