New Year In South West Rocks and Vineyard Trip/ South West Rocks’da Yeni Yil ve Sarap Tadim Turu!
Well we all hated 2020 and kept the best hopes for 2021. For me too, 2020 was extremely challenging until the last minute of it!
I was so tired not being able to go and see my family and friends in Istanbul, I had terrible experiences emotionally and got soo tired of every thing around me. So as soon as I quit my last job we thought we better get away and celebrate the new year, hope for ourselves. We organised a little holiday in South West Rocks where amazing turquoise waters were located. Well...Only if there wasn’t too much rain!:)
But this situation is not going to affect what I am about to share: our experiences on food, three different vineyards we stopped for wine tasting and amazing tomatoes/ strawberries we bought on our way back. I promise!
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Durust olalim, hepimiz 2020’den bir şekilde nefret ettik, bu sebeple de 2021 bizim için yeni bir sayfa acar umuduyla gozlerimiz yollarda onu en iyi dileklerle bekledik.
Saniyorum pandemi, ayrilik, belirsizlik konulari bir tarafa, beni kisisel olarak inanilmaz zorlayan bir yıldı. Yeni yil, yeni umutlar, yeni yerler derkeen kendimizi bu yili defetmek icin South West Rocks’da bulduk.
Ama ne bulma! Fotograflarin vaad ettigi gibi ne ortada turkuaz bir deniz ne de gunesli gunler vardi. Bu yaz Avustralya malum islak bir dönemden geçti. Iste o da bizim tatile denk geldi!:) Ama bu durum burada tadip begendigimiz lezzetleri, donus yolunda yaptigimiz uc farkli uzum bagi ziyaretini / sarap tadimini anlatmama engel değil!
I directly want to start from the good food in South West Rocks. We preferred buying from the supermarkets and preparing small platters in the room a few times. We tried the food where we stayed but I did not like so the places I am going to tell are the ones I liked the most.
For breakfast I highly recommend “Sixty Degrees Cafe”. Food and coffee are really delicious. I got myself avocado & egg roll and loved how they cooked the egg and their sauce.
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Hemen yemek konusuna girmek isterim. Az ve oz tavsiyelerim olacak bu sefer, cunku odamizda da alip hazirladigimiz birkac ogun oldu ve kaldigimiz yerin yemeklerine bayilmadik. Ama birazdan tavsiye edecegim her seyi hakikaten cok begenerek yedik.
Kahvalti icin “ Sixty Degrees Cafe” yi cok ama cok begendim. Islerini bilerek ve severek yaptiklari cok belli. Kullandiklari soslar, kahveleri, yumurtayi pisirme sekilleri - ki yumurta benim hassas noktam:)- cok cok iyiydi.
I don’t know why I craved for “ Fish & Chips” this much and had it twice in different places, but I liked both of them. One of them was at “ South West Rocks SeaFood” and the second one at “Riverside Tavern”.
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O zaman neden canimin bu kadar- buralarin bizim balik ekmek kadar meshur olan- Fish and Chips cektigini bilmiyorum ama iki farkli yerde denedim ve ikisini de begendim. Biri “ South West Rocks Seafood, digeri Riverside Tavern’di.
I think I have seen the biggest crowd in here : Chillati Gelato Bar! Their ice cream, sorbets are all handmade. Smartly created flavours. I picked the malt ice cream, it was amazing!
Even if you have 5 minutes in South West Rocks and craving for something, go for Chillati ice creams without thinking twice!!
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Chillati Dondurma! Hakikaten o uzun kuyrukta beklemeye deger bir mekan. Buraya yolu dusenlerin en azindan buradan bir dondurma yemeden ayrilmamasi gerek.
On our way back we were planning to stop by Ricardoe’s Tomatoes and Strawberries in Port Macquarie so we did. I handpicked some strawberries and grabbed a few kilos of beautiful tomatoes for our home cooking. If you around Port Macquarie do not miss their tasty and awarded products!
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Buraya gelirken, dönüşte daha önceden de gelip cilek topladigimiz ve harika domatesler aldigimiz muhtesem yere yine geldik: Ricardoe's Tomatoes. Onceki yil alip kavanozladigim domatesleri bu yil da kaciramazdim. Bu yil kavanozlanmasini beklemeden bitirdik o ayri:)
Kucagimda dalindan yeni koparilmis cilekler, aklimda yenmeyi bekleyen domatesler, buradan uzum baglarina dogru cabucak akiverdik.
Cassegrain was our first stop. We tried a few different wines from reds to whites and roses. Finally we decided to have one bottle of red wine -Edition Noir Chambourcin 2019- that goes with red meat dishes, cranberries and raspberry, medium body style.It still hasn’t opened yet. I am planning to make Julia Child’s Beef Borningiuon recipe both inside and for us to enjoy with it!
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Cassegrain ilk durağımızdi. Fransiz bir ailenin 1600’lerde sarap yapmaya başlayıp, daha sonra Avustralya’ya gelerek kurdugu koklu bir isletme. Tadımdan sonra bir sise-Edition Noir Chambourcin 2019- kirmizi saraplarindan almak istedik. Fransa/Amerika melezi bir uzumden dogan bu stil sarap 1960’larda uretilmeye baslanmis. Kırmızı etlerle eslesmesi daha doğru olan bu sarabi Julia Child’in Beef Bourguignon tarifinde denemeye ve bu yemeğe edecegi eslik icin sabirsizlaniyorum.
After Cassegrain, our second stop for wine was at Long Point Vineyard & Art Gallery. It was so hidden and beautiful with the little gallery.
We tried a whole range of wines including their alcoholic ginger beer. We finally decided to grab their Chardonnay, Tempranillo and The Wanderer. Also six pack of the delicious ginger beer and one piece of art for me!
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Cassegrain’den sonra benim ozellikle bir galerisi oldugu icin cok begendigim ve misafirperveliklerine bayildigim Long Point’e gittik. Oradan da bir beyaz, iki kirmizi sarap, zencefilli bira ve galerisinden alinmis bir adet resimle bir sonraki duraga dogru yol aldik.
Aand we are at the last stop of our trip finally before we get drunk: Bago & Maze Winery. Yeap, there is a huge maze - one of the world’s largest hedge mazes with over 2000m of pathways- that you can get lost in. It is such a beautiful place to chill and enjoy the wine.
We tried a few types and wanted to have a little sweeter wines from here such as blueberry rose or Bago-Jazz semi-sweet wines. We took a nice walk around the vineyard but I didn’t get into the maze just in case:)
I also tried Baba Lila’s handmade chocolate truffles which are located in the Bago cellar. It was soo delicious, you have to have it at least one!
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Ve geldik son duragimiz Bago Labirent ve Uzum Baglari’na. Dunyanin en buyuk labirentlerinden biri burada yer aliyor. Grup olarak gelenlerin gercekten eglendigi goruntusu de olaganustu bir alan.
Biz de baglarin etrafindan yuruduk, bu guzel manzaranin tadini cikardik ve son tadimimizi yaptik. Burada biraz daha tatli saraplara dogru gitti aklimiz ben hakikaten cok begendim tatli seyleri sevdigim icin.
Tatli demisken, Bago’nun icinde bir de el yapimi cikolatalarin yapildigi Baba Lila diye bir cikolataci var. Oradan bu cikolata truflerini denemeden asla cikmayin!
