15. 35mm sydney.

over New Years the bf and i took a trip to sydney for a week. i recorded my favourite places and people on a few disposables and only just got them developed.

i love film because it's so genuine. no one can ask you to edit out their wrinkles, or lazy eye. you also get such a surprise when it gets developed.

we first stayed in Manly. it was beautiful and we had a room with a balcony overlooking the beach. it was the perfect relaxing start to the trip.

over our time in Manly we often took trips to the city and on one of them we stumbled upon 'Paddy's Market' (shown below) in the heart of China Town. It was pretty massive but not the nice little folk market you'd imagine. There were a lot of cheap looking items however i'm sure if you had the time you could find a little gem in there.

on day four we were led to the 'Paddington Markets' by a lovely cab driver from Hong Kong. he pointed out all the best places to go on the well known 'Oxford St' and put us in the mood for a shop.

'Oxford St' is the high fashion area of Sydney with all the best brands in the one location.

in contrast to 'Paddy's Markets' the Paddington one was more my thing. very folky and in a school yard. 

I loved all the retro stores such as the watch store shown below. I bought a lovely pendant and the bf bought an old school, solar powered, plastic watch. Both for $20, a bargain!

Another store i loved was the vintage sunnies store. There were just so many to try on people flocked there to see if anything suited them. When we finally broke through the crowds we did the same.

As we walked down 'Oxford St' we came across a little side street- 'William St' If you can imagine...50 terrace houses lining the road and each one being a boutique shop. It was a unique sight and we just had to check it out. Many of the houses were top brands, like 'Nudie Jeans Co.' and others were little vintage stores. The photos below are from the best store i feel we came across.

The second half of our trip was spent in Newtown. i was desperate to go here as when i went to sydney a few years back all i could find were the comercial shopping centres in the city. what i really wanted to find was a shopping strip with unique stores. i was delighted when 'High St' Newtown provided. there were so many cool places to look at we had to set aside a whole afternoon just for shopping (not that i complained!).

on the whole strip there were three shops that were a MUST SEE.

just left of the train station and about a 5 minute walk was the local red cross oppie. except it wasn't a normal one, it looked like a proper vintage store. i just loved how they'd rejuvenated the place and i ended up finding floral, high waisted, 'boomer' shorts. i also met this girl in there who was wearing the cutest outfit, check it out below.

the second must see is 5 minutes right of the train station. called 'Cream', this store is a retro, vintage lovers DREAM. with prices ranging from $25-$100, this store gets old pieces and transforms them into ones that actually fit. i was so overwhelmed, i wanted everything there. in the end the bf bought leather shoes for $50 and i bought two retro shirts for $32 each. not bad for one off pieces!

i highly recommend checking out their site or visiting in either Newtown or Surry Hills.


the third was a store opposite the train station called 'Bondoi' with remade vintage pieces. their website does not do them justice so i recommend giving them a visit!

along with cool stores we also met some wonderful people.

further down 'High St' we came across the 2nd oppie of the day- St Vinnies. It was nothing in comparison to the Red Cross, but being the typical oppie there were bargains to be found. What pleasantly surprised me was that all the volunteers were in their 20's and sporting their own unique styles. This girl was one of them and i just had to take her photo in the store. i think it's great getting younger volunteers as it starts to diminish the idea that oppies are only 'old people' stores. when actually more and more young people flock there everyday.

this guy caught our eyes immediately. not only because he had his own distinct punk style but because he was carrying his pet snake. after introducing ourselves we discovered it was Adam and his snake Anton.

it was a photo that was just begging to be taken!

in sum Sydney was amazing the second time over. with great company and great locations it turned out to be much better than i'd ever expected.

if travelling to sydney for the first time i would spend at least a week there. half a week to do all the sights- the opera house, harbour bridge, manly, bondi- and then the second half to travel out to the suburbs to find little gems like Newtown. rather than feeling that Sydney's like every other capital you'll get to see it's cultural side as well which is a must!

xx