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We stayed in 'the hideaway' at Elite Stays, off Cathedral Lane near Taggerty. http://www.elitestays.com.au/index.htm . The website really doesn't do this place justice. After looking at a few bed & breakfasts nearby, we thought Elite looked like good value and decided to give it a go.
Chris and I arrived after dark on Friday night. Jen and Garry were already settled in, the fire was roaring and the cottage enveloped us in its comfort. The owners have done a beautiful job of furnishing the two bedroom, two bathroom cottage. The huge master bedroom had separate bath (the deep, water up to your neck kind) and a king sized bed. The second bedroom, albeit much smaller has breathtaking views of the cathedral ranges, which you can admire from the crisp, white linen-dressed, queen sized bed.
A bay window in the second bedroom, and another in the living area provide
gorgeous views, and a quiet place to sit and contemplate one's navel.
The cottage has wooden floors throughout, a very well equipped kitchen, including coffee machine... and pretty much every window frames amazing views of the ranges and surrounds.
This is the view I enjoyed while cooking breakfast on Saturday morning
(taken from the living room window on Saturday morning)
Our source of warmth. In the background, the outdoor dining area (for warmer days).
The property has a family of sheep, being overlooked by a gorgeous alpaca (Jenny getting aquainted with the menagerie in the photos below).
The original excuse for the trip was a fly fishing guided tour for the boys - they spent the entire day on Saturday walking upstream on Goulburn river tributaries. No fish biting unfortunately, but a day improving their skills, bonding and whatever else men do while fishing!
Meanwhile, back in the cottage, Jenny and I enjoyed a day of reading by the fire, and a walk in the foothills. We also had a quick drive in to Alexandra (apparently the whole town shuts down at 1pm - so get in early!) On the way back from Alex we went looking for Clearstream Olives (signposted on the road to Thornton) ... we found the address, but there was no sign of a shop. Bit of a shame. We ate cake instead. There may have been a little nana-nap in there somewhere too.
For dinner on Saturday night, we ventured about 15km from base, to Rennie's restaurant in Acheron. Run by the incredibly talented artist and cook, Marian Rennie. We have tried Rennie's once before - about a year ago, and remember it was outstanding - great food and wine. So, confident we'd get a yummy meal, I booked us a table for Saturday night.
When we arrived, we were seated, then Marian came to our table and explained how things work - "We have no menu, I just feed you... sound ok?". Heck yes. Spontaneous adventurism! And boy did she feed us! As each dish was delivered to the table, it came with Marian gracefully and proudly introducing the dish, and explaining how it was prepared - answering questions and adding value to our culinary experience. She also checked in with us during each course, to seek feedback and make sure we were enjoying every mouthful. (We were).
We started with drinks and a tasting plate, adorned in delicious house-made/cured/marinated morsels including salmon gravlax, marinated fetta, feijoa with roasted tiny tomatoes and relish, meat pastries, marinated mushrooms (enoki and something else - these were really special), bread just out of the oven, awesome and interesting dips... and so on!
Second course was rare beef salad... Marian explained she had marinated it for 2-3 days in herbs and spices, then quickly seared the outside. The salad contained roquette, figs, beef, a delicious raita, pomegranate jewels, coriander, kaffir lime leaf. Seriously the best thing I have eaten in a long time. Fresh, light, satisfying. I want the recipe.
A surprising treat came before third course - a browse in the gallery behind the main building, exhibiting a local artist's (Robert Young) work. Clever, detailed pieces all telling a story. Open until early June.
We sipped our wine and enjoyed the display, picking out our favourites and chuckling at Mr Young's cleverness!
Back in the warmth of the restaurant, we got stuck into third course - baby chicken roasted with rosemary, fennel and cumquats. Yum. We had two between the four of us - and picked the bones clean. More pomegranate too I think.
By this stage, we were stuffed full, but couldn't bear to turn down dessert after the joys of the previous courses (FOMO - fear of missing out!)... and we weren't disappointed.
Mini lemon tarts, turkish delight, home made chocolates, baked cheesecake with persian fairy floss topped with stewed cumquat and pistachio, pavlova, and finally pears poached in saffron, cardamom and white wine. More yum. Really stuffed now. Need to undo the top button full. The bill (no menu, no ideas of cost... risky, yes) came to around eighty bucks a head, including drinks. Damn good value for 4 courses of extraordinary food. A memorable night. We'll be back. Might even take some photos next time!
Stumbled back home, carrying our bulging guts, and rolled into bed for an easy 10 hours of zzz's!
After breakfast, the boys went fishing for a few hours, Jen read about 4000 pages of her book and I went back to sleep (my excuse is that I ran 45km last Sunday!). Wrangled a much appreciated late check-out at 12.30pm, and had a quick stop at the Dairy Cafe in Alexandra for lunch, before heading our separate ways for home.
Almost ready for another busy and fun week...
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