Love is in the air....

Last week the rest of the world celebrated Valentines Day.  We only give it a passing thought as we try and celebrate our love for each other every day.  However we did break out the pink champagne and sat outside to watch the sun go down on Valentines Day.

On the weekend we very belatedly celebrated a friends 60th birthday.  We were overseas for his party in October and we apparently missed out on a wonderful night (insert sad face!).  We decided that we should do something special for a 60th birthday present so we booked a two bedroom apartment at Coconut Grove in Port Douglas and made dinner reservations at Nautilus Restaurant.
Coconut Grove is an apartment block that we have had our eye on for a potential place to live out our retirement years but it's not to be as we found out. Although you can own an apartment in the complex you can only live in it a maximum of three months per year!
It was the right choice to stay here because we could really get a feel for the place and I must admit I wouldn't want to live here.  There is so much wasted space!  Although there was a magnificent outdoor area that included a spa and pool, you couldn't relax here because the  apartments above looked right down on to the area.

There were also large cracks in the cement work that could only mean structurally there were flaws.  But, having said all that, the rooms were very comfortable and it was lovely to find a cheese platter waiting for us in the refrigerator.  Just the thing to have with our Bolinger!
Our dinner reservation was for 7.15pm and it is a short walk from Coconut Grove to Nautilus.  Nautilus is an old favourite of ours.  It was the first restaurant we had ever eaten at in Port Douglas, about 30 year ago.  Nautilus has been operating for over 60 years.  You can read about the history here.  It has won many awards over the years and continues to please it's patrons with some very delicious food.  Our choice for dinner was the five course degustation with matching wines and it was a great choice.  We started with cold smoked mackerel, followed by scallops and pork belly.  Next came the Jungle Curry consisting of a variety of delicious seafood.  To follow this was the lamb cutlet with seasonal vegetables and last but not least was the Pineapple Bombe Alaska.

It was a lovely night and the conversation flowed beautifully with the help of all that wonderful wine!  As we left the restaurant there was talk of continuing the night at the IronBar but really we were all a little worse for wear....some a little more than others....yes I'm looking at you DH!  So it was back to Coconut Grove where everyone voted to head straight to bed!  There is something about that 60 year mark that makes us think a little more about how we will feel the next day if we party too much.  Hahhhaaa!
Next morning we all headed to Betty's Bohemian Beach Cafe for breakfast.  Some of us had a healthy breakfast while the rest of us feasted on all that delicious bacon.

By the time we finished breakfast it was almost 10 am and we had to be out of the apartment by 10am so it was a quick dash upstairs to quickly pack our suitcases and say goodbye to our friends who we don't see nearly often enough.  But isn't that what makes a great friendship....