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Down Under: Clovelly and Coogee

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

I am going to take the focus off Japan for a bit, and write up a few posts about my trip back home to Sydney. Australia is where my peeps are at – family and friends. I usually try and make a visit home once a year (or every 18months or so). The last three years I have tried to coincide trips back home around friends’ weddings. The first couple of days back in Sydney were spent doing unexciting errand-y stuff. The Sunday I arrived back was a write-off. Slept and rested after the events of Japan. Monday and Tuesday were spent doing stuff like doctor’s appointments, renewing driver’s licence, supplies (medicines/toiletries) shopping, and trying to rest up and letting the body recover. From the Wednesday onwards it was full on with all systems go, and the fun factor cranked up for the rest of my Sydney visit. On the Wednesday, I spent the day chilling out with Nell. It was a gorgeous sunny day so we took a drive out to Clovelly for a spot of sunshine and snorkeling. I am super keen to do more snorkeling. I had never been to Clovelly, so I was in for a treat. Great views from the clifftops. Couldn’t have asked for better postcard-perfect weather.

From Clovelly and Coogee
From Clovelly and Coogee
From Clovelly and Coogee

Clovelly is an interesting spot. It’s not a proper beach per se, and there’s a lot of rock and concrete. It’s almost like a cove of sorts that is home to a lot of marine life, and is a popular Sydney snorkeling spot. People were out sunbaking (tsk, tsk) on the concrete:

From Clovelly and Coogee

There’s a seaside pool bath (natural saltwater swimming pool) to rack up a few laps. (Sydney has a lot of these pools. They are free to the public and generally chlorine-free. Sea water is used):

From Clovelly and Coogee
From Clovelly and Coogee

And there’s a bit of sand to make it a small bay beach.

From Clovelly and Coogee
From Clovelly and Coogee
From Clovelly and Coogee

The water was super clear and warm. And I saw so many marine life and lots of fish, even a big blue grouper! There were more fish here than at an aquarium. Felt like I was in a fish tank. My new purchase sometime this year is going to be a water camera. Spent a few hours snorkeling and warming ourselves in the sun. Such indulgence after a Japanese winter.

From Clovelly and Coogee
From Clovelly and Coogee
From Clovelly and Coogee
From Clovelly and Coogee
From Clovelly and Coogee
From Clovelly and Coogee

The rocks in this snorkeling spot are super mossy and slippery. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

From Clovelly and Coogee

It’s a nice little spot, Clovelly is. Especially for snorkeling and seeing lots of fish, and great views too.

From Clovelly and Coogee
From Clovelly and Coogee
From Clovelly and Coogee
From Clovelly and Coogee
From Clovelly and Coogee

For lunch we then ventured around the corner to Coogee beach.

From Clovelly and Coogee
From Clovelly and Coogee

On my Sydney Food to-eat list, was fish and chips. As a lover of puns and word play, I saw this great place.

From Clovelly and Coogee

Awesome name. But no, we didn’t eat there. I really wanted to eat potato scallops and we tried every place in Coogee and no one had potato scallops. Just not on the menu. What! No potato scallops! Outrage. Was super disappointed. Seriously unAustralian. Alas, for lunch, we settled on a real hamburger (which we shared), and a seafood mix (fish, calamari rings, prawn cocktails) which we shared, and some hot chips. Washed down with a Lemon, lime and bitters. A real hamburger with beetroot. (I love beetroot).

From Clovelly and Coogee

Fish and chips:

From Clovelly and Coogee
From Clovelly and Coogee

An ice-cold lemon, lime and bitters:

From Clovelly and Coogee

Headed down onto the sands of Coogee bunch for a swim. Water was deliciously warm. Water was so clean. Was great to be back in the ocean. Sydney beaches are so beautiful. The best in the world. No one does beaches like Australia.

From Clovelly and Coogee
From Clovelly and Coogee
From Clovelly and Coogee
From Clovelly and Coogee

Aussie thongs a.k.a flip flops.

From Clovelly and Coogee

It’s a hard life, but someone’s gotta do it.

New Year, more tea

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

Another year, another afternoon tea party. A shinnenkai Tea Party.

From Tea at Hotel Okura
From Tea at Hotel Okura

So I did another afternoon tea over the weekend, and I must say it was very easy to rank this one. Quite simply, because it went straight to the very bottom of my list of afternoon teas in Tokyo. The venue in question – Hotel Okura. It promised to be such a nice experience. Disappointment it delivered.

From Tea at Hotel Okura

It’s not situated in a convenient location. The hotel is in the boring Toranomon embassy district, a 10min walk from the closest subway station. I got lost getting there and ended up close to 30min late because I couldn’t figure out how to get there. Entrance into the hotel is a little confusing too. They have a hotel annex – the South Wing, so be sure to go to the right hotel building. Entrance was hidden by a carpark. Not a visibly-labelled hotel.

From Tea at Hotel Okura
From Tea at Hotel Okura
From Tea at Hotel Okura

As for the hotel itself. It’s very 70s. From the decor, right down to the 70’s dressed bellhops out the front of the hotel. Afternoon tea takes place in the Orchid Room, where needless to say, orchids adorn the table. Table setting is very pretty and florally. The Orchid Room is a dining room with a buffet set up in the middle for the lunch crowd. Felt a little odd to be doing afternoon tea in the middle of a buffet room. Most hotels usually offer tea in the cafe/lounge bar. No view to speak of either.

From Tea at Hotel Okura

The whole afternoon tea experience was very disappointing. I don’t know where to begin. Don’t let these glossy photos fool you. Sandwiches were really plain, bland and dare I say even, quite disgusting. Way too much butter. More butter than filling. And very ordinary. I declined to eat all my sandwiches.

From Tea at Hotel Okura
From Tea at Hotel Okura

The scones were ok. More like biscuits (in the American sense, that they were very very dry). Scones to Australians should be big, round, and buttery fluffy.

From Tea at Hotel Okura
From Tea at Hotel Okura
From Tea at Hotel Okura

Cakes were also very 普通.

From Tea at Hotel Okura

Food on the whole was a little skimpy here compared to other places. The 不味い sandwiches were plentiful, but only two cakes. Most places tend to be quite generous on the dessert side. As for the tea, the selection was standard. The usual Ceylon, Assam, Earl Grey, English Breakfast and a couple of other herbal blends. However, you can only choose one choice of tea. So no tea sampling. They do however, give you fresh pot refills of your selected tea. With our group of six, we each chose a different tea, that way we could each sample eachother’s tea.

From Tea at Hotel Okura

Time session ended promptly at 5pm without warning except when we were given our bills and ushered promptly out. Because the afternoon tea is in the main buffet dining room, dinner service needs to be prepared. My standard criteria for an afternoon tea session is 3 hours – minimum.

From Tea at Hotel Okura

Save your 3200yen, which is what tea at the Orchid Room will set you back. Complete photo album here