Birthdays, beers and a Mother’s Day cocktail

I secretly love birthdays… well, it’s not much of a secret now I suppose. But I do.

I pretend I don’t care if it’s my birthday or not, play it cool. But I do care. I think it’sMrs Romance’s doing. She loves birthdays more than anything – even more than Christmas. And that’s not limited to just her birthday either.

For her, it’s all about someone having a great day and having a day that’s completely theirs.

For me, it’s about seeing how much I can push the carte blanche you get when it’s your special day. And it’s amazing how much you can actually get away with on your birthday!

This year my birthday has a decidedly beer-orientated look to it, which is fun. I’ve decided to put more effort into a previously dormant side to our business you might see coming up more often: Beer Romance!

At this stage it’s only an Instagram feed @BeerRomance but it should be fun. This week’s IG Edition has quite a beery flavour to it as you’re about to find out.

We hope you enjoy this IG Ed and we’ll speak to you again soon.

Cheers!

Jim & Christina x

No, these aren’t my balloons – though I kind of wish they were! Today is our friends’ little girl’s 3rd birthday! She’s such a sweetheart and as you might have guessed, she loves pink!

Happy birthday, Jessica indeed. This ice cream cake is absolutely delicious – strawberry and chocolate. I don’t know if they’re Jessica’s favourite flavours, but I know her dad likes them!

This is from a little gelato shop in Chatswood, Sydney called Gelateria Gondola. Great little place with beautiful gelato. Which isn’t ice cream by the way. No no no.

Read about the difference here!

It’s Wednesday and that means beer! I usually play football every Wednesday but this week we’ve got a night off. So it’s straight down the pub. We’re at the Trinity Bar in Surry Hills – a long-time favourite haunt of the team’s.

And tonight we’re drinking a great session beer from Endeavour Brewery. Yes please!

We’re lucky enough to live near enough to Sydney Harbour that there aren’t many weeks where we don’t need to take a ferry somewhere. It’s such a beautiful way to travel.

Even commuters who use the ferry every day are more relaxed and happier than those that use the buses and trains. Even though the ferry is more expensive and travels slower (unless there’s traffic), I think it’s the best way to get from A to wherever.

Tonight, Mrs Romance and I are settling in and enjoying the start of winter properly. I’ve cooked up my special roast potatoes (I should probably give you the recipe for them, shouldn’t I?) and a beautiful steak, and we’ve cracked a delicious Cabernet Sauvignon from Hardys Wine.

This is from the Tintara Geology range and well worth a look.

Today we’re getting some fundamentals of our trip ready – like buying a new suitcase. We found our old one was just too big and, even when it wasn’t completely full, it was overweight.

It also means I can sit in the box it came in. Very comfortable, thank you!

Mrs Romance and I are having an important business meeting this afternoon. In our local. We’re also testing out to see it’s good enough for my birthday party.

It is!

My fish and chips is absolutely delicious as is my Pirate Life Pale Ale!

Mrs Romance’s lunch is much healthier but no less tasty. What may look like giant chips are in fact big slabs of halloumi!

What a find! I couldn’t believe it when I spotted this massive (and well-crafted) spliff on the cash machine in the middle of the city today.

I can just imagine the poor person who left it here; probably just on their way to a pre-emptive munchy shop, got some money out and left the purpose of the whole exercise on the ATM.

If it weren’t so funny, it’d be sad!

I’ve taken things al fresco this afternoon. A pot of coffee, a beautiful view and a very sturdy Cuban cigar. Doesn’t get much better. And our office wifi reaches too. Perfect!

Just showing off really.

For those who care, this is a Cuaba Distinguidos and it’s a superb cigar. However, it’s not for the faint-hearted; it’s a very big smoke.

It’s my birthday and I’ll drink beer if I want to! One of Mrs Romance’s wonderful birthday presents to me: one of Australia’s finest beers – Feral Brewery’s Hop Hog.

Yesterday was Mother’s Day in Australia – and many countries around the world in fact.

We worked with Feeney’s Irish Cream to bring a beautiful cocktail for Mum’s special day – though I’d personally enjoy drinking this any day of the year… and I’m not even a mum!

Check out this delicious drink here.

This week’s Travel Recap

Each week we go back in time over some of our favourite travel destinations using never-before-seen photos of our travels. Here’s where we’ve been looking back on this week.

What a beautiful day at Stockton Beach – the longest beach in Port Stephens. It’s 32km long and up to 1km wide in places. The water also stays shallow for ages, which makes it perfect for paddling!

Check out more of our tips for Port Stephens, only a couple of hours north of Sydney, here.

Port Stephens really is such a beautiful part of the Australia. The sun rising up over the landscape of this peninsular is well worth the early start!

Enjoy this shot – it’s a rare one. I don’t usually get up in time to see the sunrise and it’s even rarer that I’m in the mood to have my photo taken!

But the view out over the bays of Port Stephens just as the sun breaches the horizon is worth giving up the warmth of your bed for!

Mataking Island, off the northeastern coast of Malaysian Borneo, is absolutely stunning. This tiny strip of sand disappears at high tide an leaves the palm tree covered island in the distance completely isolated.

We couldn’t believe our eyes when we first saw this place. It’s a shame the rest of Mataking isn’t quite as lovely.

While we were visiting Gaya Island just off the coast of Kota Kinabalu – Sabah’s capital – I made a friend! However, I don’t think he was as interested in me as he was our picnic!

I am also aware that this fellow is called a bearded pig. If my brother ever found out, he would not let me get away with this one!

Gaya Island Resort has an amazing view from its beach across the water to Kota Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo. From here you can see Mount Kinabalu – Borneo’s highest peak.

For more on our time in Borneo, check out our library of posts here.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s IG Edition. We’ll chat again soon I’m sure.

Cheers

Jim and Christina x