Australia Day at The Rocks Market

I spent the Australia Day public holiday selling my Penelope Red designs at The Rocks Markets in Sydney.



I was situated in Playfair Street, surrounded by beautiful old buildings, and you could see the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background, so I thought it was a great opportunity for some photos.

(the above two photos were taken before it became too crowded, when we first set up)


It was a great day- loads of people, lovely weather, and performers floating around through out the crowds all day.



Follow me on twitter or facebook for more updates of my latest designs and finds!

Featured in Etsy Treasury: Australian Made

nyjolejewellery from etsy.com featured the Penelope Red Black Bow Tie Top in her "Australian Made" treasury today.



A beautiful design from nyjolejewellery is the "Elizabeth Brooch"





Looking at the treasury section on etsy.com is a good way to browse for the best designs and artist's, as each treasury is essentially a list of favourites from etsy members. You can see a list of treasuries here.

The Penelope Red Coral Kimono

I love wearing my Coral Kimono! It is so versatile, and the colourful print always brightens my mood. My favourite way to wear it is with my Penelope Red Black Mucha Skinny Pants, shown in these photos.



I have added the Coral Kimono to my Etsy shop, so people overseas have the chance to view it as well. If you live in or are visiting Sydney, these tops will be for sale at The Rocks Markets.



There is another colourway of the Penelope Red Kimono- The Bohemian Sari Kimono.



This is a 100% cotton voile, featuring a beautiful print in browns, red, orange, aqua, cream, and black. This kimono is available when I attend The Rocks Market, as well.

Penelope Red at The Rocks Market

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I will be trading at The Rocks Markets this weekend, 7th and 8th November!

I will be showcasing my Penelope Red designs there, including:

The Paris Bow Top

The Coral Kimono

The Monet Pleated Blouse

The Pink Victorian Corset

I will also have many other designs there, including a selection of current winter designs (which can be seen in my Etsy shop).

What: Penelope Red at The Rocks Markets, Sydney

When: Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th November

Time: 10am – 5pm

Where: The Rocks Markets

Playfair and George Streets, The Rocks

Sydney, Australia

How to get there

The Rocks Website

Absynthe Restaurant Review and Dream World!

Last week, my hubbie and I celebrated our Wedding Anniversary in the Gold Coast, Queensland. (You can see pictures of my Wedding Dress here).

We are such big kids at heart! We love to giggle at anything silly (well, I do, Max just encourages me!), and we love our theme parks and rides! So we spent our anniversary screaming and laughing our heads off on all the rides at "Dreamworld", Queensland, Australia.


They also have a section named, "Tiger Island". They have about 5 tigers; 3 of which perform in a show, to help raise money to save them in the wild. Above, they are feeding them milk- how cute!


We went on so many rides, including this one, "The Claw". It acts like a pendulum, gaining momentum with each swing, to go higher and higher. As the pendulum is swinging, the circle (where everyone is sitting) is spinning. It freaked me out!

My favourite rides in the whole park, were the new water rides and slides. I guess with the roller-coasters and other mechanical rides, it is a complete adrenalin rush, and you kind of have to psyche yourself up to go on them. With the water rides, I found them easier to have fun- I giggled the entire time, and just had fun- without being scared at all.

If you have children, there are many kids rides, and there is a "Wiggles World" section which they will love.

Either way, we had loads of fun!

Afterwards, we dined at a beautiful restaurant in Surfers Paradise, "Absynthe".


The atmosphere inside is very intimate and romantic; the service was attentive, but not invasive; the food was beautifully flavoured. You could say that this restaurant adds French influence to a modern Australian menu.



I had an entrée of pumpkin ravioli- very nice with lots of flavours, although for a $30 price tag, I thought it was very small.

For the main, I had steak with an onion jam- it was fantastic! The hubbie had lamb.


I really enjoyed Absynthe. If you are looking for a romantic setting to celebrate something special; if you want fantastic food; if you want good service; then I would recommend Absynthe to you.

Next time I go, I think I will skip the entree, and order a main and dessert- the chocolate fondant sounds divine!



We have had a very busy week, and I will soon be able to post photos from my friend's wedding, which I had the pleasure of going to this past weekend. There is so much to catch up on!

Follow me on twitter or facebook for more updates of my latest designs and finds!

Our Hamilton Island Holiday

My husband and I have just come back from our short break to Hamilton Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. It was so beautiful, and I thought I would share some photos with you.

This is the first time I have gone to the Great Barrier Reef, or any of the islands off Australia. So I was quite excited!

Before we flew to the island, we stayed one night in Brisbane, at the Emporium Hotel. I would recommend this hotel to anyone who needs to stay in Brisbane. It is a beautiful hotel, the foyer speaks for itself (pictured above), and the rooms are spacious and well appointed.

It is a boutique hotel, situated in, I guess you could say, an oasis of designer fashion, jewelery, homewares, and restaurants, called "The Emporium". Surrounding the oasis: car yards, home shopping outlets etc. It seems strange that they decided to create the Emporium where they did, but it works.


We had dinner at the French restaurant next to the Hotel, in "The Emporium" complex, named "Belle Epoque".
It was a gorgeous restaurant, fantastic food, and great service. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I would recommend this restaurant to anyone who enjoys good food, and beautiful surroundings!

Try the French Onion Soup, the Duck, and the Souffle'- fantastic!

So we arrived to Hamilton Island on the Saturday morning.... I didn't really know what to expect with the weather, but it didn't disappoint, and it was beautiful basically everyday!


There were many activities, and we decided to do a few: sunset kayak, catamarans, scuba diving (the hubbie only), snorkelling, tour to Whitehaven Beach, and shooting. The pictures are below....

Me having a go at shooting a pistol...I much preferred the rifle!
The sunset kayak tour.



The gorgeous sunrise that we witnessed while eating breakfast.



Me going for a snorkel!
The hubbie swimming at Whitehaven Beach. It is meant to be one of the whitest sand beaches in the world, due to the amount of silica in the sand.

The boat we arrived in for the tour.






So I hope you liked the photos! I feel so lucky to live in this beautiful country, and I am proud to share how beautiful it is with everyone!

Hopefully I will have photos from the scuba and snorkelling soon!

The Rocks Aroma Festival

My friends and I went to The Rocks Aroma Festival yesterday. It was packed full of people. Some coffee outlets had lines of about 50 people waiting, and the food lines was even worse, as there wasn't many of those! Either way, if it wasn't busy, no one would want to be there. I always say, the crowds is part of the fun!

There were so many coffee outlets/market stalls. I don't usually drink coffee- tea is my love, but since I was there, I got into the spirit! There were lots of chocolate, and biscuit stalls too- well worth the crowds (sweets is another vice of mine too!).

Some photos from the day:






We couldn't have asked for a more glorious day- we were even hot. Not bad for a mid winters day! Sydney, yet again, lived up to its reputation.