About Briar
Briar Jensen is a Sydney-based freelance travel writer. Her blog covers travel tips, reviews, insights and inspiration, travel accessories and gadgets.
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Meet Solomon Wiseman, pioneer, inn keeper and ferry master, after which this tiny town on a bend in the Hawkesbury River is named. He is the inspiration and main character of Kate Grenville’s novel The Secret River. I loved learning more about him and the area in Grenville’s companion book, Searching for the Secret River, which describes her research. And the ferry service he started is still going! #wisemansferry #kategrenville #hawkesburyriver @visitnswWhat’s around the next corner? Kayaking up Webb’s Creek, off the Hawkesbury River at Wisemans Ferry I couldn’t help but think of Kate Greenville’s book The Secret River. How remote this must have felt for the early settlers. Thanks to @hawkesburyhouseboats, who also hire kayaks and runabouts, I was able to explore the creek for a couple of hours in the company of ducks and a white-faced heron. So what’s around the corner? More of the same! #hawkesburyriver #ilovesydney #kayaking #astw_incAlways love this view of the Hawkesbury River from Hawkins Lookout before the descent into Wisemans Ferry. Twisting and turning more than 120kms to Broken Bay, the river was known as Deerubbin by the local indigenous people, meaning wide, deep water. So close to Sydney it offers an ideal weekend getaway. #wisemansferry #deerubbinSay hi to Bib and Bub, gumnut babies, found in the garden at Nutcote, the #sydney harbourside home of Australian children’s author and illustrator May Gibbs, which I passed on my recent walk from Taronga to Kirribilli. Now a beautiful museum, the home sheds light on May’s life and work. The home was also used in the film Ladies in Black as Magda’s harbourside house. #nutcote #maygibbs #ilovesydney #astw_incThe views of Sydney Harbour on the Taronga to Kirribilli walk range from vignettes to vast vistas. Such an easy an interesting walk. @sydney #ilovesydney #sydneyharbourFantastic #harbourwalk from Taronga Zoo to Kirribilli along the waterfront. So many beautiful parks, like Anderson Park, with these majestic #palms. #ilovesydney #astw_inc- My Tweets
Category Archives: Food & Wine
Toe-tapping retro fashion fun in the Blue Mountains
Love retro fashions? Like a bit of toe-tapping on the dance floor? Enjoy lingering with friends over delicious regional food and wine? Then you’ll love the Roaring 20s Festival. Held in Sydney’s Blue Mountains this year’s event takes place on … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Events, Fashion, festivals, Food & Wine, New South Wales, Sydney
Tagged Blue Mountains, Blue Mountains Vintage Cadillacs, Charleston Challenge, Charleston for Charity, Charlotte Smith Collection, Charlotte Smith Fashion Collection, Dress up, fashion, festivals, Food and Wine, Hydro Majestic, Hydro Majestic Long Lunch, Plate Up, retro fashion, roaring 20s, Roaring 20s fashions, Roaring 20s Festival, vintage cadillacs
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Event: Sydney Tomato Festival Royal Botanic Garden
Love tomatoes? Then mark the Sydney Tomato Festival in your diary for this weekend 20-21st February 2016 – to be held at The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. I didn’t realise Sydney had a Tomato Festival, so I’m disappointed to know I’ve … Continue reading
Learn healthy cooking at Sprout
It starts with a cheese so blooming beautiful it’s almost too good to eat. Encrusted in finely chopped herbs and adorned with delicate pastel petals it awaits on a platter at Sprout Cooking, Adelaide Central Market, in South Australia. Sprout … Continue reading
Posted in Cooking School, Food & Wine, South Australia, Travel
Tagged Adelaide Central Market, cooking school, food, healthy cooking
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Sydney’s top pub grub
More than 100 reviewers ‘risked life and limb’ to visit over 500 pubs in New South Wales, says Keith Austin, editor of The Sydney Morning Herald Good Pub Food Guide, which was launched in Sydney last night. But only about … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Food & Wine, New South Wales, Travel
Tagged Dining, Food and Wine, Hotel food, Pub food, Pubs, sydney
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Easter chocolate game for grown ups
Got chocolate on your mind this Easter? Then I’ve got a hilarious game for you to try around the dinner table or campfire, thanks to Murray Langham of Schoc Chocolates, an artisan chocolate company in New Zealand. Langham established the … Continue reading
Posted in Chocolate, Food & Wine, New Zealand, Travel
Tagged Chocolate, Easter, Greytown, New Zealand, travel
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Nudity in Outback Pub
There’s nudity-a-plenty at this family outback pub. But don’t let that put you off – it’s only of the artistic variety, from the likes of Clifton Pugh, Russell Drysdale and other artists of the bush. The walls of the Tooles Family Hotel in … Continue reading
Posted in Accommodation, Australia, Food & Wine, Outback, Tibooburra
Tagged accommodation, Food and Wine, outback, travel
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Pick me! Bite me! (Hawkesbury Farm Gate Trail)
‘Bite Me!’ screams the shiny red gala as I pluck it from the tree. I oblige, crunching into the crisp white flesh, juice dribbling down my chin. The flavour is far sweater and fresher than any store-bought apple I’ve tasted recently, … Continue reading
Posted in Food & Wine, Hawkesbury, Travel
Tagged Farmgate, Food and Wine, Hawkesbury, travel
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