Technically, this is my first post in 2014!!!!
Hope everyone celebrated magnificently with family, friends, loved ones or with your lonesome self (yet happy). I celebrated mine in a totally isolated and peaceful way this year unlike previous years where I would always drag some friends to watch fireworks with me, waited for what seemed like forever so that we could get the best spot to watch the fireworks. This year, I have someone special to celebrate with. The original plan was to go to Malaysia as well as to visit my family. Sadly the plan had to be cancelled due to some personal issues I had and with budget limitation, we decided to spend New Year's Eve in regional Victoria. The state of Victoria has a lot of awesome relaxing spots and Yarra Valley is one of them. If you recall my previous post on Domain Chandon, I didn't stay the night. We just went there for the day and we left afterwards.
This time, we decided to stay at Balgownie Estate, Mercure Hotel which is located at 1309 Melba Hwy, Yarra Valley. Our original plan was to stay at Chateau Yerring but the rooms were fully booked long before Christmas. As we were quite some last minute people, after doing some research and looking at some photos they have on their website here, I discussed with my partner and we agree this would be our best option. There is a wide range of option when it comes to selecting accommodations in Yarra Valley. For us, the cost came to $293/night and trust me, it is so worth it. In a minute, you'll know why.
We didn't book for the 7-course meal in the evening because it would cost us another $150/pp and breakfast is another $28/pp. TOO MUCH!! We went elsewhere to have dinner although the quest was rather difficult to achieve initially because out there, not many restaurants open after 5 pm and if there's any, you have to drive further out. After doing some research on Urbanspoon, we found a few.
Driving from city to Balgownie Estate wasn't too bad, it probably took us about 1 hour to reach there and the weather was just perfect that day, it was 25-degree celcius maximum.
From the main road.
I just looooooove taking photos on very fine day like this. There's really no skill necessary. Literally just point and shoot with quality lens :)
The driveway to enter Balgownie Estate.
Inside the estate, the balcony view to the gardens.
The lounge room in our privilege Gardner room...
Lounge room take #2
Lounge room take #3.
Kitchenette fully quipped with small fridge, microwave, nespresso machine, nespresso capsules and twinning tea and of course the experience of staying in the winery estate is not complete without a selection of local wines. I think one of them being 2012 pinot noir.
Inside the bathroom with two sinks!!! I told my partner that I want a house like this. Looks very simple but comfortable and I want 2 sinks in the bathroom like this!!! What for?? So it saves time although I'm not sure about the bill a month later but if you have 2 children, they'll all be ready at the same time (kind of)...
This is the most amazing and probably odd for some people. That is, you can see through the living room!! Um, unless you want to see your partner showering in there from the lounge room, I'm not sure why they designed it the way it is but build in Jacuzzi?? Yes, anytime!!! You don't need rocket science knowledge to operate it, pretty straightforward.
Bedroom take #1. I love the wall design, there is a touch of art everywhere and how I wish my wardrobe is that huge! You can't see it in the photo because I couldn't find the right angle to capture the entire space but the mirror wardrobe is HUGE!
Bedroom take #2. Also with garden view so you can wake up to it the next morning. The bed is the most comfortable one I've ever slept in in a long long long long time.
After taking some rest, we went out for a walk whilst the sun is still up. During summer in Victoria, the sky doesn't get dark until 9 pm. Might as well take advantage of it while it lasts!
There is a story behind this photo and there is a reason I look weird in the photo.
I wanted to pretend playing chess with my boyfriend and I intended the photo to look natural, before I could say anything, the timer went off and my boyfriend already smiled at the camera while I was yelling out "Don't look at the camera!" So, this is the end result and I couldn't be bothered to retake another one.
We walked about a little bit more and we rested back in the living room watching some TV until we realised it was about time to make our way to Healesville, about 20 minutes drive from the estate. We made a reservation at Innocent Bystander at 19:30, which is located at 336 Maroondah Hwy, Healesville. We decided on this restaurant after searching for available restaurants after 5 pm in nearby area and this one came up with 87% review and 300+ people voted so we thought it was pretty legit.
The interior seating area was very contemporary Australian with a touch of art to it, indeed feels very original.
We ordered 2 tapas dishes, one being grilled lamb and pinenut adana with tabouleh and the other one is Hervey Bay Scallops.
Hervey Bay Scallops.
My verdict is they are both really yum! The lamb sausage is so smokey that it tastes like they came out straight from the woodfire! The flavour is still locked in and just explodes in your mouth.
cotechino sausage, san manzarno tomato, olive, sage, scamorza bianca cheese and pickled eggplant.
The pizza is so fresh and get this, it is oven baked with genuine traditional wood fire! That's where the smokiness comes from! The bread tastes so fresh like of home-made bread. Overall, this kind of pizza is hard to find, not your everyday Lygon st Italian restaurant standard.
The main is interestingly under the head title of "not-pizza", we thought it is very original. This one is bbq pork shoulder, smoked eggplant with coriander, lemon and cumin. I would honestly say this one is pretty standard just because I haven't had an exceptional experience with eating pork dishes in my history of modern Australian food fine dining.
We also ordered 2 desserts to complete our dining experience, one being a cheesecake and another one was bread and butter pudding. The cheesecake was not bad but the bread and butter pudding was too filling to our liking. If you like banana bread, then maybe you'll enjoy it more than us. I didn't take a photo of it simply because it was too dark and I didn't want to turn on my built-in flash.
I hate that moment when your camera flashes and people stare at you. Not that we'll ever see each other again randomly and the other person being "OMG, those are one of those people (Asians) taking food pictures with flash". Oh well, maybe I just think too much.
All of that for $112 at the end of the night, I reckon it's not bad at all compared to all those New Year's Eve dining package that charge $150-$250 pp. I reckon this one is worth it and unless you can eat some 7-9 course meal person, this one works just fine.
We headed back to our accommodation and rested just after midnight (of course you have to stay awake to wish each other Happy New Year before going to bed) :)
The next morning, we had the same dilemma, where are we going to have breakfast!!!?? It's New Year's Day! No one is working, who would torture themselves and pay 2x pay rates for their employees? I know the company I 'm working at would but in the countryside? No.
We went through urbanspoon again and found one, Zonzo which is not too far away from where we were staying too but it was closed when we drove there :( We had no choice but to go back to innocent bystander because it would take too much time and risk to find different ones. Besides, my boyfriend was raving non-stop and craving for more pizza. So, we went back.
We ordered the Salumi instead of Tapas this time. Based on recommendation from the waitress, we had Italian Cacciatorini. The salami and bread are so fresh! I'm a sucker for bread, I looooooove bread so much that I can eat a whole loaf by myself.
We ordered another pizza, this time, it is Australian Prawn Cutlet, San Marzano tomato, Oregano & Buffalo Mozzarella. Another amazing pizza but I loooooooooooove the truffle frites!!
It was one of the best French Fries I've ever tasted. Well, basically it's just French Fries with cheese (I know, I have to go the gym 3 times a week to lose all the calories) but I swear, the French Fries are so different from the usual ones, fresh, crispy just on the edge and freshly baked potato in the inside. Thinking about it is torturing me :(
This time, the meal costs us $48 in total. Rather than $28 pp breakfast at the estate, I would rather this anytime.
After that, we had to say goodbye to Yarra Valley and the weather was turning all gloomy and shortly after, the rain started falling. We drove out to Christmas Hills because my boyfriend wanted to show me the Sugarloaf Reservoir where his parents used to take him out fishing there but the rain wouldn't stop so I couldn't take any photo.
Rain oh rain, why??? Oh well, maybe another day or another year.. Hmm.
I saw it briefly though, was a HUGE reservoir. There is also a dam where cars could drive on top of it to another lookout location where people could set up picnic and BBQ.
On our way back, we managed to visit Tarra Warra winery estate briefly just to rest a couple of minutes and sipped a cup of coffee while watching the rain.
One more photo before we left for Melbourne.
I hope everyone had a great time celebrating the start of 2014 and I hope this year will bring everyone better luck, wealth, better career/business prospect and most importantly, better health!
Also, to visit Balgownie estate and the Yarra Valley, please click here to find out more.
Until next time~~
