The Lovedale Wine Tour, May 16, 2009

The tour took us to 2 wineries. The first was a boutique winery called Emma's Cottage. It's known for it's Shiraz. The second one was called Tatler. You could chose to eat at either place. We ate at Tatler. We both had Tapas of mini fillet mignon wraped in proscuito served with mixed mustards plus lamb souvlaki skewers marinated in Greek spices served with mint yougurt on a salad of fresh rocket, parmesan, pear and walnuts. It was very good. Phil drank my 2006 Archie's Paddock Shiraz and his too. There were tons of people and as you can see from the pictures some come dressed in various costumes. Elvis was not in the house but Marilyn, Batman, The Hulk and others were. Good company, good wine, good music, good fun.

Monday, May 11, 2009

We did some more wandering around NewCastle. We stopped in at Fort Scratchley. It was built as a fortified defence to protect New Castle and it's port during WWII

This is Bar Beach where I have walked to a couple of times. It's about 2.8 k from the house. One day I walked there and Phil met me for lunch. There is a concession stand there that has really good fish and chips. Today I walked there had a cappiccino and watched a surfer then walked home.

Friday, May 15, 2009 - Sydney

Today we went to Sydney by train. It was about a 2 1/2 hour ride. Then we took the city train to the harbour. We bought a day pass that allowed us to take as many ferries, buses and trains as we wanted and it was only $17 each. We decided to stroll around the Opera House. There are lots of restaurants and cafes along the water. There is even a Guyilan Restaurant. For those of you who don't know that is a very fine brand of chocolate. We drooled over the menu full of everything chocolate and moved on. We opted for Cappaccino and Banana Bread instead. The sights around the habour are beautiful.

People can climb this Bridge for a price. There were several groups that went up while we were walking around.

We took a ferry ride to Manly which is a suburb of Sydney. It takes about 30 min. to get there by ferry.

This sign says, " Chocolate by the bald guy" remind you of anyone?

There is a lot to see in Sydney and surrounding area. We look forward to going back to explore some more.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Doug and Isabel took us to a little jewel of a park called Black Butt Reserve. This is a free little zoo where you can see the above animals and birds. It's also a busy park for family picnics. They have really cool BBQ's in some of the parks here. They are coin operated gas BBQ's, stainless steel. Great idea. Better than the rusty little metal ones at home. After the park we drove around NewCastle and area and came upon some hang gliders that were taking off from one of the cliff along the sea. The last picture is the Manse we're staying in.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Today was a nice sunny day. In the evening James Aitchison came by and we went for Thai food. I don't know how Thai it was but Phil and James had Crying Kangaroo. They really enjoyed it. I stuck to the regular Thai food which was very good. I did try the Kangaroo and it wasn't bad. It was great to catch up with James and hear about his adventure here in Australia.

Facebook Photo Album

If you want to see more pictures of our adventures and you don't have Facebook, here is a link to our Australia Album.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=122409&id=576630796&l=3ef1a20eaa

Monday, May 4th, 2009 - NewCastle

Today it was a beautiful sunny day and we decided to wander around NewCastle. It was also Phil's first attempt to drive on the wrong side of road, for us, and in the wrong side of the car. He did pretty well. You really have to think about where you're supposed to be on he road. We ended up going to the QueensWharf at NewCastle Harbour. We walked along the wharf, climbed the Queens Wharf Tower and then went to the Hunter Street Pedestrian Mall.

Then we went to find Nobby's Head which is the foremost land head marking the main entrance to the harbour. NewCastle is a major coal shipping port. There is a very nice walk that goes out to the break water in front of Nobby's Head. It was built there to help control the treacherous ocean current of the Tasman Sea. From there you can also go on to the beach on the other side of Nobby's head. It's a great place to walk.

We're here! - Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

Detroit....

Chicago....

Los Angeles...... we tried on some hats.

Sydney.......

Well after a very long day we arrived in Australia safe and sound. We were met at the Airport by Doug Hewitt. He gave us a little tour of Sydney. He used to live there so he really knew his way around.

Then we headed for Newcastle.

We stopped breifly at the roadside McCafe for coffees and a chai and a little snack before continuing on to NewCastle. We had a brief tour of NewCastle and finally arrived at our Australia home. It was nice to have some time to shower and unpack. Then we went for coffee with Doug and Isabel. The street that we are on has alot of restaurants, coffee shops and a variety of other small shops.

Someone had kindly stocked the fridge with a couple of meals which we have enjoyed. No Kangaroo yet. Tomorrow we look forward to exploring the city a bit and trying to drive on the wrong side of the street in the wrong side of the car. Should be interesting.....