Mornington Peninsula, Victoria

Well, this wasn't exactly a holiday but still, I think it would still be good to share. That's what I do when I no longer have the luxury of having time off work for extended periods. Weekend getaways will just have to count as a holiday.

The trip started out with a terrible weather, but that's Melbourne's winter for you. It was gloomy and rainy all day on Saturday, but thankfully improved by Sunday. Just right for our horse-riding plans :).

Not much pictures on the first day as the weather looked terrible, and we didn't actually go anywhere interesting (outdoor) as it was freezing cold. We did start the trip pretty late, so by the time we made it there, it was already pretty late for lunch. We initially wanted to go to Ten Minutes by Tractor for lunch but their kitchen had already closed, so we went to Noel's instead. Which was a fabulous alternative!

His - Pan fried Atlantic Salmon

Mine - Duck with beetroot risotto

I am never a fan of roasted ducks, but that's partially of the smell so I was more than open to try this dish which turned out to be fantastic! The duck was so nicely cooked that the meat was still soft and juicy.. Yums!!

We only happened to stumble on Noel's as it is on the same main road as Ten Minutes by Tractor. The restaurant isn't very big and definitely isn't as noticeable as the others around. They only had a small signboard on the outside, so try and look carefully in case you miss it.

I think it's run by a family, where the mum cooks most of the dishes and her son *I think* was our waiter for lunch. The restaurant is quaint, and also sells drawings by local artist. It is really quite a pretty place with privacy.

Anyway, after lunch, we decided to head to Ashcombe Maze in Red Hill as the rain had stopped but when we got there, it started raining again! So we only managed to snap a couple of pictures outside.

Knight in shining metal

Lavender Faerie Queen

"The beautiful and mysterious Lavender Faerie Queen tends the fragrant lavender plants. Her magic enhances the fragrance of the lavender and helps the oil production. The bees hum a song to keep her happy as she goes aboug her work. That is why there are so many bees in lavender. Rarely sighted in today's busy world, she can sometimes be seen at her favourite retreat : Ashcombe Maze and Lavender Garden..."

Obviously I didn't get to see her as I didn't even enter the garden. But still, a pleasant read for the terrible trip!

And what else can we do while in Mornington? Wine tasting of course! =)

Tuck's Ridge

Tuck's Vineyard

It was my second time there, as I really liked one of their wines from there in the past. Vino Dolce. It's a sweet wine, which not many would like. Anyway, they only had 2 choices of sweet ones and I didn't particularly like the other, so they recommended that I head towards Red Hill Estate as they had more choices. How nice! Talk about being friendly competitors!

Off we went to Red Hill Estate.

Wine tasting bench

A much larger cellar area for tasting, they also sold other products like jams and things which I have to say, the strawberry jam is really good! Other products :

Looks yumss..

"Icky". Hahahaha!!!
I wonder if it tastes icky too...

They were also holding some sort of barrel art competition, so they had the winner from last year on display. If you ask me, it looks like a mini monster truck. But in a cute way... actually, it reminded me a little of Howl's Moving Castle.

Winner of 2009 Barrel Art Competition

And finally, I surrendered to the weather and we decided to check in to our accommodation for the night.

Fairways Resort

It wasn't a 5 star hotel but it was a comfortable stay - the room that is. The service was quite disappointing. There was nobody at the reception past 5, and breakfast is delivered to your room the evening prior, and god.. I don't know what else. Oh.. on their website it says that there's DVD available for rent. Well, no. They don't have it. Thank god for oovie movies.

Our little outdoor space

Our room

Thankfully, Safeway was only a short distance away. And thank god for my GPS.. as the receptionist was definitely oh-so-not-helpful. Safeway was only a turn right at the end of the road, go straight on the round-a-about and turn right before you reach the T-junction. Can't get any simpler than that. But she couldn't explain to me how to get there... and tried to divert me to some other shop which was even harder to look for. *argh* . All hail to the GPS =P.

Anyway, off to better stuffs - we managed to get a place for dinner at the famous Montalto. I was so glad I made reservations for dinner as the place was absolutely packed that night. And dinner - it was marvelous!

Kitchen bench

Complimentary starters - pumpkin soup
*just gorgeous!*

I ordered quail for my entree and pan roasted snapper with thyme for my main where as he had cold rabbit meat for entree and venison for main.

My appetizer

His cold rabbit appetizer

My yummy pan fried snapper

His venison

And of course I had to have desserts. I am still looking for my perfect souffle so we ordered the chocolate souffle which was pretty good, although a little to sweet for us.

Chocolate soufflee with ice-cream

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We started our morning at the well-known Blue Mini Cafe for breakfast, which was recommended by the hotel. Located just opposite Safeway, the cafe was packed with people when we got there and it wasn't even a small cafe.

The compulsory caffeine fix

My egg benedict with added mushrooms

His bacon and egg on toast

We managed to get a seat next to the window which would have been really nice if there was sun. The weather was absolutely being fickle. It was sunny one minute and then it rained intermittently for the rest of the 40 minutes that we were there. My heart sank when it started to rain. How were we going to do our horse riding that afternoon? :(

Gunnamatta Horse Trail

It was still raining when we left the cafe but thankfully settled by the time we arrived at the horse riding place. We booked our ride with Gunnamatta Horse Trail, which apparently was featured in Getaway. We booked a private ride for the St Andrew's Beach Trail which turned out to be a really choice. There was no waiting for other people and it was just.. well, private =). A general ride was AUD 98 each, and an additional 40 for each person in a private ride.

While waiting for our horses

Mine was a pony instead of a horse but that probably also because I wasn't as tall as others :(. My little ride was called Jeda, who was a rather temperamental pony who had a mind of her own! At one point, she just diverted herself onto another trail although the trainer's horse was just an arm's away! And she took Jordan with her on her little rebellious run. *Jordan was his horse*

The rebellious Jeda

There was not much to see when we were on the bush trail, mainly just going between trees and trying to get use to the horses. But the beach.. Oh my god, was just gorgeous! And being on a horse.. it was just priceless!!

SY and Jordan

Our 'trainer' was Erin and her horse was Mr. Bean. Poor Mr Bean.. it appeared that he had eaten a little too much or was just in the midst of a gastro attack.

See what I mean? :D

Didn't take that many pictures as I was trying my best not to fall off a horse. Okay, it wasn't that bad. It was a really fun ride, but being my paranoid self with all the terrible neck injuries I've seen in neurosurg was taking over, I was just trying to minimize my risk of falling over.

It was here that Jordan decide to leave our group and joined another group who was on their way home. It was hilarious trying to get her to follow us again which was really quite cute. It also seemed that she often seems to be in a world of her own.

Jeda on the other hand, is a independent thinker. She will go on her own trails and she will stop to nibble on grass no matter how hard I try to stop her. And she is also a little princess - she will walk around puddles of water just to avoid getting wet. The other two just couldnn't be bothered. Fussy for a horse!! But sure is darn cute.

And the best thing was, the weather held up till the last 15 minutes of the ride! At some point, it was even warm during the ride. Really didn't mind that it rained by the end of it... we did have about 80 minutes of good sunshine!

Loved this moment

We started with the horses walking, which was really nice but everyone had to eventually trot (which is like a little jog for a horse) in order to get to the beach in reasonable time frame. At first, it was really quite scary as I couldn't coordinate my movements with Jeda, but after a while, it was really fun. Only that both Jeda and Jordan occasionally decide to gallop on our way back!!! That was a little scary. But they only did it for short periods.

By then, as rain started pouring again we decided to head back to Melbourne early instead of visiting the other places. I had wanted to go to Cape Schanck as well as the gardens but obviously the weather had different ideas.

And we had hot pot for dinner!! An absolute delight in the cold cold night.

Sezchuan Hot Pot

Sliced beef :)