Have you ever...ever felt like this?

Have you ever...ever felt like this?
Have strange things happened?
Are you going round the twist?

I sing this song every time we go to a light house. Every. Single. Time. Poor Mark.

Eventually I thought that maybe, one day, we might happen upon the light house from the Paul Jennings inspired TV show on the ABC called 'Round The Twist."

Low and behold the light house on the Great Ocean Road, near Lorne, IS the one from the TV show! My excitement could not be contained, the smile could not be removed from my face! Fantastic!

I sang the song a few more times, again poor Mark, and got my photo taken in front of it. I was content with that, I mean, what more could a person want? A tour? Hell Yes!

The tour happened to be at 2pm and it was, to my amazement, 2pm! What luck! $10 each and we were in. We were lucky enough to be the only ones on the tour and we got to go right to the top of the lighthouse and go out on the balcony. It was great.The views were amazing and I could sing the song as loud as I liked while waving to the people below. I wanted to share my enthusiasm and Mark bore it with the good grace of a husband who knows when he is beat. He to enjoyed the show as a child so that helped I think.

We are now back in Melbourne for the 14km fun run 'Run for the Kids.' A big thank you to Victor (again) for letting us stay at his house (again) I think we will have to start paying rent.

Unfortunately I have injured my Achilles and while I have visited 2 x GP's and a Physio I will not be racing on Sunday. Its very upsetting and I am hating not being able to run. I am strapped up and have exercises to do so fingers crossed I will not be out for long. I also managed to score a Physio appointment in Adelaide (our next stop) at SportsMed SA so I hope that will help.

Melbourne is still great and I think a very livable city. The 12 Apostles on the Great Ocean Road took my breath away and seeing the Koalas was a highlight.

Dion I promise to try and take a few skort pics for you...I hope I do not get arrested.

Sending lots of love

 Krystal

Week 9: Twelve Apostles, koalas and another tiger snake!

We finally decided to move on a see the Otways NP after staying in Bridgewater for near over a week. Bendigo (30km out of Bridgewater) is a city I would love to live in. The first night we stayed on the shore of Lake Colac which was cold and windy.
We then made our way to the Otways NP and stayed at a beachside camp site in Joanna. We checked our the koalas, the Twelve Apostles and parts of the Great Ocean Rd. The koalas are amazing but its a shame there are idiots out there that try to shake the trees and annoy them.
We also saw another tiger snake! This time we were walking back towards the carpark at the Twelve Apostles and we saw a mum tell her unsettled son "look there's a little snake!". I think she was hoping that the snake would help settle him.... but we too decided to take a look and it was a little tiger snake coiled on some long grass. I don't think she realised the danger until I said matter of fact-ly, "that's a highly poisonous tiger snake". She was quiet for a moment before she decided to step back.

Km Traveled: 7968 (near time for an oil change...); since last week: about 900km!

Places this week: Bridgewater, Bendigo, Colac, Otways NP, Joanna, Melbourne (again)

Highlights: Triplet Falls, Twelve Apostles and the area, the Round the Twist light tower, Great Ocean Rd drive, koalas at the Otways NP

Low-lights: a great week overall but the weather threatened on most days and we were lucky enough to escape rain each time we packed up.

Road kill count: zero!
Fish caught count: the "big" surprise that Krystal mentioned on an earlier post isn't so big a surprise but we finally caught a fish. Albeit, a big carp that only Malcolm Douglas would eat.

Sunset at Joanna Beach

On the shoreline at Gibson Steps, just 1km from the Twelve Apostles

A sleepy koala!

Bendigo and the Chinese Dragon

Bendigo...it turns out...has quite a large Chinese history and population. It is a heritage they are very proud of.

They have a wonderful museum dedicated not only to the history of the Chinese that came to the area but to the men who married European women, had families and whos kin remain in the city.

Each Easter Bendigo celebrates a Chinese Festival with a street parade that has, as the star of its show, a magnificent dragon made in Hong Kong especially for the Chinese community in Bendigo. Between its appearance at the parade it is housed at the Dragon Museum.

The Museum has a $12 entry fee for adults and was well worth the cash. It has a great collection of clothes, furniture, household items, art work, drawings, newspaper articles and photographs depicting the Chinese history in Bendigo. The huge rooms dedicated to housing the furniture are fantastic.

Attached to the museum are the Chinese Gardens and Temple. We burnt some incense and said a prayer.

The museum was a fantastic opportunity for me to learn more about Mark's culture; which to me is very important. It was also great to see mix raced families as ours will be.

Bendigo is rising higher and higher on the list of places I would like to live.

Have a look at the web site:




http://www.goldendragonmuseum.org/

Picnic at Hanging Rock

Everyone is looking for Miranda!

After reading the book and seeing the movie of the same name and wondering what ever happened to Miranda I was very excited by our plans to have a picnic at Hanging Rock in Victoria.

It was an overcast day and the wind was whipping through the well looked after picnic grounds. We took a tour through the small visitors center and then walked to the rock itself and to the top of the hill. It was quiet, with not many other picnickers around due to the weather. IT was defiantly spooky. There are low lying ferns and big unusually formed boulders that mark the land scape.the walk is easy to medium and well worth it to see a place that has inspired so many stories and so much speculation.

The $10 exit fee per vehicle is a little odd but I think it was worth it.

Sadly we are leaving Bridgewater and heading towards the coast. Thank you to Pam and Dave the caretakers of the Bridgewater park, you looked after us so well.

Mark has some exciting news but I will let him tell you.

Rock Climbing

Love Krystal

Beetroot Rissootto!

Recipe for Krystal's Beetroot Risotto!

Serves 4
Wine: Lowes Riesling from Mudgee.

Ingredients:
2 cups arborio rice
1 sml pot of boiling chicken stock
1 onion finely diced
1 cup dry whitewine
1 or 2 cloves of garlic finely diced 
4 beetroots
Parmesan cheese
Salt
Fetta
Basil


1. Boil beetroot until cooked. Allow to cool then peal and dice into 1cm x 1cm cubes. Divide the diced beetroot in half and wizz half in a food processor. For those without food processors don' t worry just use all the beetroot diced.

2. Bring a small pot of boiling water (1 to 1 and a half liters) to the boil and add 1 chicken stock cube. Keep it on the simmer.

3. Heat a pan and add a good splash of oil. Add onion, garlic and rice and cook until the rice is almost clear,stirring constantly. 

4. Add a cup of white wine (half a cup if you have, by now,drunk the other half) and turn the heat down to about medium.

5. As the white wine is absorbed add a ladle full of stock at a time stirring and waiting for some absorption before adding the next. Taiste your rice along the way and when it is smooth and creamy without any hardness it is ready. If you have a little stock left over do not worry.


6. Add a little splash of oil for taste (if you are trying to be skinny skip this step) and stir it in. Turn the heat down to low.


7. Stir in the whizzed and diced beetroot. Keep stirring until your risotto is bright purple. Add Parmesan cheese and salt to taste.

8. Serve in bowls topped with squares of feta and baby basil (or normal basil) leaves. 

Week 8 Update: Bendigo may be a winner...

This week we moved from Ararat to Bendigo. Again we found a free campsite with hot showers so that's four good campsites in a row (hope our luck continues). On the first night we had some heavy showers and three weather warnings, one for thunderstorms, winds and hail. Here are a few photos from places last week.

Total km: 7040km; since last week: about 800km 

Places: Bendigo, Bridgewater, Daylesford, Hanging Rock.

Highlights: Bendigo!! the pottery class, the museum, great cafes, friendly people and fishing by the river (for stick fish)

Lowlights: I absolutely hate other campers with unattended dogs.. it so happens that the three dogs next to our campsite are of the little yappy type. I call them "kick-em" dogs because I am always tempted to kick em away and send them flying. Truth is, these dogs are treated better than some humans.

Roadkill count: zero
Fish caught count: also zero...

The view from Dalwhinnie Vineyard. It is situated at the end of Taltarni Rd in the Pyrenees, which boasts three reputable vineyards. Taltarni and Summerfield being the other two.

Sunset at the Loddon Valley

Bendigo-tastic

I have been reading Wuthering Heights and thus my blog will reflect the style of writing of the book. I cant help it. What ever I am reading at the time influences how I write. If you think I sound a little queer; you have the explanation. It was a great book by the way; very dark and a fantastically told story.

On to Bendigo.

Initial impressions of the bustling inland city were very favorable. The historic European style buildings, fountains and gardens have been kept largely intact and this makes for a beautiful city scape. People are friendly and it is a 'foodie' city so we were right at home.

The city also has a Chinese population as well as other nationalities which is evident in the Chinese Museum and the Asian grocery stores. We like the character of this city the more we get to know it.

My awesome 'new' handbag

The streets are filled with funky little eateries like The old Green Bean. The coffee is roasted on site and is a full flavored blend with plenty of kick. It makes breakfast, lunch and all things in between and each dish is wonderfully presented and tastes fantastic for under $10! It si also one of my favourite places as I purchased this awesome second hand bag there. They have a collection of second hand clothes and accessories and I was in heaven. Find them on Face Book:

 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Old-Green-Bean/119898558027131


 We ate a $30 lunch special at the one hat restaurant "Whirrakee". The duck was juicy, Mark's steak cooked rare with a beetroot topping and dessert divine layers of chocolate and candied orange. Mark struck up a conversation with the Manger and was promptly offered a job! Amazing! After much discussion we declined the offer of work for although we would love to stay and really do have the urge to work we are in fear that we may never move on. Thanks anyway Benny and we will be back.


http://www.whirrakeerestaurant.com.au/

We also had a pottery lesson at Bendigo Pottery and enjoyed getting our hands dirty. Mark made a great little jug that will be fired and posted home.

Bendigo is a place we will defiantly consider living but why must it, like all places we like, be so far from our family and friends.

Washing Time at Camp KR and ML

FOOD BLOG
After some requests; only 2 really (Sarah and Keegan) I have decided to do some blogging on the food we are cooking. The next post will be the recipe for my favorite food that I cook for all visitors and friends...Beetroot Risotto. Unfortunately Mark states he is 'sick' of beetroot risotto (very rude) so I will have to dig out an old picture to use with the recipe. Stay tuned for the update.

Love lots
Krystal

TIGER SNAKE!!

As we sat quietly in our annex this snake attempted to poke his head through the door and enter. Needless to say he was not welcome.

Mark did a great job of trying to defend our home but in the end I could not sleep there as all I could think about was waking up with a snake crawling over my feet; or worse...my face!

We packed up and slept in the car that night.

We have now moved to a beautiful camp ground on the Logan river in a town called Bridgewater. It is close to Bendigo and as you will see in our next few posts Bendigo is awesome and we could easily live there.

For now a pic of the snake. It looked bigger and more devil like in real life I assure you. Its head was black like night and it moved in a creepy slither that told of its speed and strength. As I said Mark was very brave and I was a chicken!

Love Krystal

Week 7 Update: Tiger Snake!

This is a quick update as I sit in the public toilet plugged into the only power supply at the campsite. At the moment I have a torch, phone, camera battery plugged into the power board as well!
We are still in Green Hill Lake campsite and did some beautiful wineries in the Pyrenees today. Also as mentioned earlier, we bumped into Keegan and Cath at Halls Gap. This was all thanks to facebook updates and checking in. Who would've thought it was useful?
There is also a tiger snake causing havoc at our camp. It's hidden in a bush 20m away at the moment and it's pretty mad caused I missed him with a pole. I'm still shaking from the fear after it poked it's nose into our annex.

Km travelled: not much more than last time as we are still in the same area.

Places been: The Grampians, Halls Gap, Avoca, and the Pyrenees region

Highlights: going for runs around the lake, checking out the wineries - be sure to visit Mt Langhi, Taltarni, Summerfield and Dalwhinnie if you are in the area.

Lowlights: the scary tiger snake...

Sometimes when you are lonely...

We are still camped at Ararat and all is well but sometimes...just sometimes we get a little lonely.

Yesterday we decided to drive to Halls Gap, on a bit of a whim. We wanted to see the Grampions and maybe have some lunch, do a few short bush walks and maybe a winery if we felt like it.

Sitting in one of two cafes in Halls Gap we ordered lunch and sat down for a bit of a wait as the line was long. In true Gen Y style we checked our facebook.

"Oh my God." said Mark. Keegan is in Halls Gap.
"What?" I said. "Our Keegan, as in Keegan and Catherine? That came to our wedding?" (As if we know another Keegan and Catherine!)
"Yep, he checked in 18 minutes ago!"

Cue frantic looking around...where are they?

Mark rang Keegan and it turns out we were in the same cafe having lunch.

Sometimes when you are lonely people just turn up to make your day. It was so exciting to see some friendly faces.

Tilt your head! Waterfall in the Grampions.

We did some walks together and we invited Keegan and Cath for dinner to our 'place' even though we only had 2 chairs.

It was awesome to see them and have them over for dinner. We made beetroot risotto (the only impressive thing I can make) and shared wine and some laughs.

Look who we found!

Thanks to Keegan and Cath for
           A) being in Halls Gap
           B) checking in on FB
           C) sharing their holiday with us
           D) Sitting in the boot of their car as we had only 2 chairs
           E) bringing sausages and dessert
           F) wonderful company

Keegan and Cath have gone on to Penola and we are having another relaxing day in Ararat.

Mark cooking in the annex

Tilt your head again...sorry

Ready for our dinner guests

Keegan and Cath sitting in the boot of the car!

Love Krystal

Week 6 1/2 Update: Long Weekend in Vic

It seems a long time since the last update in Tassie about those pesky drivers. We are now firmly camped just outside of a town called Ararat (which is just east of the Grampians). The place is called Green Hill Lake campground with hot showers and only a donation for each night.
The boat ride from Devonport was a rocky one and we were glad to be out of Devonport. Away from the rain and windy 'normal' weather of Taz. Back at Vinny's, we checked out Melbourne in more detail. Melbourne is truly a very livable city with culture, good food and very friendly people.
Our plans for this week is to check out the Pyrenees, Grampians and the Ballarat/Bendigo region before returning to Melbourne for a 14km fun run on April Fool's Day.
I leave you with a question. What is one thing that really ruins your camping experience? Is it when you accidentally drop your undies on the wet floor or when you forget your toothbrush at home or when you are sleeping on a slope?

Km Travelled: 5706km!!

Places Visited: East Tamar Valley, Melbourne, Ballarat, Beaufort, Ararat.

Highlights: Melbourne in all its glory!; Tamar Valley foods; Victorian hospitality and friendliness

Lowlights: not many but Devonport belongs here.

Roadkill count: still nil.. maybe a few little sparrows but do they count?

"Whats that pink thing floating down the river?"

Goodbye Melbourne...hello Ballarat!

On the search for a good free camp because now we are getting fussy...we want showers, with doors that are hot. Fortunatley Ararat came to the party and provided a great camp ground on a lake with hot showers with doors and a great area for setting up. We have set up house with the annex, a clothes line and a general accumulation of stuff.

Again we tried our hand at fishing. The local fishing shop recommended that we use this weird pink fish bait putty stuff. It is hot pink and smells weird but apparently it works. Apparently being the key word.

So we treck to the lakes edge. Mark carrying rod and net; me with bucket tackle box and magazines (I planned to out-wait the bloody fish if that is what it took). This time, however, I did not have the camera. For sure I thought we would catch a fish. You all know the rule that if you do not take the camera a fish will be caught and there will be no photographic record of it and you will be left telling the 'it was this big" story at BBQ's with your friends.

Alas apparently if you are aware of the no camera - catch a fish rule it does not apply. Damn. No fish. The funniest part was Mark saying;"Whats that pink thing floating down the river? Oh, its my bait." Not to be dettered we are trying again today. Stay tuned!

Love Krystal 

I Heart Melbourne

Desserts @ St Kilda

Apparently the trip over on the Spirit of Tasmania was rough. We would not know as we took 2 x travel calm each and passed out for the whole trip! I highly recommend this as a good way to travel.

Thank you again to Victor for allowing us to stay at his house while we are in Melbourne. We love the city and spending time in fantastic company!

In Melbourne we really played tourist:
    # Free tourist bus around town
    # Tram rides
    # More street art
    # Coffee shops and food
    # The Melbourne Museum where Phar Lap is housed
    # St Kilda; drinking coffee, having fish and chips and desserts.

A highlight was a hidden bar found by Frankie that is German and you have to choose if you will sit on the East or West side of the country and you are treated accordingly. The entrance was dark and you have to first find the entry in a back lane way and then ring a door bell and hope you have the correct place. Melbourne tries really hard in its dining to create atmosphere and ambiance and they succeed.

Phar Lap and I...very exciting!

 We ate at a Mexican Restaurant called Mamacitas. It is so popular that on a Tuesday we had to wait 2 hours for a table and it was worth it. It is busy and bustling but the service is excellent. It is mentioned in the 2012 SMH Good Food Guide and deserves this honor. The Mexican was modern,clever and tasty but most of all it was reasonable priced. The corn comes on a skewer and is cooked with Cumin and Parmesan Cheese and is divine. the Taco's are soft will delicate fillings. The dessert was great especially the corn ice cream and flour less chocolate cake. Thank you Frankie, Victor and Con for having dinner with us.

http://www.mamasita.com.au/

Melbourne is so good we are coming back here at the beginning of March to run a 14km fun run. I will be sure to take pictures of the girls in skorts for you noid!

Again a big thank you to Victor and Frankie for having us.

Melbourne Museum

Tomorrow we are leaving to explore the rest of Victoria. I know everyone at home are building arks to deal with the flood water so stay safe. xxxxx





Love Krystal

Goodbye Tasmania

The Franklin River

A Platypus.

The Bay of Fires

 The last of the pictures from Tasmania.

The closest we got to a Tasmanian Tiger.

Living in a $30 KMart Tent.

After the sad demise of the $30 Woolies tent that traveled with us to Central Australia and Mungo National Park among other adventures it was time for a replacement. It died at Cradle Mt and could not be resuscitated.

A visit to camping stores proved that tents are very expensive and quite technical. $80 for a 2 man at Katmandu that 'should' keep us dry was the best deal we could find.

A visit to Kmart soon changed all that. A 3 man tent for $30 that 'might' keep us dry. A $50 difference between 'should' and 'might' sold me on the 'might' and we handed over our cash at K-mart. What would you have done I ask?

This time we took Mum's advice. As a seasoned camper she stated that you have to put a tarp underneith the tent and one over it and that 'will' keep you dry. Sold on the definite use of the word 'will' we followed her advice as she is a seasoned camper.

Mark cut up the old tent and used the base as a tarp for the new (very smart) and we pegged a tarp over the tent in the hopes of keeping out the rain.

There are some joys in sleeping in a tent. My particular favorite is when the wind is blowing and you wake up with a tent stuck to your face. At first; terror! What is happening? Then it slowly dawns on you that the wind is blowing your tent over and you are the only thing holding it down.

When this happened I gently said; "Mark..." and nothing. I did not want to alarm him by yelling "Ahh we are trapped, help, help meee!!!!" So again I said albeit a little louder; "Mark..." finally this time a reply...
"Mmmmm"
"Ah the tent is on my face."
"Oh..." said Mark, "you will be ok."
OK I thought to myself...I am not OK...the tent is on my FACE!
I rolled over and tried to kick him. It turns out you cannot kick someone with your sleeping bag done up, you just look like you are trying to do the caterpillar.

Defeated I gave up. At some point I must have slept. Discussions the next morning revealed that Mark did not awake at all during the night. He did not recall the tent being on my face or having a conversation. Not helpful.

Other joys of tent sleeping include always slipping around. Camp mats are slippery and sleeping bags are slippery. Bottoms of tents are slippery also. Clearly the result is that all night you slip and slide around! A non slip sleeping bag should be invented.

The result of the $30 tent is that we stayed dry (thanks Mum for the tarp advice). When I say dry I dont mean dry like you are in your office or house as you read this I mean not saturated. We got wet, from the condensation in the tent! If one of us stopped breathing I am sure this problem would be solved. We are going to toss a coin to see who will do this. Apparently a $800 tent "will" solve this problem, it would want to for $800. It would also not want to end up on my face!

Today, however, we are heading back to the blessed mainland. Thank God for the mainland where the people are friendlier and our camper trailer is waiting to be retreived. The $30 tent will be reserved for emergencies.

Tasi has been wonderful and the Overland Track a highlight. Thanks Tasi...we will see you again.
Love Krystal