A Weekend with the Aussies

January 23, 2011

Senne's Summary: We spent the weekend with Rob and Jo from Australia. There was drinking, eating and general fun!

While we were in Bali, we met some new friends, Rob and Jo from Australia. They were kind enough to invite us to come and spend a night with them at their house in a suburb of the Gold Coast.

After we checked out of Surfers, Rob came and picked us up to drive us to their place. We had a tour of their very nice house (we were ready to move straight in), checked out our room for the night (nicest hotel room we've had so far 😉), met their dogs Roy and Paris, and then headed out for lunch at a local winery.

Entrance to the Winery

It was amazing how different the landscape looked from Surfer's Paradise even thought we were only about 30 minutes away.

We had a terrific lunch out on the terrace at the winery.

Lunch area

There was a guy playing guitar, a beautiful view, delicious food and of course the wine. We tried a Sparkling Shiraz (which I’ve never even heard of)… I thought I wouldn’t be a fan because I don’t usually like the sparkling wines, but I really LOVED the Sparkling Shiraz. I also had my favourite kind of food… a little tasting platter! Rob was kind enough to take the whipped beets off my hands 😉

After lunch we went inside for the wine tasting. It was pretty comprehensive! On previous winery visits, when we’ve done tastings, there were only 6 wines maximum that we tasted. Today we tasted at least 10! (Probably more… you know me… I started to lose count 😀) 

We started with the whites (Jo’s favourite). We then skipped the sparkling rose and shiraz because we had already tried those with lunch and tried the sparkling white. Then we moved into the reds, and finished with Port. Now typically, neither of us are really big fans of Port, but this Port was actually tasty. (Definitely a sipping drink)

Somehow in our conversation with the guy doing the tasting for us, came up the term "Australian Bush Herbs". I believe it was in reference to spices used for cooking. I can’t really remember how it started, but it soon became the standard punch line for a lot of jokes and smart comments throughout the night. Maybe it was all the wine…but it was hilarious at the time.

After lunch we headed back to Rob and Jo’s to enjoy the afternoon. Soon others started arriving for a “Good Old Aussie BBQ” 😀 You can’t go to Australia and not go to one of those!

BBQ in their amazing yard!

All of their family were very nice (how lucky were we to find these people in Bali?!?) and soon we were reunited with Jo’s sister, “Morning!!!” aka Lou. I’m not sure if you remember from our Bali blogs but we could hear the people in the room next to us giggling into the night and then randomly calling out “Morning!!!”. Well that was Lou, who of course greeted us with a hug and a big “MORNING!!!”.

I'm not exactly sure how this transpired!

We shared some of our photos of some of our favourite places we’ve been. Steve was in charge of showing pictures and videos of our vacation to date. There were oohs, ahs and a whole lot of laughter. I’m sure that was a presentation that will never be forgotten 😉

We had a great evening of visiting, playing pool, drinking (Ginger Beer was yummy…who knew?) and eating. Some of my favourite things we ate were the pumpkin feta salad (I even wrote down the recipe!), the BBQ’d steak, and the delicious Pavlova for dessert.

Bed time for puppies!

The next morning, Steve woke up early to head down to the gym with Rob. I stayed in bed. I could feel a lovely breeze coming in through my window and the bed was just so comfy! Before Steve left I heard the clicking of little puppy feet on the floor and then Steve lifted Roy into the bed for a little morning cuddle 😀 Roy liked it so much that when Steve tried to take him back down off the bed, he growled at him. Rob had to come in and get Roy.

Puppy cuddles!

When the boys returned from the gym Rob made us a delicious breakfast…we were definitely getting spoiled this weekend!

After a bit more visiting and a very long pool game (which Steve claims he didn’t make up the rules for… but I’m still doubtful!)

Rob doesn't look too sure about the rules either!

Rob and Jo dropped us off at the airport. Thanks again guys, we’re looking forward to returning the favour when you visit us in Canada!