Day 4 9/8/07 - Australia

Hayman Island

Highlight

• After the decadence of last night, we went for a very light breakfast, as we were going for a feast tonight.
• Today they decided to tidy our rooms nice and early, so the room was already all made up after breakfast.
• The sun decided to stay hidden today, so that stopped everyone else from going on the sailing trip with us, so we had the boat, Lady Dee, all to ourselves.
• Lady Dee is the ultimate luxurious vessel. There are 3 bedrooms, a bathroom and kitchen area. We didn’t stay inside for very long though, taking in the scenery of lush green island and blue water.
• Our crew were Beth, from the Hawkesbury, and Christian from Germany. They were really nice, and let us go wherever we wanted. It was like having a private charter. I got to drive for a bit – it was easy as they did everything else and all I had to do was turn the wheel.
• After some trouble negotiating a path between the coral, we were dropped off on Langford Island, with a long stretch of beach sticking out, where we had lunch. Besides a few snorkelers also out on a boat, we had the whole place to ourselves. Probably a good thing that the sun decided to stay hidden though, otherwise we won’t want to leave.
• We had better luck finding deck chairs at the lagoon pool today, as most guests were probably holed up inside, away from the wind. We only lasted about 5 minutes in the pool before we gave up.
• What else to do on a overcast, windy day? We had a go on the 9 hole putting green, borrowed a board game, browsed the retail shop, took a door of Spa Chakra, and played a long game of snooker.
• The highlight of our dining experience is The Chef’s Table, prepared by Glenn Bacon, the executive chef at Hayman Island Resort, which is held twice a week and has only 18 spots. We dined in the hotel kitchen, on a long table, and enjoyed being spoilt by the top quality food and wine on offer. The highlight of it though, was definitely touring the kitchen, including the chocolate room where free samples of Valhona chocolate truffles were on offer, and watching all the bakers at work for the next day’s breakfast.

Food

• Azure breakfast:
  • mocha
  • peppermint tea
  • grapefruit juice
  • blueberry Danish
  • raspberry Danish
  • cheese scroll
  • mango and natural yoghurt with dried fruit and nuts
  • poached egg with hollandaise
  • Sicilian lyonnaise (pork) sausage
• lunch on Lady Dee:
  • orange juice
  • apple blackcurrant juice
  • carrot cake
  • fruit platter
• Chef’s Table dinner:
  • Don Perigon champagne
  • kingfish tartare
  • steamed Brunny island oysters with sake
  • mud crab and reen papaya salad with plantains
  • 2006 Henschke "Coralinga" Sauvignon Blanc
  • Guinea hen, savoy cabbage, black pudding and pork hock compression
  • 2006 Haan "Prestiage" Viognier
  • Hiramisa kingfish with baby abalone, enoki and pearl barley “risotto”
  • 2005 Dog Point Chardonnay
  • Pave of wagyu nine score with snail tart and Montpellier butter
  • 2001 D’Arenberg "Coppermine Road" Cabernet Sauvignon
  • Purple carrot gelle and sherbet
  • Variations of orange
  • 2004 De Bortoli Noble One Botrytis Semillon