We have arrived into Lake Argyle. It is like an oasis. Lake Argyle has a surface area of 1000sq km and a shoreline stretching 900km and is home to an estimated 30,000 freshwater crocodiles. It has over 70 islands. We took a cruise out onto Lake Argyle enjoying the opportunity for a swim and lunch. We saw so much wildlife. It was incredible.
We love Darwin.
Darwin is the capital of the Northern Territory, and enjoys a relaxed, tropical lifestyle. Darwin is an ideal base for visits to spectacular World Heritage listed areas, surrounding National Parks and attractions including Kakadu National Park. Darwin has grown from an early and remote outpost to a thriving modern capital city. It is Australia’s only tropical capital city and has a population of 72,000 with about 26,000 more in the combined satellite city of Palmerston and the surrounding rural area. Approximately half the Northern Territory population of 198,000 live within a 50km radius of Darwin. The city itself and the population on average are younger than the rest of Australia. Darwin has a relaxed lifestyle, with a tropical feel and smell. A good spot.
Crocodylus Park is a great spot to come face to face with the largest reptiles on the planet! Built upon 30 years of experience in crocodile research and conservation, Crocodylus Park plays host to over a thousand crocodiles from 30 cm long hatchlings to massive adults measuring over 4.8 m and weighing more than half a ton! Their diverse array of other wildlife, including big cats, primates, birds and other reptiles, ensured the crocodiles didn’t steal all the limelight.
There is so much to see out here. Daly Waters was another interesting spot. The pub is a welcome destination. The pub offered great service, hospitality, good food and cold,cold beer. Memorabilia adorns the walls from Irish football jerseys to bras. Wherever you look there is something interesting to read or ponder its origin.
Unfortunately thanks to Telstra I will be sending the last couple of weeks posts all off today. Hope you enjoy them.
It has been a while since my last post……Bloody Telstra. It is too long a story to tell.
Have continued to have a wonderful trip. There is so much to see. We enjoyed Territory Day on our last day in Alice before heading further north.
Alice Springs lies in the physical and spiritual heart of Australia’s Red Centre. It is surrounded on all sides by the jagged McDonnell Ranges … there is so much of Australia that is amazing. This is another of those. I like Alice Springs. It has a feeling of its own. A strong mix of both Aboriginals and whites.
We won’t have internet for a while now….so next post Darwin sometime????
It has been about 10 days since my last post and we have certainly seen so much in that time. Since leaving the Barossa, we headed through and enjoyed staying a while at the Flinders Ranges and Wilpena Pound, then Coober Pedy, and Woomera, before arriving at Uluru. Spectacular rugged peaks towering above outback plains, including waterholes and jagged gorges, huge eagles, kangaroos and wallabies, emus and camels.
We have been having a great and so far, safe time.Have enjoyed BBQs with fellow campers. Have stayed at a mixture of places including caravan parks when washing is needed, but particularly love camping in the national parks, rest areas or road houses.
Hope you enjoy our photos.
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Wow…
What started as a relaxing day exploring new spots in the Barossa (including Bethany, which we loved), turned into an absolute gourmet day !!!!!
Morning tea at Maggie Beer’s Farm Shop, wine tasting at Whistler Wines and then probably one of the most incredible meals we have experienced, and believe me, we have visited some of Australia’s best restaurants, enjoying a late lunch at Hentley Farm Restaurant….. www.hentleyfarm.com.au
What was supposed to be a 4 course degustation meal became 7 courses with matching wines.
We have ended up staying extra time here at Daylesford as there is so much to see and do. Have visited the Sunday Daylesford Markets. Good, but not as good as Salamanca Markets !!!! Today, Mal has had to spend a few hours working on a job up north. He will hopefully not need to work too much, and will finish up all together soon. Yahoo!!! While Mal worked, I have spent time wondering Daylesford taking photos, having coffee and also enjoying some retail therapy. This afternoon we will head out for a late lunch, before joining a couple for happy hour here at the camp site who are moving to Tassie in July to open a cafe at Four Mile Creek.
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We set off from home last Thursday, to begin our trip from Tassie, through Victoria, the Barossa and Flinders Ranges South Australia, then up through the centre of Australia to Darwin, before crossing to Broome then following the WA coast to Perth, Nullabor and back home in time for Spring !!!!
As usual, we enjoyed our trip over on the Spirit of Tasmania before heading up to Daylesford for 3 nights. We caught up with our friends Liz and Gary, and also Guy (son) for a great lunch at the Terminus Hotel Restaurant in North Fitzroy.
Have enjoyed discovering this area including the interesting towns of Kyneton, Woodend, Trentham and Malmsbury. Found a favourite shop in Kyneton full of beautiful handmade goods.Enjoyed a delicious lunch at Annie Smithers Bistrot in Kyneton. This restaurant has won many awards including The Age Good Food Guide 2013 One Hat, The Age Good Food Guide 2012 One Hat, Australian Gourmet Traveller 2012 Top 100 National Restaurants, Australian Gourmet Traveller 2012 One Star, The Age Good Food Guide 2011 One Hat……..believe me the list goes on, and the food, regardless of the price, certainly did not disappoint !! Delicious…..
There’s nothing like seeing Hobart from the air and that’s exactly what we did yesterday on a seaplane tour from the Derwent River and Hobart down to Port Arthur and back. We enjoyed the views of Mt Wellington and Hobart before flying over Storm Bay in front of our home, passing Bruny Island to the west and the expanse of the Southern Ocean to the south. There was nothing between us and Antarctica (1600km away) except a lot of water!
Massive dolerite sea cliffs dominate the southernmost tip of the Tasman Peninsula. We flew over Cape Raoul and the world-renowned surf break at Ship Stern Bluff, both places we look across the water to from our home. Our tour took us past some of the most spectacular coastline imaginable. After about 3 hours we returned to Hobart for a delicious lunch at one of our favourite restaurants, Maldini. Maldini Restaurant is an Italian restaurant, situated in an historic stone-fronted warehouse on Hobart’s famed Salamanca esplanade. The sandstone building that houses Maldini Restaurant was built with convict labour in the 1830s. It was one of a row of warehouses on Salamanca Place that occupied a leveled quarry area. Sitting beneath the umbrellas at Maldini’s you have the unmistakable feel of Mediterranean al fresco dining and European café life. The climate is similar to that of southern Europe. The settled history of this part of Hobart is not as ancient as that of Europe but, for modern Tasmania, this is as historic as it gets.
We spent some time at the Botanical Gardens in Hobart a few days ago. The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, which cover an area of approximately 14 hectares, were established in Hobart in 1818 and are located within the Queens Domain. They are very beautiful and peaceful. The Gardens hold historic plant collections and a large number of significant trees, many dating back to the nineteenth century. We finished the day having lunch at one of our favourite restaurants, Maldini Italian Restaurant in Salamanca. Great food !!!!!
Last week we headed up to the Tasmanian highlands for a few days. Molly came with us for her first caravan trip and loved it. We had a beautiful time. Arthurs Lake and Great Lake are located on the Central Plateau of Tasmania, 1,034 metres above sea level. It is a popular trout fishing area. We look forward to returning in winter for the snow !!!!
Hi all….
It has certainly been a while since I have added to my blog. Even though the blog has been quiet, we certainly havn’t been, never seeming to have enough hours in the day !!!!
We have been continuing our work on our “bush block”, always finding something more to do to improve it.
I sadly lost my beautiful Dad in January. He passed away, after having an incredible life of 92 years, knowing he had achieved so much. His final goal was having his biography published just prior to passing away.
We have spent more time traveling and exploring Tassie, boating on the Derwent River and enjoying nights on the boat. I will let my photos show some of our movements. We especially enjoy staying over in the protective waters of Bruny Island .Bruny Island has a population of around 620 and is deceptively large, being about 100 km’s in length. Bruny is made up of a North and South Island which are separated by a narrow isthmus, “the neck”. North Bruny Island, drier than the south, is made up largely of open pastures and light bushland, whilst South Bruny is hilly, heavily timbered and includes large rainforest areas. At the far south of the Island is the Famous Cape Bruny Lighthouse overlooking some of the highest sea cliffs in the southern hemisphere.
We are sooo lucky to be back in Paris again…. even early morning drizzle, busy streets etc, (Yes….another purchase of a another beret hat and umbrella to keep dry with) do not dampen our spirits for this beautiful city. Even after we walk at least 10km a day and start to get a bit niggly, it is still romantic. We stayed in a cute little boutique hotel, Le Petit Belloy, in the arty and café area of St Germain. Thank you Diane for this recommendation. Perfect !!
Paris cafes are possibly the most well-known image of the City of Light. The Paris Cafe is more than a place to sip coffee. It is an institution in Paris, it is a magnet for tourists, it is a cultural phenomenon. No trip to Paris is complete without a relaxing, long sit with some fascinating people-watching at a Paris cafe.
We also visited Montmartre again, a neighbourhood located at the summit of Paris, it is one of the city’s most poetry-drenched spots. The narrow, steep, cobblestone-paved streets, stairways, hidden gardens, cemeteries, and vineyards show that Montmartre was, until recently, a village in its own right, tucked away from the city. Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, and countless other artists and writers worked their magic here. It is now an artist’s haven.
We will be sad to leave Paris !!! Although, in a petit way, Hobart comes close.
We are staying in Caen , about 2 to 3 hours from Paris on the northern coast of Normandy and the area known as the D-Day Beaches. The beaches of Normandy are located along the English Channel in France’s north-western corner.
Now follows a history lesson, so if you are not interested pass this by, but we found it very moving especially as I have just finished reading my Dad’s recently finished book in which he talks of his time fighting for our country in Papua New Guinea around the same period of the second world war …..
On June 6, 1944 – now known as D-Day – Operation Overlord, the long-awaited invasion of Northwest Europe, began with Allied landings on the coast of Normandy. The task was formidable, for the Germans had turned the coastline into an interlinked series of strongpoints, each with guns, pill boxes, barbed wire, land mines, and beach obstacles. Following an extensive bombardment of the assault areas, the Allies launched a simultaneous landing of U.S., British, Canadian and French forces on five separate beaches code-named:
It was an incredible accomplishment; the formidable Atlantic Wall had been successfully breached. By the end of D-Day, the Allies had landed more than 150,000 troops in France by sea and air, 6,000 vehicles including 900 tanks, 600 guns and about 4,000 tons of supplies and, astonishingly, had achieved complete surprise in doing it. More soldiers and supplies were pouring ashore to continue the advance on D-Day. The victory was a turning point in World War II and led to the liberation of Europe and the defeat of Nazi Germany.
We also visited the Normandy American Cemetery. The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France is located on the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 and the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II. The cemetery site covers 172.5 acres and contains the graves of 9,387 of US military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations. On the Walls of the Missing in a semicircular garden on the east side of the memorial are inscribed 1,557 names. Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified.
Now more than 60 years after D-Day, the Normandy coast is peaceful with lovely seaside towns and picturesque beaches. Behind the coast is an old-fashioned farming landscape of grain fields, cattle and pastures, hedges and farmhouses. But the memories of war and D-Day are engrained in the landscape. Along the 100km D-Day invasion coast there are the
remains of German gun emplacements and bunkers, while war memorials and monuments mark where the allied forces landed on the beaches. Inland, there are monuments in almost every village and at every bend in the road, for there is barely a square yard that wasn’t fought over. Beautiful cemeteries overlook the sea and countryside.
Rinse and scrub mussels under cold water.
Using your fingers or pairing knife, remove beards (strings that hang from the mussel shells), and discard.
In a large stockpot set over medium heat, combine wine, shallots, garlic, and salt.
Remove from heat.
Divide mussels and broth among four bowls.
Serve immediately….. naughty but good with frites or crunchy sourdough !!!!
