the hunter valley

I think you dedicated blog readers might already know that Stefan and I have a very big thing for wine.  So much so that it has been almost an obligation for us to schedule in a full day of wine tasting on any international vacation.  
When we were in Argentina, we had to do Mendoza.  
When we were in Germany, we had do Alsace.  
When we were in Italy, we had to Campania.  
So when we were in Australia, we had to the Hunter Valley.

Stefan (like on every trip to date) bought himself a book on the region and its wine, reading the entire thing on his flight down from Hong Kong.  Upon arrival, he emailed all his top spots to set up tastings.

First up was Brokenwood, home to the world famous Graveyard Shiraz.  While we went to taste their specialty, they were completely sold out forcing us to settle for the region's other best known grape: Semillon - a dry white table wine.

I hate to say it: but it didn't tickle my fancy.  
We were doing mostly spitting around these parts.  
(Which - by the way - is very refined in the wine tasting world.)

Next up was Tyrrell's - one of the oldest family-owned wineries in the valley.  Upon arrival, we showed ourselves into their barrel room to check it out and take shelter from the never-ending rain.

Their original barrel room had been left unchanged since it was built back in 1858 with its cellar dirt floors still intact.

Their tasting room staff was extremely welcoming and friendly and spent over an hour answering Stefan's questions about the wine and its history.

The whole property oozed old world charm.

Next on the list was Mount Pleasant - a must-taste recommendation from our fabulous Tyrrell's pourer.

Thanks to Stefan's very knowledgeable and poignant questions about their wine right off the bat, I think they (mis)took us for very big wine snobs with a propensity to purchase very large sums of wine.  While all the other tasters in the room drank from small tasting glasses (like the one you see pictured below with our water in it), we were given a separate Reidel glass for each wine we tasted.  
Stefan was in heaven.

After bidding farewell to Mount Pleasant (without a single purchase I hate to admit - we had carry-ons!), we headed to our last stop of the day: Pepper Tree.  The wines were delicious, the staff superb, and the setting perfection.

Because we had some time to kill in between our last taste and dinner, Stefan took us on a kangaroo hunt.  And while I couldn't spot a single jumper, he had a sixth sense for wallabies.  He found them all over the place!  

For dinner, we headed to another recommendation from our friend at Tyrrell's: The Cellar Door.  With a table right next to the fire and delicious wholesome grilled chicken and steak, it was the perfect spot for a cozy dinner on a rain-filled evening.

While the Hunter's wines weren't our favorites of all time (we'll always love our California Cabs), the day was perfection.

xoxo

KK

manly + bondi

While the rain didn't stop come Sunday, that didn't stop us from heading to a must-see site in Sydney: 
the beaches!  

We opted to take the 30-minute ferry from Circular Quay to Manly to see the famous beach there.  When we arrived, however, we were caught in a complete and utter downpour.  To shield ourselves from the wet, we headed inside to Hugos - a famous waterside bar and restaurant that even on this dreary Sunday was jam-packed with Australians.

the spot on a sunny day

from here  

We ordered some of their award-winning pizza (with some wine of course) and watched the rain come down on the harbor.

note amused girls making peace sign in back

Post filling up, we braved the rain to check out the beach, which was still dotted with surfers despite the cold and clouds.

It didn't take us long to decide to head back.  We hopped on the ferry to man the very (!!) rough seas that had me convinced the boat was going to flip.  
Stefan was in heaven.
I was not.

But soon we were back in the smooth waters of Sydney Harbor and we could take some obligatory shots of us in front of the Opera House.

Besides Manly, Sydney's other perhaps even more famous beach is Bondi.  Because Stefan had checked it out on a previous trip, I opted to visit this one on the day he had to attend meetings, which fortunately for me (but not so fortunately for Stefan) was one of the most gorgeous days of our trip. 

Bondi is also home to a gorgeous path that allows you to walk along the cliffs and sea to a neighboring beach. 

Pretty unreal.

After my walk, I treated myself to a drink at Iceberg's - a famous seaside pool club that was founded in 1929 by a group of local lifesavers who wanted to stay in shape in the winter.  Included in the constitution of the club is a rule that it is mandatory for members to compete three out of four Sundays each winter for a period of five years to guarantee membership.  Luckily for me, the rule only applies to locals - out-of-town visitors are given a free one-day pass.

Regardless of the weather, Australian beaches are stunning.  It's no wonder everybody surfs.

xoxo

KK

sydney!

Well, I've gone and done it again - went radio silent for months at a time without a peep or picture of my daily happenings.  My apologies.

To be fair though, you haven't really missed much.  After starting the new job, the last two months have been a whirlwind of work, sleep, work, and dinner & movie nights at home recuperating from the week - not exactly the makings of exciting blog posts.  

That being said, this past weekend was a tad bit more exciting than most as Stefan and I happened to be in Australia.  

Yes - you read that right.  We flew 15+ hours straight each way to spend 4 days in Australia.

But before you go judge us for being beyond extravagant (because I would say this trip appears to fall into that category), you need the full scoop: 

Since Stefan had to be in Hong Kong one week and then Sydney the next for work, his firm asked if he would stay the weekend in one of the two spots to avoid on a business-class flight home.  Said firm would put him up in the Four Seasons and he'd get a little mini-vaca.  Since Stefan travels a lot for work (we're talking an average of 2 weeks a month, often internationally!), he's amassed quite a tally of miles so we decided to see if we could get me a ticket to come out and join him as well.  Luckily for us, we were able to get me a business class flight (!!) for a mere 40,000 miles.  Seemed like a no brainer.

I hopped onto a plane Thursday night and arrived into Sydney at 7:30am Saturday morning.  Stefan also flew in from Hong Kong that morning, so we headed to our hotel together to drop off our bags.

I was already in heaven when I saw the view from our window:

While the weather wasn't fabulous (it was overcast and rained off and on Saturday to Monday), we made the most of it and had a wonderful time.  Saturday we walked the entire city - seeing all the must-see sites.

We went up the highest tower in the city to get a lay of the land.

And then when the rain started to really pick up, we headed inside to a cozy restaurant to enjoy some ribs + Australian Shiraz for lunch.

at the wine and meat company

love that they gave him a bib :)

One of the best things about our hotel was that they gave us access to their executive club floor which had delicious breakfasts with made-to-order eggs as well as free drinks and canapés each evening. 

We obviously took full advantage.  Every single night.

For dinner, we headed to Monopole - a wine bar with excellent food in a trendy part of town.

from here

We sat at the bar and watched as they prepped their small plates in front of us, allowing us to choose what we wanted based on what looked the best (all of it!).  The staff was super friendly - so much so that when we ordered a bottle of wine that happened to be out of stock, they offered to open both of the bottles we were debating between and let us have whichever we liked best.  Highly, highly recommend it when you're in Sydney next!

Determined to take full advantage of our limited time in the city, we then went out to scope out the bar scene.  

Our fav spot of the night was Eau de Vie, a secret little cocktail bar tucked in a secret room behind the real bar of a trendy Sydney boutique hotel.  Finding the place required special instructions from our waitress:

from here

We stayed out until 3am (!!) before retiring home to get some rest for another day of exploring.  More details to come.

xoxo

KK