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Our trip to Wilsons Prom last year was fun, but too short, so this year we booked a longer stay. Unfortunately I injured myself right before the trip. I irritated my left SI joint and couldn’t walk uphill. My physio taped my butt in a hug, and thankfully it got a bit better every day, so we were able to do more and more stuff every day, but yeah… not ideal.

We stopped at Gurneys Cider on the way down. Same place we went last year but they’ve added a bunch of new ciders, plus the foraged ones taste different every year. I enjoyed my flight a lot. Still have a few bottles in the fridge.

We did a lot of evening walks. Started off with this flat one at sunset, and worked our way up to climbing half way up Mt Bishop completely in the dark. I wanted to see owls and stuff. We didn’t have that much luck except kangaroos (including this one who wanted to follow Scott home).

Of course we saw wombats in the campground as usual though. They make me giggle every time.

Watching the sunset from a look out. So pretty.

The campground was sooooooo noisy at night. I was very happy when everyone left on Sunday morning. If we go back again I don’t want to go on the weekend at all, even if school holidays are over.

But we were happy that the outdoor cinema was open on Saturday night! We watched Bohemian Rhapsody. I enjoyed it.

My new favourite camping food: bibimbap! Just bring a cast iron pan, some cooked rice, mince beef, stir fry veg, gochujang, and eggs and you’ve got a really delicious dinner. Love that crispy rice.

We played A LOT of games while I was still crippled. I beat Scott at everything. :D Carcassonne, 7 Wonders Duel, Agricola All Creatures Big and Small, Azul, etc. etc.

Scott on the beach near our campsite.

We did a bit of swimming. It wasn’t super warm out so it took me ages to get in the water, but once I did it was alright. We had a lot of fun body surfing. Scott wishes he got a video of me doing a front flip while trying to surf on the inflatable pizza. Maybe he can draw a cartoon of it. That surprisingly didn’t hurt my back at all.

PS what kind of skull is that?? It was pretty big!

Finally my back/hips were back to normal so we hiked up Mt Bishop, and around the Lilly Pilly circuit (which was where I was trying to go that night we accidentally walked up the mountain). I liked the Mt Bishop hike a lot more than Mt Oberon because it was more like a trail instead of a road, through very nice forest. We saw a bush kangaroo and plenty of birds and a “brown lizardy thing” as I was mocked for saying on Instagram.

Now that we’ve really done Wilsons Prom, where should we go next summer??

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Mama’s Mojito made with Vietnamese mint

Smokey Eggplant and Vietnamese Salt and Pepper Squid. The eggplant was super smooth and sticky and yummy. The squid was nice and tender.

Crispy Fried Soft Shell Crab with papaya salad and prawn crackers. My first soft shell crab! I liked it! Makes you feel like a real apex predator when you’re biting right through a crab. I didn’t like the papaya salad as much as I usually like Thai papaya salad. It didn’t have very much sauce, and I’m not sure it actually had any papaya? It seemed like it was mostly made out of apple or pear.

Mama's Buoi Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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This place has been on my To Eat list for a long time but they don’t take reservations and always have lines. We went around 6PM on Australia Day and waited about 15 minutes for a table, which is better than usual I think. They have a bar area at the back where you can start drinking while you wait.

Salmon Nori Taco (grilled salmon belly, sushi rice, spicy napa cabbage, Japanese mayo, chilli oil) and a Sanchez Does Kyoto Japanese marg (tequila, yuzu, agave)

They are most famous for this taco. And it was actually really good. The deep fried nori makes a surprisingly good taco shell. The whole thing was pretty hefty with tons of great flavour and texture. I would definitely like to have another one sometime. I love salmon so much.

Tofu Bao (beetroot bao, tempura tofu, carrot remoulade, creamy spicy sauce, picked coriander). A nice fluffy soft bao with tasty crunchy fillings.

Pork Belly Pancake (48-hour miso glazed pork belly, sesame slaw). Sorry for terrible photo. It was different than what I expected and I forgot to take a picture until after I’d already ripped it in half to share with Scott. I don’t recommend trying to share this one.

The pork belly tasted kind of like peking duck. Delicious. Too small.

Scott enjoyed it.

House Hand Roll. Can’t remember what this had in it, but it was yummy and well made.

David Chang’s Ramen Gnocchi (wagyu bolognese, ramen potato gnocchi, salted buffalo ricotta). This was the one dish we were disappointed with. It was just so boring and soft. This dish definitely need a crunch element. It was just soft gnocchi with rich bolognese that had no defining texture, covered in soft cheese. It was also overly salty.

Pumpkin Toast (white chocolate and pumpkin ganache, honeycomb, yoghurt sorbet, spiced pumpkin ice cream). I don’t know why they call this “toast”. It was more like a blondie. Every part of this dessert was delicious. It was fun to try various elements together in different combinations. i loved the ganaches especially.

Mr. Miyagi Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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Scott loves fried chicken so I thought it would be a good place for a quick birthday dinner but apparently when you turn 40 you suddenly lose your appetite. Everything was delicious but he barely ate anything. Strange.

We got tteokbokki (one of the things we fell in love with on our trip to Korea), chips, and boneless chicken (1/2 sweet chili, and 1/2 spicy).

This was way too much food for us, haha. And far too spicy. The tteokbokki was awesome and bouncy and saucy but also quite spicy, especially when your mouth was already hot from the chicken. The chips were good and the cold banchan was somewhat relieving from the spice.

I want to go back again soon and order better. I would still get tteokbokki but for the chicken I would get soy garlic sauce instead of spicy, and ask for the sauce on the side instead of slathered.

Gami Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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Yeah Christmas was over two months ago…. but better late than never?

Scott did a truly excellent job of making a DIY cider advent calendar for me this year. He went all over the city tracking down dry ciders that I mostly haven’t even heard of before. I was so excited to open the paper bag each morning!

Anyway for my own records I’m going to rate all of them. Note, I prefer quite dry ciders in general.

  • Caple Rd Cider – 9/10 – bit funky, quite dry, the can described it as “oaky, smoky with subtle notes of leather”
  • Zeffer Crisp Apple Cider – 7/10 – forgot to make any notes
  • Young Henrys Cloudy Cider – 8/10 – quite pleasant
  • Golden Axe Apple Cider – 8/10 – surprisingly nice? I thought it was going to be too sweet but it wasn’t
  • Colonial Bertie Brewing Co Cold Pressed Apple Cider – 8/10 – good
  • Coldstream Apple Cider – 7/10 – fine. They’re from the Yarra Valley
  • Blue Elephant Co Cider No 2 – 9/10 – really dry, really nice, one of my favourites now
  • Arquiteka Apple Cider – 8/10 – so hipster, quite dry, nice, not super strong flavour
  • Empire Apple Cider – 8/10 – nice, quite dry
  • Lost Pippin Raw Tasmanian Scrumpy 2016 – 2/10 – flat, bad taste
  • Barossa Cider Co Apple Cider Squashed – 8/10 – legit tastes like apple juice
  • Sidra Del Verano Spanish Apple Cider – 5/10 – too sweet, kinda yuck
  • Sassy Cidre – 7/10 – surprising! Like a traditional French cider not a hipster cider at all like the design would sugest. Funky
  • Fournier Poire Cidre – 7/10 – sweetish, tastes exactly like juice
  • Pure Blonde Crisp Apple Cider – 5/10 – reduced sugar, reduced flavour
  • Daylesford Cider Farmhouse Dry – 6/10 – meh. Don’t really care for still ciders
  • Treehouse Cider – 9/10 – one of my very favourites that’s not too hard to find
  • 2 Brothers Little Apple Cider – 6/10 – just didn’t like the taste
  • The Hills Cider Apple – 8/10 – a good standard cider
  • Pagan Cider – 8/10 – nice
  • Harcourt Apple Cider – 9/10 – very tasty
  • Huon Farmhouse Cider – 6/10 – tasted fine, a little funky, but not really a fan of still ciders
  • Cidre de Fouesnant Pur Jus Manoir de Kinkiz – ?/10 – this one had a cork! It was the one on Christmas Day and I forgot to write anything down
  • Aspall Suffolk Draught Cider – 8/10 – nice
  • Fog City Cloudy Cider – 8/10 – good!

Overall very good!! A lot of 8’s and 9’s there. Lots of new ones that I will look for when I’m shopping for cider. No still ciders though please, they just taste so flat and bad. Bubbles for lyfe.

Will I ever give a cider 10/10?? I’m not sure what that would take.

PS I made Scott a comic book advent calendar which I think he also enjoyed quite a bit.