The Grampians to Melbourne

We decided to check out some more of the Grampians before heading off to Melbourne today. So we picked a few short hikes to do that would give us a taste of the place and headed out. Our first stop was McKenzie Falls (left.) On our way back up from the falls, we saw a Kookaburra sitting in a tree. This is the bird of the famous Australian nursery rhyme and song "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree." After snapping a few photos of this guy, we headed to our next point, the Boroka Lookout where we were able to get a view of the Balconies rock formation. Finally, we hopped out at the Reed Lookout to get a view of the valley.

Before leaving Halls Gap, we decided to check out Brambuk, the National Park Cultural Centre. The building itself was amazing, designed to represent the wings of the cockatoo. It was filled with Koorie (an Aboriginal tribe) symbols and run by the Koorie communities. The centre tells the history of the people and the land. We spent some time wandering around here before getting some lunch and heading out.


Once we had driven out of the Grampians, we hit the M8 (which is their version of a major highway), so we had a fairly quick trip to Melbourne. We arrived, checked in to our hotel and scrambled to return our rental car before closing. Once we arrived back to our room, we were ready for the feeding-frenzy to begin! Our first meal was at Bar Lourinha, a Spanish/Portuguese tapas bar. Sorry, no pictures this time, but it was divine!

The Great Ocean Road: Warrnambool to the Grampians

A beautiful sunny day greeted us this morning. So we had breakfast and headed over to the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village taking the scenic route along the coast. A few stops for some pictures and some coffee were included along the way. The village is an impressive recreation of an early Australian port. A movie, a museum and a number of restored historic ships and buildings comprised this Village and told the tale of the dangerous nature of the Bass Strait (due to its rocky coastline) and the enormous number of casualties it claimed. Imagine spending 3 months on a ship crossing rough seas and then sinking with your destination in sight?!?


From here we turned inland to head to the Grampians National Park. These ranges are known for their diversity of wildlife, both plant and animal, as well as numerous waterfalls and unusual rock formations. It is also an area with a strong Aboriginal history. We entered through the south of the park at Dunkeld, enjoying another scenic route. Halls Gap was were we made our base for exploring this area. It is in Fyans Valley and close to the Wonderland Range, where we would do most of our bushwalking. When we arrived we found that our room was an individual cabin on a hillside facing a lawn full of kangaroos foraging for supper.

We still had some daylight, as daylight savings time had not ended here yet, so we decided to trek to pinnacle peak (this is where the picture of Matt in "Melbourne Preview" was taken). The first half of this hike was through grand canyon, a rushing stream through a narrow rock-way. It was quite pretty.

The Great Ocean Road: Aireys Inlet to Warrnambool

We awoke refreshed, to a crisp morning, and headed out to explore what we couldn't see in the dark the night before. Split Point Lighthouse (1891) was just down the road, we walked up to it and caught some of our first glimpses of the coast line. After some brekky, we hit the road which took us through the Otway Ranges. Made up of two National Parks, these eucalyptus filled ranges sit right on the coast making it an incredible drive.

The first town we arrived at was Lorne, which is a trendy little town home to numerous cafes and bakeries and filled with tourists. We stopped for a snack and got some information on local hikes in the Otways. We decided to check out the trek to Erskine Falls before heading on our way. Only 250 steps later and we were standing at the base of these falls.


From there we continued onto Apollo Bay. It just so happened there was a music festival here, so we grabbed some fruit, bread and cheese and enjoyed some great people watching in this relaxed fishing town. Once it started misting we decided it was time to move along. There were still more sights to come.

The road took us back into the trees, through some hills and winds along until you hit Port Campbell. This is the most well-known part of the drive due to the gorgeous limestone cliffs and natural sculptures that line the coast. The first of which is the 12 apostles (appropriate for Easter week, eh?). Unfortunately there are only 7 visible today, but no one seems to know if there were ever 12. Other formations we caught included the Arch, the Blowhole and a couple of others we did not stop at due to the torrential downpour that had blown in.

Our drive ended at Warrnambool this evening, which is one of the larger towns on the Shipwreck Coast. Figures it would stop raining as soon as we pulled up at our hotel! Exhausted after a long days drive, we got some dinner and some sleep.

The Great Ocean Road: Melbourne to Aireys Inlet

Our holiday started off with a late departure, followed by a missed connection. So, our leisurely afternoon drive to the Great Ocean Road, turned into a drive in the dark to our hotel with a quick stop in Geelong for a bite to eat. Fortunately, our quick bite turned out to be at a tapas restaurant with excellent food. We fueled our drive with some rich hot cocoa and chai tea for dessert. It was after 10pm when we arrived at our hotel, but we were just happy to be there!

Melbourne Preview

It has been awhile since we have had the chance to write on the blog.  We just returned from a week long trip to the state of Victoria and city of Melbourne.  Here are a few pictures from the trip to wet your appetite.

This picture of Laura is on the Great Ocean Road at the 12 Apostles.

On the top of the Grampians

In the city of Melbourne on the walkway to the Melbourne cricket grounds (the stadium where we watched the footy game on Sat.)

Irish Soda Bread Recipe

By popular demand, here is the recipe for the bread I made on St. Paddy's Day:

5 cups flour
1 cup sugar (I think you could use less)
1 tbs baking powder
1 1/2 ts salt
1 ts baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
2 1/2 cup raisins
3 tbs caraway seeds
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 350.
Butter a 10-12" ovenproof skillet.
Whisk first 5 ingredients in a large bowl.
Add butter using fingertips.
Stir in raisins and caraway seeds.
Whisk buttermilk and egg in bowl to blend, then add to dough.
Blend until well-incorporated, dough is VERY sticky!
Place dough in skillet.
Cut X in top of dough using small, sharp knife.
Bake approx. 1hr 15 min or until knife/tester comes out clean.
Cool 10 minutes in skillet.
Let cool completely on wire rack.

St. Paddy's Day

We missed out on the weekend horse races where everyone celebrated the luck of the Irish. But on Wednesday Laura made a delicious Irish soda bread to celebrate the day.

Cyclone

The weather here has been awesome this past week.  The high temp has been in the high 20's and in the evenings it has been in the mid to low 20s.  The humidity has also dropped to around 50%.  This weather is due to the big cyclone sitting off the coast (it is supposed to hit the shore on the weekend) and a high pressure system in the south.  Therefore, we are getting cool dry air from the south, for the moment.  There is also a lovely breeze which has been keeping the house nice and cool.  It is great not to be sweating all the time, I only hope it lasts.

Bundaberg

Saturday morning we decided to check out the city of Bundaberg, which is famous for three reaons: Bundaberg Sugar, Ginger Beer, and Rum. Being that our favorite non-alcoholic beverage is now Bundaberg Ginger Beer, after brekky we decided to head to the factory for a tour and taste-test. When we arrived at the Ginger Barrel, we were able to take a short tour of the history of ginger beer production. We learned some interesting facts, such as it is all natural product, and they use a fermentation process in production. That means until 1986 when it was regulated, ginger beer had at times been known to contain up to 11% alcohol (now it is a non-alcoholic beverage.) It also means that you can home brew it, which has been known to lead to a few explosions.

The tour ended with a stop at their tasting room to taste some of their other products in addition to their ginger beer. We tried sarsaparilla (root beer), lemon-lime bitters, peachee, apple, burgundee (cream soda made with grapes), and royal crown cola (they are the licensed foreign producers of what we know as RC Cola in the States.) Our favorites were peachee and lemon-lime bitters. Although I had a special liking for the burgundee having grown up drinking a cream soda or two. We left with a variety pack to take home and enjoy.

After enjoying our sugar fix for the day, we decided to head to the museum that tells you how it all starts. The Fairymead House Sugar Museum is an old Queenslander (style of home) that belonged to one of the big sugar producing families in the area. It has since been converted to a museum on the history of sugar farming and production. We were able to wander around the old house while reading and watching videos about how sugar is harvested and the evolution of machinery that has been invented to accomplish this.

After the museum we headed to Bargara, the closest seaside town, for lunch and an ocean view before heading back to Rocky in time for the Comets season opener!

Comets 20 vs Mackay Cutters 10

Saturday night was the opening night for the Comets 2010 season! The game was faster-paced and a bit more exciting than the previous scrimmages we had watched.

For a full breakdown of their first game, go to the Comet's website:

http://comets.com.au/