Jakarta

It's always a pleasant surprise when you reach a destination that you have not rated highly in your mind only to find it well above expectation.  That was how I found Jakarta.
Jakarta has a population of close to 11,000,000 (yep you read that right) and Indonesia is the fourth most populated nation behind China, India and USA. Indonesia consists of approximately 14,000 islands (yes, you read that right too). Jakarta is on the island of Java. The government is making a concerted effort to clean Jakarta and I have to say for a city as large as this one, it is very clean. Enough geography....
We arrived into the busy industrial Port to the the sound of music coming from the terminal and were given a wonderful display of dance by the Indonesian women in their colourful costumes. It really set the theme for the rest of the day.

The tour we chose today was "Beautiful Indonesia Miniature Park".  This park, set over many acres, gives the tourist a history of Indonesia in a condensed form.  The first place we visited was the museum with fabulous displays of the different national dress from formal to bridal.  There were also displays of musical instruments and of course displays of the well renowned shadow puppets.

The wedding outfits that are worn by the bride and groom in Jakarta

We then went on to a miniature village that showed us the different types of homes built for different purposes. There were lots of people wandering around the village and food vendors were kept very busy.

It was then a short walking distance to the Papua museum that seemed very familiar to us after visiting PNG a couple of years ago.  The displays were well set out and informative. At the Papua Museum we were greeted with a welcome dance and farewelled with another dance.

We are doing this cruise in the middle of the monsoon season so we expect rain and high humidity and we are well prepared for it. It was very humid today and fortunately the rain didn't start until we were back on board the ship so we were lucky.
Back on board the ship we had a late lunch of burgers and fries and then a nanny nap until cocktail hour at 5.00 pm.  No dinner for us again tonight as the canapés that we have delivered to the room are very filling.
Just as an aside, we had a chuckle as we watched the Japanese passengers trying to kill the mossies that were inside the bus that took us on tour.  Honestly, they are terrified of the little blighters and it was like watching a Kung Fu movie as they tried in vain to get rid of the mosquitoes.....

This is the view from our balcony.  Jakarta is a very busy port with the cranes loading and offloading  containers off the hundreds of ships waiting in the harbour

All aboard....

We are now safely tucked into our suite on board Regent Seven Seas Voyager.  Our suite is light and roomy that makes for a nice change. The transfer from our hotel to the ship was without incident but there always seems to be a delay at the check-in even though we were in a priority lane.  Passports have to be checked,  photo id has to be organised and you still have to pass through security before boarding. It all takes time.
Our suite was ready as soon as we were on board and Philips suitcase was already in our suite.  Unfortunately our suitcases became detached from each other because mine did not arrive until just before departure.  This caused just a little anxiety :-(

Lunch on board was a light salad as we had a reservation for dinner at Charteuse Restaurant and we wanted to make sure we had plenty of room for some delicious french food.
Charteuse Restaurant was not an option on our last Regent Cruise so it was great to have the choice of a different restaurant.  I ordered the Beef Consomme for entree and the Dover Sole for main.  I was not disappointed as they were spectacularly good.  Philip said that his Cheese Soufflé followed by Beef Tournadeaus were also an excellent choice.

Today has been a laid back affair although we did drag ourselves out of bed quite early for a walk around the deck before a Stretch Class in the gym.  We decided on the buffet for breakfast but chose an a la carte lunch in Compass Rose Restaurant.  I'm not a great lover of buffets.  There always seems to be so much push and shove and I know the staff are vigilant when it comes to germs but all that breathing over food does put me off.
Compass Rose Restaurant is a delight and the staff are always helpful.  It is is never very busy for lunch and you get great service.  I chose the Breaded Goats Cheese for entree and Turkey Saltimbocca for main, while Philip went for the Seafood Soup followed by Pork Ribs.  I must admit I did have a bit of food envy!

Before we went to lunch we went to the pool deck where the staff put on a performed some sort of ceremony as we crossed the equator.  To be honest I couldn't make head nor tail of what it was about. Something about sacrificing a virgin to the gods.  Anyway, the cocktails that I drank while watching the performance were very good.....

After lunch I relaxed by the pool and the water was a perfect temperature for me.  For those that know me well that means lukewarm. Philip has another gym class this afternoon - Spin Cycling - whilst I think I will go for another walk.  No dinner for us tonight although the butler will bring us canapés around 5.00 pm.  We are opting for a nice quiet night with maybe a movie or two.

Check this out.  It is a completely edible display set up outside Compass Rose.....

Hello Singapore.......

Here we are again!  Singapore is really starting to feel like a second home with this being the second visit this year. Our six hour flight from Cairns yesterday was delayed by almost an hour as there was some problem with the baggage that was loaded, unloaded and then re-loaded.
Onboard our Silkair flight we were feed some very decent food washed down with bubbles before I closed my eyes for a nanny nap.  Philip on the other hand had bought another Lee Child book in duty free and read half of it on this flight!

Our arrival into Changi Airport is now familiar and took us very little time to pass through customs and immigration before finding a cab to bring us to the Fairmont Singapore.

View from our room at Fairmont Singapore

I had pre-purchased tickets for the tallest building in Singapore at Raffles Place, where they have a rooftop bar called 1-Altitude and it is on the 62nd floor.  The spectacular views are 360 degrees and in my opinion are better than Marina Bay Sands but the ambience at Marina Bay is far superior.  1-Altitude is a bit tired.

Views from 1-Altitude...

We had two drinks included in our admission price so once we had finished them we went  down to the Clarke Quay area to look for something to eat.  There are dozens of restaurants lining the banks of Clarke Quay and the owners all stand outside their restaurant inviting you to come and sample "the best food in Singapore".  It's difficult to chose a restaurant as most of the menus are identical but we found a place where we feasted in Spring Rolls, Soft Shell Crab, Pineapple Fried Rice and Peking Duck all washed down with Tiger Beer for Philip and Singapore Sling for me.  The food was okay but nothing to rave about.

We were both starting to fade by this time.  We had to move our watches forward two hours so even though our watches said it was 10pm when we finally arrived back at our hotel, it was indeed midnight.
Tomorrow we board Regent Seven Seas Voyager.

It's never ending

November has been a whirl and it is not surprising that this is the first post for the month.  I had to look back over the calendar to see what I have been doing since the last post and this is what the calendar looked like……

28^th October – Cairns for Ultrasound of index finger

28th, 29^th and 30th October – Various tradies involved in repairing the kitchen bench top

1^st November – Party to celebrate a friend’s 50^th birthday

2^nd November – Party to celebrate a friend’s 64^th birthday

5^th November – Melbourne Cup

6^th November – Business Meeting with Accountant 

7^th November – Pamper day – hair and nails

8^th – 10^th November – Cooktown Races

12^th November – Dreaded Dentist

13^th November – Dreaded PAP

18^th November – Electrician to replace smoke detectors

20^th November – Property Inspection

21^st November – Mossman for X-ray of same finger

23^rd – 24^th November – House Guests to celebrate another birthday girl

26^th November – Cairns Hand Clinic – need a finger joint replacement ***sigh***

27^th – 29^th November – Noah Beach & Daintree for a bit of R & R

AND in between all of that we have had a massive clean out of the SHED!  What a job that turned out to be.  We had three trips to the dump and one of those trips was with the gooseneck trailer loaded to the brim.  We had so much old timber to burn that we had to spread the burning out over several days.  But it has all been worthwhile as the shed looks amazing and now looks twice as large!

And that is not the only thing that we have cleaned out.  I have been working on the inside of the house and getting rid of anything that will be surplus to our needs when we finally sell and take up apartment living.

Of course when your house is on the market it must always look presentable as you normally don’t get too much notice for an inspection. The jobs that are ongoing are things like mowing the lawns once a week (that takes a couple of hours) and keeping the house clean and tidy.  Of course these jobs would be done in any case but they are done more consistently at the moment.

We are both feeling really tired and irritable, hence the quickly planned trip to our favourite camping ground at Noah Beach.  Here, there is no mobile coverage unless you walk down to the beach and wave your phone around above your head, and it is bliss.  It’s not nearly long enough but enough time to re-charge the batteries

Although the last month has been very busy it has been wonderful to catch up with friends that we rarely see. 

Cooktown Races are an annual event and we only see this group of friends at this time of the year. We all lead very busy lives.

Three birthday parties this month is probably a little extraordinary but all three birthday boys and girl are special friends and we loved being able to share their milestones with them.

So, that is what we have been up to.  Hopefully we will feel rejuvinated after our mini campout.

Gee it's been busy....

Self inflicted busy of course. We just can't seem to stay home for too long.  But having said that, it's been a great time to catch up with friends that we haven't seen in quite awhile. But before I get into that I want to tell you about the Paint Pouring Class that myself and three friends went to in Port Douglas a couple of weeks ago.  I had read quite a bit about this form of art and my friend Roz posts a lot of photos on her blog of her fantastic artwork.  It is right up my alley.
The class goes for about two hours and was hosted by Cheryl.  I have to say that when I first saw Cheryl with her long dreadlocks and her very 70's style I did wonder what we would be in for, in a good way. I knew straight away that it was going to be fun and fun it was!
Paint Pouring is simply mixing five different colour paints into plastic cups and then turning them upside down onto a canvas.  After leaving your cups upside down for a little while you then remove the cups and watch the magic happen.  The paint oozes around your canvas into amazing patterns.  You can manipulate the paint by moving your canvas around but to be honest I did very little of that because I liked the immediate result.
All four paint pouring masterpieces were so very different with each of us using different colour palettes but all four were amazing.  We all loved it and hopefully we will get together again to create more magic.

A few days after the class, Philip and I jumped in the car and made our way to Townsville to catch up with forever friends Kevin and Karen and Alvie and Ronwyn. We arrived at K & K's house on the Strand and straight away settled into conversation that just seemed to pick up where we last left off.  Isn't it great to have friends who you don't see for months and still have that great rapport.  We stayed the night at K & K's place and the next morning we drove to Annandale to see A & R.  Here is another couple who's company we enjoy immensely.  Unfortunately we didn't have nearly enough time with them but we are looking forward to a visit from them in the very near future.

Last weekend we went to this years last Chefs in Paradise dinner with our PNG friends.  We think it was probably the best dinner from the series but really they were all truly great meals. I really hope Chef Spencer Patrick has them again next year but I guess it is a lot to organise.

For this last dinner we were served amazing food by Chefs Massimo Mele and Andrea Ravezzani.  As both chefs are Italian that was definitely the theme for the dinner.  The degustation menu was complemented with wines from Fraser Gallop Estate.  I'm not really a lover of Margaret River wines (nor New Zealand) with their distinctive flavour but I think that I may have to change my mind as these wines complemented the meal perfectly and I will now look for the Fraser Gallop Estate wines when I make my next purchase.

We were once again treated to four different appetisers served with bubbles followed by four courses.  Every single morsel of every single course was a taste sensation.  I heard some people mildly say that the Tortellini was not cooked enough.  Personally I love pasta that is cooked al dente (to the bite) and found it sensational but I think Aussies like pasta to be cooked slightly longer.

We stayed the night at the Sheraton and enjoyed breakfast with our friends the next morning before heading our separate ways.  I just want to give a shout out to the Sheraton for the wonderful way they treat return clients. We have stayed there four times this year for the Chefs in Paradise dinners and each time we have been given a special "locals" rate that includes breakfast.  On this last stay we were given an upgraded room and a bottle of bubbles was delivered to our room with a note saying how much they appreciated our return visit.  How good is that!

Well folks, that's a wrap for this week.  Take care.

xx Judi

October already.....

Where does the time go?  Too fast for my liking!  I really do try hard to blog once a week but so much seems to get in the way lately.  I really must set my priorities.
So what have we been up to in the past couple of weeks.
Last Friday we joined our friends for Reef Feast Longest Lunch at the very picturesque Palm Cove.  Chefs Justine Schofield from Everyday Gourmet and Nick Hollaway, owner of Nu Nu Restaurant treated us to a menu packed with delicious and diverse courses all encompassing local produce of which we in the tropics are so lucky to have a great variety of.

The lunch is usually set up outside on the beachfront but unfortunately the wind and rain meant that the tables had to be quickly moved inside Nu Nu Restaurant.  It didn't make any difference to the atmosphere though. It was very cheerful made more so by the numerous glasses of bubbles that were consumed. I was looking forward to seeing Justine and how amazing was it that she talked to every single person at the lunch and didn't mind having her photo taken hundreds of times.  What a bright and bubbly lady she is!  What you see on TV is what you get with Justine.

We stayed the night in Palm Cove with our friends.  I can't wait for the day when we are living in Port Douglas and we can have them stay with us for various functions in Port.  We will all have the best of both worlds!
I have been busy preserving the copious amount of tomatoes that we have grown this year.  We ended up pulling out three cherry tomato plants but still have three more producing. So far I have made big batches of Tomato Relish, Pickled Tomatoes, Sun Dried Tomatoes and Pasatta.  Every morning we have been throwing cherry tomatoes in the frypan with our bacon and eggs that are just so delicious!  And still they grow!

The spinach is almost finished but I have come up with some ingenious ways of using it.  This "Gozleme Lasagne" was enhanced with the addition of spinach...

I have harvested all the carrots and some of the daikon radish so I have been thinking of ways to use them.  I made a Japanese Coleslaw for lunch through the week that was simply grated carrot, Daikon and sliced cabbage dressed with a mixture of Rice Wine Vinegar and sugar.  I then added sliced capsicum and toasted sesame seeds and tossed lightly.  I served this alongside some crumbed steak and it was both delicious and healthy.

I have just finished reading the book "You'd better put some Ice on that", which is what Bill Clinton said to Juanita Broaddrick after he raped her.

The book is Juanita's autobiography and as she says she didn't want to make it all about the rape because she also had a very interesting life until the Clinton's - both Bill and Hilary- changed her life forever.  In her book, Juanita briefly touches on Whitewater....the scandal that surrounded the Clintons in a real estate deal.  It's worth having a look at this timeline written by the Washington Post.  All I can say is thank goodness the world was spared from having Hilary Clinton as President.

Well folks, that's a wrap for this week.  After all the climate change alarmists taking front and centre stage this past few weeks this is what I say...

What's been happening.....

It's been fairly quiet around here the last week.  Philip arrived home from PNG last Thursday and has been detoxing ever since!  Apparently a lot of food and alcohol were consumed....not surprisingly...
It still doesn't quite feel like spring as the mornings have been cool and the wind comes up each day around 9.30 that keeps daytime temperatures low.  We have managed a couple of swims in the pool in the evening when the wind dies down. Even though the pool water is heated - blissfully - it's not enjoyable sitting in the pool when the wind is blowing throughout the day.
I've been trying some new recipes that were absolutely sensational even if I do say so myself.  The first one I tried is from the Everyday Gourmet television show.  It was baked rib bones with a green bean and tomato salad.  It's a hard dish to photograph so you just have to imagine how good it tasted....

The next day I made Caramel Chicken with Pickled Carrot salad from Marions Kitchen website.  It was also another winner and certainly a keeper....

At the moment I have a crockpot of Beef Barbacoa simmering away.  This is a mexican dish so I am going to char grill some corn cobs and serve the beef, corn and avocado in a soft tortilla.  Tomorrow I am going to have the leftover Barbacoa as a Budha Salad Bowl.
Did I mention that my very clever husband has installed a watering system through the garden?  It is going to save us hours of shifting hoses and it works a treat.  The garden is evenly watered throughout the wee small hours of the morning before the wind gets up and the garden is loving it.  I took a wander through the garden yesterday afternoon with my camera in hand.  It is a mass of spring colour at the moment.

Well my friends, that's a wrap for this week.  Take care xx