Australian Getaways

Sydney weekend drive: Day 1

Posted on January 26, 2018 by Mel

This weekend we drove to Sydney for the first time. Usually we fly as we are staying in the city centre (hotels) and a car is not much use + expensive to park. This time we are staying out in Olympic Park as we are going to see the Foo Fighters tomorrow night! Eeeeee!!

Canberra to Sydney is about a 3hr 15min drive down a dual carriageway. It’s not a hard drive but it’s booooooring. We stopped in Moss Vale (the halfway point) for a very tasty and cheerful lunch at Bernie’s Diner.

As we are staying in Olympic Park, we opted to go for an apartment booked through Stayz.com instead of the hotels nearby. The apartment we are in is one of the “Australia Tower” ones and it’s about halfway up the 25 storey building with a very nice view of ANZ Stadium and Homebush.

After arriving, we wandered over to Cathy Freeman Park (5 min walk) and had a look at the olympic cauldron from the 2000 games, then had dinner and cocktails at Mexica Bar. We returned to the apartment and settled in to wait for fireworks. Unfortunately our view wasn’t great but we still saw a bit!

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Christmas in Canberra

Posted on December 25, 2017 by Mel

Today we spent our first Christmas at home in Canberra! Our day went as follows:

9:30am wake up and let the dog on the bed for snuggles

10:10am enjoy Christmas breakfast mimosa

11:00am arrive at friends house and exchange gifts! We got salted caramel booze + an awesome panda mug for me. They got a cool new board game and a dog themed shirt.

12:00pm Christmas carvery buffet lunch at the Hyatt commences. I highly recommend it, the food was delicious with no lines and SO MUCH TASTINESS. Wine and champagne was free and easy to get. The price is high ($230 a head) but it was worth it and I can certainly see why it comes as the most highly recommended Christmas experience in Canberra.

2:00pm slightly intoxicated selfies commence, just before we Uber home. We also “borrowed” some pine cones to take home to Ada (the German shepherd) because she loves pine cones as much as B loves ham. Which is a lot.

3:00pm play video games, drink scotch and/or wine and hang out with friends. Mario Kart on N64 is the best.

7: 10pm arrive home and be greeted by exceptionally excited doggo who then brings us his Christmas present (rubber chicken) to show off

8:05pm commence watching the best Christmas movie of all time, Die Hard

Approx 10:30pm we intend to go to bed with absolutely nothing negative to say about the day. Well, 2017 Christmas kicked ass πŸŽ„πŸŽ…πŸ»

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Christmas and NYE 2017 + upcoming 2018 trips

Posted on December 13, 2017 by Mel

Christmas this year is in Canberra for the first time – just the three of us. After all the stress of starting a new job (and the expensive clusterf**k which was last year’s Christmas) I’m glad B put his foot down and decided we were staying home this year. We plan to meet friends for lunch and then relax in the evening.

It also meant I got to make the house all christmassy for once! Yes, my dog has a personalised stocking. Don’t judge.

On Boxing Day we will drive Bear to his dog hotel for 10 days as we head off to Singapore. Lots of fun stuff planned there so far including: cocktail drinking in the resort pool, dinner at NOX restaurant, a cooking class and visiting Universal Studios. It’s going to be a good mix of exploring and relaxing.

Not long after we get back from Singapore, I fly to Sydney to meet up with my 3 lovely girlfriends for my bridesmaids/hens cruise! Eeeeeeeee!! We are going on a 4 night cruise from Sydney to Moreton Island and back. It will be a great opportunity to drink, be merry, explore Moreton Island and relax together. When B and I do formalise things, we won’t be doing any of the usual hoopla that comes with “weddings” so this is my time with the ladies so they know how important they have been in my life ❀️

After returning from the cruise we have the following trips planned so far for 2018.

  • Late January we are heading to Sydney for the weekend to see the Foo Fighters
  • In February we are doing a quick 3 day visit to Perth for a special event with friends + family catch ups
  • Easter will be spent at Tomakin Beach letting Bear run amok at the dog beach
  • April school holidays = the Melbourne International Comedy Festival again! Woohoo. We booked a better hotel this time
  • July school holidays will possibly see us visiting Brisbane/Gold Coast to meet a tiny new family member…or perhaps a snow trip to Thredbo? Nothing is locked in yet
  • At the end of the year we will probably look at another overseas visit. Japan was always somewhere we wanted to go back to but B shattering his wrist means that may be off the table in snow season now. We are tossing around a Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand visit as well. We have both pretty much agreed that we will save anymore really big trips (like the Northern Lights!) until B has his long service leave on a few years. Although if we don’t go back to Perth next Christmas either that’s a 7 week chunk of leave for me….we could do a lot in 7 weeks!
  • At some point we will also have to choose a Honeymoon destination. Argh.
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Day 3+4: mini break at Tomakin BeachΒ 

Posted on September 26, 2017 by Mel

The third day of beachy fun started at 6:30am when Bear decided he wanted to go to the beach and wasn’t taking no for an answer. We managed to put him off for a little while longer but…he was very persistent! Lots of face licks and leaping on the bed. So off we went for more sandy, wet fun. 


After the beach, Bear needed a nap and we headed off into Mogo Village for lunch. We ate at Grumpy & Sweethearts cafe which was a really nice lunch stop with delicious toasted sandwiches. The outdoor eating section was full of plants and shade to avoid the midday sun. 


There’s also some lovely little shops at Mogo, including a plant nursery, ice-creamery and Lolly shop.


After lunch it was family nap time and then back to the beach for Bear’s last visit before we head home. Poor Bear! Dinner on our last night was at the Tomakin Sports and Social Club which is walking distance from our accomodation and came recommended much higher than the only β€œofficial restaurant” in town – JJs at the Moorings – which we tried on our first night and were very disappointed with. Tomakin Sports and Social Club was good value, good food and very friendly and next time we will try them first. 

B had initially said no morning dog swim on the day we left because he didn’t want 3hrs of wet dog in his car…but he’s such a softie (and Bear has perfected his β€œI’m adorable” face) so he let Bear have one last romp! We had Tomakin Beach to ourselves for most of the morning. 


Then it was a 2.5hr drive back to Canberra with a short stop at the Braidwood Bakery for lunch….mmm chunky steak pies. Bear slept pretty much the whole way home because he was a tired puppy. 

I officially call the first family beach holiday a success! 

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Day 2: mini-break at the coast and exploring the local areaΒ 

Posted on September 24, 2017 by Mel

The day started with more dog beach time. It’s about a 4 min walk from our pet friendly rental house down to the dog beach. Another few mins takes us to the people beach as well. 

Bear’s highlights this morning were: making a new husky friend, romping through other people’s beach towels (naughty!) and walking out to the top of the cove with B.


We left a very tired Bear at home and went off to explore some of the surrounding area. Mogo Zoo was only a 5 min drive and was a nice visit, we got to feed animals and explore. 


After a few hours of zoo fun, we drove into Batemans Bay (another 15mins) and ate fish and chips on the beach. The fish and chip place is the same one as in Canberra (Bernie’s) and is just as good.


Batehaven Beach was a beautiful spot to enjoy the food. 


We arrived back to Tomakin Beach around 4pm to a doggy who definitely wanted to go back to the beach again….he’s been working hard at perfecting his β€œpleeeeeease” face! Who could say no to that? 

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Day 1: Mini-break on the south coast of NSW

Posted on September 23, 2017 by Mel

This was our first ever trip to what is commonly referred to as β€œthe coast” by Canberrans…much to most of our friends horror. We know a lot of people who spend every weekend in summer at or around Batemans Bay. It’s about a 2.5hr drive from Canberra and Bear had a very clear opinion on the length of the drive.


I booked pet friendly accomodation in Tomakin Beach based on a recommendation from a friend as you get the small town feel with the convenience of a 24 hr dog beach. 

After the drive, we spent the first afternoon and evening at the dog beach. Bear’s first beach experience left him a very happy doggie: 

He really loved playing chasey up and down with B as well as rolling in the sand then flinging himself at the waves. 

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Mini-break at ThredboΒ 

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Mel

Snow, snow, snow, snow….snow!

5:30am wake up on day 1 (bleh) for the 3hr drive up to Thredbo, which included a stop for snow chains. Because….snow! SNOW! 

When we arrived at 9am, B happily went off to frolick on the mountain while I went had a massage at Edelweiss Day Spa (90 min hot stone). It was glorious. I did have to prebook 2 weeks in advance though, they fill up quick. Sandra was amaaaazing and even went slightly over time because I was early. 


After the massage, B and I ended up having lunch together at the bistro pub because some of the chairlifts were closed. Then he went back to his happy place (up the mountain, with the snow) and I relaxed on the lounges at one of the local bars while waiting to check in to our accomodation. See, this is me…relaxing….

Below is what B did all day. Not relaxing at all in my opinion. I like to look at snow but not actually ski or board in it….I’m more a snow bunny these days than a skier. Give me warm cider, a book and a comfy lounge by the fire any day. 

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We went with new accomodation this time because I was fed up with paying $550 a night for such shitty guest service and soundproofing at River Inn. Celesial 3 is a self contained apartment in the Thredbo Village and was cheaper than River Inn. It’s a bit of a hike (it’s on Bobuck Lane, to the far left of the village) but there is a bus every 15 mins and it’s walkable. Sort of. Well, it’s not the worst walk anyway – there were definitely other ones higher up! So far, I’m very happy with the view and the layout of the apartment. 



Dinner was at “The Mad Mexican” at House of Ullr which turned out to be quite close to our apartment. Being a Friday night in school holidays, I made sure we had prebooked a few weeks ago which was a good move – they were fairly busy and were turning people away. The food was DELICIOUS with the cheese and chicken quesadilla the absolute highlight. 


After dinner came the walk back up the hill to the apartment. Arrrrrrgh. Should have caught the bus. Never again. 

Day 2 started off with beautiful blue skies up on the mountain and me REALLY looking forward to half a day at the day spa. 


Unfortunately, Mr Snowboarder had other plans! 


He managed to fall awkwardly and break at least two of the bones in his wrist, probably all of them. More scans and follow ups to come this week….poor fella πŸ˜• we checked out a day early and drove straight back to Canberra so he could have a comfy bed to enjoy his good drugs. Oh, and (carefully controlled) doggy snuggles.

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Blue Mountains Getaway – Day 3Β 

Posted on January 2, 2016 by Mel

Today started bright and early (7am) with buffet breakfast at the hotel and an early checkout. We then headed back to the echo point lookout for some photos of the mist in the valley. 
  
Our entry to scenic world was booked for 9am (early bird) but when we arrived at 8:30am they were letting people in already. Excellent! Our first trip was on the skyway over the Katoomba Falls. The iPhone photo doesn’t do it justice, it only captured about 1/3 of the height. 

     
We then took a brief walk to the mouth of the falls whereby I agreed to hike down to the bottom. My theory was…it’s all downhill so how bad can it be? 

 
Answer: pretty bad! Turns out it was a hard trail (sucks to be me) and my knees were aching by the end. Some beautiful rainforest on the way down though and as we were out quite early, very few people around. 

   
    
This last photo is taken about halfway down. I’m still smiling which means it was BEFORE the bloody Furber Steps which must have been put there by someone with a very mean spirit. B loved the hike though. 

  
Eventually we reached the bottom and walked over to the scenic world railway. After some brief wandering around the scenic walkway (we saw Lyre Birds) we caught the scenic railway back up to the top. Worlds steepest railway apparently (video shows the first part, it actually got even steeper from here). 

 

 
 It was around 11am when we arrived back and the hordes of people everywhere were CRAZY. We left not long after. The wait to go on the skyway or railway would have been over an hour for each…eek! I highly recommend early bird entry.

Hiking complete for the morning and step goals well and truly met, we headed for home. 

Next planned getaway (at the moment): Gold Coast for the 2016 Easter long weekend! 

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Blue Mountains Getaway – Day 1 and 2

Posted on January 1, 2016 by Mel

We headed off to the Blue Mountains (Katoomba) for a little NYE getaway on the 31st of Dec, 2015. Katoomba is about a 3.5 hour drive from Canberra.

Along the way we stopped for lunch and a leg stretch in Berrima which was very pretty. 

  
We arrived at the Mountain Heritage Hotel and Spa at about 4:30pm. The grounds and the building are lovely and the room size is very good. 

  
The first thing we did after a brief wander around the local area was fill up the private spa bath with far too many bubbles! 

  
After a relaxing spa bath and some red wine, we had our New Year’s Eve dinner at the Jamison Views Restaurant. While the view was nice, the food was spectacular and the guy playing piano for all the diners was also pretty amazeballs. 

  
We saw in the new year while watching the Sydney fireworks on ABC.

  
January 1st saw us enjoying a lazy lay in and then heading off for a couples massage at Yindi Day Spa. Lunch was nothing worth mentioning, needless to say we will NOT be revisiting Katoomba RSL. The day spa was lovely with a mud run, steam bath and one hour essential oil massage each. Pricing was good too – I recommend these guys over the designer spas attached to the local hotels. 

Dinner was at Darley’s which is a gorgeous little restaurant down near Echo Point lookout. I got so excited about the food I forgot to take photos but I highly recommend the duck. And the veal. And the tortellini. Actually…just go the degustation. I have included a photo of one of the courses – it was a mini vegetable garden on my plate! 

   

Darley’s restaurant

 
After dinner we finished off the evening with a short walk and some nice photos at the lookout point.

   
   

Tomorrow: scenic world, Katoomba Falls and the skyway! Then back home. 

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