Oot and Aboot in Canada Eh! – Day Nine

This morning I took the easy and much warmer way out and used the treadmill in the basement.

If only I’d thought to use this earlier in the week.

It’s in miles so I have to convert but keeping the mind busy makes the time go faster.

Today we were lucky enough to be taken out to lunch at Hy’s restaurant, downtown Winnipeg.

Just walking into the building was an impressive experience!

We couldn’t go past the NY Steak Sandwiches so all  ordered them but with different sides.

Honestly the steaks were cooked so well!! They were such a pleasure to eat! And I had the veggies and they were sweet and had lot of flavour as well.

We also enjoyed a delicious bottle of wine as suggested by our lovely server.

For some reason, we don’t have a lot of Key Lime Pie in Australia so when I saw it on the menu, I asked hubby if he wanted to split it and it really was very good!! It was pretty sweet though so I was glad I only had a half serve.

We went for a walk this afternoon and noticed a carnival setting up nearby.  I’m not sure how often it comes by here but I think it’s been set up at some point every time we’ve visited.

I’ve also noticed School Buses all over the place here! We don’t have those in Australia.
If anyone needs a bus, they just get on a public bus or train.
No special school buses or at least, it’s not the normal thing.

And while shopping I saw some S’Mores and I’ve never had one so had to try it right?

I was so excited to try it but it was pretty sickly sweet so I don’t think I’ll go out of my way to have that again.

Our time is quickly coming to a close. Too quickly. We’ve returned our rental car and are leaving in the wee hours tomorrow morning so today really is it and we’ll be packing and organising all our stuff.

As this part of our journey comes to an end, we’ll be looking forward to our next leg that begins in Tokyo, Japan.

I hope that you’ll continue on this trip with us.

For now, Good night and konichiwa!

Day trip to Victor

The unimaginable happened today. I gave up my usual exercise routine and went on a full day trip to Victor Harbor with hubby!
I kind of felt like I owed it to him as the night before, he’d asked me to cut his hair (and believe me, I’m not hair dresser) Normally I cut his hair during the day because after 3pm, my brain cells have given up on me and it’s a risk at best.
So he gets home at 5.30pm and I’m already a couple of wines in and I start cutting. I’m actually congratulating myself at how quick I’m going. I really FEEL like a hairdresser for the first time in years! Snip, snip, snip… oh, and I’m doing something a little different back here but it seems to be working… until I comb it all down. No.. that is not right at all and I hoped to God he hadn’t seen the expression on my face. I tried to fix it as best as I could and I’m pretty sure I got away with it. It will grow…

So, after no exercise we got into the car and drove! Such a gorgeous day in Adelaide today.
Just perfect for driving and being out in the world.
Our first stop was McDonalds. What’s a road trip with some Macca’s after all???

It was still fairly early when we got to Victor. We parked and decided we were going to walk along the bluff to Rosetta Head.
I probably should add that while hubby does exercise, he’s a reluctant exerciser…

 

These are the nice pictures. After this bit, the grass was dry, the air smelt bad and everything was so sparse. Hubby was in a grumpy mood because he didn’t want to walk. He said he’d rather be walking in Italy, Japan or Greece.
I tried to sell the nature to him (hard at that exact moment) but it didn’t work.  Do you know how hard conversation is with a grumpy person?

At one point he asked me if I wanted to go for a bike ride when we got back home. The last time I had answered “yes” to that question was over twelve years ago and why is he even thinking of that when today has not even started!

We saw Rosetta Head in the distance and I suggested to hubby we should just walk to the cafe, have a drink, then if we felt like going further we would or we could just turn back.

I saved us a table while hubby went to get some cake and coffee. After a little while he comes out with a brown paper bag. “Don’t open it yet” he says. He knows there’s a high probability that whatever yummy thing is in there, is likely to be picked at by me if I can see it.
He went back for the coffee and I peeked.

While it may not look that exciting, the apricot squares were pretty delicious and I had the difficult task of looking surprised and excited when he opened the bag up in front of me.
Sometimes my life is so exhausting.

After the coffee and cake, and the promise that we didn’t have to walk any further, hubby’s mood greatly lifted.

By the time we got back into Victor we were starting to think about having some lunch. We walked past restaurants and cafes and hotels yet nothing seemed suitable for hubby. “No, not there, no that place doesn’t look good, no, not enough people sitting in that one.”
We walked and walked, then went back to the car and drove. We were on our way to Goolwa, potentially stopping somewhere along the way if we saw somewhere decent to eat.
I had lost all hope and said “I feel like we’re never going to eat” and hubby replied “What? We can stop wherever you want!” Seriously, like that last 90 minutes hadn’t happened…

We drove through Port Elliot without stopping, through Middleton without stopping and soon found ourselves in Goolwa.

We got out and walked to the waterfront.

Nice places but not anywhere that hubby wanted to eat.

I heard the Cockle Train so ran to try to get a photo but just missed it!!!

All that was left were the puffs of black smoke…

So we finally went to the first hotel we saw.
I won’t name it here. It was fine. Food was average. Not bad, not fantastic either. Drinks were fairly cheap.

Hubby had the Chicken Caesar (left) and I had grilled fish. Not sure mine was cooked all the way through but it still tasted ok.

After lunch we walked down the main street towards the bakery. We always get something from there but unfortunately we were later in the day and most of the cakes were gone already.

We bought this cherry yeast loaf/bun thing and a Chester Slice. Hubby seems to think the Cherry bun is all his.

Oh and we went by the Convenient Chef’s but they were closed.

How inconvenient!

Little message for Betsy there too….

We stopped at Horseshoe Bay on the way back. Before we got there, we heard that Cockle Train and guess what? It crossed right in front of us so I was able to get some photos!!! And then waved at everyone in the train. I got a couple of waves back too!!

Out of the car and down the steps, then hubby went straight for the rocks. It’s not like people get swept off them by rogue waves or anything.

He got quite invigorated down there which led to this clip…

The very next thing he said to me was “Did you see me Parkour?”

Few more pics as we walked along. We didn’t go all the way down to the middle of the horseshoe of Horseshoe bay because it was down hill and hubby knows downhill means an uphill is coming…

We took a different turn on the way back home which may not have been the best option. The road was narrow and curvy and I just had to shut my eyes and hope for the best.I know hubby is a fantastic driver but it’s everyone else I’m worried about.

Not sure what this is but we passed it along the way…

Our last stretch was along the coast. How beautiful is the state I live in!!!
We are so lucky to have these beautiful places right on our doorstep.

If you made it this far, thanks for sharing this day trip with us!
Feel free to leave any comments.

Until next time…

Girls Gone Mild – Day Two

I know what you’re thinking. You’re all wondering how much Baileys is left right? And how can I call this “Girls Gone Mild” when there’s Baileys???

Let me educate the uninformed.
When you give a bunch of women (who normally don’t drink) a shot or two of Bailey’s, it very quickly becomes a “Girls Gone Mild” night with some of us not even making it to the end of The Bachelor (save the jokes, I get it – The Bachelor would put anyone to sleep)

But the early night meant that a couple of us were ready very early for the 24 hour gym!

 

The gym has more than treadmills but that was the only thing I was interested in. It’s a nice huge area but there are no televisions. We made do with Netflix/podcasts on our phones and we definitely appreciated the gym, television or not.

Like any city, there is a lot of poverty around and it just breaks your heart.
Every now and then my sister especially, is moved to speak to one of them and share what she has with them.

Yesterday she met Craig who she had a little chat with and she had some left over food with her so she left that with him.

 

Yes I know there’s a whole debate about why there’s a homeless situation in the first place but I know that at the very least, this guy’s day was a little better for that moment.

 

Today we were adamant that we weren’t going to do anything else until we went to DFO.

It was such a nice day that we decided to walk down there.

 

Snapping a few pics along the way of course….

 

We walked along at our own place and were soon sitting in the DFO Food Court Area.

We hadn’t thought to look up the time the shops opened and were 30 minutes early.

Perfect time for a yoghurt parfait if you ask me.

My daughter, sister and I were eager to start shopping and had been counting down the seconds to 10 o’clock.

My mother and sister in law were more relaxed and just happy to be out and about and if a bargain presented itself, all the better.

But thankfully they were happy enough to sit and wait for us while we tried on just about everything we put our hands on.

Speaking of trying this on, here are a few pictures of things we may or may not have bought…

 

With regards to the pic on the most right, in my defense, after a couple of hours taking off and putting on your jeans, if you don’t have to take them all the way off, leaving them at your ankles is fine enough. (Have you got a certain Nickelback song going through your head right now????)

Hubby, who tried hard to invite himself but is sadly not on this trip (I don’t think he understands what a “girl’s shopping trip” means) wanted to shout us all a birthday meal in honour of my mum’s birthday. So sweet – and as we passed Sam Sam (Korean restaurant on Swanston st) my daughter got super excited and that was enough for her nonna to say “Let’s go here” and what a good choice it was!

Some of us had never had Bibimbap (bottom right) so four of us ordered it!! And it was just so good!!!

The next mandatory stop was the Dangerfield outlet store, with a few more pics along the way. Hubby look away now because if first base is hand holding I got to first base with this guy (below). I think he was puckering up for a kiss too. Bit forward.

After a few more hours of shopping (and some fabulous purchases) we saw this sign above a store.

Before I knew it, the words “in other words, old and fat” came out of my mouth. What I didn’t know, was that the owner of the store whose sign this was, was standing in the doorway. Suffice to say, she was not impressed.

We were getting overdue for a drink break so found ourselves in one of the lovely malls and stopped for some dessert and drinks.

We were going to stop at Hopetoun Tea rooms (pic left) but it was too crowded so we moved on. I can’t remember the name of the place but when we told the waitress that it was my mum’s birthday, she brought out a candle and helped us sing! She was so lovely.

The desserts, coffee/tea and wine were pretty good too!

And a few more pics of us because why take the pictures otherwise?

On the way back to the apartment I was approached for money in a unique way so I gave him a bit of time.
He told me he was an Aussie legend (yes self proclaimed) and involved or responsible for the Ocean’s Eleven movie.
He said he was trying to produce a new movie that was a comedy along the line of “Shameless”.
I didn’t have any cash on me but I was interested to hear how he was going to spin this plug for money.

My mum, being mumma bear, finally had enough and got between us and said “we don’t have anything to give you” and I’m pretty sure there were curse words being spoken behind me as we walked on without him. Ah well. Who carries cash with them these days anyhow??

I’m pretty sure it’s going to be another night of Netflix and The Bachelor but we’ve had such a full day, nobody is complaining!! Plus, we have an abundance of shopping bags strewn about the apartment that are a testament to the great day we have already had!!

So please excuse me, I have some organising to do!

Perth Day Three

Sorry that this entry is coming after the fact but between the Wine Tour that we did today and travelling back home, this is the first chance I’ve had to write and upload.

Today, Friday the 5th of January as I write, is my birthday and not only is it my birthday, but it’s a milestone birthday too so I knew hubby was not going to say anything when I wanted to get up extra early to exercise.

The gym at this hotel is quite good and if you go early enough, there’s no one in there so I get the whole place to myself!
Perfect way to start a birthday!

We took our picture before heading out! (left)

The Wine Tour we were booked on started from Elizabeth Quay so we walked down there from our hotel and had a coffee at the Riverside Cafe. No champagne this morning though as I was anticipating a heavy alcohol day!

We met our friends and boarded our boat.

It was such a relaxing cruise down the river!

We had coffee and muffins to start off with but it wasn’t long before the wine tasting started.

Here is a picture of the wine’s we sampled on the right and a few from the cruise below.
I forgot to mention the tasting plate of local cheeses that were also provided. Each tray was for two people so it was quite a generous portion!

Unfortunately I can’t remember the name of the first stop. I think it was next to Sandalwood Winery? Beautiful spot anyhow and they had the BEST cider here!! It tasted more like a sparkling white than a cider! Soooo delicious but unfortunately they don’t bottle it yet so we couldn’t buy any.

The food we had was also exceptional. Unfortunately I was too overwhelmed with the place to take pictures of the food but here are a few of our surroundings. By the way, the whole time we were there having lunch there was a line of people waiting to get in!

From here we travelled by coach to another winery.  This time I took a pic of the sign outside so I know it’s Windy Creek Winery. This was another gorgeous spot!!

I tried pretty much every wine they were offering and surprisingly for me, really loved the whites. I don’t normally drink a lot, if any, of white wine.

We were a nice group and by this time, were starting to talk to each other and were getting pretty happy! I took a few pics inside and out. So gorgeous here!

Hubby is not a wine drinker so I ended up having a few tastings on his behalf – not that you can tell by this selfie on the left…

You can imagine where this is going to lead can’t you?

Back on the coach now to our next spot.

As per the information from our driver, this tree had been struck by lightening, but continued to grow anyhow!

It was just outside our next stop and quite interesting to look at.

So now we’re at Twin Hill Wines and I’m feeling decidedly happy. Again, I liked the whites more than the reds (surprisingly) but not as much as our last stop. This is a family run winery though and the history behind it was quite interesting. They also provided a very tasty tasting plate for us!
Here are a few pics from our time here. By the way, the ladies behind the counter are mother and daughter.

Next stop was a brewery – Mash Brewing. They also provided us some nibbles and we were able to pick one beer from their list complimentary.

I’m not a beer drinker but it seemed like an interesting place.

I’m not sure you can read it but the pic on the right shows the beer choices we had.

We had one more stop to come and I was quite excited for this one! We were going to Margaret River Chocolate Company and were going to be sampling a few chocolate liqueurs also!

Here are a few pics. Luckily, hubby took them as I was not in any state to be taking photos at this point and was happy to be wandering around about the chocolate. We bought a few things to share later.

Not sure if you can see the interesting clocks bottom right. How cute are they!!!

The chocolate liqueurs ended up being a bit disappointing. We sampled four different kinds and they were all wine based. Although I like chocolate, I wasn’t tempted to buy any of them.

Our tour came to an end and we were dropped off back into Perth CBD.

We had dinner at East Village.

It looked like a really interesting place and the food wasn’t bad, but there was just something missing that I couldn’t put my finger on.

We ordered some wings to share, hubby got a burger and I had a Lamb Greek salad which was ok. The bread was probably the best thing about this. Still warm from the oven!

I had been jokingly saying I still wanted birthday cake and I wanted to see the city lights from Kings Park at night. Hubby, mostly always ready to please, began hatching a plan.

We went to the store and bought some cake. He also got some matches, candles and some sparklers. I still had no idea what he was going to do with these as we couldn’t light the sparklers in our hotel room could we?

I won’t bore you with the whole story but we never made it to Kings Park with one thing going wrong after another and eventually we just walked back to our hotel. Hubby still made it special for me by singing me happy birthday and lighting the candles on my cake!

Sadly our time in Perth was now pretty much over.

I do want to share one last treat before I finish this entry.

Hubby organised for us to fly back on the A330 in Business Class. Oh my!! Look at all this room!!! We could even lie our seats flat like a bed.
The bad thing about this is that you never want to travel any other way again!!!
Thank you Qantas and thanks for reading about our few days in Perth.