A Trip to Port Stephens

As I've said in one of my previous post, we had a farewell party and it was a blast! I'd like to say that it was because they like what I cooked. They said that it's their favourite. Yeey! But there were lots of alcohol at that time so I can't really be sure. The morning of that day, I went to Nelson Bay and Port Stephens to join the Tour coordinated by the uni.

First, we went to Murrook where we were educated a bit on the Aboriginal (indigenous) culture which includes their art, tools, way of life, and how they use their resources around them. It was really a unique experience. Two Aborigines facilitated this part. What I like the most was their belief of only taking what is enough; not to be greedy, basically.

We were supposed to practice how to use a boomerang properly but because the lawn was wet due to a moderate rainfall beforehand, we proceeded with the Aboriginal-inspired painting. Their paintings used dots heavily and a lot of symbols as well so we had to learn those. I came up with the picture below. Not really pretty but I love it!

Fun fact: Did you know that the dots in their paintings must be dip in the colour every single time to get that even circumference? Imagine having a standard canvas, it'll take you days just to complete it! Also, every painting has its own story as stories are part of their culture.


Then we went to Murray's for a beer tasting. I was really expecting to only have beers but I dunno what happened that we got to taste wines as well. No one's complaining, I mean, who would? I don't really drink beers because for me they taste awful but I like the first one that we tried. I forgot about the names of the beers we had but I kept drinking them because it's part of what I paid. Besides, I want to try new things so I drank them all. We tasted sauvignon blanc, semillon, pinot grigio, moscato (my favourite because it's the only sweet one), and other wines which names I also do not remember.

Too bad it was raining

This brewery

One of the beers that we had

Lunch as also served in this location. They served pizzas (no picture)! I love it. I sat beside and across German students and they ate really fast! I was still halfway through my first pizza and they are on to their second! With 2 pizzas that were served, I only ate 2 slices and a few chips. Then the girl beside me saw that there was another pizza in the other table (part of the group tour) so she took it (hopefully it was clean) and gave it to me. The other German guy was hungry as well but he let me have it. Ow. Nice. So I munched it hungrily then another pizza came. Yes! Turns out, German guy2 asked Murray's to give us another pizza for free because German guy1 said he was hungry. Sweet. For that pizza, I ate one as well. After four slices, I was still hungry! But, it was time for us to go and everything's eaten up already so no point in staying - except for that one slice that was thrown away. Geez. It was a full slice and they put serviettes and other trash on top of it. What a waste.

After lunch, we fed stingrays and sharks with fish, prawns and squids at Irukandji Shark and Ray Encounters. It was fun! I get to pat a stingray's back and boy it was very soft that even the slightest touch could feel like you are hurting it.

Eat shark, eat

Not having success with this one

Overall, I'd rate this tour 7 out of 10. Not a perfect score because it was raining that resulted for us to skip the boomerang activity but good enough because of the bonus wines and the pizzas!