Tag: Victoria

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Blog Snacks

Picnic at Hanging Rock

On my travels around Australia, I have been reading the famous story Picnic at Hanging Rock, by Melbourne’s Joan Lindsay. When I learned that Hanging Rock is, in fact, a real place about an hour’s drive north of Melbourne, I jumped at the chance to visit.

What’s more, being a dedicated foodblogger, I made sure our party of 4 took a picnic 😋. More about that, and the unexpected guest who turned up to it, in a moment.

The result of major volcanic activity thousands of years ago, Hanging Rock is bigger than I had anticipated. On arrival, one is greeted by vertical rock faces shooting up through the ferns and eucalypts.

The steep path winding to the summit traverses crevices and tunnels through a haphazard jumble of rocks and massive boulders, resting just wherever the volcanic eruption threw them as lava, all that time ago.

It is very easy to get lost, which is why it makes such a fitting setting for the famous story (which has also inspired a film and TV drama series of the same name). In summary (and without any plot spoilers), Picnic at Hanging Rock tells of a group of schoolgirls from a local college, who picnicked here on St. Valentine’s Day in the year 1900. Some of the girls then set off on a walk to the summit, and mysteriously go missing, never to be seen again.

While published as fiction, the author was very coy about whether it may actually be based on true events. Consequently, a whole legend has grown up around the place.

Some visitors have reported feeling the presence of the missing girls as they climb the Rock. Certainly, with a little imagination, the angles, pock marks and shadows in the rocks can give the impression of faces, with eyes and mouths, watching as you clamber over the stones.

I’m including a few photos, and will let you make up your own mind about that.

The eerie display in the Visitor Centre does its best to ramp up the feeling of unease.

And so to the picnic. We chose mainly local food from the surrounding Macedon Ranges area. I bought this savoury cheese and spinach muffin at the Trading Post in Mt. Macedon. It had the texture of a scone, with roast pumpkin (it’s coming into autumn here) and feta.

We stopped off along the way at the Farmer’s Market in Kyneton, and picked up some treats made in a Bendigo bakery: Anzac biscuits (an Aussie staple with coconut and chewy oats), and shortbread made with lemon myrtle (a bush plant) and chopped macadamia nuts.

We also had local olives and cheese from the King Island Dairy. The picnic reached a hurried end, however, when this intrepid kookaburra began showing too much interest in our spread for my liking.

I reckon he was after the hot cross buns 😉

The view from the summit over north Victoria is reward for the climb.

Hanging Rock is both beautiful and mysterious. With the lingering scent of eucalyptus on the gentle breeze, it needs to be experienced with all the senses.

Musical choice this time is a suitably haunting duo by Aussie pop royalty Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue: Where the Wild Roses Grow.

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Blog Drinks

Prickly Moses

As a foodblogger travelling around Australia, I have made it my mission to seek out and sample a range of local craft beers along the way. I know – an onerous responsibility, but you’re welcome. Don’t mention it.

In recent years, craft beer has really taken off in the UK, and one of the pleasures of travelling around the British regions is tasting the different brews being produced by local independents. It appears that the craft beer market is, at the very least, equally as buoyant in Australia.

On my first (post-jet lag) day in Melbourne, I stumbled upon Dan Murphy’s bottleshop (as they call it here) in Prahan, and went in to ask if they stocked any local craft beers. I was escorted to one entire wall of the store, lined with refrigerators all stocking local craft brews – see my photo below.

From then on it has been a similar story everywhere. Each town and region has its own incredible range.

A good example is the Great Ocean Road Brewhouse – a vast warehouse devoted to regional craft beer. It is in Apollo Bay, a golden-beached seaside resort on the Victoria state coast. Here’s a photo below.

Some friends had invited us for drinks and pasta at their beach house, and I wanted to find some good local beers to take along. The choice was bewildering, but with the aid of some recommendations from the staff, I settled on the Prickly Moses beers shown in my main photo, at the top of this post.

Prickly Moses is a generic name that covers a number of hardy, cactus-like shrubs that grow in Australia’s hot climate. The name has been adopted by a craft brewery in Barongarook , Victoria. In keeping with the prickly theme, their logo is an Echidna, a mammal native to Australia akin to a kind of cute hedgehog (and which, incidentally, we have already seen at least a couple of times in the wild).

As the photo shows, my selection included a good variety, from golden summer ale, red ale, IPA, organic pilsner and low alcohol. Every one tasted crisp and fresh, and went down well with the punters on the sun deck, overlooking the bay. These are probably my favourites tasted so far, based on consistency of quality across a variety of beer types.

A close second is this IPA from Port Phillip on Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula, which had just the right combo of colour, depth, strength and hoppy taste (see below).

This one probably tasted special as it became a regular accompaniment to barbecuing in the garden, in the evening sun!

It would be impossible to review every beer from the 740-odd craft breweries in Australia, but I hope this will at least give you, um, a taste.

The next track for the ADK Playlist, from an Australian band, was suggested to me at the drinks and pasta party. These are The Veronicas, originally from Brisbane, with Untouched.

Categories
Blog Snacks

The Twelve Apostles

While touring Australia’s Great Ocean Road, I’ve been enjoying the Twelve Apostles Gourmet Food Trail. More about the food in a moment, but firstly let’s explore the rather special wonders of nature from which the Trail derives its name.

The Twelve Apostles (see my main photo) are a series of spectacular rock formations standing off Victoria’s southern coast, amidst the crashing surf and spray. They have been carved from the limestone cliffs over thousands of years, by the ferocious wind and waves blowing up across the Southern Ocean from Antarctica. Today they are one of Australia’s most-visited tourist attractions.

Parking up and walking out the short distance to see them reminded me of past visits to other famous rock formations, like Stonehenge in England and Northern Ireland’s Giant’s Causeway. As with those, this visit doesn’t disappoint.

We experienced first hand just how dramatically changeable the conditions can be. My main photo shows how beautifully clear the skies were on our visit, but within 1 – 2 hours a thick sea mist and rain had descended. This isn’t called the Shipwreck Coast for nothing, with many hundreds of sailing ships having met their fate along this stretch of water.

There is a gorge named after one of them, the Loch Ard, which left England in 1878 on its three month journey to the new world. On sighting land, passengers and crew held an End of Voyage party, only to find the next day that conditions had dramatically worsened, the ship being washed up on the rocks with many lives lost. A reminder, if one were needed, not to celebrate any kind of journey in life until you have actually crossed the finish line.

My photo below shows the rock formation known as London Bridge. Originally a long, arched promontory extending out across the water, it was given its name due to its supposed resemblance to the British landmark spanning the River Thames in England’s capital.

However, in a rare case of geology mimicking a traditional folk song, London Bridge has, literally, fallen down. In the 1990s the stormy waves brought the middle section crashing into the surf, leaving two bemused tourists stranded on what was then Australia’s newest off shore island.

These days, a network of clifftop boardwalks and viewing platforms protect the fragile landscape, and make the outstanding views safe and accessible to all, whatever your level of mobility.

And so to the Food Trail. A group of around a dozen local independent food producers have banded together to offer a tour of local sites where you can taste and buy artisan foods. These entrepreneurs include a distillery, craft brewery, ice creamery, berry picking farm and vineyard. You can find out more about the Trail, and download a map, here.

Regular followers will know that A Different Kitchen likes to help promote independent producers, and I focused on two sites along the Trail that particularly took my fancy.

GORGE Chocolates are made and sold on site. My photo below shows an example of the selection available.

For a souvenir purchase, I chose dark chocolate shards with chilli (which pack a punch!), and a bar of salted milk chocolate. I also couldn’t resist these charming strawberry chocolate figures in the shape of a kangaroo and a koala bear.

Our second visit was to Dairylicious Farm Fudge, which also makes all its produce on site. They offer a tasting board with 6 or 7 different types of fudge to try. I settled on a bag of classic creamy caramel fudge, shown in the photo below.

If the bag looks a little light, it is because we had already started it while sat on the Dairylicious verandah, before my camera was ready!

Spectacular views and delicious local food. What more could I ask for – maybe the next track for the ADK Spotify Playlist! Here is Morcheeba with The Sea.

Categories
Snacks

My Australian Cheeseboard

It wouldn’t be Christmas without a decent cheeseboard. Travelling down under this year, I made a point that our choices would all be Australian-made.

Cheese here is heavily influenced by Europe. You will find versions of the most popular cheese from France, Italy and England that have been home-made in Australia. Alongside these are many small and independent producers experimenting with new styles and presentation.

You can see my selection for our Christmas Day meal in the photo above. Here are the ones that made my final cut, including further information and links to the producers, should you wish to find out more:

  • Endeavour Blue is from King Island Dairy, which is based on a small island in the Bass Strait between Tasmania and the Australian mainland. The island’s microclimate produces lush pasture, hence rich creamy milk and cheese. This blue is reminiscent of a good gorgonzola.
  • Gumleaf Smoked Cheddar from Bodalla Farm on the New South Wales coast, south of Sydney. Smoked in leaves of a gum tree, it is part of their Bush Tucker Cheese range. Thankfully, it doesn’t taste too strongly of eucalyptus, just good smoked cheddar!
  • Fresh Chevre Goat’s Cheese, dusted with ash, from Meredith Dairy in western Victoria. Ash helps balance acidity and develop a rind, while adding visual interest to your platter.
  • Brie from Udder Delights, an independent producer from Lobethal in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia.
  • Camembert, also from Udder Delights.

I also enjoyed a trip with family and friends to the Yarra Valley Dairy. Their range of goats cheeses are served as part of a sharing platter along with other delights like olives, cured meats, cornichons, home-made relishes and terrine, see my photo below.

The Yarra Valley is a major wine and cheese producing region of Victoria, in the hills north-east of Melbourne. Here is a photo I took of the vineyard and hills beyond, while stopped for some Cellar Door wine tasting at Yering Farm Wines.

A gourmet experience of rich and creamy cheese, fine wines, in a beautiful rural setting with sunny weather (it reached 37C!). All in all, a Beautiful Day. Time to add U2 to the ADK Spotify Playlist.

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Blog

Keep Calm, Eat Ramen

Where to eat in the early evening before seeing the Melbourne production of the musical Hamilton?

This was today’s first world problem during my travels here in Australia. I’m now back from the wilderness (literally) for a few days to sample the cosmopolitan city life.

Handily, the city’s theatre district is close to Chinatown, which opened up a number of possibilities. A recommendation from my son (who is resident here), supported by a number of very positive online reviews, led us to Mr Ramen San.

I hadn’t really heard of Ramen before, but I now know it is a Japanese dish consisting of wheat noodles in broth, served with various meat or vegetable toppings. I opted for spicy chicken ramen, which came with toppings of spring onion, beansprouts, cabbage, seaweed and half a boiled egg (see my main photo).

I understand this may not sound the most tempting dish you’ve ever encountered, but take it from me – it was actually very tasty.

Given where we are in the world, it’s no surprise that Melbourne has sizable communities originating from all over south-eastern Asia. I believe this began with the discovery of gold in the mid-nineteenth century, when many Chinese in particular came here to join the prospectors. More recently, many others have followed, and Chinatown has grown up as a haven for not just Chinese, but Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and other restaurants.

In a strange juxtaposition of cultures, Chinatown is currently decorated to celebrate Christmas – a giant toy soldier from the Nutcracker guarding the ornamental gates.

And as for Hamilton? I hadn’t seen or heard it before, but thoroughly enjoyed it. Written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, it is based around the story of the American War of Independence, interpreted from a black minority ethnic perspective. It’s a very modern musical, featuring soul and hip hop.

Regular followers will know that I cannot claim either of these as my own top musical genre. However, the show rips along at a fast pace, with great music and dynamic choreography. It is definitely worth a visit if you get the chance.

No prizes therefore for guessing the latest addition to the ADK Spotify Playlist. Here is one of the catchiest tracks My Shot.

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Blog

Wild Wild Life

My first full week in Australia has been pretty wild. And I mean that literally.

After a few days in Melbourne to acclimatise and shake off jet lag, we headed south-east of the city to experience life in the remote, southernmost parts of Australia. First stop was Phillip Island, a delightful holiday island popular as a weekend getaway with Melburnians. We then moved on to a wilderness retreat in the State Park of Wilson’s Prom (short for Promontory).

These places are home to some of Australia’s most famous animals. My main photo shows a sleepy little koala resting above me in a gum tree, on Phillip Island.

My photo below shows a wallaby who came along looking interested in the barbecue I was cooking in the outback on Wilson’s Prom.

I also broke off from my barbecue to snap these kookaburras, laughing while perched in a nearby tree, at dusk.

The landscape and climate here shows nature at its wildest. We climbed the 558m high Mount Oberon for this view overlooking Norman Beach and Tidal River, the hub for visitors to Wilson’s Prom.

There seems to be an amazing, and practically deserted golden sands beach on every stretch of coastline. My photo below shows Sunderland Bay, taken at Surfie’s Point.

We have also waited patiently at sunset to watch Phillip Island’s penguin colony return from a day’s swimming and fishing, waddling in unison across the beach to the safety of their burrows. Also, as advised by Park Rangers, I’ve been taking care to protect the food for our barbecues from the visiting wombats.

With all of this wildlife, rugged coastline and amazing surf beach scenery, you may think I have become temporarily distracted from my usual focus on food. Well, there is probably some truth in that to be fair, but expect normal service to be resumed soon. Having said that, let me share with you this heavenly chocolate, peanut butter and almond slice I enjoyed at the Sanny Bakehouse in San Remo.

Choice of music this week has to be Talking Heads, with Wild Wild Life.