Wordless Wednesday - Muddy's Playground

Missing the warm weather, reminding myself of fun times in the sun. Muddy's Playground is an awesome spot in Cairns, we stayed for hours to entertain the Little Man.

Linking up for Wordless Wednesday with My little Drummer Boys, sakuraharuka and Twinkle in the Eye.

Wordless Wednesday - Winter on the way

A reminder that winter is on the way.. fog rolls over the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday!

Linking with My little Drummer Boys and sakuraharuka for for Wordless Wednesday. Check it out!

Beach holiday at Currarong

At the end of January we went on a short holiday, partly to address the issue that we were 'homeless' for that week.

After much searching through the internet, we decided to head south. I found a 3 bed room holiday let that would give Little Man some space to run around in case our beach holiday became a wet holiday.

And as it would turn out, for the majority of the time that we were there, it was wet.

Our escape was to a little sleepy village down the south coast - Currarong. 

When i say sleepy it really was sleepy, there are two shops there - a general store and a very good fish n chip shop. There is only one road to access the village. 

Our accommodation was located close right on the on the creek, which meant quick access to the beach at low tide. A great spot for when the sun came out. 

The only thing we did really have to work out was the timing of the tides.

Another great spot that we found nearby was Callala Bay! Another awesome spot for a toddler to play in and a bad swimmer like me.

Despite the wet weather, we did get to the beach a few times. 

We also travelled up and down the princes highway to Nowra with the rain, and to the delight of Little Man,  as there was a lot of road works so lots of  construction vehicles to be seen along the way. That helped ward off cabin fever.

Another attraction we visited was the Nowra Wildlife Park - a private park. A good place to pass time with little people. Here we saw two albino echidnas, apparently they might be the only ones in captivity so we felt very privileged to see them. 

There were of course other animals and even a giant slide that was too big for Little Man to get on.

We had a lovely break away, the peace and quiet was definitely required.
Currarong definitely hit the spot for us. 

Have you a holiday spot that works well for you?


Linking up with http://essentiallyjess.com/

Japanese food in Oahu

they say that it's good for a couple to have/develop a common interest - M and I certainly have one developed around food. So it was natural for me to seek out good restaurants for our holiday.

After scouring the various food blogs and travel forums -  i discovered that right under the condos that we were staying was a highly recommended Japanese restaurant! We had to try it out, and what a great decision it was. Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin on Beach Walk was this gem. Both times we got takeout for lunch, and they had a lunch special of  organic karage which was absolutely scrumptious.. fried chicken always it.! and all for a princely sum of $11 and taxes. 

hawaii 2012 - north shore

on Hawaii - i love hawaii - a few years when M and i went for our first trip there.. Now i had been there once when i was a child - i still have the photos of me in that hawaiian print dress and the hula dancer..(might have to dig it out and have it scanned)
What's not to love about a city that has great beaches  and warm tropical waters, nice weather year round and friendly people.

This is our first family trip away overseas. We had high hopes of L sleeping all the way there given we were on an overnight flight.. he had other plans. So no one slept much on the flight there.. 2 tired parents and a tired toddler. We were smart enough though to have loaded the ipad with his favourite show - Fireman Sam or AM as L calls it. And that was a godsend for the hours that he was awake.
so here's my tip for those travelling with a sub 2 year old. If your child has a favourite show and you have a portable device like an ipad - make sure you load a few hours of the show on it.
Admittedly despite the lack of sleep, L was really well behaved.

We had 12 glorious days in oahu - the first part to be spent on the north shore, the second down in waikiki.
I had booked in at a condo in the estates at Turtle Bay. After resolving some issues with the keys - we were able to settle in and all have a desperately required kip.

My MIL arrived later in the afternoon and we all headed out in our large Jeep to get acquainted with the neighbourhood east of our location. First stop Foodland for supplies. We then headed back to our condo, and as you travel with a little one, ours has dinner around 5 so we decided to stop at Romy's for shrimp for dinner.. L had at least 3 of my shrimp and some rice. I tasted one of MIL garlic butter shrimp. Which was quite tasty and then back home for the normal routine for L.

our condo is really well situated.. about a 10 minute walk to the beach as we discovered - a perfect little cove - Kuilima Cove that was not overcrowded - which was great for L's introduction to daily beach life!

a whirlwind

wow! what a week - L and I have been in 3 countries. Last sunday little man and I jetsetted across the oceans to Malaysia to visit my rellies. I have to say that the flight across was not so pleasant as the little man - got 30 mins sleep all day on the flight - which meant a very ancy boy all day!

We flew on Singapore airlines and i have to say that if you ever have to travel with kids - they are excellent - they were just so accomodating and even reserved a meal for me..

We arrived in balmy 33 degree heat, and were picked up by my cousin.

The next morning we went to visit the rellies.

The rellies were so pleased to see DS and were absolutely besotted with him, and boy he lapped that up.

In KL we stayed at the Park Royal Serviced Suites in a studio apartment. It was very well furnished, and very central to Bukit bintang - about a 10 min walk. And even had a sky pool - very nice for the adults!

Even though i had a fully functioning kitchen, we had all our meals out. My aunt and I went to Madam Kwan's - for dinner one night to try the famous nasi goreng. I thought that it was going to come with ayam goreng, but came with a curry instead. it was very yummy and not overly spicy. We also tried the chicken satays - big fat sticks of chicken which were nice, but not as nice as the flavoursome satays we have had in malaysia by the roadside. Still i cannot complain - dinner came in at just under AUD$15

Our trip home included a stopover in Singapore. Now if you ever want to stay somewhere close to the heart of orchard road, I'd recommend the Mandarin Orchard, it is right in the thick of it, just across from takashimya. The rooms are large, as is the bathroom, but the combined shower bath area is tiny in comparison.

Land of the rising sun - Part 3

Japan continues to be in my prayers..

During my visit, I spent some time visiting the Tsukiji- fish market and the nearby produce markets.

I did not get to Tsukiji in the wee hours of the morning, but did get to see a lot Tuna being carted around to be sliced and diced for sale. Lots of exotic sea creatures also to be seen. It's a humming place, with carts zipping in and out at lightning speed, quite amusing to watch - as long as you are out of their way

The produce market too was interesting It's always fascinating to me the things you find - like different grades of wasabi - for 22000 yen (possibly by the kilo), but that is approx $220 - very EXPENSIVE!

Other foods like cherries and mangoes were also pricey!

Other highlights included a walk to see the imperial palace, ginza and shibuya.

Getting around was quite easy- i saw everything using public transport and walking - everything is well signed - though i have to admit, you forget how populated Tokyo can be, can be quite overwhelming

This is the pedestrian crossing at Shibuya.

Still I love the hustle and bustle of this city.

Land of the Rising Sun - Part 1

2010 was a year of lots of travel - such a contrast to this year so far.

In July, i had the opportunity to travel to Japan again for work.

I must say that i really do like Japan - it's mostly quite easy to get around. I usually stay in Shinjuku.

One of the things i love to do when i travel as I love food is that i usually try to find some good restaurants to frequent. Tokyo did not disappoint.

One of my favourite meals was a at a tonkatsu restaurant where the crispy crumbed pork fillet melts in your mouth. The fillet just so tender that little effort is required to consume it. It was served with fresh cold crisp cabbage - a perfect marriage of textures! It's a restaurant chain - well worth a visit.

Tasmania break

Sharing some of the highlights from our trip to Tasmania last year.

We celebrated our wedding anniversary with a visit to Cradle Mountain.

If you have never been to the Apple Isle, you should try and visit. It is such a beautiful place, and the air is so clean and fresh. We hired a car to travel to Launceston and Cradle Mountain.

First stop Cradle Mountain. A note on micro climates, we did travel during Winter, while the weather in Launceston was clear - beautiful blue sky, crisp clean air and sunny day, we were not quite prepared for the "blizzard" that we hit in Middlesex Plains on route to Cradle Mountain.

The snow and rain was coming in so hard horizontally, the sky was dark and the landscape was so bleak. And yes it was snowing!

That night we stayed at Cradle Mountain Lodge. We had a lovely room - not great view but we didn't stay here for that. The bistro was good value and meals were nice.

The next morning we decided to hit the road and hike Dove Lake. We should have held off doing this till later in the morning as the weather cleared up a lot more, but we weren't to know that.. It was cold and an extremely interesting hike as around the lake we walked through different microclimates - including some rainforest. We had an excellent time trudging through the snow and walking in the rain.

In the evening after dinner - we headed off to a tassie devil sanctuary. It was cool to get up close and personal with these marsupials. We learnt some interesting facts about them and the dangers that they face at the moment.

The next day - we head off back to Launceston - on route we stop by some of the wineries in the Tamar Valley to find some very lovely pinot noirs. We are certainly expanding our palates.

After checking into our B&B - The Terrace - we head off to see Cataract Gorge - seems like a nice spot particularly with the sun around.

Final day - we cannot resist a visit to a winery - we have 30 minutes before we are due to the airport -- so we decide that we'd stop in at the Joseph Chromy winery. Now - this is our favourite winery in Launceston - the cellar door staff are charming and it's in a beautiful setting with a neat little restaurant! We unfortunately did not have time to indulge - but hope we can come here again!

more pics to share...

Here's a few more pics from the Grand Canyon South Rim, Flagstaff and Las Vegas!

share my favorite

photo i took during June.

it was a cold morning in the blue mountains, but the results are worth it!

June was a busy month and it appears that it will continue to be so until August. I really need a break. One of the highlights was spending a day and night with my dear sil!! and a new tradition has begun!

Got some time set aside today to play, so will share some of my LO's later in the weekend.

been over a month

This is what I have been up to over the past month - travelling around asia. Here are some of my fav photos from the last month, if you know me, my camera is never far away..