Nelson's Bay in Winter // Adventures

The uni semester break is winding up and for some reason we decide to drive two and a half hours North of Sydney to Nelsons Bay ... during Winter (because Summer is “been there, done that”). 

Nelsons Bay is pretty slow and chilled (literally) during the Winter months so we were excited for a lazy weekend getaway from the Sydney flurry filled with beach dawdles in the sun, dolphin spotting and, of course, guilt free trashy Foxtel (cue Dance Moms and Real Housewives of Melbourne).

But do put these on the To-Do when you visit J
- Dolphin/Whale watching cruise (we managed to also catch a dolphin from the pier!)
- Wake up at 6:20 AM (Winter) for the sunrise at Nelsons Head Inner Lighthouse
- Dawdle around d’Albora Marinas
- Walk past the Marina along the beaches to some lookouts (or bike it!)
- Laze in the sun and soak the views at Soldiers Point
- Pack a picnic and nab a bench near the waterfront
- Red Neds Gourmet Pie Bar on Stockton St (does Woolies have Lobster, Prawn & Barramundi pies at your convenience? No)

Enough chatter, just photos so enjoy the montage!

MVPD

 xx

#2 PIAW

CANBERRA, The calm before the storm, Pâtissez

NELSON BAY, Off to new horizons (20kms away)

CANBERRA, National Art Gallery of Australia

CANBERRA, Lake Burley Griffin

CANBERRA, Consumed by sudden impulse to punch a Monet

CANBERRA, When art imitates life

CANBERRA, Gold cubes, what else?

The Eatery Review + Roaming Byron Bay // Review ~ Adventures

Splendour festival is hard work, especially when you give yourself 3 hours to wake, freshen up (so you don’t look like the zombie you woke up as) and roll up those pesky sleeping bags before getting stuck in traffic back to Byron!

 

A little birdie (a.k.a. local Byron gal) told us to hit up ‘The Eatery’ in our cafe search because apparently ‘Cafe Byron’s’ coffees weren’t on point.

So what a better way to refuel – the place was a cafe + bar + bistro (wow slaying) but we were here for the lunch. Afterwards was the time to explore all the surfy stores, boutiques and arcades peppering Jonson St (and the surrounding streets).

 

The order was a slider plate of smoked salmon, bacon and chorizo ($15) and two Coconut Chia Bowls ($11). I’m not one for sliders but the chorizo one was rather good. I thought it would be punch-to-your-throat spicy but no! The sausage was cut not too thick, the mayo was light and the thick grated carrot was a nice change of texture (a little fresh crunch).

 

For me, chia seeds need something special as they taste quite plane on their own. Sweetened with maple syrup was a bit basic I thought and would have much rather more stewed fruit and the sweet vanilla labneh to do that job. It was also topped with this “Magic dust” as they called it which was a sweet version of dukkah with goji berries. It wasn’t a stand out dish, even the dukkah was kind of lost in the stewed fruit and quickly lost its crunch. I feel that Aboutlife do better chia pudding (I’m sorry).

 

The magic dust also graced the banana smoothie which I think properly tasted like banana unlike other I’ve tried! No sneaky caramel flavour here!

 

 

So this was where we chilled (with our luggage too) to watch Byron locals do their thang listening to a really good singing busker across the road.

 

Sadly one major flaw was the service time (like how fresh can you get with all the elements of our dishes already premade). Even though we got seated and ordered immediately, ours and another fellow splendour table took ages to come out like the cookie monster ate our orders or something! L The staff were really lovely though but we were so hungry we had to inquire after our order. How they didn’t manage to notice two tables sitting around for ages - I don’t know.

 

Let’s not end on this bad note, the place had the atmosphere that I was needing at the time – lazy and quiet with bar tenders working softly away.

Three Word Summary: Relaxing, Lively, Local
Ambience 4/5
Fare $$
Service 2/5
Foodwise 3/5

MVPD

Xoxo