QLD Odyssey – Part Two: Beenleigh Rum & Gold Coast
Yo, ho ho! – and a bottle of rum; Gold Coast in mid-winter – not too shabby; seagulls at Surfers Paradise; terrific lunch at Tropic; Tommy Bahama, sashimi and sushi; new jacket – spoiler alert!
QLD Odyssey – Part One: Brisbane, 7-11 June
Queensland’s coolest couple; on the road again: back in the travel saddle; pre-Plague pics; Are You Sleeping, Big Brother?; Like a Virgin; sightseeing synopsis; next-level street food – Luke Nguyen at Treasury Casino; trivia and pulled lamb at the Powerhouse; George’s ginormous soles
Maxine and Trevor are two of our Singapore expat friends. Culture vultures, foodies, and probably the coolest couple we know, they’ve also lived in Saudi, in Dubai, and in China for many years.
We met them nearly 20 years ago, not long after we arrived to live in the city state. The circumstances were unforgettable: on the initial night of our first Star Cruise, we bonded with Max, Trevor and their friend Susan Beard over copious G&Ts in a private karaoke room. I seem to remember the staff evicting us at 3am.
This is the House that Roy and Verne Built: Part 1 – Breaking Ground
Boeries, bangers and snags; sangas, sarnies and sarmies; building malarkey background; turfed from the nest; Cyclone Seroja and quo vadis?
Here we are, celebrating the breaking of ground this week at 543 Burns Beach Road, Iluka!
Surrounded by the family – son Carl, Carrie, Mia and Holly; daughter Blaire, Colin and Sam – we broke ground today, Sunday the 17th of April 2021. Son Carl brought the spade, son-in-law Colin furnished the Weber BabyQ, and we supplied the snags* and the mimosas. Only Daughter #1 was missing, sadly – cheers, Wendy!
Flight of the Covid-19 Refugees, 1-14 February – Part 3: Denmark & Augusta
Cabins and kangaroos in Jerramungup; power (and coffee) to the people; weather philosophy and the rejigging of Roy’s internal thermostat; Denmark’s tradie tavern; pelican brief and apostrophic catastrophes in Augusta
Esperance to Jerramungup
“We have a nice caravan park,” the cashier at the local IGA supermarket had said, when we stopped in on our way east to Esperance. And it is nice, as far as caravan parks go – it’s spacious, has plenty of shrubbery, and when I went for a walk around the perimeter I had my first-ever encounter with wild kangaroos.
Flight of the Covid-19 Refugees 1-14 February, Part Two: Esperance
Jerramungup, a toddlin’ town; getting lucky at Lucky Bay; there’s a tavern in the town (of Condingup); Cindy Poole, heart of a glass artist; I say Esp-eh-rance, you say “Esprintz”; three firsts in one day; reviews and summation
This trip was all about Esperance, a destination that boasts some of WA’s – or even Australia’s – best beaches. Albany, Denmark, Augusta and Yallingup were lovely to revisit, but we’d been there before.
Flight of the Covid-19 Refugees, 1-14 February: Part One
Why am I still Down Under? – travel is just so 2019; a mani-pedi moment; fleeing Perth – lockdown narrowly averted; York (again); sheep-centric Wagin; Durban and Umhlanga, the end of an era; Elliot House, Albany – any port in a lockdown
While much of the world has been in crisis, Roy and I have been living the good life in Western Australia. Aside from several months of restrictions from March 2020, it’s been relatively normal. (Relative, that is, to the questionable dismissal of basic human rights, albeit in slightly different ways and to varying degrees, in most parts of the world.)
Historical York, WA, 13-15 October 2020
A tale of two tiny towns; canola blossom prequel and a soapbox moment; Day Trippers, yeah! – York Motor Museum; Burnley House and Settlers Cottages – this and other cases of apostrophic abuse; where to eat, if you’re lucky
“You should spend a night or two exploring the olde-worlde historical Avon Valley,” son Carl had recommended – not once but several times. York had a great motor museum for his dad, and we should try to catch the spring wildflowers.
So, eventually, we did. I booked two nights’ mid-week accommodation at York’s Burnley House and Settlers Cottages through agoda.com. I’d fancied three nights, but Roy thought two would be enough. So now, not having seen everything there is to be seen, I have an excuse for us to go back there.
Vasse Felix Wine Estate, August 2020
Venerable Vasse Felix Wine Estate (founded in 1967 by Dr Tom Cullity) is the Margaret River region’s oldest winery, and one of its most elegant.
Margaret River Trio, 17-21 August 2020
Temper Temper chocolate factory; ginger, chilli and other addictions; equal-opportunity Eagle Bay: microbrewery plus vineyard; escapee lilies at large; Commonage Road Food & Wine Trail
*While at Temper Temper Fine Chocolate Factory, why not visit the Margaret River region?
(*With acknowledgement to the oft-quoted: “While at Raffles, why not visit Singapore?”, attributed – to the best of my knowledge – to that famous hotel’s equally famous guest Noel Coward.)
#1 Temper Temper Fine Chocolate
Top of my agenda for any trip to the Margaret River region, 200km south of Perth WA, is to visit the Holy Grail of chocolate, Temper Temper.
Tea for Two at The Green Tea House, Subiaco – July 2020
The tea-tabulous Tsutomo Iwasaki; flashback to Kagoshima 2009; of catechins, monks and samurais; a long story; An Innocent Man; Sam-san the barista-in-training
One Wednesday afternoon in July, after a light bite of lunch at Cranked in the buzzy inner city suburb of Leederville, my new friend Debbie Uller drove me to the Green Tea House (www.greenteahouse.com.au). (Find it at Shop 17, 375 Hay Street in Subiaco; call +618 9388 7425).
