My Love Affair with Africa

I'm back... from a land so beautiful it almost defies description.  My journey through South Africa was filled with so much wonder and colour it will remain etched in my memory as a place where the heartbeat of the country is audible in the sky and the landscape and the vast razor-wire jungle of Johannesburg.  It is a place of contradictions, where fear sits comfortably with pride, where anxiety is soothed by smiles so blinding you remain desolate in their wake.

I loved it.  From the radiant light of the Waterberg, to the crude, yet stunningly beautiful architecture that is so raw and authentic.  I adored the people and the way they turn every child into royalty.  The harsh, imposing landscape of the Cape made me feel insignificant and powerful all at once.  The animals... my God, the animals!  To see an elephant flap his ears and mock charge at twenty paces is a chilling thrill everyone should experience at least once.

Here are just a few photos... a little teaser of things to come.  I was so inspired by the architecture (particularly my husband's!) that I'll post in more detail as soon as I get organised.  I'm warning you that I'm now obsessed with stone... their use of natural materials is so superior to anything I've seen here in Australia it definitely warrants further exploration!

Hippie Days!

We just spent a few lovely sun-filled days up at Byron Bay.... part of me wanted to run away and join a hippie tribe (... but only a very, very small part of me!).  Another (much larger) part of me wanted to live in Bangalow and run a seriously over-priced homewares shop!  Ahhhh, dream on... :)

Photos: by me

The Blue Room

I fell in love with this room, which is inside the city palace in Udaipur.  I took literally hundreds of photos of Indian design while I was there, but this room remains one of my favourites.  I'm sure it has a lot to do with the colour scheme but I also adore the intricacy of the designs and the fact that it looks like something straight out of a fairytale.

Love Carriage

These opulent and gaudy silver carriages line the Colaba streets on dusk in the hope of catching the eye (and wallet) of strolling lovebirds.  I just adored the intricacy of the metal-work and the chaotic colour of the flowers - the combination is so Indian!

India - The Land of Desperate Souls & Sublime Beauty

Hello!  I'm back!  I have spent the most amazing, incredible and inspirational 3 weeks in India... so much has happened - some of it profound, some of it hilarious and some of it unbearably heart wrenching - it's hard to encapsulate in a few sentences how breathtakingly, achingly and desperately beautiful India is.... so over the coming weeks I will share little snap-shots of my holiday with you to try and give you a glimpse of the wonder I beheld.

So first cab off the rank is the divine Taj Palace Hotel in Mumbai (the subject of the terrorist bombings last year).  In their efforts to restore the hotel to it's former glory, the owners have in fact created something infinitely more beautiful.  Here are some shots of the poolside terrace that is harder to gain access to than Heathrow airport!  I adored the ceiling so much it quite literally brought me to tears...