Too Cool For Masterchef?

Yesterday we went to the almost washed away FlavourFest at Hunter Valley Gardens, we tried going on Sunday but the torrential rain meant organisers had to cancel the day and try and scramble to reorganise for Monday.

We went last year and had a ball, this year the only real highlight (with many stallholders not coming back after washed out Sunday) being seeing Callum Hann, finalist of 2010 Masterchef cook.  Callum seems a very down to earth young guy, he had a casual, if a bit nervous, persona in front of the small crowd, he was engaging and spoke with genuine enthusiasm and warmth.  He was more at ease when he was cooking - Vietnamese Prawn Salad then a Confit Pork Belly - both looked delish.

In the small crowd watching Callum was his Masterchef mate Matthew Caldicott, the accountant who wanted to follow his passion and move into cooking, according to his Masterchef spiel.

(photo source)

Sorry to report that Matthew thought he was a bit too cool for school, evidenced by the following exchange with Mr Mel (we were standing next to him in a 'crowd' of about 20 people) :

Mr Mel - G'day Mate, you here to support Callum? (he had been talking to Callum 5 mins previous)
Matthew - Yes
Mr Mel - What do you think of the current Masterchef crew?
Matthew - Don't watch it, I've never watched it, didn't watch the one I was on, only went on it
Mr Mel - Ahhh ok, so are you working in cooking now?
Matthew - No back at old job (accountant)
Mr Mel - Righto well good luck

Now I'm not sure if Matthew was just having a bad day in the cold wet weather, or if that's his normal personality, but gees louise, it wouldn't kill you to smile or engage with someone talking to you, or to show a bit of respect to the show that gave you a bit of fame.

And yes everyone is entitled to their privacy, but it wasn't as if we were bugging him for an interview etc, just a pleasant 'how you going' type chat, to a guy we'd seen on telly, who was standing on his own in a small crowd.

Have to wonder about the real story behind Matthew going on Masterchef.  Was he legitimately interested in becoming a cook? Or was he on there for his few weeks of fame?  I suspect that more than a few contestants are there for the latter, and really it's up to them what they want to gain out of the show, but it wouldn't kill you to fake being pleasant at the least!

Till next time,

Grape Picking in 40c heat, what were we thinking!

On Sunday, Mr Mel and I ventured to a local vineyard, Ernest Hill Wines, to partake in their annual members pick.  We had received the invite about 10 days earlier, and accepted, before we knew that we were in for 10 days of 40c+ days.

So Saturday rolls around, and Mr Mel pops his already dodgy knee, and can hardly walk on it. We give it till 7am Sunday morning, he thinks he'll be ok, and I make him promise to let me know if it starts hurting more. He agrees, moreso because he doesn't want to let down the Ernest Hill guys by piking, when they'll think we're just pulling the pin because of the heat!

Off we head, for our 7.30am start, there's a crew of about 30 other members, armed with water, sunscreen, hats, secateurs and buckets, so we join the brigade.

By 8am we're half-way down our first vine, and loving it, feeling the weight of the warm grapes drop in your hand as you snip them off is very satisfying, and not long after my first bucket is full (see pic below), and a 'bucket boy' comes to swap full for empty.

Proof - my first bucket of grapes

By about 9am we've done 3 rows, and the seat is pouring out of us, it's very humid and warm, luckily Ross the vineyard owner comes round with waterbottles, saviour!!

We chugg through another few rows and before we know it, the whole block has been picked!  5 tonnes of late pick semillion that will be used in the deliciously decadent Lunar Spark by Ernest Hill.

Let the picking begin

Red faced, sweaty, sticky from grapejuice, we make our way up to the tent, and collapse onto seats, grab a beer, and have a chat with other pickers. One couple are wanting to move up here form Sydney, they pick our brains, and we rave about the lifestyle, we think we've converted them, wouldn't be surprised to see them round town soon!

Ross & Jason of Ernest Hill put on a great brunch, rolls with bacon & egg or sausage & egg, with drinks, and complementary bottles of vino.  We partake in all aspects, delicious.

Then Jason tells us he's setup a traditional stomping case, where a few buckets of grapes will be put in for us all to stomp, then he'll turn it into wine, the traditional way, and send us all a bottle.  Having done similar when they established the vineyard, he warned us it may not be drinkable, and after seeing some of the feet and much going with them into the case, I don't doubt it.  It will be a bottle that tells a story rather than gets drunk!

We shall call it Chateau de Feet

All in all, a terrific day, hard work, and we were absolutely knackered, but have already put our hand up to have another go in 2012.

On arrival at the kickoff point

Can't wait to try the 2011 Lunar Spark and our dodgy Chateau de Feet bottle in the coming months!

Luna Spark - the end result of our efforts

Till next time,

Cape Bridgewater - VIC

After Christmas with Mr Mel's family in Sydney, we packed up the pug and hit the road to Warrnambool, to spend a week with my family.

After a couple of days catching up with friends and family, Mr Mel & I headed over to Cape Bridgewater for a drive, I hadn't been there since school trips back in the 80's, so it was great to visit again.

Cape Bridgewater is around 100km west of Warrnambool, around 20kms west of Portland.

The bay is actually an old extinct (please stay that way!) underwater volcano, which is why the bay is surrounded by high cliffs.  We didn't have time to do the walk, but you can walk around to a fur seal colony, we could spy quite a few tourists there clicking away with their cameras.

Cape Bridgewater beach

A short drive from the main beach is a petrified forest, freshwater springs, and a blowhole.

The Blowhole at Cape Bridgewater

The Cape can be very very windy, which makes it an ideal spot for a windfarm, and I was so happy to see that a local co-op had got together and funded the erection of around 30 wind turbines, merrily zipping themselves around.

Wind Turbines at Cape Bridgewater

Have to mention the lovely coffees we had at the cafe on Cape Bridgewater beach, while they were slow coming, they were worth the wait, a good barista there, woohoo.  Now if we could only get one here at home!

I've been a bit slack getting the rest of our trip photos online, it won't happen overnight but it will happen!

Till next time,

A Gratuitous Pug Shot

I just couldn't resist posting this pic of our pug Ollie, taken at the B&B we stopped at overnight at Euroa, on our drive to Warrnambool after Christmas.

Mr Mel, Ollie & I had just had a walk around town, before retiring for the night, we'd left home at 5am and arrived at Euroa at 3.30pm. Ol had been such a good boy, we set him up in the back seat, with a hammock protecting the seat from the onslaught of pug hair (don't get me started)!  He had his sheepskin rug to lay on, and after a 15 minute freak out when we headed off, he travelled like an angel. Slept most of the way, apart from the odd scramble to the back of the drivers seat to look over Mr Mel's or my shoulder to make sure we were going the right way!  We stopped every couple of hours to let him stretch his legs, have a drink and piddle.

I just love the happy look on Ollie's face, and that he's happy to sit on the bench on his own, after I got some pics of him with Mr Mel, the photo sums him up, our little puglet :)

Till next time,

An Aussie Santa

Mr Mel & I headed down to Blue Bay for a family Xmas do, staying overnight in a multi-million dollar property, owned by a family friend, where the backyard merged into the sand of the beach.

Soooo relaxing, and reminded me of my childhood in Warrnambool, growing up in a seaside town, the beach is such a part of every day life.  I hope to one day get back to a seaside lifestyle, here's hoping!

We had a great day, feasted on delicious Xmas fare, a night of chatting with the extended family. Then awoke to a beautiful sunrise over Blue Bay.

On the Saturday arvo we even had a visit from Santa, in a true Aussie Style!!

Till next time,

Poor Little Duckie

DP & I have driven past the sign pointing to Nulkaba Hatchery many times, saying we should check it out, well on Saturday we did.

It's a small farm, raising free-range chickens & ducks, when we drove in there were 2 big white dogs sleeping under a tree, apparently 'guarding' the stock.

As we turned the corner there would have been thousands of ducks sitting on the grass, under trees, wandering around on the grass. Near a barn there were hundreds of baby chickens, wandering through dust, and swimming in puddles. 

We pulled up, there was 1 other car there (they were buying chickens & related stuff to set up a pen at home), and went into a little room come shop. There was a wall of free range chicken, duck & quail eggs. Another wall of honey & jams (I had to resist the passionfruit jam). A feezer of frozen chickens, ducks & quails, and a fridge of the same.

We selected a duck & a chicken from the fridge, and a dozen free range eggs, totalling $31, which we thought was pretty good value.

We were hoping for duck breasts but went with the whole bird, as the hatchery is still waiting on Council approval to build a processing factory to sell breasts etc.

The owner of the hatchery gave us instructions on cooking the duck (our first), in an oven bag, slow and not too hot, because they're free-range they don't have as much fat as intensively farmed ones, therefore can't be cooked to hard.

We went shopping for fresh veg to cook with the duck and were set.

Now I don't know how much blame we can lay on our dodgy as hell oven (which we're replacing soon), our our cooking skills, but we cooked it at 180c for an hour in the bag, then out of the bag for another 30 mins.  The skin was kind of crispy in spots, but the meat (when we could find it!) was quite overcooked we thought.

It still tasted nice, but it was hard work to get much meat off the bird, we made a terrible mess of the poor little duckie.

The experience has probably scared us off cooking a whole duck again for a while, but we're keen to try cooking breasts on their own, we will not allow duck to be our nemesis :)

Till next time,

Frustration & Joy

Mr Mel & I headed to Sydney on Saturday arvo for a family do on Sunday, in between my weekend chorses & packing etc, I loaded around 200 songs onto my IPod.

Our new Hyundai has an IPod connection, so I thought sweet, one way to override the sports radio drive is to show Mr Mel how cool the IPod connection is.

I loaded some great tracks, heaps of 80's (much to Mr Mel's chagrin), some Paul Kelly, PowderFinger, Machine Gun, Johnny Cash, U2, current hits etc, a pretty good mix.

So we head off, Mr Mel driving, and I plug the IPod in, it reads that there's a USB connection but says 'no media', I try another 3-4 times, then think maybe I'm meant to press a button, so pull out the car manual, and there in shocking black & white is written that certain IPods won't work with the connection, including my 5 year old IPod Nano.

Sooooo frustrating, I know we didn't buy the car for the IPodedness (new word), but it sure was something I was looking forward to.

So I have a bit of a sook and Mr Mel tunes into the sports, interchanging with some rock, not totally awful.

We stop at the big servo on the F3 to get a drink, and there sitting on the counter is a 5 CD of the 80's Boxset....The angels start strumming and the clouds part, Hallelujah, I start giggling as I hand over the $29.95.

I get an odd look from Mr Mel as I skip back to the car grinning, and he then starts cringing when I show him the case ala Delvene Delaney on Sale Of The Century.

CD 1 Song 1 - AHA - Take On Me....................and all is right in the world again......................

For a list of all the glorious hits:

http://avaxhome.ws/music/large_collection/VA_80s_The_MegaBox_5_CDs_Box_Set_2010.html

Till next time,

A Pampered Weekend, With A Difference

I know most people, fellow women mainly, will think a weekend of pampering would include massages, champagne, chocolates, spa treatments, shopping, etc.

Well I do agree, however this weekend just past was a tad different.

On Saturday we headed to Coolmore Australia at Jerry's Plains & Darley Australia at Aberdeen for the industry stallion parades. On Sunday we went to Widden Stud in the Widden Valley for their parade.

The farms put on a terrific day, at Coolmore we had morning tea in a marquee (the most delish chicken & pistachio sandwiches), followed by a parade of their stallions, along with a colourful commentary from one of the Coolmore boys.

At Darley the parade is first, very slick & professional, commentated by leading racecaller David Raphael, following the parade is a glamorous lunch, they set up several marquees with different themes, and cuisines, along with a bar, waiters etc.

At Widden it's more of a family affair, the farm has been in the Thompson family for over 140 years, and it shows, there were no professional wait staff, the Widden farm staff provided excellent and personal service.  Before a lovely lunch on the lawn at the homestead there was a parade of the Widden stallions and the foals of their new lads, a good touch the other farms don't do.

I decided to not take my camera this year, as I found in previous years I was more worried about getting good shots than enjoying the day and socialising with friends, clients & associates. Mr Mel & I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

So yes my weekend included all the usual pamper weekend items:

Champagne - I somehow got suckered into being designated driver, but I still had a glass of bubbles both days
Chocolates - dessert on Sunday was a delish bitter chocolate tart with berries, and there was chocolate nibblies on Saturday
Massages - not entirely included, but definitely requested after a day in heeled boots walking across paddocks!
Shopping - indeed, inspecting the stallions is akin to shopping, sure the prices ranging from $8,000 to $165,000 are a tad steeper than usual!
Spa treatments - I had a lovely face full of foal hair after a particularly friendly foal decided I needed to rub noses with him, perhaps a new fad for spas?  yeah probably not!

Some photos from previous parades.

 

Till next time,

A Built In Camera Required For My Car

Every day I drive 20kms each way to work and back, about 3kms of that is in town, the rest are through bushland.

Since we moved into town last year when we bought our home, I've enjoyed the trip to and from work, 15 mins each way to sing along to (what Mr Mel would call very ordinary) music, and basically relax before entering the lions den of work, or destress before I get home to Mr Mel & the pug.

Over the past couple of weeks I've been amazed at the variety of animals I've literally crossed paths with.

During foalwatch last year when I was driving to work at 3am, through fog, I had a couple of near misses with kangaroos, so since then I've been ultra aware of driving down certain stretches of road at dusk/dawn.

Over the past say month 'my' menagerie of animals that have crossed the road just before I've arrived, or who have pulled up just in time on the side of the road, and waited for me to pass (at around 2km p/h!) includes:

around 50 kangaroos
3 wombats
2 echidnas
1 enormous goanna
a family of 5 goats, 2 adults, 3 kids
2 steers who escaped from a paddock (yes I went and told the owner :) )
1 dive bombing kookaburra
at least 10 galahs who must be attracted to my car, the near misses have been very near

and yesterday, a deer, a big male deer with 1 stub of an antler and one large antler, he was going to cross the road, heard/saw me, turned on a dime and trotted back into the scrub.

So that will be on my shopping list for my next car, a built in camera, that takes a photo automatically or when the driver squeals :)

Till next time,

Sydney Good Food & Wine Show

Mr Mel and I gave ourselves a long weekend, and headed to Sydney on Friday for the Good Food & Wine Show at the Exhibition Building on Darling Harbour (16-18 July, 2010).

We left home at about 6.45am and got there at around 9.30am, it had a 10.00am start, luckily I had booked our tickets online, so didn't have to line up with the hundreds wanting to buy at the door.

I booked us in to see Gary & George from Masterchef at 10.30am, and they were great. So much more personality than on the TV. Unfortunately they had a late start, and I think we got a bit of a condensed show, we saw Aaron from Masterchef in the wings before the show, however he didn't come on stage.

Last year we saw them and Matt plus Poh and a few other contestants came on stage, was a shame they didn't do the same this year, but still very enjoyable. And yes I have a slight crush on Georgie Porgie :-)

After the show we headed to the other end of the hall, to try and dodge the crowd of sheep filing out of the auditorium, up here for thinking :)

The highlights for us:

• going toe to toe with Hamish from Otway Estate Brewery, I'm from Warrnambool, close to where their brewery is, they say they're based at Barangarook, but it's really Colac, and everyone knows you only go through Colac to get to Warrnambool!  It was an amusing stoush, Mr Mel was shaking his head, in between laughing.  The beers were ok, Mr Mel thought they were a bit light, but I didn't mind them.
• some gorgeous & different sausages from Market Town Family Meats
• a surprisingly tasty chicken & bacon risotto made in a rice cooker with a McCormick mix
• Baileys coffee, 3 samples later tasted even better, yummo
• Petersons Champagne House, I'm a member but always have a tasting when out, great staff, great bubbles
• Birch & Waite mayo, bleeping beautiful stuff, and the girls were helpful, not pushy
• Honey from Beechworth Honey, I love honey, after tasting everything (about 10 versions) we went home with a fig & ginger creamed honey and a blackberry honey, delish
• Bondi Chai Latte, we loved it last year at the show, loved and bought some again

Things didn't really enjoy:

• people space cadetting it while dragging trolleys, people don't you realise you take up triple the room when you drag your trolley at arms length???
• weird English guy flogging brooms, he seriously looked like they'd got him off the street in London and shoved the broom in his hand
• Super Shammy - enough with the Americans flogging these, sooooo sick of them, even if they're Super Amazing Buy 1 get 12 free Shammys
• Playboy Energy Drink - what the?  lots of 8 - 15 year old boys lining up to get their photos taken with the bunnies, by their mums no less!

Last year we met Ben O'Donohue, and got to taste Manu's (drool) spelt risotto, we didn't see any celebs in the hall area this year.

Not sure if we'll go again next year, we'll maybe give it a year off, then do it again in 2012.

Till next time,

Flavourfest

Back over the June long weekend, the Hunter Valley Gardens held 
Of course with Mr Mel & I being a little bit foodie, we had to go.

We sat at the stage and watched a cooking demo by Chris Cranswick-Smith of Emmilou Tapas in Surry Hills, and Janelle Bloom of Ready Steady Cook, it was a good show, but for the life of me I can't remember what Chris cooked, he was miked up and all I remember his him dropping the 'C' bomb when he couldn't get one of the items on the plate. Everyone in the crowd sort of looked at each other, saying 'did he really say that', I don't think Chris even realised he had, but I'm sure he does now, as his wife was sitting in the front row!

Following that piece of stellar entertainment we :

• sat in on a Beer & BBQ matching class from James Squire, beer was a bit strong for me but Mr Mel loved it
• lined up for 1/2 an hour for a bratwurst that was magnificent.
• tucked into some beautifully savoury Peruvian sweet potato donuts.
• tasted lots of dips/sauces/jams/tapenades/dukkas/honeys/olive oils.
• fell in love with lemon myrtle cheesecake, sooooo delish, we bought some of the lemon myrtle powder
• sat on the grass with a Ethica coffee listening to Irish folk music.
• tasted about 12 different wines, most we'd tasted before, but never pass up free wine :)

the main stage, where Chris dropped the C bomb!

about 5 mins before he dropped it!

Delicious Peruvian Sweet Potato Donuts

James Squire Beer & Barbee demo

The chilli kransky was temporarily sold out, we went with the bratwurst, delish

After we'd eaten and drank our fill we walked around the Hunter Valley Gardens, the odd thing was it usually costs $25 to get into the Gardens, Flavourfest was $23.50, with full access to the Gardens!

Some pics below from around the gardens.

All in all a terrific day, and we'll go back next year.

Looking forward to the Chocolate Festival in early August!

Till next time,

Rockwiz - Newcastle show

Now before any fans of the terrific show Rockwiz get too excited, my camera was having issues and our seats were closer to the back than the front, so my one measly photo is quite pathetic, but it kind of gives you the vibe :)

Mr Mel & I are big fans of Rockwiz, yes Mr Mel has a crush on Julia, but hey I can't blame him, she rocks!

Back in early April we went along to the Rockwiz tour show at Newcastle.

Guests were Adalita from Magic Dirt, Angry Anderson, John Paul Young, Megan Washington.  Instead of the normal 2 celebs, there were 2 teams of 2 celebs, and they did half the show each, then all came back at the end for a song.

One of the audience who got on stage was a singing teacher, she was brilliant, stole the spotlight, another guy was a classic, tone deaf, but sang his heart out, albeit looking at the floor!

The spontaneity of the gags/humour/general flow was brilliant, we were laughing our heads off and singing along, was a terrific night. Everyone in the crowd were just so into the scene and music, the massive stadium had quite an intimate feel.

Julia, Brian and the Rockwiz crew sang one of my fave songs 'Come On Up To The House', was spine tingling, loved it.

All in all a huge thumbs up for the show, I hope they do it again soon!

Till next time,

Flavourfest This Weekend @ Hunter Valley Gardens

Mr Mel & I are heading to the Hunter Valley Gardens this weekend for Flavourfest.

The HVG website describes the fest as "the three day culinary extravaganza will feature fine food, exquisite wine, deluxe merchandise, cooking demonstrations, celebrity guest hosts, and inspiring music, showcasing the flavours and sounds of the Hunter and beyond, all inside Australia's largest and most spectacular garden displays".

We live a close drive to HVG, while we have often been to the HVG village, with friends/family, we haven't been into the gardens, as the entry fee of $25 each seemed a bit steep for gardens, especially when Mr Mel has less than no interest in looking at pretty gardens!

So Flavourfest is perfect, it's combining our love of food/wine/hunter stuff, with entry to the gardens, for $23.,50 which is less than the garden entry fee normally!

Can't get much better than that!

Plus the guest chefs are people we like:

Tobie Puttock - of Jamie Oliver's '15' fame
Pete Evans - of My Kitchen Rules and heaps of Fox shows
Chris Cranswick-Smith - of Emmilou Tapas Bar in Surry Hills, one of the first restaurants Mr Mel & I went to as a couple :-)

We will be taking heaps of photos, and will report back with our thoughts etc.

Till then,

Train, Plane, Bus & New car

A busy weekend, I caught a train, then plane then bus to Ballarat, then drove our new car home to the Hunter Valley. I left home at 5am, arrived at Ballarat at 2pm.

Was meant to head off at 6.30am Saturday, but because our new island bench wasn't ready in time, didn't get off until 12.30pm, it's a 1100km trip, so the original plan of driving straight through went out the window.

Got to Tarcutta, 1/2 way between Melbourne & Sydney, and stayed the night.

I wish I'd driven on an extra 1/2 hr to Gundagai, as Tarcutta was let's say 'interesting'!

The motel reminded me of year 6 camp, just enough room to swing a cat, plenty of flies to kill, and bleeping well freezing!

Headed off from Tarcutta at 6.30am and arrived home at 1pm.

A long long trip, but worth it, the new car was a dream, yay, the 5 month wait was worth it!!

Till next time,

A Week Off - Nice!!

With my last holiday (more than a long weekend) having been in 2001, I had a week off, with today being my first day back at work.

We had Monday/Tuesday at home, catching up on some housey stuff, and getting my hair cut. Then Wednesday we headed off at 7.30am, dropped the pug at the kennel, then hit Sydney.

We left our car at Mr Mel's parents, and caught the bus into Sydney (about 1/2 hr trip), we got a good deal on a hotel in The Rocks - the Holiday Inn Old Sydney  ended up getting 2 nights for $415, a bit of a splurge, but we don't do it often (remember 2001 last break heehee)

We dropped our bags at the hotel, then walked down to Circular Quay (about 5 min walk), wandered around, had a look in the window & at the menu of ARIA restaurant. We were suprised at the prices, we thought it would be astronomical, given the location (a couple of hundred metres from Opera House), and the profile, Matt Moran.  A 2 course dinner is around $67, which for a very special occassion isn't totally over the top. One day we might venture in the door!! :-)

My pathetic attempt to get a self portrait of Mr Mel & I at the Circular Quay Ferry Dock!  

It was Australian Fashion Week, so there were plenty of skinny pretty young things, and plenty of hangeroners wandering around, we had a peek in a makeup tent, but Mr Mel wasn't overly interested!

We had dinner at the Lowenbrau restaurant, a Bavarian Bier type of setup, excellent service and the food was delish, Mr Mel had a Swinerhaxen or similar, a pork knuckle, and he could hardly walk afterwards :-)  I had a goulash and it was yummo.

Thursday we hit the ferry (my first ferry ride) and went to Taronga Zoo, was a great day. We saw the little miracle elephant baby, soooooooo cute!! Will add some photos and more info shortly.

We went to a little Italian restaurant on George Street for dinner, basic and a bit pricey, but nice.

Friday we caught the ferry to Manly, walked around the beach, had a peek at the Hugo's menu, run by Pete Evans, it seemed very expensive, especially for lunch, so we skipped it and went to a little cafe over the road, very yummy, cheap and pleasant.

We caught the bus back to Mr Mel's parents Friday afternoon, and prepared for a big weekend of family birthdays and Mothers Day.

Shall be back to update :-)

Australia Day 2008

- reposted April 2010

Looking through my old blog there were a few memories/photos/posts I thought I'd like to include in my new blog. This is the first of them.

AUSTRALIA DAY 2008 on Sydney Harbour

My first Australia Day on Sydney Harbour :) Was a great day, I kind of drove Cam nuts playing the tourist, but like he said with him being a Sydneysider he doesn't appreciate what's on his front door. The day with me playing Japanese tourist fixed that though!!

We lucked out finding underground parking in the Rocks for $20 for the day, sounds pricey but when the bus costs around $11 each return it's cheaper, plus more flexible.

We saw the tallships and watched the ferry race, I was barracking for the Duck ferry, not sure if he won or not.

We walked around to the Opera House, I've never seen it close up, WOW, it's gorgeous! Walked up the steps (very Aus Idol), I was surprised the tiles are a mix of off white & a boney colour, I took a close up shot, will post that.

Went to a few pubs, the Orient, Lord Nelson, Australian, a few more, they were packed.

Had a drink called Nelson's Blood Cocktail at the Lord Nelson, I think this was the mix:

2 parts Rum (can't remember name of rum but was 47.7% alcohol!!), 1 part orange juice, 1 part cranberry juice, 3 dashes bitters

was very strong, but not too bad. We were feeling it on the walk back down to the Harbour, so stopped to share a nice lamb pizza at the Australian, served by a girl who I hope was high on something cause she certainly wasn't all there, maybe just being a Pom. :)

Walked round to the Pier 1, Cam said it used to be a 3 storey fun parlour with rides & games, he was surprised it was deserted, just a couple of very quiet restaurants and cars parked on the pier. Walked up a massive staircase, gee my lack of fitness really told, was blowing hard by the time we got to the top!


Back to the Harbour, we went to another pub, a walk through the market, then to one of the Rocksong stages to watch Christine Anu sing. Just brilliant, her voice is amazing, I took some photos, will add them.

Wandered round a bit more then it started to rain so we headed home, both a bit sunburnt and tired, so just chilled out.

I headed off from Cam's at 6.30am this morning when he left for work, picked Ollie up from the kennel (sorry puggie) on the way and made it to work by 8.30am, Ollie's down with the other dogs, till I can take him home at lunch.


Hoping like hell my garden hasn't wilted while I've been away, the peril of not knowing neighbours well enough yet to ask them to water the plants, fingers crossed!!!!!