Melbourne Cup madness

We enjoyed a raucous Melbourne Cup lunch with friends yesterday. Ten of us booked a fancy lunch at The Paddington, which included a glass of Verve on arrival, a three-course lunch and free-flowing beer and wine. Much to our delight, the venue put us in its eclectic private dining room. This gave us plenty of room to enjoy ourselves without elbowing one another.  It's the third time this group has gathered for the Melbourne Cup. We held our first lunch in 2022, and then again in 2024.

The day kicked off at 12:15pm. The final guest left our apartment shortly after 11:00pm. In between, we feasted on prawns, roast lamb, roast chicken, a range of tasty salads and plenty of side dishes. At one point, a roving brass band accompanied by a saxophone player made an impromptu appearance over lunch. It was a lot of fun.

Jon organised a sweepstake for the group. That’s him above, finalising the pool selection via an online sweepstake app. I’m delighted to report that I won second place. Jon gave us some very detailed T&Cs before the pool announcement. Superb attention to detail!

This event was also the inaugural public outing for my new look. After some coaxing, I’ve decided to grow a beard for retirement. However, before committing to the cause, my brother Matt helpfully asked ChatGPT to generate an AI preview of my new look when I was in New Zealand in August. The promised look was impressive. See the first image above for more details.

I decided to grow my beard while Garry and I were in Indonesia for two weeks. The final result is shown in the second image above. I posted this photo on Facebook and asked friends to vote on whether I should shave it or save it. The vote was universally in favour of keeping it. Hence, by overwhelming popular demand, and in deference to global accolades, I’m keeping it for Summer. We’ll see how it goes!

Birthday celebrations

Garry booked a table at The International for my birthday last week. I’ve been keen to try this restaurant since it opened last year. It's replaced a popular but incredibly expensive steakhouse called the Botswana Butchery. I dined there once for a post-Forum dinner with my EO friends in 2022. The meat was flawless, and the BilliCart-Salmon champagne was divine. However, the final bill was eye-watering (and not just because of the champagne).

Roll the calendar forward. Last week we found ourselves seated in a plush corner booth at The International enjoying good wine and excellent service. It was a Thursday night. The restaurant wasn’t busy, so we basically had a four-seater table to ourselves in a quiet, secluded corner with an elevated view over MLC Square at Martin Place.

Garry ordered a hefty sirloin that met his expectations. I ordered fresh King George Whiting. Sadly, the fish came coated in a dense Panko crumb. It was a little much for such a delicate fish. However, the white peach and ruby grapefruit granita I had for dessert was sublime. Would I book it again? Probably not.

I must admit we’ve been dining out a little more than anticipated since our informal retirement began. In addition to The International, I also enjoyed a long, leisurely lunch with my good friend Jon at the new Sydney Fish Market complex in Blackwater Bay last Friday. We’ve been catching up for coffee every couple of weeks. Last time we decided to do lunch at one of the market’s new restaurants.

I booked us an outdoor table overlooking the ANZAC Bridge at Hamsi Taverna. Lunch kicked off at noon, and eventually wound down around 3:00pm. I bought a kilo of fresh prawns for a BBQ that Garry organised for my birthday last night. We had six friends over for dinner. The first guests arrived at 5:30pm; the last of them left around 2:00am. Garry ultimately canned the proposed BBQ and slow-cooked a delicious lamb shoulder instead.

I’m now taking Garry back to the fish market for lunch to celebrate his birthday next month. Garry is also talking about kicking off a monthly lunch club with our retired friends. Each month, someone would take responsibility for booking a new venue for us to try. It sounds like fun. Watch this space!

Christmas in July (The Sequel)

Garry and I are currently enjoying a long weekend in Meerschaum Vale, a lush farm-filled valley near Ballina. We’re staying with our friends Liz and Adam on their lifestyle block for four days. The good weather we’ve been enjoying in Sydney recently has also followed us north. We’ve woken daily to blue skies and sunshine, with daytime temperatures hovering around 20C. This is unseasonably warm for this time of year.

Our weekend away has proven very timely. We’re now in the midst of transitioning our business and its systems to its new owner. Hence, distancing ourselves from life in Sydney is helping us physically and mentally reset for life after Artiwood. Liz and Adam have also organised plenty to keep us entertained.

We enjoyed lunch by the water in Ballina upon arrival on Saturday. Liz and Adam’s friends Tim and Kat then joined us for dinner that night as we celebrated Christmas in July. We finished our Yuletide festivities drinking Sheep Dog Peanut Butter whiskey around a bonfire. It was a wonderful way to finish a relaxing day.

Yesterday we drove to Federal, a small country village west of Byron Bay. We spent the afternoon enjoying lunch in the sun before turning our hands to creating mugs and bowls in a pottery workshop that Liz had organised. We’ll get the glazed and kiln-fired finished product back from the potter in a few weeks. 

Liz has offered to bring our creations to Sydney in October. Liz and I have booked tickets to see My Fair Lady at the Opera House, along with a pre-theatre dinner at Aria. I could get used to this semi-retired lifestyle.

UPDATE: 29 July

We finished our time up north with dinner at Ché Bon, a popular French restaurant in Ballina, on Tuesday night. This morning we packed our bags and flew back to Sydney, where glorious blue skies greeted us once again.

UPDATE: 14 October 

Liz and Adam bought our completed kiln-fired bowls down from Ballina yesterday. They look fantastic.

Yuletide dining

Garry and I hosted another successful Christmas in July last night. Including ourselves, we had seven in attendance. We lost three guests to ill health earlier in the week. Jon and Colm came down with the flu, and Jacqui found herself in hospital with an unusual atrial inflammation. However, the evening went off without a hitch, and we successfully maintained the high standard we'd set ourselves last year.

Garry spent the day cooking up a storm. His famous pavlova made an appearance. He also made some Christmas mince tarts. A turducken was roasted, along with a slab of pork and plenty of roasted vegetables. Garry’s homemade stuffing was a surprise hit (apparently pine nuts, mushrooms and bacon made all the difference).  Ian also brought over a platter of giant homemade lamingtons (delicious).

I spent the day ironing tablecloths, putting up Christmas decorations and dressing the dining table. I then prepared my signature cheese and charcuterie boards. This year I experimented with smoked wild salmon, capers and feta, in addition to the traditional classics. We also found cherries on sale in the supermarket on Friday.

After many bottles of wine, we finally said farewell to our guests shortly after midnight (and gave Mandy a foodie care package for Jacqui). Garry and I then spent half an hour organising the house and clearing as many dishes as possible. I’m glad we did. It was refreshing to wake to a relatively tidy home this morning, with just residual glassware and a few serving platters to wash.

Next weekend we’ll repeat the performance with friends up north. We’re flying to Ballina to spend four days with Liz and Adam Benson on their lifestyle block. Our hosts are putting on their own Christmas-in-July feast while we’re in town.

Out for a duck

We joined friends for a long and leisurely lunch at the Three Blue Ducks today. We came together to celebrate Ian’s forthcoming birthday. He enjoyed our boozy lunch here last year, so we’ve returned for a second round. 

The afternoon passed in a flash with plenty of wine and laughter. The restaurant manager also recognised us from our last visit and kindly comped us a couple of menu items, including a special cheesecake dessert for Ian. 

We eventually dragged ourselves out of the venue around 3:15pm, in part motivated by staff packing up surrounding furniture. Everyone then joined us for an afternoon of cocktails in the sun on our rooftop balcony. A wonderful, and possibly final, late-Summer fling before daylight finally ends next weekend. 

London redux

London turned on some unexpected good weather today. It's been wet and miserable since our arrival, with more rain predicted tomorrow. I decided to make the most of the sunshine and enjoy a walking tour of inner London's most iconic sights. Garry is still feeling less than 100 per cent, so he joined me briefly for a walk to Sainsbury's before returning to our hotel. 

But first, we dropped into Duck World. I'd heard about this store on Instagram. It specialises in selling nothing more than rubber ducks. I couldn't resist temptation and bought myself an Admiral Nelson duck, served by a quirky Michael Jackson Wannabe behind the counter. Garry just laughed.

I carried on down Charing Cross Road to Trafalgar Square, where the crowds were out enjoying the sun. I then turned toward Buckingham Palace. I reached the Mall in time to catch the Horse Guard rehearsing for a forthcoming parade. Once again, the crowd was out in force outside the palace.  I decided to head for St James Park to enjoy one of my favourite views of the palace from the Blue Bridge. 

Next on my itinerary was Parliament Square, the Palace of Westminster and Big Ben. I crossed the Thames via Westminster Bridge, stopping long enough to capture another iconic photo of a red double-decker bus passing the famous clock tower.  I walked as far as the London Eye in the hope that I'd encounter Luke Silva, a popular busker with more than 1.2 million Instagram followers.  He regularly performs in Covent Garden and outside the Eye.  Sadly, I wasn't in luck.

I consoled myself with a walk through the infamous Graffiti Tunnel under Waterloo Station. This throughfare has become a haven for some spectacular street art. The tunnel didn't disappoint.  

I completed my circuit back to Charing Cross Road via Somerset House.  I had hoped to see its picturesque seasonal ice skating rink.  However, this was packed up and removed immediately after the New Year. My afternoon finished with a matinee performance at the Wyndham Theatre.  You read about this here.

This evening we caught up with Martin and Jonny for dinner.  It was lovely to see both of them again.  How quickly a year flies by!  This is our final night in London.  Tomorrow evening we'll head to Heathrow for a flight to Singapore. We're finally on the homeward leg of our round-the-world journey.

Making a beeline for Bowral

My EO Forum has just completed its annual mini retreat.  This is our overnight event where we go away as a group to bond, learn together and experience something new.  Once again, I was our retreat organiser.  I’d set myself a high bar after a memorable event in Queenstown in June this year. I’m delighted to report that I successfully delivered on the brief once again.

This time we travelled to the Southern Highlands, about 90 minutes south of Sydney. After staying in a large homestead in New Zealand, the group was keen to do the same again. After a little research, I stumbled across a fabulous old sandstone homestead on a small acreage a few miles out of town near Mittagong.

Booking the homestead required a minimum two-night stay. As a result, I went down on Wednesday afternoon to do our group grocery shopping and prepare the homestead for our time together. This includes resetting the dining room as a boardroom, preparing the outdoor courtyard as a breakout space, preparing for breakfast and so on.

I also took advantage of our proximity to Bowral. Garry and I needed to purchase some unique gifts for two special occasions, including a 50th Birthday celebration last night with Liz Benson (dinner for four of us at Gowings in the QT Hotel) and Zoe Hollis’ engagement party tomorrow. I found a couple of superb gifts for both events in some of Bowral’s popular upmarket gift boutiques.

We gave Liz a pottery cottage that doubles as a tealight candle holder (or incense holder), and I found a large wooden cheese board or serving platter that Zoe and Ben can use for hosting guests in their new home. That’s the pottery cottage in the image above.

We kicked off our mini retreat on Thursday with morning tea in a spacious, light-filled lounge room before retiring to the converted dining room for a two-hour training session hosted by Rachael Heald. Rachael delivered a brilliant session on change management principles and practices. The group loved it - several even said it was the highlight of their retreat. We then broke for lunch in an intimate cobblestone courtyard outside.

The rest of the day was spent on our monthly forum meeting. We then finished with wine and cheese before a shuttle bus collected the group and took us to Eschalot in Berrima. Here we enjoyed a private dining experience in an old sandstone cottage. More great wine and food were consumed!

On Friday, we enjoyed a sumptuous breakfast in the dining room before departing for Bowal Honey Farm for a once-in-a-lifetime experience (OIL). The honey farm operates from a national trust property near Bowral, which was once owned by the Fairfax family, founders of the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper empire. Owner and Master Beekeeper Hamish Ta-Me spent the morning with us delivering a special VIP tour.

Hamish normally conducts these tours for overseas groups and high-profile guests of Tourism Australia. However, he kindly agreed to do the same tour for us. Over the course of three hours, we learned about bees and their lifecycle, opened a hive while wearing a full-length beekeeping suit, held a handful of bees, collected a frame of honey, and harvested it to take home. We also spent time tasting a variety of honeys. I honestly never thought you could spend three hours talking about bees and love every minute of it.

It was a truly spectacular experience. Holding a handful of bees was exhilarating. We could literally feel them vibrating, an amazing sensory encounter, as they attempted to communicate—just as they do with their sisters within the hive. In the video below, my hand is in the middle on the right-hand side. Yes, I am holding a handful of bees! 

Here are a few fun facts we learned from Hamish. The average lifespan of a bee is approximately 60 days. 20 days as larvae inside the honeycomb. 20 days maturing inside the hive and a final 20 days foraging for nectar. Almost all the bees in the hive are females. Only 20-30 bees are male drones.

Queen bees live for five years. They mate only once. After hatching in the hive, they fly off to join male drone bees in a mass mating location. They mate with about 30 drones, gathering enough semen to continually fertilise eggs for five years. However, the mating ritual is a death sentence for the male drone. The act of copulation literally rips them open, and they fall to the ground dead. If the queen fails to mate with enough drones, she’ll be killed by the hive after her return.

The hive creates new queen bees by simply enlarging a handful of honeycomb cells and feeding nothing but royal jelly to the larvae inside. The first queen to emerge then goes on a killing spree. She kills all her unborn princess sisters before they can hatch. In other words, to become a queen, a princess bee must murder her siblings and inspire the manslaughter of dozens of males before she can live a long and happy life.

We concluded our time together with a relaxed farewell lunch at Franquette Crêperie, an upscale French crepe restaurant in Bowral. I was a bit sceptical about savoury crepes. However, our lunch was delicious. About 2:30 pm, we said our farewells, and I drove back to Sydney in time for Garry and me to venture out for dinner with Liz and Adam Benson.