Tags
Abion cafe, Australia, Braidwood, dining with friends, Mollymook Golf Club, New South Wales, Ulladulla, whale watching
A weekend away down the south coast trying to spot whales!
I have known my friend Lyn for over thirty-five years so when she moved back to Australia from Canada I promised I would visit when they had built their new home. It’s exactly what I did a couple of weekends ago. The drive from Canberra to Ulladulla is exactly two and a half hours and is very pleasant.
I arrived around 3pm and after a look around their beautiful home and garden we sat on the balcony enjoying a glass of bubbles whilst looking over the ocean hoping to catch a glimpse of a whale. The girls did but unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough to put on my glasses so no sighting for me.
Our first night we had dinner at a lovely casual Japanese restaurant. I don’t usually like Japanese food but the tofu was very good. The girls loved their meals though and intend to make this restaurant one of their favourites.
The next morning we took a lovely walk with the dogs; through bushland and along the beachfront where the dogs jumped immediately into the water. It was about twenty-one degrees so no need for big jackets and gloves like I have to wear at the moment in Canberra.
The girls had booked a table for lunch overlooking the ocean at the Mollymook Golf Club but before we went there, we went to the local lighthouse where we walked along a pathway of interesting trees and shrubs to arrive at a viewing platform to see the ocean.
The views from inside the golf club were also very beautiful and it was here I saw my first whale (well a spout of water and a side fin) and a mum dolphin and her baby. Very exciting but no photos as it was too quick a sighting.
I really had a great few days with the girls as they are such great company and it was so nice to stay in their fabulous newly built home, but it was time to leave. I decided to stop at a lovely historic country town on the way home called Braidwood. I parked up one end of the main street and walked up and down both sides to check out all the shops and pick a nice cafe for lunch. There are some beautiful old buildings but wow it was so incredibly cold.
I decided on a warm and cosy cafe called Abion which was so pretty inside with its fresh vegetables on display as well as old aluminium cans and tins amongst many other things.
I ordered a really delicious coconut, sweet potato and split pea soup with a pot of peppermint tea and of course a small bowl of chips and sat on the old wooden bench before an old wooden table! A lovely environment to eat lunch on such a cold day.
And on the way back to my car I walk past more historic buildings and some street art next to a sign showing people their dogs cannot poop in the street!
I think most of us have a place in the world we have always wanted to visit. Mine was Africa. After I retired at the end of 2017, my friend Jenny and I departed Sydney for a trip to three countries in Africa. I have previously written about my first visit to Chobe National Park (both East and West) but I thought I would finish with my trip with a final series of photos.
I love elephants; majestic beautiful animals…well I love all animals but was so excited about seeing an elephant in the wild [where I believe they should all be] and I certainly was not disappointed. Seeing these fabulous creatures walking/playing/bathing and just enjoying life was amazing.
And as for the baby elephants; they were incredibly [incredibly] cute…hanging with their mums!
I also saw lots of other animals of course including beautiful zebra; wow these are also such majestic creatures and was fortunate enough to capture one in a series of poses with my final photo of him/her [no idea how to tell if male or female] looking in my direction.
And then a ‘dazzle’ or ‘zeal’ of zebra [have to be honest had to look up on the internet to see what a group of zebra is called!]…
And various other beautiful animals…
I loved Africa/Sth Africa so much that I have booked a return trip to South Africa this September but this time will spend time in Cape Town travelling around and watching whales, then Pretoria visiting friends as well as a few days staying in the wild glamping rather than camping. Can’t wait for that; camping out in the wild but in a fabulous tent with en-suite!
I travelled by plane to Brisbane with a short stop-over in Sydney and took the two hour shuttle to Noosa. Initially my friends and I were going to meet at Brisbane Airport and hire two cars to drive to Noosa. But…my friends were unfortunately stuck in Canberra Airport for seven hours due to an issue with their plane. They didn’t arrive in Noosa until just after midnight so luckily there was a shuttle to drop me off right outside my accomodation!!
I decided to go for a walk to familiarise myself with the area and walked to the main shopping street which took about thirty-minutes. It was lovely how lush and green the vegetation was along the way. When I returned to the resort, my friend Mandy and her partner came over for a glass of wine before I retired to my room for an early night.
Early the next morning I did the same walk down to the beach and then met up with Mandy for breakfast at a cafe overlooking the beach called Bistro C. 
Lots of people out and about swimming or surfing or just relaxing like us enjoying breakfast.
It turned out that this was not the only time I was to eat at Bistro C. One of the girls who had arrived late from Canberra messaged me to say that a birthday lunch had been organised that day for Mandy and it was at Bistro C!!
I decided to take the shuttle bus back to the resort as I was a bit weary after my walks…and a couple of hours later, it was time to return to Bistro C for lunch. One of the girls and I chose the roasted beetroot, feta and legume salad with fig, spiced pumpkin, radish, pomegranate and pea hummus. I opted for no cheese and mayonnaise and it really was absolutely delicious. Coupled with a glass of champagne it was a great way to spend a couple of hours!!
Now I know there are many wonderful restaurants in Noosa but I had seen something else delicious on the menu. The next day I walked back into town and stopped off for lunch at Bistro C...the dish I wanted to try was the fried shiitake mushroom, water chestnut and spinach dumplings with Sichuan eggplant, sesame broccoli, snow peas, green onion and ginger broth. Unfortunately I was very disappointed with this dish. The dumplings tasted like they had been sitting around for a while and there was no Sichuan eggplant or ginger broth on the dish.
At the time of our visit the Noosa Food and Wine Festival was on so we had tickets for a four course dinner at Peppers Resort with a few guest Aussie chefs. Matt Moran whose restaurant is Aria overlooking Sydney Harbour and Matt Preston from Australian Masterchef were two I saw and had photos with. Nice to spend time with the girls but the vegan food was incredibly disappointing; so much I didn’t even stay for dessert!
Sue's Fabulous Travels 
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