Last night, we all crawled into bed at 8 pm. How we made it that long is no small miracle. Actually sleeping in a horizontal position was WONDERFUL! Dave had a 12 mile run, so he headed out into the overcast morning. The rest of us were lounging in our jammies, contemplating breakfast, as we noticed the sky getting darker and darker. The trees off the patio began to blow violently. Soon the wind was whistling and the clouds opened up- dumping sheets of rain. Shortly afterward, a very wet, very cold athlete showed up at the door with water rolling off of his hat and out of his shoes. So much for training today!
We went to breakfast, which is included at resort- a huge spread of choices, including Aussie (and British inspired) faves such as muesli (thinking I’m not spelling that right), crumpets, baked tomatoes, meats and cheeses, and a huge beautiful comb of honey on a rack for your toast. We totally forgot to trick the girls into trying Vegemite- tomorrow for sure. I try to get a pix of their faces!
Afterward, we were lounging in the lobby, looking out over the golf course and watching the wind blow. I saw something hop in the distance…”Is that a…kangaroo?” It was! He hopped across the green to the delight of us foreigners. The staff was totally like, yeah, we see a lot of them. We didn’t expect to see them in the part of the country though. In to the Blue Kangaroo we “hopped” to get a closer look. Our stealthy tracker instincts rewarded us with an even closer view. Hope the video comes over well! We were all quite pleased with our discovery. It’s one thing to see one in the zoo, but quite another to feel like you’ve discovered your very own! (Especially, as we chuckled to ourselves, in his very own “natural” habitat- a golf course)
Well, with it raining on and off, the horseback riding was off for the day, so what else were we to do, but go wine tasting? The tasting rooms here are called cellar doors and each vineyard has beautiful buildings and grounds. The three main featured wines here are the whites: Semillon and Verdelho and, of course, the red: Shiraz. Hannah and Tatum were able to create their own adventures at each stop. At one, they posed in the vines for pictures, at the next, chased a number of geese out to a pond. One winery offered shortbread to cleanse the palette and chocolate cake to highlight their dessert wines. But by lunch time, they were done with wine tasting. We headed into the local town, called Cessnock for snacks and lunch.
The grocery was quite different. When you get your cart, you have to deposit a two dollar coin to get it, which will be returned when you bring it back. Bet there would be a lot less cart meets door dings if we did that in the states! It’s always fun to see how different the foods are. The eggs are kept in a big stack at room temperature. Yikes! When you check out- there aren’t plastic bags. Everyone brings them, like the ones you buy at home (and often forget to bring the next time). “First time in Australia?” the checker asks us. Like we didn’t have tourist written all over us when we were snapping pictures on the dairy aisle!
We walked around town, taking in the storefronts which have the feel of Main Street Mesa…without the revitalization part. This must be where the locals shop for random things like musical picture frames, boardshop clothing, real estate, patchouli incense and cream puffs? Still managed to hit an ATM for Aussie cash and find a nice lunch. We hit a mall/ market with a Target- totally different from home and a pharmacy where Michael was able to find an electric shaver after frying his from home. There was a stand in the middle of the mall selling meat pies. (We make Aussie meat pies at home and they’re a family favorite!) They really eat them here- beautiful golden pie crusts with all these wonderful fillings. Our favorite yesterday was the chicken, leek and mushroom. Can’t even imagine the amount of trans fats in those yummies!
At the wineries, they kept saying how the Verdelho went wonderfully with curries, so the seed was planted. When we ran across the Thai place, it was a given. We topped our day off with a take away feast! In Australia, we don’t do “to-go” we do “take away”. We passed on the Verdelho, though. A morning of wine tasting doesn’t leave you woozy- because you just taste and toss your little sample, but the overall effect leaves you feeling a bit pickled. Like your taste buds and tummy are on overload. Our Thai feast was just the cure. Due to the proximity of this country to so many Asian cultures, there are some seriously good Asian foods to be had here!
We went to breakfast, which is included at resort- a huge spread of choices, including Aussie (and British inspired) faves such as muesli (thinking I’m not spelling that right), crumpets, baked tomatoes, meats and cheeses, and a huge beautiful comb of honey on a rack for your toast. We totally forgot to trick the girls into trying Vegemite- tomorrow for sure. I try to get a pix of their faces!
Afterward, we were lounging in the lobby, looking out over the golf course and watching the wind blow. I saw something hop in the distance…”Is that a…kangaroo?” It was! He hopped across the green to the delight of us foreigners. The staff was totally like, yeah, we see a lot of them. We didn’t expect to see them in the part of the country though. In to the Blue Kangaroo we “hopped” to get a closer look. Our stealthy tracker instincts rewarded us with an even closer view. Hope the video comes over well! We were all quite pleased with our discovery. It’s one thing to see one in the zoo, but quite another to feel like you’ve discovered your very own! (Especially, as we chuckled to ourselves, in his very own “natural” habitat- a golf course)
Well, with it raining on and off, the horseback riding was off for the day, so what else were we to do, but go wine tasting? The tasting rooms here are called cellar doors and each vineyard has beautiful buildings and grounds. The three main featured wines here are the whites: Semillon and Verdelho and, of course, the red: Shiraz. Hannah and Tatum were able to create their own adventures at each stop. At one, they posed in the vines for pictures, at the next, chased a number of geese out to a pond. One winery offered shortbread to cleanse the palette and chocolate cake to highlight their dessert wines. But by lunch time, they were done with wine tasting. We headed into the local town, called Cessnock for snacks and lunch.
The grocery was quite different. When you get your cart, you have to deposit a two dollar coin to get it, which will be returned when you bring it back. Bet there would be a lot less cart meets door dings if we did that in the states! It’s always fun to see how different the foods are. The eggs are kept in a big stack at room temperature. Yikes! When you check out- there aren’t plastic bags. Everyone brings them, like the ones you buy at home (and often forget to bring the next time). “First time in Australia?” the checker asks us. Like we didn’t have tourist written all over us when we were snapping pictures on the dairy aisle!
We walked around town, taking in the storefronts which have the feel of Main Street Mesa…without the revitalization part. This must be where the locals shop for random things like musical picture frames, boardshop clothing, real estate, patchouli incense and cream puffs? Still managed to hit an ATM for Aussie cash and find a nice lunch. We hit a mall/ market with a Target- totally different from home and a pharmacy where Michael was able to find an electric shaver after frying his from home. There was a stand in the middle of the mall selling meat pies. (We make Aussie meat pies at home and they’re a family favorite!) They really eat them here- beautiful golden pie crusts with all these wonderful fillings. Our favorite yesterday was the chicken, leek and mushroom. Can’t even imagine the amount of trans fats in those yummies!
At the wineries, they kept saying how the Verdelho went wonderfully with curries, so the seed was planted. When we ran across the Thai place, it was a given. We topped our day off with a take away feast! In Australia, we don’t do “to-go” we do “take away”. We passed on the Verdelho, though. A morning of wine tasting doesn’t leave you woozy- because you just taste and toss your little sample, but the overall effect leaves you feeling a bit pickled. Like your taste buds and tummy are on overload. Our Thai feast was just the cure. Due to the proximity of this country to so many Asian cultures, there are some seriously good Asian foods to be had here!
No comments:
Post a Comment