The Northern Suburbs

There is a rivalry between the Eastern and the Northern suburbs in Sydney. The Eastern suburbs are more distinguished, influential, people are impressed when you tell them you live there. The Northern coastal suburbs may be considered new money, they also have some beautiful beaches. We obviously, live in the Eastern suburbs. ;)

We decided to do the Cremone to Mosman walk a few weekends ago (this was drafted about a month ago!). It was a fine and sunny day, top of 30 degrees Celsius (mid-high 80's). It was 3PM by the time we left our terrace in Edgecliff and made our way to Circular Quay to catch the ferry that would take us to Cremone. The 15 minute ferry ride was very pleasant, especially the watery breeze that cooled us off on such a hot day.

Our first stop was the Light House, situated on a little cliff overlooking the bay. It is a beautiful place to sit and watch the sail boats pass by.

We continued along the path that would take us to Mosman. Part way through, we reached a dead end! The pedestrian footpath was blocked off due to construction. We made our way through some residential neighborhoods hoping to find the other side. Eventually, one of the home owners (of a mulit million dollar home on a cliff overlooking the water) let us use her private entrance to the pedestrian path.

Finally reaching Mosman, we weren't sure which direction to go. We were meeting Paul and Lili for dinner at RSL for their famous burgers (Paul swears it is the best burger in Sydney, even though they put beets on them!). We started up this big hill and found our way to Military Street (the main road in Mosman). Military Street has a nice collection of cafes and shops.

We did this walk so long ago that I don't remember much! We promise to do better about updating our blog! The link below shows the Cremone to Mosmon walk.

http://www.sydneyferries.info/uploads/file/docs/harbourwalks/MosmanBay.pdf

Wine Tour: Hunter Valley

Our weekend trip to Port Macquarie was cancelled due to over booking of our hotel. The disappointment quickly turned into excitement as we booked ourselves a one day wine tour of the Hunter Valley. For $92/person they picked us up in the morning, drove us the 2 hours to Hunter Valley, provided us with 4 winery tastings, a chocolate tasting, a cheese tasting and topped it off with a tasting of liquors. Of course, they also drove us the 2 hours back to Edgecliff. That is pretty good value for your money, especially for you Americans since the Aussie dollar is about .72 US.

The day started pretty bleak, it was "bucketing" and EARLY! The shuttle picked us up at 6.45AM in front of Edgecliff Station. We were the first to be picked up and the only people who were on time. If we would have known, we would have slept in for an extra 20 minutes! Also, Ron lost his favorite beanie somewhere along the way. This was not the best way to start off our trip. However, the weather began to clear as we made our way out of Sydney and we were able to get a nice nap in before we stopped for coffee. (Coffee always puts a smile on my face.

We arrived at our first winery, Tempus Two, and commenced drinking at 10.00AM. Then we made our way to Mistletoe and Tintilla. Keep in mind, I only consumed a muffin and coffee for breakfast and the wineries in Hunter are pretty generous with their tastings, therefore, I was highly impressed with my alcohol tolerance, showing just a hint of the Asian glow on my face. After our third winery, we stopped for lunch at Blue Tounge Brewery, where Ron enjoyed a paddle of beer (6 tastings of their microbrew beer) and finished off with a midi. I enjoyed a nice glass of water. :)

Next on our agenda was chocolate and cheese tasting. I have to admit, the chocolate was pretty lame. For really good chocolate, please refer to my blog "Chocolate Heaven". The cheese on the otherhand was amazing. So good in fact, that we actually bought some. I have to thank Corrie and Nine:Ten Restaurant for turning me on to cheese.

Our final winery was McGuigan's where they had a list of 33 wines and we tried almost all of them! Out of the many that we tried, we ended up purchasing 4 bottles. Not a bad ratio considering half our tour group didn't purchase a single bottle the entire day.

The last stop was to a liquor shop that I cannot recall the name of. We did however, try multiple schnapps and bought two bottles. 1 is similar to Baily's and I am very excited to try it in coffee. The other is called Dragon's Breath and is a combo of butterscotch schanpps and red chilis. It is sweet with a big kick at the end. You'll have to try it when you come visit.

We walked away with 5 bottles of wine, 2 bottles of liquor and a slab of really good cheese. The best part was that we were able to take a nice nap all the way home.