Choco-anonymous

When hunger sets in followed by a sweet tooth, where do you go?

Cocomonde

Located on Darby Street - Cocomonde will satisfy anyone's tastes, sweet, savory,  a small bite to eat, a large meal, coffee, tea... the list just goes on. I must say I am very proud of my dining companion for the day (a self confessed choco-holic who managed to not order much chocolate at all!)

The atmosphere in the restaurant is fantastic, the waiters and waitresses are very friendly and the service is amazing!

Our bill came to about $45 which isn't too bad for a coffee, chicken burger, bruschetta and a dessert tasting plate. As we made our way to pay for the bill, I looked over at all the artist masterpieces of chocolate desserts on the other dinners tables... thinking... 'I'll have that one, and that one , and that one...'

The high tea looked pretty good too! I'll be sure to check that out next time.

Beautiful Newcastle

Catching up with friends and having a lazy day is always fun! What even better is when they show you around a city, that you have pretty much lived in for 10 years, and you see things that you never knew existed.

Today we were bumming around Newcastle. We started off with a yummy lunch in the Junction at Talulahbar its a bit of a Spanish fusion restaurant and its pretty damn good!

We kicked off lunch with some tapas (well that's really all we had - we couldn't fit any more in). Tapas is all about flavour and sharing, well to me it is anyway. So its a perfect meal for catching up with friends.

We had...

Vine tomato, Basil and Garlic Bruschetta $9.70
Roast garlic and Cheese focaccia $6.90
Grilled Chorizo with house marinated olives, pepperonata, arancini balls & focaccia $19.90
Thick hand cut chips house-made w garlic aioli $7.90

Yeah - so, you can see why we were full.

Instead of taking a nice big walk to burn off lunch - We drove to Mereweather to look out over the ocean bath and ocean. I forgot how beautiful this part of the world is.

My advice - if you're coming to Newcastle don't be confined to the city centre - It doesn't do it any justice!

Thanks Michelle for a great day and showing me some beautiful sights around Newcastle!

It's OK, I've got you, jump... Splat!

If you like your Sundays (or any day) to be on the extreme side - then why not step it up a notch and give rock climbing a go!

I am an avid rock climber (well I was - I haven't been in years) and when I was invited to go one Sunday, I jumped at the chance! I was eager to test my strength and see if I could still pull myself up the rock face.

Now, we are talking about indoor rock climbing here, and we ventured out to Pulse Climbing centre at Adamstown, a 15min drive from Newcastle, Australia.

I have climbed many times before and would frequent the indoor climbing centres at St Peters and St Leonards, however this was many years ago, and unfortunately I had lost a lot of my upper body strength - pair this with the wrong shoes for climbing and I found myself working harder than I should of been.

Still it was amazing fun and a great work out. I do need to mention however, that there was a small incident.

One of the rock walls requires you to hook your guide rope towards the top of the wall, this is to stop you from hitting your anchored belayer in the face in the event that you fall and swing out. So I would like to thank Dean (who went up the wall before me and then checked the ropes) for not re-hooking it, I am joking when I say that and in all fairness it was my responsibility to check all the ropes prior to shooting up the wall.

So, halfway up the wall, I went for a 'jump' to grab onto the next hand grip only after being told by my trusted belayer and Dean that they 'had me'.

"It's OK, we have you - the rope is locked - JUMP!"

So I did.... SPLAT. I didn't make the jump, my hand slipped, so naturally I just lent back assuming I would fall into the harness only to find myself flat on my back sprawled on the ground (I only fell about 2 meters and... it was pretty funny). But DOUBLE CHECK ALL YOUR ROPES! Out of guilt I was shouted lunch at Grill'd at The Junction.

'Hmmmmm, great' I thought... 'take a veg head to a grill bar to say sorry for dropping you off the rock wall...'

But they had the best Veggie burger (a massive mushroom for the 'pattie') with a gluten free bun! I double checked to make sure it was cooked away from all the other meat products - which they do, using a separate skillet for veggie options

What a great way to spend a day in Newcastle! (thank you to Dean for getting a photo of me heading up the wall!)

What will it cost you to climb?

Adults - $15
Concession - $13
Kids u/12 - $10
Harness Hire - $5

If music be the food of.....

Recently, Hamilton in Newcastle, played host to the Hamilton Food and Music Festival. After dropping by the Newcastle Caravan and Camping show, we headed off to Beaumont street to check out what was going on!

It was packed full of people, enjoying the lovely summer rays and browsing the market stalls. The fragrances that drifted in the air, of all the different food stalls, made your mouth water and pulled you in the direction to each food stall. Salivating at the goodies on offer, it was challenging not to try everything - will power kicked in, although I did nibble at a few taste testings on offer. 

Although it was a 'food and music' festival, we didn't eat here (it was too noisy for me to hear anything and I couldn't communicate with the people I was with) ...so, a quick car ride down to Darby street and we were feasting at Frankie's Place... who have CAMPOS coffee! Frankie's Place has amazing food, great - that's GREAT - coffee, and amazing friendly staff! My Gluten free, veggie diet was catered for and I left with a full belly, and a caffeine hit that saw me buzz the afternoon away.

 

On the edges of the lake

Hugging the shores of Lake Macquarie are a number of small towns. I recently spent a day in Nords Warf and Murrays Beach.

Lake Macquarie is the biggest inland saltwater lake (if I am not corrected), in the southern hemisphere, and is extremely popular with all forms of water activities, shore side picnics and BBQ's.

For more general information about Lake Macquarie - I found this website to be useful      www.lakemacquarie.com

Nords Warf is a tiny little town and is perfect for a day get away or if you like the seclusion there is a well known resort Rafferty's (www.raffertysresort.com.au) to stay at and unwind. There was a great track that I did a bit of bushwalking on along the shore line of the lake.

Murrays Beach is just across the way from Nords Warf, don't let the name fool you, it is not a beach, but there is one close by. This is a fairly new estate and sports some architectural homes designed to blend in with the native Australian bush land.

The Lakehouse cafe is a great spot for breakfast, lunch or dinner - with beautiful views of the bushland and lake. The coffee is good and so is the food www.lakehousecafe.com.au There are lots of walkways around Murrays Beach and for those adventurous souls - you can trek from Caves Beach to Murrays Beach, why not finish the walk with some food or a coffee!