Beef Brisket Bonanza

Doug's been raving about Beef Brisket for as long as I can remember - all the rest of us could do is say well show us! After several appointments with his local butcher reviewing American beef cut charts and viewing cow carcasses Doug was finally able to get a cut of meat that was close to the brisket (though according to Doug not exactly right). This weekend he cooked it up with all the fixin's, including biscuits, beans, macaroni cheese and bomb shelter slop (I think thats what its called). Picking Valentines Day for the grand revealing probably wasn't the best idea but the unromantic of us came along for a sampling of southern cooking Doug style.

Doug with his slow cooked brisket (12 hrs on the Weber)

Brisket with all the fixin's (bomb shelter slop at 3 o'clock)


Voula chowing down on some mac cheese (above) and her home made pumpkin pies for desert (below)

Iowans to Oz

The much anticipated visit of my Uncle Gerry, Aunt Mary and cousin Jill from the US finally arrived. Its their first time to Australia and with only 2 weeks here, including a quick trip up to Sydney, there was no time to lose. So far we've managed to fit in:
- Dandenongs to experience the Aussie bush and feed the rosellas
- Healsville Sanctuary to see the Aussie wildlife (koalas, kangaroos, etc)
- Wine tasting at the Yarra Valley
- Great Ocean Road

Mary, Jill, me and Bonnie

Jill enjoying breakfast in Warnambool

Mary, me and Gerry along the Great Ocean Road

Jill: "Is that the way home?"

Jill and Bonnie exploring the tropical waters of Southern Victoria. Ok it was pretty cold but it didn't stop Bonnie from having a dip


Who says sisters can't get along (well most of the time anyway)?

....and the rest of the Apostles

Tomorrow we're venturing into the city to show them the sites before flying up to Sydney on Wed. Phew, I'll be exhausted by the time I go back to work on Monday

Xmas 2008

This year Christmas Day lunch was at our place and fortunately the rain had stopped just in time giving us a beautiful sunny summer day. Once again we had too much food but thats ok, its Christmas


Instead of buying everyone presents we decided to have a Kris Kringle, where each person buys a present for one person only, much easier on the pocket and brain

Mum and John

Bonnie and Luis
Liz and Wal

Daddy-O

Finished off the day with a walk through the Carlton Gardens, a feeble attempt to burn off some of those Christmas calories

Merry Christmas to all

Great Vic Bike Ride

The time had finally arrived for Bonnie and I to take on the Great Victorian Bike Ride. It was our first attempt at the 600 km ride with this years route looping through country Victoria, beginning (and ending) at the old gold mining town of Ballarat. Both of us were really looking forward to it though a little unsure what was in store.......

The beginning. Happy faces, excited to get going.

The Accomodation

4000+ riders crammed into football ovals, racecourses, school grounds, etc. City chicks quickly learn it gets bloody cold at night in the country and the importance of finding a good camp spot (ie not downwind of a chronic farter). Be prepared for rude awakening at 5:30 am as fellow campers wake up at sunrise to start packing up tents and getting ready for the ride ahead. Do not expect nice sleep in and leisurely breakfast, instead its a race to see who can leave camp first.

The Food

Early morning breaky (snoozing riders miss out on goodies at breakfast - choc chip muffins, danishes, bananas, etc)

Lunch on the road

Snacks in the tent

The Countryside

Lots of wheat fields (Grampians in the background)

Rest Day at the Grampians - Pinnacle walk

The effects of the drought:

Lake Corangamite - lack of water + no vegetation + strong winds = erosion

Lake Bolac: what it used to be (sign on left) and what it is now (brown dirt in background)

Sheep shearing display Rokewood

Milestones

Making it to the Grampians - rest day ahead (Day 5)

500 km mark (Day 8)

Finish line (Day 9)

Melbourne Cup Weekend

With only 4 weeks to go until the Great Victorian Bike Ride, we thought we should try to ramp up the training this weekend with a new ride for us across to the Western side of the bay. To get across the other side of the bay we took the little red punt which travels under the Westgate bridge. We got as far as Altona before Bonnie started to get scared of the locals.

Westgate bridge with the punt and the city in the background (above) and Newport (below)

Yep, always up for making a fool of myself in front of strangers

(I'm trying to hold the bridge up, not a bad attempt I thought. Warwick didn't get it so I thought I should spell it out!)

What better way to finish off a ride than with icecream?

The Great Australian Road Trip

Its been a long year so it was time for us to take some time off and hit the road in the spacious, speedy Barina. Its fair to say not a lot of planning went into this trip: leave approved, car serviced, cat minder in place, what more do you need? It was good timing too as Warwick had just found out he was successful in getting both his grants and managed to get a paper sumitted just in time.

So we packed our bathers, shorts and T-shirts and set off in the Barina with the mountain bikes on the back, heading east for the NSW coast. Our first stop was Lakes Entrance, which was more of a stop over, as we continued on along the Victorian coast and into NSW the next day. There was no sign indicating we'd crossed the border and the first we realised we had was the lack of TAC signs warning of the dangers of driving while tired:

• Drowsy drivers die
• A 15 min powernap could save your life
• A microsleep can kill
• Yawning kills

So the initial plan was to stop in Merimbula, which neither of us had been to. And we spent about 10 min in Merimbula before deciding to continue up the coast (not impressed). Instead we stopped at the small seaside town of Tathra. Now there are definate advantages staying in smaller towns as you don't get all the crap associated with the more traditional tourist places (ie Lakes Entrance, Merimbula) plus we also saw an Echidna crossing the main street of town, a real highlight for me anyway (they are pretty funny trying to crawl up the curb). But I would not recommend staying in a small town like Tathra on a Monday night as you may find the only place open for a meal is the Pub and it might be the one week of the past 20 years that the kitchen is closed for remodeling and so you may end up at the General Store trying to select food that only requires hot water to be cooked. So while sitting in front of the tv slurping 2 min noodles we had both come to the same conclusion.....this was not the holiday we were after.

So we decided our initial plan was crap, jumped into the Barina and headed back down the coast. We'd previously passed through Lake Tyres and thought it would be a good place to stay so we hired a beach house there for a week.

Lake Tyres is far enough off the main track to be away from the tourists, only having a cafe and general store, but close enough to Lakes Entrance so we'd never be stranded for food. The beach house was great with ocean views and lots of birdlife in the backyard to keep us entertained, including galahs, rainbow lorikeets, rosellas, cockys, kookaburras and the occasional pelican flying by. While the water was way too cold for swimming we managed a few walks along the beach and even had a seal follow us along in the water one day, playing in the waves. We found a few bike tracks and quiet dirt roads to go riding on which meandered around the hills and ended up at various inlets of the lake.

Warwick walking along Lake Tyres beach (above) and checking out the water temp (below)

Some shots from our bike rides around Lake Tyres:

You see some interesting things in the country, including a pedal powered lawn mower

Apparently oil was first found in Australia at Lake Bunga (not far from Lake Tyres)

And one for the Sam's out there