A Good Hamburger At Last

After a two-day stay in Port Macquarie, we departed with the sun shinning brightly outside. Darn, missed the camel on the beach ride by one day. Grrrrrrrrrr. So, back on the road with not too much distance to our final destination.

I'd like to say that we cruised on down the Pacific Hwy, but there were massive road construction projects going on and we had frequent stops and slow downs that made the trip take considerably longer than we expected.

Traffic was also backed up a bit and we were getting close to the lunch hour, after only having some coffee and light brekkie pastries. Grumble Grumble went our tummies.

We soon made our way into Cessnock and located the downtown area with plenty of interesting shops as well as some places that looked decent for lunch. We decided to try this place called Klewz Kafe. How could you go wrong with a place that has K's and Zed's in it's name? I noticed they had a decent sounding hamburger on the menu, and I could tell that today I was craving a bit of American food.

My dad ordered up a BIg Brekkie - and Lyle if you are reading this, consider adding that to your menu at Jake's. The Big Brekkie with it's bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns, toast and tomatoes is simply an amazing breakfast dish. Very yummy indeed, but it was nearing the lunch hour and I wanted a burger.

Now up to this point, I had not truly eaten a really good hamburger here. The burger I ordered up featured "American" mustard and tomato sauce, with no mention of beetroot. It also came with "fries" and not the standard mention of chips. Sounded promising so far. I also ordered up a mixed berry smoothie made with ice-cream, which was darn close to a milkshake. When the burger arrived, I knew I did well.

No ketchup for the fries, but Mmmmmmmmm Mmmmmmmm, it was a tasty burger indeed! Nice and thick and everything right about what makes a great hamburger. I knew it was possible to find a decent hamburger here and I can now say thank you to Klewz Kafe.

We walked around the town some more after lunch and found some other wonderful Christmas goodies that you can only find down under.

After Cessnock, we headed towards the Hunter Valley region, where I hear they produce some wine.

And indeed they did. We sampled a few varieties of wines and soon departed the very scenic vicinity

Back on the road we were nearing Sydney. The drive was certainly very scenic and as you get closer and closer to the city the way the road is carved through the rocks is very impressive. The road gets heavier with traffic as well as the lanes expand to three running in each direction.

We were now cruising down the M1, and soon merged into the M7, which was a toll road. We got into the cash line, and my dad handed the coins over. Back on the M7 we went. However, a bit further down the road we were approaching another toll area, but this time the sign read "NO CASH ACCEPTED". Hmmmmmmmm. We exited and found ourselves meandering our way to the Rooty Hill area, which we found after getting lost a little along the way.

We checked into our Holiday Inn and were certainly ready for a break from being on the road for a long portion of the day. The familiar taste of the imminent return home could be felt here, with an ice-machine in the hallway. Ahhhhhh, the finer things in life, such as an ice-machine in your motel.

For dinner we headed out down the road looking for something decent. There were not many choices in the direction we drove, but we spotted an Italian place that looked decent enough. Piazzetta Bella was the name and upon entering I could tell this was a classy joint. It wasn't crowded, and my dad and I were seated in the corner. I knew it was time for having a truly great dish and this was the night. Lamb! Oh baby, was it good and so tender. I'm sure Mary might miss it, but it was so darn tasty.

A perfect meal and a Coopers for a nightcap. There's not much more to this trip left. Better live it up while we can. One more full day left. Off to sleep in another strange bed.

keeneye said: