More Coffee Down Under

Welcome to the December Ultimate Coffee Date. I’m back from Australia, but taking this opportunity to share one more post about my trip. No matter where you are, you are welcome to join the virtual coffee date link-up Deborah and I host the first Friday of every month.

You know how this works—grab the badge, link your post, and comment on the other blogs in the link-up.

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You also may be joining the Fit Five Friday Link-Up with Darlene, Michelle, Renée, Jenn, and Zenaida.

More Coffee Down Under

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that, yes, there was Starbucks.

I thought I’d have to rely on hotel coffee and local cafes but when we were exploring the area by out hotel, I spotted this sign just 1/2 block away! Don’t worry, we did visit local cafes, but I’m a creature of habit and being able to start my day with a grande Americano with a splash of full cream made my time in Australia that much better. Yes, you read that right. They don’t have half-and-half in Australia, but you can get “full cream” or “pouring cream” so I didnt’ have to suffer with milk in my coffee like I do in Europe. 😉

If we were having coffee, I would tell you our first weekend in Melbourne was cold and rainy. Luckily we’d check the weather when packing and brought jackets and umbrellas, but it did impact our tourist activities.

Our first stop was the lovely St. Paul’s Cathedral just across the way from our hotel. One of the volunteer guides invited us to come back for services on Sunday—which I’m sure they always do—and we ended up taking him up on the offer. It was a special service for Remembrance Day, and was really lovely.

The pews were pretty full on Sunday

After spending a few hours at the museum of modern art a few blocks away, we headed to Brunetti’s for lunch—and hot chocolate per Cariane’s rave review.

It was delicious!

After lunch we trekked to the Old Melbourne Gaul—a must-see according the bartender at the pub by our hotel—and extra eerie on a rainy afternoon. There were three floors of cells, most with pictures and plaques with stories about specific prisoners. Some had creepier relics, including “death masks”—plaster casts of the skulls of executed prisoners, ostensibly taken in the name of “phrenology”—a pseudoscience based on the belief that bumps and hollows in your skull are associated with strengths and weaknesses.

We learned that women were imprisoned for illegal “baby farming”—a term we hadn’t heard of, but Wikipedia describes as a “historical practice of accepting custody of an infant or child in exchange for payment in late-Victorian Britain and, less commonly, in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.” Apparently running an unlicensed baby farm was punishable by prison. I guess the need for affordable childcare is an age-old problem.

After touring the jail we popped into the Melbourne Public Library to escape a downpour. It has a gorgeous reading room and several rooms with art exhibits, but our brains were full.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that after church on Sunday we took an Uber to the suburbs to meet a retired client/friend and his wife for lunch. He is a serious oenophile, and kept up his tradition of starting with a bottle of white and moving on to a bottle of red. 🍷

It was a lovely 3-hour lunch, but did us in for the rest of the day! 

If we were having coffee, I would briefly tell you about the fantastic social events the conference organizers planned my for birthday weekend.

Saturday (my birthday eve) we did a winery tour with stops at three wineries.

Our first stop was at Stumpy Gully—such an Australian-sounding name!

We had a table outside and enjoyed our tastings al fresco.

They had signs near the vines warning of poisonous snakes. We debated whether it was just a scare tactic to keep customers away, but didn’t venture over to find out

Our next stop was Trofeo Estate winery for lunch.

Those clouds moved off quickly

We had a table in their lovely garden, and while they hadn’t organized a “tasting” we made our own with several bottles shared over our meal.

Patent attorneys at play

Our final stop was at T’Gallant winery, which was really packed on this gorgeous Saturday afternoon—there were several “hen dos” going on—their name for bachelorette parties.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that after all that wine I was afraid I’d be hungover on my birthday, but luckily I was able to sleep it off. I even got up for a run Sunday morning before we went to the airport to head to Sydney.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you I was really excited for our excursion in Sydney—a ferry to Manly Beach and dinner on the beach. After checking in to our hotel, my husband and I headed to the harbor to walk around a bit before the ferry. It was packed with tourists enjoying the lovely day.

The ferry ride took about 30 minutes, and the views were stunning.

From the ferry dock we walked past the Manly Beach shops to the beach, along a path to Shelly Beach, and then up to an overlook, taking our time to soak in the views along the way.

The water was so blue!

We had dinner at The Pantry—a lovely restaurant right on Manly Beach.

Even with our 6 pm reservation, we barely made it back to the docks in time for the next-to-last ferry back—and some of our group went on the last one.

The nighttime views of the Sydney Opera House were stunning.

If we were having coffee, I would have to say it was a pretty amazing birthday.

Have you traveled on your birthday?