Back from a wee break- Melbourne; Part 1

Real-time

Yes, it really is me. I have returned. TWO whole months without a blog, I can't believe it! That certainly wasn't in my plans when I said I'd be gone for a few weeks. But to be honest, I have enjoyed the extended break with no pressure to write or take photos...if you don't count Dad (#1 fan) asking every second day when there'll be a blog. He gave up after 3 or 4 weeks.

Melbourne

And I've actually needed the extra time this past couple of weeks as I've had not one but two heavy winter colds, the second one a real doozy. We tend to usually miss the winter ills when we're on the road because we don't mix with the masses too often. But after three winters my luck finally ran out.

I left you in the last blog with a photo of us parked up beside Mum & Dads' in suburban Napier. And that is still where we are, although us and the rig- separately & together- have vacated the concrete pad several times during the last two months.

It started with a two week trip to Melbourne to meet our latest grandchild, a very sweet & chilled out little man called Otis.

Can you believe it, I took my camera but it hardly saw the light of day. I mostly used my phone camera (until someone spotted a cracked lens), and then David's phone. It was lovely to just relax with the family and enjoy some quality time with Lizzie, Jake & Otis. David celebrated his birthday while we were there, here's Otis with Poppa, don't you just love the look he's giving David..... "Poo, was that you Poppa?"

We stayed in a hotel just 500mtrs from the family's townhouse which suited us all fine; we had our own space, they weren't tripping over us 24/7 and it was just a short walk there and back each day, or several times a day. This was the view of Melbourne city from our hotel window, it reminded me a little of the opening shot of the TV programme 'Coronation Street'.

We took the tram & train (both just a couple of streets away) into the city on several occasions; more for a wander around and to have lunch overlooking the Yarra River than to shop though. 

Southbank

Most days were overcast until early afternoon when the clouds parted and the sun shone down although it was bitterly cold every day, you couldn't go outside without a jacket. It is much colder than winter in the North Island and the top of the South.

The Preston Market was just a short walk from Lizzie & Jakes' home and we often pushed Otis in his stroller down there, had a coffee and a pastry and then bought fresh veges, fruit, meat or seafood for dinner. David & I thought the Seafood Market was amazing, so much fresh fish and variety available.

Jake is an excellent cook and we were extremely lucky that he wanted to cook dinner for us most nights, and this was after his long day of work and fighting traffic.

Pork Belly

Crispy Skin Salmon

On the weekend we squashed ourselves into the car (the baby seat took up so much room!) and drove out of the city, up and over the hills and into the Yarra Valley an hour away, stopping for a wine tasting at the kid's favourite winery, TarraWarra Estate...

...and then we had a long lunch just down the road at Healesville, a very popular country town and gateway to the Yarra Valley wine region. Then it was onto Four Pillars, a gin distillery, for a gin tasting! 

After smelling the aromatics, we tasted the gins. Who knew there were so many flavours of gin available, from right to left; Dry, Navy Strength (58.8% ALC!!), Spiced Negroni, Chardonnay Barrel, Sherry Cask & Bloody Shiraz. Can you guess which one I liked? No not the Chardonnay one surprisingly, it was the Navy Strength that got my vote.

We hadn't seen any wildlife except for a few kangaroos in a paddock as we drove home from the Yarra Valley so I talked Lizzie & David into heading to the zoo for a visit. I'm not a fan of zoos (although I know many have their place in conservation) but I recall enjoying a visit to the Melbourne Zoo some 20 years ago so off we headed. Wrong move. Not only was the zoo quite tired looking, it was school holidays and the place was packed solid with laughing, screaming, yelling, crying, running kids. The queues were long and we bypassed several exhibits.

I did enjoy watching three young male lions; one reminded me so much of my cat Lily when she ambushed her brother Clay. This one spotted his brother on the other side of the enclosure, ambling along the fence line...

...and then as the brother headed towards him he prepared to pounce, wriggling his backside likes cats do, as he shot over the log and onto his brother's back right below my window (hence no photo!).

I was also fascinated by this beautiful snow leopard, there are three at the zoo but just this one was visible. She looks like the cat that got the cream with her fat cheeks here. I think she might have been calling just as I took the shot. Their tails are very long and fat, it helps with balance and as she climbed down a very steep rock face from her perch I could see how she used it.

It started raining as I was watching her and something else caught my eye and hers, a big fat rat scampering along the edge of a small stream that ran through the enclosure. It disappeared under a rock and out of sight before she moved.

Before we knew it, it was time to say a sad goodbye and head home. We had an awesome time and absolutely loved spending time with the family and especially getting know our happy little bub Otis. 

To be continued.... Part 2

Trout (and Weka) for Dinner

It’s smoked trout for dinner and David’s in charge of preparing & cooking the lovely fish he caught when we were out tiki-touring Lake Brunner. It weighs in at just under 3lb which is a good sized fish after all the small brown trout we've seen on our travels.

We’re surprised at the bright colour of the flesh, it looks a little like salmon and must be because of the tannin stained water the fish lives in. David lightly seasons it with pepper and salt, I usually add some brown sugar too, but not this time. We want to only lightly smoke it tonight, try it less smoky and not so intense.

David sets the smoker up on a patch of sand, he doesn’t want to burn a patch into the grass (like he has done before today, and in fact, he once burnt a dark patch into the aggregated concrete beside our garage. He solved the problem after that by balancing the smoker on two long cinder blocks).

The dishes are filled with methylated spirits and a small handful of manuka (tea-tree) wood chips are sprinkled into the tray underneath the rack.

He then places the lid on the smoker, lights the meths and runs for it…..

….no don’t be silly Shellie, he lights the meths and sits the smoker over the flames. The flames burst out the side and it’s lucky the grass is damp and green otherwise we might have set the lake edge on fire. The beautiful smell of manuka smoke fills the air…..

….attracting guess who?  One very nosey weka who is pretty persistent no matter how many times we chase him away. He even thinks he might poke his beak through the holes around the base at one stage and when he sees the flames leaping out the other side he’s even more interested….

It’s then that we very nearly have Mr Weka (bush chicken) for dinner too! A flame bursts out the side just as he steps in. This looks worse than it is (and it’s blurred because I was about to give him the short shift) He’s actually standing behind the flame, although I’m not sure where his head went. It must have given him a fright because he didn’t come back for awhile.

Twenty minutes later the trout’s ready and I can report that it was very tasty indeed. Although I decided, I prefer it a little more smoked, like we used to have it.

David went on to catch another trout the next day which he released after taking a photo for me. This one was caught in the same area as the previous trout just a little closer in to shore amongst the drowned trees and rushes. They must like to hide in the area. Strangely enough while he was helping it recover, holding it upright in the water beside the boat, another trout of a similar size came right up to this one to check it out, or perhaps to help it out. When released they swam off together.

Albury Park Station

As mentioned in the previous post, we received a surprise invitation from Dusty, one of the Mt Nessing Golf Club members, to have dinner & stay overnight on his farm after golf on Sunday.  After hearing that we’d followed the Vanished World Trail he also offered to take us to see the historic Maori paintings that are located on the farm.

After golf we packed up and headed for Albury Park Station about 20kms away, we arrived to find Dusty shifting a flock of sheep near the farm entrance. And in typical country folk style we sat in our vehicles having a good yarn to each through the driver windows. It was just as well we moved on when we did though as around the next corner, in the middle of the road, came a speeding SUV that just about lost it in the gravel when he spotted us. Had he been 30 seconds earlier he would have ploughed into both of us.

Dusty sent us up his drive and told us to make ourselves right at home, find a spot in the yard behind the house and he’d be up soon. Just after we arrived another vehicle arrived and out of the car came Dusty’s lovely wife Kate & three of their children, Thea, Joe & Willy who all made us feel very welcome. We met the oldest son, Jack, later in the evening when he arrived home from a weekend away at the Queensland Winter Festival.

Dusty arrived soon after to take us to the paintings. We also met Friday, the family dog, a sweet & highly energised three year old foxy. Friday was all over me, most probably because I made a big fuss of her. She bounded & sprung all over the yard as we got ready to go & as soon as she saw that we were making our way to the ute she launched herself into the cab through the drivers door and peered at me through the window- “this is my seat” she was telling me, she moved aside to let me in and then promptly sat on my lap waiting to go. I think I got the better deal though, I was going to share the cab with a zippy little foxy while David had to share the chilly late afternoon air on the ute deck with the two farm dogs.

All the while that we were driving, Friday ran back & forward across me & Dusty yapping with excitement, settling for all of 30 seconds at a time, half on the door arm rest and half on me before she was off again. Friday might be the family dog but she clearly adores Dusty & I suspect she is Dusty’s constant companion on the farm.

The farm dogs look pretty quite here but one still managed to move when I went to take a shot.

We drove back out onto the road and then through a number of paddocks and up a long valley with the river on one side & limestone cliffs & rock formations on the other. A long time ago the rock was quarried from these cliffs and the little concrete shed was thought to be where the dynamite was stored.

Finally after what would have seemed like an eternity for David on the back in the cold, we arrived at the head of the valley and more large rocks, well large is an understatement, some of these were huge. Friday sprung out of the cab and disappeared at speed up the rocky slope on some wild rabbit hunt. Dusty showed us where the paintings were and then left us to walk back down the valley, he was going to shift some sheep & would be back to collect us in about an hour. By then we would have reached another painting that we had passed on the way in. He left Friday with us too, which was good fun. Nothing like having a rabbit (rabid?) mad dog whizzing all over the show.

The paintings were located under the rock (top left below) in the dark alcove. They have been authenticated by the right people. The paintings looked like a bird of some sort, one looked like it had a platypus bill. It’s thought that Maori used the valley to hunt & trap moa. The moa were herded up the valley and into the swamp that lays along the base of the cliff (it’s still there today). The moa then became trapped in the mud and were easy targets. And in fact later in the evening Dusty showed me a lower leg bone from a moa that he found when part of the swamp was reclaimed some years ago. It was massive, with three large knuckle rounds where the foot would have joined. Once stuck in the mud the upper part of the moa would have been removed leaving his lower legs in the mud; no meat on them. Makes sense!

Centre- The return of  my little black stickman :)

Even though Dusty said Friday would soon find us when we started walking back, we didn’t want to start without making sure she was somewhere near. She had returned a couple of times to check we were still there & then disappeared high up the cliff again. After shouting & whistling for an eternity she finally made another fleeting appearance before she was off again. At least this time she knew we were moving. The cows nearby kept a weary eye on her as she went flying past and the only time I saw her stop at all was in the bottom left photo when she pulled up fast and set about barking madly at the rock over the fence. It wasn’t until we walked down the tree line to the gate & then back up to the rocks that we saw a couple of horses sheltering behind the rock. So that was what Friday was barking at.

All the way along the bottom of the rocks I was looking for the small cave that Dusty had pointed out on our way past. This was where the other painting was, but I’ll be darned if I could find it. By the time I realised we must have passed it, we’d walked the full length of the valley and were heading for the road just as Dusty drove back in to collect us. So back up the valley we drove until Dusty pointed out the cabbage tree. Of course! I forgot to look for the cabbage tree.

We climbed up the slope to check the painting and Friday took this as another invitation to disappear after another rabbit. Where on earth do they get their energy. I had a chuckle later on though when we were in the house, there Friday was laying on the mat, her head on her bean bag, in front of the roaring fire. Looking like a quiet little house dog & butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. And as clean as a whistle too, she had rubbed all her mud off onto me while racing back & forward in the cab.

The second painting, a red ochre one this time, was in the small cave to the left of the cabbage tree.

Back home & freshened up, we had a fabulous evening dinner with the family, a very welcome & tasty roast lamb that Dusty had cooked while Kate had prepared the rest of the dinner. My oven is too small & it takes too long to do a decent roast in the van, so this meal was very much appreciated. And a lovely steamed pudding for desert, just like the one my sister & I used to make for our family on the farm. The Mould family showed us such wonderful hospitality, this is what Kiwis are renowned for and now we’ve been on the receiving end. Thankyou Dusty & Kate, and family, for making us feel so welcome. It was a privilege & a pleasure to meet such lovely people.

The next morning we woke to a heavy frost, I walked out to the paddock behind the house to get a shot of the sheep & the sun filled valley below the house.

We packed up and said our goodbyes, Friday escorted us off the property but not before we stopped at the farm buildings down below to get some water and for me to take a shot of the old farm workers hut.

And so that was how we came to be driving out the Albury Park Station gate. Another great experience to add to our list.