1. I cycled across Tasmania on a (cow printed) tandem bike.

Yes, you read that correctly. In the summer when I was 22, my partner at the time and I cycled from our house in Melbourne, down to the ferry and then all the way around the east coast of Tasmania!

I must say, this was one of the coolest things I have ever done, and also the biggest physical challenge of my life! Because if there is one thing to know about Tasmania, it’s that it is VERY hilly!
We spent 6 weeks cycling every day, camping every night and carrying everything we needed strapped onto Daisy, our cow printed tandem bike. But it wasn’t all hard work, we also timed it so we could go to Falls Festival for a week, take a well earned break and dance around to some great beats.
I don’t think I’ll ever look at high-vis yellow the same after that experience, it definitely became my best friend.

2. I can sniff out dill with superhuman powers, unfortunately I can’t stand it!

I still don’t understand how this happened. I didn’t have much to do with the herb dill growing up and it only really came onto my radar when I went to Sweden when I was 19. We had it on toast with cream cheese, tomato, rocket and salmon, and it was sprinkled throughout dishes -I loved it and I loved Sweden!
Fast forward a few years and dill had fallen back off my radar, but I started feeling sick and nauseous whenever I ate certain foods -herbed gözleme flatbreads, certain tzatziki, random things that didn’t make sense. It took me a while to find the common denominator -Dill. And soon enough I began to be able to smell it a mile off or taste even the slightest pinch in a dish. But you don’t understand, like I could taste it when no one else at the table could and after asking the chef, sure enough dill was an ingredient -It’s become my 6th sense.

I feel like a police sniffer dog or something, if dill ever becomes involved in a huge crime and you need to find someone to sniff put or taste even the smallest amount, I’m ya girl!

3. As a job, I used to umpire a sport I didn’t even play!

This one’s funny, and actually becomes more unbelievable the better you know me. When I was around 20 years old and studying Tourism and Event Management at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, my cousin called me up one day and asked me if I wanted a job as a netball umpire at UQ. 

Sounds fair enough right? But the thing is I didn’t play netball, in fact I’m not a sporty type at all and my only experience with netball was playing in my primary school team when I was around 8 years old. Somehow she convinced me it would be fine and when I rocked up with blue mermaid hair and a nose ring, I was entirely out of place.
All the other umpires were pretty much pro netballers, trained on weeknights and competed in tournaments. Yet here I was, not even sure if I had proper running shoes at the time, learning the rules with a whistle in my hand -totally out of my depth. I’m sure I raised a few eyebrows!
Surprisingly enough, I actually became pretty good! I ended up doing it for multiple seasons and became one of the most trusted umpires! -without playing a single game haha.
Imposter syndrome much?

4. I used to have a swimwear line.

When I was in high school I taught myself to sew swimwear and created a whole range of bikinis. And I’m a bit impressed with my teen self when I think back to those days, I did the whole kit and caboodle myself: designed the pieces, made the patterns, sourced the fabrics and sewed it all together. I would also organise photoshoots with my friend Catie, (who is now an amazing professional photographer -go girl!) where we would scout locations and models, gather inspo, do the shoots and have a lot of fun with it. 

I ended up selling my swimmers on the internet and even did a whole course on swimwear design and manufacturing in my spare time.
But my sewing didn’t stop there, I also made my year 10 formal dress and made a bunch of costumes and wearable art. For my Year 12 HSC project, I made a whole dollhouse out of fabric! It was so cute, with little handmade pieces of furniture inside: a bed with fitted sheets, pillows, quilt and giraffe teddy, a couch and bean bag, pictures hanging on the walls, a knitted rug and curtains. -I ended up giving it to my niece to play with a couple of years ago.
And I’m pretty sure that when I was high school everything in my wardrobe was either made from scratch or something that I had altered from an op shop -So fair to say I’ve definitely got the creative bug inside of me!

My swimwear passion slowly faded once I moved away from the coast and went to live in the city… But now that I’m back, maybe it’s worth another dabble!

5. I really really love toothpaste.

I can pretty confidently say I’ve never met someone with a passion for toothpaste quite as high as mine. I just love it, why not spice up an activity you have to do every day and make it exciting instead of a chore?
My interest splits off in two ways. First of all I love everything natural and herbal (clearly) when it comes to toothpaste -give me an echinacea or calendula blend any day. I love browsing the health food isles for my next fave healthy toothpaste. Extra herbs for mouth health, prebiotics for good bacteria maintenance, passionflower in a night time toothpaste? AMAZING, I’m here for it!

So while my passion for finding the best, the healthiest, the most beneficial toothpaste is strong, my love doesn’t stop there. I’ve also got a thing for finding the most wackiest toothpastes and flavours possible. Whenever I go to a new country I love checking out what toothpastes they sell and grabbing myself one or two with a weird flavour or novel ingredient -papaya enzymes anyone?

Perhaps my mother planted the seed here for me, I was always given different lovely natural toothpastes growing up. I clearly remember an awesome reishi mushroom one that could also be used on burns and scratches, wow!
Algae toothpastes, chamomile, salt, rose? Mate, I see that and raise you, my best one yet is pumpkin pudding flavour!
It’s fair to say, I’ve done extensive research on mouth health and toothpaste ingredients -don’t be too surprised if I come out with a toothpaste line in the future.

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