Hi Everyone!

We are off on another adventure. Like I say every time we start a new blog series, a lot has changed in our lives since our last journey, but this time – it really is a lot. If you were following closely during our last trip, you may have noticed a sneaky little bump in our pictures. That sneaky little bump is now 11 months old, lives in our house, eats our food and we call him Julian.

These last 11 months have flown by, but also have crawled (a lot like him!). When we decided to start trying for a baby, our only non-negotiable is that we were to be travelling parent’s. As soon as it is feasible we would plan and go on an overseas trip. During the first six months of Julian’s life, it seemed like this would be an absolute pipe dream. However, we are determined, and we are making it a reality. As of today, we will be travelling parents.

Our logical first destination as parents was an easy choice. Queenstown – New Zealand. The reason we have chosen this destination is;

1. It is fucking stunning and super fun.
2. It is a short flight (3ish hours).
3. We are familiar with the destination.

This trip will essentially be a test and a learning experience for us to dip our toes into the water of travelling with a baby (it also helps that we have brought along Julian’s nan to help out, give us a little bit of alone time for cool adventure activities) and experience her first overseas trip. We are spending 9 nights in an Airbnb in Queenstown and going at a slow pace.

We packed our stuff last night, set up our house for a solid bug bombing and have made our way to Sydney. Julian is a good boy when we travel, he sleeps well in the car. We had a quick rest stop in Glenbrook to change him and feed him and to stretch out and spend some time in the sun which was nice.

Then we decided to go to Parramatta for a bit of shopping and to get some deluxe feeds. Since Julian was born we have recently really gotten into the hobby of board gaming. As of today, we have logged 534 total plays over 125 different board games. It has been a great way to connect with each other and relax while we look after our boy.

We decided to hit up Good Game in Parramatta to buy some games for us to play during our downtime (when Julian is asleep or napping) that will also take up limited space in our luggage. We ended up with a few small box games.

Then we grabbed a coffee from Starbucks which was a regrettable decision, but what wasn’t regrettable was getting a few cinnamon scrolls from Cinnabon to go with said below-average coffee. We got the caramel pecan which was closer to the original glazed Cinnabon with a bit more texture and that sweet caramel sauce on top. It tasted good, but the original is better. We also got a strawberry cinnamon scroll. The tartness of the strawberry really balanced out the sweetness of the icing sugar creating a really delicious combination.

After this we decided to get some lunch at Harvey’s Hot Sandwiches. A delicious American deli-style sandwich shop specializing in exactly what the name of the store suggests. We got two sandwiches to share. The first was a classic Philly Cheesesteak (go birds!) which consists of grilled scotch fillet, grilled onion and capsicum, provolone and a roast pepper spread, we also got the Beef Dip which has grilled scotch fillet, grilled onions, provolone, horseradish mayo which comes with a dipping gravy.

These sandwiches were both wonderful. The bread is thin and crispy and delicious, the meat is tender, and the sauces complimented them very well. We would say the Beef Dip is definitely the better sandwich, but you can’t go wrong with either.

After the feed Ronnie got a haircut so he no longer looks homeless, and we drove to our accommodation which is the Meriton in mascot. A great hotel that we stay at every time we go to the airport. We did a quick woolies run for supplies and grabbed a bubble tea from Machi Machi and then we settled in for the night and ordered some food via menu log from a place in Newtown called Wing Boy. Again, as the name suggests they specialize in chicken wings and tenders. We got three sets of tenders which were the lemon pepper dry rub with honey mustard sauce, the smokey barbecue tenders with ranch sauce and buffalo tenders with blue cheese sauce.

All of these were absolutely delicious. The buffalo sauce had a bit of kick to it which the blue cheese dulled and created a beautiful combination, the lemon pepper was a little bit sour, and the honey mustard sauce was sweet and yummy, and the barbecue was sweet and delicious. Really went down a treat.

Julian is now asleep, and we are getting our rest on before we fly out early tomorrow morning for to start our adventure in Queenstown and we cannot wait!

Costs:
Cinnabon: $13
Starbucks Coffee: $6
Games: $149
Harveys Hot: $50
Haircut: $50
Bubble Tea: $18
Wing boy: $64
Hotel: $296

Total: $646 – pricey

Much Love,

Ronnie, Aimee & Julian.