PORT STEPHENS HOLIDAY: day 5

Port Stephens Day 5

Chris at breakfast

Me

Taking a stroll along the beach – I bought the Keds cherry print flats on eBay!

Merretts Restaurant
Peppers Anchorage Resort
Port Stephens, NSW 2315

Lunch at the spectacular Merrets

Fresh bread rolls with olive oil and herb butter

Caesar salad with crisp pancetta, bread sticks, croutons, served with herbed egg mayonnaise

Risotto with fresh wild mushrooms and asparagus

On the way home, we found a farm selling avocados! Bought 3 :)

A brief stop-over at a cafe whilst driving back

And that was that. 5 days of sun, surf and sea.. just what we needed :) When we got back, we had a 1-hour deeeeeelicious massage at Zen Day Spa, my favourite spa. A PERFECT week. And thankfully, I didn’t put on a kilo, was actually even expecting to put on 2. This week it’s now all about salads and (fairly) healthy food though!

 

PORT STEPHENS HOLIDAY: day 4

Port Stephens Day 4

Took the ferry for a 1 hour cruise to the opposite island, Tea Gardens

Happily snuggled up

Checking out the pamphlet

So you can check out our nostrils ;)

Tee hee!!

Standing at the front of the boat

Pulling into Tea Gardens

Nicole’s Art Gallery & Cafe
81 Marine Drive
Tea Gardens, NSW 2324

Lunch was at the exquisitely decorated Nicole’s Art Gallery & Cafe

Banana milkshake, which they gave to us for FREE
‘cos our meals took 30mins to arrive – yay!

Being a total weirdo

Sitting and waiting eagerly for my meal

Gourmet Beef Burger: homemade beef patty, caramelised onion,
home beetroot,tomato relish, cheese, rocket and salad

Garfield Pizza: tomato base, pepperoni, mushrooms, onion,
garlic, chilli and three-cheese blend

Some HILARIOUS cards we saw, couldn’t resist buying one!

Room Service for dinner: club sandwich (egg, bacon, tomato, avocado, rocket) and fries

 

PORT STEPHENS HOLIDAY: day 3

Port Stephens Day 3

First of all, HAPPY 32nd ANNIVERSARY to Mum and Dad!! It was their anniversary on this day (5 Oct) and I had something really lovely/fun planned but couldn’t get it off the ground in time ‘cos it involved so much logistics.. grrr! But I will shelve the idea for the next occasion, hehe :P So sorry mum and dad for not getting you anything on the day but I will make up for it!!

Another hot breakfast to start the day

Soaking in the sun

Chris with his fresh fruits and yoghurt

Happy shot!

Took a walk along the water

Up, up and away!!!

And also did some bushwalking

Pretty bird

Lunch was at Bub’s Seafood

Calamari and chips

Battered flathead and potato scallops

Baskin Robbins ice cream: choc chip cookie dough & strawberry cheesecake (yum)

Then…. we went KAYAKING!!!

And had a glass of champagne each when we kayaked to the next beach,
in celebration of our efforts (my arms are still sore!)

Marco’s Italian Seafood
Shoal Bay, NSW

Dinner was at Marco’s – which we now rank as THE BEST Italian restaurant ever.

Cute menus

Lobster Bisque with Crostini – so creamy and luscious

Seared Scallops on Garlic Cream Fettuccini – so sublime I won’t bother to describe it further

Spaghetti Pescatora with Calamari, Prawns and Mussels in White wine and Virgin Oil –
the sauce was totally divine! And super fresh seafood too.

 

PORT STEPHENS HOLIDAY: day 2

Port Stephens Day 2

A lovely hot breakfast at the hotel, with ‘custom made’ omelettes

Breakfast all washed down with a hot chocolate

Quad Biking was up next, right on the sand dunes!
Chris looking sexy next to his quad bike :P

Vrrrooommmm!!

Stealing a kiss

Eeeek!!

The mega dune that we just sped up and down on!

At Holbert’s Oyster Farm for some fresh oysters…

..except they only sold them by the dozen, so we got some fresh prawns instead!

Mmmm… yummy

Enjoying our food in the sun

Rock Lobster
Level 1, D’Albora Marina
6 Teramby Road
Nelson Bay, NSW 2315
$$$$-

A beautiful dinner overlooking the water at Rock Lobster
My Whole baked baby Snapper with roasted potato, asparagus & lemon butter sauce

Saffron linguini with Blue Swimmer Crab, rocket & roasted capsicum & chilli

Espresso creme brulee with chocolate-covered strawberries

 

PORT STEPHENS HOLIDAY: day 1

The Port Stephens holiday was just… blimmin’ fantastic! A perfect getaway that was both really fun and active, yet relaxing at the same time. Just lovely. We spent 24/7 together and loved every moment of it.. it was just wonderful :) I’ll let the photos speak for themselves, and will post each day in a separate entry ‘cos we took hundreds of photos, haha.

Port Stephens Day 1

Bon Voyage! Driving along the coastline to Port Stephens

The obligatory rest-stop at McDonalds.. mmm…..

Decided to stopover at Hunter Valley, land of wine.
Passed tons of vineyards and did wine-tasting

Peacock Hill wine was THE BEST.
We bought the middle bottle – 2003 Top Block Chardonnay.
I don’t love wine normally, but boy, I LOVE THIS ONE!

At the Hunter Valley Gardens!

Okaaaaaay, I’ll be normal

Peppers Anchorage Resort – right on the water and beautiful as anything

The living room in our Loft Suite

Upstairs

The lounge

View from our balcony

Taking a walk along the harbour, with Chris being a bit strange

Hogs Breath Cafe
Shop 16, Upper D’Albora Marina
Teramby Road
Nelson Bay, NSW 2315
$$$$-

After unpacking, relaxing in the room and such.. it was off to Hogs Breath for dinner!

I was ravenous!!

Seared Prime Rib with mushroom sauce

Flame grilled sticky back ribs smothered in Hickory Smoked
BBQ sauce, served on Cajun rice & salad

My bibs says “I LOVE MY RIBS”, haha! Was merrily eating by holding a rib
in my left hand and my right hand holding a fork stuck into the steak, gnawing at it.
Chris was highly amused at my “cave-woman eating” ;)

Mississippi Mud Cake served with cream & ice cream
One of the best fudgey liquid chocolate cakes I’ve had in my life. Had it
10 years ago and haven’t found a better chocolate cake since!

And that was Day 1. Didn’t really do much sight-seeing, etc.. as most of the time was spent driving to Port Stephens and also wine-tasting at Hunter Valley. But had a lovely filling dinner and an early night, so we could wake up early the next day!

A video of our view at breakfast
http://www.youtube.com/v/wlT4RLsJOYY

 

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