real life

It's Open Post time. Come and tell us how your week has been.

This is where I was on the weekend… What did you get up to?

 

 

 

 

 

Hola! It’s Hump Day, and that also means it’s Open Post Day. So sit down, pour yourself a cuppa, and open a packet of mint slice biscuits (or whatever piece of chocolatey goodness is your afternoon snack of choice).

Just in case you haven’t stumbled across the Open Post tradition before, the rules are pretty simple: talk about whatever you want. How your week has been going, what’s on your mind, etc etc etc. I’ll go first…

… And regale you all with the details of my recent weekend getaway. Most of us would probably be pretty familiar with the feeling of going on holiday – only to return feeling even less relaxed than when we left home. In my case, it’s usually due to a combination of trying to fit into too many activities, wrong turns en route/on the way home, and picking bustling, exciting locations with lots to do – instead of leisurely, tranquil holiday destinations.

It’s my self-inflicted mini-break curse. (File under: first world problems.)

But through thorough investigative research, I think I’ve found a holiday destination that manages to overcome the dreaded mini-break curse I seem to have developed.

Seeing piglets frolicking in the fields MAY have been the highlight of my holiday.

Last weekend, I was invited to visit Broke Fordwich in the Hunter Valley, as a guest of – well, basically the entire community of Broke Fordwich, who were just lovely.

On the agenda: indulging in organic and gourmet food, tasting varieties of wines I had never even heard of before, and admiring the scenery. It’s a hard life.

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Broke Fordwich is something of a hidden gem in the Hunter Valley, only a few hours from Sydney, that’s nestled in the foothills of the Brokenback Mountains Ranges. If you like the idea of going on a wine-tasting tour where you actually get to talk to the people who have grown the grapes and made the wines, then this wine region would be a pretty much perfect place to visit.

At the risk of sounding like a health food store newsletter, the words that sprang to mind during my mini-break included ‘authentic’, ‘rustic’ and ‘picturesque’. Also ‘WINE.’ And then, ‘MORE WINE.’

An old-school slideshow of my holiday snaps…

Some particular highlights of my weekend getaway included dinner at Margan Restaurant, and a tour of the gardens where they grow all the seasonal produce used in their meals. (I was also particularly grateful to the chefs, as I forgot to tell them I was vegetarian until approximately 5 minutes before the set meals were delivered to our table. Oops.)

I also had a fabulous time on a daylong tour of the vineyards in Broke, conducted by A Wine Tour in Broke, where I sampled copious amounts of both wine and olive oil (and discovered lemon-thyme infused olive oil which I think has CHANGED MY LIFE).

In short: I had an amazing – and relaxing – weekend in Broke Fordwich. It was bliss.

And now that I’ve had a big rant about how good my holiday was… it’s over to you.

So, tell us what’s going on in your world this week?

PS. This week Mamamia welcomes Taryn Brumfitt as our official Body Image Blogger.

You will have seen some of Taryn’s great work on the site already. We’re looking forward to having much more of her funny, authentic writing here on Mamamia.

Taryn also runs the amazing Body Image Movement, which we’d love you to become a part of.

You can check out – and like! – her Facebook page here.