99 & 100. Tempus Two Spring Rock Verdelho 2005 and Kangaroo Steaks

We had been looking for a George Foreman grill. When I say looking, I don’t mean that we’d had the odd cursory glance in a shop, I mean that we had been scouring the malls and high streets fruitlessly trying to get out hands on one. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to exist over here (although we were able to pick up some “George Foreman grill cleaning sponges!!!). Eventually, we gave up and opted for a similar Breville version of the grill.

We bought the grill in Chatswood Mall and on the way back to the train we passed a Bottle-O so stopped in to picked up something to have with dinner. We didn’t know what we were going to be eating yet but it would be grilled. It didn’t matter what there was available in the supermarket – I was going to grill it with our shiny new grilling machine thing. Even if there was no meat or veg in the shop something would get grilled, be it cornflakes, apples, washing powder or shoe polish. As we had no idea what was going to be on the menu we opted for a wine that would be tasty on it’s own and this one certainly was.

Isla was going to the pub later with a few friends from work and she said that this wine tasted like juice and was the perfect “before-going-out-on-the-town-and-getting-ready-wine”. It was very easily quaffable (as a previous consultant of mine used to say) and didn’t last much time at all.

Once we reached the local supermarket I headed straight to the meat section. Isla is not a red meat eater and in the last 2 years or so I’ve had almost no sirloin steaks, or roast beef, or lamb chops. I can’t say that I’ve missed them that much and I’m constantly surprised how versatile chicken and vegetables are. That said, I was feeling all manly they way that blokes do whenever they are about to barbeque something and so started perusing the red meat selection.

It all looked great but it didn’t take long before I saw some marinated kangaroo fillet steaks. There really was no other choice. I had to cross the century line of the Challenge with something truly Australian and eating one of the local marsupials seemed reasonably appropriate. I would have preferred to be holding a Koala with an Australian flag tied round my shoulders dressed as an Aboriginal tribesman running across the harbour bridge having just watched an opera in the Opera House and drinking a Fosters (although that might have been 2 or 3 new things) but chowing down on a ‘roo thigh would have to suffice.

I would definitely recommend kangaroo to anyone. It was a bit like beef but more “gamey” and a bit like lamb but tougher. It almost tasted the way I imagine a gourmet hamburger would taste. I guess you’ll just have to try it for yourselves. It certainly won’t be the last time I have ‘roo steak (especially since I bought a twin pack!).

92 – 98. Blue Mountains

92. Peppers Fairmont Hotel
We had a spare weekend off together and we decided to spend our time in the Blue Mountains. I had asked a few people at work were we should stay and the answer was unanimous – “Stay at Peppers”. I didn’t quite know what that was but I investigated and thanks to “lastminute.com” I got the room for half price.

However, one thing that I’m really beginning to notice in Oz is that if you don’t have a car then your are seen as a second class citizen or a criminal or someone on social services. When I told my colleagues that I was taking the train to Leura they were like “Oh, you don’t want to do that.” I said that I didn’t have a choice and they all said, “Well I suppose you could walk it to the hotel in about 5 mins but I’m not sure exactly how long it will take on foot.”

I was amazed how averse people were in Oz were to walking but after 20 mins of hiking to the hotel I realised that it wasn’t really their fault. 3km later it came to me that Australia is very much like the US in that respect – once you are outside a major city then you have no option but to drive as the public transport is non existent. In some parts there wasn’t even a pavement to walk on! It’s no wonder that 70% of people of people in Los Angeles are over the legal limit after midnight.

Peppers Fairmont Hotel is one of the nicest places I’ve ever stayed in. It’s not the Pan Pacific in Singapore but I can understand why the response I got to the question, “What is there to do in the Blue Mountains,” was met with “If you are in Peppers then you can just spend all your time there being pampered.” It was a very beautiful hotel and there certainly were plenty of services and facilities.

93. First Bush Walk
When we arrived the hotel the sun was shining and despite the fact that it was about 10C below Sydney temps we decided to go for our first ever bush walk. David, the concierge at the hotel, said that if we wanted an easy 90 min walk then we should head down to Moya Point and Gladestone Lookout. He gave us a map and pointed us in the direction of the bush walk and with some measure of eagerness we moseyed off into the hills.

It was a fascinating experience and within about 15 metres we both had fashioned walking sticks and with our socks pulled up like proper intrepid walkers we marched into the wilderness. It took good hour for us to realise the gems at the end of the walk but it was well worth it. We found our way to both Moya Point and Gladestone Lookout and both views were phenomenal. One minute you were enclosed in bushes and trees and the next the wind was swirling around you attempting to stop you from appreciating the unbelievable vistas.

Once we had had enough of balancing on rocky precipices we made our way back to the hotel. It seemed like a shorter journey home but I think that was because we were being chased by the most crazy, big-jawed ants I’ve ever seen. They were chewing into my boots and had I not had the benefit of 100kg to stomp them with then I may have been a goner. Vicious doesn’t even remote describe how nasty these mutant ants were. The first time I noticed them they were already chewing the bottom of my walking stick reducing my purchase by a good few inches.

94. James Squire’s Amber Ale

Aftertaste 4
Cost 3
Piss-factor 3
Smoothness 4
Coolness 4






The rain started about 100m away from the hotel and we got soaked. In a fit of laugher we thought that our wet clothes would be better soaking the bar than our room so some drinks and cocktails became the priority. There was plenty on offer and it took about 3 seconds before I realised that I’d not tasted Mr Squire’s Amber Ale so I ordered one of them. Isla on the other hand was straight onto the cocktails and devoured a concoction called “The Perfect Pear”. Totally appropriate connotation as far as I’m concerned!!!

95. Stoney Peak Brut Reserve

Before we had time to get into the swing of things a bloody wedding party turned up. It seems that everywhere we go there is someone getting married and they always seem to ruin our plans for a good time.

However, since our bush walk we were quite tired and headed back to the room. Within an hour it became apparent that we hadn’t eaten since breakfast so we splashed out and ordered room service. Being that it was one of the few weekends we’d had together since arriving in Oz we also decided to get a bottle of fizz.

It was very fresh and zesty and I really enjoyed the bubbles. In fact I had bubbles in bubbles when I decided to soak in the bath to get some kinks out of my crap hamstrings. The bath was huge and not normally being a bath person, I’m glad I indulged.


96. Tram Tour of Leura and Katoomba
We had a reasonably early night and thanks to daylight saving time got an extra hour in bed. It meant that we had no trouble scoffing the free buffet breakfast and making our way to the Trolley stop to get the first bus tour round the local area. As you already know, we love those bus tours and this was no exception. The driver knew everything about the area and he dropped us off on one of the best walks that I’ve ever been on.

97. Prince Henry Cliff Walk
We left the bus and headed into the bush. This 8km walk would see us head around some of the most fantastic views of the Blue Mountains. This walk seemed to be a bit of a secret as we only saw about 6 people for the entire duration. Within about 10 minutes we realised that we had struck gold as the views from this walk were immense. The photos that I took didn’t seem to do it justice and I wish that I could take all my friends on this stroll to see what we did.

98. The Three Sisters

This was the finale of our walk and in fact the single most popular reason why people visit the Blue Mountains. Here is some chat about the reason the three sisters came about…

“According to an Aboriginal dreamtime story, the three huge rocks formation were once three beautiful sisters named "Meehni", "Wimlah" and "Gunnedoo" from the Katoomba tribe. The three sisters fell in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe but their tribal laws forbade their marriage. The three brothers did not accept this law and tried to capture the three sisters by force. This caused a major tribal battle and the lives of the three sisters were thus threatened. A witchdoctor decided to turn the sisters into rocks in order to protect them and thought to reverse the spell only after the battle. Unfortunately, he was killed in the battle and the three sisters remained as the enormous and beautiful rock formations until today. The magnificent formation stands at 922m, 918m, and 906m respectively.”

That said it has been one of the most amazing things that I’ve seen since I’ve been in Australia. I would totally recommend folk doing the Prince Henry Walk and seeing the whole of this Valley from the track side. I loved it!

91. Newcastle

Instead of going to the Hunter Valley directly, we decided to base ourselves at Newcastle for the weekend. Before I left work on the Friday I asked one of the other doctors what Newcastle was like. Matt, who is extremely well travelled, said to me, “It’s like Newcastle in England but with none of the good bits.” How right he was.

We headed up the coast on the train at about 7pm and it was already dark. There was no view out the side of the train and for 2 hours we sat on the uncomfortable chairs reading books and listening to ipods. Once we arrived at Newcastle we got out at the terminal and waited for about 15 mins for a taxi. We eventually got a lift to the Hotel by Gordolla the Hutt (which seemed to be a running theme of the taxi drivers in Newcastle – they were all over 20 stone) and dumped our things and went in search of some dinner.

Walking through the streets of Newcastle was… interesting! Having spent so much time living in Glasgow there’s not a great deal that should bother me when it comes to dark streets and local thugs. However, Newcastle was so dark! There were almost no street lights and we had no idea where we were going. The directions that the girl at the hotel had given us seemed good at the time but the map she provided was useless as it was too dark to read it and the torrential rain pretty much destroyed it.

Eventually we found the elusive Derby St which is where all the restaurants and bars were and dined on two of the most incredible Pizzas that I’ve ever tasted. Pumpkin, rocket and red onion just sounds so wrong but it was exceptional. When we left the rain was falling even harder and despite Isla’s attempts to keep us dry from above with her $1 brolly the 4 inch deep puddles were drenching us from below. Our jeans wicked the water right up to our knees. We got back to the hotel about 11pm, but since we were going to the Hunter Valley the next morning at 8am we were glad of the early night.

The next morning arrived and we met the bus at Newcastle bus station at 8:15am. It whisked us up to the Valley in about 90mins through miles and miles of straight and equally dull roads. We passed through a few uninteresting towns that wouldn’t have been out of place in Mel Brook's “Blazing Saddles” and I was constantly expecting Gene Wilder to jump out in front of the bus waving his six shooter shouting “I’m the Wayco Kid, I just shagged Lilly Von Shtup”.

(That bit was especially for Jo Keating!)

Anyway we were soon in the Valley and it was certainly worth the wait. I’d say that it was one of the best days that we’ve had since we arrived in Sydney. The vineyards were all great fun and although some wines were not as good as others the whole experience was excellent.

All too soon the day was over and we were on route back to Newcastle. The road back down was even more boring that the route up however this time we had a little bit of a vino buzz and plenty of things to chat about so it seemed like a shorter trip. Shortly we were back in Newcastle and I was a bit pissed off that we hadn’t opted to do the Valley trip directly from Sydney. In the cold light of day Newcastle seemed even more crap. I guess that the best way to describe it is as Sydney’s equivalent to Port Glasgow. Of course, if you don’t live in Renfrewshire then that’ll mean nothing to you but suffice to say that if Sydney is Catherine Zeta Jones then Newcastle is Michael Douglas.

We got back to the hotel and had a snooze for an hour to shake off the vino and then headed back out into “the town” for some dinner. This time we hit a Vietnamese restaurant which was amazing. The perfect blend of Chinese and Thai. Apart from a mental group of 40-somethings it was probably one of the best meals that I’ve ever had (except they got the order wrong and I had to send my dish back to the restaurant – after tasting it first of course).

The next day we had to check out early but luckily the hotel agreed to keep our bags for us. That meant we had the joy of exploring Newcastle… on a Sunday. Waste of time. The weather was rubbish and it kept spitting with rain. It was overcast and it made the beaches look terrible. One thing I couldn’t get over was the number of tankers that were moored about a mile off shore. At one point I was able to counter 37!!! Newcastle is one of the world’s biggest exporters of coal and I later heard that it was costing the town £1,000,000 PER DAY to have all those ships moored out there. Apparently they don’t have enough coal to fill them all and the tankers refuse to leave until they have a full cargo. So after spending ages looking at all the ships and wondering why all the surfer dudes were all still spending time in the diesel drenched water, we went for a walk.

There really seemed no point to Newcastle. That was apparent by the fact that we walked for about 2 hours and we found almost no redeeming aspects to the town. Almost! A few things did strike us as cool. The first was the obedient, almost trained, pelicans. A few fishermen were trying to catch some dinner off the rocks at Nobby’s Beach and when they took their catch to be de-scaled and gutted on the sand the local pelican horde waited patiently for awful offal offerings. It was an impressive sight especially watching the gulls trying to rob the larger and far superior pelicans. I was surprised that the later didn’t try and eat a few seagulls. It would have been an easy catch.

The next thing that was astounding was the hundreds of Blue-Bottles (or box jellyfish) that were littering the shore. Thanks to the recent bad weather a storm front had washed loads of these, potentially lethal, bad boys up onto the shore. What I found more interesting than their beautiful colour or their gas filled bladder or the lengths of stinging tentacles, was the fact that some of the local kids were on the beach standing on them to make the bladders pop. Didn’t they care about the poisonous nature of this creature or were they just mental? Having seen a few of the locals behaving strangely during our stay in Newcastle, I decided that they were just mental.

Anyway, there really was only one place to go in Newcastle and that was the site of the obelisk. It was perched on top of a hill called “the Hill” which seemed appropriately inspiring as Newcastle itself. However, the view was spectacular and I’m glad we made it to the top. There was a 360 degree view of the whole local area and the breeze and the freshness blew away all bad thoughts about Newcastle.

Unfortunately, when I got back down to sea level I was happy to be grabbing the bags from the hotel and jumping on the next train to Sydney. It’s seems a bit of a shame that I hated Newcastle so much but then again I am in love with Sydney and therefore liking Newcastle would have been a bit cheating on Sydney.

As a total aside I though that I would show you a few funny things about Newcastle. The first revolves around the fact the Newcastle is well known for its art culture. There is a massive arty group in Newcastle and it is blatant when you walk down the main street. All the shops have paper mache characters plastered on the walls with crazy acid-induced artwork in the windows.

The next was the local police station. I don’t know if this place is real (since it was a Sunday it was closed – but it might have been closed every day of the week for all I knew). Anyway, it looked like there was room enough for about one prisoner (probably the Wayco Kid stayed there) and we realised why there was so much graffiti and vandalism.

I was glad to leave and when you see what the local nightclub is like I’m sure you’ll agree. It’s a dump with one or two things going for it but a dump none the less. I don’t think that we’ll be staying there again and next time we head to the Valley it’ll not be via Newcastle. What could have been the most amazing weekend ever was tainted by this travesty of a town.

89 & 90. Yellow Tail Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2006 & Wyndham Estate Verdelho 2005

These were two great wines that went amazingly well with the recent hot weather. The main reason that I mention them is that it suddenly struck home that for about 7 or 8 years I’d only drunk red wine. Many years ago I used to work in a wine shop in the centre of Glasgow (which has since closed down – probably because I’d drunk all the profits!) and one of the people I worked with said to me “once you start drinking reds you’ll never go back to whites.”

Over the course of my employment there I made the transition from white to red and ever since I’ve thought of whites as being vinegary and plain in comparison to what the reds have to offer. However, since living in Australia I’m coming back to the whites. What I’m finding is that there is actually great variety here and the weather totally suits a glass of white. I’ve been sitting in hot restaurants and when I’ve looked at the wine list I’ve thought that I would like a red but there is just no way that they can compete with a chilled white in the humidity and closeness of Sydney’s summer weather.

In short, I’m learning to love the white wines again and these two certainly didn’t disappoint.

88. Vietnamese Food

We were looking for somewhere to eat on night while we were in Newcastle. One thing Newcastle has going for it is a little street called Derby St which is full of restaurants, boutique shops, bars and clubs. There were loads of restaurants to choose from but as we are always on the lookout for something new, we ended up in a Vietnamese restaurant called “Lans”. It was a quaint affair that looked like a two storey town house which was temporarily posing as a restaurant.

The food was great but quite difficult to describe. It was a bit of a mix of Thai and Chinese; less creamy than Thai and less stodgy than Chinese. I had chilli and garlic pork and prawns which was cooked perfectly and was exactly the right size of portion. The only thing that spoilt the night was a table of nineteen 40-somethings sitting behind us who were absolutely wasted. They were so loud that the waitress got our orders wrong but that wasn’t too much of a problem as she speedily replaced them with the correct dishes.

87. Box Jellyfish

I was wondering along a beach in Newcastle when I came across hundreds of these washed up on the shore. I realise that the tentacles can grow to 30 metres so I’m assuming that these were babies and that the recent stormy weather had blown them up on shore. They are actually quite pretty and take a good photo but I didn’t temp fate by touching them to find out if the babies still sting as painfully as their parents.

As with all things that I find fascinating about Australia, the locals seemed not to care. There was a group of kids walking along the beach in bare feet and the “blue bottles” seemed not to bother them. In fact, they were standing on the air bladders to make them pop, seemingly without any fear of being stung. Crazy Aussie kids. Mind you, Newcastle is a bit of a dive so the children were probably out of their heads on crystal meth!

86. Sydney Aquarium

I don’t really know what to say about this. In fairness, it was a new place to visit but it was the same as every other aquarium that I’ve been too. It contained all the same fishes and sea mammals seen in every other aquarium and it had the obligatory shark tunnel, over crowded with harmless sharks and rays.

There was one really cool thing; they had a massive salt water croc in a pool half way through the centre. It really was huge and looked like a dinosaur. However, he didn’t really do very much and despite waiting for a while nothing exciting happened. Actually it was a bit sad as the tank was quite small and although he’s a reptile and not a mammal, he still looked totally bored.

This is probably my favourite picture of the day since it looks so ominous and frightening. The shark tunnel is quite dark and as you walk through it you are constantly surprised by something cruising towards you out of the darkness. Something else which is great is that they DON’T have a conveyor belt so you can take your time in the tunnel. Every other one I’ve been in pushes you through too quickly and photos are impossible.

I suppose if you’ve never been to an aquarium then this is worth visit but to be honest it’s pretty much a carbon copy of all the rest.

80 - 85. HUNTER VALLEY

Everyone in Sydney raves continuously about how good the wine tasting experience is at the Hunter Valley so we relented and took a tour round some of the vineyards (I have to confess that it didn’t take much pushing). We went with Wine Rovers Tours and it was excellent value for money. $40 each gave us opportunity to visit several of the grape growers in the region and sample several wines without the inconvenience of one of us having to drive.

It would have been easy to just list all the wines we tried that day but I felt that would be kind of cheating so instead I’ve just talked about each of the places we visited and counted each of them as one notch on the Challenge belt.

80. Robyn Drayton Wines

Our day started early in the morning and within a couple of hours we were in Wine Country. The first stop was at Robyn’s winery. It’s a small wine producer – known as a Boutique vineyard – and we certainly got the personal treatment from Robyn. She knew each of her wines intimately although considering one of them is called “Foreplay” perhaps that’s not the best description.

The Cellar Door is in beautiful surroundings and after soaking in the atmosphere we sat down at the tasting tables and were given 6 or 7 different wines to taste and a bit of chat about each of them. It was an excellent start to the days touring and we had to buy a couple of bottles from Robyn. Besides it seemed more sensible to buy wines early on in the day before our taste buds were too fried to tell what was good and what wasn’t.

81. Tulloch’s Wines

Amazing. Without any shadow of a doubt, the best part of the day. This was our second stop and I would have quite happily spent the whole day here. Once we got out the bus we were taken into one of the many tasting rooms where a chap called Jim Smith took us through a bunch of wines they had on offer for tasting. He was really knowledgeable about their wines and had great banter.

We must have tried about 8 wines and the tasting started with a fabulous Cuvee which we just had to buy a bottle of. Just when we thought the tasting was over, Jim told us that we should head into the bar for the opportunity to try any other wines we wanted. I had about 4 or 5 more tastes and every one was marvellous. Just as I was getting my vino-head on our driver told us that it was time to go for lunch. That was certainly a buzz-kill but we were only half way through the day so it was well timed.

82. McGuigan Cellar Door

We had over an hour for lunch and we stopped in at the Hunter Valley Gardens. There was a brilliant restaurant called Oscars where I bought “the Works” burger. It was astounding and gargantuan and it took almost the entire lunch break to devour it. However, not wanting to be out done I set too it. Once it had been polished off we went to explore the complex and stumbled upon another Cellar Door called McGuigan’s. It was only a short walk from Oscar's and unfortunately not enought to walk off the vast meal I'd just had.

They sold a whole variety of wines from around the Valley so we got into another tasting. They were profiling Cockfighter’s Ghost wines and we got stuck into a few more. However, they were average in comparison to the ones we had tried earlier in the day so headed back to the bus for the remainder of the tour.

83. Tyrrell Wines

This was the largest wine company we visited during the day. Our stop here started with a tour of the wine making process. It took about 45 minutes and was really informative. However, the tour is only run once a week so there was about 50 or so people there.



Unfortunately, some of the people there had brought their kids with them and they, obviously, had no interest in how wine is made and so shouted and carried on throughout the whole tour. Not only that but there was three Japanese people on the tour that didn’t speak any English so to make up for it they spoke in Japanese throughout the whole tour – loudly.

After the tour was over we finally got to the wine tasting. However this was a real let down. There were far too many people to start with and the tasting was a total free for all. There was no chat about the different wines and we were just handed a menu. The bar was ridiculously busy and the few wines that we managed to try were sour and fizzed on the tongue. It didn’t take long for us to realise that we didn’t like any of their produce so we made a sharp exit for the bus. However, on the way out we spied this great breathalizer... I'll not tell you what the results said!

84. Binnorie Dairy Cheese Tasting

This was a great experience. There is a reasonably famous cheesemongers in Glasgow but I’ve never actually been to a bone fide cheese tasting. This dairy specialises in soft cheeses and they had several available to taste. We tasted about 6 different ones and they were all amazing especially the marinated feta. I totally recommend it if you get the chance to try it. We were going to buy some but we figured that the bus would be stinking but the end of the day – and ever would it we bought some cheese.

85. Arrowhead Wines

This was our last stop of the day and it was overshadowed by the fact that there was a wedding happening outside the Cellar Door. The people running the tasting seemed more interested in waiting to see the bride than telling us about the wines. We tried about another 5 wines but none were that great. Actually, some of them might have been but my tongue had given up and was making everything taste the same. I took this photo for Sophie. Seems they’ve named a wine after you!

Anyway, that was the end of the tour and we had probably had tasted enough wine to last us a lifetime – well at least until the next time we visit the Valley.

79. Cycle – Mona Vale to Palm Beach

Myself, Matt and Marcus met at the Mona Vale Hospital car park at 11am. The view from where we left the cars was amazing and I had a real pang of jealousy for all the doctors that worked in Mona Vale and were 50m from the beach. It really did look fantastic despite the overcast weather and had we brought the budgie smugglers, we may have dispensed with the cycle and gone for a dip instead. Even though it was a Friday, there were already plenty of surfers in the water trying to catch a tube – or whatever the lingo is!

After some minor mechanical issues with Matt’s tyres we were soon on our way. The road started off quite cruisy but shortly into the ride the highway went down to 1 lane of winding, snaking up hill horror. The terrain wasn’t all that bad but the proximity of the traffic made for a few narrow misses. Matt sucked in so much car exhaust that he had a brief wave or two of nausea but thankfully that passed once we were a bit further north and the traffic volume decreased.

Apart from a comedy crash into the road side gravel (ouch) we made it unscathed all the way to Palm Beach. As a person from the UK who was brought up watching Neighbours and Home and Away, it was somewhat of a pilgrimage to make it to the set of Summer Bay. The beach there is awesome and totally pristine. You could definitely understand why the researchers for Home and Away chose the spot.

We then climbed out of the Bay – there is no easy way out on the bikes – and stopped at a road side café that sold the best fish and chips ever. It was Barramundi all round washed down with powerade of course. 15km later we were back at the car park. It was a much better ride back to Mona Vale as we had the wind behind us and also the traffic seemed to have lessened. All in all a good ride even if it was a bit hairy in places. If we do this one again then I think it’ll need to be a weekend one.

Distance – 32.7km
Time – 1:34
Average Speed – 20.7km/h
Max Speed – 67.3km/h

78. Sydney Wildlife World

This is a fun day out but to be honest it’s more of a fun half day.











The centre is made up of about 7 or 8 “natural” habitat zones and with a couple of hours you can easily wonder through the whole enclosure. If you are interested in all the crazy animals that Australia has to offer then this is definitely the place to start.



The first thing that you see when you walk in is that quintessential comedy animal – the duck-billed platypus swimming about in a tank. There are a few of them and they are really fun to watch.




As you move on you head through areas containing insects, spiders, reptiles, roos, koalas, birds and butterflies. It really is quite interesting but as with all these places, it’s just not big enough.




One thing that was definitely the highlight was watching the pythons getting fed. There are two of them and they are about 6 or 7 metres long so when they go for their dinner (dead rabbits being held out on sticks by the handlers) it’s amazingly impressive.

However, I don’t now if it’s worth the $27 to get in.