In a blink of an eye our girl has changed from a baby to a toddler who is running and jumping (well, trying) and throwing tantrums! I didn’t expect this all to happen so soon. Luella is a curious, inquisitive and confident little girl.
The biggest challenge we are facing right now is getting her to eat. Continue reading…
Mark just pointed out that we have not written a blog post since Lulu was born. Sadly, according to this version of our life she does not exist! I thought I’d better fix that so starting from today I am going to be trawling through my emails and doing a bit of retrospective posting.
We have a gregarious, fun and willful 13 month old who is the love of our lives. We have already had so many adventures and we continue to learn everyday. Continue reading…
Summer is the season for Brazilian Cherries and there are bushes of them all over Brisbane just bursting with fruit. The bright red cherries contrast beautifully against the dark green leaves so they are very easy to spot. I have seen them along the train line and other public areas. On a morning walk in December we came across a bush laden with them out the front of Wynnum North State School. Continue reading…
The last two times we have been up the mountain it has been cold and wintery – perfect weather for a nice big fire. Growth has slowed down significantly and the insects are hibernating. It is beautiful. 
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There were plenty of lemons and limes at the farmers market this week. Feeling inspired by the Gourmet Farmer and the 100-Mile diet, and also keen to start filling our pantry, I thought I would try my hand at a bit of preserving. I have been stocking up on jars from garage sales in preparation.
This morning I made a small batch of preserved lemons. There are a lot of recipes online but I chose to use Ottolenghi’s recipe because they added rosemary and chili which I thought would look nice in the jars as well as add great flavour. It was very quick to prepare; now we just have to be patient and wait four weeks until we can try them.
On Saturday we added three new members to our urban farm – Jean, Hazel and Nola. Our feathered friends were rescued from a battery farm just before they would have been sent to slaughter. If you have not already been shocked by programs like Jamie Oliver’s Fowl Dinners about the factory production of chickens then hopefully some information here might convert you. The battery farm we got our hens from sends 10,000 birds to slaughter ever 3 months and unfortunately only 100 were rescued in our batch (approx 1%).
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Dad's old house, which he built of stone, mud bricks and glass bottles.
We had a very productive weekend on our property over Easter; it’s amazing what a bit of machinery can do! Steve Hart, a local farmer, came up with his tractor and did some slashing, clearing and road repairs for us. In just five hours Steve widened our driveway and built some drainage humps, and then cleared the whole area between the bamboo and Dad’s old house, pushing out the old garden. I felt quite sad thinking about all of the work dad had put into the garden, rock walls and paths hidden below 18 years of growth that we have now pushed over the edge. The site looks like a big open wound right now but I hope we can create something beautiful that Dad would be proud of. Continue reading…
Brisbane is the perfect base to explore from. Travel 1 to 2 hours north or south and you have gorgeous beaches and more national parks than you will know what to do with. We put together a suggested itinerary for Nikki and Si and thought we would share it with you all.
Day 1 – Head to the beautiful North Coast of NSW. Take the Gateway Motorway south past Tweed Heads then turn off at the Tweed Valley Way for Murwullimbah and Uki. Camp or stay at Uki for a night and do the hike to the top of Mount Warning early in the morning. You will probably be done by midday so you could spend the rest of the day at the beach or cruising around local national parks e.g. Border Ranges, Minyon Falls.
Day 2 – Head to Byron Bay via the Coast (we recommend you stop at Cabarita Beach and Brunswick Heads). Stay at least 1 night in Byron Bay, 2 if you can afford the time, and enjoy the beautiful beaches and relaxed atmosphere. The Top Pub is great for an afternoon bevy and people watching. Make sure you get away from Main Beach. Try exploring The Pass, Wategos, Kings (if you like nude beaches 
).
Day 3 – Drive inland through the Byron Bay hinterland stopping at trendy little Bangalow for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Bangalow is a small town with lots of yummy places to eat and shop. For a great meal try Satiate or it’s more casual dining room Ate. When you are full of good food take a tour out to Nimbin. For a peaceful nights stay book into Black Sheep Farm or another bed and breakfast in this area.
Day 4 – Drive to the Granite Belt. This will take a couple of hours but it is a nice drive. Book into a bed and breakfast/camp site then head out for some wine touring or a hike at Bald Rock National Park.
Day 5 – Do a spot more wine touring or hiking in the morning (don’t drink and drive!) and then head back to Brisbane.
Alternatively/additionally you could head North to Noosa, via Australia Zoo, which also has gorgeous beaches and will be a bit warmer. You could head further still and go to World Heritage listed Fraser Island.
If you don’t want to travel then Brissy has a lot to keep you entertained. It has a great music scene. Some of our favourites music venues are The Zoo and the Tivoli. There are good markets (West End and New Farm to name a few), great museums and lots and lots of good cafes and restaurants.
Below is a link to a map flagging all of these great locations.
After an amazing 10 days in Japan, our heads are still spinning from the bright lights, fast trains and general craziness of it all. We started in Tokyo, then hit the slopes in Nozawa Onsen and finished off with a cultural fix in Kyoto.
The food in Japan was amazing everywhere we went, from the cheap and cheerful Onigiri at train stations, to a big warming bowl of soba on the slopes, to the rowdy tavern atmosphere of an izakaya. There are so many places to eat and as you can see in our pictures, we ate our way around the country.
We were given a great introduction to the food culture at the start of our trip by attending two of Elizabeth Andoh’s cooking classes. Elizabeth is an amazing women with an intimate knowledge of Japanese culture and food. We purchased her cookbook so we will hopefully be preparing some tasty Japanese meals in the future. Continue reading…
[Update: this post is a bit old, but I thought we should add some photos!]
It has been so long since we have posted. In between our last posts we have bought a house and got married!
On August 28th we moved into our beautiful new home in Wynnum, a suburb of Brisbane on Moreton Bay. Our house is a Queenslander “worker’s cottage” built in 1937 (so we were told, but we haven’t found documentation of the date yet). We love the Queenslander style — raised on stumps to increase airflow (and protect from floods and termites), with wide verandahs, high ceilings, and timber floors and walls (often called “VJ” or vertical joint walls).
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