She Runs the Night, Centennial Park, Sydney

May 2013

This was a female only 10K night run, 6000 females in fact. It was very empowering ;)

They had a wall at the start/finish with all the participants names on it, it made me a little bit emotional.

It was a really fun race, with tons of cool things along the course.

This year was a 10K, last year was a 13K. To be honest I was initially disappointed in the shorter course, but on the day I decided it was perfect, not too much of a challenge which allowed you to have more fun!

My favourite part was at the end, when the screen had the cats follow you to the finish line.

 I can't wait to do the race again next year, hopefully my sister will have started running by then and we can run it together.

PS. Did I mention my PB of 66 min, last year I ran the 9K Sydney Bridge Run in 72 min, not a bad improvement for adding an extra km!

Wolgan Valley, NSW, Australia: Activities

March 2013

One advantage over Wolgan Valley vs. some of the other luxury accommodation we've stayed at was the included activities. It was easy to choose daily from a list or simply do nothing.

Horse riding: You have the choice of arena riding, trail riding or a carriage ride depending on your experience. We chose the carriage ride as I'd injured my arm on the Thursday night before leaving.

Bike riding: I'm not much of a rider but DH loved his early morning guided bike ride

Nature Walks: Not too strenuous but takes you through the valley with some fantastic views

Wildlife tour: Occurs at 5:30 pm. The main attraction is the wallabies, wallaroos, kangaroos and the famous albino wallaroos (there are five in the area, we saw 2, one up close)

Night wildlife spotting: Leave at 9:30 pm. The main attraction is the wombats. We saw at least a dozen. It with the albino wallaroo above was one of the highlights

Hang by the pool/spa (or swim in it): Once again each chair has a great view, it gets sun most of the day and even with kids around was a quiet place to chill.

Go for a private run/walk/bike ride: We choose a run by ourselves one afternoon, the view was again stunning

Lounge in your room: Its spacious and does have the plunge pool after all

Jamie Olivers, Sydney

April 2013

My sister is a big fan of Jamie Oliver so we decided to give his place in Sydney a trial.

Jamie's Italian is located on Pitt St in Sydney, and opening time is 1130 am. In anticipation of a que on a Saturday we lined up at 11:15 am, and by noon the place was packed.

 Meat Plank for three $40.50

Wild Mushroom Raviolli - main sized $19

Steak Tagliata $24.50

Veal Saltimbocca $27.50

Roast pumpkin, beets and squash $6 and Humble Green Salad $6

My homemade Lemon Lime and Bitters was pretty cool $5

Overall it was a nice setting, but the food was pretty bland. If your a fan of Jamie's its probably worth the experience.

Wolgan Valley, NSW, Australia: The Food

March 2013

As mentioned in a previous post, all meals are included and they are fabulous. Service was friendly, and if they got it wrong they fixed it ASAP no questions asked. Breakfasts were a casual affair with a cold buffet and hot meal options from the menu.

The pancakes

Smoked trout with potato rosti

Omelette with a little bit on the side from the buffet

Lunch was out in downstairs cafe by the pool, where you could mix and match from the menu and there was always some tasty treat for dessert.

The menu changed daily, with some items consistent

Tempura soft shell crab

Lamb rump

Pecan pie with vanilla bean ice cream

The view at lunch

Dinner was a more formal affair, on two of the three nights it was a five course menu.

The dinning room

One of the menus

The view as the sun was setting

Seared scallops

Beef fillet

Palm Island Mulloway

Peanut butter parfait

The cheese, wine and chocolate room, the decisions that had to be made each night in here!

Travel by Animal

We've been pretty lucky to see a variety of animals in their natural habitat, including some that can be quite rare. Sometimes its been a big aim of the trip, like the Albino Wallaroo we saw in the Wolgan Valley, other times we were skeptical that it was so special (until googleing it later), like the Giant River Otter in the Peruvian Amazon.

Albino Wallaroo - Wolgan Valley, Australia

Macaws - Peruvian Amazon

Blue Footed Boobie - Galapagos

Turtles Hatching - Wislon Island, Australia

Kea, Milford Sound