Hen Time In The Hunter

Okay, so I know there has been a serious delay in blog posts. The truth is, i've been drunk. We are still doing exciting things but the drinking has increased and with that my motivation to do anything other than sleep has decreased. So here is an update on what we did a few weeks ago, our first experience of the Hunter Valley.

In true hen style the drinking started on the bus at 8am. Unfortunately there was a sing-a-gram who sang to us before there was enough time to let the alcohol hit our blood streams.

After a very, awkwardly long, 3 verse rendition of 'going to the chapel and we're going to get married' from a guy we initially mistook for a crack addict, we started our journey to the hunter.

The bus journey was full of games, pink presents and pass the naughty parcel.

We managed to make it to the end of our first wine tasting at the Pepper Tree Winery.

I wish I could tell you what wines we tried, and what they tasted like but I can't remember. What I do know, is that I liked them all.

Someone in the group kept pouring some of their wine into 'waste' buckets. 

You know my view on this.

Our next winery was where we saw our first kangaroo! They were jumping around the fields in the rain.

Our personal wine dispenser told us that if people were caught by the police leaving the wineries drunk that they are charged a $17k fine....he told us this after filling up our glasses with more fabulous wine. I'm sure he wasn't warning us.

Our next stop was Lindeman's Winery for pizza and more wine.

After overeating some seriously good pizza and potato salad, we got back in our van and headed over to our last winery of the day - The Cockfighters winery.

This was my favourite winery. (No, not because we had been getting progressively drunk throughout the day)... because it was modern, with beautiful views and there was a very exciting game of find the broccoli.

After our last tasting we headed to Tempus Two for our final drinks before heading home.

Espresso martini time!

We had a really great day in the Hunter celebrating one of Jo's last weekend's as Miss Thomas. The next blog post from the Hunter will be in a months time when my parents come to visit. Hopefully i'll have more wine tasting notes for you then...

 Good Luck Jo! I wish you a lifetime of happiness!

Palm Beaching

A few weeks ago we hired a sexy Toyota Yaris and went for a drive up the coast to Palm Beach, where Home & Away is filmed.

Most of the aussies we told about our trip frowned and thought we were weird. They all seemed to be embarrassed about the 'phenomenon' that is Home & Away. (Apparently its better than Neighbours but Neighbours is still bad)

These bad boys are going to be the reason I am depressed when it's finally summer. They are the naughtiest mouthfuls of deliciousness ever. England, you are being deprived.

We headed up north via Manly with my friend from school who was our brilliant tour guide.

I haven't watched Home & Away since I was about 7 years old so although I appreciated the beach, it was a bit wasted on me.

Apparently this is where a lot of the fight scenes happen...

Kate deserved this.

RMS reunited.

Summer Bay Surf Life Saving Club

A.Stewart

After some classic tourist snaps we headed back to our car and headed to Manly Wharf Bar for a quick steak sandwich before heading home.

The Sailors Club - Rose Bay

Today was long.

We ended up trekking all the way to a suburb in west Sydney (1hr and a half away) to realise the William Street we needed was about 10 minutes from our flat. Kate was not happy.

We were over 2 hours late to pick up our hire car and we ended up changing our plans for the day. Instead we drove over the bridge and explored north Sydney.

Bridge excitement!

We found this restaurant called The Sailors Club in Rose Bay at the side of the road. You can't see from the pictures but it looks out over a bay and a marina.

This was the bar area where we had drinks before moving into the restaurant.

As you can see from the below 6pm is a little bit early for dinner on a Saturday night.

To start we had Scallops Baked On The Half Shell, Sweet Potato Purée, Chives, Black Sea Salt

Those little crunchy looking things on top of our scallops were miniature crisps.

Next I had some sticky pork ribs from the bar menu and had food envy once again.

Kate went for the Wagyu Flank Steak, Potato Gratin & Cafe De Paris Butter

That is 'steak juice' aka - blood its swimming in. Carnivore.

Up next was probably the best dessert i've ever had.

Chocolate Brownie, Chocolate Ganache, Caramel Popcorn, Salted Caramel Gel, Popcorn Ice Cream, Cocoa Wafer

I ordered this and Kate opted out of dessert completely. 

After one taste she ordered her own.

The chocolate bar you can see is made from three layers of heavenly chocolate.

There was a ganache top, a brownie base and something magical in-between.

The salted caramel gel was so soft and delicious, even on its own. I may have used my finger to clean every last drop off the plate. As I'm writing this i'm seriously considering driving back there to get another portion..is that bad?