Honeymoon day trip

The week after the wedding we pretty much went straight back to work, but no-one was robbing me of my 'honeymoon week'. I think that week we had take out every night. The Monday following the wedding we tried to go to Centennial vineyard only to find it closed, so we trekked back down to the Southern Highlands the following Sunday to get my long awaited lunch from Centennial Vineyard. 

I last went there in October 2013 on our way home from a weekend at the coast.  This time, dressed a bit nicer and without matted hair, we went to celebrate the recent nuptials. It was a freezing day. As we drove away from the city, I watched the temperature drop from about 15 degrees celcius to a very cool 7 degrees. Lucky for us, we were seated inside near the beautiful big fire, such a luxury!

I had soufflé on my mind from the moment I planned the trip to the Southern Highlands because I'd had it the previous time and loved it. As with most restaurants, the menu changes with the season and the menu now had a pumpkin and sage soufflé, so that's what I ordered. It definitely wasn't as good as the four cheese soufflé I had the previous time, but it was still really delicious. I never say no to dessert, especially when celebrating, so we ordered dessert and moved over by the fire with our sweets and coffee in hand. 

Rather than waste the long drive down to the Southern Highland, we decided to make the most of the afternoon and go for a little drive. I remembered as a kid I had gone to a little ghost town called Joadja and had seen signs pointing in that direction earlier so we followed them to see what we could find. First stop was Joadja winery. It seemed like a small winery, though I didn't do much exploring. We tried the port and decided to get a bottle then headed down the road towards the ghost town to see if we would get in. Unfortunately it had closed before we got there, so we'll have to make another day trip soon to have a look.

One thing I love about the Southern Highlands is the scenery. Wherever you look there are rolling hills, livestock, beautiful big houses and great open roads. We were driving past a particularly pretty section of the road when S decided we would get a family portrait on the side of the road. That seemed like a great idea until I realised by then it was 4 degrees out, with windchill probably in the negatives. We persevered, got a few photos and jumped back in the car to warm up and head home.

This is not the only 'honeymoon' we will do. We've got a couple of holiday ideas up our sleeves for when we can both get time off work.

 

I love the Southern Highlands and the nice slow pace down there. Have you been recently?

Centennial Vineyard, Southern Highlands // Review

On the way home from our mini holiday we stopped in Bowral for lunch...except we didn't because there was a market on and no car spaces. S had the idea that we stop at Centennial Vineyard for lunch and I agreed thinking he was talking of Briars in Mossvale. As I was driving and got closer, I suddenly remembered the place we were going....and then I remembered I was wearing a t-shirt, shorts, salty beach hair and a hat. Not an outfit fit for Centennial Vineyards. We also had Teddy in the car and there is no outdoor seating. S assured me it would be fine and rang ahead to ask if they could seat us outside as we had the dog. So they did. 

They set our table which was under the beautiful trees (conveniently away from the well dressed diners inside). The weather was so perfect, so sitting out under the trees was no problem at all. The grass is lovely and Ted had no problems lazing around while we ate lunch.

I ordered the Twice Baked Soufflé (Parmesan & gruyere soufflé, sweet potato fondant, caramelised garlic, onion rings & sauce soubise) and S ordered the Eye Fillet Steak. I had never had souffle before and seriously, where has it been all my life. Why hasn't anyone made me souffle before? The food was fantastic. Every component of the dish worked well together. I also ordered a glass of pinot noir (my favourite type of wine) which was great. I forgot to look and see if it was from the actual winery though..oops.

I would recommend Centennial Vineyards as a nice place to go for a special occasion. It's not really somewhere you go if you've been swimming in the morning and your hair is a little matted, but lucky for me they let me eat there anyway. I was really impressed that they accommodated us having the dog there too and they really took a leap of faith by doing this as we could have brought in a feral dog that ripped up the gardens. Lucky Ted was a good patron and just slept the whole time.