New Zealand/Nueva Zelanda/Neuseeland

A few months back I decided that I wanted to see New Zealand. I never really thought it would push through as I had so many troubles along the way. The embassy misspelled my name on my visa and so I had to wait another few weeks for them to return my passport with my visa printed on it, my travel agent really didn't do that great of a job, and so many other things.

However, it did turn out to be a surprisingly good trip.

We planned to go to so many places (which we did, but didn't fully cover our initial plan) and didn't expect to even cover as much as we did. New Zealand is absolutely stunning and is just beyond words.

On our first day it seemed pretty bad as it was raining and it was gloomy, but a lovely dinner with one of my old friends from the Philippines saved it all. We ate at Strawberry Fare and the food was just so filling and beautiful!

Chic menu!

Walter & I had a dish called Simply Salmon (Hot smoked warm Akaroa salmon, salad greens, ciabatta, caper & dill creme fraiche):

Perfection on a plate!

We then drove to Methven, to a place called Mt Hutt Bunkhouse. We had a lovely stay. It was detached from the internet (although they do provide access for a minimal fee), clean, cosy and homey. Giles (owner/manager) made sure we had everything we needed. It was so comfortable and at the same time very affordable. Would definitely stay there again when we do go back for another visit. :-)

Walter & I at Mt Hutt Bunkhouse

View from across our lodge at 8 in the morning the next day! :3

By the time we got there we were absolutely buggered and wanted to be up bright and early for our first day up the slopes. The 2 photos above were taken that morning before we caught the bus to go to Mt Hutt which was so amazingly nice, but that's for the next blog!

Adelaide's food secrets - Cocolat

I can confidently say that Cocolat has been my BEST find in Adelaide. It's a dessert cafe down in Rundle Street.

We had cakes there, and unfortunately they've been gobbled up too quickly that I ended up only having a photo of their amazing tiramisu:

It was soooooooo good. The cake was encased in milk chocolate, topped with shaved white chocolate and served with fudge and cream. I was in heaven for 5 minutes.

I bought a box of their truffles (and thought that maybe they're not as great as the Chocolateria San Churro here in Sydney), but my, to my surprise... They were even better! The truffle menu can be found here (expect to drool).

My chocolate experience in Cocolat was absolutely amazing that I had to go back to buy another 2 boxes of chocolate and indulge myself in 2 massive scoops of their gelato!!! If I'm not mistaken they've been awarded chocolatier of the year and they truly deserve it!!!

Cocolat is unique to South Australia and nowhere else so I suggest that when you go there you make sure that it's one of your stops!

Adelaide's food secrets - Rundle Spices

Before I moved to Australia I never really enjoyed Thai, mainly because I didn't know much about the cuisine. Out here people love it, and I've grown to love it too. Rundle Spices is another restaurant on Rundle Street in Adelaide's city centre.

We came in for dinner (a very late one at that) and they were just about to close shop. Their staff was so friendly that they still let us order despite them already prepping to close up! Suffice it to say the food came out from the kitchen so quickly like any other Thai restaurant.

There were five mouths to feed, and our table looked something like this (notice how the food's already been touched; we were that hungry!):

We had Red beef curry

Some pandan chicken

Some green chicken curry, and satay chicken.

The food was lovely, served very hot (as in hot hot and spicy hot, haha). It wasn't beautifully plated like you would in fine restaurants, but you really get good food for the price that you pay. What I loved about Rundle Spices was that their prices were very competitive. They're situated in the city centre, with many other restaurants that charge heaps for food. They managed to stay on the main street and still serve very affordable food. Entrees are between $5-8 and mains from $11-15.

The servings don't come tiny either. We were all stuffed by the end of our meal and still had some stuff left over. I'd have to say, Rundle Spices has really impressed me, because I've tried and tested so many eat in and takeaway Thai and they've lived up to the standard of serving fresh, delicious food for a cheap price in a beautiful setup.

Adelaide's food secrets - Brunelli

I know, I know... this is 3 months too late... but hey, I'm officially on break which means I can actually squeeze out some substantially sensible blogs! Lol. Last time I said I'd be talking about wining and dining in Adelaide, and here we are. The whole 4/5 days that I spent there, I basically just ate out for most of the time. When I arrived, I had lunch with a couple of old mates from the Philippines. I had a wonderful time catching up, and definitely a wonderful time eating! We had lunch at Brunelli, an Italian café down in Rundle Street Mall which is practically Adelaide's city centre.

My friend had this gorgeous plate of Pollo Principessa if I remember that correctly! It's basically chicken breast, with ham and white wine sauce.

My other friend has a warm chicken salad, which was generously drizzled with honey mustard and candy balsamic.

Meanwhile, I had Garlic Prawns with white wine cream sauce, rice and vegetables. It was absolutely lovely. The prawns were perfectly cooked - meat falling off the shell (in this case, the tail haha), super soft and super juicy! I loved it.

Prices range from about $20-$30 for mains, which isn't too bad considering the servings are hefty. You can either eat inside the cafe, or outdoors (which is, on a beautiful sunny day, so good) where you can people watch!

Happy 1st day of winter, Australia! ♥