Matty Somewhere

Hellenika at the Calile Hotel – Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.

Hellenika is located at the Calile Hotel in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane. The ‘Valley’ as it is colloquially known, has come a long way in recent years. Hellenika is in the James Street precinct full of lovely restaurants, hotels and shops. This is the place to be seen! While in Brisbane catching up with friends…

Virgin Australia Lounge – Sydney Domestic Airport.

The Virgin Australia Lounge at Sydney Domestic Airport, Terminal 2 was, in my opinion, a great way to spend an hour or so before a flight. Flying business class from Sydney to Brisbane afforded me a few hours in the Virgin Australia Lounge. It was Boxing Day, so everyone seemed in a festive mood, couples…

Wait Just a Mo:Mo… What is a Nepali Mo:Mo?

One of the most common Nepali food staples is the Mo:Mo and while I was in Nepal I ate a lot of these. Served as a snack, a main dish or even a dessert, there are a wide varieties of fillings, the most common being vegetable, chicken or buffalo. Steamed or fried, they can be…

Indigo Airlines – Kathmandu to New Delhi – Airbus a320.

My friends Jen and Harry, and I, decided to head from Kathmandu to New Delhi for a few days. Airlines such as Air India, Vistara and Nepal Airlines all operate the route but the best fare was on little known (to me) Indigo Airlines. We were certainly impressed with this airline! Introduction I was quite…

Nourish by Avata – Vegetarian Restaurant – Kathmandu, Nepal.

Full disclosure here – I am a carnivore. While I have tried many times to go vegetarian, or even pescatarian but I have found some restaurants to be very lacking in their herbivore offerings. And what is the point of only having one choice of a vegetarian meal? Of course countries like India and Nepal…

Plane Spotters Package at the Rydges Sydney Airport Hotel.

I had an early flight from Sydney to Singapore and onto Kathmandu. As I live around 75 minutes from the airport (and not wanting to rely on Sydney’s public transport…) I decided to have a pre-departure night near the airport. I checked out many hotels, and while this is a little on the higher cost…

Fun at West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton, Canada – Day Three!

It’s our last day at the super-mall and although we are all getting a little ‘malled-out’ we are still in for surprises! Breakfast at De Dutch De Dutch is a British Columbian chain with is only store outside the province in Edmonton, Alberta. We’re here for breakfast, think the classics, eggs benny and French toast….

Fun at West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton, Canada – Day Two!

We start the day at a North American classic restaurant – Denny’s! The it’s time for some mini golf and a zip around GalaxyLand at West Edmonton Mall. Breakfast at Denny’s! It’s time for breakfast and we head to Denny’s located near the West Edmonton Mall. Denny’s it’s my go-to when I am in North…

Fun at West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton, Canada – Day One!

A waterpark, amusement park, seal & penguin shows, ice skating rink, mini-golf, over 800 stores, 100 eating venues spread over 5.3 million square feet with visitation of around 30 million people per year – Welcome to West Edmonton Mall, the largest mall in North America! They say it takes one hour and a half to…

The Poutine and Mac n’ Cheese Stuffed Burgers at N9NA, Calgary, Canada.

My nephew and I were watching the food network when the Canadian show You Gotta Eat Here comes on. They’re in Calgary and talking about a restaurant called N9na. They mention a poutine stuffed burger and a mac n’ cheese stuffed burger, we look at each other and we say ‘we gotta eat here!‘ Located…

Dark Table, Calgary, Canada.

Dark Table is one of those experiences that you need to try to truly understand it. The servers are sight impaired, legally blind, and the dining room is in complete darkness. Up to 70% of people who are blind in Canada face unemployment and this restaurant not only employs the sight impaired, but gives the…

Royal Oak Hotel, Balmain, Sydney.

I’ve recently spent a few weeks looking after a dear friend’s house and her gorgeous kitty Clover, in Balmain, right on Sydney Harbour. My new local go-to was just a few hundred metres away – the Royal Oak Hotel. Balmain is a quick 11 minute ferry ride from Circular Quay, under the harbour bridge, and…

Jetstar – Melbourne to Sydney for $20.

Time to head home from Melbourne on our $20 tickets! We only have carry-on baggage at a limit of 7kgs, so there wasn’t much shopping done, but we had a great time visiting Chloe, eating at Flower Drum Restaurant and our hotel stay at The Grand Chancellor Hotel was lovely! How does one get $20…

Flower Drum, Melbourne.

When we were planning our Melbourne trip, my friend Jen and I were looking for somewhere special to have my birthday lunch – the day before my birthday. After much too-ing and fro-ing we settled on Flower Drum. It seems both of us have been wanting to visit it for years. Flower drum is a…

Dinner with Chloe at Chloe’s Rooms Bar & Brasserie, Melbourne.

My friend Jen and I had scored $20 each way tickets from Sydney to Melbourne with Jetstar. I won’t review the flight to Melbourne as it was pretty perfunctory. When we arrive late on a Tuesday afternoon (yes – you will usually get the best fares on a Tuesday) we check into the Grand Chancellor…

Bankstown Food Tour – Taste Cultural Food Tours.

It’s like travelling through Indochina and the Middle East on this wonderful food tour of Bankstown. Even better is that the tour company is a charity, non-for-profit organisation and social enterprise, where the profits are used to provide training to asylum seekers and immigrants. Food, isn’t it one of the best ways to celebrate diversity…

The Wineries of the Megalong Valley.

We decide head out for a day and what better place to go and relax than a winery? Megalong Valley, located on the western side of the Blue Mountains, have two wineries located a short drive from each other – Megalong Creek Estate and Dryridge Estate. The wine is beautiful, the service warm and friendly…

Sydney’s Pittwater, Palm Beach And The Show Home & Away

While in lockdown, we all watched quite a bit of television – queue music from Prisoner or Orange is the New Black- if you’re like me and don’t mind watching the occasional soapie – it tends to be a bit of escapism from the everyday. Tourism has a lot to thank tv shows, movies and…

Three Pub Meals – Blue Mountains, New South Wales.

OK, so the title is a lie. Due to lockdown in Sydney and the Blue Mountains, in this post I visit two pubs and a Cafe for takeaway. I live at the base of the Blue Mountains and love to head up there on the weekends or a day I have free. If you love…

The Markets of Hakodate, Japan.

In the spirit of the Olympic Games being held in Tokyo, and while we’re under duress of not being able to travel, I thought I would take you on a journey, back to pre COVID-19 times, when I visited the Japanese city of Hakodate on the island of Hokkaido. It’s not Tokyo but has wonderful…

Yeppoon & The Capricorn Coast, Queensland.

Welcome to Yeppoon! Home to the Darumbal indigenous people, the traditional custodians of the area, Yeppoon was settled by Europeans in 1865. It’s a gorgeous seaside village on the Capricorn Coast of Central Queensland. Like the tentacles of a squid, or a Kraken, I’m spending this time of no international travel visiting friends and places…