approx. 2-3 hour drive and still going strong This is DEF the way to see Oz we would not have seen what we saw and met who we met by flying from city to city. This drive took us east to Newcastle and then down the coast road through Toronto (no the other one), Lake McQuarie (again, beautiful) and then you could tell you on the approach to sydney withthe increasing level of traffic and traffic lights. Suburban sprawl in & around sydney is HUGE!! read a report that approx. 80% of "sydneysiders" live 20km outside the central city. SO, a HUGE # of commuters into the city and a sprawling suburbia on all sides (well 3 sides..the ocean takes up the other side.
GPS renamed "angus" fittingly took us on a goose chase apparently as they are wont to do and wound us through ultimate suburbia. BUt eventually we came out at the sydney harbour bridge and went other. From the bridge it is all metal and structure and you get a minute view of the opera house -- but is spectacular. YOu may have already seen our pic at the Opera Bar??
driving in sydney in extra challenge but having mastered both NYC and JERSY city driving other than the opp side of the road this is a piece of cake. But like NYC "time to destination" means nothing or miles/km to destination I should say. 10 minutes remaining might as well be a "Football 10 minutes" ---FOREVER!
gotto the hotel in Darlinghurst, the Manor house boutique hotel. WHich is very nice not exceedingly elegant but most respectable. Apparently and unbeknownstto us (but not really an issue) Darlinghurst is the edgier side of town and home to a heavy gay population so many lovely gay boys and trannies escorting us down the street. How nice! It is sort of like NYC's meat packing district before Batali and Keith enteredthe area and "cleaned" it up.. but it is convenient a quick 5 min bus ride to the cbd. no worries mate (or a quick cab)
turned in our car hire with no damages and no incidents (apparently although not sure does not seem to be any radar gun speed traps detected==and Oz has a LOT of speed cameras along the highways but fortunately they warn you with signage where they will be so you have to be a little crazy to get zapped knowing where they are.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Hunter Valley Wine Region
aaaahhhh wine at last! Me thinks could be the best part of the trip tasting great aussie wines and being driven around to do so! whats not to love!
Okay so we left Port M around midday and headed for the Pacific Hwy once more (embarking on an almost 3 hour drive). Andrew at Cedro restaurant suggested we take the inland route "The Buckets Way" -- yes this isthe name of the "highway". So, we drive an hour south of Port and at Taree head west on the Buckets Way. Good call. this is a superb drive through rural cattle pasture and farmland not to mention mountain range after mountain range. Again with the curvy windy roads but not really too too bad. About an hour in we come across a town of Gloucester which is a very small agricultural town population 2600. It literally could be enfield which is surrounded by farmland and a center of commerce and actually a lively downtown, several pubs, "hotels" (pubs), grocery, cafes and stores. It seems to be a little artsy haven with a couple art shops so probably an influx of Sidney Siders and Melbourne ites have descended as artists and pepped up the little town. It was very serendipitous to stumble into this town so we walked the length of the downtown (about 5 or so blocks) and settled on a bit of curry chicken & rice takeaway.
moving back into the car we head next for the town of dongog and drive sw on rt 31. Have you heard of the road less travelled? This is the road much much less travelled and the only traffic were watching the cows queue up on the side of the road. It was wonderful! A great ride and remember Keep Left! (although it really doesn't matter when no other traffic)
Arriving at our inn THE TABLE GUESTHOUSE was like manna from heaven. What a beautiful place. Jude (wife partner of Phil) came out to greet us and then said there was a problem, my wotif.com reservation said for wednesday. And naturally I said well of course it is. Slight Problem: today was Tuesday! Remember on the flight over I said I lost a day in travel? Well I got it back today. Somehow in my mind I allocated 2 nights on the road before Hunter Valley and originally we were leaving byron monday. I booked byron correct and sydney correct but somehow the two nights on the road were sun nite and mon nite. Panic sets in but Jude was great and said in Aussie fashion "no worries mate" we have availability so you want to stay all 3 days? YES!
If you come to Aussie or plan on it and come to hUnter valley (which I highly recommend) stay at this place!!! No exceptions. it is a small 5 room guest house with the most amazing breakfast. The brekkie special: poached egg with bacon and avocado on whole wheat toast. we had dinner here one night that Phil is the chef for which was lambsicles and asparagus and taters, starter was a creamed cauliflower soup with gorgonzola (YUM!!) and dessert a bit of pannacotta with fruit topping. It was heavenly. come and stay here you will be amazed. Jude & Phil spent 5 years living in mozambique and she acquired lots and lots of african artifacts and furnishings, came back to Oz bought this B&B and had a place to furnish the african items. We are in the Elephant room..
Wine tasting the next day by TWO FAT BLOAKES tour company -- tripadvisor recommended and recommended by Jude. Pick up at 9 and we visited with two other couples 5 wineries (Calais, Mistletoe, Peterson, and others). Plus a chocolate and wine pairing at the Hudson Valley Gardens, a cheese tasting at HV cheese, and an olive/olive oil tasting. Plus, an antipasto lunch and wine outside Peterson winery up on the hill under a tree with our new mates -- the other couples -- Peter & Danielle from Sydney, Mark & Deb from Melbourne and Graham our host and driver. The melbourne couple we stayed on at the HV beer company after our beer tasting and had another 2 jugs of beer with them. They invited us to their house in Melbourne next monday night so that will be fun.
The beer tasting was great. make a great craft beer (pale ales, wheat bier, boch, etc) and were in the midst of an experiment of "wine & Beer" mix. This I must say was terrible just tasted like beer and wine poured together. But one of their seasonal beers (not avail now) was an oyster beer which they claim gets rave reviews. Hmm. oysters yumm! beer yumm! together ???? not sure about that
Next day Hunter valley...we are staying here forever..Jude & Phil a delight and know how to feed us and keep us happy!! But now off to Hunter Valley Gardens which once again is exquisite. THey have this separated by garden type: formal garden, grandma's rose garden with great sculpture of a grandmother looking over her grandkids, oriental garden, japanese garden and a "storybook" garden. Great pics of this they take fairytales and kids stories and create gardens around the sculptures. For example, Jack and jill has two figures on a sloping hill like they are rolling down and up top a well with the kids dipping the bucket in. THey have Alice's Mad Hatters tea party with tweedle dee and dum. At each installationthey have a sculpture of an open fairy tale book with the highlights of each story. It is really well done and wait to you see the pics.
had a nice lunch at Country Cafe at the little "shops" area and their tagline is "Food like no udder". Finally had regular burgers with turkish bread was pretty killer and had been jonesing a burger. Nice verdelho from up the road...
onward drove back to Calais vineyard and purchased a couple bottles for the road...some chambercid (red) and some verdelho and voignier. THis was our fave vineyard we went to.
spent the rest of day drove into the little town of Maitland a cute little town and interesting architecture (very british in these parts with lots of wrought iron). Had our first venture into a Woolworth's grocery store and saw the reference to McDOnalds on a billboard "Macca's". THe aussies shorten all their words they have a shortened version of everything --- salvation army is "salvo"...., breakfast is "brekkie"
easy night at the table guesthouse and woke late ish (okay 8am) another fine brekkie. venture the 2-3 hour drive to sydney...
Okay so we left Port M around midday and headed for the Pacific Hwy once more (embarking on an almost 3 hour drive). Andrew at Cedro restaurant suggested we take the inland route "The Buckets Way" -- yes this isthe name of the "highway". So, we drive an hour south of Port and at Taree head west on the Buckets Way. Good call. this is a superb drive through rural cattle pasture and farmland not to mention mountain range after mountain range. Again with the curvy windy roads but not really too too bad. About an hour in we come across a town of Gloucester which is a very small agricultural town population 2600. It literally could be enfield which is surrounded by farmland and a center of commerce and actually a lively downtown, several pubs, "hotels" (pubs), grocery, cafes and stores. It seems to be a little artsy haven with a couple art shops so probably an influx of Sidney Siders and Melbourne ites have descended as artists and pepped up the little town. It was very serendipitous to stumble into this town so we walked the length of the downtown (about 5 or so blocks) and settled on a bit of curry chicken & rice takeaway.
moving back into the car we head next for the town of dongog and drive sw on rt 31. Have you heard of the road less travelled? This is the road much much less travelled and the only traffic were watching the cows queue up on the side of the road. It was wonderful! A great ride and remember Keep Left! (although it really doesn't matter when no other traffic)
Arriving at our inn THE TABLE GUESTHOUSE was like manna from heaven. What a beautiful place. Jude (wife partner of Phil) came out to greet us and then said there was a problem, my wotif.com reservation said for wednesday. And naturally I said well of course it is. Slight Problem: today was Tuesday! Remember on the flight over I said I lost a day in travel? Well I got it back today. Somehow in my mind I allocated 2 nights on the road before Hunter Valley and originally we were leaving byron monday. I booked byron correct and sydney correct but somehow the two nights on the road were sun nite and mon nite. Panic sets in but Jude was great and said in Aussie fashion "no worries mate" we have availability so you want to stay all 3 days? YES!
If you come to Aussie or plan on it and come to hUnter valley (which I highly recommend) stay at this place!!! No exceptions. it is a small 5 room guest house with the most amazing breakfast. The brekkie special: poached egg with bacon and avocado on whole wheat toast. we had dinner here one night that Phil is the chef for which was lambsicles and asparagus and taters, starter was a creamed cauliflower soup with gorgonzola (YUM!!) and dessert a bit of pannacotta with fruit topping. It was heavenly. come and stay here you will be amazed. Jude & Phil spent 5 years living in mozambique and she acquired lots and lots of african artifacts and furnishings, came back to Oz bought this B&B and had a place to furnish the african items. We are in the Elephant room..
Wine tasting the next day by TWO FAT BLOAKES tour company -- tripadvisor recommended and recommended by Jude. Pick up at 9 and we visited with two other couples 5 wineries (Calais, Mistletoe, Peterson, and others). Plus a chocolate and wine pairing at the Hudson Valley Gardens, a cheese tasting at HV cheese, and an olive/olive oil tasting. Plus, an antipasto lunch and wine outside Peterson winery up on the hill under a tree with our new mates -- the other couples -- Peter & Danielle from Sydney, Mark & Deb from Melbourne and Graham our host and driver. The melbourne couple we stayed on at the HV beer company after our beer tasting and had another 2 jugs of beer with them. They invited us to their house in Melbourne next monday night so that will be fun.
The beer tasting was great. make a great craft beer (pale ales, wheat bier, boch, etc) and were in the midst of an experiment of "wine & Beer" mix. This I must say was terrible just tasted like beer and wine poured together. But one of their seasonal beers (not avail now) was an oyster beer which they claim gets rave reviews. Hmm. oysters yumm! beer yumm! together ???? not sure about that
Next day Hunter valley...we are staying here forever..Jude & Phil a delight and know how to feed us and keep us happy!! But now off to Hunter Valley Gardens which once again is exquisite. THey have this separated by garden type: formal garden, grandma's rose garden with great sculpture of a grandmother looking over her grandkids, oriental garden, japanese garden and a "storybook" garden. Great pics of this they take fairytales and kids stories and create gardens around the sculptures. For example, Jack and jill has two figures on a sloping hill like they are rolling down and up top a well with the kids dipping the bucket in. THey have Alice's Mad Hatters tea party with tweedle dee and dum. At each installationthey have a sculpture of an open fairy tale book with the highlights of each story. It is really well done and wait to you see the pics.
had a nice lunch at Country Cafe at the little "shops" area and their tagline is "Food like no udder". Finally had regular burgers with turkish bread was pretty killer and had been jonesing a burger. Nice verdelho from up the road...
onward drove back to Calais vineyard and purchased a couple bottles for the road...some chambercid (red) and some verdelho and voignier. THis was our fave vineyard we went to.
spent the rest of day drove into the little town of Maitland a cute little town and interesting architecture (very british in these parts with lots of wrought iron). Had our first venture into a Woolworth's grocery store and saw the reference to McDOnalds on a billboard "Macca's". THe aussies shorten all their words they have a shortened version of everything --- salvation army is "salvo"...., breakfast is "brekkie"
easy night at the table guesthouse and woke late ish (okay 8am) another fine brekkie. venture the 2-3 hour drive to sydney...
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Pacific Hwy drive south
This is a great way to see this vast country. Of course to see the entire country (like america) would take months/years and we (1) have not the time and (2) most importantly have not the money for this excursion. So this short drive from Byron to Sydney will have to suffice.
Driving approx. 2-3 hours per day breaks up the trip really well and you have time to stop and leisurely see the sights along the way.
ALong the way to Coffs the gps took us off on another 'tourist drive' (these are what we would know as scenic drives). It takes you off the main road through the country side or thru a beach town. it was great esp. as we had no specific end time. Of course we got to see our very own ROOS...thats kangaroo my yank friends. there were about a dozen all lined up in a perfect row watching the road. we stopped taking their picture and they in perfect pose.
Moving along back on Pacific Hwy which sort of compares to Rt 301 in suburban md/va, a country ish highway interspersed so often with a town or activity.
arrived in Coffs and had heard on radio about Lattitude 31 a bar/restaurant on the wharf and had live music on sunday nights. WHy not? no room yet but lets hear music and have a beverage. Again on the wharf spotting more whales breaching. is this the same ocean? oh yeah it is. forgot.
very bad service were going to order some raw oysters with our beverage but never ever saw our waitress again. I guess she panicked at the americans in the place and fled?? we could have dined an dashed but waited and stalked someone to pay and left.
On to find lodging - Backpacker place Hula Bula full up but looked like a good place. Across the street was Paradise or rather "Ocean Paradise" a motel/apartment place. Note: most places typically are longterm stay/apt type rentals.
for $70 night it was a nice room overlooking the barby and courtyard and had wifi. Or sort of. Wifi if you in the common area (which locks at night) so we standing outside the room checking email and updating you blog listeners. The things I do for my fans!
Purchased more prawns and wine and went to the local beach (again spectacular) arrived just past sunset but basically had the place to ourselves except for a couple very patient and well behaved seagull/beach birds. Anxious to get a hold of our prawns we ate our share, peeled the rest, then I threw the shells in the surf to return them to nature. Birds dive bombing and enjoying the remnants. nature helping nature is my motto.
next day we drove a bit around Coffs but wanted to head out and go to Bellingen and Dorrigo Natl Forest (rainforest). Bellingen a very cute, artsy town of about 2600. Nice cafes, restaurants, art shops and a masonic lodge converted into a gallery/cafe. What a concept!! Alas it was closed and no sign of any possible opening or contact info. Had coffee -- great coffee-- at a local coffee shop/ aniques and clothing store. very funky and cool and had WIFI -- more updates for the masses!!
off about 15 more km winding and crazy country roads to Dorrigo (up up up mtnside roads that swerve an dturn and semi trailers coming to and fro... NOT for the feint of heart to drive these roads but let m tell you Dorrigo is worth it. ALthough the circular trail to the waterfalls was about 6km -- its a long hike you will see some amazing trees, vegetation and buttress roots and epiphites. Even a carpet snake sleeping along the trail. no other craziness but amazing to behold andt he birdlife here. Loud little suckers
oh forgot to mention in the morning at the Ocean paradise I fired up the Barby outside and cooked a premade fritatta we had gotten at COLES (supermarket). Using the two spoons provided in our room for tea and the coffee/tea tray I successfully fired it up and warmed the fritatta and wraps. Not a bad brekkie. Coles by the way is a great supermarket - Oz has an amazingly wide variety of cremes, sauces dips and other such things we do not have. I thought we were the superpower but they eating better than us.
Also, you do not see many 'fast food' joints over here -- you see the mcdonalds along the highways (and I am sure will see them in sydney) but fast food not really a big thing over here. Just for us grubby amercians.
anyway I digress back to bellingen. Great little town and after surving the mtn roads to and from dorrigo we had another coffee at our favorite coffee spot. I think i "checked in" on facelift so you can check it out yourself.
driving south and back to Pacific Hwy headed the 2 more hours to Port Macquarie. This is my 2nd fave town after Byron. smaller and more reserved -- i think is more a senior citizens retirement area but still a young hip crowd. We could not get into the first backpacker place (thankfully really as it looked very "frat" crowd ish). next one we went to was OZZIE POZZIE -- love the name and had a great vibe. Thankfully they did have a room and was in the front sharing a ensuite and shower with 2 other rooms only. The room was small but cozy and a great corner room wtih view out to ocean (obstructed but not bad). Bed was a futon (which lonely planet did advise -- great place with uncomfy beds). front desk crew very helpful and gave good recommendations.
we went down to the waterfront got our fish n chips and wine (this time fish n chips not as good) but was nice sitting on the water.
next day we walked to Koala hospital at 730am and on the way went through park with walking trails and boardwalks. Came upon a heaping ton of flying foxes up in the trees --was pretty cool to stumble into this and amazing to witness.
Koala hosp very interesting they rescue injurd or hurt koalas and nurse them back to health and re release them in the wild. Some like Barry who has all kinds of ailments he will stay and be pampered the rest of his koala life. such a hardship for barry.
walking back through the 'rainforest' back at backpacker checked out and went for brekkie at Cedro's recommended by one of the backpacker staff and lonely planet. Food & service was great the best omelette yet in oz and talking the guy into coming to enfield -- he wants to do something different. we will give you different...
anyway cruising around and heading off south again
Driving approx. 2-3 hours per day breaks up the trip really well and you have time to stop and leisurely see the sights along the way.
ALong the way to Coffs the gps took us off on another 'tourist drive' (these are what we would know as scenic drives). It takes you off the main road through the country side or thru a beach town. it was great esp. as we had no specific end time. Of course we got to see our very own ROOS...thats kangaroo my yank friends. there were about a dozen all lined up in a perfect row watching the road. we stopped taking their picture and they in perfect pose.
Moving along back on Pacific Hwy which sort of compares to Rt 301 in suburban md/va, a country ish highway interspersed so often with a town or activity.
arrived in Coffs and had heard on radio about Lattitude 31 a bar/restaurant on the wharf and had live music on sunday nights. WHy not? no room yet but lets hear music and have a beverage. Again on the wharf spotting more whales breaching. is this the same ocean? oh yeah it is. forgot.
very bad service were going to order some raw oysters with our beverage but never ever saw our waitress again. I guess she panicked at the americans in the place and fled?? we could have dined an dashed but waited and stalked someone to pay and left.
On to find lodging - Backpacker place Hula Bula full up but looked like a good place. Across the street was Paradise or rather "Ocean Paradise" a motel/apartment place. Note: most places typically are longterm stay/apt type rentals.
for $70 night it was a nice room overlooking the barby and courtyard and had wifi. Or sort of. Wifi if you in the common area (which locks at night) so we standing outside the room checking email and updating you blog listeners. The things I do for my fans!
Purchased more prawns and wine and went to the local beach (again spectacular) arrived just past sunset but basically had the place to ourselves except for a couple very patient and well behaved seagull/beach birds. Anxious to get a hold of our prawns we ate our share, peeled the rest, then I threw the shells in the surf to return them to nature. Birds dive bombing and enjoying the remnants. nature helping nature is my motto.
next day we drove a bit around Coffs but wanted to head out and go to Bellingen and Dorrigo Natl Forest (rainforest). Bellingen a very cute, artsy town of about 2600. Nice cafes, restaurants, art shops and a masonic lodge converted into a gallery/cafe. What a concept!! Alas it was closed and no sign of any possible opening or contact info. Had coffee -- great coffee-- at a local coffee shop/ aniques and clothing store. very funky and cool and had WIFI -- more updates for the masses!!
off about 15 more km winding and crazy country roads to Dorrigo (up up up mtnside roads that swerve an dturn and semi trailers coming to and fro... NOT for the feint of heart to drive these roads but let m tell you Dorrigo is worth it. ALthough the circular trail to the waterfalls was about 6km -- its a long hike you will see some amazing trees, vegetation and buttress roots and epiphites. Even a carpet snake sleeping along the trail. no other craziness but amazing to behold andt he birdlife here. Loud little suckers
oh forgot to mention in the morning at the Ocean paradise I fired up the Barby outside and cooked a premade fritatta we had gotten at COLES (supermarket). Using the two spoons provided in our room for tea and the coffee/tea tray I successfully fired it up and warmed the fritatta and wraps. Not a bad brekkie. Coles by the way is a great supermarket - Oz has an amazingly wide variety of cremes, sauces dips and other such things we do not have. I thought we were the superpower but they eating better than us.
Also, you do not see many 'fast food' joints over here -- you see the mcdonalds along the highways (and I am sure will see them in sydney) but fast food not really a big thing over here. Just for us grubby amercians.
anyway I digress back to bellingen. Great little town and after surving the mtn roads to and from dorrigo we had another coffee at our favorite coffee spot. I think i "checked in" on facelift so you can check it out yourself.
driving south and back to Pacific Hwy headed the 2 more hours to Port Macquarie. This is my 2nd fave town after Byron. smaller and more reserved -- i think is more a senior citizens retirement area but still a young hip crowd. We could not get into the first backpacker place (thankfully really as it looked very "frat" crowd ish). next one we went to was OZZIE POZZIE -- love the name and had a great vibe. Thankfully they did have a room and was in the front sharing a ensuite and shower with 2 other rooms only. The room was small but cozy and a great corner room wtih view out to ocean (obstructed but not bad). Bed was a futon (which lonely planet did advise -- great place with uncomfy beds). front desk crew very helpful and gave good recommendations.
we went down to the waterfront got our fish n chips and wine (this time fish n chips not as good) but was nice sitting on the water.
next day we walked to Koala hospital at 730am and on the way went through park with walking trails and boardwalks. Came upon a heaping ton of flying foxes up in the trees --was pretty cool to stumble into this and amazing to witness.
Koala hosp very interesting they rescue injurd or hurt koalas and nurse them back to health and re release them in the wild. Some like Barry who has all kinds of ailments he will stay and be pampered the rest of his koala life. such a hardship for barry.
walking back through the 'rainforest' back at backpacker checked out and went for brekkie at Cedro's recommended by one of the backpacker staff and lonely planet. Food & service was great the best omelette yet in oz and talking the guy into coming to enfield -- he wants to do something different. we will give you different...
anyway cruising around and heading off south again
Byron Bay -- Anniversary Weekend
Great driving by Ms. Margery the approx. 2 hour drive to Byron...of course on a friday afternoon when all the Brisbaners getting out of town as well. But surprisingly little traffic or I was blissfully unaware in the back seat being entertained by David. And rambling on about all we had seen and done on our trip thus far.
Checked into our Guest house, Arcadia which was on cowpers lane. Very nice and charming and the room was incredibly large with high ceilings. The "ensuite" was equally large with a mammoth jacuzzi tub and walk in shower...>VERY WELL needed.. Pay no attention to the sign out front "business for sale" although anyone reading this you may be interested in a career in hospitality Byron is the place!
Wandered into town (first rule: leave the car & keys at home and walk everywhere --- if you will be drinking VB or wine, no need to be in a car. PERIOD!)
walked to beach for a little sunset do I have to tell you at this point how gorgeus it was? C'mon! Please! of course found the main bar/pub on the beach and settled in for a few VBs and Coopers...after several hours and drinks and listening to a great band playing on stage we decide to head to eat. Well we didn't make it far a little restaurant just a couple steps down looked pretty appealing And a wonderfully talented young lady, Renee Simone and her entourage street band playing outside. she on the uke and the rest with guitar, beat box and other instrumentation. They were amazing. One of those should have bought the cd they were selling but was A$W25 and cheapo'd out!
further wandering after dinner found us in the local "hotel" which refers to a bar/club and further drinks ensued.. Imagine that and got to about 12:30 ish or so... and we needed to move on to the inn. But not without your late night meat pie fix.
next day was a little slow moving. But we all eventually got ourselves together and motivated and decided on a hike to the Byron Lighthouse. Not really knowing how far we eagerly agreed. All in all about 3-4 km but was mostly up up up steps and incline (basically scaling a mtn). But we did stop at the beach and "The rock" that david proposed to margery so we could gayly reenact the event in a photo shoot that would make Ange Jolie jealous. It was here that we actually witnessed a large (almost 7 ft wingspan) eagle swoop down and nab his dinner, a seemingly tasty large fish. This was to be a FULL thanksgiving caliber meal. He landed on the beach on rocks and diligently and patiently gripped and squeezed it with his talons, banging it on the rocks to kill the fish. Once he was satisfied it was dead he took it and flew up to an aerie in the rocks to enjoy his spoils. Watching this entire thing david took some incredible NATGEO photographs and I actually got a great one of him flying away. You may have seen it on the facelift page.
up to the lighthouse tremendous views and watching numerous whales breaching as they are in migration season now plus dolphins at play (many wave whales too, you will have to ask about those unique creatures). They are wave crests that you think you see a whale but no its just a wave -- wave whale.
here we are at the easternmost point in all of Oz looking out over absolute beuaty. I see holiday rental at this beach again sometime.
Dying of hunger we walk back into town to get Fish N CHips. What seemed like a 3 hour wait we got our Fish N chips takeaway (snapper crumbled with chips well done) and sat by the beach enjoying our best fish n chips EVER!
Back to the inn to get ready for our big anniversary night dinner. Dressing up for the occasion even with a tie, we began on the front porch with Veuve CLicquot. And how else would you begin such a grand night? I do not know any other way.
Margery had found this great place online called Muoi's Feast located in the heart of downtown (by the beach). The chef/owner is a vietnamese woman of very peasant upbringing in Vietnam was able to immigrate to Oz at a young age and get taken in by a family who raised her. she became a cook and worked as a chef at various hotel/restuarnts in sydney/melbourne (sydney hilton) and elsewhere and always wanted to own a restaurant. she and her husband opened this place about 5 or so years ago. Let me tell you it was dynamite. AND THE BEST SERVICE in all of Oz -- I know that's not saying much cause service in general is terrible but the service here was awesome. HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend this restaurant to anyone . Margery and I both ordered the Wild Duck and David & Myra both ordered the Lamb Shank. YOu could not go wrong with either order. I think we pretty much closed the place down and I am sure they wanted us to leave but were very gracious. David & Margery got further vietnamese language lessons from the husband of the chef. Vietnamese dialogue does not come with everyone's meal here only those that enquire.
Next morning myra and I embarked for a walk into town and found Cafe Mocka for breakfast. Again, not bad service- not great- but great coffee and great eggs.
We then went back to bnb changed into swimsuits and drove over to Palm cove. Parked and walked down the beach to meet up with M &D for a final time and bid adieu for this journey and vowing to meet up again on another continent in another world.
Myra and I then got ready to head out but first provisions.
Travel budget tip: find a grocery store - we found ALDI's (we shop here at home) and stocked up on waters, fruit bars, cheeses and other sundry items to sustain us on our road journey and keep the "restaurant" tab bill lower in future dining times. Plus, stocking up on wine/booze helps as well at discount grocery prices (go to the Bottle Shop)
Heading out of town south on Tourist drive our next stop Coffs Harbour.
Checked into our Guest house, Arcadia which was on cowpers lane. Very nice and charming and the room was incredibly large with high ceilings. The "ensuite" was equally large with a mammoth jacuzzi tub and walk in shower...>VERY WELL needed.. Pay no attention to the sign out front "business for sale" although anyone reading this you may be interested in a career in hospitality Byron is the place!
Wandered into town (first rule: leave the car & keys at home and walk everywhere --- if you will be drinking VB or wine, no need to be in a car. PERIOD!)
walked to beach for a little sunset do I have to tell you at this point how gorgeus it was? C'mon! Please! of course found the main bar/pub on the beach and settled in for a few VBs and Coopers...after several hours and drinks and listening to a great band playing on stage we decide to head to eat. Well we didn't make it far a little restaurant just a couple steps down looked pretty appealing And a wonderfully talented young lady, Renee Simone and her entourage street band playing outside. she on the uke and the rest with guitar, beat box and other instrumentation. They were amazing. One of those should have bought the cd they were selling but was A$W25 and cheapo'd out!
further wandering after dinner found us in the local "hotel" which refers to a bar/club and further drinks ensued.. Imagine that and got to about 12:30 ish or so... and we needed to move on to the inn. But not without your late night meat pie fix.
next day was a little slow moving. But we all eventually got ourselves together and motivated and decided on a hike to the Byron Lighthouse. Not really knowing how far we eagerly agreed. All in all about 3-4 km but was mostly up up up steps and incline (basically scaling a mtn). But we did stop at the beach and "The rock" that david proposed to margery so we could gayly reenact the event in a photo shoot that would make Ange Jolie jealous. It was here that we actually witnessed a large (almost 7 ft wingspan) eagle swoop down and nab his dinner, a seemingly tasty large fish. This was to be a FULL thanksgiving caliber meal. He landed on the beach on rocks and diligently and patiently gripped and squeezed it with his talons, banging it on the rocks to kill the fish. Once he was satisfied it was dead he took it and flew up to an aerie in the rocks to enjoy his spoils. Watching this entire thing david took some incredible NATGEO photographs and I actually got a great one of him flying away. You may have seen it on the facelift page.
up to the lighthouse tremendous views and watching numerous whales breaching as they are in migration season now plus dolphins at play (many wave whales too, you will have to ask about those unique creatures). They are wave crests that you think you see a whale but no its just a wave -- wave whale.
here we are at the easternmost point in all of Oz looking out over absolute beuaty. I see holiday rental at this beach again sometime.
Dying of hunger we walk back into town to get Fish N CHips. What seemed like a 3 hour wait we got our Fish N chips takeaway (snapper crumbled with chips well done) and sat by the beach enjoying our best fish n chips EVER!
Back to the inn to get ready for our big anniversary night dinner. Dressing up for the occasion even with a tie, we began on the front porch with Veuve CLicquot. And how else would you begin such a grand night? I do not know any other way.
Margery had found this great place online called Muoi's Feast located in the heart of downtown (by the beach). The chef/owner is a vietnamese woman of very peasant upbringing in Vietnam was able to immigrate to Oz at a young age and get taken in by a family who raised her. she became a cook and worked as a chef at various hotel/restuarnts in sydney/melbourne (sydney hilton) and elsewhere and always wanted to own a restaurant. she and her husband opened this place about 5 or so years ago. Let me tell you it was dynamite. AND THE BEST SERVICE in all of Oz -- I know that's not saying much cause service in general is terrible but the service here was awesome. HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend this restaurant to anyone . Margery and I both ordered the Wild Duck and David & Myra both ordered the Lamb Shank. YOu could not go wrong with either order. I think we pretty much closed the place down and I am sure they wanted us to leave but were very gracious. David & Margery got further vietnamese language lessons from the husband of the chef. Vietnamese dialogue does not come with everyone's meal here only those that enquire.
Next morning myra and I embarked for a walk into town and found Cafe Mocka for breakfast. Again, not bad service- not great- but great coffee and great eggs.
We then went back to bnb changed into swimsuits and drove over to Palm cove. Parked and walked down the beach to meet up with M &D for a final time and bid adieu for this journey and vowing to meet up again on another continent in another world.
Myra and I then got ready to head out but first provisions.
Travel budget tip: find a grocery store - we found ALDI's (we shop here at home) and stocked up on waters, fruit bars, cheeses and other sundry items to sustain us on our road journey and keep the "restaurant" tab bill lower in future dining times. Plus, stocking up on wine/booze helps as well at discount grocery prices (go to the Bottle Shop)
Heading out of town south on Tourist drive our next stop Coffs Harbour.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Brisbane
reeling off our adventure in the "Backpacker" accommodation, okay so our first (well second really but first on our own) wasn't so great an idea. Hey, we had fun anyway at the place and had each other...need I say more....okay moving on...
We arrived Brisbane bleary eyed and completely dazed at around 8 somthing am....how did this happen? who knows the mysteries of air travel and schedules booking shit at ungodly hours in the morning. Who knew the sun came up before 12 noon???? tis a mystery.
anyhoo, got to the airtrain into Brisbane and booked passage (meanwhile at airport furiously charging cellphones which had miraculously died on us...how does it happen a $300+ iphone that goes dead in minutes! God love the chinese! They sell us crap we can't live without and we happily put up with the crap aspect!! Capitalism! bravo!
$15.50 passage per person from bne airport to south brisbane train station. We weren't due to meet M&D until 1-2pm so thankfully (and probably more often than not) there were consistent delays to the transport and we sat for quite awhile on board....however, good opportunity for "re rest".
deboarded and walked to QAG (queens art gallery)...by the way was quite breezy and chilly here.. temperature dropped considerably from Cairns/ WE later found that there was a cold front to hit the entire coast and parts of sydney (blue mtns) had snow which they have not had in a boodle of years). well at least they consider the notion of climate change and don't bury their heads in the sand like in US ofA
found some interesting work in the museum (we went to drop our bags at bag check-- a convenient and free way to dispose of your luggage for an afternooon) But the art was intriguing. Myra found a group of statuary titled "monkey musicians" she had bought in LOuisiana years and years ago and probably for next to nothign. here they were in this museum with a german mfr title "Meissen Mfr" c. 1850 and after JJ kaendler. who knows we may have struck gold! Yippee I ya MFER!
well left the museum and followed the map laid out by our Mate david over the pedestrian bridge and into the heart of downtown. Did I mention it was Freakin cold? But this city is well laid out and planned. Cotter should study this town how they did things as it is really a masterpiece. Very heavily catered to pedestrians and bicyclists with special lanes and accoms for both. The city is clean and neat and a pleasure to walk through (again if you are not freezing your yayas)
found M&Ds favorite sushi place or what we thought was their favorite. bought heaps of sushi rolls and ate ours on the street. Delicious... contact me for details where it is but let me say it is some of THE BEST sushi takeout I have ever had ANYWHERE. And I have had sushi takeout!!
Well we ventured back over the 2nd pedestrian bridge down river a quite far walk much farther than anticipated. Crossing over were mesmerized by "South Bank" area. It is completely redone as an oasis for city dwellers, lanes and lanes of walking paths, illuminated and flowered. You are amazed to come upon an actual beach with sand, lifeguards and the accoutrement of an actual ocean beach. It is amazing to be at the beach looking at the river and city of Brisbane in the foreground. There is an amphitheatre where they hold some amazing concerts and events on a regular basis...none today oh well.
met M&D parked out front QAG and shared sushi and stories of our trip thus far, gave good hugs and kisses and set out for our trip to BYRON BAY. About a 2 hour drive, margery did a yeomans job driving with the rest of us chirping away incessently in her ear... God I love that woman....must be why she is my best friend in the world...she is the greatest!!
read on about byron...have you heard about our eagle sighting??? stay tuned...
We arrived Brisbane bleary eyed and completely dazed at around 8 somthing am....how did this happen? who knows the mysteries of air travel and schedules booking shit at ungodly hours in the morning. Who knew the sun came up before 12 noon???? tis a mystery.
anyhoo, got to the airtrain into Brisbane and booked passage (meanwhile at airport furiously charging cellphones which had miraculously died on us...how does it happen a $300+ iphone that goes dead in minutes! God love the chinese! They sell us crap we can't live without and we happily put up with the crap aspect!! Capitalism! bravo!
$15.50 passage per person from bne airport to south brisbane train station. We weren't due to meet M&D until 1-2pm so thankfully (and probably more often than not) there were consistent delays to the transport and we sat for quite awhile on board....however, good opportunity for "re rest".
deboarded and walked to QAG (queens art gallery)...by the way was quite breezy and chilly here.. temperature dropped considerably from Cairns/ WE later found that there was a cold front to hit the entire coast and parts of sydney (blue mtns) had snow which they have not had in a boodle of years). well at least they consider the notion of climate change and don't bury their heads in the sand like in US ofA
found some interesting work in the museum (we went to drop our bags at bag check-- a convenient and free way to dispose of your luggage for an afternooon) But the art was intriguing. Myra found a group of statuary titled "monkey musicians" she had bought in LOuisiana years and years ago and probably for next to nothign. here they were in this museum with a german mfr title "Meissen Mfr" c. 1850 and after JJ kaendler. who knows we may have struck gold! Yippee I ya MFER!
well left the museum and followed the map laid out by our Mate david over the pedestrian bridge and into the heart of downtown. Did I mention it was Freakin cold? But this city is well laid out and planned. Cotter should study this town how they did things as it is really a masterpiece. Very heavily catered to pedestrians and bicyclists with special lanes and accoms for both. The city is clean and neat and a pleasure to walk through (again if you are not freezing your yayas)
found M&Ds favorite sushi place or what we thought was their favorite. bought heaps of sushi rolls and ate ours on the street. Delicious... contact me for details where it is but let me say it is some of THE BEST sushi takeout I have ever had ANYWHERE. And I have had sushi takeout!!
Well we ventured back over the 2nd pedestrian bridge down river a quite far walk much farther than anticipated. Crossing over were mesmerized by "South Bank" area. It is completely redone as an oasis for city dwellers, lanes and lanes of walking paths, illuminated and flowered. You are amazed to come upon an actual beach with sand, lifeguards and the accoutrement of an actual ocean beach. It is amazing to be at the beach looking at the river and city of Brisbane in the foreground. There is an amphitheatre where they hold some amazing concerts and events on a regular basis...none today oh well.
met M&D parked out front QAG and shared sushi and stories of our trip thus far, gave good hugs and kisses and set out for our trip to BYRON BAY. About a 2 hour drive, margery did a yeomans job driving with the rest of us chirping away incessently in her ear... God I love that woman....must be why she is my best friend in the world...she is the greatest!!
read on about byron...have you heard about our eagle sighting??? stay tuned...
Monday, October 15, 2012
Port Douglas & Daintree Rainforest
okay so we left margery's in Peregian via Col's airport shuttle direct pickup at the house. well after a short walk around suburbia...ticky tacky houses on the corner.....total suburban living here.
Brisbane Airport easy peasy...did not even show any form of ID getting on plane..how crazy is that? quck flight on Jetstar Airlines about 2 hours to Cairns. Picked up first car hire, a hyundai ..pretty good car but getting used to right side driving and driving on the left on crazy roads and lots of roundabouts. But worth the drive up to Pt Douglas rather than staying in Cairns...nothing exciting here but pt D the place happening. much smaller and more compact. Our hotel part of the Mantra chain was Mantra on the Inlet was in ground zero right at Macrossan and Wharf St. HOwever, gps does NOT find it driving around trying to find this hotel is crazy. Thankfully another mantra attached around the corner and found out that our key was in a dropbox awaiing us. pretty cool hotel with a great pool area but room on 3rd floor...a little schlep. But right outside are a ton of restaurants and shops and a 2 blk walk to the wharf where I would pick up the calypso to the gbR diving.
On Tuesday went to wharf to find vessel and realized there that I had booked for wednesday..oops...plan b..go to Daintree Rainforest instead... instead of a packaged tour we drove up and again crazy windy roads but right along the Pacific ocean and every view incredible! felt like i was driving in circles...the ocean again? and its still absolutely beautiful!!
about a 20 min or so ride up the coast to Daintree ferry an old wire rope pull ferry. Drove into rainforest and took several boardwalk hikes through the rainforest. If you havent done it you must. It is breathtaking 00 the bajillion varieties of wild life and vegetation, the wide buttress roots on the immense trees and the epiphets growing fromt hthe trees. Wait til you see pics of this place it is truly awe inspiring. Plus the "baskets of life"? what is that? immense ferns and other growths that grow out of the trees part way up. They are incredible. Have I said incredible and awesome enough in this diatribe? well I can't possibly express the awesome ness of this place.
in terms of wild life have seen Roos and wallabies on the sides of the road, a few snakes...no crocs...thank god don't want to see them except on the telly!!
made it all the way up to cape tribulation and the "rainforest beach". It is strange to walk through a rainforest and then pop out at the pacific ocean and a beautifully pristine beach. and this we have found happens throughout oz.
Lunch at Thornton beach a little kiosk on the beach and had a little wine and seafood sampler.. Took a walk to the beach dipped in the water but the "Danger Jellyfish" signs got us a feared and we only waded.. plus the water felt like a hot tub which is way too hot for my taste.
Back in Pt Douglas had cocktails and then dinner at Salsa -- fantastic restaurant where I had the Kangaroo special little fillets of Roo.
oh cocktails by the way were at the pool and pic to follow but was total redneck oz--no glass allowed so we brought our ceramic coffee cups and put the wine in a "Icebreak" plastic carton. We had purchased a kilo of prawns from a seafood purveyor earlier and brought all down to the pool. It was high class living and were serenaded but the 100s of Lorrikeets in the palm trees above. These birds are everywhere and gets to be a little hitchcocky after a bit --- but they are pretty birds (green, red and yellow) and pretty wild to see them hanging about instead of our city pigeons.
Oh and I mentioned ICEBREAK--the BEST EVER coffee drink!! In the world! it is a canned iced coffee drink that is he most refreshing drink you will ever have---well martinis the exception of course! Or an ICE COLD VB "victoria bitters" beer. Which is the budweiser of Oz. When I say Bud I mean it is the most popular everyday beer but a much much much much higher caliber quality.
anyway I digress. day 2 in PD -- scuba diving day . booked with Tropical Journeys the vessel Calypso and was a 90 minute ride to the reef which was Opal Reef (SNO-south north opal). Got 3 spots and the first was a snorkel which was magical to swim through the corals and fish and have absolute perfect 15-20 meter visibility (minmum).
2nd and 3rd spots were dives which I had not done in ages. Prettty incredible really
Im getting bored of writing so will sign off and pick up later. too much to do here to keep this blog. but will try and update more frequently.
but dinner that night at TIN SHED a club. was told a locals favorite and th ecoldest beer in town. It actually was good -- another order of prawns of course and a great fish dish (barramundi) a local fave.
took off the next day back to cairns and found a rat a tat backpacker place in cairns for $50. it was the smallest room ever seen -- and AC was an additional $3 and had a key to activate AC. The room was the size of my bathroom in JC! No shit! but was comfy sort of and easy to the airport at 4am the next morning.
Did have a great lunch on the river though at Dundees -- an octopus salad to die for!
later that night ate dinner at a Balinese restaurant Bayleaf and had fish cooked in banana leaf. The only downside if there is to oz is that you have to expect the worst service ever at restaurants! don't come expecting to be waited on hand and foot - it ain't happening mostly because they are not paid on tips but by salary. so, it could be ages to get a waiter/waitress. but No worries mate!
Brisbane Airport easy peasy...did not even show any form of ID getting on plane..how crazy is that? quck flight on Jetstar Airlines about 2 hours to Cairns. Picked up first car hire, a hyundai ..pretty good car but getting used to right side driving and driving on the left on crazy roads and lots of roundabouts. But worth the drive up to Pt Douglas rather than staying in Cairns...nothing exciting here but pt D the place happening. much smaller and more compact. Our hotel part of the Mantra chain was Mantra on the Inlet was in ground zero right at Macrossan and Wharf St. HOwever, gps does NOT find it driving around trying to find this hotel is crazy. Thankfully another mantra attached around the corner and found out that our key was in a dropbox awaiing us. pretty cool hotel with a great pool area but room on 3rd floor...a little schlep. But right outside are a ton of restaurants and shops and a 2 blk walk to the wharf where I would pick up the calypso to the gbR diving.
On Tuesday went to wharf to find vessel and realized there that I had booked for wednesday..oops...plan b..go to Daintree Rainforest instead... instead of a packaged tour we drove up and again crazy windy roads but right along the Pacific ocean and every view incredible! felt like i was driving in circles...the ocean again? and its still absolutely beautiful!!
about a 20 min or so ride up the coast to Daintree ferry an old wire rope pull ferry. Drove into rainforest and took several boardwalk hikes through the rainforest. If you havent done it you must. It is breathtaking 00 the bajillion varieties of wild life and vegetation, the wide buttress roots on the immense trees and the epiphets growing fromt hthe trees. Wait til you see pics of this place it is truly awe inspiring. Plus the "baskets of life"? what is that? immense ferns and other growths that grow out of the trees part way up. They are incredible. Have I said incredible and awesome enough in this diatribe? well I can't possibly express the awesome ness of this place.
in terms of wild life have seen Roos and wallabies on the sides of the road, a few snakes...no crocs...thank god don't want to see them except on the telly!!
made it all the way up to cape tribulation and the "rainforest beach". It is strange to walk through a rainforest and then pop out at the pacific ocean and a beautifully pristine beach. and this we have found happens throughout oz.
Lunch at Thornton beach a little kiosk on the beach and had a little wine and seafood sampler.. Took a walk to the beach dipped in the water but the "Danger Jellyfish" signs got us a feared and we only waded.. plus the water felt like a hot tub which is way too hot for my taste.
Back in Pt Douglas had cocktails and then dinner at Salsa -- fantastic restaurant where I had the Kangaroo special little fillets of Roo.
oh cocktails by the way were at the pool and pic to follow but was total redneck oz--no glass allowed so we brought our ceramic coffee cups and put the wine in a "Icebreak" plastic carton. We had purchased a kilo of prawns from a seafood purveyor earlier and brought all down to the pool. It was high class living and were serenaded but the 100s of Lorrikeets in the palm trees above. These birds are everywhere and gets to be a little hitchcocky after a bit --- but they are pretty birds (green, red and yellow) and pretty wild to see them hanging about instead of our city pigeons.
Oh and I mentioned ICEBREAK--the BEST EVER coffee drink!! In the world! it is a canned iced coffee drink that is he most refreshing drink you will ever have---well martinis the exception of course! Or an ICE COLD VB "victoria bitters" beer. Which is the budweiser of Oz. When I say Bud I mean it is the most popular everyday beer but a much much much much higher caliber quality.
anyway I digress. day 2 in PD -- scuba diving day . booked with Tropical Journeys the vessel Calypso and was a 90 minute ride to the reef which was Opal Reef (SNO-south north opal). Got 3 spots and the first was a snorkel which was magical to swim through the corals and fish and have absolute perfect 15-20 meter visibility (minmum).
2nd and 3rd spots were dives which I had not done in ages. Prettty incredible really
Im getting bored of writing so will sign off and pick up later. too much to do here to keep this blog. but will try and update more frequently.
but dinner that night at TIN SHED a club. was told a locals favorite and th ecoldest beer in town. It actually was good -- another order of prawns of course and a great fish dish (barramundi) a local fave.
took off the next day back to cairns and found a rat a tat backpacker place in cairns for $50. it was the smallest room ever seen -- and AC was an additional $3 and had a key to activate AC. The room was the size of my bathroom in JC! No shit! but was comfy sort of and easy to the airport at 4am the next morning.
Did have a great lunch on the river though at Dundees -- an octopus salad to die for!
later that night ate dinner at a Balinese restaurant Bayleaf and had fish cooked in banana leaf. The only downside if there is to oz is that you have to expect the worst service ever at restaurants! don't come expecting to be waited on hand and foot - it ain't happening mostly because they are not paid on tips but by salary. so, it could be ages to get a waiter/waitress. but No worries mate!
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