Chloz in Oz #1

I’ve been thinking about re-launching my blog for a while… I’m launching a new life in a new country so it feels like now would be as good a time as any to start again!

Last time I found blogging quite overwhelming, I didn’t really have much of a plan when I launched chloecripps.com and only had content for a couple of weeks before I began to struggle with what I wanted to write – so this time I’m going to take a slightly different approach. I’m thinking about changing the structure to have a weekly round up at the start, a diary if you will, talking about what I’ve been up to, places I’ve been, what I’ve seen, how I’ve been feeling etc and then moving into 3 thoughts. The three thoughts will be anything that’s been playing on my mind, a podcast I’ve enjoyed, a conversation I had with a friend that sparked debate etc… I’m a sucker for holding on to memories, writing diaries, taking pictures, making scrap books etc so I thought this could be quite a nice combination of all three.

So…let’s get into it!

As the paragraph above suggests…I’ve just moved to Australia! This has been in the pipeline for a while and I can’t quite believe I’m now here. I’ve been talking about this move since about May this year and the closer and closer it got the less I could believe it was actually happening! But it now has and I’m super happy and grateful to be down unda

Saying goodbyes didn’t feel real for a while and it wasn’t until the final week before leaving that everything started to hit me and the daily cries about leaving began! Then on the Monday, 36 hours before leaving, I left my phone on a tube as I was saying goodbye to a friend, an actual disaster. Tuesday was spent frantically running round buying a new phone, getting a new SIM, setting up my new phone etc, such an unnecessary stress! But it all got sorted and shout-out to my mum for putting up with me being so chaotic. The only absolutely gutting thing is that I lost all of my pictures from June – end of September, I thought they were backing up on my Google Cloud but they weren’t, how heart breaking! My mum then cooked my absolute fav meal for dinner, Chicken and Mushroom pie, what a babe. A bit of a rollercoaster of a final day in the UK.

Then Wednesday was leaving day! I finished off packing (I *thrive* under pressure in all aspects of my life, hence the last-minuteness), went for brunch with my mum and dad, went to see my grandparents (probably the hardest and saddest of all my goodbyes!) and sat around until it was time to go! Heathrow was a bit of a whirlwind, I checked in my bags and was then meant to be going for dinner/a bite to eat with my parents but the queue for security was so long I had to say really quick goodbyes and just like that…they were gone and I was in floods of tears (yet again) in the security queue.

The airport and flight are all a bit of a blur to be honest. The first flight was 13 hours to Singapore which I slept most of, a 3 hour stop-over in the airport and then straight on the Sydney! Again, I somehow managed to sleep most of the 7 hours and made friends with a lovely Aussie who was sat next to me (yes, I am thag annoying person that will talk to you on a flight). I spent most of the time I was awake on both flights listening to Jamie Laing and Sophie Habboo’s podcast, the Nearly Weds, it made time flyyyyyy and was the home comfort I needed!

Touchdown in Sydney on Friday AM and I said bye to my friend I made on the plane and HELLOOOO to Morna (and her boyfriend Jake) for the first time in three years! I am so thankful she came to pick me up from the airport, it took so much stress away from having to find my way to her apartment by myself! I dumped my bags and we walked straight down to Coogee coastal path and mooched our way along the boardwalk to get coffee and brunch (how Aussie of us), popped into Woolworths and I was shocked by the cost of bagels and toothpaste (on special offer and STILL $10). We had a chill eve drinking wine, eating curry and watching (and quoting) the whole of Cheaper by the Dozen. I managed to stay up until 10 30 which I was pretttttty proud of!

Saturday I woke up at FIVE AM. Far far far too early. I sat and read my book (Notes on Heartbreak) until Morna woke up at 8ish. We headed to Maroubra to go for a little swim which has gave me a taaaaaaaste of what is to come! We got coffee and a bite to eat before heading back to her apartment. In the evening we headed to Surry Hills for dinner with Lottie, who I also hadn’t seen in 3.5 years, and it felt so good to reunite! There is nothing better than meeting up with friends you haven’t seen in years and it feels like absolutely no time has passed. We went for a delicious Ramen and had a smooth, velvety red (my fav kind). We had to call it early as as you can imagine, I was exhausted after my 5am wake up.

We had a slow Sunday morning and headed to yoga first thing, it felt amazing to stretch out the tension in my body from the flight. The past month of my life has been pretty go go go so taking a second to slow down was just what I needed. In the afternoon we headed to Bronte Beach and did the coastal walk to Bondi and back to get out the house. I’d call that a prettttty perfect Sunday! I then completely crashed on the sofa at about 6 30 but then slept all night and think that’s probably going to be the end of my jet lag! And now we’re at Monday… but I’ll cover today in next week’s post!

And now I’ll move on to my 3 thoughts for this week!

1. Goodbyes are HARD and I am terrible at them – Goodbyes are so hard. Saying bye to my family and friends was harder than I expected it to be, last time I moved to Aus I didn’t find it that emotional for some reason! However this time at the airport my eyes were streaming like a tap that hasn’t been turned off properly. That being said, since I’ve landed I’ve felt absolutely fine. You realise that in a world with Whatsapp and Instagram everyone is so connected and you really are only ever a message away from everyone! However one thing I find difficult is replying to everyone and giving them updates, voice notes have been my bff.
2. Spending time on your own is THE best – as much as I love socialising, I loooove spending time on my own. Over the past month I’ve been so busy saying bye to friends I’ve barely had any time on my own to think about things, or life or how I’ve been feeling. The second I’ve had time to be on my own things have become so much clearer and I’ve actually been able to listen to my thoughts, think about what they’re saying and feel my emotions that have been put aside whilst I’ve been busy and it’s been just what I needed.
3. Why don’t Aussie’s wear shoes? – one thing I’ve noticed since being here, Aussie’s love walking around with no shoes on. Just walking down the street, on a run, in a shop. They’re just so #grounded. Can’t help but think how dry the skin on their feet must be though.

Thanks for reading, Chloe x