I’ve got to be honest, I was quite nervous about coming back to Australia.
Leaving the freezing coastline of Britain in mid-January to face the relentless summer heat of Sydney didn’t fill me with glee.
However, my timing was perfect.
The day I landed, the mercury fell, leading me gently back into what had been up to that point a pretty hot summer. Of course, you know all of this because you’ve read our story from last month already, right?
And now we’ve dusted our hands with February, the cool breezes of Autumn are making life even easier.
Add to that a lovely little trip down to Ulladulla in NSW’s South Coast to stay at a winery in a private villa, a massive two-day travel conference with all kinds of press and providers, and also a tour of some of best craft distilleries of Sydney’s Inner West, we’ve got quite a bit to tell you.
We hope you enjoy this Flavour of the Month.
Cheers — Jim & Christina xx
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L-R: Warden Head Lighthouse, Ulladulla; Rennies Beach, Illadulla
About three hours south of Sydney, just past Jarvis Bay on the South Coast, Ulladulla is a beautiful coastal town.
While we’re in town (I’ll tell you why we’re here in a minute), we check out the pretty little lighthouse here the town’s main beach. There are lots to choose from here, but this one is the longest.
From Ulladulla, there are lots of lovely towns nearby, not least Milton, where you can find what we reckon is the best sausage roll in the country at Flour Water Salt bakery, and Mollymook – home to the famous Bannisters and Rick Stein’s restaurant.
You can read our review of Bannisters By The Sea retreat here and what we thought of Rick’s Aussie home from home here.
So why are we back in the South Coast?
Up in the hills near Ulladulla is the little family-run winery called Cupitt’s Estate. We’ve been coming here on and off for years – popping in for a quick wine tasting, but this time we get to stay.
Taking advantage of the wonderful surroundings of the winery, the Cupitt family have installed ten beautifully appointed private villas on their 75 hectares.
L-R: the bath and balcony of Cupitt’s Estate private villa; Christina on the lawn overlooking the vines; wine-tasting in the beautiful underground barrel room
We’re so impressed with the offerings here at Cupitt’s. Not just the luxurious confines of our villa and its deep-fill bath on the balcony, but also how far the winery and cellar door has come.
Whether it’s strolling on the immaculate lawns by the vines, enjoying a glass of the Cupitts’ craft beer on the deck overlooking the landscape or having a wine-tasting in the old creamery – a building that dates back to 1851, this winery is perfect.
And let’s not forget the excellent restaurant, offering fine dining options every day for lunch and Wednesday to Saturday for dinner.
Best of all though is the Tour and Taste experience offered here, where get to explore the winery and try Cupitt’s wines in the incredibly atmospheric barrel cellar.
For our take on these beautiful private villas, click here to read our review.
L-R: pie of the day – steak dianne with sliced potato top; a special gift from Hayden himself
And while we’re in town, it would be not only remiss but downright foolish of us not to stop by the best pie shop in Australia: Hayden’s Pies in Ulladulla.
Honestly, if you haven’t had on of Hayden’s masterpieces, you’re seriously missing out.
We get chatting to some of the lovely staff – Sylvia and Sonia – at Cupitt’s, who give us a bit more info on this impressive pie shop, which pretty much has a perma-queue out the door (don’t worry, it moves really fast).
They tell us that Hayden has started using Pepe Saya butter – the really expensive butter with the picture of the man with the excellent nose on the label. We were fan before we learn this, but now…
Even better than that: the morning we’re set to check out, Hayden himself comes to Cupitt’s to drop off one of his awesome signed recipe books (yes, his pastry recipe is in here) and a hat. Well done, sir. You’ve just created super-fans!
L-R: Christina in the barrel store of Red Mill Rum; the view out over the barrels; brand & sales manager Garth Foster with his spirit thief
We’re back in Sydney today, checking out a (not so new) new distillery.
Red Mill Rum, a distillery with history going back to 1933, has kindly opened its doors to us for a sneak preview.
Preview of what? This distillery, with its enormous footprint on Mullens Street in Rozelle, is set to open its doors as soon as the owner and management have finished building the bar. That’s right: a bar. In a distillery.
We’re lucky to meet all three of Red Mill’s staff – David Fesq, owner and great grandson of founder George ‘Bunny’ Fesq, Garth Foster and Ben Moechtar. We’re even luckier to be introduced to some of these exquisite barrels and their contents.
Red Mill’s rum is absolutely outstanding. You can find it in most of the pubs and bars around Balmain, and you can also buy it in bottle shops here as well as direct from the distillery of course.
Today, we’re being somewhat better behaved. We’re at the annual travel summit held at the Four Seasons in Sydney.
We’re part of a select delegation to hear from some excellent speakers on the situation of the travel industry at the moment and where it’s likely to go in the future. We learn some fascinating insights into the travel landscape:
From Flight Centre, we learn that the top ten most booked destinations of 2024 from Australia were:
1. Australia, 2. UK, 3. USA, 4. New Zealand, 5. South Africa, 6. Indonesia, 7. Italy, 8. Thailand, 9. Singapore, and 10. Japan.
Also, that people are looking for off-peak or shoulder season travel to save money, but that people are still willing to spend. In fact, older Australians are ‘having a YOLO moment’.
Another insight from Flight Centre was how travellers are using AI. In general, people are using it to plan and inspire them (70% of Gen Z travellers), but very few (7%) trust AI enough to book with it.
From Expedia, we learn that there’s an uptick in ‘detour destinations’. More people are making the most of their ‘big destination’ trips and heading to less visited places nearby. For example, while in Paris, people also visit Reims, while in Aukland, visitors will head to Waikato, while in Barcelona, trips to Girona are popular.
We did exactly this when we went to Milan late last year, visiting Parma for a few days.
Expedia also told us that from their data, as much as 66% of travellers draw inspiration from film and TV. The likes of White Lotus and – worryingly – the Real Housewives of Dubai have had serious impact on travel planning. However, Flight Centre explained that social media is still the biggest source of inspiration outside word of mouth.
Armed with yesterday’s insights, we’re ready for today’s marathon of meetings. This is IMM, a kind of speed-dating system organised by industry leaders TravMedia. We have the opportunity to meet with up to 22 different travel providers – from hotels and travel agents to government tourism boards and airlines – for 15-minute meetings.
We usually wait for each year’s IMM to plan out how our year’s travel is looking. And this year is looking pretty busy. Watch this space for more of our plans!
This evening, we’re catching up with a couple of friends for drinks (and a cheeky nibble) at Bar 26. This cool speakeasy is hidden away in the depths of Lilyfield and is well worth hunting out.
Not only does the bar turn out some superb cocktails like Christina’s Bar 26 gimlet and my breakfast old fashioned (yes, that is indeed a slice of toasted sourdough as a garnish) it’s also has its own distillery.
OCD – Otter Craft Distilling named after owners Eduard and Julie Otter – creates most of the spirits in the cocktails served here.
Happy hour is 4-6pm Wednesday to Friday by the way!
Talking of happy hours, Christina and I are on a bit of a run tonight. We discover that at least three bars in Rozelle and Balmain have happy hours that run concurrently.
Therefore, we’re at Corner Bar in Rozelle for a cheeky $14 margarita and an enormous glass of wine for $12. You can also get $10 pints and house spirits and mixer for $8 each. Happy hour here is between 3pm and 5pm Monday to Friday.
Secreted round the side of the Sackville Hotel also in Rozelle, Chez Blue is a cute French bistro with a lovely ’20s Parisian feel. It also has an excellent happy hour 5pm-7pm Wednesday to Sunday with $15 cocktails, $10 wine and $8 schooners. Just look at my lavender negroni. Posh, right?
These guys also have $2 oyster events Friday to Sunday between 3pm and 5pm. Just sayin’.
Finally, either 5pm to 6pm Tues-Thurs or 4pm to 6pm Fri-Sun, Casa Esquina in Balmain has happy hours that offer $12 cocktails, $7 beer, $9 wines and snacks from $7. Not too shabby.
We think about trying to find another happy hour to hit before we head home, but decide we’re happy enough. It’s been a fun experiment, and one that has yielded great results!
For more tips on bars and distilleries to visit on the Balmain Rozelle Peninsula, check out our fun Instagram Reel that hits them all!
We hope you’ve enjoyed this Flavour of Feb. See you next month for another round-up.
Cheers – Jim & Christina xx
