The market and the winery

We slept a bit later today. Till 9 o'clock! Late morning we drove to the market.

"Going down".

The market is in China town.

It gets pretty busy.

We planned to check on the boxes that we still haven't unpacked. But the weather was so lovely that all of the sudden we felt like going to the Uleybury winery!

They make really nice wines. So nice that even ~I~ drink them... Well, it's a rosé really.

They had a new menu and a new chef. Oh - my - god...

My starter was ravioli with a rabbit filling. What a winner. Five pieces is a perfect entrée.

My main was chicken breast filled with spinach and feta cheese and sauteed carrot, peas, onion and roasted potato. It was sensational. The chicken was so juicy and the spinach was so fresh.

Then we waited a bit and sat in the sun enjoying the silence and the wind blowing through the trees. Oh, it wasn't quiet when one of the trees decided to drop one of its branches though. That was a bit exciting. It cracked like lightning.

My desert. Those chocolates were delightful, they had a hint of port inside and they were home made by the new chef. They were the size of sugar cubes.

Then we just hung around a bit, looking at the beautiful hills.

Then sun started setting and we drove home to feed the birds.

It was a most beautiful and well spent day.

Uleybury

Early afternoon we drove down to the Uleybury winery. We hadn't been there for a while.

Pizza action.

Pizza action result. Hmmmmmmmmm :-)

Me in my present state. Which is 10 kilo lighter than 10 weeks ago.

On our way home we drove in to town because Nicole had found another excuse to buy a new bag. This time one for her new laptop. Here she is in bag heaven :-)

After we came home, I played some warcraft with my headphones on. Through the sounds of the game I heard a loud noise. I looked at Nicole which confirmed my suspicion. When I walked towards the main road I found this.

That's two cars less for today. Nobody got critically injured thankfully and the tree looked OK as well. The guy from the last car was in a bit of a shock though.

And then the ambo (Australian for "Ambulance" (difficult word of course)) came.

And naturally the firies arrived soon after. At least they had some real work. It took ages for the police to show up...

Marisa is here!

We picked up Marisa from the airport today.

There was a bit of a protest in town.

We went to the Uleybury winery with Gavin and Marisa.

One of the Pipicella brothers came over to say hello.

And his sister as well. They are nice people.

Later we were surprised by Gianna, Anna and Greg joining us. Anna (Gianna's mom) sits next to Nicole.

Greg and Gianna.

This was my desert. Uleybury now makes their own grape jus that they poor over ice cream. Sensational.

Early evening we drove to Largs bay. Towards the end of prospect road people get very innovative with names.

We can all be kings I guess.

At the beach some people drew sand hearts.

On the jetty people were pretending to be fishing for crabs (crabbing).

Nicole watching the sunset.

The sunset.

Day three of the Koen and Josie show.

Our car got a service today. Early morning coz we had to be on the road again soon!

While our car was getting a Formula 1 service, we were having breakfast.

Koen played with Mason a bit.

Around noon we left to the Uleybury winery where we had a fantastic lunch.

They make nice wines at Uleybury, and it's proven by the gazillion awards they have hanging on the wall.

Afterwards we had a little stroll through the vineyard.

The grape vines.

The fields.

Koen acting spastic and Josie and Nicole.

Some goats.

More fields.

The path past the vineyard.

The birthday / The driver's license

Yes my friends. Today, I got my driver's license. The King can now legally (with minor restrictions for 2 years) drive his own ass around town without guidance.

I kept my test a secret because I didn't want extra pressure. Being 35, I feel more pressured than if I would be 17. Call me silly, I don't care :-P

The above picture shows me and my instructor, Chris Fisher (also Olympic runner for Australia in Munich, 1972). Thanks Chris!

This is what I need to display now. Bye bye L, hello P.

I scored 90 points out of 100. I lost 8 points because the examiner didn't see me look in the rear-view mirror enough. I'll not argue this but I have doubts as to how well he can actually judge that. If it wasn't for this I'd have 98/100. He said that apart from the rear-view mirror thing I was totally a very good driver.

For lunch and birthday celebrations Nicole and I went to the Uleybury winery again. The view from their parking.

The food here is of exceptional quality. This is our starter. The prosciutto was so fresh and soft it felt like having fluffy wool between your fingers. The Rosé wine was excellent.

I told them it was my birthday. Apart from the fact that my wine was free, while nibbling away on our little platter all of the sudden all three adorable waitresses on duty showed up holding a sliced sausage (traditional Italian and freshly made by main waitress' father) with a candle in it and they sang me "Happy birthday". We were so stunned that we forgot to take pictures. It was just the nicest thing they did. We only started remembering making pictures again once half the sausage was gone...

This was the view during our lunch.

These lovely people are Salvatore, Natalie and their brother who's name I don't know but who makes THE best pizza's in the world. They run the place together with their mum(English) and dad(Italian).

And this is the cellar door. A "cellar door" is a place where you can taste and buy wine.

It was a fantastic day. Thanks to Nicole who thought of going there and the people at Uleybury I had a most memorable birthday.

And in the evening I Skyped with my parents for the obligatory birthday chat. It was nice talking with them again.