The Top End




Lovely Loquacious Lorikeets ..........it just rolls off the tongue.

 
My love affair with the Northern Territory started in Katherine our first stop in the Top End. A long hot and dusty journey from Kununurra took us through some spectacular escarpments and across the Victoria River. Termite mounds as large as dinosaur droppings covered the landscape. Not so far fetched as you might think. This whole area from Broome to Kununnura was once an vast inland sea and the first fossils of invertebrates that copulated and gave birth to live young as apposed to spawning have been found here. Another piece of useless trivia for you but the scientists get excited about the fact that this is one of the first places on earth that we got down to some serious nookie. The temperature has been climbing steadily and I am slowly becoming dessicated in the Australian heat . I have developed an obsession with water and all I think of is the prospect of a swim,even if it means Katherine's warm thermal springs.  There is only one way to rehydrate this mermaid and that is total immersion. We set up camp on some grass, a welcome relief after all the dust bowl camping of the last few weeks,and  in the shade of some tall red gums.  A crowd of candy coloured lorikeets like flying Smarties joined us to take advantage of a sprinkler and were soon squabbling over who got to bathe first.

Rare sighting of African Bushducks at thermal springs

 The true blessing of our stay turned out to be a pair of welcoming Welsh neighbours who set up camp next to us. Some people you feel you have known all your life even if you have just met. Chris and Terry O' Laughlin from Melbourne,were that rare breed. Their love of South Africa where they had spent many years endeared us to them and we had many happy hours around our respective tables reminiscing and  exchanging stories, in the company of delicious food and fine wine.

Katherine Gorge

Nitmiluk (Cicada Dreaming) is the aboriginal name for Katherine Gorge which winds along for twelve kilometers.We spent a couple of nights in this spectacular park and took a cruise up the first two of thirteen gorges with sheer rock faces seventy metres high. Bolung-the Rainbow Serpent is said to inhabit the deep water in the second gorge where in the wet season huge whirlpools form and  suck everything into their depths. Maybe that  is why the local Jawoyn people fear the place and wont fish or enter the water at this point. I found it a peaceful and tranquil place. Hundreds of little Fairy Martins build their bottle shaped nests under the overhanging ledges and the silence is palpable. A cute wallaby visited every night for some tucker. I wish I could have taken him on board.

Wally

I was excited as we drove into Darwin. I had read so much about the city, the bombings in the second world war by the Japanese and the total devastation by Cyclone Tracy in 1974.  It is a colourful, tropical, laid back city with a real sense of place which is definitely more Asian than Australian. Beautiful colonial buildings with wide verandas and palms and  frangipani trees line the streets.Its a haven for backpackers with cheap accommodation and  endless watering holes.The street markets lure you with the tantalizing aromas of food from Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia. I tasted my first "crispy fried duck egg" a hard boiled egg coated in a spicy anise batter and deep fried, stuffed chicken wings,(surely life is too short to stuff a chicken wing?!) spring rolls the size of my little finger filled with aromatic pork and a sweet coconut Cambodian rice cake steamed in small baskets.Half the time I didn't know or care what I was eating, it all tasted delicious.But I drew the line at Roo........anything that says "Outback" on the menu features Roo or Croc. Not for me and besides I have an ongoing  love affair with  Roos of all kinds..........it would be as terrible as eating dog!
At the Darwin museum you can view an exhibit of Cyclone Tracy. You wander through furnished rooms filled with memorabilia of northern territory life in 1974. Radios play the weather broadcast, but no mention of the impending disaster.Finally a door shuts behind you and in a pitch black room you discover first hand how terrible the sound of it was from actual recordings taken at its height on Christmas day. You emerge to unbelievable photos of the total devastation of a flattened city.The sheer scale of the disaster is mind boggling.But true to form there are the Aussies with their indomitable optimism waving merrily from the ruins with placards "No worries mate" !
By the end of the week the humidity was soaring and a pall of smoke hung over the city,bush fires were raging and a total fire ban was in effect. It felt time to leave, you couldn't even escape the heat with a swim because of the danger of the deadly box jellyfish at this time of the year. We celebrated Tommy's 37th birthday on Mindil Beach watching the sun set over the Timor Sea,eating fresh mango and satay prawns on a stick. A Japanese Didgeridoo player moaned at the moon and we knew we were on our way down........down to the red center of Oz and another lovely lady, a town called Alice.

Sunset at Mindil Beach

Soul Food Kitchen

We had so many exotic gastronomic delights in Darwin its proving difficult to choose a recipe for the Soul Kitchen but perhaps this will tickle your taste buds. This is an authentic Aussie recipe "hearty tucker" probably went down well after the Cyclone........

Burdekin Ducks  (fancy name for corned beef fritters!)

1 cup plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
2 cups diced corned beef
2 cups assorted diced veggies,(corn, potato, pumpkin,peas or any left over cooked veg)
1 tablespoon butter, melted
2 teaspoons vegetable oil.


Sift flour, salt and baking powder together Add eggs beaten with milk. Stir in meat, veggies and melted butter. Fry in large spoonfuls in hot oil turning once and cook until golden brown. Serve warm, but they are great cold. Tomato sauce is an ideal accompaniment. Best drunk with a bottle of ice cold beer.........Enjoy!

Diesel, Dust and the Dreamtime



Aboriginal Sacred Site Winjana Gorge Dreaming

                                       When you stand and gaze at Winjana Gorge
                                               its easy to understand the Dreamtime.................


 Some two thousand generations of men and women have lived and died since the first Aboriginal walked upon the soil of this land , now known as Australia.  Forty thousand years since the beginning of the Dreamtime.  In the beginning the earth was featureless, flat and grey. There were no mountain ranges, no rivers, no billabongs, no birds or animals, in fact no living thing...........then came the Dreamtime. Giant mythical Beings rose up out of the great grey plains where they had been slumbering for centuries; they looked like animals or plants or insects but they behaved just like humans. As they wandered in search of food and water they dug huge ravines and rivers,pushed up mountains and gradually the earth as we know it today took shape. Aboriginals believe their ancestors were taught by these mythical Beings and how as their descendants they should behave. Then the Dreamtime ended, and they were left with rites and ceremonies to preserve this heritage. Tribal lands and all forms of life contained within it are now held in sacred trust. Land  has a very special meaning to Aboriginals for all over the land are features which remind them of these Beings who had a part in their creation and the truth of the connectedness of all things, both living and dead.

These are our last weeks in Western Australia, and the diversity of the scenery in this state is remarkable. The road from Broome to Derby and Kununurra in this part of the Kimberley region is so like Africa,especially Kenya or Zimbabwe. Savannah doted with Baobabs and yellow flowering kapok trees. It made me very nostalgic. I keep scanning the bush for buck, zebra or giraffe but alas only the odd Roo. 

A day trip to Wyndham , the northernmost town in Western Australia . Its dry, dusty and has a dubious claim to fame for the most beer drunk per capita in the whole of Oz .......I  can see why.  Not a lot here, but at the Five Rivers lookout you can (predictably enough) see five rivers at one time. The homestead scenes in the film Australia were filmed here and the local museum was a wealth of quirky information. In its hey day it was the center for the meat processing industry and Johnson's Fluid Beef aka Bovril was made here in HUGE quantities.........if you could see how they made the stuff (the old photos were pretty graphic) you would never touch the stuff........VEGEMITE RULES!



 



Dawn fishing on the Ord

Derby will be remembered for the meal the sand flies had of Tommy's legs........ and a meeting with Margaret,a wonderfully colourful colonial lady originally from East Africa and editor of the local paper,The Muddy Waters. Then on to  Kununurra famous for  Pink Argyle Diamonds and a too brief friendship forged with Geoff and Kaye Brown, lovey people from Dalmeny NSW......... what a lovely daughter.....now they would be great in-laws................ well a mother can dream can't she!



A swim with a view



A last few days at Lake Argyle and  another memorable swim this time in the infinity pool overlooking the lake. Tommy caught and lost a HUGE fish in the Ord River..........he has witnesses.

Now its time to hit the road again and this time we are heading for the Top End................Darwin here we come!
 
 

Soul food Kitchen

Fresh Mango Salsa

Locals are always looking for new ways to use the over abundant supplies of mangoes in the Kimberley region,this is my version of a fresh and piquant mango salsa the quantities are really a matter of personal taste, I love the heat of fresh red chili but you can omit it

 
1 large mango peeled and cut into small dice.
1/2  Red onion cut into small dice
1/2 cup fresh pineapple cut into small dice
1 cup chopped fresh coriander
1 fresh red chili chopped fine
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
pinch of salt
 
Mix all together and chill in the fridge. Great with fish and seafood.and in tacos

Broome and Beyond



Monument to women pearl divers



            If diamonds are a girl's best friend,

                                                      then pearls must be her sister...............

I had my birthday in Broome. "The town built on buttons" Once the pearling capital of the world. until the mother of pearl industry was almost wiped out by the invention of the plastic button .The red pindan soil, white beaches and turquoise sea are as famous as the pearl divers themselves that came from Japan and China, Malaysia and Makassar, as well as  local Aboriginals. The Aboriginal  men and women were sometimes lured onto pearl luggers with the promise of grog and then forced to dive. If you didn't come up with a shell you had to produce a handful of sand to show that  you had reached the bottom.The pearl beds were deep, often more than 27 meters and hundreds of divers died either from the bends or drowning. Broome has the largest Japanese cemetery in Australia, with rough headstones carved from local beach stone. A silent tribute to the men who dived for "the tears of heaven"




Japanese Graveyard

  The corrugated road out to Willie Creek Pearl Farm was teeth rattling but the tour was fascinating.The poor oyster "pinctada maxima" has a tiny piece of Mississippi mussel shell inserted  into its gonads.......ouch!   Over the course of  a couple of years it secretes enough nacre (mucous) to ease the irritation and produce that highly desirable pearl. Each oyster also has its own home help, a tiny pea crab. In exchange for protection it keeps everything neat and tidy. Apparently the skilled operators, mainly Japanese that do this delicate seeding operation earn in excess of $100,000 for three months work, not too shabby but a mere bagatelle when you consider the industry turns over $200 million a year. I got to hold a couple of prize beauties for a few minutes.............but alas too dear for my budget to take home.





Pearls of great price!



Broome

I managed a swim at the fabled Cable beach, so named for the first international telegraph line that linked Australia to Java and the rest of the world. Walked through Chinatown to covet the pearls and finally watched the sun set whilst feasting on crispy Barrumundi wings under a star studded sky. A time for reflection as I celebrated my journey of 58 years.I've come a long way.My travels have taken me to five continents,and more exotic places than I could ever have imagined. It has been a privilege to explore new horizons, meet fascinating people and discover myself in the process. The internal journey has been  far longer than the external one and I still have a fair way to go............I read somewhere "that memories are a cushion for our old age" I have managed to stuff a few duvets so far.......God grant me travelling mercies and a soft landing!



Soul Food Kitchen

Fresh Lime Cordial.
This has been the best thirst quencher on our travels. We pop some bottles of the diluted juice in the freezer overnight and have ice cold drinks for the road.

60 g citric acid
30 g tartaric acid
30 g Epsom salts
Juice and rind of 12 limes or lemons
2 kg sugar
2 litres of boiling water

Pour the boiling water over all the other ingredients.Allow to stand overnight, so that the dry ingredients are dissolved. in the morning strain and bottle. Dilute to taste. Mmmmm.................... could be good with a G&T too ?

Sitting on the Rabbit Proof Fence

Dawn at Cape Keraudren



Dawn at Cape Keraudren is a vivid slash of mango on the blue -grey horizon of empty sand plains. We have passed the Tropic of Capricorn and are now enjoying the warm days and balmy nights of this part of the Pilbara. Here at one end of a stretch of coastline called 80 Mile Beach there is no reef and when the tide’s out its out for miles. There is a tidal range of nine meters and after a high tide the abundance of sea shells is amazing. I have never seen so many varieties of shells on one beach. Beautiful marbled cone shells, speckled barrel shells, spotted cowries , fragile hinged scallop shells that remind me of powder compacts and tiny pieces of pink coral that look like ruffled lace. I have spent many happy hours looking for “treasure” and have never been disappointed.

 We have camped on a sand dune with an enviable view of the sea and rocky shoreline. Behind us lie mangrove swamps, home to mud crabs and “salties”, the dreaded estuarine crocodiles. Cape Keraudren marks the start of crocodile country and your worst reptilian nightmare. This predator reigns supreme northwards from this area and can grow up to seven meters long. Luckily none have been seen this season, but we are on our guard, especially when fishing. We have however discovered a far more voracious predator….cullicoides molestus  aka the Australian sand fly. This malicious midge doesn’t bite but loves to pee on any available exposed human skin , causing huge lumps that drive you mad with itching. We have tried everything, all the known anti repellents, tea tree oil, deet, and have now resorted to a mixture of baby oil and Dettol. It seems to be doing the trick even if we are more sanitized than sanflized.

This is also one end of the famous No 1 Rabbit Proof Fence, the longest fence in the world. Constructed in 1904 and stretching for 1,837 kilometres from Starvation Harbour on the South Coast to this tip of remote coastline on the north western edge of Australia. A further two fences were constructed to stop the feral rabbit population in the east spreading to Western Australia making the total length of fences 3,256 kilometres, but you guessed it…..the rabbits beat them to it, and are now enjoying their retirement at Keraudren by the Sea. 

Treasure



Keraudren also has a nine hole golf course………not perhaps up to Greg Norman’s standards but nine holes on the mud flats behind the mangroves. A challenging course, you have to dodge the divots caused by the odd wild camel. We were here for their annual play off for the prestigious “Battered Hubcap “trophy. A beer a hole is the maxim here and all monies raised goes to a worthy cause, The Flying Doctor. This year they managed to raise $5,000, and quite a few hangovers.



Dales Gorge


This time last week we were enjoying the rugged beauty of the red gorges at Karijini National Park , in the Hamersley Range. What a contrast, there,we would wake most mornings to ice on the windshield. Karijini’s rusty soil is broken up by clumps of sage spinifex grass with feathery seed heads and the cone shaped flowers of purple Mulla Mulla. Spinifex is pretty to look at from a distance but treacherous to walk through as its leaves are spiky and razor sharp.

Fern pool

We hiked to the bottom of Dales Gorge where waterfalls cascade into deep jade pools and beautiful ferns crowd the banks It’s a tranquil and peaceful place where the white Corella’s rest in the branches of huge fig trees.



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Terns in flight

We have decided to dig in at Keraudren for a few weeks to avoid the kids school holidays. The  traffic travelling north is hectic and  the leisurely lifestyle of beach combing and fishing for our supper is a far better option. Tommy’s reel broke the first week and we devised a system to stop the fish from falling off the line when he couldn’t reel in fast enough. I would stand by with a gloved hand, and as soon as he had the fish hooked I would grab the line and run like hell for the beach. This method of saving our tucker earned me a new title…”Women who runs with Fish” We have also had the joy of making new friends. Apart from the gracious welcome from hardy residents like Pene and Michael who camp here for months, we have had some great times with fellow beachcombers Jean and Ken, landed gentry from Bryon Bay, swapped ghost stories around the camp fire with fellow Perthians Lee and Chris and with the help from Trev and Kayleen, a couple of Tassie Devils, raised the task of  “crab catching” to an art form.



  
 
 
                                               Soul Food Kitchen
 
 

It's Crab for tea!

 
 
Susie’s Devilled Crab…….in honor of those Tasmanian Devils.


This is an old recipe that my mother and grandmother used to make. The original recipe came from the Kenya Cookery Book and was based on a Thermidor sauce. It’s great with any seafood but with crab its delicious.. Served in the crab shell it looks and tastes amazing.
                                                                Chakula mazuri sana!





1 large mud crab.


Drop the fresh crab in a large pot boiling water and cook for 10 minutes.


Remove and plunge into cold water


Get as much white meat as you can from the claws, legs and carapace. (a messy job!)


Set aside to cool.



The Thermidor Sauce

30g Butter
30g Flour
60g Strong Cheddar cheese, grated
½ teaspoon dry mustard
Yolk of one egg
300ml of milk
A good slug of whiskey or brandy or sherry (in the interests of sobriety please choose just one!)
Salt and freshly milled black pepper
Pinch of Cayenne pepper.


Make a white sauce with the butter, flour, dry mustard and milk. Cool slightly and beat in the egg yolk, booze and grated cheese. Season well and add the cooked flaked crab meat. Spoon into individual ramekins or the shell of the crab. Sprinkle with a little grated cheese and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Place under a hot grill till the cheese is golden and bubbling.



Serve with a crisp green salad and a nice Unwooded Chardonnay goes down well.

Next stop Broome..............catch yer later!

Pax Tibi

New Norcia

Pax Tibi


Pax Tibi…..Peace to you. The motto of the Benedictine monks that welcomes you to their little mission town of New Norcia. It seems strangely out of place in the Australian countryside with its Spanish style Abbey and Monastery, and it is unique, the only one of its kind in Australia. Famous for their crusty bread baked daily in wood fired ovens, fragrant olive oil from the many olive trees some over 100 years old, and a very fine matured Port from their vineyards. Oh and let’s not forget the great Abbey Ale which Mr. T found irresistible. We had no option but to sample these delights whilst camping on the playing fields near the Abbey church, it was a real hardship. Those first pioneering Spanish priests, Rosendo Salvado and Joseph Serra started the mission in 1847 just 17 years after the Swan River colony was established. The monk’s community life is based on the Rule of St Benedict which balances periods of prayer; seven times a day, the reading of scripture and work. There are also two silences; the “small silence” at mealtimes, and the “grand silence” when they sleep. What about the snorers among them I hear you ask? Perhaps they have a special dispensation!. The peace was tangible when I joined with others at Vespers one night as they sang Psalms in a side chapel where a beautiful altarpiece of the Black Madonna of Guadeloupe held pride of place. The monks established the first road through to Perth though I am sure that they could never have imagined the volume of traffic that now cuts their community in half as the Great Northern Highway. Monstrous road trains 60 meters long now shake the monastery buildings with their beautiful frescos to their very foundations.

Gay Galah Garden Party

A flock of Galahs every afternoon would settle on the grass to feed. As they minced around decked out in their baby pink waistcoats and grey morning suits they looked like a gregarious group of portly gay gentlemen attending a Garden Party.




We are on our way north to the “Top End” through the Goldfields region of Western Australia. This is dry arid country which borders the Little Sandy Desert and the road is long straight and monotonous. You can see where you are going to be an hour ahead. We dodge huge black eagles as they feast on Roo road kill. With their 6 foot wingspan their take off is slow and if you hit them at speed can cause serious damage to your rig. The soil in this area called the Pilbara is a rusty red ochre and coats everything with a fine dust; nothing escapes it tenacious grip and it’s impossible to remove from clothing, don’t wear white unless you’re partial to pink. The biggest deposits of iron ore and copper in the world have been found here and it is rich in gold and other minerals but it doesn’t make for pretty scenery, open cast mining and huge mulluck heaps dominate the skyline, and most of the little towns we pass through look sad and neglected.

Once a jolly swagman........under the shade of a collibar tree........

Finally we pull off to our first bush camp, a peaceful billabong fringed with white gums near the Gascoyne River. This is the part I love the most about travelling through Australia, finding little sacred spaces with water and shade in the midst of the heatand dust.We set up camp and today like so many millions of women around the world I have cooked over an open fire ,hand drawn water do my washing, hung it over bushes to dry and swept my home. There is comfort in connection through time and space to other women and a quiet contentment in doing daily chores slowly and quietly. But I miss the constant friendship of girlfriends. The friendships and connections that you make with likeminded women on the road are all too brief. Each encounter brings a new perspective and hopefully somewhere down the track we will meet again. There is an art to letting go and I am learning. For now I have the blessing of birds of a feathered variety! As I sit here on the bank a flock of tiny zebra finches have flown past, with their bright red beaks. Two western rosella parrots are sitting in the branches of the gum tree above me and a quail with her chicks have just come down to the water to drink. Suddenly there’s flash of brilliant cobalt blue, a kingfisher skims the surface catching dragonflies. Pax Tibi…….the peace of New Norcia has followed us and if it wasn’t for the distant roar of the road trains on the highway behind us it would be Heaven.



Soul Food Kitchen



Billabong Damper. (for two)




Nothing tastes as good as food cooked over an open fire, and feeling the need for something sweet I had a go at making “damper”. Once a girl guide always a girl guide…….this took me back to my girlhood guide camps where it was a staple item on the menu.

Clean the bark off 2 nice long fat sticks about a metre long


Mix together I large cup of self raising flour, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 2 tablespoons of cooking oil, a pinch of salt and enough warm water to make a stiff dough.


Knead for a few minutes and shape into 2 long rolls, rolling them between your hands. Coil each roll around the stick and cook over SLOW coals till the dough has risen and is a golden crusty brown. It will pull off easily from the stick if it is done.


Now the best part……….drop a big knob of golden butter into the damper so it melts down the hollow center and drips onto your hand. Then fill it up with jam, syrup or anything sweet that takes your fancy. I have known the truly decadent to use a stick of chocolate


There will be much licking of fingers…….but the elbow is impossible. The singing of Kumbyya is optional!


Happy Camping.

Lest We Forget

Dawn Anzac Day

                                                         

They shall grow not old,as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

Lest we forget.

A crowd of campers tramped through the puddles and huddled together for warmth.  We had gathered for the dawn service to commemorate Anzac day. In the dark just before dawn the magpies started calling and as the strains of the Last Post sounded a kookaburra laughed.  In the midst of remembered sadness, life goes on and hope reigns eternal. We have had a wet Easter,but the much needed rain has done little to dampen the spirits of the folk on site. I have been watching a couple of young boys riding their bikes through a muddy puddle getting filthier by the minute but as happy as ducks. Lets hope Mum is wise enough not to care! We are back at Quininup, home of the tall trees and a world away from the translucent aquamarine waters of  the Southern Ocean.

We took our time meandering thought the wheat belt of Western Australia to get back here. This is "broad acre" farming and the fields stretch out as far as the eye can see on either side of the highway. They are freshly raked at this time of the year, ready for planting. The  soil is a rich ochre and the Salmon Gums with their smooth reddish trunks fringe the road . Flocks of 28's flew alongside the van urging us on but we had to stop at Hyden a small dot on the map but home to the famous Wave Rock. This granite monolith looks like a vast petrified wave  and is only one of a collection of interesting rock formations .We climbed the huge rocks and had a magnificent view over the surrounding countryside A flat landscape dotted with Gums and She Oak ( a type of Cassurina) and underneath small tea tree bushes



Catching a wave!



 Hippos Yawn  aptly named, is a tafone  within a very large boulder. While tafone or tafuni might sound like some exotic Italian ice cream, it is in fact an Italian word for window or aperture. In Geology it refers to a large hollow in a rock caused by the action of wind and water............so now you know. Another vital piece of trivia for you to remember and who knows might even help you win that game of Trivial Pursuit against your peers!    

Hippos Yawn!



This has been a short hop compared to the journey we will be taking next week. We fly to the USA on Saturday to spend time with my brother Gary and his family. A trip long overdue and we are looking forward to a road trip taking in Utah Arizona and Nevada, Tommy will be fulfilling his cowboy fantasy in Zane Grey country. so my next blog will have a distinctly American flavour.

Hope you have had a Blessed Easter and are not suffering from a sensory overload of chocolate.  Needless to say I have eaten so many Lindt Easter Bunnies I have fur on my teeth.

Till the next time......so long folks!

 

 

 

Soul Food Kichen

 

 ANZAC COOKIES

                                                               

 

 

 

 

This has to be the recipe for this blog..........in honor of heroes and a tribute to the fallen. These were sent to the front by Australian and New Zealand  mothers,wives,sisters and girlfriends,as they kept well . A taste of home in the midst of terrible adversity.

 

1 cup plain Flour

1 cup rolled Oats

1 cup brown Sugar

1/2 cup coconut

125 gm butter

3 tablespoons Golden Syrup

1 tablespoon water

1/2 teaspoon Bicarb

 

Sift flour into bowl and add sugar, rolled oats and coconut.  Melt butter and golden syrup in a pan with the water. Stir in bicarb..........it will fizz!  Add liquid to dry mixture and mix thoroughly. Place walnut size balls on a greased baking sheet and bake for 15-20 mins at 175C. Biscuits will harden when cool.

Just hits the right spot with a cuppa!

 

 

 

 



Adventure before Dementia.

Sandy Bight Cape Arid National Park

One bite away from the Great Australian Bight. We drove for hours along a blindingly white beach in Cape Arid National Park before we stopped for our breakfast of hard boiled eggs and chewy homemade sour dough bread. The Southern Ocean stretched out endlessly to the horizon, the lovely deep blue changing to turquoise as it bordered the white sand. Behind us lay the vast expanse of the Australian outback with Mallee scrub and Banksias covered with their stubby yellow candle flowers. The beach was empty and desolate as far as the eye could see. It was an eerie feeling and I suddenly felt panic. I was standing as far south as I had ever been .The silence was palpable and I felt isolated and very far away from civilization. Would anybody ever find you if you went missing on this far side of the ocean I wondered? For those early explorers it must have filled them with dread “water, water everywhere but ner a drop to drink” One intrepid sealer, James Manning on exploring this area in 1835 wrote “we subsisted on limpets and roots of grass” .......not good tucker mate............arid is a apt description for this stretch of coastline. But it has not all been like this.....

Native Dog Beach

For the last month we have been hugging the south east coast of Western Australia from Albany to Israelite Bay. It has taken us six months to do 700ks.......at this rate it will take us years to do the Big Lap! Where ever we find ourselves the place cries out to be explored and we can't move on until we have savoured it all. The magnificent coastline of Cape Le Grand National Park is a an area of outstandingly beautiful beaches, the sand as fine and white as icing sugar which squeaks underfoot. I started writing this looking out over the stunning Bay of Esperance and the islands of the Recherche Archipelago. The Aboriginal name for this area is "Kepa Kurl", 'the place where the waters lay down like a boomerang', but it takes its name from a French frigate L'Esperance which discovered the bay in 1792 whilst sheltering from a savage storm. 

Kepa Kurl  Bay of Isles Esperance

This place is also known as the Bay of Isles, and the 110 islands were once the haunt of Australia's only known pirate Black Jack Anderson........whose well known slogan "adventure before dementia me hearties" has become the mantra of
many a Grey Nomad ourselves included.
.Every day we discover an even more beautiful beach than the day before........I have discovered it is possible to get drunk on beauty and then an overwhelming inertia falls upon you, and like the roos on the beach at Lucky bay……the inevitable happens and its time to soak up the rays and laze the day away.

Lucky Bay, the whitest sand in Oz

Tommy as usual is not content to sit and dream ,where's there's water there's fish to be caught and he has provided us with Dhufish ,Tommy rough aka herring, and Breaksea cod which around here is called "blackarse" which despite its name is very delicious! I have rediscovered my calling and am now called "women who guts the fish" a primal urge which is totally rewarding. Fresh from the sea it is into the pan within minutes. Lightly dusted with flour and fried in hot nutty brown butter and a squeeze of lemon, this is is food for the gods and one of the greatest taste sensations to delight the palate.



Blackarse and Dhufish......no really!


Our favorite spot has got to be the Duke of Orleans Bay. We are staying at a wonderful caravan park affectionately called  "The Duke" by the locals. James and Wendy and their two sons run this little piece of heaven and it is a perfect place to sit back, relax or do a spot of fishing. The beaches are breathtaking with water so clear its like swimming through glass. You can be up to your neck in the pristine water at Wharton Beach and still see your painted toenails. I have spent hours snorkling and catching a few waves on my "boogie board". Unfortunately all this exercise is not having much of an effect, too many "happies" at happy hour, its still a chunky dunk as apposed to a skinny dip!
 

Duke of Orleans Bay



Surf's up so catch yer later!....................


Chunky dunking!



Soul Food Kitchen

Zucchini Fritata

This is a quick and easy dish, that's great to snack on at anytime of the day.....and perfect for picnics on the beach.


1 large zucchini cut into cubes (don't peel)
1 large onion finely chopped
250 gm streaky bacon chopped
1 cup self raising flour
2 cups of grated Cheddar cheese
6 medium eggs
1/4 cup of sunflower oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Fry the onions and bacon in a little oil till cooked. Add to the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Pour into a square baking dish. cook at 170 for 30 mins or until a nice golden brown on top and filling is set. Nice hot or cold, cut into wedges and served with a fresh green salad of rocket, baby spinach and a sweet balsamic dressing.
Enjoy!

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