Brisbane, a distillery road trip and the capital of Australia

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta Diary - 1 title

As you probably know, we love travelling. It’s the best. So when Mrs Romance turned to me the other day looking all wistful and pointed out we hadn’t been anywhere all year, it came as a bit of a shock.

 

It’s true, we hadn’t been overseas together all year, but what we did realise was that we have now been to every state and territory in Australia this year – in fact since July! With a trip to Canberra this weekend just gone, we’ve crossed the last one off the list!

It’s made our lives busy in the best possible way – and looking back at our Instagram feed over these last couple of weeks and realised just how much we’ve been moving about recently. Here’s our latest Instagram Diary and what we’ve been up to this past fortnight.

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta Diary - 2 Sunday sun day

We’ve come to Bondi to meet up with the lovely Laura from ThisIslandLife.com. Icebergs is such a beautiful location – especially when the sun’s out.

[Ed. Funnily enough, this only lasted another hour or so before an enormous storm broke across the city and soaked everyone!]

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta Diary - 3 24thAnd3rd

Today, Mrs Romance is hanging out with JJ from 24thand3rd.com. JJ’s a photo-genius and does amazingly styled shots. Mrs R has learned so much from her. This shot of eggs benedict is absolutely stunning.

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta Diary - 4 Business Class

Our travels are taking us to Brisbane this morning for the next Little Blog Big workshop. We’re making the most of Mrs Romance’s gold membership and hooking into the coffee bar in the Virgin business lounge! This is the way to travel!

 

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta Diary - 5 breakfast with my bro

While Mrs Romance and Smaggle are round Nikki’s from Styling You, I’m spending a bit of time with my brother, who lives in Brisbane. We’ve taken a drive up to Caloundra for breakfast at La Dolce Vita at Bulcock Beach. Absolutely delicious!

 

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta Diary - 6 Bulcock Beach, Caloundra

After that huge meal, we’ve decided to take a quick stroll along Bolcock Beach to work off some of that chorizo and bacon! It’s a lovely spot – I wonder if my brother will move here…

 

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta Diary - 7 LBB QLD via BFLI

Today’s Little Blog Big QLD session is absolutely awesome. I think it’s all been pretty well summed up by Bruce from Big Family Little Income – this guy’s an absolute diamond. If you haven’t already, check out his blog. Thanks for coming and supporting us at LBB QLD, Bruce!

 

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta Diary - 8 Wine Wednesday

Back at Romance HQ, we’re rejoicing the week with a bit of cheese and some vino. Nothing better to make the week feel a bit shorter than a mid-week feast!

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta Diary - 9 road trip Nip of Courage

And we’re off again! This time, we’re on a road trip with Kath from Nip of Courage – an amazing independent distributor of Australian craft spirits. The distillers Nip of Courage represents are amazing. Their stories are fascinating and the spirits they make are divine!

We’re off to meet Ian Glen from Stone Pine in Bathurst and then on to Mendooran – a tiny little town 5 hours northwest of Sydney to check out Black Gate. It’s going to be fun!

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta Diary - 10 Stone Pine Distillery

Ian’s seasonal release of Orange Blossom Gin is incredible. So delicious. We’re so lucky to have tasted this stuff – there are only 400 bottles in circulation! Watch this space for more info on Stone Pine’s latest genius!

Here’s our other story on Stone Pine – Ian’s Dead Man’s Drop black spiced rum!

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta Diary - 12 piri piri chicken burger Agrestic Grocer

On our way further northwest, we stop in at the town of Orange for lunch at the Agrestic Grocer. This is my piri piri chicken burger and it’s broken my mind! Absolutely unbelievable!

 

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta Diary - 11 wheat fields

On we go to Mendooran to meet Brian Hollingworth and his lovely family. They run Black Gate Distillery – a beautifully humble set up for what’s currently only 1 of 4 paddock to bottle distilleries in the world. Mrs Romance is right in the middle of what will be Brian’s 2016 harvest for Black Gate. Amazing.

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta Diary - 13 big spider

This morning we’ve gone bush with Brian to harvest quandongs. These small red fruits grow all over the place in country NSW and Brian makes an amazing liqueur with them.

Foraging isn’t without its perils though. Mrs Romance just spotted this monster on our way through the bush!

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta Diary - 14 LLB ACT

We’ve barely had time to unpack before we’re back on the road – this time to Canberra. This is our penultimate Little Blog Big session for the year (we’ve also got LBB Sydney on 28th November.

This session has been absolutely amazing – Carly and Mrs R have done another great job teaching people about the industry and how to win at the internet.

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta Diary - 15 Scarborough Wine

A big thank-you to Scarborough Wines for their support and sponsorship for this round of Little Blog Big. Their delicious landmark Chardonnay is the Hunter Valley in a bottle, and it’s been the perfect final punctuation in all our Little Blog Big sessions so far. Make sure you check them.

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta Diary - 16 Pray For Paris

While we’ve been working on the Little Blog Big ACT session, we’ve been hearing the appalling news about Paris. These horrendous, contemptible acts are doing nothing but illustrate how barbaric and stupid the brainwashed fools connected with terrorism are. It’s incomprehensible that people can think doing something like this is a good idea. Cruel. Mindless. Stupid.

Our thoughts are with the families of those lost and with the people still suffering. I hope Paris will regain its feet quickly.

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta Diary - 17 Canberra

Before we leave Canberra, we get a chance to have a quick look round. The classic view of Lake Burley Griffin and the National Carillon is the perfect way to end a fun and industrious visit to the Australian capital. Especially when the sun pokes its head out for a while.

Have you been to Canberra? Do you have any tips for us for when we visit again with more time to spare? Do you have a favourite capital city? Tell us in the comments!

Images by Mr and Mrs Romance via Instagram: @MrAndMrsRomance, @HairRomance, @Christina.Butcher – Mrs R’s Insta account and @AngryBastard of course!

2 Comments

  • Reply November 16, 2015

    Sonia from Sonia Styling

    You’ve been to every state in Australia this year? That’s amazing! I’ve only just ticked Tassie off the list but have never visited the NT or ACT, so must change that in the near future…

    • Reply November 17, 2015

      Mr Romance

      I know, Sonia it’s crazy! We hit WA when we went to Broome and the Kimberley, and then Darwin in the NT at the end of that trip, Adelaide to see you guys and Little Blog Big SA, Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Fraser Island for QLD, Tasmania the other month the same as you, VIC quite a few times, Canberra for LBB ACT and of course NSW! Cray cray!
      Jxx

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