Australia

COOKS CATALOGUE


MONTH
May 2009

COUNTRIES
Australia

SITES

Nimbin Mardi Grass, Byron Bay (witnessed a water spout – similar to a tornado), Robina, Dreamworld Amusement Park, Surfer Paradise, Brisbane, Queensland Museum, Lake Cootharaba, Hervey Bay, Frasier Island, Airlie Beach, Whitsundays Islands, 1770, Cairns; The Great Barrier Reef, Ellis Beach, Daintree National Park; Aboriginal Kuku Yalanji Dreamtime Rainforest Walk, Cape Tribulation.


Wildlife: Iguana (digging up and eating turtle eggs nest), dingo, possum, python, turtle, crocodile, dolphin, white tip reef shark, stingray; too many fish to mention on the Barrier Reef, fruit bats, sea and wedge tail eagle.


TOP MOMENTS

1. Sailing around the picturesque Whitsundays islands for 3 days. Helping hosting the sails on a retired 30ft racing yacht and reaching speeds of 12 knots. Stopping to snorkel the clear waters and walk the white sandy beaches.
2. Off road extreme driving the beaches and rough tracks of Frasier Island for 3 days. Taking on some seriously bumpy tracks and rocks, camping in the dingo infested sand dunes and eating fresh fish every day (caught by Chris). The biggest bonus was the free upgrade from a Suzuki Jimny to a Toyota Landcruiser – lets off road.
3. Scuba Diving the Great Barrier Reef – too many colours, fish and plant life to describe in this underwater Garden of Eden. A natural wonder of the world for very good reason, its amazing.


LOWEST MOMENTS

1. Waking up to a flat battery on the Landcruiser on Frasier Island. Luckily a camping neighbour had some jump leads.
2. Playing a very large fish (i think it was a shark) for half an hour only for the hook to come out.



SCARIEST MOMENTS

1. Driving over very lumpy rocks and also coming very close to a dingo on Fraiser – Lil
2. Hoisted up to 30 meters and being dropped free fall on the Giant Drop at Dreamworld - Chris

UNSUAL FOOD

Shark (under the marketing name of Flake)
Pippies (a shell fish collected by us)
Candle Nut – aboriginal food.
See fish section.


MOSTLY MISSING

A good pillow – inflatable travel pillows just don’t cut it.

MOSTLY HAD FILL OFF

Bad driving – tailgating, undertaking, pulling out in front, speeding, road rage – no wonder there are so many crashes in Queensland.

QUOTES

‘Are dare any of dem dare blik fellas like me?’ Kevin, Indigenous fella who made our boomerangs asking about London.

‘I only know the football towns’ – an English ambassador to a German women, its makes me so proud.

‘Are you a chef?’ - An impressed guy at a camp site to Chris, looking at our meal of; Aussie steak, garlic / brie mushrooms and chilli grilled tomatoes with rocket salad. Mouth watering – yum.


SUPRISING FACTS

‘K’Gari’ meaning Paradise - Frasier Island is the largest sand island in the world. 120km by 15km has been created by 800,000 years of long shore drift.


FISH CAUGHT

13 small ones. 2 pan sized Dart, 1 medium Bream and a Whiting. The big one got away (i know the usual fisherman’s tale).

BITES

Lil = 10+ mosi / 200+ bed bugs again
Chris = 20+ mosi

TAN
Gravy

NEXT ON AGENDA
Fiji for Lil’s birthday then extreme sports of New Zealand.

Darwins Discoveries

MONTH
April 2009

COUNTRIES
Australia - (or Horse trailer as they pronounce it)

SITES

Melbourne - Australia Centre for Contemporary Art, MCG for an AFL game, Kilda, Queen Victoria Market, Federation Sq Centre for Moving Image, Great Ocean Road (Rip Curl Pro Surf Contest) / Robinvale - Murry River, Motor Cross Track / Sydney - Opera House, Harbour Bridge, State Library NSW, Museum Contemporary Art, Powerhouse Museum (Star Wars Exhibition), National Maritime Museum, Bondi Beach, Manly, Max Brenners Chocolate Cafe, The Gap, Anzac Day (Beer and Two Up - Chris was $30 up) and / Blue Mountain - Pulpit Rock and Fire Trail.

Wildlife: Grey kangaroo, koala, camel, fox, superb fairy wren, perigan falcon, dolphins / seagulls attacking a bait ball about 1 km from the coast (as seen on blue planet) and monitor lizards.

TOP MOMENTS

1. Si and Kerri's baby 'Ruby' arriving a week early - holding your mates baby when she is only half an hour old, amazing. Ruby, Ruby, Ruby... nan nan nan nan nanaaaaa.....

2. Mountain biking the Oaks fire trail in the Blue Mountains - High speed, mini jumps, rough track, stunning scenery and train back up the hill - top adrenalin stuff.

3. Unofficial Hodnet Primary School Reunion - Seeing old friends Paul Stenton, Simon Lovegrove, Steve Jones and Rob Martin. Strangely half my old class mates now living in oz!

LOWEST MOMENTS

1. Constant rain on the Great Ocean Road - what happened to all that oz sun we signed up for.

2. The conscience kicking in when we found the captain birds eye lookalike (80 yr old guy) driving licence in his wallet after finding the $700 hard cash first. Damn conscience, of course we returned it.

SCARIEST MOMENTS

1. Holding baby Ruby after just being born - so tiny and fragile.

2. Standing up on the road level of the harbour bridge - that was high enough for Chris.

UNUSUAL FOOD

Bread crumbed Murry Yellow Belly Perch.
Cold Rock ice cream - any flavour of ice cream with any added crushed choc bar - web had Oz Vanilla with Cherry Ripe and Tim Tams.
Andrews CS home brew larger - The Aussies are home brew obsessed.

MOSTLY MISSING

Mates.

MOSTLY HAD FILL OFF

Rain.

QUOTES

'Your face is like reading in a car. Its alright to start with then after a few minutes it make you feel a bit sick.' - Comedian at the Melbourne Comedy Festival. We went to see 'Jim Jefferies' very good but i cant put any quotes from him, far too blue and un-PC.

'I don't give a f*cking sh*t if your a Taurus' - Bouncer to Liannah in Melbourne after a request for ID. She was in fact saying she is a Tourist (therefore did not have any ID). The non amused bouncer did not see why her star sign stopped her showing ID.

'Oh yeah, that's a go, too easy' - Si Lovegrove sounding very Aussie after 8 years in Oz.

'The voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event in my life, and has determined my whole career.' Charles Darwin 1867

SURPRISING FACTS

Peppers that are red, yellow and green are all from the same plant just picked at different times.

FISH CAUGHT

3 - A Murry cod and 2 golden perch (one large and tasty one).

MOSI BITES

Lil = 3
Chris = 1

TAN
Health glow - No change from last month. Its been raining a bit.

NEXT ON AGENDA

Sydney to Cairns. Then Fiji.

_________________________________________________________________

COUNTRIES
Oz – down under

SITES

Kakadu National Park, Litchfield National Park, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Art Gallery of WA, Kings Park, Cottesloe Beach Sculpture Exhibition, Old Fremantle Prison, Maritime Museum Shipwrecks Galleries, Rottenest Island, Warren National Park and Walpole Tree Top Walk.

Wildlife: Kangaroo, wallaby, dingo, snake, bobtail gecko, quokka, huntsman / orb spider, seals, dolphins, kookaburra, sea eagle, parrots, and pelican. and a barking owl (we both held this on our arm)

TOP MOMENTS

1. Weaving our way though the flooded paperbark woodlands and billagongsbillabongs in Kakadu NP on an aboriginal boat tour. We learnt about the bush skills and beliefs of the aboriginals.

2. Cruising about in the Swan River Harbour on a - Cruiser 560 Express - 58ft speed boat. Chris got to drive it and we stayed the night on aboard it in the marinaharbour over looking Perth city. Check it out on: http://www.endeavourboatsales.com.au/cruisers_560_gallery.asp

3. Experiencing the flavour sensations of chilli rose, honey beer, white chocolate liquor and creamy brie whilst tasting wine, beer, chocolate and cheese tasting in Swan Valley and Margaret River areas.

LOWEST MOMENTS

1. Sleeping in the campervan in Kakadu with extreme heat, 100s of mosi’s and bed bugs in the bedding. It was the most uncomfortable 2 nights sleep we have ever had. Awaiting compensation from Wicked Campervans for bed bugs.

SCARIEST MOMENTS

1. Close encounters with several large spiders. On bush walks, in toilets and in the gap of the car door – Liannah.

2. Walking the wobbly metal structure walkway, 40 metres up in the tree canopy of Walpole - Chris

UNSUAL FOOD

Kangaroo meat – In the form of ‘Kanga Bangas’ and smoked steaks.

Witjuti Grubs – Chris only

Wild Oz Turkey and bush fruit chutney

Seans homemade ‘hotter than the sun’ chilli biltong.

Brads homemade ‘rocket fuel’ blackcurrant moonshine.

MOSTLY MISSING

Football – Playing and watching (especially Liverpool thrashing Man U.) – Chris

My Wardrobe – a wider selection of clothes than the creased ones in my backpack and some glamorous high heels – Lil

MOSTLY HAD FILL OFF

Aussie costs – bring back the Asian prices.

QUOTES

‘Are you falling asleep or just passing out and dying?’
Liannah to Chris – at night in campervan at Kakadu Park. The van was like a tin can sauna.

‘I thought my accent were bad’
A Yorkshire man working in a supermarket. When Chris asked ‘Can you tell me where the ice is?’ he thought Chris said ‘Can you tell me where the oysters?’

‘When the wind came its was like a steam train running into the house, it was an incredible shock, it felt as though the house lifted up and sat down again. That’s the sense of power it was, one of those great steam trains ramming into the house, it was an incredible power, it was just unbelievable.’
Aussie lLady describing Hurricane Tracey 1976, Darwin. Over 80% of the buildings were destroyed in one day.

‘I like collecting yams and plums and hunting for file snake, goanna, fish and porcupine or almost anything that’s edible. Most of all it’s a good feeling because when you’re out there and you get something, after you have eaten it you feel so happy that you have worked for it. Hunting is hard work.’
Jessie Alderson – Murumburr Aborigine Clan, Kakadu

SUPRISING FACTS
Australia has the second highest obesity rate in the world. The 1st, no surprises - USA.

Before Australia was fully mapped post 1700’s it was thought to a huge land mass which was about 3 times bigger than North American and Canada combined, it covered the entire southern tip of the globe and stretched all the way to South America. When it was 1st discovered they called it ‘New Holland’.

FISH CAUGHT
Only one – but a badge of honour in the Northern Territories – A Barramundi.

MOSI BITES
Lil – more than Chris this month = 20+ (bed bugs 395)
Chris = 10ish. (bed bugs 125)

TAN
Toffee

NEXT ON AGENDA
More Australia - East Coast