The Hunter Valley

A few weeks ago I went to the Hunter Valley for 2 nights with a few friends! We had the BEST time eating, tasting wine, laughing, and just exploring! I took a lot of photos and thought I'd share some :-)

One of my new favourite wineries! Their Riesling was my favourite wine of the whole trip! 

We saw SO MANY kangaroos! 

We had the most amazing dinner at Il Cacciatore 

There were so many pretty views

I took many a selfie 

This was one of the best places we visited and we already want to go back there!

This freaked me out a bit haha

You have to take silly selfies!

Holy. Shit. The cheese platter at Usher Tinkler is one of the best things I've ever eaten in my whole life 

Pancakes from the Deck Cafe (so good) 

Our last day was really warm and sunny

We finished our trip with gelato from the Smelly Cheese Shop! Yum!

Have you ever been to the Hunter? I love visiting there and I think we are making it an annual thing!

Megan xo

A Day in Bowral

Very recently, Nathan and I made some new friends in the Blue Mountains via a facebook page! They are a great bunch of people and we either go to dinner, out for drinks or whatever other shenanigans we can think of. Last week a few of us decided to go for a little day trip down to Bowral for some shopping and lunch and I snapped a few photos, here is a (very) brief recap of our day! 

This bushy area was so lovely

The view from Mt Gilbraltar 

We found some weird stuff that day (this isn't even that weird)

Can he come home with me?

Look at these beautiful little girls I met! Gorgeous!!!

Lunch at Bernie's Diner - AMAZING 

I bought myself some new sunnies! 

We stopped at the best place ever on the way home - The Lolly Swagman in Berrima! 

And our final stop for a drink closer to home!

It was a very long and extremely fun day! I wish I'd taken more photos, so on our next adventure I will make sure I clear out my iPhone so I can take a million of them!
Have a wonderful day,
Megan xo

My Favourite Australian Animals

Happy Australia Day to my Aussie followers! To celebrate I decided to share my favourite Australian animals!

source

5. Crimson Rosella - my favourite bird! I have a few of these beauties that fly around our house all day long - they are absolutely gorgeous

source

4. Quokka - oh my gosh, look at that happy little face. Quokkas just look so cute and cheeky!

source

3. Kangaroo - of course I love kangaroos! I remember once Nathan and I went to the Hunter Valley for my friends wedding. At the hotel we stayed at, when we opened the door the owners dog would be waiting for us which was amazing, and there were dozens of kangaroos all over the property! I'd love to go back there one day, it was so lovely.

source

2. Koalas - look at those ears, aren't they amazing! A personal pet peeve of mine is when people call them koala bears - I know they look a little bearlike with those ears, but it really irritates me! 

source

1. Wombat - my absolute favourite native animal. They look so cute and cuddly, but they can actually be pretty vicious, and they can run really fast despite how plump they are! Idol.

I suppose this list is pretty predictable, considering nearly all of the other animals that live here can kill you just by lookin' at ya! I hope you enjoyed it regardless, they're all so cute!

Megan xo

Blue Mountains - Birdwood Gully Springwood

Nathan and I recently went on another bush walk, this time closer to home in Springwood. It was absolutely beautiful, and a lot easier than the stairs at Katoomba! I took a lot of photos and had a hard time narrowing my choice down, so prepare yourself...

There was quite a big burnt area (also, what a dork)

 

It was so pretty!

My favourite photo

 

It was such an amazing place, and I can't wait to go back!
Megan xo

Outgoing Mail: Swap Box

As I mentioned previously, I am obsessed with being a pen pal. I've gathered quite a few through different websites and now have several people to correspond with. I love it! I found the International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club and got matched with a girl in the USA. We contacted each other and decided to do a swap of bits and pieces! Here is what I included for her.

First up a bunch of my favourite Australian lollies - Milkos are my absolute favourite!

She is a fan of Harry Potter so I sent her a Deathly Hallows necklace

I didn't even know you could still buy these, but I found them in a lolly shop!

Furry Friends really take me back, and I had to include Mint Patties!

A little kangaroo and a koala keyring

Wizz Fizz!! I'm feeling so nostalgic because of all these lollies

I've started collecting patches. I couldn't find a Blue Mountains one so this was the closest!

My swap partner collects coins so I sent her one of each. I should have found shinier ones oops

Australian stickers, a couple of postcards and an Aussie lingo bookmark.

The months theme was sorcery, so I wrote my letter on the back of a witches hat I printed out and stuck to cardstock

I wrapped everything up in brown paper and used washi tape to make it more colourful

I put tissue paper in the box and all of the flat bits on the bottom. Then I put in the little parcels and some pompoms!

Swaps can be expensive, but I really only spent a few dollars on each thing so this whole lot probably cost around $20-$25 to put together which is OK as long as you're not doing a LOT of swaps! One every now and then is my limit or else I will have no money. I still haven't posted it and am scared of what Australia Post are going to charge to ship this parcel overseas! Eep! I should also say that for the chocolate and melt-able lollies I placed them in zip lock bags before wrapping them, just in case they melt on their way!

I hope you enjoyed this and got a few ideas of what to send international pen pals!

Megan xo 

P.S I also included a lamington recipe but I forgot to photograph that!