Back in October 2011, Canberra had two long weekends in a roll. First long weekend was the Labour Day which was National wide, and the second long weekend was the Family and Community Day which was only applied to Canberra (to replace the Melbourne Cup Public Holiday). I wanted to well use of these opportunities to relax a bit so I decided to do some research and see if I can get away from Canberra for a long weekend.  I have been told by number of friends saying that Kangaroo Valley is very beautiful and it is only about 2 hours drive from Canberra so I started research accommodation around that area. I ended up booking Frangipani Cottage in Jaspers Brush for 2 nights at stayz.com.au for AUD450.00, including full breakfast provisions, a bottle of local wine and a welcome cheese platter.

On 8 October 2011, we left home at around 10:30am and drove out of Canberra. It was a good day, it wasn’t too sunny so Chris enjoyed driving (no sunburn on his arms) It also was our first time to drive our new Forrester on a 110km zone and Chris was very excited to test the 6th gear. The ride was very smooth and we soon arrived in Goulburn’s McDonald for some lunch.

Driving from Canberra

5 months pregnant

Chris @ Kangaroo Valley

Frangipani Cottage

Outside of the Cottage

Cottage photo 1

Cottage photo 2

Cottage photo 3

Cottage photo 4

Little pond outside of the cottage

Dinner @ The Posthouse in Berry

Chris' main: Classic dish Pork Belly with potato and greens

Mendy's main: Duck confit with spinach risotto

After that we drove pass Moss Vale, Fitzory Falls and then arrived in Kangaroo Valley. I initially wanted to check out their Farmers’ Market but we arrived too late and they were already closing. So we only stopped by at the information centre at the local bowling club for some fresh air and toilet break. We noticed that the scenery has changed dramatically as it was much greener than Canberra. The owner of the cottage Lynda told us that they had some good rain for the past weeks so Berry will be very beautiful when we arrived. It was also very closed to the Berry Garden Festival so we definitely chose the right time to visit.

I was 5 months pregnant at that time and feeling great! I wasn’t to big yet and energy level was very good. The only down side was that I can’t drink and have soft cheese that Lynda has prepared for us.

Frangipani Cottage is located between the hills in Jaspers Brush, about 5-10 minutes drive to Berry’s town. It was very close but yet very peaceful location. Chris loves the hills and different colour of greens and he said he felt relaxed right away!

The Cottage is separate from the owner’s main house so we have 100% privacy!  The owner used to live in the cottage when they were building their dream home so the cottage was very well equipped and spacious. You can tell the owner has good taste as the decor was very modern but yet still kept a bit of country. Chris and I relaxed and played some board games in the room and enjoyed our welcome cheese platter and local wine (I enjoyed the local water) for the rest of the afternoon…

Chris and I were hungry by 5pm as we only had McDonald for lunch, so we decided to drive to Berry to check out the restaurants. Berry’s town area is very easy to get around as there is only one main street. It seems quite big for a little country town and had plenty of good quality restaurants around. We went to The Posthouse at the end of the street and immediately order a serve of garlic bread as both of us were starving! The garlic bread was very nice and crispy! We were so tempted to order second serve but we decided to share another entrée instead. It sounded very “East meet West” so we ordered it, I couldn’t remember the actual name but it was basically cabbage leave with mince beef filling and melted cheese on top. It was very delicious!

Chris is a big sucker for pork belly so every time there is a pork belly dish on the menu he must ordered it, there was so exception in the Posthouse. And I felt like red meat so I chose Duck confit with spinach risotto… Normally restaurant like this will only serve one duck confit. But no! They served two! It was huge and I thought I couldn’t finished it, but if you have a big husband like Chris, he will finish it off for you… no problem It was a good dinner and we went back to our cottage early for some relaxing time, watched a DVD and went to bed early… because we will have a full day tomorrow!