heading to l.a. from sydney.

pastel skies over venice beach as we landed.

flying to l.a. | the first thing we did when we landed was eat in n out burger | a house we passed on the street

sunset at griffith observatory was magical.

watching the mountains disappear into the l.a. haze.

instagram photos: 1. rodeo drive 2 + 3. griffith observatory 4, 5 + 6. visiting the getty centre 7, 8 + 9. universal studios 10, 11 + 12. disneyland

the happiest place on earth! when i got back home after watching the midnight fireworks over the disneyland castle, i scrawled in my travel journal "i'm smiling the widest smile i have and my insides are made of butterflies. it was one of the most magical days." and promptly passed out of exhaustion as shown by my pen scrawl off the page from the last letter.

early morning drives around l.a.

wandering the streets of beverly hills where the roads are paved through a tunnel of trees and there are picture perfect houses with picture perfect lawns.

on our last night in l.a. before flying out to nyc, we went to see ben folds live at the greek theatre. it was the perfect way to end our trip, watching my favourite artist perform under the stars.

i was obsessed with all the brightly coloured flowers that painted the city of l.a.

after new york, we had a few extra days to spend in l.a. so we stayed in a little house next to venice beach.

walking along the venice canals.

on my birthday we went to the cheesecake factory and six of us chose six different flavours of cake to try. they were all delicious.

i didn't take my camera with me when we were exploring venice beach, so all i have are a few iphone photos.

a bit of shopping on our last day in l.a.

visiting el matador state beach in malibu. you can find that blog post here.

runyon canyon with dan and hayden where they filmed part of hayden's music video at the top of the mountain with l.a. glistening in the background.

the last pit stop in l.a. before driving to san francisco was the charmed house! we stopped by in the morning the four of us - sam, dan, hayden and myself super excited to see it in real life as we all grew up watching the show when we were younger.

we departed cold wintery sydney early in the morning one day in july to get on a mammoth 12 hour flight to l.a. when we landed, we picked up our hire car and it was my first time soaking it all in and driving on the other side of the road. it was magical being somewhere new. we spent four days in l.a. where we did lots of shopping, exploring and taking hundreds of photos before getting on another plane to spend a week in new york. when we got back from nyc, we got straight in the car and drove to joshua tree to spend my birthday in the desert (i'm so excited to share those photos with you!) and back to l.a. where dan and hayden joined us after spending time filming his new video clip and jess and nat went back home.

i miss the sunny days in los angeles, the big streets, the interesting people, all the amazing food, i even miss the highways and the traffic and crazy drivers. my favourite moment was being at the griffith observatory watching the sun go down, watching the lights turn on in the city. pink, blue, yellow, orange, purple, white, it was stunning. i couldn't unglue my eyes from the sky. somehow i drowned out the noise of the mass of people swarming everywhere at the top of that hill and i breathed in every second of the moments that passed as if i never would again.

i had so many people tell me that l.a. is boring and gross and after spending some time there i came to the conclusion that l.a. is so not magical that it is. it's dirty but quirky. the city is covered in a layer of grime and it's coloured in a soft pastel tone with the most wonderful sunlight you could imagine. while driving around, my eyes dart to the brightly coloured bougainvillaea that climbed, crawled, twisted and relentlessly grew itself to any thing it could hold onto. i noticed that l.a. isn't just one place or a city centre like sydney. it's huge and it's everywhere. i feel like i need a lot more than a week to get to know this place better. l.a. you were a wild ride and i can't wait to visit again soon!

I also have some exciting news because I've started sharing more fashion shoot behind the scenes videos + Lightroom & Photoshop Tutorials on my YouTube Channel! Be sure to subscribe as I upload 2 new videos every week x

all photos edited with my new lightroom preset L.A.!

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Canon 5Dmk4 Travel Photography in L.A.