Scones, Scones, Scones

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We like tea. We like scones. We love them together. Not just any scones…..only really delicious scones. We check British-influenced cities before we travel to see who has the best scones and we always visit them.

We have strong opinions about cream and jam and the order they are applied to the scone.

The Cream

Must be thick…Devonshire cream thick. There can be no cream running off the scone. The cream goes on the scone first, then the jam.

The Jam

Must be thick, very fruity, and not too sweet. Berry is my favorite. The jam goes on top of the cream.

Eat and enjoy.

One thing we noticed on our last trip to Australia is that we prefer scones that have fruit in them. I used to think the best scones had nothing in them, but now I find them boring. The best ones we had had dates in them. They were so good! We got them at the bakery in Peregian on the Sunshine Coast. They were warm out of the oven and very delicious.

Part of our “problem” with scones is I make an excellent ginger scone thanks to a recipe from Cooks Illustrated. Our standards are high, so not just any scone passes our criteria.

The scones at Claridge’s in London were delicious. The scones at The Empress in Victoria, British Columbia were not. Where have you had the best scones?

Cookies or Biscuits?

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I love visiting the cookie/biscuit aisle in the grocery store. In Australia, they put the biscuits right beside the tea because one always has a biscuit with tea at tea time. It makes so much sense! I love tea, as mentioned in a previous post about scones, and who doesn’t like biscuits?!

Have you heard of TimTams? They are a delicious chocolate coated cookie with wafers and a flavored cream in the middle. This last trip involved many, many packages of TimTams. We found new and exciting flavors, and the girls and Cameron gorged themselves. The favorites ended up being the TimTam Slams with malt and caramel filling. Ridiculously good!

Zoe deciding which flavor to get. One of everything will do until we run out!

Cadbury is another favorite stop of ours. We can get Cadbury chocolate in Canada when we visit my parents in Victoria, British Columbia, but the chocolate we get in Australia is usually way less expensive because of the sales every other week at Coles or IGA. We enjoy our fill of all the varieties and take some home to enjoy.

Every kind of Cadbury bar

I feel like I’m forgetting something….what is it? Ginger Nuts! How could I forget Ginger Nuts? This is a perfect tea cookie. It’s crisp and gingery and gets better when dipped in tea. We purchased some Ginger Nuts in Sydney, and they were very different from the ones we got in the Northern Territory 3 years ago and different again from the ones we got in Queensland. We looked it up, and there are unique recipes for the different regions. There used to be 4 or 5 companies making the cookies until they consolidated into one manufacturer. They settled on one recipe, and the people in the different regions complained because they didn’t get the biscuit they expected. Now Arnotts, the manufacturer, makes four different recipes, and each state gets the biscuit they expect and enjoy.

Any wonder we all came home carrying some extra weight around our middles and some packages of Cadbury, Ginger Nuts and TimTams to savor after arriving home. When are we going back?!

Barefoot…in the Grocery Store

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Barefoot in Coles in Noosa

One of our favorite things to do in any foreign country is going to the grocery store. It is so fun to wander the aisles to see all the items not available to us at home.

One thing so interesting to us is bare feet in a grocery store or any store in Australia. We could be in a store that is miles from the beach, but we still see bare feet. I saw someone walking around Circular Quay in Sydney in bare feet. I’ve never seen that in any other place we’ve traveled to.

Cameron and the girls had to try it out in Peregian and Noosa. It is still so strange to see. I went into a seafood shop in bare feet, and it just feels so wrong! I feel like someone could kick us out at any moment.

I do like the relaxed feel it brings to the stores, but it would take a while for it to feel natural to me.

Have you seen bare feet in groceries stores in other parts of the world?

Bunya Mountains – Wallabies Everywhere!

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Getting to the Bunya Mountains takes about 3 hours from Brisbane. The last part is on a very narrow mountain road, which we ended up driving on in the dark. Not our favorite time to be on the roads in a foreign country while driving on the opposite side from what we are used to. Regardless, we made it.

There is a Woolworth’s grocery store in Woodford on the way up from the coast. We stopped early, at Caboolture, it was a long way off the road, and I wouldn’t recommend it.

We used Bunya Mountains Accommodations to find and book accommodations. Warning, none of these places provide linens, but you can rent them for the duration of your stay. If you want to see wallabies, this is the place. They are everywhere! It is a National Park, so they are free to roam unharmed. The wallabies were plentiful, but they were cautious of people, so we didn’t get too close.

I was looking forward to feeding the parrots – king and crimson rosellas. There is a bird feeding time and place at the main store. We showed up on time, and there were so many people there to feed the birds that the birds didn’t really show up. There were maybe 8 in all, which was disappointing. Our friends who make frequent visits suggested we drive around the housing development to see if we could find some. We ended up locating birds feeding at some house feeders on one of the side streets. We stopped and got out to feed them. They came over seeking the food in our hands, so we all got to hand feed king parrots and crimson rosellas. There were about ten birds in all, and that worked for our party of 8.

I was excited to once again experience feeding these beautiful birds and also disappointed there were so few. In the past, Cameron and I had fed them, and there seemed to be so many on and around us then. Times have changed.

The park is a lovely place to visit. It’s cooler there than the coast so it would probably be great on those hot summer days. There are forest walks with lots of variety and distances. I felt like I was away from civilization even though there are a store and cafe nearby. Bunya Mountains National Park is a worthwhile side trip.

Eating Out Around Barangaroo and Millers Point

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There are lots of restaurants in the area that cover all different cuisines. Barangaroo has a lot more to offer since it gets a lot more foot traffic due to proximity to the Barangaroo Wharf.

The sausage rolls we got at Bourke Street Bakery were the best we found on our trip. We also loved the Buddha Bowls and Bao from Bing’s Bao and Beer. The takeaway fish and chips at Fish at the Rocks were excellent! Be warned that pasta with marinara sauce means pasta with seafood sauce, not simple tomato sauce as we were used to. For my non-seafood eating daughter, it was a disaster. Thankfully we had enough fries and snacks for her to eat that night.

There is an interesting and different approach that restaurants take in Sydney. They will often open for lunch, close in the afternoon then open again at 5 or 6 pm – even for restaurants in busy areas like the Barangaroo Wharf which has people around it all day. Some stayed open during the afternoon – usually take-out type restaurants.

We were adjusting to the massive time change, so we had to plan food excursions around our napping, hunger, and open hours. If you want to eat from a specific restaurant, check their hours before you arrive!

Magpie Apartment at The Rocks

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We were initially going to stay by the beach in Manly, and at the last minute, we decided to stay in Sydney. Cameron had a couple of work meetings in the Central Business District (CBD), and it ended up being much better being in Sydney.

Once we decided to stay in the city, we started looking on Airbnb and found this place in Millers Point. It looked newly renovated, clean, large enough for the four of us, and close to the places we wanted to go. Karen responded quickly with confirmation. I asked for recommendations for storing our luggage until check-in time, and Karen offered up the ground floor apartment for storage. It was so easy to find and off-load our suitcases.

We walked through the Sydney Observatory gardens, under Bradfield Highway (the road that takes you over the Harbour Bridge) and we were in The Rocks. All within 10 minutes. Five minutes later we were walking around the Opera House and on our way to the Botanic Gardens.

After roaming The Rocks, the area around the Opera House, and getting Devonshire Tea, we were worn out. We wandered back to the apartment to wait for it to be cleaned. We ran into Karen, and she was very friendly and sweet. She let us in as soon as the cleaners were done, about 45 minutes before check-in.

The apartment did not disappoint. It looked like no one had ever used it! The wooden floors were gorgeous, and the simple decorations left room for our stuff without feeling overcrowded. The living area was perfect for the four of us, and the kitchen was outfitted with most things you would need if you wanted to cook. There are lots of restaurants nearby, so we didn’t cook anything!

The beds were comfortable as was the living area furniture. We brought in takeaway food for dinners, and the dining table suited us. We would happily stay here again!

Arriving in Sydney

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If you’ve traveled to Australia from North America, most flights arrive early – 6 am is the earliest planes can land in Sydney due to city laws. This can be a problem for storing baggage until your accommodation is available or ready. Fortunately, our Airbnb host had a spare apartment available for us to store our luggage until our apartment had been cleaned. But first, we got SIM cards for our phones at the airport. There is a Vodafone store right outside international arrivals, so that was our first stop. Within 15 minutes we both had new SIM cards, and one had already activated, so we ordered an Uber ride to our apartment in Barangaroo and were on our way.

There are several options for getting from the airport to the Central Business District. I considered taking the train or a bus, but with four of us riding and carting all our luggage we decided an Uber was the most convenient for us.

Barangaroo is an old neighborhood near the Harbour Bridge. It is in the process of being gentrified, so many of the townhouses have been or are being updated. There is a massive amount of construction as the city is building a tunnel under the harbor to help alleviate some of the Harbour Bridge traffic. Construction was during the day only, and it was quiet at night.

Sunset from Barangaroo Reserve, 5 minutes from the apartment

We stayed in a newly updated apartment – here. Our host, Karen, was easy to reach and offered up another apartment to store our luggage in until check-in time. What a great location! We walked over to the Opera House, and it only took about 10 minutes. We wandered over to The Rocks, and the shops were starting to open, so we looked through them. It was sunny and warm, and we had to kill time until The Tea Cosy opened at 10 am, and it was only 8:30 am.

Cameron is a great one to find the most interesting shops, and he discovered Gannon House Gallery. There are loads of tourist shops in the Rocks selling “Australian” souvenirs. Gannon House Gallery sells art, made by Australians including brass animal figures, original Aboriginal paintings, wooden bowls, wood animal figures, and glass artworks. A brass wombat and frilly lizard, a wooden wombat and two wooden bowls for the girls made it into our shopping bag. Our main Australian shopping was complete within 3 hours of arriving!

Next, we needed Devonshire tea to keep going until our apartment was ready. We love tea and scones and look for the best we can find when we travel. We found The Tea Cosy online and decided that would be our first scone experience in the city. It was a cute shop, and the scones were decent, but we came out disappointed. The cream was weak – not thick like Devonshire cream, and the jam was just ok. We discovered by the end of our three weeks in Australia that we preferred scones with fruit in them – date was the best!

The Plan for Sydney, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast

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We chose Sydney since we haven’t spent much time there and Cameron will work some while we are there. We are thinking about staying in Manly or Bondi Beach. I love the idea of being at the beach and being able to walk to restaurants and shops. Both fit that requirement, but Manly’s beach seems bigger than Bondi, so we will probably go there. It will be fun to take the ferry into the downtown area to see the city. We usually stay in apartments or houses rather than hotels when we travel. These give us more space and the option to cook if we want to.

We will spend four days in Sydney before we fly to Brisbane. We are planning on going to Byron Bay, visiting friends in Brisbane, going inland – maybe to the Bunya Mountains or the Maleny area – before we end up in Sunrise or Sunshine Beach. My mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and her family are staying there for two months, so we plan on surprising them on the beach one day! My SIL knows we are coming, but it will be a complete surprise for my MIL.

So we will have just over two weeks to spend in the Brisbane area….what to do? We are all looking forward to spending time at the beach since we live in the mountains and have very long winters. Our first stop will be Byron Bay. I haven’t been there since I visited over 20 years ago. Next, we will visit friends who live in Brisbane. Every time we are in Brisbane, we visit with Kim, Mark and their kids and go to Lone Pine. Lone Pine is a koala sanctuary that my MIL used to visit when she was a kid. It is a wonderful place that lets you get close the animals – you can hold a koala, a snake, and even birds of prey! We walk among and feed the kangaroos, too, and there are shows throughout the day. It is a highlight of our trip every time!

When Cameron and I went to Australia together for the first time, we took a day trip to the Bunya Mountains. We hiked through the forest and saw a bower bird nest and some wallabies, but the highlight was the king parrots and crimson rosellas we fed. These are beautiful parrots, and they landed all over us to get some food – head, shoulders, chest, and the jacket I had tied around my waist! It was so entertaining.

Australia Zoo is also on our agenda. This is a spectacular, large zoo with all the Australian animals and the keepers have different animals out all day around the zoo. The kangaroos aren’t as friendly as the ones at Lone Pine, but we can get up close to them anyway. This zoo also has animal shows throughout the day that are fun to see.

The main attraction of our trip is the beach. Why is that? We love Australian beaches, especially the ones with few people on them which seem like most of the beaches when we get out of highly developed areas. They are lovely and long so we can walk for miles. In many of the places we’ve been to in Queensland, there is a green buffer between development and the ocean. You have to walk through the bush to get to the beach. It means you don’t see most of the houses from the beach and it feels way more isolated than it is. If you are looking for hotels on the beach, you will find that on the Gold Coast.

About Wombat Cubes

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Why Wombat Cubes? Wombat poop comes out in cubes, and no one knows why. It is one of the more interesting things we have learned on our adventures, and it’s funny. Both characteristics are important to us and keep us looking for new experiences.

We are a far from normal family of 4 that seeks opportunities to grow and inspire each other to be their best self.  We’ve created a new path through adventures, schooling, careers, and family and decided to share it with you. We hope to instill in our two daughters character, respect, curiosity, adventure, resilience, responsibility, hard work, flexibility, and kindness. 

I grew up in small town Ontario, Canada before I got a Math degree, worked in Toronto then moved to Silicon Valley during the days of the tech boom. Cameron and I met through work and we got married and had two girls. We lived in San Jose for 12 years before moving to Lake Tahoe and we’ve never looked back.

We’ve always been a little off the traditional path – we travel very independently, we homeschool the girls, we live in a small town at 7,000ft elevation, Cameron works in software, and we believe that family is the most important part of our lives.

Our travel bucket list is long and we’ve already checked off many places including: France, Italy, Greece, London, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Brazil, Costa Rica, Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Canada, United States, Taiwan, China, and some have had repeat visits. Not sure what’s next. Maybe a motorhome purchase and exploring North America. Who knows?!

Planning Our Australia Trip

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Australia is a special place for our family. I traveled there by myself in my late twenties, my husband had been several times before we met since his Mom is Australian, we spent our honeymoon there, we took the kids when they were 3 and 5, and we went back three years ago when the kids were 9 and 11. And now we are going back again in May 2019. “Why?” you ask. It’s simple – we love Australia! It’s an easy country to travel around, the beaches are amazing, the people are friendly and welcoming, the animals are so unique and did I mention the beaches?! Also, there was a great fare sale on Qantas, so our tickets cost about $850 and include seat selection and flights from San Francisco to Sydney to Brisbane and back.

This year we are going to spend three weeks in Sydney and the Sunshine Coast. I use a combination of Airbnb, HomeAway, caravan parks, and Travelocity to find accommodation. I rarely book through Travelocity, but it helps me locate affordable city apartments that often aren’t listed on the other sites.

Regarding Airbnb and HomeAway, I’ve seen some price differences between the sites and I’m always up to save some money when I can. When booking an apartment in Santorini last year, I saved several hundred dollars because HomeAway does not specify the ages of any children staying while Airbnb specifies that children are 12 and under. One of my daughters was 13 at the time, which made her an adult on Airbnb and a child on HomeAway. Next time you are looking for a rental check out both sites. The same property may be listed on both, and you could save some money if you have teenagers!

Another type of accommodation that exists in Australia is caravan parks. These parks often have multiple types of accommodation for people who do not have motorhomes, trailers, or tents. They can range from basic (beds only) to 1-3 bedroom apartments with fully equipped kitchens and full bathrooms. My girls love these parks because there are plays areas and pools all on the grounds that they can explore by themselves.

We will arrange some of our accommodations on the Sunshine coast before we leave the States but will keep the rest open. Since the kids were babies, we have traveled with accommodation booked. Knowing we had a place to stay was one less thing for me to worry about while traveling in a foreign country. In our recent trips, I have longed for a little more flexibility in traveling – we can have a rough plan with the freedom to change it by not booking everything ahead of time. We rarely travel in peak times, so we have good options for accommodations at the last minutes. Our first task when traveling to a new country is to obtain a SIM card with voice and data for our phones. This has made traveling so much easier! We can locate and book accommodation the day we need it all while we are moving around. We have found Vodafone in many of the countries we have traveled in, and it has been straightforward to get and set up a SIM card when we arrive.