Holy feck. Another year over. Slap me with a fish! It feels like only last week I was writing this post for 2016.
For me, 2017 was the year I spent getting to know my new love, Sydney (after moving from Melbourne at the end of 2016). I’d be lying if I didn’t say I think this one might be marriage material. (Thank Jackie, because I’m ready to banish Kent Removalists from my favourite contacts. Seriously, what idiot lives in three cities in three years?).
Now, let’s send off the year that saw Australia vote for marriage equality (after ridiculously been given the right in the first place), Richmond win the flag, a royal engagement and the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States. Here’s my annual round-up of the Eat Play Love Travel blog posts that proved more popular than Sophie Monk in 2017:
1. 5 of Adelaide’s best new small bars (of 2017)
It’s a tradition, once a year I call on my Adelaide wine sisters, twisting their arms to take me on a tour of the best new bars in the City of Churches. Now in its third year, the post always proves popular. I think it’s because Adelaide’s small bar scene is seriously legit and a hidden secret. And just when you think the scene is a solid A, a new cool cat boozer opens its doors. This list is 24-carat gold, and no surprises why it won the 2017 popularity contest.
Image credit: South Australian Tourism Commission
2. These 7 Sydney walking trails are heart stealers
One of the things I’ve fallen head-over heels in love with since moving to Sydney is the number of heart-achingly beautiful walking trails there are. (In Melbourne, my walking trails primarily involved walking between bars). I’m clearly not the only one who enjoys some Sydney lung burn and heart ache. This post was the penultimate star for 2017.
3. 19 of the best things to do in the Adelaide Hills
The Adelaide Hills is another hidden South Australian treasure – although perhaps not as hidden as I thought given this post brought all the boys to the yard. While I may now be a treacherous eastern states passport-holder, I still hold the Adelaide Hills dear in my heart, right alongside Sunday sleep-ins and cheese. So it’s only fair I share some of my favourite things to do in this magical place that is the Adelaide Hills.
The White House, Hahndorf. Image credit: SATC/Adam Bruzzone
4. 11 of the best bars in Sydney CBD
One of the best things about moving to a new city is having a whole new suite of drinking dens to discover. Yep, I did the hard yards pulling this list together. Took one for the team – the team of Sydney antlings who just want to know where to get a good beverage in the 2000 postcode. Lace up your drinking boots for this one.
Image credit: Hacienda
5. 11 things I miss about living in Melbourne
While I may have fallen in love with Sydney’s sunshine, natural beauty and winter that can barely call itself a winter, there’s some things I deeply miss about Melbourne. I pine constantly for Melbourne’s amazing restaurant feeds, quality places of retail and general sassiness. I also miss wearing black and it not prompting messages of condolence. This post lists all the things I’m struggling to break up with. Although I do think my Melbourne friends jacked the views up on this one, secretly checking to see if they’d made the list. (Awks because they didn’t!)
6. 25 of the best things to do in Surry Hills
So when you’re missing Melbourne, what do you do? You naturally find the most Melbourne-like suburb in Sydney. I found Surry Hills. This suburb on the southern fringe of Sydney’s CBD has a duck-tonne of personality, is absolutely delicious and I just love it – these 25 things in particular.
Side note: it’s amazing how you can be spat on and it brings back happy memories of life in Windsor.
7. 12 things I wish I knew when moving to Sydney
You know you probably don’t need an engineering degree to realise that finding a rental in Sydney is going to be hard. But these other things would have been handy to know BEFORE I moved to Sydney. Like the fact choosing where to live is like choosing a life partner, that you sweat so much you think your sweat glands are broken and there’s spiders EVERYWHERE. Yep all useful things to know – at least this list is helping some poor souls.
So 2018!
The first six months of 2018 for me are looking pretty shit hot! I’ve got a Big Betty of a trip planned: Cuba, Mexico City, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and New Orleans. Seven cities in five weeks.
I’m also turning the big 3-0. Naturally I’ve planned a three-week festival to celebrate. It’s gonna be bigger than an Indian and Greek wedding combined – much to the horror of my husband. While the second six months have size 11 shoes to fill.
Happy New Year lovers!
