I’m baaaaaack!

Did you miss me? Did you? Huh, huh?

It feels like I’ve been away for an eternity, not just week.

So, how did my digital detox go? Really, really well. I thought it would feel like there was a huge gaping hole in my days if I didn’t blog, but my life was full … yet relaxed.

OK, I did break the digital detox on Friday, when the news of a petition to the NSW Attorney General seeking a review of Kathleen Folbigg’s case hit the papers.

I couldn’t help writing something about it for Kidspot – you can read it here.

DD was very understanding about me stealing his laptop and tapping away madly in the hotel room when we should have been enjoying the last day of our mini-break.

Aside from that, I’m feeling a bit rusty with my words, so I’m going to show you a few snapshots of my week instead. Kinda like a slide night, except on a blog on a Saturday morning.

Just click on the first pic and it will bring up a gallery with snippety explanations from me.

I had such a lovely time … it was very smiley.

I also ate A LOT of food. My pants are sooooo tight. So now I’m thinking it’s time for a detox of a different variety – bring on the rabbit food!

I met my sister and brother-in-law for schnitzels as big as our heads at Mrs Parma’s in Melbourne. I went for the one topped with pumpkin and goat’s cheese. DD had this baby: a schnitzel floater. We had such a nice night catching up without the normal cacophany of kids that usually surrounds our get-togethers.

I caught up with my mate Geoff – he was a few years above me at Kotara High and we connected through the blog. He’s a total sweetheart and treated me to a delish brekkie in Albert Park.

I had this yummy concoction: smashed avocado and feta with a poached egg on top.

After brekkie, my dear friend Lorrae took me for a twirl around the sculpture garden at the Heide Museum of Modern Art. I fell in love with the cows …

Art admiration is hungry work, so we headed to Bar Sur Loup in Balwyn North for massive crepes afterwards – we both had the spinach and smoked salmon ones with hollandaise. Mmmmmm.

After a few hours of shopping, I relaxed with a glass of Tempus Two prosecco in a bubble bath at the hotel. Ahhhh ….

Our hotel was smack-bang in the middle of some of the funkiest dining spots. We ended up at Lucy Lui in Oliver Lane.

Among the tasty morsels we tried were these soft shell crab pancake rolls with hoi sin. Nom, nom!

It was quite surreal to look out the hotel room window the next morning and see hot air balloons floating through Melbourne CBD.

Then it was off to the Hunter Valley. I’d scored a Cudo deal to stay there for two nights.

This was our view for brekkie. Not bad, huh?

We spent a very cosy hour by the fireplace sipping wine one evening.

We did a little wine tasting … how could we not? Our favourite was Peterson’s. The petit verdot was divine.

We also had a lovely time at Peterson’s Champagne House. After tasting lots of bubbles, I asked the sweet girl who served us where we could get a nice cheese plate – she popped out to the kitchen and organised one for us to have on the balcony with a glass of Blanc de Blanc Reserve.

We decided to take the scenic route back to Sydney and stopped for a burger at the Wollombi Tavern – parked out the front were three Porsches and about 10 motorbikes, quite the contrast!

Then we took my first-ever detour to Wiseman’s Ferry. There were kangaroos (or maybe wallabies?) everywhere and the countryside was gorgeous. Oh, and I stayed very zen about how late we were running to return to Sydney and collect the kids.

There were also heaps of cows standing on the side of the road languidly staring at us.

I wasn’t going to include any snaps of me because I looked way too ooooooold in them, but I relented and decided to include this one, camera shadow and all because of the flattering soft focus on me.

Song of the day: Police “The bed’s too big without you”