Day 6 - Work and Leisure: Slow Mornings + Fun Afternoons
If Saturday mornings are for coffee, admin, catchup work & travel planning, then Saturday afternoons are for strolling Richmond River & visiting some local pubs.
11/11/2023
Today we woke up a bit later (6am) as it was our first weekend in England.
I woke up thinking about grabbing the laptops, heading to a nearby café, doing some photo editing, working on the blog and scrolling the internet while we sat sipping a relaxing coffee.
That fantasy was put to a holt when Chelsea noted she was still working today and that maybe I should be too…
So instead of a relaxing Saturday morning like we enjoy back home, we worked through to around 10am until Chelsea got up from behind her laptop. I looked up thinking maybe it was time to enjoy a nice walk in the sunshine we had for a change. Instead, Chelsea asked Grandad where the vacuum was and started to vacuum the entire house. I slumped back down in my chair, pretending to look busy to avoid being given any cleaning duties.
In the end, I had to help fix the security camera and wash the dishes (which I happily did… I promise).
After the work had been completed, we took the 65 Bus over the Kew Bridge, past Kew Gardens and into Richmond. This was the first time both Chelsea and I had crossed over the bridge, and found Kew Gardens to be a cute little area with a large expansive garden, that was being fitted with a large amount of lights for their Christmas exhibition opening in a few days (guess where we are planning to go next week haha).
When we reached Richmond, we found it to be a cute little village-type atmosphere, with a busy main street full of restaurants and cafes, with their alleyways scattered with book, dessert, thrift and jewellery shops.
Chels absolutely loved the path right by the river & sat on a bench watching the beautiful scenery. She kept saying how everywhere she looked was like a postcard. She spotted a little person waddling down the path in a big (but still very little!) puffer jacket & said it reminded her of looking out her office window watching Di take little Carter for a walk on the beach. Dare I say we will be taking a fair few more trips down the road to Richmond.
We walked along the riverbank, which has a pathway the whole length of Richmond, and is obviously very popular with tourists and locals alike (reminded us of Surfers Paradise beachfront - mainly due to the large amount of people walking along it, much less palm trees would you believe!).
As we strolled along, looking at the grand old bridges and little row boats, we found ourselves boarding the Peggy Jean Riverside Boat Bar/Restuarant. We sat in the sun, enjoying a coldish beer, taking in the scenery and people-watching for a while.
As the sun began to dip, we got a bit colder and decided we would move further into the town streets to avoid the cool breeze. This led us to One Paved Court. This name may not mean a lot to most of you, but those of you who watch Ted Lasso will know this as Ted’s alleyway and also the home of The Princes’s Head pub (sadly May wasn’t working that day).
Not only is this a spot for us Ted Lasso lovers to stop and photograph, it is also a great little set of alleyways full of local shops and a nice pub that opens up right onto Richmond Green, a large park that is surrounded by beautiful trees.
Chelsea and I decided that this is where all the Dad’s must offer to take the kids when they want to go for a run-around, as we saw more than a few people carrying beers & wines across the road from the pub to sit on the benches and watch their kids in the park. Mind you, the benches are about 100m away from the pub! I’m not sure how lenient the rule of allowing people to stand outside the pub and drink is in England, but I think they may be pushing it to its limits in Richmond!
After having a beer with Ted, we made our way to an Italian restaurant called Sebastian’s, where we shared a wood-fired pizza and a couple of glasses of wine for dinner … at 4:30pm! They even dimmed the lights and put candles out (imagine doing that at 4:30pm in Yeppoon - you would still have 3 hours of daylight left!)
From dinner, we strolled the alleyways a bit more and stumbled upon a bit of a hidden bar called No. 1a Duke Street. We had a cocktail and got talking to another couple at the table next to us (more new friends!).
After exchanging Instagram and Whatsapp numbers, Chels almost got into a jog when deciding to head back to a place that Matty would love! A dessert place that specialises in hot chocolate that we had seen on the corner earlier. Knoops is another viral chocolate place that we “just have to try”. At this place, you choose from a large variety of different chocolate percentages, as well as add-ons such as handmade marshmallows added into your chocolate (of course I had to get that!).
We grabbed these, jumped on the 65 Bus back home and enjoyed a dessert before getting home into bed - perfect way to end the day.
Sorry for the delay in the blogs! We’ve been busy doing travel planning and I’ve fallen behind! I am hoping to catch up within the next day, so be ready for some rapid-fire blogs!
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Cheers,
Matt & Chels
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