Goodbye weekend

Another weekend over.. so fast.. just recouped enough (maybe..) to ready myself for the many working weekends that is to come in the next few months...

We went to visit bf's family and added a little excusion on Saturday to a cidery in Bridgetown, aptly name The Cidery. Originality all the way.. at least you wouldn't doubt what they do. They do a variety of ciders.. from the dry traditional ciders to ones that has been aged for 12 years and of course the sweet ciders (with no added sugars), with their sweet ciders being naturally sweet thanks to the apples.. (the lady said they only and used pink lady apples)..oh there is also non - alcoholic ciders (so would be apple juice essentially??) available as well and is the only thing you can have (apart from water) that isn't alcoholic, there is no soft drinks).

The Cidery in Bridgetown

Had a lovely lunch there.. consisting of a cider and beef burgers. They also have an outdoor area - which was such a beautiful place, would be perfect in the warmer months to run around, climb trees or just soak the sun. Pity the weekend had patchy rain (it didn't stop the kids from climbing the trees though).

We then strolled around Bridgetown - such a cute, quaint, main strip and had dessert and coffee at one of their little cafes called the Red Panda (loved their jarrah topped tables with stainless steel legs). Before catching up with bf's brother and had a wonderful roast pork and lamb family dinner.

Pity it had to end today after a lovely breakfast of bacon, eggs, mushroom and toast. At least the drive back was nice and we had our traditional pitstop in Donnybrook for pastries at our favourite bakery - The Apple bakery. This time though I discovered a little gem of a cafe called Tiffany's Cafe (a nod to Breakfast at Tiffany's and Audrey Hepburn) -where they make great 5 senses coffee.

The Apple Bakery in Donnybrook

Toasty fireplace - love the smell of burning wood and just fireplaces in winter - its just so perfect.

The obligatory selfie in the car on the way back to Perth

Recharged just enough to tackle yet another week.

Impromtu trip to Margaret River - Augusta - Part 2

It's taken a while but I have finally recovered from my cold/flu. It really took a toil on me. Although the cough is still there, it's not as bad as the coughing fits I was having before (it was coughing fits to the point that I was getting woken up at night from it!). Alas, post viral coughs always linger longer than one thinks.

Anyway, I managed to dig up some funny photos from my trip down to Margaret River- Augusta back in November. These real cheesey photos/poses were taken in the beautiful surroundings of Leeuwin Estate, Voyager Estate, Cheeky Monkey, Canal Rocks and Busselton Jetty.

The wooden pillars from old trees at the bottom of Leeuwin winery restaurant and cellar

At the entrance of the Rose garden at Voyager Estate

Overlooking the rose garden and the rest of the estate at Voyager Estate

The rose arch in full bloom at Voyager Estate

 In the vineyards of Voyager

Stocking up the wine pantry at Voyager Estate

 Muscle Muscle Man! I wanna be a muscle man... hahah 

@ the carpark at Canal Rocks

Soaking the rays and watching the views at Canal Rocks

Best range of ice cream ever in Margaret River - Miller's Ice Cream!

 Taste testing everything at Margaret River Olive Factory (Natural Olive Oil Soap Factory).

Has the best olives and dukkah and dips ever. Along with amazing smelling homemade soaps, lotions, creams, candles. Worth checking out.

 

Beer tasting at Cheeky Monkey - very huge brewery, with an interesting looking menu, which I was unfortunately unable to try as my tummy was way to full. As for the beer? Well, I am never a fan of beer so to ask me would be very bias. All I can say is the ale is rather bitter for my liking. They also have a good kids area.

Coffee break on the way back home

  Walking the Busselton Jetty - which stretches almost 2km out to sea!

The tiny house at the end of the jetty houses a restaurant and a mini aquarium. If you are feeling a little lazy, you can always opt to talk the little rail that runs along it for a small fee.

Next post I promise will be about food. I have a long list to write about, but I seem to be missing my photos. It's what happens when you use 2-3 different types of cameras to capture my outings.

Impromptu trip to Augusta-Margaret River - Day 1

I'm so behind on my postings.. but a couple of months ago, in the middle of November to be exact, I had a lovely impromptu trip to Augusta and Margaret River for a weekend at the start of November with my beloved mum and two girlfriends (who are much too fun and camera addicts, they just have the best ideas for poses - I couldn't be happier!).

We left the city at 630am (running 30mins behind schedule leaving) but ended up at Margaret River town centre at 930am - toilet break and stroll around the gorgeous town before hitting the road to Augusta. We went caving - Jewel Cave, then to the the Southern most point of Australia - Cape Leeuwin before heading to beautiful Hamelin Bay (pity it was a little overcast). Had lunch at Berry Farm (such beautiful scones and the beef and wine pie is such hearty goodness - more on this when I get a chance to clear my massive backlog of posts!!) Visited Margaret River mouth and the beach before relaxing at the beach resort.

Next day was a day of wineries - eating at Watershed (which still is atrocious in its service and the food is so lackluster - I'm so grateful for the entertainment card otherwise totally not worth it. We should have gone to Voyager).

I will leave the photos to do the talking..

Our first stop after quickly stopping by Margaret River town to collect the region map we made our way to one of Margaret River's famous caves, Jewel Cave where ventured into the cave to marvel at the beautiful formations.

After the one hour tour and a coffee stop from our coffee flasks we made our way to the Southern most part of Australia (and of course Western Australia) to the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse in Augusta, where the Indian Ocean ends and the Southern Ocean starts, where we climbed way too many steps to experience the winds from the ocean and see a marvelous view of the sea.

and of course nothing beats a jump shot in front of the lighthouse on the edge of Western Australia.

 

 After the exercise at the lighthouse nothing beats a stroll to Hamelin Bay (even if the weather started to go cloudy and angry-looking).

Then by that time it was definitely time for lunch and one place to go to is a little cottage with amazing homemade steak pies, scones and bosenberry pies. So we ventured to the Berry Farm and were lucky to just catch the end of their lunchtime (10minutes before afternoon tea is served and we miss out on lunch!).

Berry Farm is just so lovely, I write it in another post soon, promise. Sitting in their lovely garden filled with beautiful wildflowers, plants and local birds. It was just the most perfect place to sit relax and take in the day and appreciate the beauty of nature, oh and of course have delicious homemade food!

See, how beautiful the garden at Berry Farm is?! Such an arry of colour and the birds love the Berry Farm's homemade jam as much as we did!

After a lovely, but extremely late lunch (it was like 3pm!) we made our way to our resort by the beach! This is of course before stopping by to see the Margaret River rivermouth and the beach! By that time it was sunset, freezing cold and was raining on and off. Regardless, the view was spectacular.

Seeing these photos makes me want to go back to Margaret River region again. I never get tired of the place despite going every year, there is just something so soothing and relaxing about doing nothing but eating, sleeping, going to wineries, beaches in an area you know well and, anyway I haven't even touched the places I want to wine and dine there.
 

Jet Setting

I've haven't been blogging due to my jet setting habits.

Having just been to China it's been a eye-widening experience in the sense that the Chinese history is extensive and vastness of the cities and the towns are unbelievable. It's something that needs to be seen to be believed, because you just wouldn't understand how quickly China has developed over the last 20 years and how huge everything is, including their small cities (which has a population of 12 million!). And the laws with regards to the one child policy and the exceptions to that. It's just been very interesting.

I'm currently in Rangoon, Myanmar (Burma) and the city also has gotten a lot better and a lot more green than what I remembered. A stark contrast to China. I still have family here so it's been nice to see Popo and my Uncles, Aunties and cousins.

I will have to write more about this when I get a chance because I shouldn't be on the computer now. When I get back I will back post everything with photos included.

It's going to be a nightmare to sort the photos I'm on my second 8Gb memory card and have over 2200+ photos and videos.

Week off

Annual trip to Melbourne and a well deserved break. Yay!

Holiday blues

My boyfriend drives me crazy. And not necessarily in a good way. Sometimes being stuck with just one person on a holiday sucks big time. I can tell you he wouldn't win the amazing race anytime soon. He can be such a sook!

Paris Marais Falafel

I'm spending my first night in the city of lights, one of the most romantic and idyllic cities in the world, Paris!

Despite having had a massive day I'm not sleepy and it's past midnight. Alas it means I must blog.

Instead of blogging about my trip I'm going to review tonight's very late dinner in Paris. We ventured into the heart and soul of Marais and i have determined to find the famous falafel restaurant (and of course the local's favorite dine in and take away venue, and the New York Time's and Rick Steve's favorite falafel restaurant), L'As Du Falafel.

The restaurant is just your local restaurant, almost hearty fast food like hawkers. Small, intimate, not necessarily 100% clean but packed to the brim with local French and some international diners. There is also a take away area at the front of the restaurant which had a line when we got there at 9pm. The restaurant itself was also packed out.

They served us with plastic plate and folk but that was only really needed to stop the spillage! Bf and I had the pita sandwich. I opted for a vegetarian falafel special while bf had it with lamb. It came out folded like a pocket in baking paper served by one the guys from the restaurant who just held the pocket in his hands.

The serving was generous, more than enough. There was plenty of falafel in the pocket of pita bread and plenty if lamb too!! Lots of vegetables and sauce (but not too much that it soaked through the bread.)

It really was delicious and definitely worth saying the best in the world. The falafel was cooked beautiful not dried out and the coating was not too thick that you lose out of actually tasting the falafel. The lamb was also cooked superbly and not dry or tough.

Although downside is that it's hard to eat, although I suppose that's also the excitement and the fun of it too!

To top it off I got to sit next to two very nice French girls who comes to the place often and recommended me their favorite dishes on the menu, one of which I tried tonight and if I get a chance again I might get the chicken that she recommended. One of them agreed that the servings are large but she is so used to eating and lives it so much that she always feels as though she should eat two!

I must say if I get peckish during the day and I'm around Marais or get peckish at night, I hope to make it down from our hotel and cross a few blocks and grab a take away! It's that hearty, yummy and satisfying! To top it off it's cheap-ish eat (7-8 euros) not snotty it's warm friendly and welcoming, although it feels a but rushed, but at least your food is served quickly.

Ps don't bother with sides of chips like we did. Although we did manage to finish the fries too, but it's just over kill.

Resting after hunting Lochness Monster at Morag's Lodge

I'm blogging on my phone at Morag's lodge - which by the way is an awesome spacious hostel in Lochness Scotland UK. Highly recommend it!

Our driver and guide - Alan with Hamish the hairy highland cow

I can't believe I'm 10 days into my holiday! Absolutely loving Scotland, really which I have more time.

View from the bus.. the Scottish countryside

Have tried various haggis dishes (below is a haggis on top of a venison patty burger). At the moment I am waiting around until we walk down a few blocks to learn more about the ways of the Highlanders!