Little Indonesia in Kingsford

Kingsford is where to go when you crave for some Indonesian delicacies.

I constantly had this suggestion come to me. So, when the craving kicked in, I took the bus to Kingsford, for my Indonesian food feast.

Kingsford is an eastern suburb of Sydney under the government of City of Randwick. It consists mainly residential area with University of New South Wales (UNSW) within the locality. All the Indonesian restaurants are along Anzac Parade Road.

The bus stop where we alighted

Anzac Parade Road in Kingsford

There's construction work along this road

Any internet search I did of 'top Indonesian restaurants in Kingsford', Ayam Goreng 99 popped up as the top result. This is the restaurant that serve Indonesian fried chickens and grilled chickens as their favourite items. However, I was not lucky. The restaurant was closed for Christmas break until end of January 2017.

After walking around and searching for another recommendation in the internet, we decided to pay a visit to Indo Rasa Restaurant. The restaurant was quite full that time. We ordered a plate of nasi kuning (yellow coconut rice), beef rendang, ayam goreng (fried chicken), sambal goreng (spicy tofu-tempe-long bean) and chilli sauce plus a plate of gado-gado (Indonesian mixed vegetable with peanut sauce). We also ordered a plate of chicken satay. I was not really into the rendang but the rest were amazing. We swept all of them clean! I went into food comma with AUD 30 (~SGD 34).

Indo Rasa Restaurant

Inside the restaurant

Our food

It's how we finished all of them

Another strong recommendation is Rosebery Martabak. Martabak is traditional Indonesian sweet pancake. The batter is poured in a stone pan on top of fire stove, the filling can be crushed peanuts, chocolate sprinkles, sesame, cheese and anything you can imagine.

It is quite actually difficult to find good martabak outside my hometown. But this one is actually pretty good, even better than the best that I could find in Singapore.

Another recommendation

A box of 8 pieces

The Indonesian pancake called martabak manis

University of New South Wales is located in this suburb of Kensington. It was established in 1949, until today it is one of the top 8 university in Australia.

Hello UNSW

Students, oh, how young they are

One of the lawns

The buildings

The study corner

The view from the study corner

It looks like the centre of the campus

Love is in the air,

Little Feet

Hello Parramatta!

Parramatta was founded by the British in the same year as Sydney in 1788, 10 months after the fleet set ashore in Sydney Cove. Previously, the Darug people occupied the area and named this place Burramatta (meaning heads of water). The Darug people were considered rich in foods from the forests and river.

The purpose of the British to move inland in 1788 is the crisis of food supply. Captain Arthur Phillip chose Parramatta as the potential farming area. A plot of land was granted to a convict named James Ruse and he succeeded as the first person who grew grains there.

Nowadays, Parramatta is considered the second CBD of Sydney. The population has increased over time and it reached almost 250,000 people in the city of Parramatta in 2016. It is located 23km west of Sydney CBD by the banks of Parramatta River.

Sydney and Parramatta is connected via Parramatta Road. Modes of public transport are also available. Train or ferry ride are the choices.

We chose the ferry ride from Darling Harbour to Parramatta Wharf. The 1-hour journey cost more than AUD 7. It was quite pricey but we just wanted to enjoy Parramatta River for once.

People enjoying the river from the ferry deck

The lush green Parramatta River

Some buildings by the banks of the river

Parramatta Wharf

Parramatta Wharf is located besides Queen's Wharf Reserve and Gasworks Bridge, which is the landing place of Captain Arthur Phillip in November 1788 in the attempt to find second settlement area inland of Sydney Cove. The wharf was in operation since 1831 and only serving one route from Parramatta to Sydney.

Walawa and Nalawola at Baramada

The map of Parramatta walking trail

Queen's Wharf Reserve 

Towards Gasworks Bridge

Gasworks Bridge

We decided to stop at this point and walk back

We walked towards the other side towards the city and Parramatta Park. It was about 2km walk on a flat track to the Park. We enjoy the good sights of the river, the bridges, the park at the opposite side of the river, the beautiful clouds and people playing with their dogs.

Strolling along

That's Parramatta Wharf

A unique bridge

River Foreshore Reserve at the opposite

That's the bridge to connect to the city

City of Parramatta

Another side of the city

Entrance to Parramatta Park

Parramatta Park was declared as public park since 1858

The trees

What a unique tree

Parramatta River passes through the park

Another view of the river

Australian ibises having some important meetings

There is vehicle access road too

Exit from another end

It was again another hot day. We strolled along the park for some time before deciding to spend the rest of the day in the air conditioned Westfield Parramatta. We are still Asians, anyway. We are afraid of the sun.

Love is in the air,
Little Feet

I left My Heart in Hunter Valley

My driver for the day

Time for a road trip!

We planned to go to the north to Hunter Valley, the oldest wine region in Australia. Started as family-owned wineries, Hunter Valley continues to produce good quality products, although only less than 2% of all Australian wine in total.

A day trip to Hunter Valley is highly recommended when you are visiting Sydney. Located a few hundred kilometer at the north of Sydney, Hunter Valley can be reached by 2-hour driving or so. Things to do in Hunter Valley include wine tasting, eating, sightseeing, cheese tasting, or simply just relaxing.

We traveled through M1 Freeway and Tourist Drive 33 to reach Hunter Valley. Tourist Drive 33 is the scenic route connecting Sydney and Hunter Valley. From M1 Freeway, take the exit at Calga and follow the road sign 'Tourist Drive 33'.

The view

It is suitably called scenic drive

Our first stop was Wollombi. It is a village in Hunter Valley region which is so picturesque.  After two-hour drive, it was great to stop for awhile and stretch our legs. We visited Wollombi General Store to have our coffee fix and walked around. All the houses along this road are so pretty I feel like settling down here.

The village

Another side of the road

Isn't it pretty?

Driver was tired?

Scone, jam, coffee and Wollombi

Wollombi General Store sells everything to support the necessities of people in Wollombi

Honey, jam, soaps, breads, everything

Wollombi Dance Hall

Pretty in pink

It is 'heaven'

We continued our drive further north to the most famous Hunter Valley village amongst tourists, Pokolbin. Pokolbin has more than 70 wineries, many restaurants and cafes, and Hunter Valley Gardens.

Our first destination was Audrey Wilkinson Winery. It is one of the most scenic wineries in Hunter Valley and it is famous for the semilon. There are complimentary and premium wine tasting here. Without the need to pay any cent, the visitors can enjoy a range of wines from red to sweet one. By choosing the premium wine tasting, the visitors shall pay AUD 10 and get more choices and better older wines.

The winery

It is not strange that this place is so recommended

:)

Can you see the grapes?

The shop

Those people were doing some wine tasting

There is a restaurant too

We stopped over at the visitor centre of Pokolbin to find some information about the area and decide where to go next. We then went to Roche Estate. Roche Estate is an establishment with a number of restaurants, shops, wineries and function halls. Our intention was to visit Smelly Cheese Shop and grab our lunch due to the good review of the food. However, we were told that the food would be ready only in 40 minutes. We cancelled our order and bought the ice cream instead. We chose chocolate, rum & raisin flavour and it tasted super good.

Roche Estate and its shops

Outdoor seating area in front of the restaurants

Nice place, isn''t it?

I love the canopy so so much

It's so packed

Smelly Cheese Shop sells a lot of things, cheese or no cheese

The ice cream won my heart

We knew about our next destination from the guide book I found in the visitor centre. It was listed under the The Best Wineries with View in Hunter Valley. In Constable Estate, there is a lookout hill with 360 degree view of the region. Without any hesitation, we chose this place.

We did not visit the winery as it was already 4:00 p.m. when we reached there. The winery was closed for the day. Therefore, we just drove past the winery to the back and reached Les Evans Memorial Lookout.

It was a small man-made hill and from there we could look at the area to any directions. I enjoyed being up there looking at the pines, the pond, the lush greeneries, the sky and the mountain range. I also enjoyed the strong wind that probably could blow me away.

Les Evans Memorial Lookout

(Almost) on top of the world

The compass show the directions to nearest cities

The Constable Estate from afar

This is my favourite view

Can't stop looking at it

I surely left a piece of my heart here

The sky is so pretty

Constable Estate Winery

A sculpture garden besides the winery

More sculptures

We found a yard at the back

With a view!!!

Our last stop for the day was Hunter Valley Chocolate Shop. It is a shop selling local chocolate products and chocolate fudges. It was almost closed when we came. Apparently most of the shops and wineries in Hunter Valley close between 4:00 p.m to 5:00 p.m.

Hunter Valley Chocolate Shop

The interior

The kitchen

Manyt many fudges

On our way back home, we stopped at one small street full of pink colour flower trees. They were so pretty I could not resist taking million pictures with them. The flower trees are called Illawara flame trees or Kurrajong. They are native to east coast of Australia and bloom at the late spring period. In autumn, they shed their leaves.

The blue fence is kind of making it picture perfect

The Kurrajong trees come in many shades of pink and red

This one matches my romper

More than pretty

We drove back to Sydney with satisfaction. Hunter Valley is certainly one of our favourites!

Love is in the air,
Little Feet