Two things lately have been getting me quite excited – something that has been in short supply in the last 12 months! So lets jump right into it…

1. I have been getting artistic!

I have always wanted to start a Bullet Journal – you know.. those fancy as, arty farty, cool looking journals that people do for the daily life or goals or whatever the heck you want to use it for really.

^^ so not mine!

Well I have started one of my very own. Disclaimer – I personally do not think I am artistic but I have actually surprised myself with what I have accomplished so far.

I am finding that this is a different outlet to what I have done in the past and it is really pushing me out of my comfort zone. The best part is – I am REALLY enjoying myself as well. I find myself thinking about different themes I can use in upcoming months. I look for drawings or doodles relating to that theme online and use my practice bujo to attempt to draw them – some work really well, some not so much. I have discovered I am not that good at drawing leaves.

I do need work on my lettering a lot and keep practising my drawing but luckily there are a lot of sources online or in books that help with the creative side of things and my Youtube & Instagram followed accounts are full of bujo inspired posts. Oh on that note, I also have another Instagram account where I share more than just travel photos: https://www.instagram.com/lifeby_sarah_/

2. I have actually planned trip

I almost can’t believe this myself but I have commenced planning my first trip in 13 months!

The events of last year certainly put the kibosh on a lot of people’s travel plans including my trip to the UK with my sister that was planned for Oct/Nov 2020 and, more importantly, my trip home for my mum’s 90th birthday in September 2020. Now to be fair, Australia has relatively come out unscathed with less than 30,000 cases and only 909 deaths to date and that was in large part down to the government closing the borders very early on. New Zealand has faired even better with less than 2500 cases and 26 deaths.

We are very lucky down this part of the world but Covid has meant that with Australia, we have had individual states close borders during the height of the pandemic as well. Now I could have explore Queenland where I live but it is important to note that is a HUGE expanse of land and it takes FOREVER to get anywhere. To put it into perspective: QLD is nearly 2.5 times as big as Texas!

• the furthest point west would take around 17 & half hours to drive
• the furthest point north would take around 29 hours to drive
• admittedly the furthest point south is only just over 1 & half hours away but EVERYONE goes there!!!

So yeah.. Queensland is a tad large and it takes a while to drive anywhere from Brisbane that I haven’t already been to numerous times.

And just where am I planning on going? Well this trip has actually be in the making for a few years – I nearly went a couple years ago but decided to go home instead so I thought that a long weekend at the end of April was the perfect time for a New South Wales road trip.

The plan is to leave work around lunch time on the 23rd April and drive down to Tenterfield, NSW for the night – this drive will take around 4.5 hours with a stop in Stanthorpe and maybe Warwick before crossing the NSW border.

After Friday night in Tenterfield the next day I will be on the road again travelling via such places as Bolivia, Glen Innes, Stonehenge, Glencoe and Llangothlin before arriving at the university town of Armidale. I plan to stay two nights here because there are a couple of places outside of Armidale that I would like to see like this place >>

After 2 nights in Armidale it will be my longest travel day because I am heading back up to Brisbane in one day – this will take around 6-6.5 hours if I allow for stopping however I could reduce this time if I go the coastal road but being the end of a long weekend in Aussie, I am worried that there will be loads of traffic.

So do I go the more traffic but less travel time or do I go the less traffic but more travel time route?

I actually think this question will be answered on the day of travel!

On the way home I will pop in and see my family – to be fair, I will pop in and see my wee niece :D. I usually see her every Sunday so when I don’t see her on that day for whatever reason I really struggle sometimes. But if the truth be told, I really need to get out of this place! Even though we are no longer in quarantine here, because of the lack of travel (this is the longest it’s been with me not going anywhere for as long as I can remember), I have found myself feeling all kinds of claustrophobic & cooped up.

Basically I need a change of scenery. I don’t think I am alone in needing this either.

I shall keep you posted on the developments – all I need is for another outbreak to happen in either QLD or NSW for the borders to close and my plans to be destroyed so I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will be actually able to go on this road trip.

Other than those two exciting things, life here is pretty much the same as it has been for a while now – isn’t it weird that this time last year we were only just going into lockdown for the first time. It feels equally a long time ago and just the other day!

Hope everyone is well and safe wherever they are 🙂