The Pineneedle Collective: travel

Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts

Friday, 13 February 2015

Hong Kong Travel Vlog #3 - Island Life

^ That's totally going to be my album cover one day.

Well, I'm safely back at home in Sydney! I was very sad to leave Hong Kong, with all its glorious food and shopping and temperate winter climate, however I think that it's the islands that I'm going to miss the most!

I made a vlog that shows this side of Hong Kong which many of you probably don't know about - the chilled out, laid back, tropical paradise that is the Hong Kong islands.

Enjoy, and subscribe to my youtube channel to keep up to date on any new travel vlogs that I make (the next one is hopefully going to be all about Hong Kong's famous fabric district!)

Friday, 30 January 2015

Hong Kong Travel Vlog #2

I stumbled across this incredible part of Hong Kong the other night - a total vintage-lovers, kitschy, DIY-er's paradise! While I had only planned on showing this area as a small segment of one video, as I explored it and realised how amazing it was, I decided that it needed to be its own entire video.

The area encompasses Granville Road and Kimberley Street in Tsim Sha Tsiu, Kowloon. I hadn't heard about this particular area in any of my research for cool places to visit in Hong Kong, hence my reason for really wanting to share it!

I hope you enjoy the video!

Saturday, 24 January 2015

This is where I live now / Cheung Chau

Yesterday we explored this amazing island called Cheung Chau, and I wore what I decided to call my "flirty grandma" outfit - complete with a functioning harmonica necklace! (I will forever embrace the granny chic aesthetic). I couldn't help myself but go back to Me & George - the lace top, skirt and cardigan are all pieces that I picked up there on my second trip (all together they were HK$100, which is about US $12.90!)

It wasn't exactly beach weather, but it was the perfect temperature for cycling around exploring the beautiful fishing town.

I also made a dorky video of me cycling around (I had many people laughing at me for using a selfie stick while cycling, which was fair because I'm sure I looked somewhat ridiculous):

It's so pretty here. I wanted to cry when we had to leave.

Top, cardigan and skirt from Me & George (vintage) | socks are from Japan | shoes are Naot Kedma's | jewellery is thrifted

And this is Leila's outfit (isn't she a babe?). Her skirt is also from Me & George. It's our favourite place.

Until next time,

Tuesday, 20 January 2015

Urban Jungle // Hong Kong Rooftop

Everywhere that I go in Hong Kong I am surrounded by beauty, whether it be the chaotic centre of consumerism that is the main Hong Kong island, or the laid-back rural islands only a 30-minute ferry ride away. Hong Kong is an overwhelming patchwork city where Chanel and Dior shops exist a mere 1 minute walk from the neon-lit signs of dodgy pawn shops and illegal rooftop slums, and nature interweaves with skyscrapers. 6 days in, and I have already fallen in love with this city.

(p.s. Mum if you're reading this - I wasn't being unsafe by sitting on the ledge of this building, there's a small balcony underneath it so please don't worry!)

These photos were taken up on the rooftop of the building in which we are staying before Leila and I headed out to explore the beautiful Lamma island. It's amazing how close by a quiet rural island can be to this bustling, noisy metropolis.

I'm wearing a few handmade and thrifted Hong Kong finds today - this preppy cardigan is from the amazing Mee & Gee thrift shop, and my earrings and necklace are from HKID gallery, which showcases a number of small Hong Kong designers. I'm aiming to make a vlog later today about my thrifted and handmade haul, so look out for that!

Now I'm off to buy a big bottle of Yakult at 7/11 (if only this existed in Australia. It's my favourite drink in the entire world.)

Love love love,

Sunday, 18 January 2015

Hong Kong Botanical Gardens

Hello - can you guess where I am right now??

So I made it safely to Hong Kong! - after the most turbulent, terrifying plane trip I have ever taken ;__; I was so lucky to have my wonderful friend Leila sitting next to me the entire time, patiently holding my hand and reminding me to breathe. Anyway - I'm here! And as I just mentioned, I'm travelling with one of my best friends, Leila (who took these photos!). Leila actually is the person who is responsible for giving my blog its name! Without her, you wouldn't be reading the Pineneedle Collective. Fun fact - she named it after a pub trivia team she was in when we were 18. She also has an amazing, quirky style and if I can convince her, you will be seeing photos of her on here soon!

After spending two whole hours in the most amazing thrift store of all of Hong Kong (okay, so it's the only thrift store we have been in so far, but I think that it will be hard to beat!), we visited some really pretty botanical and zoological gardens and, armed with both digital and film SLRs, we took some photos!

The skirt that I am wearing was a find from the aforementioned thrift shop! I loved it so much that I had to wear it immediately.

In fact, I made about 8 amazing purchases from the thrift shop! It's one of the best hauls that I have ever made from any thrift/vintage shop. I will be posting all about it very soon.

Blouse - Thrifted | Skirt - Thrifted (Mee & Gee) | socks - old | shoes - Naot (Kedma's) | necklace and ring - c/o Eclectic Eccentricity

Today is a day for resting my sore feet. But as we are staying here for an entire month, I'm not too worried about missing out. There is so much that we are planning to do and see! I'm very excited to update you all on my travels!

Until next time,

Monday, 28 July 2014

Melbourne ♥

If you follow me on instagram then you may have already seen some of my photos from my trip to Melbourne last week! The polar opposite of my home city of Sydney, I completely fell in love with Melbourne in my short 4 days of visiting. It's such a pretty, interesting city, so I just wanted to share some of my favourite photos and places!

As all my friends had abandoned me for the uni break, I went with my mum - who suggested that we rename the trip "the Instagram holiday" because we basically just ended up visiting places suggested by lovely people on Instagram (and were never disappointed, thank you SO much alexvandenbroek, fentonjulia, sallylandillustration, frombelle, thatgirlinthatdress, misspolkadot_, sparklemiss, maevekerrc, ellielilac) and by my wonderful friend Leila.

The first place that I need to talk about is De Jour Jeans (542 Sydney Rd, Brunswick). They sell custom-fitted jeans for $53, and have the cutest shop assistants of all time! Even though it might not look like much, Dejour Jeans is extremely popular, and if you go on a Saturday there's usually a queue out the door! We were smart and went early on a Monday morning (and it was still really busy).

But the best bit: you pick out a pair of jeans, and if they don't fit perfectly they tailor them for you for free!

Me wearing my new jeans!

Savers (330 Sydney Rd, Brunswick) - the largest op shop I've ever been in. I was a little bit overwhelmed. LOOK AT ALL OF THIS.

St Kilda/Brighton Beachhuts

I really felt like I was on a beach in England, especially because most of the time that we were there, the weather was quite gloomy!

Fitzroy/Collingwood

One of the best things about Fitzroy was the street art! This was all found along Johnston St:

But of course, the absolute best thing about this area was all the vintage and handmade shops. Sadly I couldn't get to them all in one day, but I tried my hardest!

Above, Sally's Retro (203 Smith St Fitzroy). Below, Vintage Garage (318 Smith St, Collingwood).

The two streets to go to for some heavenly window shopping (and sneaky changing room selfies in dresses you're never going to buy) are Smith St and Fitzroy St (Gertrude St was also suggested to me, but it's more cafes!)

Messina Icecream (237 Smith St, Fitzroy)

Okay, so although Messina is something you can find in Sydney, I just thought the wall here was really cool.

The Laneways & The CBD

Lady Petrova (237 Flinders Lane)

I nearly died of excitement when I stumbled across Lady Petrova's real-life store. It was like stepping into pastel heaven. I took a billion pictures, talked to the cute shop assistant (Me: "OMG! You guys are amazing and you sponsor my friend in America aoifnsodginodffggjk" shop lady: "Yeah, sure we do....." *crazy lady*) and I also tried on a very pretty dress. The first thing I did upon leaving was to message Kailey about 1,000 pictures of the place, as she is the one who introduced me to the brand!

Quick Brown Fox (262 Flinder's Lane)

I bought myself the cutest little apple earrings from this store. I wanted ALL the earrings, though.

Kinki Gerlinki

One of the coolest designers I have ever come across! Those tapestry shoes above have CLEAR platforms. There are a couple of stores scattered across Melbourne, and while it is pricey, I recommend you visit one just to look at all the pretty things.

Clementine's (7 Degraves St)

This store stocks the best handmade goodies, all made in Melbourne. The above brooch set is from a Melbourne designer named Bok Bok B'Gerk.

Retrostar Vintage (1/37 Swanston St)

The number of pretty dresses here nearly killed me - but somehow I was overcome by this incredible restraint, and I only bought 1 ring(???)

I am kind of regretting not getting the stripey red dress though, even if it was a little bit too big...

On our last night we went to Soda Rock Diner (257 Toorak Rd, South Yarra), an authentic reconstruction of a 1950s diner! The thickshakes and cheesy fries were phenomenal!

I hope you enjoyed my little travel post! If you live in Australia and have never been; or if you are thinking of visiting Australia - GO TO MELBOURNE. That's all I can say. I seriously loved it almost as much as I loved Japan (and do you guys remember how much I loved Japan??!)

All of the love,