Wow! What a crazy month July has turned out to be this year. Just when we were settling in for what we thought was going to be a fairly steady 2026, the second half of the year sets a new pace. In a good way.
Let’s hope things carry on like this!
We’re talking lots of fun birthday parties, some amazing sport, international travel and plenty of catch-ups with friends in cool venues new and old. Here’s our wrap on July 2026!
Hope you enjoy this Flavour of the Month.
Cheers – Jim & Christina xx
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Christina catches up with the ladies!
This afternoon, Christina is out with some old family friends. It’s the first time these lovely ladies have all been together for years; some of them have moved interstate and life in general tends to get in the way of everyone’s best intentions.
They’ve come to the Belrose Hotel for a bite to eat, but honestly, the food is secondary to just being together again.
Catch-ups, parties and dinners used to be a regular occurrence back in the day when Christina was growing up. It’s lovely to see them all together, but it’s also a bit sad as not everyone’s around anymore. A reminder to all of us to make the most of time we have with our closest friends.
State of Origin & Sydney Brewery Rozelle
Along with this whole month being dominated by the incredible Fifa World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the USA, it’s also the decider for the 2026 State of Origin rugby league tournament between New South Wales and Queensland.
We’re at Sydney Brewery with our mate Brett and some of Christina’s crazy jujitsu friends to watch the game. The brewery has what we think is the biggest indoor pub TV screen (not projection screen btw) in the country.
Amazingly, NSW boys manage to win this game and take home the trophy, even though the game’s at QLD’s home ground – a veritable fortress. It’s a thriller of a game.
Futsal legends score a Curry Night
I’ve been playing for the same Futsal team since 2005. These guys are like family. Every now and again, we have a week off, and we grab the opportunity to head out for a curry somewhere in Sydney.
Tonight is one such night and we’ve made our way to The Spice Room, an Indian restaurant tucked away on the perimeter of Circular Quay. The best thing about booking a big group here is there’s really only one big table and it’s right in front of the kitchen. It’s fascinating to watch the chefs at work. You can even see them pushing naan bread onto the edge of the tandoor from here.
We’re Off To Thailand!
Christina and I are so excited about this trip to Thailand. It’s great to be back – especially after last year’s fascinating cultural and historical journey to the River Kwai, Hellfire Pass and the Death Railway on Anzac Day.
This trip is set to be a little lighter on WWII, though no less culturally enticing.
We start off with three nights in Bangkok where we get up to all kinds of things. From canalboat rides and lunch by the giant gold Buddha to Muay Thai tournaments to the world’s noisiest massage!
Us with our excellent travel companions Jules Park from @amazingsydneylife and Rachel Davey from @veryhungrynomads. Also our lovely host Nang from Tourism Authority of Thailand and our amazing guide Nam from Absolutely Fantastic Holidays.
From Bangkok, we head south to the beautiful coastline of Hua Hin, which lies on the west coast of the Bay of Thailand.
On the way south, we visit an amazing temple in a cave and the famous Maeklong Railway Market before ensconcing ourselves in a beautiful hotel room with its own private pool!
In Hua Hin, we explore the gamut: from nature trails and boat excursions in the national park to local eateries and night market to shiny shopping centres and sumptuous resort dinners.
We somehow manage to do all of this with the World Cup in full flow. The time difference in Thailand to the USA is even more crushing than in Sydney, but we and our travel chum Nang (who is love with Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham) get up for the games.
Thankfully, our itinerary is very forgiving each morning!
Now we’ve whetted your appetite, we’ll be talking a lot more about this trip over the next few weeks, so keep your eye out.
Fenwick balmain – the perfect girls’ catchup
Christina is out to dinner with her friends this evening. Affectionately self-labelled ‘The WAGs’, this glamorous cohort are the Wives And Girlfriends of a group of lads that don’t deserve them!
Tonight, the WAGs are at the Fenwick next to the Balmain East ferry wharf looking out over the harbour to Sydney’s famous bridge. This beautiful location often has excellent specials in the winter, and these ladies are taking full advantage.
If you’re looking for a romantic dinner venue (or somewhere for a superb catch-up dinner with friends), check out the Fenwick – especially when they’re running this 50% offer on their meals!
surprise 60th in manly
Tonight is a very special celebration: we’re in Manly for our friend Leanne’s surprise sixtieth birthday party! Leanne is Christina’s sister’s oldest friend – she’s more like a part of the family – and it’s an honour to be able to celebrate this milestone with her.
We’re in the private room of the Manly Skiff Club, which hangs over the water and look out over the harbour. It’s a lovely venue – one befitting our wonderful friend. Happy birthday, Leanne!
Tempting Balmain
This afternoon, we’re trying to convince our friend Vesna to move to Balmain from Melbourne. This is Christina’s dream assignment; she loves playing tour guide in her hometown, but even more so if that includes some evangelical work to turn someone from Victoria to live in the Inner West!
We show her some of our favourite highlights, including the beautifully renovated Dry Dock Hotel and our latest favourite wine and cocktail bar Nacara Bar & Cellar.
Vesna seems pretty impressed. I think we might have just about done enough to bring her to the dark side!
Double 60th Celebrations!
Following on from our friend Leanne’s 60th, we have another one to celebrate tonight – in fact, it’s a double!
Our lovely friends Ciaran – from my 11-a-side football team – and his wife Bridget are both hitting the 6-0 this month and they’ve booked the beautiful old sandstone room upstairs of the London Hotel in Balmain.
It’s a proper Irish shindig that goes on till the wee hours amidst some excellent speeches, lots of photos from back in the day and of course plenty of beer!
Congratulations Bridget and Ciaran!
Christina and Mara
Today, Christina is hanging out with one of our favourite people. Mara has been a friend of Christina’s family since the 1960s. Her wonderful husband Riccardo, who sadly passed in 2022, was best friends with Christina’s father. The two were inseparable.
Christina and Mara spend all morning and most of the afternoon together at the beach, a pot of lunch at Coogee Pavillion and then a bit of shopping.
This is what life’s really about, isn’t it.
World-beating Wines
We love writing about wine – especially when the wine’s this good!
Earlier this month, we wrote about Pewsey Vale’s Estate Riesling and Dalrymple Wines’ Pipers River Pinot Noir – part of the impressive Hill-Smith Family Estate. You can read the full story here, but basically these two wines were picked as the best in the world in this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards, a competition often referred to as the ‘Olympics of Wine’.
Out over over 14,000 wines, these two – along with three other Aussie wines – were awarded Best In Show after rigorous multiple blind tastings by a hoard of professional judges.
This month also saw us review a new collection of top end wines from Orange, NSW. We love Orange, and the wine that comes from the elevated slopes of Mt Canobolas are always exceptional.
We’re big fans of Ross Hill Wines anyway, so when we had the opportunity to try some of their latest premium Pinnacle series, there wasn’t much that could slow us down!
You can see our full review of these three wines here, but don’t expect any bad news in this story. The Chardonnay is clean and refined, the Sauvignon Blanc is lively and grown up, and the Cabernet Franc is bold yet restrained and dreadfully moreish!
Chelsea in the Sydney Super Cup
With the Fifa World Cup and all its glories, heartbreaks and controversies finally over, it’s time for friendlies before the professional football season starts again.
Excitingly, our team Chelsea is in town for the Sydney Super Cup and we get tickets for their first game against Western Sydney Wanderers at the magnificent Accor Stadium.
We score seats in the Chelsea end behind the goal only a few rows from the front. It’s a surprisingly thrilling game (Western Sydney haven’t been in the best form recently). With Chelsea fielding their reserve and youth players for the first 60 minutes, Wanderers put a huge amount of pressure on the newly-appointed Chelsea coach Xabi Alonso.
In fact, apart from Chelsea’s early goal, Western Sydney either lead or hold a draw until the 80th minute! Only a hat trick from superstar striker Joao Pedro brought the final score to a stunning 6-4 victory for the Blues in the end.
I don’t think anyone was expecting a 10-goal game – especially not like this!
We get the VIP treatment for Chelsea v Spurs
How about this to finish off the month?! Not only do we get to see my beloved Chelsea FC play once, but we’ve managed to score tickets to the final game of the series, and it’s the big one: Chelsea vs their old rivals, fellow London club Tottenham Hotspur.
And even better than that, our good friends at Accor have set us up with tickets to the ALL Accor Members’ Suite on level 3! Not only do you get pristine views of the game, you also get very well taken care of.
Delicious food and drinks are all laid on – in fact the wine list even has the award-winning Pewsey Vale Riesling we’ve just told you about!
In terms of food, there’s a lush grazing platter to pick from, roast beef tenderloin, duck fat potatoes, salads and sourdough. At half time, there are steak and ale party pies and chicken schnitzel sliders as well!
This is an experience that’s available to ALL Accor members. It’s free to join the programme (click here to get started) and you can redeem points from stays at Accor hotels on experiences like this one!
As far as the game goes, I’d rather not talk about it. The score was 1-1 until the very last minute when Richarlison scored Spurs’ winner with almost the last kick of the game. It looks like this is going to be an interesting season for the Premiership.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this Flavour of the Month of July!
Cheers – Jim & Christina xx