Maitland aroma festival part 1.

Today was the annual Maitland Aroma Festival, and since we are now Novocastrians (and Jamie is addicted to caffeine) we figured we should attend.

The weather was kind to us as we walked to High Street sampling coffee, wine, chocolates, jams, oils and spreads. We are actually really lucky where we live now, as we are so close to the most amazing wineries, cheese makers, and condiment makers in New South Wales. We were quite good and only purchased some little jars of jam.

There was a great turn out of people considering the weather threatened rain most of the day. Jamie and I had a most enjoyable afternoon together!

I have broken the blogging of festival into parts for two reasons. Firstly we are still running out laptop off iPhone internet which is very slow and painful. Secondly there would be too many photos for one blog post it would be a bit much really :-)

Here is your own little tour of my favourite parts of the Aroma Festival...

For medical reasons I can't have caffeine... but I can pose with a coffee though!

The most beautiful store selling handmade half aprons. The fabrics were mostly vintage, or vintage inspired, and the finishing of them looked very professional.

A Turkish food stall. It smelt amazing.

This guys crocheted beanie was super cute!

I never realised how old Maitland actually is.

That's right, an 1836 building by our standards is old.

This guy knew his coffee!

Newcastle is beginning to feel like home for us now. We are truly spoilt up here with the beautiful beaches, countryside and towns we have to discover. I am enjoying sharing these little places with you all, and I hope if you do live in, or ever come to, New South Wales you take some time to come and visit this area, as it is just beautiful.

Sam xox

To market.

Image borrowed from here.

A colleague of mine invited me along to a trip to the Eveleigh Farmers Market that is held near her home every Saturday. I had not heard of this market before, but Marjolein promised it was great.

I met Marjolein at her home, and after a 10 minute walk through some beautiful back streets lined with terrace houses and home to a number of cute cats, we arrived at the markets. What I noticed straight away were the number of bikes lined up along the footpath with baskets on them, the owners being somewhere amongst the crowds of people and fresh produce. We walked the aisles, tasting a variety of dips, cheeses, and meats, while mentally I was preparing a shopping list to take with me next Saturday. The variety was really impressive, with my favourites being the meat stalls (if you are considerate of 'food miles' these meats had only traveled a couple of hours) and the stall selling only zucchini related produce.

As I had a fridge at home half full of groceries still, I did not buy a lot. But next week I will definitely be doing most of my grocery shopping here, and might even ride my own bike there and park it amongst the others...

Yum!

Sam xox