Adventure, baby!

Birthday

Daniel’s Surprise 30th Birthday Party

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While Alec was in Mountain View we were organising a surprise 30th birthday party for his best friend, Daniel. It was quite a lot of organising, and I was a little concerned that things would completely fall apart at the last minute, but everything went to plan and the birthday boy was both totally surprised and happy to see all of his friends gathered for the occasion.

Daniel blows out the candles … yes, that is a swan cake.

Alec was so tired by this stage. I picked him up at the airport at 7am, then the cake at 9am. We both look tired and relieved that it all worked out!

Happy 30th Daniel!

Dad’s Birthday

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We went out west today to celebrate my dad’s birthday. Our original plans of driving down the coast were halted due to the extreme heat. It was about 40 degrees out west and my doggies weren’t coping at all.

The birthday boy cuts his cake!


With my very hot little Buffy.

Kahlua is so hot she is barely awake.


Birthday Escape: Glen Davis and Katoomba {Day 3}

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It’s cold out here. Bone-chillingly cold. The sky is blue today though so it’s a great day for the drive to Glen Davis, a tiny little town where my dad grew up. It was a mining town where my uncle, grand-dad and great grand-dad all worked in the mines, but became a ghost town at some stage, and has now come full circle with people moving back into the town to retire. It’s quite eerie as it is a town in name only – there’s nothing there except for the houses that have moved back, and they sit amongst the ruins of foundations from the previous houses, school and shop buildings.

There is nothing left here of my dad’s house except the front steps and some foundation blocks, but it was really amazing to visit it and see where my dad was a little boy running around. The countryside is amazingly beautiful, so it would have been a very pretty place to live even though it was so isolated it would have been really hard to get anywhere to get supplies.














After visiting Glen Davis we slowly drove back to Sydney, stopping at Lithgow for food and Katoomba for hot chocolate and waffles. I love this little art deco cafe called Paragon on the main street of Katoomba. It has fabulous chocolate for sale, hand-made on the premisis I believe.






Since we were so close we drove down to the Three Sisters Lookout. We came up here on one of our first dates, two years ago, so it was really sweet to come back and look around again and reminisce.








Birthday Escape: Mudgee and Relaxing {Day 2}

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A big fail on behalf of Google Maps (or my map reading skills) lead us to drive into Mudgee while looking for a little town called Glen Davis that my dad grew up in. Turns out Glen Davis was in the opposite direction .. whoops! Never mind, it still ended up being an interesting drive.

A pretty church in Mudgee. Everything was closed when we got there just after 2pm. We ate an an Asian bakery as it was literally the only food place open apart from Subway.

We stopped off at Windermere Dam on the way back to our cabin. It looks fairly good weather here but it had been raining all day on and off, and when we got back in the car it started to snow!










Birthday Escape To The Blue Mountains {Day 1}

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For my last 20-something birthday Alec took me away for the weekend to stay in a river-side cabin at Turon Gates, about 4-5 hours hrs drive from Sydney.

After a long and somewhat dramatic drive there, we awoke the next morning surrounded by bushlands.

Our solar-powered cabin, right in the middle of a nature reserve.

Alec takes a look around.

This photo is begging for a funny caption. Pity I can’t think of one!

Scenic bushlands and nature were all around.

It was awesome waking up every morning to look ut of the window at this river. The river was a major site during the gold rush and the remains from the gold prospectors can still be seen here. The river is crystal clear (and bloody cold!). In summer I can imagine it would be a great place to swim and canoe.

Ghost gums – everywhere!

Pretty! I loved how much wattle was everywhere – the bright yellow against olive green and red and brown dirt. So Australian!

Playing with my 50mm lens.

Very obliging boy.

So rugged and manly!

Who da man?

Cheesy! A happy photo on a happy day.

High Tea At The Queen Victoria Building

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I’m a bit freaked out about having my last 20-something birthday next week. I thought I would try and celebrate it as much as possible to hopefully leave me less freaked and more excited …

I’ve been wanting to try high tea for a long time, so Beverly suggested we go for my birthday and helped me selected the perfect venue – the QVB Tearoom.

The Tearoom is situated at the top of the old QVB. I’ve been visiting the QVB all my life and never realised it was even there.

Entering the Tearoom is like taking a journey back in time to a more elegant era. The decor is amazing – beautiful plush seats, chandeliers and very smartly dressed waiters with white gloves.

View of the shops below.

Lisa decides what she’ll have.


The Tearoom area – high ceilings with lots of natural light.


Prince Albert china.


Silverware! I felt so refined …


Alec is humouring me here.


So many nice things to order!


Pretty!


“Tea?”


Lisa ordered the gluten-free platter.




Shelley, Rosalie and I shared this arrangement of goodness.


Tomato and avocado sandwiches for me, tuna and chicken for the girls.


Sweeties!


Delicious scones.



This spinach and cheese thing was divine.


I ordered English breakfast – not very original but I love it.


Fresh scone – crunchy on the outside and not too doughy on the inside.


Smothered with rich jam and cream.



Pistachio meringue – deliciously light.



Cheesy thing – it was a bit over-powering for me, but everyone else loved them.


Passionfruit cream on a biscuit base. Delicious!


Little chocolate square.


Strawberry cup.


Nom nom nom-ing.


“Cheese?”


Inhaled!


“Tea?”


Very refined … where is my pinky, dammit?


Stuffed!




“Hmmm, I shall ponder it.”


“No, we’re not talking anymore.”


“She said she would be right back!”



Bev looks so stylish!

The Tearoom
Lvl 3, north end QVB
455 George St, Sydney
Ph: 02 9243 7279

Make sure to call plenty in advance for a good time slot.

Regular high tea or gluten-free high tea costs $30pp, plus 10% surcharge on weekends.

Hunter Valley Birthday Getaway

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Alec took me to the Hunter to celebrate my birthday.

We stayed at The Carriages guest house … beautiful, quiet and cosy.

The Smelly Cheese shop. Yuuuuummmmmm.

Chocolate …



Accidental romantic self-portraits.

Peppers Winery – buying tasty dessert wine.

The Peppers Convent.

At Hunter Valley Central Gardens.

It was such a lovely weekend. Full of great food, tasty wine and the best company. Awesome birthday week! Thanks Alec 🙂

I’m 28!

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I had a great dinner last night with a few old friends at Baia.

Passionfruit and chocolate cake from Lindt provided by my amazing Alec.





Arriving at work this morning to find my desk covered in balloons and decorations. My amazing team took me out to lunch and gave me the cutest little pink iDog to play with.

Good day!