Have a crush on Australia. Is it because I miss northern Cal? Or that
I just realized that only after an eight hour redeye flight away from
HK since I can sleep, albeit not very comfortably, curled up in one to
two econ class seats. Yet the end result is two full weekend days
spent on open roads.* Yes I miss driving. Fresh air. Decent food.
Relaxed and laidback local vibe. So much open space. Beautiful
scenery, so far from HK, yet a LA/SF weekend without the SF jetlag.
Lovedale in Hunter valley is a mere two hours glorious drive from
Sydney airport. Once you are on the national highway, the difficult
thing to do is to keep your eyes on the road, so easy to start
speeding and catch the eyes of the highway petrol instead, especially
after being in a semi meditative state - combo of jetlag and music
( own CDs)
Arrived at tonic hotel. Felt more like a friends/relative's place as
there is no check in check out. You get in via a code and that's it.
Very easy. I love not having to worry about the hotel key ( been
infuriated one time too many by card keys that stop working for no
reason) The room was really cold in the morning and the hotwater at
the sink didn't work ( til much later) so my first impression of the
place was not a wow. But the room faced southwest so by the afternoon
the room really lit up with the sun basically warming up the whole
room & i even got used to the farm smell (there are cute cows in front
of my room, though at a distance.) I liked the idea of being able to
heat up your own breakfast in the morning without having to see anyone
else. The rooms all have an outdoor area. Mine unfortunely was
sandwiched between 2 other rooms and since we all can see each other
through the wooden screens. There's not much privacy to speak if we
all decided to hang out at the same time. And yes did especially since
even at 9 in the morning there were still kangaroos hopping around
(and this time I didn't need a guide to tell me that since they were't
miles away) I was quite upset at myself for not having my zoom camera
with me. If not for the cute wild roos, then for the abundant birdlife.
Tried out three restaurants while here, the leaves and fishes with its
own pond of fishes. Very good vibe, super relaxing and very nicely
decorated-was definitely my fav. Also went to Roberts next to Towers
Estate- part of the restaurant was built 140 years ago, & majors lane-
Outdoor dining next to the vineyard. Less crowded vs the other places
The only vineyard ( other than restaurant with vineyards like majors
lane and roberts that serves Towers Estate) I made it to was the
Audrey Wilkinson. Great shiraz.
What a great way to end the weekend. At a lovely restaurant by
(boathouse on blackwattle bay) at a corner table overlooking the bay.
It was a nice though more conjested drive where mom called up to say
what? She was like...You are in Australia again? it's pretty bad eh.
Three weekends in the past month in Australia. Should I just move
back to California??!!
*I mean, am taking a day off on October 2nd for the Oct 1st 4 day
weekend but going to have only 3 full days in Bali (due to the flight
schedule) vs the 2 full days I get in Oz land without taking anytime
off on a normal weekend.
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