The Easter Break

I/we actually had a great time. I went to sleep every night with a smile. It was a very pleasant surprise.

The resort was lovely, on a huge property hugging the huge lake. There was a kookabura chilling on a balcony as I drove in, and eucalyptus trees scenting the air. We barbecued and the boys went fishing, and I even joined them one (late) morning to drop my reel in and watch the little fish eat the bait off the hook. The weather was truly glorious - what a gift to get some colour on your skin in mid-April.

There was amazing fish and chips by the water, melting seafood under the crunchy and golden batter. After a gorgeous hot stone massage/facial/foot massage, we had dinner at the resort's restaurant, which looked very nice, with an interesting tapas menu. The food was lovely (especially the pork spring rolls; lime and ginger brulee) but the kitchen was badly run and everything took forever. It's such a pet peeve. The coffees came out with paddle pop sticks as the spoons were being used by the wedding next door. Yet we were unlucky enough to have an even worse dining experience. Our last day we headed to the Hunter Valley and decided to treat ourselves (ok, when do we not) to lunch at Terroir, which Gourmet Traveller and others call the best restaurant in the Hunter. After one of the most superb meals ever at Robert's in January, I was looking forward to surpassing that experience. The menu is very enticing, and I order the gnochhi with duck rillette, green tomato puree and macadamia pesto (mum orders the same as an entree size and when they arrive ours are the same entree size). The 'rillette' is just big pieces of duck, the puree was bitter bordering on tasteless and full of pips, the dollop of macadamia pesto harsh and completely wrong, and the gnochhi is simply raw dough, turning the dish into inedible mush. While others enjoy their meal (and Kath's pork belly was beautiful), we complain to the waitress, something I never do (because I've rarely had to), and fortunately they remove it from the bill. Desserts never arrive. The waitresses have no idea what they are doing, nay, they are hopeless. The bill is all wrong. Even when they fix it up they bring out the wrong receipt for me to sign. The best hey?


Perfect fish and chips.


I joined the boys fishing on this jetty. Beautiful spot.


The resort at sunset.


Lots of yummy tapas to share at the resort's restaurant.


On the jetty.

I arrived back at lunch time and headed to the races with N. Because we're just so fabulous, we're kindly given members tickets from a dear old gentleman and kick the afternoon back with sparkling wine and a few fun flutters (Bentley Biscuit came in third).