Birthday Outing

It was A's birthday on Good Friday which wasn't very convenient as the places that I wanted to visit were all closed. Nonetheless the following Tuesday, we went to the things that I had planned to celebrate his birthday. 

First was a stop at Le Pain Quotidien at The Rocks for an incredibly late lunch. I ordered the Avocado with cannellini beans tartine and was a little disappointed. I love beans, but I love avocado a lot more and wished that there were actual chunks of it instead of a measly amount smeared on the bread. 

After a few games at City Amusement in Market City, we headed to dinner at Encasa. We were actually meant to eat here back in December when we first met up, however at that time, the place was completely full and we were turned away. I thought it would be nice and sentimental to visit this place. In hindsight, we should have eaten less for lunch as we were both still quite full at dinner. Ah well, peanut butter. 

Patatas Brava

Sangria

Chorizo a la Plancha


Albondigas


I remember when these were all the rage on Livejournal textures communities. Ah the days. Though I guess not much as changed since there are tons of phone apps to place bokeh filters on your images. 

The last stop for the night was a night session tour at the Sydney Observatory. A. had wanted to visit as did I, and after reading RYDN's post a while ago, I was further prompted to visit. It was a very nice tour and I thoroughly enjoyed looking through the telescopes. It was a very nice way to end the night.

Jervis Bay

I am procrastinating and thought it was time (finally) to blog about my trip to Jervis Bay which happened almost a month ago.

The plan was to head down to Berry, 7 Mile Beach and finally Vincentia in Jervis Bay for our beach holiday. Boy, did we pick the wrong days.

But first, for the sake of completeness, I shall start off with the Tuesday, the day before we left. It was beach weather that day and we headed out to Long Reef Headland which I actually had never visited before.









We had lunch at the famous Upper Crust.




A. ordered the beef stroganoff whilst I ordered a chicken, brie and avocado pie. I was quite disappointed in the pies. Sure, they tasted okay however for the price it just really wasn't worth it. It tasted so similar to the pies at Hamlet's at Manly Corso, or for a slightly cheaper price (but the same pie) you could have gotten it at my old place of employment or from Paddy's Pies. Nonetheless, it was a good pie, but just not worth the money considering I know of cheaper alternatives.

Road Trip







We stopped by the Berry Donut Van which made fresh donuts and they were amazing! When I was younger, I disliked the cinnamon donuts; who wanted plain ol' cinnamon when there was chocolate or strawberry icing! However, these days I much prefer cinnamon (though I am not the biggest fan of donuts).










By the time we reached 7 Mile Beach, the weather was completely dreary (as it was for the remainder of our trip).

Our destination: Vincentia, Jervis Bay.









The weather was miserable and we ended up spending most of our time in our hotel/motel room pigging out and watching terrible daytime tv.




Crazy fog on our way back to Sydney.

Paihia

I spent my final day in NZ in Paihia, up the coast of the North Island. Originally, I wanted to head all the way to Cape Reinga, but it was just too costly and I settled on something half way.

The drive up was quite nice however I somehow managed to lose my sunnies on the bus. Not entirely sure how it happened, but it happened. Paihia was underwhelming. Thankfully I had booked a cruise to the Hole in the Rock the night before.








At some point on the cruise, we spotted dolphins and I was a little apathetic. Nothing can beat the experience I had at Hilton Head Island where I kayaked with dolphins however the dolphins soon swam next to the boat which was incredibly cool.










And finally we reached the famous Hole in the Rock. Usually, the boat would go through the hole however there were large swells which made it impossible that day.







Back on shore, I purchased a maple and walnut gelato (ice cream?) which tasted alright. In hindsight, I should have purchased another flavour.




And that concludes all my NZ posts.

Overall Thoughts
New Zealand was a country that I had always wanted to visit and it exceeded my expectations mostly. As everyone says, the South Island is the island to be as the landscape is just incredible. That being said, my main issue with the North Island was that it was so similar to Sydney/ the country that I was used to so it didn't really feel very special or enjoyable. In honest fact, I didn't enjoy any of my days in the North Island and in hindsight, I should have left early. However, I did want to give the North Island a chance so I guess it didn't all go to waste.

Would I re-visit?
No. Unless I was to travel with my future children for a holiday, which wouldn't be happening for another decade or so.

Waiheke Island

I had one day in Auckland and decided to take the ferry to Waiheke Island. I had heard quite good things about the place, but I was just so disappointed. It was honestly a waste of time and money.














Perhaps I am spoilt, but the beaches there were so underwhelming. But the colour of the water was incredible.




I guess I was also frustrated since I had to wait over an hour for the bus to arrive to take me back to the ferry. All up, I spent around $60 on a day trip and I didn't enjoy any of it. Ah well.