Gettin' outta Dodge...

Everyone once in awhile I get an an urge to leave Sydney. It creeps up slowly, worming it's way into the monotony of daily commuting on public transport or the inevitable weekly run to the grocery store. Or sometimes it's blatantly staring you straight in the face. Before you know it you're all buckled up in the car without the vaguest idea of which direction you're going. Despite being regularly ranked among the top cities in the world, it leaves a few things to be desired. Such as you ask? Well, in no particular order....

1) Traffic. It's shocking. My favourite is checking out the rear view mirror after sailing through a yellow-turning-red light and seeing three other cars do the same.

2) 'Late night' shopping. You only get one night? I'm American. I'm used to stores staying open til anywhere up to 10 p.m.

3) Fashion. As much as Sydneysiders embrace that easy-breezy-beautiful style, the clothes are getting smaller and smaller. Which means you see more and more of 'what momma gave you.' It's just offensive.

4) Birds. This is oddly one of the things I have a VERY love-hate relationship with at the moment. I love the cockatoos and kookaburra. I love the lorikeets. I DO NOT love the incredibly loud, persistent and consistent bird outside my window at 4.30--5.30 a.m. EVERY. MORNING. I am currently hatching a plan to take this sucker down. I called a bird helpline today (yes, they do exist), and the kind gentlemen sympathized and then told me how he used a pile of rocks to deal with a VERY similar situation. This is definitely numero uno on my list at the moment.

For this and less interesting reasons, we decided to escape to the Hunter Valley, which is wine country 2 hours north of Sydney. It was devine.

We kangroo-spotted and drank some tasty libations. We had a lovely, boozey lunch at little place that just down right stole my heart. Black Creek Farm. If you're in the area, head that way.

We had some tasty Allandale vino, to accompany our starter of mussels with chili and main of salad with braised beef shin. There's a before and after for your viewing pleasure.

It was falling apart delicious. Dessert was tempting, but we decided on a few coffees with a 'tea box' of Lamingtons, biscotti and chocolate truffles. Perfect. We ended the day with a wine tasting at Gundog Estate, which turned into a beer tasting. We hit a few other of the favourite cellar doors and headed home relaxed and stocked up on wine for Thanksgiving!

And I remembered that though there are things Sydney could do better, there's a lot that Australia does quite well. Like wine. Like good, slow-cooked, locally prepared food. Like lazy spring morning. Like a nice latte.

So for the chance to live in this sunburnt country, I am very grateful indeed.