Category: Travel

Woke up after a rather restless night around 6am. We played on our laptops till about 9am when we finally headed out the door in search of breakfast. I had bought some cereal to have in the room but Kevin felt like having breakfast out, so I suggested we drive down to the lake because there was bound to be a cafe there.

Unfortunatley I was wrong. Well, we couldn’t find one anyway. So we ended up driving around for a bit – out to where I remembered a cafe/kiosk in the park we’d taken the girls. We did find it but it wasn’t open yet. No to worry, we did find these very cute kangaroos.

One even had a joey.

Seeing kangaroos like this is very rare so even us Aussie’s still get excited :-).

Onwards we drove, finally finding a cafe in Kingston. I was starving by this time … it was now 10am.

This was part cafe and part bike shop. And yes, I did stop to pat the puppy.

Because I was beyond hungry I really didn’t know what I wanted but with the mood I was now in (blaming Kevin because he wanted to eat out) I thought it only fitting to order some toasted turkish bread with cranky pants jam :-).

I don’t know what kind of jam it was but it was delicious.

Next up was the handmade markets we had come to see. Unfortunately they didn’t really have what I was after. There were lots of things for babies, young children and lots of jewellery but no much in the way of Christmas presents that I was looking for. In fact I only bought 2 things for myself and some cupcakes.

There were some other items I like but felt they were too expensive…like these very cute reindeers..

and these tea cossies…which I’m sure I could make myself…

I also loved this giant tea pot garden fountain – if only I had the right place for it….

I wasn’t too upset as markets can be like this – either you want everything or nothing. We decided to go check out the other markets at the Old Bus Depot.

But again, a big nothing – except for some delicious looking strawberries and raspberries :-).

It was only lunchtime and we’d already done the two things we had planned. We thought we’d head out to the Deep Space Station, hoping we’d be there before the big dark clouds rolled in.

But alas, we never made it as the road was closed :-(.

On the way back I spotted Telstra Tower (though I still call it Black Tower as that’s what I knew it as growing up) and suggested we head up there.

Luckily for us (after our unlucky morning) it was open and though old and dated, the views are still amazing.

We shared a sandwich for lunch and sat and enjoyed the view.

Then we headed back our hotel and went back for some shopping. Bought a few more things…but mainly for ourselves. Definitely not making much headway with the present buying.

Back in our room we were delivered some champagne as it’s our anniversary tomorrow. A nice thought, but a shame we don’t drink it.

Kevin had a nap while I played on the computer while watching the clouds roll in.

And eventually the rain arrived.

I was certainly glad we didn’t have to head out again tonight. Instead we got room service.

Kevin had a steak sandwich – with the most delicious fries I think I’ve ever had (don’t normally care for them much) and I had vegetarian nachos (the beans were hidden under everything else).

We had wanted to watch a movie tonight but had to call for maintenance. After an hour we realized he wasn’t going to come and it was getting late (it was 8.30pm after all) so we gave up and just watched a bit of the travel channel before going to sleep.

A few months back I discovered the Homemade Markets in Canberra and when I realized they were on on our Anniversary weekend it seemed like the perfect opportunity for a weekend escape…. without the kids :-).

So this afternoon Kevin and I hoped in the car for the short 2.5 hours to Canberra. But 5 mins into our trip we stopped at our local shopping center for some lunch and a chai latte (for the road) at Gloria Jeans.

Then we were off….

Just past the half way make we stopped for petrol (and more tea) …. and I was surprised to see the Big Sheep had been moved since I was last in Golburn.

Of course, I thought of my blogger friends who might not have seen the Big Sheep and posed for a photo.

Then it was back on the road. Luckily the big grey clouds we had been driving towards seemed to have moved on.

Lake George…. yes, there is NEVER much water in this lake.

And then, our first sighting of Canberra…. Black tower.

And finally our hotel…. and home for the next 2 nights.

After a bit of problems checking in we finally got to our room. We had gotten the King Size Suite – with a kitchenette.

For the TV lovers there is even a TV in the kitchen, as well as the bedroom.

So while the room is lovely, the view isn’t quite so hot….

Kevin had a few computer issues to deal with so I had a tea while playing on the computer before we finally headed back out. The hotel is right in the city center so we walked over to the main shopping center…which is HUGE.

We were here about 2 hours and only saw about 1/5 of the shops. But they had so many of my favourites 🙂 Like Crabtree and Evelyn – where I was able to stock up on my VERY favourite cookies – which they only sell pre-Christmas (probably a good thing for my waist-line 🙂 ).

I also bought some homeware items, a cute xmas ornament and Kevin got some new shoes (I had a $50 vochure to be used by tomorrow 🙂 ).

The shopping center is lovely and best of all, it wasn’t crowded at all so it was a really nice shopping experience. I’m pretty sure we’ll be back over the weekend to explore the rest of it.

We were getting hungry and our feet were sore so we headed back to our hotel, stopping along the way to pick up some dinner at Oporto. No wonder we were hungry, it was 8pm when we got back … which is WAY past our normal dinner time.

I had a very delicious veggie burger.

It’s been a fun first afternoon and it’s great spending time with Kevin, with no interuptions from the kids wanting this or that.

Kevin and I were up early, and I mean EARLY, as in 3AM to go on our Dawn Harbour Bridge Climb. Not only was it early but it was cold and rainy. Still we got dressed and caught a cab to the Bridge Climb office. I think we were still half asleep – what do you think?

We arrived a bit too early and had to wait until they opened.

Once we got all geared up we headed out with our guide Matt. We were doing the Discovery climb which involved seeing more of the bridge than just the arch. We set off in the dark.

And arrived at the top just before the “sunrise”.

As you can see it was an awesome sunrise :-). Suprisingly the weather didn’t “dampen” things too much for us and we absolutely loved the whole climb experience. By the time we headed back down it was a lot lighter. This was what we really liked about the dawn climb – we saw the city and bridge in both the night and day.

Having recently watched Glee we were pleased to see they had a nice day for their climb :-).

While it’s not a cheap thing to do (we had been given vouchers for Christmas from my Mum & Dad) it really was an awesome experience – one I’d encourage everyone to do if given the chance.

After the climb we were tired, damp and hungry so headed to Starbucks for some breakfast.

We then went back to our room where I had another bath and Kevin had a little nap. We checked out around 10.30am and headed home. It was  brief but very enjoyable little getaway.

 

On Friday morning Kevin & I headed up to Sydney. First stop was some shopping, including some birthday presents for Christy’s upcoming birthday. We also stopped at the San Churro chocolate shop to use a vochure that Kevin had got for his birthday (thanks Leanne). Kevin chose the churro with chocolate dipping sauce.

Twas rather yummy, but  a little bit too rich for me. Don’t you just love the napkins?

From here we drove into the city and checked into our hotel. We had a booked a secret 5 star hotel which turned out to be the

We got checked in and headed to our room. It was gorgeous.

I loved the cupboard cubicles.

One contained some bath robes and slippers…

But my favourite was the one for tea making.

I loved the big window sill that you could sit in to take in the view.

After getting settled we headed back out to visit Kevin’s favourite shop – the Apple Store.

We also stopped in a Haighs to stock up on my favourite dark chocolate and then to the David Jones Food Hall  where we bought some bits and pieces, including some cheese and crackers and we couldn’t resist these cupcakes once we did a taste test. One box for us and the mini ones to take home.

With sore feet we headed back to our hotel stopping to pick up something to eat from Oporto. I was pleased to find a veggie burger on the menu.

After eating our early dinner on the bed I had a lovely hot bath (to ease my sore back).

We then watched a movie (the romantic comedy Leap Year) and had an early night in preparation for our VERY early start tomorrow.