Sounds on Sunset at Sundowner Tiona near Pacific Palms

On the weekend we drove up to a place called Tiona on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales for a small boutique music festival called Sounds on Sunset. About 15 minutes drive South of Forster and 10 minutes North of Pacific Palms, Tiona is renowned as a great wedding venue having an outdoor wedding facility/ chapel called the Green Cathedral. This weekend there was no wedding, it was all about the music.

Token photo of Forster, a place I used to visit with my family for the Ironman Triathlon:

The festival was held at the caravan park which offered all sorts of accommodation from basic camping, backpacker cabins, right through to a cottage where you could have a spa and a comfortable bed for two. Entry was $25 which included free camping and BYO. Cheap!

The headline act was The Snowdroppers and the bands that played were mostly local and it was a great vibe for a few drinks by the water with what seemed like a few hundred friends.

The festival ran throughout the day and ended with a fantastic sunset over the lake. A note for next year, bring that jacket again because it was pretty chilli after dark. I didn't get great pictures but the ones I did are below. Enjoy. 

The Corner Restaurant in Port Macquarie

I went up the coast and visited Port Macquarie again over the weekend. One of the long standing favourite restaurants for people who love a decent eating out experience is The Corner Restaurant. It sits under the Macquarie Waters Hotel and I ducked in for a quick bite to eat with a friend and I must say the food is really well done. The lunch menu is excellent, probably slightly expensive but you definitley get what you pay for through good food and service.

According to a few people I spoke to, they all rate it as the best in town. It actually has the atmosphere that ties itself to a nice dining experience unlike the many badly run cafes in Port Macquarie.

Both of us had The Angus Steak Sandwich which is served on sour dough. Delicious. Perfect lunchtime snack and the chips which were probably deep fried thrice were yummo! I got a couple of pics below. Enjoy

Pro tip: Ask for the steak to be cooked rare if that's your thing.

The Angus Steak Sandwich ($20):

The Menu:

The details:

The Corner Restaurant
11 Clarence Street
Port Macquarie NSW 2444
02 6583 3300

St Leonards, Victoria - Where every day is a Sunday

On the weekend (over Anzac Day) I ventured down to St Leonards in Victoria which is about 30kms from Geelong sitting on Port Philip Bay.

I was only there for one night and I went back to Melbourne on the Friday. But I got a chance to look around.

It's a cute little seaside village with a nice outlook back to Melbourne.With only a population of 2,000 people there are still a few decent cafes and restaurants in the main street along with a supermarket and liquor store. But it is noticeably quiet even on a long weekend. No wonder it is a popular spot for Melbournians.

The Main Street of St Leonards:

I ended up staying at the pub, the St Leonards Hotel and it was pretty good. Besides being one of the few options in St Leonards, having food and booze under the bed always appeals to me... but check out the view!! It must have one of the best beer gardens in this part of Australia.

The rooms were good and had lcd tv's and comfy beds. What you would call the higher end for pub stay accommodation, but obviously this area relies heavily on the tourism trade and needs to offer something nice for those quiet periods outside peak season.

Last photos - the pub food:

All in all a pleasant trip. I will return.

Traditional Australian Chinese by Sun Hing, Port Macquarie

I visited Port Macquarie again. It was pouring rain and late at night so I had to make a decision quickly. Eateries close early in Port Macquarie most of the time but when it's poor weather they tend to close as soon as they can get everyone out. 

We ended up dining in at a place called Sun Hing. The reviews on the internet paint a pretty poor picture both dining in and takeaway so I was't sure if it was the right choice but I was hungry and time was running out. 

We ordered soup all round, 2 entrees, 3 mains and dessert to share, drinks and tea and all up it came to $120 split between 4 people. It seemed pretty reasonable for the amount of food and drink (no alcohol) we ended up with. We took away about 5 takeaway containers with leftovers. 

The Food

It wasn't as bad as the internet portrayed. The Aussie favourites the sweet and sour pork and honey chicken had more batter than most fish and chips but it was tasty and we seemed to get through that. The prawn toast was nice and the san choy bow was really fresh as the water cress was really crunchy and delicious. I would say that the fried ice cream was pretty coconuty for my liking but I was slowing down by this point after gorging myself for 45 minutes.

In summary I would say that this is one of those situations where someone obviously expected something other than a regional NSW chinese restaurant and has hit tripadvisor or eatability to vent their anger when they got good honest Aussie Chinese. This place didn't portray itself as a five star authentic chinese restaurant (plastic plates and decor a dead giveaway) and from what I understand this place is has been around longer than me. 

The Menu

The Contact Details

Sun Hing Chinese Restaurant
112 William Street, New South Wales NSW 2444, Australia
(02) 6583 5667

Easter in the Hunter Valley

A few times a year I venture an hour and a half north of Sydney with a group of close friends to taste a few local wines.

We were luck enough to have private accommodation this time around which was free and the money we saved on lodging we very easily spent on purchasing wine.

After arranging a small bus to take the 6 of us around for 4 hours I have decided this is a reasonably cheap way to get around. Even on a long weekend it was only $350 for a bus that could easily hold a dozen people. We used Newcastle Limos.

Whilst I don't proclaim to be a wine connoisseur or expert, I do enjoy drinking white, red and sweet wine.

This is how our afternoon played out.Ω

As we've visited alot of the mainstream wineries in the area we wanted to try some new ones. Although the smaller boutique cellar door we always stop in at, Ballabourneen Wines was first on the list.

BALLABOURNEEN WINES

Their catch cry, "great mates making great wines" is perfect fir for the personality of this family run winery. The wine here is always very good but the beautiful people who lovingly take you through the list are genuinely in love of their craft.

You can sit out on the deck overlooking the vines and the property whilst the cute resident dog, Matilda, hops around on 3 legs greeting people as they arrive.

The standout wine we tried was the 2010 Alexander the Great Shiraz. Also the most expensive on the list at $50. Definitely worth visiting for the hospitality coupled with great wine.

The next stop was Gundog Estate.

GUNDOG ESTATE

This was once again somewhere we hadn't visited before. And also another situation where the enthusiasm for their love of wine complemented the great product.

We were seated at a table and went down the list. Whilst the ladys name escapes me, I think she was the only female working at the time. She was so excited to tell us about each wine and what she would or has eaten with it. This was really good fun as we don't take wine as serious as some.

The Muscat was delicious and we were given some chocolate to show us the difference in flavour when matching other types of food with different styles of wine. Obscure but it was an interesting experience.

MCLEISH ESTATE

We chose this venue for a few reasons, firstly this was a dirt road up until only a few years ago so you wouldn't normally go down this way in a hired bus. Also they recently won a bunch of awards including international accolades for their semillon. The cellar door is full of cool sporting memorabilia and trophies from their decorated wines.

This is a great opportunity to try hunter semillon from various years (I think we tried about 6) which gives you a good understanding of how this variant wine changes over time. They served us up some crackers for the white and Easter eggs for the red. The family has been on this property since the early 80's so they share some nice stories with you.

LAMLOCH ESTATE

What a sensational view. This place is one of the really nice places to sit out on the deck and drink wine. The quite modern and minimal cellar door was nice and they some nice wines although I did think some of the shiraz was quite expensive. The 2009 Loch was $125 a bottle and not for tasting but we managed to sneak a taste which was very nice of them. It was a nice wine and would be fantastic to drink in a few years but a lot of money for 1 bottle. Perhaps some people have more money than me?

We had to pay $5 for a taste of the 2010 "The Loch" which was understandable as they only make a small run and the wine was $76 a bottle. They gave you a decent 50ml and a larger red glass to taste. This is worth the stop to take in the view but the wine although nice I think it is a bit expensive.


DE IULIIS WINES

This winery was so quiet. We didn't wait once to get a tasting in at any of the venues we visited all day. It was only a short drive from the main road. They seem to be a bit more experimental so the wines were different but still top notch. You will understand when you try them.

The staff couldn't wait to tell us about the bus that is about to tour around the country serving up the wine in a pop up bar called Next Generation Hunter Valley "One More For The Road" Tour. A nice touch and something different to give this winery a nice point of difference. We'll probably check this out when it comes to town.

KEITH TULLOCH

Since our last visit they have renovated this cellar door and it's pretty impressive. It looks great, but.. There is a cover charge of sorts. It now costs $5 per person for wine tasting. I can understand why they do this. Throughout the day we've heard horror stories of football trips, hens nights and big groups taking advantage of the tasting ritual. The $5 is refundable but we are with a member so it is waived for the 6 of us.

Will this roll out to other cellar doors in the future?

The Kester Shiraz is the flagship here and is fantastic. We've got some early 00's stashed away which hopefully will be a good drop soon. I will let you know.

BLUETOUNGE

Last stop was Bluetounge for a case of beer to get us ready for dinner and more wine. They have stopped bottling their ginger beer which was one of the reasons we detoured here. A bit disappointing as I always liked the ginger beer. They apparently ship it out in kegs only now. The beer garden was very full and everyone was having a great day drinking beer in the sun. I think we'll make a point of stopping here for lunch next time.

Virgin Australia Pulling Their Socks Up

Last week I flew up to Port Macquarie. I have been flying instead of driving because now that it is dual carriageway it is a boring 3 and a half hours. Also, if you book in advance you can usually get up there and back for about $150.

I decided to fly with Virgin instead of Qantas or QantasLink as they call it up there, as it was substantially cheaper and I had points to burn one-way.

They have really picked up their game. They actually serve what you would call a light snack and drinks on the flight. In the past there has been a cost attached to this.

The other thing that has changed is they are now flying ATR 72’s. I’ve never been on one of these so this was a new experience. We boarded through the rear doors as the plane has a cargo hold in the front of the plane behind the cockpit.

The flight I took was VA1187, which departed Sydney just before 9am, about 15 minutes late. The plane was only half full and got us up to cruising altitude quite quickly.

It was at that time we were then given what I thought was a pretty substantial snack for such a short flight. Flight time on this plane was just under an hour.  The meal included tea, coffee, juice or soft drink, and a cupcake. Pretty considerable if you think back a few months where you had to pay for a bottle of water.

We landed making up some of the time that we were delayed out of Sydney. A lot of people boycott Virgin, but as you can see their offering is almost on par with QantasLink.