Morks Restaurant – Kingston Foreshore – Canberra – ACT – Australia – December 2017

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ACT, Australia, canberra, champagne, Contemporary Thai food, Friends, Moet & Chandon, Morks Restaurant, Thai food

Midweek dinner with champagne

After I retired from work at the end of November last year, I arranged a little mid-week catch up with two friends; Jane and Natalie. I decided to return to a contemporary Thai restaurant I had been to several years ago but didn’t enjoy but since have heard very good things about the food.  I think the main reason I didn’t enjoy it previously was that it was a banquet without many vegetarian dishes.  This time I had perused the menu and the vegetarian dishes looked so tasty. Even before I arrived I knew what I was going to order.We decided to share some dishes but Nat and Jane wanted to also taste some of the meat dishes.  This gave me the opportunity to order about three vegetarian dishes as of course I don’t eat meat.

I ordered a dish of sweet potato dumplings in a Panang curry for us to share and the Chinese eggplant bun [just for me]…wow great dishes and so delicious.  The curry was really good and very filling too!!I also ordered the Thai noodle salad with Vietnamese pancake – again this one for sharing as it’s a pretty big dish.  This was also very good.
To celebrate my retirement I brought along a bottle of French champagne which we enjoyed throughout the meal.  I quite enjoy an inexpensive meal with a glass or two of champagne…Jane and Nat decided on the salmon and pork crackling tortilla with kewpie and ham jam (one each) and the BBQ pork bun again by two so they could have one each.The restaurant is located on the foreshore about a twenty minute drive from my home and has views of the lake.  It’s a very busy area in the summer as with the seats and tables outside, people come for dinner and stay a while for some drinks…some restaurants here are a little overpriced but this one is reasonable and I am sure I will return!

Johannesburg – South Africa and Zimbabwe – Africa (1) – December 2017

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champagne, Friends, Qantas Airlines, South Africa, South African Airways, Zimbabwe

Arriving in Johannesburg…

Ever since I was a little girl, I have dreamt about coming to Africa to see the animals in their natural habitat…so this month that dream finally came true.

My friend Jenny, who lives in Papua New Guinea and I met at Sydney Airport and boarded our Qantas flight to Johannesburg; a long fourteen hours but with a few movies, a chat and a flat bed, it was pretty good.

We arrived to some lovely locals singing at the airport; what a great way to start this fabulous holiday.We decided to stopover in Johannesburg, staying one evening at the Airport Intercontinental Hotel as we arrived late and were out early the next morning and after fourteen hours we felt we needed a little break and as it turns out was a great idea as we were definitely tired and had another hour and half flight the next day to Zimbabwe.  Of course I was jet lagged after a few hours sleep, so was up at 2.30am using the gym with nice views of the city.I must say the pool area within the gym is pretty spectacular at night.After a leisurely breakfast of scrambled eggs on toast and mint tea, I met up with my friend and we walked to the airport to take our South African Airways flight to Zimbabwe where our adventure was about to start.  I was very happy with this airline, comfy seats, excellent friendly service and the most amount of leg room I have ever seen.  A bottle of champagne was opened for me and I started off my flight with a glass of South African bubbles; how can it get any better (be assured it did)…

We arrived in Zimbabwe and were met at the airport and taken to our accommodation at the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge – what a great choice of accommodation by my friend Jenny.And wonderful views of the local watering hole where a herd of elephants arrived one evening…but more on that later!!So finally my African safari has commenced and I am now sitting here in Botswana overlooking the Chobe Plains from [again more on that later]…thanks for stopping by!!