Explore with Fran

Driving up the highway it was clear to see that there had been bad fires. Both sides of the Castlereagh highway, the fields were scorched. Razed. Fields of green had become fields of black. It didn’t take too much imagination to picture how scary this must have been, just days ago, as bush fires ripped through the region.  This fear was made real when Sharon at the cellar door at Burundulla vineyard shared a video on her phone of a Mudgee local and his partner driving through at the exact moment the fire jumped the highway. Frightening, even at a distance of some days.  Even the roadkill, so prevalent on drives through the country, look to have suffered in unimaginable ways.

Coming to Mudgee, in the midst of the bush fire disaster taking over large swathes of Australia, family and friends understandably had lots of questions. Is it safe to travel to Mudgee? Is Mudgee affected by the bush fires? Are the Mudgee wineries affected? We are able to answer these, and other questions, including what there is to do in Mudgee and the surrounding towns. Where to stay, and why it is now more important than ever to visit regional towns like Mudgee, when every dollar spent in local businesses is critical. My little love affair with Mudgee was to continue.

We had come to Mudgee to escape the madness that is New Years Eve in the city. In the years I have lived in Sydney I have, like hundreds of thousands of others, joined the crush around Sydney Harbour. Trying to get a birds eye view of quite possibly the best fireworks display in the world. So, whilst I know first hand how impressive this spectacle is, I also know that I no longer want to spend the last day of any year down there again. 

If there is an antithesis of the new year carnage on the Harbour, it must be the little country town of Mudgee in regional New South Wales. I have previously written about celebrating my Australian citizenship in Mudgee. Insulated from the city of Sydney by a 3 and half hour drive, up through the Blue Mountains, once here you could be on a different planet. A planet blessed with abundant wildlife and some of the best wines you will taste. The difference now, sadly, is that due to the changing climate, the vines are at risk, and I’m saddened to hear from locals that the animals are just giving up. Just laying down to die. Through lack of water, and lack of green grass to graze on. The heart breaks.

The effects of the changing climate is evident everywhere. Each time we have visited Mudgee in the past, as we broach the hill and descend in to the valley near Windamere dam, we are usually greeted by a lush carpet of green. As far as the eye can see. Green fields stretching out and away as far as the mountains that surround this beautiful little town. This year we audibly gasped as we were met by a landscape that could have been from Australia’s desert. Colours that would not have looked out of place on a long drive through the Nullarbor. Every shade of brown, only punctuated by black. The tell tale signs of the fires. Apart from the trees that have managed to keep the majority of their green leaves, the ground was dry as a bone. Mudgee was in the middle of a very long drought. 

In the middle of this drought, and as the fires raged, tourists stayed away. A town like Mudgee relies heavily on the influx of visitors that spend money in local shops and at the cellar doors. If businesses are to survive, tourists need to keep coming. And so, having made sure we were not in danger, we drove to Mudgee to “reset our senses”, to borrow the tagline of the local tourist board. 

Our senses were going to be reset at “Tom’s Cottage” in Wilgowrah (www.wilgowrah.com.au), a short 5 minute drive from the centre of Mudgee. A self contained cottage, with sweeping views of the Mudgee hills, we were in the right place to quietly celebrate the end of the year together, and to chat through our hopes and dreams for the year ahead. The cottage is nestled in the gardens of the heritage listed Wilgowrah homestead, and is their first offering. Plans are underway to convert a small nearby church in to accommodation which will make for a very unique stay.  One evening, take the 4 wheel drive buggy up the hill, with a bottle of wine, and have a picnic, watching the sunset.

Each stay in Mudgee is unique, even just for the pace of life there. No traffic lights. You heard that right. Can you imagine it? And after being there a while, especially coming from the city, you start noticing the absence of something. It takes you a while to realise you have not heard a car horn in the time you have been here. It has sadly become part of everyday life in Sydney, even if a driver has the temerity to take more than 2 seconds to move once the lights have turned green. City people must be in such a rush.

Slowing down in Mudgee, we took the push bikes out. Very little traffic. No car horns. And a very flat landscape. Cycling down country lanes was such a pleasant experience, stopping to chat to the local goats and horses. Every kilometre we cycled we promised ourselves another glass of wine. 

That was a lot of wine, starting at a cellar door we hadn’t previously visited. Elephant Mountain wines (www.elephantmountain.com.au) have not had a cellar door in Mudgee for very long, with the vines being in the neighbouring town of Lue. The cellar door has been in Mudgee for just over a couple of years. In my opinion, it is a very welcome addition. Having discovered the wonders of Pinot Gris in New Zealand, I was very pleasantly surprised to taste one of such quality here in Mudgee. Needless to say, some made their way home with us.

Talking of quality wines, next up was one of our favourite vineyards in Mudgee. Lowe wines (www.lowewine.com.au) have made us feel very welcome each time we visit the cellar door. The very first time we visited we were supplied with a seemingly endless amount of wine. On a tasting. Which effectively means it is free. However, this is hospitality at its best as what often happens, and it did on that first visit, is that we get to taste how great the wine is, we end up slightly tipsy, and then buy almost every bottle available when we leave. Everybody is happy. It is just this kind of hospitality that keeps us returning time and again to Lowe. Oh, and did I mention that they do an awesome grazing board?

Suitably stuffed from an afternoon at Lowe, we save our next food experience for the following day. Our first visit to the Pipeclay Pumphouse restaurant (www.pipeclaypumphouse.com.au), out at the Robert Stein winery. From the outside it looks like a tin shed. One that graces many a paddock across Australia. Inside is where the magic happens. You can look forward to a spectacular menu and first class service. We opted for the tasting menu but you would be just as happy choosing from the excellent a la carte options. As you would expect, the wine list is made up of a selection that are made right there on site. We chose the 2019 Riesling and it was superb. Hints of mineral, lemon and lime, and a very smooth finish. Luckily for me, it wasn’t my day to be the designated driver. 

Food. Wine. Rest. Relaxation. You truly do get the opportunity to reset your senses when you spend time in Mudgee. Life slows down to a very enjoyable pace. Nothing is urgent. Nothing is rushed. Is it any wonder that I have a little love affair with Mudgee? Each time I leave, I feel like I leave a piece of myself behind. I am always driving away wondering when I can be driving back. Next time I visit, I hope to bring a little rain with me. 

In January last year I posted my “having a retrospective on 2018” post. So, it is about time that I did the same, looking back on 2019, and ahead to 2020. Time to brew up a strong coffee, sit back, and reflect on the year that just passed.

A lot has happened in the last year. It has been a year I have been happy with, for a number of reasons. As always, like every good retrospective, there are a few areas that could improve. But isn’t that the same with everyone?

The first item on last year’s list is one such area of improvement. Seeing a recent Facebook post by a good friend reminded that yet again, I have failed to get on a surfboard. The surf lesson I keep promising myself has again failed to materialise. Maybe this is one that I will just dream of, and never get around to, much like the cabbage soup diet. 

Other areas of improvement from last year’s retro have fared much better. Every year I have a perennial “must do”, which is to do a yoga class. And thanks to my better half, I have finally ticked this off. In fact, you could say I have smashed it, with many classes now done in a couple of different styles of yoga. For the more active of you, I would recommend Vinyasa Flow. Sure to get the heart pumping and you contorting yourself into all manner of positions, you leave one of these classes knowing you have had a workout. For those of us getting to the stage where it is hard just getting out of bed, I would recommend finishing your work week with Yin Nidra yoga. A relaxing blend of easy movement and falling asleep. Literally. The last 10 minutes of every class ends with the instructor handing out blankets, turning down the lights, and zoning out.

I started the year wanting to do more writing, and again this has been a success. I have completed a couple of creative writing courses, and a travel writing course, allowing me to practice my craft a lot more. I have now set myself the target of getting a travel article published so I can officially call myself a “freelance travel writer”. I almost got one of my blogs published in the Halifax Evening Courier, but that has yet to come to fruition. I also kept up my daily journal, both digitally in the DayOne app, and also a brief summary of each day in a hand written journal. A great way to end the day, scribbling what I have learnt, and what I am grateful for.

As the tagline of my blog says, “go someplace new every year”, and this year the big destination was South Africa. You may have seen the blogs I wrote from safari and the rest of that amazing trip. A trip that has left me with a lifetime of memories. If a safari is on your “to do” list, I would heartily encourage you move it up the priority list. It is life changing.

I visited the Philippines for the first time, with a very productive work trip to Manila, where I created, and delivered a 2 day training program to a client. A very rewarding experience.

A great visit to the UK to meet up with family also provided the opportunity to get to Nice, in the south of France, a city I had not previously visited. Much of that trip is a wine fuelled haze, but I think we had a good time. I had 8 nights in the Greek Islands to recover.

The good time may have contributed to another, less than successful item on last year’s list, which was to drop 4kgs in weight. I will carry this target into 2020 but I won’t hit it if I continue to munch on mince pies and Quality Street long after Christmas has finished. I did suffer with a suspected parasite in my stomach before Christmas that resulted in me losing 3kgs, but alas, the sneaky buggers have returned. The weight, not the parasite.

Last year I wrote of wanting to have my first cold Christmas in over 6 years, but this didn’t happen. We had the day itself, celebrating my birthday, on the beach at Balmoral. Cold beer and a paddle in the sea becoming something off a tradition. Having received the trip as a surprise birthday present, on Boxing Day we then jetted off to Hamilton Island, in Queensland, for 3 nights pure relaxation at The Beach Club. Will 2020 be the year that I finally get another cold Christmas?

I continue to read as many books as possible, having reached a grand total of 122 in 2019. My reading interests vary a lot and I tend to have 3 or 4 books on the go at once. On the bedside table is often a heavy (sometimes literally) historical, or biographical book. Something to help me unwind and sleep. I can recommend the most recent one I finished which was “George Orwell – A Life”, by Bernard Crick.  I tend to read a lot of business books, and in the gym I run to a light, easy audiobook. Maybe this will be the year I restart, and finish, Middlemarch.

This year also brought perhaps the biggest change in my life. I don’t know who was more surprised, me or Victoria. Over dinner at the rather excellent Bennelong, in the Sydney Opera House, I finally put a ring on it. Victoria agreed to become my wife. I wonder if she knows what she is letting herself in for? I have definitely got the better end of the deal. We have no immediate plans for a wedding so please don’t be asking me if you should start shopping for hats.

In summary, I had an excellent and productive 2019. I faced in to new career challenges, switching back to a permanent role at a small consultancy at the start of the year. The role I have is also very different to the last 15 years of my life during which time I was a project manager. I am now working with organisations, and teams, in how they can work more effectively. The coaching side of the role is something that I am really enjoying. Au revoir to status reports and steering committees.

Whilst fully enjoying life, I also managed to maintain my health and fitness. All this despite doing my best to sample every bottle of wine produced in Australia (and South Africa).

And I convinced someone to make an honest man of me.

This year, my 49th year on the planet, is shaping up to be another good one. Back to work to keep growing myself, and even more importantly to bank some dollars for future trips. I will continue writing blogs, and now also travel articles, and I will let you know how I get on with publishing that first article. I would like to do some form of retreat this year and am always open to your suggestions and recommendations. I am thinking about meditation and yoga. Meditation is something I continue to do, although I don’t do enough of it.

Looking back on 2019, and ahead to 2020, the thought of the year ahead fills me with happiness, and curiosity to where it will take me. 

Watch this space.

First impressions

Our first venture through the city streets was a little tentative. A few extra checks over the shoulder. Maybe a little jumpy when someone jumped out asking for money. In and around the city bowl, where we were staying, we had already seen a lot of poverty. The taxi from the airport took a rather circuitous route to our Airbnb. Isn’t this taxi drivers the world over? And we had been taken down Longmarket Street, seeing the extent of the homeless refugees, camped out on the streets, in and around the church. I had just spent a glorious, luxurious, 6 days chasing animals, and chasing wines. If ever it was time to reflect on how privileged we are, that time would be now. We were about to experience Cape Town as first time visitors.

Cape Town has quite a reputation, on a number of fronts. Depending on who you talk to, you could either be in for a definite mugging, knife attack, or carjacking, or you could be in for the holiday of a lifetime, with amazing scenery, world class wines, and fine dining to rival anything you have previously had. A South African colleague of mine had primed me with every scare story he could think of it was surprising I wasn’t a nervous wreck from the moment I touched down.

The V&A waterfront

With bags dropped at our city centre apartment, we walked down to the V&A Waterfront, which took me a few days to work out mean’t the Victoria and Alfred waterfront. Attracting over 20 million visitors a year, the oldest working harbour in the southern hemisphere has been converted into a multi use leisure precinct, teeming with bars and restaurants. Only a 30 minute walk from the city bowl, where we were staying, it could have been a million miles away, and is a great example of the inequality in South Africa. Something we saw all through our 10 day trip. 

Surrounded by the majestic Table Mountain, the 2010 World Cup final football stadium, and the sea, this is an area that you should visit whilst in Cape Town. If you have a spare R20,300 (approx $2,000) you can stay in the area and have one (yes, just 1) night in one of the cheapest rooms at the Silo Hotel. Trust me, this looks better on the inside, as an old silo mill has been faithfully restored to hold a luxury hotel. We had sunset drinks on the rooftop one evening but were caught unawares by the wind, taking the shine off the experience.

Did someone say food?

One of the best experiences that South Africa has to offer, less obvious than the animals on safari, and the wineries of Franschhoek, is the world class food it serves up. Having read up on this, and having a travel partner who is on top of her Instagram game, we, or should I say she, had the foresight to book a table for dinner at the fabulous Pot Luck Club (http://thepotluckclub.co.za/). Situated on the top floor of an old silo, in the Biscuit Mill, Pot Luck Club is the sister restaurant to The Test Kitchen (https://www.thetestkitchen.co.za/home). Knowing that the Test Kitchen has been on such illustrious lists as the Best Restaurants of the year, and The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, we knew it had good pedigree. We weren’t disappointed. Oh boy, what a night.

Robben Island

The day after, in a more sombre mood, we made our way back to the waterfront to join the Robben Island tour. Robben Island, located just 7 kilometres off the coast of Cape Town, is where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for 18 of the 27 years he spent in prison. Tours depart 4 times a day, offering a 3.5 hour round trip by boat. On the island you are joined by a former inmate who shows you around the prison buildings, including Mandela’s old cell, whilst recounting his experiences as a prisoner on the island. It is moving, frustrating and deeply maddening all at the same time to hear of the injustices of the time.

Getting out of the city

Whilst the previous day on Robben Island left us in a very reflective mood, today was about joining an organised tour and heading out of the city. We spent the day touring along the coast, driving along the breathtaking Chapmans Peak, probably the most scenic drive in the world. Over the course of a fun day, albeit rather over narrated by our enthusiastic driver, we spent time at the Cape of Good Hope (where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet), Hout Bay, and Boulders Beach. 

Pick up a penguin

Now let me say right here, Boulders Beach was THE main reason for the day trip. It was the stop I had been told by Vik that was non negotiable. Whilst planning the trip, back in Sydney, Boulders Beach had always featured very high on the list of things to do. And when you get there, and walk amongst the thousands of African penguins, it all made sense. For some reason these African penguins settled on this sheltered beach in 1982 and it has been home to them ever since, drawing in hordes and hordes of tourists.

Time for tea, high tea

Escaping the crowds, the day after saw us celebrating what had been a great holiday. One that surpassed all my expectations. And we were going out on a high with a sparkling high tea at the venerable Cape Grace hotel. Regular readers of the blog will no doubt know of my quest to find Sydney’s best high tea and that I always like to try out new ones. And receive your recommendations. In the hushed interior of The Library in the hotel we enjoyed a glass of sparkling MCC (South Africa’s excellent champagne style bubbles) and a tower of decadent delights. Did it hit the heights of the Devonshire Arms in Yorkshire? Maybe the lack of proper clotted cream just let it down.

Table Mountain

What visit to Cape Town is complete without a trip up to the top of Table Mountain? Saying goodbye to our friendly, Manchester United supporting Uber driver, we headed over and joined the queue of people that had the foresight to pre-book tickets online. This did in fact save us quite a bit of time as the queuing system for the cable car ride up is slightly chaotic. With a rotating internal cabin that holds up to 60 people at a time, the ride itself is quite daunting.  Climbing to heights of and being unable to hold on to the sides, as they keep rotating around, the trip is quite discombobulating.

Until the next time

All good things come to an end, and alas the same was true for this amazing holiday. We had seen the best on offer in Cape Town for first time visitors. We still had one last morning to fill and where better to spend it than at another Instagram favourite of Vik’s. Jason Bakery (@jasonbakerycpt) posts pictures on Instagram that look so good you often find yourself licking your screen. I can confirm that they taste as good as they look, and are well complemented with some of the best coffee I had on the whole trip. We even snuck a couple in the bag to enjoy at the airport ahead of flying home.

Wines and Vines

Going wine tasting, one of the constant dilemmas is, should we take the car? We have full control over the day, and where to visit, and for how long. But it means one of us can’t drink that much. And that is a big but. Especially when both of you have such a mutual appreciation of wine. One of us can’t fully take part in everything a day amongst beautiful wineries and vineyards has to offer. I’m not saying that you have to drink to have a good time, but it helps, right?

Today, there were no arguments about who would be the designated driver. There was no coin toss, which suited me, as I usually lose anyway. This morning, and yes people, our wine tasting was going to start in the morning, so you can stop judging me right now, the car was left at the accommodation. We were off wine tasting in Franschhoek. For our day amongst the sweeping valleys we were in the very safe, and very capable hands of the team from the Franschhoek wine tram (https://winetram.co.za/).

The history of Franschhoek

With the arrival of the French Huguenots in the mid 1600s this small part of South Africa was renamed, taking its name from the Dutch for “French Corner”. Those French refugees began establishing farms that also eventually expanded to include vineyards. Hence, in South Africa, the term wine farm is commonly used. In more recent times, since around the 1990s, there has been a boom in tourism to Franschhoek and it is now widely regarded as the food and wine capital of South Africa. With some justification. There is enough to keep visitors happy for many days, with world class restaurants, boutique luxury accommodation, and some of the best wine you will drink. Don’t drink wine? Fear not, Franschhoek has some great breweries such as Tuk Tuk Microbrewery and the Franschhoek Beer Co.

A foodie’s paradise

To celebrate a special occasion, or to just celebrate that you are in one of the world’s most beautiful locations, treat yourself to lunch at La Petite Colombe (https://www.lapetitecolombe.com/), the sister restaurant to the highly acclaimed La Colombe in Cape Town. I can highly recommend the “Chefs Spring Experience” which is an exquisite 7 course lunch. If, like us, you are feeling particularly decadent, include the “Franschhoek Wine Experience” that comprises a matching wine for each course. You will not be disappointed.

Luxury cribs

If all you can do after such indulgence is collapse in a food coma, then a splurge at the boutique hotel Akademie Street (https://aka.co.za/), will leave you well rested, if somewhat poorer. We stayed in the Uitsig suite and once sat on the balcony, with a cold chenin blanc in hand, it is easy to see why it has been named “view”, looking out across the Franschhoek mountains. The wood fired hot tub on the balcony looked like it would go very well with our chilled bottle of Methode Cap Classique (MCC), South Africa’s version of champagne. Whilst unable to call it champagne, not being from Champagne, it is produced in the exact same way, the traditional method with a secondary fermentation in the bottle.

Back to the wine

It is in the shadow of these magnificent mountains that you will find the wineries.  And it was the wine, and the history of those wineries that we were here for today. The Franschhoek wine tram has 8 colour coded lines, each taking you through the valley, and to the different wineries and vineyards, travelling through 300 years of history. A little confused by all the options, we selected the blue line, departing the terminal in the centre of town at 11am.  Each line has 9 stops and you are able to stop at each and every one. With the actual size of the tastings poured that we saw that day, that is a lot of wine. As much as we like wine we decided to limit the number of stops and include a lunch (a very good steak sandwich) at La Bourgogne. In total we managed to visit 6 of the wineries/vineyards, and I would like to say we picked the best ones. But after so much wine I was likely to say anything.

The Franschhoek wine tram

The wine tram operates just like those big red buses you see in many major cities across the world. In a typical hop on, hop off fashion.  A rolling timetable sees you dropped at one wine farm, then collected exactly an hour later. Of course, should you wish to stretch out your lunch, and spend longer at a particular winery, then you will have your next tram in 2 hours. Whilst cleverly marketed as the “Franschhoek wine tram”, most of the vineyards and wine farms are serviced by open air tram style buses, with only a few actually reached by the real life vintage tram. Sipping our welcome drink that we got when boarding the tram at the terminal, we headed out to visit both Grande Provence and Rickety Bridge wine estates. To prove that Franschhoek is not all luxurious restaurants and glamorous hotels we got picked up in a tractor/trailer combo to take us from the tram platform to the cellar door.

Costs

As with most things in South Africa, the cost of the day is very reasonable.  Tickets for a day pass on the hop on hop off tour cost R260 (approx $26) each. Tasting fees at the cellar doors were additional and ranged between R25 and R150 ($2.50 and $15). Judging by the atmosphere on the last tram back into the village, everybody had a great day. The early morning silences had been filled with tispy ramblings and new friendships boisterously being made over one of civilisations oldest social lubricants, wine. Cin cin.

Wine tasting in Franschhoek is an experience not to be missed. Being only about an hours drive from Cape Town, it is a great place to get away for the weekend. Add in visits to the must see wine farms of Babylonstoren and Boschendal on the way through, and you are starting to see the best of what the region can offer. I think the wine region of Stellenbosch, next door, gets more exposure outside of these parts but my heart is in Franschhoek. When can I return?