Philips Birthday Week

It was hubby's 67th birthday on the 22nd January and as NuNu Restaurant here in Palm Cove was having a Chinese New Year Banquet I reserved a table for us and our friends Kate and Mike.  The day was a little rainy but that didn't stop us at all, I mean who doesn't love a tropical downpour.  We were a little early for our lunch reservation so we dropped into Chill Portofino for some cool drinks while we waited for NuNu's to open. Chill is one of our favourite places in Palm Cove.  You can drop in for a cool drink or settle in for a meal.  They do some pretty darn good pizza's too.

Once we had finished our drinks we headed directly across the road to NuNu's where we were shown to our table.  The service in this restaurant is exceptional and within moments of seating we were handed the drinks menu and a copy of the banquet menu we were about to enjoy.  Our drinks (cocktails for the ladies and beer for the men) arrived shortly after ordering and we had only had a couple of sips before the first of five courses was laid in the centre of the table.  The food was to die for and the only photo I remembered to take was dessert! The courses were:

1.  Crispy Chilli and fish dumpling, Reef Bug and Pork dumpling, Sweet and Sour Tiger Prawns

2.  Tea smoke Eel and Hot Sauce, Pickled Mushrooms

3.  Cucumber and Garlic Salad, Tofu and Black Bean, Lotus Rice Shiitake and Lup Cheong, Spanner Crab and Egg Fried Rice

4. Coral Trout Ginger and Green Onion Relish, Drunken Duck Davidson Plum and Spiced Sat

5. Lychee, Pandam, coconut Sorbet and Dragon Ice

NuNu can be a bit of hit and miss when it comes to meals but this meal was outstanding and Nick Holloway and his team deserve accolades for this one.

One Tuesday morning we picked up Kate and Mike and drove them to the airport where they boarded their Brisbane bound plane.  At Brisbane they boarded the P & O Pacific Encounter for a 13 day cruise to Singapore stopping at Airlie Beach, Darwin, Bali and Lombok.  I have been tracking their voyage on cruisemapper.com and it is getting me rather excited for our upcoming cruise in April.  I have been chatting to Kate on and off and they seem to be having a great time.

After we dropped the team at the airport, Philip and I decided to walk the Yellow/Red Arrow track that starts opposite the airport at the Mount Whitfield Conservation Park.  The 4.2km circular track climbs around 155m and is considered moderately challenging. It took us around an hour and fifteen minutes to complete the walk.  We very much enjoyed it particularly as it is shaded for the majority of the walk.  In Cairns at this time of the year that is very much appreciated!

My copy of RecipeTin Eats arrived in the mail this week and I have been devouring the book and cooking quite a few recipes from the book.  Nagi is my all time favourite cook and everyone of her recipes are truly great.  You may remember me cooking Festive Salmon for New Years Eve.  That is one of her recipes.  The cookbook is well worth purchasing if you are as passionate about food as I am.  Some of the other recipes I have made from the cookbook this week have been Teriyaki Beef Bowls and Magic Baked Chicken Fried Rice.  Both bloody delicious!

I had some leftover chicken from the fried rice so I pulled out the pie maker and made us some Chicken and Leek Pies with salad for another lunch meal.  Gee I've missed my piemaker and will give it a good work-out before our next holiday.  Shame it is just a bit too heavy to carry in the van, but then again, maybe........

After Christmas I had leftover mini store-bought meringues and a sponge roll and was thinking of what I could make using them.  I also had a whole lot of passionfruit that my friend Kate had kindly given me so I made a Passionfruit Curd, whipped up some cream and added yoghurt, thawed out some frozen blueberries and along with a sliced banana, assembled the lot in a glass bowl.  It was a very decadent sweet dish but Philip and I have been enjoying a small quantity of it each afternoon.  I froze the majority of it so that we can enjoy this dessert over several weeks.

Today we woke to another wet day so to do something different (and inside) we drove into Cairns to the Cairns Aquarium.  It is something we have been talking about doing for quite a long time but never seemed to get around to it.  We had no idea on what we were missing out on.  It was fantastic.  We spent a couple of hours wandering around the two floors that told the story of aquatic life from the rainforest to the reef.  It is beautifully presented and every half hour the staff give talks in various areas of the aquarium.  There is also a Turtle Rehabilitation Hospital Tour that we would like to have visited but it was booked out.  We will return another day for that.  The Aquarium was well worth the drive into town.

Well that is our week in a nutshell.  We have been fairly busy but each afternoon we either go for a walk along the beach or if it is raining (as it has been for the majority of this week) we pull out the boardgames.  Sequence is our favourite board game but yesterday, for a change, we pulled out the Jenga Blocks.  Philip and I had fun building this tower and I, unfortunately, was the one to topple it.......

Perfect Palm Cove

Hello my friends and family.  After my epic amount of blogging while we were travelling, I have kinda "dried up" on the writing. However, I am attempting to get back my blogging mojo, starting today. 

It has been almost three weeks since I last wrote about our New Years Eve, so what have we been up to since then? Philip and I continue to make our own busy and each and every day we seem to have something on our plate.  It's a good thing really.  We plan it so that our mornings are busy so we can relax in the afternoon.  Most afternoons, after 5, we go for a walk along the beach or a swim in the stinger net.  However the last week we have had quite a lot of rain so our walks have come to an abrupt halt.

Mondays we now go to a Gentle Yoga Class beachside here at Palm Cove.  Our yogi is Beth and I adore her.  Her classes are for all levels of yoga and I also attend a class on Thursday mornings that is a somewhat stronger class that really strengthens my body.

Philip cycles whenever he can and has returned to his cycling group in Port Douglas.  He said the first ride, after a long absence, was gruelling but also invigorating.  I try to walk on the five days that I don't have a yoga practice and I have three set routes.  There are 4km, 5km and 7.5km.  The 5km includes a good hill climb but the other two are on level ground so are quite easy.  All the walks begin and end on the Palm Cove Esplanade that looks particularly lovely at this time of the year.

Philip and I decided to challenge ourselves last week and walk the Earl Hill track.  There was a bit of confusion between the two of us as to where to begin the walk and we ended up starting at Half Moon Bay.  Oh....my......god.  This was definitely a bad choice.  It was all up hill with a gazillion steps - well equivalent to 28 flights of steps, and when we reached the summit we found we weren't on Earl Hill at all!  We were on Little Earl Hill!  Turns out that we walked the Bakarra Track. The views were pretty spectacular though.....

There have been quite a few appointments on our calendar - Optometrist, Audiologist, Doctor and we have made quite a few trips up to the storage shed and Port Douglas over the past couple of weeks.  Philip bought a timer to keep our caravans Lithium Battery charged.  It has been a bit of trial and error to see how how long we need to set the timer to keep the right amount of charge in the battery but I think we finally have it sorted.  

Last week when we arrived home from Port it was almost lunch so we decided to head to Vivo Restaurant for lunch.  Vivo is right beside us so it is a very convenient restaurant but the meals here can be a bit hit and miss.  Unfortunately our mains were a hit for Philip but a big miss for me.  We both ordered the Salmon Sashimi for starters and neither of us could fault this.  It was 100% delicious and I would gladly order it again......

Philips main was the Duck Leg on Rosti and it was perfectly cooked and a well balanced meal.  I tasted it and the flavours were all there.  5/5

For my main I ordered the Crispy Skin Barramundi.  The only good thing I can say about this meal is that the skin was indeed crispy but the fish itself turned to mush in my mouth.  I can only think that the fish had been thawed and re-frozen or never frozen properly in the first instance.  It was a very disappointing meal.  It came with an Orange Fennel Salad that was okay.

So that's a wrap for the last couple of weeks.  It is taking me longer than expected to settle back into normal life after living in the caravan for all those months, most particularly around my cooking.  I have this huge fridge in the apartment but when I open the French Doors I can count on two hands the number of items in it.  It comes from being frugal with fridge space in the caravan and I probably won't go back to having a full size fridge packed to the brim again. I don't think it is a big deal really and it will certainly make it easier when I have to transfer food from a big fridge to a caravan fridge the next time we travel.

Cheers everyone!

New Years Eve 2022

By the time you read this post it will be 2023 so....... Happy New Year.  No resolutions for me.  I just want to remain healthy and happy and wish the same for everybody.

New Years Eve was spent in our apartment with our good friends Kate and Mike as it was our turn to host a dinner after the spectacular spread that they created for Christmas lunch.  I had a couple of new recipes that I wanted to try out so it was the perfect occasion for this.

Our friends arrived around 5.30 as the fireworks were due to start at 8.30 and I wanted to allow enough time for us to eat dinner before we made our way down to the waters edge to watch the fireworks.  Kate and I settled back with our glasses of low alcohol bubbles while the boys chose beer as their beverage of choice.  

My darling husband made the Hor D'oeuvres to serve with our drinks and they were very light, refreshing and delicious.  The recipe was called Prawn and Mango Hand Salads and were baby gem lettuce cups filled with small prawns and topped with mango and watermelon.  A dressing of coconut cream, sweet chilli sauce and lime was drizzled over the top and was the perfect finger food.

By 7.00 we were ready to sit down to our main meal that was simplicity itself with a baked side of Salmon accompanied by a warm potato and asparagus salad.  The side of salmon is an expensive piece of fish so it should be cooked with respect and this recipe was perfect.  To my liking it could have been cooked a little less but everybody else around the table preferred their salmon to be cooked all the way through so it was a winner for them. The salmon (after being baked in a honey butter marinade) is topped with a beautiful dill cream sauce topped with cranberries, toasted almond, pomegranate and parsley.  It looks so festive!

We decided to leave dessert until after the fireworks, so we quickly packed the dishwasher and cleaned down the benches before making our way across the road to the oceans edge to wait for the fireworks to begin right on 8.30.  There were thousands of people lined up all the way along the beach to watch the fireworks.  There are only two places that Cairns Council displays the fireworks and they are Palm Cove and the Cairns CBD. It had been threatening rain all evening but thankfully the rain held off for the fireworks but the minute we returned to the apartment it started to rain lightly.  

Once we were settled back onto the apartment balcony I served the Crème Caramel that I had baked earlier in the day.  No one was very hungry but we all had a small sliver to satisfy our sweet tooth.  I forgot to get a photo of dessert but it was also a winner.

No, we didn't see in the New Year this year as were well and truly tucked up in our bed by 10.30.  There was quite a bit of partying happening right along the length of the esplanade as evidenced by the empty bottles strewn along the pathway this morning.  We never heard a thing.  A big shout out to the Cairns Council workers though who were hard at it by 7.00 to clean up the mess. It begs the question why can't people put their rubbish into the numerous bins or at least into disposable bags.  I will never understand that.

So that was our New Years Eve.  We are having a quiet New Years Day.  I spent the morning putting away all the Christmas decorations that were not much more than a Christmas tree and exterior balcony lights. The apartment looks almost bare with out them!  

Once again, Happy New Year.  May it be filled with Love and Peace. xx

Christmas 2022

We had the perfect Christmas Day. First up was a phone call from our Leyburn friends followed by coffee in bed and presents! I was lucky enough to receive some very thoughtful gift vouchers from my hubby that I am very much looking forward to redeeming.

After coffee we went for a lovely long walk around Palm Cove because we knew that we would probably be over indulging later on today!  By the time we arrived home we were very hungry so I cooked us Kylie Kwong fried eggs along side baked ham. It always goes down a treat.

After breakfast was cleared away it was time to start making the phone calls to family and friends. It took a good part of the morning to complete this task with Philip and I in different corners of the apartment and of course we then had to relate all the news back to each other!

We weren’t due at our friends place for lunch until 2pm so we had time to put “Love Actually” in the DVD player and kicked back to watch this classic Christmas movie. I love this movie so much and it always brings a tear to my eye. Love really does conquer all and Hugh Grant still makes my heart flutter……

We had to stop the movie half way to shower and make ourselves presentable for Christmas lunch at our friends place.

 The minute we pulled up in the carpark we could smell the delicious aromas of roast lamb wafting around us and we were not disappointed with the beautiful Christmas lunch that our friends had prepared. There were seven of us for lunch and we feasted on seafood followed by a traditional roast with all the trimmings.

My contribution to the lunch was a dessert. I found a recipe for a de- constructed truffle that was very easy to construct and seemed to be well received. It looked mighty pretty…..

Around 5pm Philip and I said our goodbyes to our friends who were all looking very tired as they had been “on the go”entertaining family since the previous day. 

When we arrived home we decided to stroll down to the Jetty to walk off some of our Christmas lunch. There were lots of people along the length of the Esplanade enjoying a variety of Christmas fare. The younger generation were enjoying burgers from the bbq while further along,  the Islanders were having a more traditional dinner. There was a group down on the beach playing some sort of skulling game (sore heads tomorrow) and all in all Palm Cove had a wonderful party feel.

It has been a lovely day and my hope is that all my wonderful friends out there enjoyed their Christmas Day as much as we did. 

I will try to keep my blog updated throughout 2023 as we have lots of travel planned and as my readers know, I do love to write!

Stay safe everyone.

Days 246, 247, 248, Home!!!

After 21,6558 kilometres, and just over eight months on the road, we are home.  The memories we have of the places we have visited will remain with us for the rest of our lives.  My blog has been my "virtual" diary and I refer back to it often to refresh the memory.  I will certainly be writing again when we do the east coast states starting in July next year.

After we left Hydeway Bay we drove through to Lucinda Point.  We had intentions of stopping in Townsville but I started feeling unwell with a gastro bug, and didn't want to pass it on to our friends, one of whom has a very compromised immune system.  Lucinda Point was a nice surprise.  The caravan park was well appointed with big spacious sites.  As we seen over the past month, there was hardly any other vans here.  I guess that will change when school holidays commence.  I was feeling well enough at to take the suggested walk to the fishing jetty.  To get to the jetty you have to cross over the huge conveyor belt and Philip reckoned he could feel it rumble under his feet.  The conveyor belt, carrying sugar, stretches  5.6km out to the waiting ships and in fact it is the longest jetty in the Southern Hemisphere.

The fishing jetty that sits in the shadow of Hinchinbrook Island is well utilised by the locals.  Many fisherman were lined up to try and hook their dinner.  The jetty is also where the car ferry leaves for Palm Island that surprised us.  There is also a passenger ferry that leaves from Townsville.

By the time we walked (very fast!) back to the van I was feeling very unwell and I haven't really come good as yet.  

I slept all the way from Lucinda to Port Douglas and was no company for my husband.  However we were parked up in the van park in Port Douglas by 1.00pm so it wasn't a long day.  As soon as we had set up the van I climbed up on the bed and went back to sleep while Philip went to the storage shed to put the battery back in my little Suzuki.  It didn't even need charging, that was a relief.  By the time Philip got back, I decided to go to the local chemist and see if I could get some medication.  The chemist said that it is now recommended that diarrhoea be just allowed to run its course.  She said to take Nurofen for the fever and to keep hydrated.  

So that brings us to today.  I still have the gastro and as this is the third day, if it persists tomorrow I will try and get appointment with the doctor. Don't like my chances though...

It is good to be home and the Coral Sea really turned it on for us today.  I wish I had taken photos 😩. We have seen some magnificent oceans, and I still say Western Australia has the best, but the Coral Sea runs a close second.....

Day 245 Hydeaway Bay, Qld

What an appropriate name for this little gem of a place - Hydeaway Bay.  It is almost 40km off the Bruce Highway and the turnoff is just after Proserpine.  I guess most people wouldn't detour this far off the highway but if you don't, you really miss out.  You get the feeling that everyone knows everybody in this little place and when you walk along the streets you get big waves from passing cars, mainly checking you out I feel.....

On advice from the owners of the Hydeaway Caravan Park we drove out to Cape Gloucester, around 5km,  where there is a resort right on the beach.  We didn't go inside the resort but there is a restaurant/bar/coffee shop attached to the resort that is open to the public.  I imagine it would be a great locals hangout and probably a beautiful spot to sit and watch the sun go down.

Dingo Beach is on the southern side of Hydeaway Bay and is within walking distance if you walk along the beach and did a bit of rock scrambling.  We chose to drive.  It's strange that there is not a road that would take you directly to Dingo Beach from Hydeaway but instead you have to do rather a large loop.  It is another lovely place and by the age of the houses here we would say that it was established before Hydeaway Bay.  Both Hydeway Bay and Dingo Beach are on the northern end of the stunning Whitsundays. 

I love the "stinger net" that the locals have erected.  It works, and that is all that matters.

When we arrived back at the van we put on our joggers and walked the short distance to Hydeaway Bay Beach.  It looked more inviting to walk south along the beach and even though we had to scramble over a few rocks it was a good choice.  Once we rounded the point, Dingo Beach was just a short distance further to the south and although we couldn't see it, Bowen is just to our north.

This is a place that we will return to and definitely stay a couple of days.  You need that time to explore the area in a little more detail.  The caravan park is lovely and green and the new owners are doing a fantastic job of bringing it up to date. There is a brand new swimming pool that has just been installed and the owners invited us to take a dip but we declined as the water was quite cold, party due to the large shade sail that they have installed over the top of the pool!  Unnecessary I think......

Tomorrow we don't really have a destination in mind.  We were thinking of Townsville but Philip said that he would like to go a little further. We will be winging it.

Day 244 Clareview, Qld

Another early morning wake-up for us, but this time, after we had finished our cup of coffee, we took ourselves for a lovely long walk along the Tannum Sands Esplanade.  It was a glorious morning with quite a brisk breeze blowing in off the ocean.  Even though it was early, there were lots of people walking along the pathway.  It is a lovely place to brush off sleep and breath in the fresh sea air.

We love Tannum Sands and even though our friends are moving away from here we will continue to make it a stopover on our way north or south.  Once we arrived back at the van we were hooked up and back on the road by 7.30.

It is just under 400km from Tannum to Clareview along the "horror stretch" between Rockhampton and Sarina.  The road hasn't improved much over the years and this year it seems to have even more potholes and humps.  It is a boring drive so we cranked up the music and went with the flow.  Even though it seemed to take forever to get to Clareview we were here by 12.30.  Philip suggested that we head to the bar/bistro for lunch rather than cooking something and I agreed wholeheartedly.  It is a great spot to eat as you have sweeping views out over the Pacific Ocean.  When we found out that Red Emperor was the fish they were using for the "Fish n Chips" on the menu, we both decided on it.  The fish was so incredibly fresh and was one of the best "fish n chips" I have had in a long time.  The chips were really crunchy and not oily at all. It was a simple meal of just fish, chips, tartare sauce and a slice of lemon. Oh, and there was one lettuce leaf that was really only a suggestion for salad.....

We washed our fish n chips down with a couple of ice cold Millers Chill Beer.  There is nothing I like better than a very cold beer on a hot day.  We are now back in shorts and t-shirts and the temperature has been sitting around 27 degrees for most of the day.  Gee I've missed the warm weather!

The tide was receding as we were eating lunch, so no sign of any dugongs. We decided to go for a walk late this afternoon and the tide was still out.  The manager of the caravan park met us as we were walking down to the waters edge and pointed to a pond where he said a large turtle was sunning itself.  When we reached the spot where the turtle was wallowing in the shallow water we started talking to a Parks & Wildlife Officer who was on holidays.  He pointed out the barnacles that were growing over the turtle and there was even one on the turtles head.  The turtle was clearly in distress and needed rescuing.  He assured us that he was going to call someone to come and collect the turtle as soon as possible. 

The beach at Clareview is not the prettiest we have seen on our journey, but it has its own special beauty. I really do look at things a lot differently now and see things that I have never noticed previously.  Funny that....

Christmas is in the air at Barracrab Caravan Park.  This giant Christmas tree is at the entrance to the park.  It's lovely to see that the owners are getting into the spirit of things.

 Tomorrow we are staying at Hideaway Bay that is just north of Airlie Beach.  It was a recommendation from someone in our "Can Do Camping-FIFO" Group so I'm looking forward to staying somewhere new.  It looks pretty darn good on the website and also comes highly recommended by Wikicamp users.