We weren't after anything substantial, so we headed over to Capers, which we'd passed on the morning stroll for coffee and nibbles (flour less chocolate slice this way, lemon tartlet for Madam) and then headed off to Milkwood Lodge, located a couple of kilometres out of town just off the main road.
Six pole houses in the rainforest delivers a quiet retreat, and it certainly looks like the way to go when you're looking at a couple of relaxing days away from the swing of things but close enough to get there if need be.
Questions about dining options produced a bid wrap for The Italian, a place I'd been inclined to miss on the basis of the and Thai tacked onto the end, suspecting an operation that was sort of neither fish or fowl, tackling two and not getting either of them right. How wrong I was! But more of that anon.
A power nap was enough to recharge the batteries and get me back onto the iPad to tap out the narrative, and I was pretty much out of the backlog when Madam decided she'd head up to Grassy Hill for a look and some photographic action. I could have gone, but we'd decided Thursday was in town and Friday was Lion's Den day, so I was keen to get the guts of the historical side of things tied up and finished by the time she returned.
We'd been advised to try Shadows of Mount Cook for dinner and since it was just down the road it seemed like an obvious first choice, but an investigatory phone call suggested they're not doing an open to the public dining bit any more, and brought another suggestion pointing us to The Italian, which is where we were pulling up around six-fifteen.
The wrap from Milkwood Lodge had a firm tick beside pasta Di Mare (assorted seafood, olive oil, garlic, fresh basil and a touch of Chilli) and a suggestion that we ask for it Wog style, something I would normally demur from doing, but I'm certainly glad I didn't.
It's BYO so we'd set off with a good bottle of SSB, which went down very nicely with one of the best Italian meals I've had in a long time, and since I've been eating Italian style for much of the past forty years...