The Laidback Aussie Life

A trip to Sydney and Melbourne, Dec 2017

PART 1: SYDNEY

The Sydney I experienced was a strange amalgamation of the laid-back surfer life, the West Coast’s sunny Californian vibes, a dash of San Francisco’s hilly streets and a hint of the Midwest. But above all, it’s the unhurried, relaxed atmosphere that permeates all aspects of city life – evident in the lively café scene, full of locals on the weekdays with their freshly brewed cuppas, seemingly freed from the shackles of work and responsibilities.

Among the standout cafés was first one that we visited, called Devon Café in the heart of hipster neighbourhood Surry Hills, a five minute stroll away from our Bounce Hostel.

Seemingly unassuming on the outside, their menu promises a smorgasbord of innovatively whipped up Asian-Australian fusion food. After deliberating through various wittily named and tempting options like the Yakuza Burger and My Asian Cousin, we ended up settling on the insanely rich Breakfast with the Sakuma’s (miso grilled king salmon, with smoked eel croquette , 63’ egg, radish petit salad, drizzled with kewpi mayonnaise and furikake flakes), and the Eggs Blini (buckwheat blini, together with poached eggs, citrus cured king salmon, salmon caviar, broccolini and maltaise sauce) and topped it off with the famous Devon matcha cake.

Very much stuffed but satisfied, we meandered our way through the city to the harbor, a 3 kilometre-long walk that was punctuated by short detours like flopping down on the grass in the park just because we felt like it, stumbling on a photojournalism exhibition by the Sydney Morning Herald curating the most defining news photos at the sprawling Sydney State Library.

Came away with this quote from the visit: “A perfect partnership between image and words, between photographer and reporter is how the best of journalism can bear witness to our lives, our struggles, our loves, our leaders, and our democracy.”

Brunch that afternoon at casual restaurant Macchiato Wood Fire Pizza & Coffee Roastery consisted of vongole spaghetti and prosciutto-wrapped melon chunks.

Later that night, we ventured to the Bohemian inner-west suburb of Newtown in search of the perfect gelato at Cow and the Moon later that night. It was an instant love affair with its Wild Wild West Motown feel and edgy grunge vibes, buzzy streets lined with smoky bars, art galleries, thrift stores, a thriving foodie scene and LGBT community.

As we passed Enmore Theatre, alternative rock music spilled out of the foyer onto the streets.

One visit just wasn’t enough, and that’s how we ended up in Newtown again the following evening, exploring a music store exuding Brick Lane vibes and crammed from floor to wall with vinyls, CDs and DVDS lovingly organised to the T– even by arthouse directors like Tarantino and Wong Kar Wai.

Drawn by the hordes of locals lining up outside its doors of this hole in-in-the-wall eatery - a surefire indicator of how tasty the fare is – we ended up having our second Italian meal for the day at The Italian Bowl.

Tucking into spaghetti alla puttanesca, we watched with mild amusement as the harried chefs ladled generous pasta portions onto some ten different saucepans all cooking simultaneously, the head waiter barking customers’ orders over the din and frenzied delivery boys jostling for some space as they grabbed the dozens of paper UberEats bags lined on the counter.

We headed over to Gelato Messina – a sleekly designed all-black minimalist parlour plunged into near darkness, save for the welcoming glow of the gelato counter and a Venetian-sailor stripy shirted server duo.

Even muscled firemen from the local fire department stopped by to cool off with their own double scoops, which was a testament to just how well-loved it is as an institution.

We ended up next door at the Black Sheep bar throwing back bottles of apple cider and schmoozing to a mix of funk and soul jams by an rotating band composed of supportive friends and bartenders in the audience.

BONDI BEACH DAY

Again, the best finds are from the most inconspicuous spots like the Two Daughters Café, where we ended up with a decadent breakfast spread of guacamole, cheese, prosciutto topped on toast, and smoked salmon with poached eggs, quinoa liberally scattered all over zucchini and corn fritters, and a iced matcha latte and watermelon detox juice.

Bellies satisfied, it was onward to a lazy afternoon at Bondi Beach, spent drinking in the hypnotic sight of foamy sea spray crashing against the gorgeous Bondi Icebergs pool.

Inertia taking over, we collapsed onto the beach with a paper bag full of churros in tow, with dips like melty Spanish chocolate hazelnut, strawberries and bananas, and ice lemonade and berry smoothie to wash it off.

“Yum,” said a woman jokingly who walked past upon spotting the decadent teatime spread. We lay sprawled on towels watching fluffy white clouds through half-lidded eyes, John Mayer on repeat – what more can you ask for on days like this?

PART 2: MELBOURNE AND MORNINGTON

Saturday rolled around, spelling the start of our weekend escape out of the crush of Melbourne city to the Mornington Peninsula. With a playlist of Britney Spears, Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande on full blast to kick off our 1.5 hour drive, our first stop was to Pitchingga Ridge Alpaca Farm.

Started by a friendly retired couple Jean and David, who own some 90 alpacas at their home at Stony Creek Road, their exact instructions were to “approach them with gentleness and silence” – which wasn’t an easy feat having to withhold our glee when spotting the shy creatures.

For just 25 AUD per group for a private tour, we fed the alpacas, cooed over the babies, took selfies with a particularly inquisitive alpaca and proceeded to walk a trio of them around the driveway – mine was a frisky one called Octavia who dragged me round in circles. We were told the three alpacas’ programme for the day involved getting ready for the town’s Christmas carol recital, where they were to guest-star as the camels ferrying the wise men for the children’s Nativity play!

Then there was lunch at the local favourite watering hole and English-atmosphere tavern The Pig & Whistle located a ten minutes drive’ away, in a lovely setting shaded by trees all round and the option of dining under trellis-covered canopies with the requisite dish of lightly battered fish chips with ice-cold beer.

Lazy stuffed, we made our way to Point Napean Point which overlooks a panoramic view of a cerulean blue ocean. It would have been peaceful save for the madcap antics of the group’s firecracker Pat, who had us film her on the rocks in a homage to the scene in Little Mermaid where Ariel traded her voice for legs, and pretending to march down a stretch of road that vaguely resembled the Kingsroad featured in Game of Thrones to the tune of the opening credits in pseudo slow-mo.

Close to evening, we dropped our luggage off at our Airbnb at 20 Shergolds Lane at Dromana, a homely Provence style farmhouse just off the main road with an airy room filled with wooden furniture and sunshine yellow duvet covers, and we headed out again to the main town for some dinner.

DROMANA 3 DRIVE-IN

Just as we were about to drive back and retire for a quiet night in, a small illuminated billboard pretty much in the middle of nowhere spelling out movie showtimes caught our eye. Making the spontaneous decision to do a U-turn, the detour took us to an old-school Dromana 3 drive-in cinema, complete with giant projector screens in various fields.

In the distance, rising up from the fields in the distance was a low building painted in faded yellow, decorated with dozens of twinkling rainbow-coloured electric bulbs strung together haphazardly.

As you step in to take in the scene in the retro 50s style diner, looking past the Men in Black agents posing by the door, crammed in all corners are movie memorabilia. ranging from the likes of Jack Skellington from the Nightmare Before Christmas, Betty Boop and King Kong, a life-size Woody figurine from Toy Story next to the counter which sells popcorn and candy floss , the entire place strewn with glittery snowflakes and sparkly fairy lights – it’s a moment of pure magic, wonder. This place is a love letter to cinema and nostalgia, both at once.

Armed with sour cream and onion chips, the three of us curled up in the warmth of the car, our radio frequency tuned into the film’s audio, and found ourselves laughing and teary-eyed as we watched the Pixar masterpiece Coco – a film that reminds you about the importance of family, memories, and talks about existential issues like humanity, our fleeting existence, and life after death.

That night, we lay on the ledge by the nearly floor-length windows in our room with the lights switched off, staring up at the pitch black sky flecked with hundreds of tiny winking stars – the most I’d ever seen - accompanied by the dulcet tones of Don McLean in Vincent.

"Starry, starry night

Paint your palette blue and green

Look out on a summer's day

With eyes that know the darkness in my soul

Shadows on the hills

Sketch the trees and the daffodils

Catch the breeze and the winter chills

In colours on the snowy linen land"

Don sang in the background, while in the midst of our stargazing, we wondered aloud about black holes and galaxies and the Milky Way, about the possibility of extraterrestrial life and the concept of being lightyears away. It’s moments like this, out in the country, surrounded by nothing but the silence and stillness when you’re reminded once again about how paltry our little lives are in the face of this huge universe.

YARRA VALLEY

The next morning, we left for the Yarra Valley region, starting with a lazy Sunday brunch at the bustling cellar door and restaurant Innocent Bystander at Healesville. Airy with plenty of natural light and industrial-chic décor, what is most striking is an enormous film noir-esque mural of a mysterious man in silhouette hung above the bartenders’ station.

We ordered the wood-fired Calabrese pizza, which came with toppings like Calabrese salami, San Marzano tomato, oregano and buffalo mozzarella, crisp truffle fries, affrogato to share for dessert and its famous pink Moscato, full of bubbly happiness in champagne flutes.

Nestled in Yarra Valley is the sprawling vineyards of the Domaine Chandon winery, where we paid a visit as well.

HOME AT THE ABODE

Upon our return back to Melbourne, we moved into our Airbnb at the 55th floor high-rise apartment block The Abode on Russell Street, right on the doorsteps of the Chinatown area in the city and pretty much an Asian enclave.

Our host, a Chinese mainlander and Masters’ student in interior design, had her place decorated like a Muji catalogue, full of light and clean lines, artfully placed potted plants, minimalist furniture, walls tacked with photographs of sunsets and a half-completed jigsaw puzzle by the window, traces of a simple and solitary existence.

What I remember about the city can be summed up in various small moments - from eating tacos at the grungy cinematic Mexican joint Bodega Underground.

Catching Murder on the Orient Express at the cinema, brunch at the renowned Hardware Societe of salmon millefeuille - consisting of confit Atlantic salmon, poached eggs- luxuriating in a late-night Jacuzzi perched on the very top floor of the Abode which gave a 360 degree view of the city.

Exploring the bohemian district of Fitzroy and Collingwood browsing through vinyl stores, indie bookstores and eclectic design shops.

Polishing off the 8 flavored pork at the smoky Changgo Korean BBQ and dessert afterwards at the Little Italy area at Pidapipò Gelateria.

STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER

On the last day of the trip, it was a welcome breather again to head out again to the Mornington, this time for a bout of strawberry picking at the Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm.

Ever the skeptic, I had my doubts about how much fun it would be to pick them under the baking 35 degree sun. But surprisingly, the act of traipsing around row after row of sprawling fields, on the hunt for the perfectly ripe and red strawberry (much like a truffle pig), and then bending down to carefully pluck them off by hand and place them in our punnet turned out to be strangely therapeutic.

As each person sets off on their own separate lane, you realise just how much work goes into this, of toiling under the sun. Giving ourselves a respite, we rewarded ourselves with the most honest-to-goodness delicious strawberry ice cream at the café, all sweetness and none of that artificial flavour that you usually get, and came away with newly bought jars of strawberry, raspberry and blackberry jam.

With time ticking down on the clock, we rushed to The Long Table for a three-course lunch of juicy fat barbecued prawns on skewers, perfectly cooked salmon, mushroom risotto, white wine to wash it down and pear rhubarb.

We speed down to the coast where we stopped for ten minutes to gaze at the inviting turquoise waters at The Pillars at Mt Martha, before all too soon it was time to bid audieu.