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!

.

 



Wild Wild West

I could have been in Nashville but nobody was packing any heat. I was in in fact at Boyup Brook Western Australia  for their famous annual country music festival. The little town was packed with caravans of every shape and size, awash with folk in checked shirts, denim and assorted cowboy hats, and a wannabe Slim Dusty on every street corner with his twanging guitar. For those of you who know me well this was not my idea of heaven..........country and western music is my "bete noir" and is apt to push me over the edge if listened to when I am feeling low.........another sad song of "he gone and done me wrong, now the dog has died and I'm in jail" is enough to make me want to commit bodily harm to my person........however I am now married to a fan of all things country so compromise is the key. By the end of the week I was foot tapping along with the rest of them. My favorite a blind guitarist called Lorin Nicholson a man with real vision and speaking the universal language. Mind you......we had a young girl playing next to us at the street market, who moaned her way through every song in her repertoire and definitely needed to be put out of her misery.  I could have cheerfully shoot her myself , there is only so much one can take.

We stayed at Harvey Dickson's a few miles out of town, a rustic campsite, no power or water but at only $8 a night whose complaining We took lots of al fresco showers and enjoyed the dusty solitude.........and merciful silence. We went to a "brekky showdown" in his shed, the ceiling of which is festooned with objects from yesteryear and a stage dedicated to the KING. Some wonderful Bush Poets, regaled us with humorous Aussie verse,so funny we cried with laughter.

Tommy became the talk of the town, winning first prize and $300 for his "bush sculpture"entitled "Sacrifice". I have an amazing husband who has more chutzpah than anyone I have ever known. While we were at Quininup he spent time picking up old iron railway sleeper nails, barbed wire and gnarled bits of wood, and using some of my beads magically turned them into works of art. I was so proud of him! Trouble is we are now living with "an artist" they need lots of TLC



Sacrifice



It must be a weatherman's heaven,forget the precipitation he has far more exciting scenarios  like heat waves,cyclones, flash floods and now bush fires to report on.. Enough already! Give us a break,  please.  In the last few weeks we have run through every weather  imaginable except perhaps snow! At the beginning of the month Tommy and I had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. We had to go back to Armadale Hospital for Mr T's  annual checkup and as we drove into the outskirts of Perth we hit smoke. I had booked us into  a quaint chalet in the hills above Armadale, right next to a picturesque dam and with stunning views. We realized something was wrong when the proprietor came out to greet us and to tell us there was no electricity. As we got out of the car and gazed across the hillside below us all we could see were hugh billows of smoke.  He said we were in no immediate danger as the wind was blowing away from us but we felt uneasy. As we unpacked  we heard a terrific noise as a helicopter dropped down to suck water up from the dam right outside our room to water bomb. We realized that  the  fire was obviously nearer than we thought.  Then a ranger came past and advised us to leave.........so we hastily crammed everything back into the car and made a quick getaway.. Armadale was chaos with frightened people flocking to the town hall, for safety. Most of them had lost everything and had escaped with what they stood up in, many had their pets in their arms. It was a sorry sight but thankfully no loss of life,and started by an off duty policeman using his angle grinder. I don't fancy being in his shoes with over 80 homes lost, he's got a unhealthy amount of guilt to deal with poor man.

Room with a View

We are now camping at Cheynes Beach, on the south western coast, trying to catch some fish but not with much luck.......not biting!



Soul Food Kitchen

Pork and Spinach Soup

 Had an enjoyable couple of evenings with Jan and Brian Beattie and this is Jan's recipe for a delicious heartwarming soup.
Especially good after an alien sighting on the Nullabor!

1 Pork Hock
1 onion chopped

Place in a large saucepan and cover hock with cold water and add some salt. Cook until meat is falling off the bone, a pressure cooker will do this in a jiffy. Remove hock, put aside to cool. Add the following, all chopped finely.grate ginger and crush garlic.

1 bunch of spinach
1 clove of garlic
1 small knob of ginger
1 chicken stock cube
2 tablespoons of soya sauce
1 cup thin vermecilli noodles

Disolve stock cube in one cup of liquid, bring to the boil and cook until noodles are soft. Meanwhile take meat off the bone and chop into small pieces. Add to soup.

Delicious, enjoy with some crusty bread.

Advance Australia Fair





Waltzing Matilda

  
Two days anxiously watching and waiting for Cyclone Bianca to hit us with expected winds of 120ks an hour  but luckily the lady was a no show. We didn't even need to tie the kangaroos down mate and  finished the month with a whimper and not a bang. Poor Queensland wasn't so fortunate with Yasi ,devastation of homes and farms near the coast but thankfully no loss of life, in fact three babies born, imagine they will dine out on that story all their lives..........but guess we wont be having bananas any time soon. One of things I am trying to come to terms with living in Australia is the sheer scale of the disasters they have here.Nothing small about this country,and their hearts are just as expansive. It is time for us to be moving on. We have mixed feelings. The longer you stay in one place the harder it is to move, and Quininup has become a special place for us. We have loved the camaraderie here in the camp and have made some good friends. We celebrated my first Australia Day with bunting flying from the awning and the fishing rod as a makeshift flagpole. Had a  traditional "breakfast barbie" with  Carol and Nev who cooked up some great Aussie tucker and spent the day waltzing with the roos. I now have a tame "28" parrot, who has lost his tail, (does that make him a "14" I wonder.).............we have named him Waldo, don't ask me why.  He has taste for sunflower seeds and will happily munch handfuls but  attacks any other parrots who dare to muscle in on a free lunch.



Jenny and Jack with their two small boys, Jackson and Braydon and not forgetting Scruffy the dog, have spent the last sixteen months on the road.They have been in Quininup for the last eight as caretakers of the park.  They opted out of the rat race,selling up their business in Queensland to spend more time together as a family. Home is a 16 ft caravan filled with all their worldly possessions. I take my hat off to them, not many of us would have the courage and resilience to bring up a family in such a confined space. Though they do have one enormous advantage, the whole of Oz is their backyard. Whilst they have been here they have managed to grow tomatoes and cucumbers up their awning ropes. I am filled with admiration as Jenny  home schools  the computer savvy  boys with  the help of S.I.D.E.  (Schools of Isolated  and Distance Education). The boys have a taste for rice smothered in balsamic vinegar.......maybe some budding gourmands! They love the adventure of the open road with  new places to explore, and they will be heading off soon to the Eyre Peninsular in South Australia and no doubt Jackson and Braydon will be fishermen like their father the next time I see them. Travel safe guys.



Waldo and me.......

On one of my walks around Karri Lake I came across a family of Emus busily eating blackberries. I don't know who was more surprised, them or me.The adult and six babies eyed me in alarm,gathered themselves into a line like a miniature group of burlesque dancers and sashayed off their tail feathers bouncing. Their choreographer chiding them on faster with clicks "C'mon girls ,shake that bootee and give them a grand exit!" The female Emu is a liberated bird. Once she has mated and laid her clutch of aqua blue eggs she hands over all responsibility to her husband. He then sits, hatches and generally cares for his brood till they are large enough to fend for themselves. Can't you just picture it........."That's it honey......I'm off to join the girls down at the Bramble Bar, catch yer next year for a bit of whoopee.".... now there's food for thought.

Ye ha!  I am dusting off my hat, squeezing into my jeans and heading  inland to Boyup Brook for the Country Music Festival for five days. Hoping the local cowboys and girls have a liking for beads as I have been busy decorating cowboy hats  Intsimbi style.
Wagons roll!



Soul Food Kitchen

This is a delicious dip to share around the barbie or whenever a group get together for "happy hour" Feeds many!

Quininup Corn and Bacon Loaf

450g  round cob loaf
1 onion chopped
2 cloves of fresh garlic crushed
250g tub soft cream cheese
1/2 cup grated tasty cheese
1 dessertspoon Dijon mustard
2 rashers bacon roughly chopped
420g can of creamed sweetcorn
1/4 cup of sour cream
Couple of dashes of Worcester sauce
Handful of chopped fresh herbs,parsley,chives,thyme.

Slice the top off the cob loaf. Remove the inside soft bread. Place cob on a baking tray. Cut the soft bread into small strips and arrange the extra pieces on a separate tray, spray them with oil.
Fry bacon and onion in a little oil for 2/3 minutes. Cool. Place in a mixing bowl and add other ingredients. Mix well and add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.Spoon into prepared loaf. Place the top back over the cob.
Bake the loaf at 200C for 25 minutes, then add the bread pieces to the oven. Cook the loaf and bread pieces for a further 10 minutes or until the filling is hot and the bread is crunchy.Wrap in foil until ready to serve. Serve at room temperature. Use the smaller pieces of bread to dip first and then break up the cob loaf from the top as you work your way down to the bottom. There won't be any left, believe me! Delicious.



The Big Wet



2011 already.......what happened to 2010? 


What a start to the new year. One half of the country plagued with floods and the other half fighting bush fires. Like most Australians I have been watching TV footage of the unfolding disaster of the relentless floods in Queensland and now moving into Victoria. The sheer scale of the devastation is overwhelming. Imagine an area the size of France and Germany under water and in some areas the flood level reaching 30ft or more. The inland tsunami that ravaged Toowoomba  and parts of the Lockyer valley was so violent, one body was recovered 80 kms downstream from where he was swept away. We watched with horror as one family climbed onto the roof of their car , the mother and son were picked up by a helicopter, but the father disappeared before they could go back for him. The statistics are mind blowing with figures of 70 million tons of water in 74 hours flooding Brisbane, 7,000 insurance claims worth an estimated $365 million, (but many are not covered for river encroachment so face a  lenghty battle for compensation). It will cost the nation 30 billion dollars to rebuild and restore. But forget the statistics and get back to the human cost. So far 20 dead and many more  missing, most of them from the small village of Grantham, where whole houses were swept away, farms decimated, livestock drowned . For many of the victims they face an uncertain future, mortgages still have to be paid for homes that are no longer habitable or just not there. The cost in human suffering is incalculable. Families and communities in the rural areas are close knit and one loss affects everybody. In the midst of this terrible tragedy there are stories of tremendous courage. One young boy insisting they save his brother first, he and his mother were then swept away before they could be helped. Strangers risking their own lives to save people trapped in cars. Parents pushing their kids onto the roof of their home for safety only to be dragged under by the raging flood before they could pull themselves up.



A couple of the more exotic of the species

I have been been moved by the way the  Queenslanders and their fellow Australians from all over the country  came together to support one another through this terrible time. The Aussies have a remarkable stoicism in the face of adversity and this coupled with their unique sense of humour  "she'll be right mate" help us to remember what really matters is not the loss of possessions or property but looking out for your neighbour. We have been  fortunate to experience that ourselves from fellow travellers. Wherever we find ourselves we are encouraged  by the positive feedback we receive, helpful advice and great companionship. We saw the New Year in with great crowd of friendly Aussies and a couple of Kiwis.........so to Carol, Nev, Maureen , Dale, Cheryl , John,Chris and Greg........Cheers and thanks for a great evening  from the colonial sheila and the Big T

Catch yer later on the road again sometime!



Warm feet and warm hearts!

 It has been a month since we set out on our journey and opted for the simpler way of life. We have bought a solar panel which we have fitted on the roof of the van and now we can stay in places where there is no electricity. Fresh water will be our only restriction. Living in a confined space has its challenges,there is definitely no space for mess.Clear up or move out!  I am learning that I can cook perfectly well with just one pot, in which I mix,bake boil,and stew and have adjusted my menus accordingly........if it isn't on the barbie its potluck. I have rediscovered the joy of bread making and make a mean soda loaf. Tommy has become the "Marron catcher extraordinaire" and with the produce from the local farmers markets we are eating like kings.An indispensable  item is one that can multi task, like our portable freezer which works off our batteries and doubles up as a coffee table,foot rest, ironing board and dumping point for anything that needs a home. My wardrobe now consists of a couple pairs of shorts and assorted  T's ,and I am setting the new fashion trend in camp wear with  kikois,which I can always whip off and throw on the table when we entertain. This is, as you can imagine, or perhaps not, makes for a great ice breaker! Less is best has become our mantra as we aspire to only own as many things as we genuinely need.......and more importantly realize we can only tow so much. I have never felt more liberated.

Its marron season and yesterday armed with our "chook" pellets for bait and our license we spent the evening at the local dam.It was a beautiful calm night,the sky chock a block with stars which were reflected in the dark water. The kookaburra laughed goodnight to us from the jarrah trees, and  dozens of frogs serenaded us with a rasping chorus.As we pulled in our nets it looked like we were catching stars not crayfish.  Today,the romance has faded and  I have the task of cooking the catch. This is not an easy task. They are remarkably frisky and object strenuously to becoming gastronomic delights. The water boiling ,the first two safely in the pot, I tried to extricate a large marron from the bag. The remaining marron had decided on an "all for one and one for all" policy and clung grimly together with their pincers locked  in a long chain. I grabbed the first one and tried to swat off the rest with a wooden spoon. It proved to be my undoing. The large marron dropped onto my bare foot maliciously nipping my toe. In the ensuing panic to shake him off I tripped over the bag and his comrades decided this was as good a time as any to make a dash for it. In a flash the floor was covered in scrabbling crustaceans, with the chef hopping around on one foot trying to scoop them up with a plastic sieve..........Master chef  it was not.....oh the joys of the simple life.


Soul Food Kitchen

Danny's Chilli Jam

 This is a great accompaniment to a dish of grilled crayfish, looks pretty too. But is great with everything that you feel needs a bite or a "zoosh" up in flavour.

Large handful of fresh red chilli's
I cup of apricot jam
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Fresh garlic (optional)

Blitz together in a blender and put in a jar. Keeps for ages in the fridge.
Watch out for the bite!

Laugh More Live Longer



 Laugh More- Live Longer  so says  the Campervan and Motorhome Club, of which we have just become members. An apt slogan to adopt on the eve of 2011 as thousands of wrinkly wanderers like ourselves laugh their way around  Aussie on The Big Lap.  Well who wouldn't be laughing with the promise of  pristine beaches, towering canyons,spectacular waterfalls and  all that outback topped with a really big sky.Who doesn't want to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, be dwarfed by Uluru or ride a camel along Cable beach at sunset...........we are going to have to live longer so we can enjoy it all!
This is my last blog of 2010 and what a  year it has been. Marrying my soul mate, Tommy, on the cliffs at Schoenies in Port Elizabeth,after a memorable Christmas spent with friends and family . Honeymooning at Coral Bay in Western Australia and swimming with Manta Rays. Another honeymoon in Kenya  at Watamu with my precious sister Kathy and family. Starting the Soul Food Kitchen back in South Africa, a school reunion and connecting with  friends 40 years on, but most of all a year of decisions, decisions, decisions.
One of the biggest to move back to Oz,  sell  our permanent homes and to embrace a new nomadic lifestyle.The most important thing I have learnt this year is that my vision for my life is only limited by my lack of imagination. I must stop imagining of what I think is possible but rather what I want to be possible. Life is infinitely larger and more glorious than we can ever imagine and the possibilities are endless.If I could make one resolution for the New year it would be to be fully present in any given moment, to savour  and find enchantment in the simple. Wordsworth said it well...........     

 And I have felt, 

A presence that disturbs me with the joy

Of elevated  thoughts; a sense sublime

Of something far more deeply interfused,

Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns

And the round ocean and the living air,

And the blue sky, and in the mind of man:

A motion and a spirit, that impels

All thinking things, all objects of all thought,

And rolls through all things.

 We are loving this cool, calm forest at Quininup and will stay here a while longer. We go for long walks along paths that follow what used to be the old railway line. The bird life is amazing. We are fast becoming "twitchers" and now know where to find the Kookaburra and beautifully coloured Western Rosella Parrot . Yesterday we had a wonderful experience as we walked past a huge clump of bramble . Out of the corner of our eye we saw a flash of iridescent cobalt blue and came upon a flock of Fairy Wrens ,tiny birds of the most exquisite colour. As the setting sun caught their plumage they flitted through the bush like sapphires.Is this the fabled bluebird of happiness I wonder? It works for me!

To you who have followed me so far on my travels I wish you love, joy, the gift of friendship, good food, great wine,and a fresh adventure for every day of 2011,and remember" Life can only be understood backwards; but it has to be lived forwards"Soren Kirkegaard.

Catch yer later................................



Soul Food Kitchen

Cardamom  Ice Cream

This must be one of the most requested recipes from the Soul Food Kitchen. Its magic after a curry but great any time of the day or night whenever the craving for ice cream beckons!

I tin of Ideal Milk
1 tin  of full cream condensed milk
250 ml tub of thick cream
10 green cardamom pods.

Bring ideal milk to the boil with the green cardamom pods. Remove from heat and cool, (overnight is good to infuse the flavour of the cardamom but not essential.) Strain. Whip cream and fold in cool ideal milk and condensed milk. Put into ice cream maker or freeze in a container in  your fridge. Take it out 10 mins before you want to serve it so it can soften slightly. Delicious served with a fresh mango coulis.
Warning this can become addictive, do not eat whilst operating machinery or driving, causes extreme feelings of well being and subsequent lassitude.

Christmas in Oz

The first stop in our round Aussie adventure is  Quininup,  a peaceful park in the middle of  beautiful forests of tall Jarrah,Marri and Karri trees on the banks of Lake Karri. This is the heart of the Western Australia's timber industry, in its heyday supplying the world with jarrah, an exceptional hard wood, for ship's masts, mining supports and  pavers.

It is also  filled with "ups". Manjimup, Nanup, Jerramunup ,Beedelup, Dingup, Wigarup to name a few.   Sounds like someone had a severe case of hiccups when naming this area!  As I write this the "28's" (Western ring necked parrots) are taking turns sliding down the awning of the van hoping for some seed, the magpies are serenading me for some bacon rind and Sweetpea the tame roo is waiting for her weetbix.

This is my first Christmas in Oz but some things never change.  Its animals, not people I'm feeding this Christmas!

We left Perth a week ago after filling a 40ft container with twenty years of the accumulated belongings of two houses, and bidding an apprehensive farewell to our comfort zones.The van was groaning by the time we had filled it with enough food and drink to last us a few weeks and everything else we thought we would need on the road . Photos of our kids, favorite coffee mugs, books, music, pictures, linen, clothing, computers, printers, fans, patio sets, fishing tackle, craft projects, and  of course "must have" kitchen equipment.
After numerous attempts at trying to pack everything in we finally had to admit defeat and cull everything that was not VITAL (aka everything)  and take another trip down to the storage depot.  The staff watched nervously as we hammered the doors closed for the umpteenth time and breathed a collective sigh of relief when we left. 

We repacked again......this meant everything as before but packed tighter. The shower stall  proved to be an excellent storage compartment . Who needs to shower inside anyway when you have a hosepipe outside.

 It is taking time to come to terms with the enormity of our change of lifestyle. Time is rapidly losing its meaning as one day merges into another and we have no fixed timetable or agenda. We are "being" not "doing" and after a lifetime of the protestant work ethic the guilt in having so much fun does tend to have a nasty way of sneaking up.........but its not putting up too much of a fight!

The difficulty is to remain focused as there are so many exciting things to do and see and I would rather be outside than sitting at the computer writing. We have made friends with a lovely couple of nomads. Neville and Carol gave us such a warm welcome when we arrived we felt we had known them forever. They have been on the road for three years and haven't looked back once. We have learnt so much from them already and their enthusiasm is contagious. Most afternoons we get together for "Happy Hour" a misnomer as after a few coldies and some good stories time ceases to matter..........it makes a difference when the journey home is so easy........turn around and there you are......just don't trip over the roo.

We get up to the magpies warbling outside, some of them are incredible mimics , one barks like a dog and wolf whistles. Their young cry like babies and make a helluva racket if you don't feed them .They are so tame and all line up in the morning for their breakfast Some of the roos have been hand reared and Sweetpea my favorite with her baby "joey" is a regular visitor. The bird life here is incredible with large flocks of 28's, multi coloured parrots, and in the evening Kookaburras though we cant see them laugh manically in the trees. Tommy has got the "Marron" bug and puts his nets out in the evening in a local dam. These are black fresh water crayfish with a sweet succulent flesh and we had a feast the other night with our neighbours. Done to a beautiful red turn with garlic butter on the barbie. Delicious

The Twelve Days of Aussie Christmas

On the twelth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
12 firefighters grilling
11 snags a-sizzling
10 Magpies warbling
  9 Roos a-jumping
  8 Marron in a trap
  7 Koalas climbing
 6 Crownies chilling
  5 Opals black
  4 pink Galahs
  3 cricket stumps
  2 Cockatoos
 And Oprah with a Kookuburra in a gum tree

A Blessed and Peaceful Christmas to you all.
May 2011 be filled with everything you wish for and more

Soul Food Kitchen

When you are on the road you often crave something sweet........my friend Carol has the perfect recipe!

5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

4 Tablespoons Self-raising flour
2 tablespoons cocoa
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons chocolate chips
A small spash of vanilla
4 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons oil
1 large coffee mug


Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well. add the egg and mix throughly. pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add chocolate chips and vanilla, mix again.
put mug in microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.
The cake will rise over the top of the mug but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little and tip onto a plate if you are being posh.
EAT!!! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous)
And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world?
Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

ENJOY!