The Cube

A couple of my friends visited me early last month so I joined them and played tourist in Melbourne. One of the activities was a wine tour to Yarra Valley. My friends looked up the tour and booked it through Klook. Not sponsored so we paid and showed up at the picked up point at Arts Centre Melbourne Spire. Thank you Melbourne for a fairly good weather day. 

Our first stop was the popular Yering Station Winery. I didn't have a good experience the last I visited Yering Station Winery but it was remedied this time. The staff who gave us the guided wine tasting was excellent and witty, which attributed to a positive experience. 

After the wine tasting session, we were given some time to walkabout at the grounds. I had very similar photos from previous visit too.

We then moved on to the second winery, Soumah. Soumah is an abbreviation for "South of Maroondah", a highway in Victoria. 

After wine tasting, we get to choose which wine we want for lunch. We were given a full glass of the wine we chose to accompany our lunch. Lunch selection was pre-ordered when we were in the bus on the way to Yarra Valley. 

Antipasti was shared and my lunch selection was the Fettine (pan grilled minute steak, served medium, garlic butter roasted mushroom cap, pecorino polenta chips, glazed carrots, cavolo nero, Syrah jus) and paired with The Butcher. One of my friends chose grilled barramundi, served with steamed green beans, cherry tomatoes, garlic and caper broth. Another has intolerance to dairy products so her perocino polenta chips were swapped to a different side. 

This venue gave a more upmarket feel but the wines weren't to my taste unfortunately but beautiful grounds though. We did a quick round the lake. 

A couple of the tour members opted for gin tasting and they were ushered to the Four Pillars Gin across the road. From the wine tour organiser website, it looks like there also also an option to switch to beer. We continued with wine option and stayed at our fourth tasting at Payten & Jones. I prefer the wines from the first 2 wineries comparatively. 

Last stop was chocolate and/or ice-cream dessert before we were dropped back in Melbourne. We chose ice-cream.

Another work trip to Sydney which happened on Thursday and Friday. I took the opportunity to extend through to the weekend as my manager said it is allowable. Not great weather but as it wasn't pouring so still good enough to make a trip to the mountains. 

Many years ago, I went to Katoomba and Leura but I wanted to be a little more quiet this round so Blackheath was my choice this round. I don't know why I make questionable decision of not going to the more famous Grand Canyon Walking Track even though it really wasn't that much of a longer distance. 

Anyway the journey was easy as I was staying just across from Central Station so it was just a train ride away. I took the 7:16 AM train and reached Blackheath just before10:00 AM due to some signal issues at one of the stations. 

After a toilet break and grabbing a croissant from the service station, I walked towards the Govetts Leap Lookout. I must've taken a wrong turn because a certain part of the walk involved going through some rocks that didn't really look like a well trodden path but all was well as I got there. 

My trip to Sydney coincided with the start of 2026 Vivid Sydney. I went there on the Saturday after returning from a day trip to the Blue Mountains. I was tired but that was the only night I could catch the lights so I dragged my lazy self walking from Central Station towards the other end of the city. There are a lot more to the program but I only did the lights event, and only part of them in Circular Quay. The other event I was interested in was the drone shows but it was scheduled on the days that I couldn't make it. Latest news mentioned the shows have been cancelled though. 

The new Sydney Fish Market has opened recently so I decided to pay a visit. The scary seagulls haven't got the memo that the fish market has moved yet, so it wasn't scary and needing to protect the precious food from them when I visited. I went in the morning after checking out from the Airbnb and had a very luxury king crab breakfast. 

The plan was to walk from the airbnb in Central to Sydney Fish Market and then to Marrickville to try out Lazza. Long story short, Lazza didn't happen because I got there at 1:40 PM and their kitchen was closed by 1:30 PM. I feel that was a little early for the kitchen to be closed but plan B was to check out the organic food market. I read that a particular Mexican food stall has good authentic Mexican food but I didn't see it when I got there. So next in plan was Vietnamese food. 

Lv 2.01/252 Pitt St, Sydney NSW 2000

I got the sirloin gyukatsu as that was the popular one. It was delish. I got greedy eyes and also ordered warabimochi as dessert. 

68 Erskine St, Sydney NSW 2000

Despite the popularity of salt bread, I have never tried it. So this was the first time I tried salt bread. Very fluffy inside but I feel it's a bit pricey. But this is Sydney. 

This place is growing on me. I followed a friend to his usual tuff and this round I ordered the month's special - beef burger. 

Wesley Mission Building, 220 Pitt St, Sydney NSW 2000

I ordered nasi minang kapau komplit tunjang because friend said I should try the beef tendon. I'm not a fan of the texture but that's my issue. The food was very tasty and good chilli kick. 

Shop RG016, 500 George St, Sydney NSW 2000

I got myself a snack after returning to Sydney from the Blue Mountains so that I won't be starving when I walked back and forth from one end of the city to the other end. 

Entrance from Campbell Street side, Shop G06/323 Castlereagh St, Haymarket NSW 2000.

I also haven't tried boat noodles before so decided to try this. Unfortunately I don't like the flavour profile. 

249 Marrickville Rd, Marrickville NSW 2204

I ended up with Vietnamese group after missing out the kitchen opening hours for Lazza and the food stall in the organic food market. I was hungry so grilled pork with rice and salted coffee.