
Grose Valley in Australia’s Blue Mountains
Last weekend in Sydney, thousands of buffed individuals ran a half marathon around the Sydney central business district. Feeling a little guilty about my lack of participation — or inclination to do so — I started reminiscing about the last time I had blisters worth talking about. Sadly, it was over a year ago, after a two-day hike through the Grose Valley in the Blue Mountains National Park.
According to a local website, this walk is of a ‘medium’ intensity — and I’m sure this would have been the case had we followed directions. Instead, we set off late on the Saturday afternoon (with a bottle of red wine and some cheese in tow) and subsequently, didn’t make it to the first campsite by nightfall. After spending the night on a mosquito-ridden riverside, we then realised we’d also tackled the walk in reverse, which meant a four hour climb up a seven hundred metre incline — carrying our empty wine bottles, tents, clothes and sleeping bags. While my legs were sore, and the blisters were very painful, the morning sun did make for some very beautiful photos. Half marathon? Pfft!
Tagged: Blue Mountains, Grose Valley
Also by KATRINA WHITEHEAD
Spending a huge amount of money is easy when you’re without a mortgage, kids or a full time job. To ease my financial guilt, I recently put together this list of fifty fun, bizarre and slightly mad ways in which I managed to blow $50K over the years — buying myself nothing but amazing memories and the odd persistent stomach bug.

Sun, tapas, and more tapas in the Basque Country
For a seriously good summer holiday destination, it’s pretty hard to beat San Sebastian on Spain’s Atlantic coast. Set on a gorgeous piece of coastline in the heart of the Basque region, this buzzing seaside town certainly packs a punch. It’s got three divine beaches, hundreds of tapas bars (apparently more per square kilometre than any other city in the world), a vast selection of historical buildings and churches (if the urge to sightsee takes over), clubs, boutiques and countless festivals all year round. Plus, if you’re really into your tucker, the area surrounding San Sebastian is arguably the best in Spain for gastronomy – boasting several of the world’s finest Michelin-starred restaurants. Read more

Living the high life in Biarritz, France
Seriously, is there anywhere in the world more glamorous than the French holiday town of Biarritz? I recently visited Biarritz for the second time, and this visit, was even more wowed by the endless array of buffed, leggy, chain-smoking Europeans — each of them dripping in jewellery, swanning about in their caftans, and sipping champagne like it was water. Read more
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Kim Cogan is a dude. See, in Asia, surnames come first. Kim was born in Korea. Therefore, Kim is his family name. Kim makes panoramic paintings of city skylines. We sure do love skylines. They remind us of the vast protective shell of civilization that surrounds us, sheltering us from dirty dirty nature. Read more
On those rare occasions when I feel the need to treat myself to an absolutely mind (and wallet) blowing meal, I love to come here. The restaurant is housed in an old diner (the old trailer style diners) which makes for some fun ambiance. Plus, the menu changes every week, so there’s never a written menu. The waiter comes out with a pen and writes the entire menu down on the butcher paper covering your table. Aside from all that, the food is absolutely unbelievable!
I’ve always been an avid follower of the Comfort Station brand in Cheshire St, London, so I decided to pop in on Sunday to have a look at their new collection. It’s unique and different, featuring railway tracks and my favourite barometer necklaces, where you can rate the way you, or someone you’ve just met, is feeling, with indications of stormy, fair and excellent.
Kristine Moran’s Francis Bacon-esque paintings are abstracted just enough to obscure the dark, sensual, and supernatural trysts between nebulous, writhing figures. Read more
Live Smart Daily is an online magazine for ‘people looking for a smart, simple take on daily life’ set up by Lost At E Minor contributor and LintCoat founder, Derrick Stembridge. Read more
History is the story of the winners, and western dominated culture recounts few triumphs from the east. Mongol is an effort to correct this balance, and the eastern influence is evident in much more than just the storyline. It is more like a fairy tale or legend handed down through generations, than based on fact, with mythical elements playing a major part, and the character’s motivations remaining simple. Read more
I usually steer clear of anything smelling of disco-breaks: the thought just bores me. But with Padded Cell’s new release, Night Must Fall, I see a bit of a U-turn on the horizon. There’s something really interesting going on here: it’s a cocktail of 80’s swank laced with woozy narcotic undertones and flecked with snappy drum loops: weird, undeniably dark and ominous, but nonetheless pretty damn satisfying. Read more
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST

Hong Kong-based illustrator Man-Tsun draws dark and beautiful painterly images that look like they are straight off a high-end Japanese animated film. Read more

There is not a medium that UK illustrator Lizzy Stewart cannot wrap around her little finger to make the most beautiful, whimsical images. Read more

Scanners’ new single Salvation
I love this track by London based rock group, Scanners, which is off their latest album, Submarine. Having toured with acts such as The Horrors, The Wedding Present, The Charlatans, Electric Six, and Juliette & The Licks, Scanners could well blow up in 2010. Figuratively speaking, not literally. No, that wouldn’t be fun.

1970s and 80s Soviet Union buildings
Cambodian born photographer Frederic Chaubin is the editor of French magazine Citizen K. His photo series on bizarre buildings built in the former Soviet Union during the 1970s and 80s is absolutely fascinating. Read more

Karen Caldicott’s clay head models
British born, New York-based model maker Karen Caldicott has been making clay heads for all major US publications over the last decade. Read more
Thanks to Sony Australia, four Lost At E Minor readers will win personal audio prizes, including the new 8GB Walkman S series video MP3 player and the MDRXB500 Extra Bass headphones. Read more
The knuckle sandwich charm necklace by This Charming Man features two pieces of bread on either side of a tiny set of brass knuckle dusters. Rad huh? Get yours now for $140. Read more
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