Mudgee

Mudgee was our last stop on our trip before heading back to Sydney.  This town is most famous for its surrounding vineyards.  Needless to say, we visited some of them and tasted some lovely wines.  My favourite was the Sparkling Shiraz - absolutely delicious it was.  The chap in charge of the final cellar we visited was presidedly tiddly (it was New Year's Day after all) and he allowed us to pour our own wine to taste while belting out some loud songs.  

The town itself was very attractive with some lovely buildings and churches.  On New Year's Day it was like a ghost town with everything shut except a local pub where we enjoyed a nice lunch.

Xmas at North Head

I spent a wonderful Xmas with Dani and her family on her folk's Macadamia nut farm near North Head.

Here are some of the highlights:

• How welcome the family made me feel.
• The beauty of the farm with its gorgeous garden flowers and Macadamia nut trees and gorgeous views from the porch.
• A delicious Xmas eve dinner of smoked salmon and pork.
• Cooking the Xmas dinner main course with Dani - slow cooked lamb shoulder salad (with oranges and capers and olives).  It was totally delicious and surprisingly easy to make, a great recipe to add to my repertoire.
• The divine French dessert.
• Playing hide and seek with Dani's nephew in the garden.
• Lazing on a romantic swing chair on the porch.
• Exploring the farm, including the beautiful dam and surrounding rain forest.
• A cocktail party at friends on a nearby property with amazing food.
• Kaspar, the family dog, who abounded with Xmas spirits and loved having us all around.
• Eating lots and lots of Macadamia nuts - my favourite nut in the world!
• Getting some lovely presents - a slow cooker from Dani, a recipe book, and a book of national geographic photos.
• Two new bird species - Regents Bowerbird (to my delight) and Pacific Baza.
• The beautiful King Parrots that visited the farm.
• The peace of sitting on the farm balcony in the early morning.
• Seeing cute little swamp wallabies on the farm.
• Dani's dad's enthusiasm for birds and wildlife - a passion shared.
• Dani's dad giving us a tour of the farm shed and all the farm equipment.
• The extraordinarily loud chirping of the cicadas - a sound that always makes me feel peaceful.
• Talking to my wonderful family on Skype on Xmas evening.
• A lovely barbecue with Dani's sister and family at Scotts Head.
• Teaching Dani some camera tricks and doing a photo safari of the farm together.  Great fun.
• Learning that Macadamia nuts are indigenous to Australia - the trees are a natural rainforest species.  Is there no end to Australia's natural treasures?
• Two lovely walks along Valla Beach.
• A swim at Valla Beach and Shelley Beach.  The temperature of the water couldn't have been more perfect.
• Some exhilarating body surfing on big waves in Scotts Head.
• Reading the colourful graffiti on the rocks at North Heads headland.

Xmas dinner

Dani's lovely family

Dani's dad points out Regent Bowerbird in a nearby tree, to my great delight

Delicious French dessert that we brought from Sydney

Eating out on the balcony with beautiful views of the farm

Kaspar, the family dog - full of energy and Xmas spirit

The farmhouse

  

View from the balcony

The farm shed

Macadamia nut trees

Beautiful farm garden 

Rainforest surrounding the farm

Cicada husks

Farm dam

A beautiful mosaic in the nearby town of North Heads

Lagoon at North Heads

Shelley Beach

Graffiti at North Heads headland

Dani's nephew having a surf at Scotts Head

Next stop on our trip
Waterfall Way

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Blue Mountains weekend away (Ruined Castle hike)

We had a wonderful weekend with plenty of hiking and chilling.  On Saturday, we did The Ruined Castle hike which had some lovely scenery.  On Sunday, we did a shorter hike close to our cottage in Blackheath.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Trying to find the key to the cottage in the pitch dark when we arrived.  Thank goodness the i-phone can be used at a torch!
• The lovely, romantic cottage where we stayed.
• It was really freezing on the first night, thank goodness for body warmth.
• Chinese dinner on Friday night and delicious veal at a lovely Italian restaurant on Saturday night.
• The amazing views from the top of Ruined Castle.
• A lovely walk exploring the shops of Leura on Sunday (my first time there) and sneaking back to buy Dani a necklace that she had stopped to admire.
• Visiting the candy store in Leura and getting lots of sweet delights.
• A delicious lunch in Leura and an iced chocolate beverage.

Lowlight

• Forgetting my camera at the restaurant in Leura and having to drive back to get it the next day!   At least it was still there.

And the rewards of all that hiking...