Australia Zoo

My plus one is British, recently arrived in Australia and keen to have as many great Australian and Brisbane experiences as possible. Beaches, great cafes, hot sunny winter days (he's been loving those) and tropical island escapes. Of course, no visit to Australia is complete without a trip to Australia Zoo. In fact he told me that Australia Zoo was 'number one on his list of one things-to-do in Australia'.

Croc displays at Australia Zoo.

So when was told he'd have last Friday off from work, I hastily took a day off as well and that's how we came to be cashing in our tickets at the 'Steve Irwin Zoo' gates on a glorious week day morning.

 

 A surprisingly active Shingeback Lizard

In the large Tasmanian Devil enclosure, this was the only one we spotted. Tuckered out and enjoying the sunshine. 

A Cassowary.

A Dingo surveying the land.

Let me tell you, if you can get to Australia Zoo on a weekday, perhaps especially in winter, it is worth it. There were so few people around, even less small children, it makes moving around and seeing the exhibits easy and much more enjoyable.

I had sent the Boy a link to the show times on the Australia Zoo website (see it here) and he came back with an impressive day plan of shows. We missed the tortoise feeding at 10 because I was having a lazy breakfast at Gramarcy (delicious, must try) but we made it to the Wildlife Warriors show, which is my favourite for the incredible bird displays, the tiger show (Boy's favourite), we fed the elephants at 3pm and then rounded off the day by watching the Asian Small-Clawed Otter feeding at 3:30. The only show we missed was the croc show. Shameful, perhaps, but we saw a croc display  in the Wildlife Warriors show and tigers and elephants could not be missed.

A Jabiru flys into the crocoseum from her enclosure on the other side of the zoo. All the other birds moved too quickly to photograph. 

The crocodile display as part of the 12noon Wildlife Warriors show. 

Displaying natural behaviours in the tiger show.

It was a truly great day out. We took our time going around all the exhibits, took a couple of hundred photos of us posing with all the animals, munched on a home-made picnic while watching macaws and kites circle the crocoseum. We fed the kangaroos, another of my favourite zoo activities. Such a simple, enjoyable interaction with our native animals, I can never get tired of it.

Feeding our little group of 'roos.

My Boy could not get over the difference between Australia Zoo and zoos he had visited in England. Obviously here a big difference is in the activity of the animals. Being in warm sunshine, even in winter, encourages them to be more active and visible, rather than curled up against the cold and rain in the secret holes of their enclosures. Also, the level of interaction Australia Zoo in particular allows with the animals is outstanding. Because the animals are more active in their relatively open and visitor-friendly enclosures, you can get up-close and personal. The Zoo also provides a lot of additional opportunities to see the animals by taking them on walks around the zoo and feeding sessions, such as with the elephants.  All of this helps to create a memorable day.

Having a real Moment when Bashi, the male tiger stalked up to the glass and vigorously licked his face.We would as a result splurge on a painting of Bashi's paw prints made during the tiger show. All proceeds to tiger conservation efforts in Asia.

A male Cheetah being taken for a walk to survey his territory. 

The smaller but cheekier otters being fed.

A hint from the keepers; come to the 3pm elephant feeding. There is the same about of food and a third of the number of people as the 10:30am session, so you can go around the feeding line multiple times really quickly.

 Asian Elephants feeding during the official show and then I get to feed them a few hours later.

The Africa exhibit was still under construction the last time I visited in 2010, so I was glad to see it on this trip. Unfortunately, it was being re-constructed to make space for the baby rhinoceroses  that will go on display from 22 June. So the giraffe were hidden away elsewhere as their enclose was having a redesign. Disappointing for me, because they are one of my favourite animals.

Southern White Rhinoceros taking a nap.

The ticket price to get in may seem steep - between $53 and $59 dollars for an adult, depending on if you have a discount voucher, which you can get if you are an RACQ member - but when you consider the over all experience and that it is most certainly a whole day trip, it is worth the money. We were there for five and a half hours, making the ticket price an average of $10 per hour. Pretty good for the quality of the entertainment.You can also save a lot of money by taking your own food as we did and not being tempted into any of the official photo opportunities, tempting as they may be.


So that is one more experience ticked off the list. Thanks to Australia Zoo for a tremendous day out. It was everything we were both looking forward to!

You can also read the Boy (Pumba as he is affectionately known) on his brand new blog; Pumba's International Escape.

Book review: Unnatural Habits, a Phryne Fisher mystery by Kerry Greenwood

The Hon. Miss Phryne Fisher is an utterly delightful fictional character. She is an intoxicating combination of early female empowerment and a fantasy of the women you could be if you had beauty, brains, money and supreme self-confidence. In her pursuit of truth and justice, she is unfailingly gutsy and determined, venturing into dark and violent places and all the while staying collected and in control of the situation.

In Unnatural Habits, Phryne assists Detective Inspector Jack Robinson to investigate the kidnapping of young and foolhardy reporter Polly Kettle, who herself was after a scoop on the disappearance of three heavily pregnant young women from a lying-in house (read: a hostel where you can give birth without anyone knowing you’re there). The search takes Phyrne and her loyal band of helpers through the seedy underbelly of 1920s Melbourne as they investigate all the horrendous possibilities of where the girls might have been taken. Phryne visits brothels, bishops and poverty-stricken Collingwood to slowly uncover who might be interested in these girls when their families have rejected them for their ‘shame’.

Brothels can be dismissed. Even those that cater for ‘special tastes’ don’t have much use for girls in their third trimester. The Magdalen Convent and laundry is a distinct possibility, presided over by a tight-lipped and uncharitable Mother Superior, or perhaps the questionable ‘Jobs for All’ employment agency whose business is less secretarial than highly suspicious. And how does a fruit farm figure in all of this? As their investigations progress, it becomes clear that these are not the first girls to vanish suddenly. In fact young girls, blonde for preference and with no family, have been disappearing without a trace for months with no good or wholesome explanation. 

Unnatural Habits looks through the darker side of human foibles. At peoples strange or even illegal sexual preferences, at the way people are treated when they've 'sinned' against Church or society, and at the disgusting choices people make for a grubby dollar. If you want a detective story with a juicy murder and not much else, this is not the place to find it. Miss Fisher's investigations go to some dark and all too-real places as she uncovers child abuse, rape and white slavery. Greenwood deals with these realities with style and grace, as befits her heroine, and Unnatural Habits is a great read. As dark as the tale may seem, Phryne’s pro-active attitude and a stream of beguiling characters balance out the vile scroungers. In Phryne Fisher, Greenwood has created a character many of us might envy, with her intelligence and panache and immense capability to deal with any situation. Her mysteries are hugely enjoyable, not least for their historical depiction of Melbourne complete with slums, convents and comrades, and an age we’d all like to visit, if only for a while.

If you haven't read any Phryne Fisher before, this might not be the best place to jump in. Greenwood assumes the reader has a certain familiarity with the characters and their history. Descriptions and explanations of the key reoccurring characters are almost non-existent, so if you haven't read any previous book or watched the ABC TV adaptation, you're likely to be a little lost. If this is the case, go back and pick yourself up a copy of Cocaine Blues and Murder on the Ballarat Train and get started, because these are great Australian detective stories. 

Read what I thought of the ABC adaptation of Greenwood's Phryne Fisher mysteries. A second series has been announced by ABC TV to be aired in 2013.


This review originally appeared on the Sassi Sam website. 

McLaren Vale; an ideal location for a cross-continental catch-up

McLaren Vale is a small township 50 minutes south of Adelaide that has lent its name to the surrounding wine region and it was where I spent my second Australian-wine-region holiday of 2012.

An old travelling friend who lives in Perth and I decided to have a wine-infused holiday and we chose McLaren Vale because it was roughly halfway between our two cities. Flying in on Friday night, we motored down to McLaren and found our carefully selected cottage; a compromise between proximity to town, price and quaint wine-country-cottage; and quickly opened the complimentary welcome bottle. Getting up the next day, I was metres away from my own cellar door / café overlooking a garden and vines. Not a bad start to a trip.

McLaren Vale is small but fruitful wine-making region. There are 88 cellar doors in a region enclosed by the sea to the south and Adelaide and the Clare Valley to the north. If you had enough time, you could easily spend a fortnight visiting the Barossa, Clare Valley and McLaren Vale and taste hundreds of wines.

Artwork outside d'Arenberg, the very first stop on our McLaren Vale trip. 

The great advantage of how small the McLaren Vale region is, is that you can get up late, take yourself out for coffee and breakfast and still make it to four vineyards before lunch. There are scores of wineries within a 10 – 12m drive of the town, so you can skip from one to the other on a quick easy circuit.

McLaren Vale is known for its Shiraz, Grenache and Chardonnay. The first vines were planted in McLaren around 1838 and wine producers such as Hardys have been producing wine from the region since 1850. It is a real treat to be able to drink Shiraz from vines 50 to 100 years old.

 

Sculpted vineyards and twisted vines.

Just as with my previous trip to Margaret River, though I tasted scores of the region’s iconic drops, I found myself loving the range of Tempranillo, Sangiovese and the heavier Cabernet blends. My friend, a mad keen Australian wine taster and amateur connoisseur had to taste every Grenache on offer and there were plenty for him to sample. I tried my hand at Chardonnays, reasoning that if any region was going to change my opinion of them it would be this one but no. I came away with a better opinion of Australian Chardonnays but not a convert.

Shiraz and Cabernet vines.

 

We mostly stopped at smaller wineries that we were not at all familiar with. They have so much more personality and passion and I found it easier to engage with the staff behind the bar and learn about their wine and the region. My favourite winery was Hugh Hamilton, partly for the delightful set-up but mostly because I could happily have bought a mixed dozen and enjoyed every drop. 

The selection at Hugh Hamilton. Greatly enjoyed.

Five for Friday

Check out Trending City for all the amazing things happening in cool cities all over the world. Brisbane included!

I know a lot of friends who will understand this; We could all do with a little less 'busy' by Fat Mum Slim.

30 saddest endings in literature. Warning: contains HUGE spoilers. Obviously.

A shout out to our nation's capital which celebrated its' century this week.

And finally, a video to make you smile.  

A wet and windy day of celebration

In a brilliant flash of fore-thought, some of my friends booked an apartment up in Caloundra for the Australia Day long weekend and invited all comers to drive up and enjoy sun, surf, BBQ and beer. It would be a glorious day that would celebrate what we we love about Australia.
 

However, as we all know, the day was cold, gloomy, rain-lashed and flood-ridden. It was awful. This particularly irritated me as I and my housemate were playing host to British guest who was celebrating his first Australia Day and I wanted it to be glorious and scream AUSTRALIA. Not be borderline Scarborough.

Nevertheless, we headed up the coast in the lashing rain and proceeded to have a pretty classic Australia Day. The only thing that was missing was the sunshine.

My friend Kiki (who just launched a new blog) decorating the Pavlova nice and early, before too much beer was consumed.

Kitsch Australiana: green and gold macarons, enormous glasses and decorative flags.

Applying temporary tattoos. Because on some days, you can leave the class behind.

Five for Friday no. 47

Bad kids jokes. I have a particular friend in mind, posting this. She should know who she is.

An interesting way to highlight the pay gap.

Images of teenage girls and their bedrooms from all over the world. 

Blog that reviews celebrity endorsed food products. 

You better watch out. 

 

 A little bit of La Dolce Vita for Friday. Images courtesy of Vogue (above) and unknown (below)

Book review: The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume

On a chilly July evening in Melbourne, someone is murdered in the back of a cab. No one knows who he is or why he was murdered. The only suspect is the man who was in the cab with him for part of the journey home. But this man also has no name, no description, nothing to distinguish him from the throngs of well-to-do gents who are out every night in late nineteenth century Melbourne. So begins The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, best-selling work of Fergus Hume, and a positively ripping yarn it is too.

This baffling case is handed to Detective Samuel Gorby. He and a host of characters traverse the length of Melbourne society as their investigations into who this man was and why he was murdered take them from the drawing rooms of cattle kings to slums presided over by foul-mouthed drudges killing themselves with drink. Even as suspects are thrown into prison to await the gallows, secrets from the past come back to reveal new twists that might save or condemn innocent men.

Before there was Agatha Christie, before there was even Arthur Conan Doyle, there was Fergus Hume. The Mystery of a Hansom Cab was Hume’s first novel. Rejected by publishers, he self-published in 1886 and the risk paid off. Within months of publishing, the book had been read by 20,000 people in Melbourne. Impressive at a time when they cities’ population was less than half a million and literacy levels were significantly lower than they are today. The rights were subsequently bought by an international publishing firm and The Mystery in a Hansom Cab went on to be an international best-seller. It was in fact the best-selling detective story of the 19thCentury, beating out Conan Doyle’s early Sherlock novels such as A Study in Scarlet (1887).

I love Judi Dench...

Melbourne and the Very Big Meals

Ah, Melbourne. So many things to so many people. For my father, for his birthday, it's all about the food. And the wine. And sometimes the art. But mostly the food. So, for a very significant milestone birthday, he decided nothing could be better than a trip during which we would eat. A lot. We arrived late on Thursday night, freeing up the whole of Friday, Saturday and Sunday for outings, galleries, restaurants and cafes.

Friday Breakfast - Cumulus

Source.

This well-known Melbourne Cafe is set in the front of the same building as Arc One Gallery, and features a large, open room with a bar on one side and cafe counter on the other. The coffee is super-strong, and the ham and cheese toasted sandwich is actually Kurabouta leg ham and gruyere. The clientele include your classic inner-city Melbourne foodies, trendier yuppies, and business people getting a coffee injection before work. Even so, the food is pretty delish, and I could definitely get addicted to the strong, bitter coffee...


Friday Lunch - TarraWarra Estate Winery

TarraWarra Estate is about an hour outside of Melbourne, in the Yarra Valley, in very pretty, classically rural countryside. The main building is on a hillside, and at first the ultra-modernity of the building seems incongruous, especially above the pond-weeping willow combination just below it on the hill. But when you actually get into the complex, it's easier to see how the building has been designed for outlook, to showcase the view of the landscape, rather than to present a visual image on the hill. Not that the building itself isn't striking, but it seemed to me that it was designed more for the people inside it.

Source.

We arrived at around 11.30am - slightly too early for lunch - so we had a wine-tasting first, with a very helpful and friendly sommelier. Of course, none of us could agree on which wine we liked the best, so it was probably for the best that we were able to order flights and wine by the glass when we had lunch. (A flight is three glasses, of about 50mLs of wine each. This lets you have a taste of various wines, matched to your three course meal, without overdoing it.) (Honestly, though, we had a flight each and then another glass, so I think we might have been missing the point...)

TarraWarra Estate also includes a privately funded art gallery, which we visited after our meal. It was showing an exhibition called Sonic Spheres, which had key themes of music and sound, and featured contemporary artists including Eugene Carchesio, Ross Manning, Marco Fusinato, John Nixon, Sandra Selig and more.

Friday Dinner - The Press Club

Source.

Do I even really need to say anything, here? This famous bar and restaurant is in the city, on Flinders Street, just up from the back of Federation Square. The fit-out is beautiful, the food is amazing. I doubt I could say anything that hasn't already been said; the food was excellent, and the wine delicious. The modern gastronomy - infusions, jellies and foams all over the place - isn't something I prefer to eat, and my asparagus entree wasn't really to my taste, but even that part of the experience was interesting. I had the chicken for main course, and it more than made up for it, with a delicious collection of flavours and perfectly cooked meat.

The restaurant also has a wine list with about forty pages, which comes in a binder. The Press Club offers wine from across the world - Greek, French, Italian, Australian... Our poor sommelier had to put up with a lot, however, as my father is fairly picky and wanted to discuss the dinner bottle in depth. He also had to try not to look horrified when I wanted red wine first, regardless of whether or not it matched my food (we'd had a lot of white wine at lunch, and the last thing I wanted was yet another glass!), so I'm pretty sure I got written off as a total heathen right around then. But after the meal he provided us with a complimentary shot of Skinos Mastiha liquer, which has quite an amazing taste and was a delicious finish to the meal, so perhaps he didn't dislike us too much.

Saturday Lunch - Gypsey and Musquito

This is a small cafe down on Bridge Road in Richmond, and was an excellent place for lunch. It has mismatched, rustic furniture, a slight bush/outback theme to the menu, great-looking muffins and cakes on retro cake stands, and again, super-strong coffee. The food was delicious - I had something called a box, which was essentially a square-shaped pie without a lid. There was a steak and potato version, but mine was organic chicken and corn, and it was absolutely delicious. It came with broccoli, avocado and green bean salad. The clientele ranged from people picking up coffees, to hipster kids with piercings, to an old lady reading a book at the table next to us. I was a little jealous of her, as it would have been a great place to sit and drink coffee and read something for a while.

Saturday Dinner - Cutler & Co. Dining Room

Source.

Cutler & Co is on Gertrude Street in Fitzroy, close to the city but just outside. The front is very unassuming, with big windows and a small logo painted on one door, to let you know you're in the right place. Once inside, though, the beautiful design and fit-out of the restaurant is immediately obvious, with a variety of dining spaces, intriguing lighting, and an impressive glass wine cellar. The staff were professional and accommodating - including the sommelier, who had slightly more success with my father than the poor guy at the Press Club - and the restaurant experience was great before we even tasted the food.

And the food, honestly, is amazing. I had an entree of peas, broad beans, sunflower seeds, onion and

Source.

bergamot, which does nothing to describe the small, adorable collection of ingredients I received, which the waiter proceeded to dress with an onion reduction. My main was chicken again; a slow-roasted chicken breast with pancetta, braised turnips and onion, and we also had roast potatoes with garlic dressing. I managed to make room for dessert, which is always worth it when there's a chocolate ice cream sandwich with vanilla parfait and salted caramel sauce on the menu.

From the helpful yet unobtrusive service to the delicious food, the whole meal with Cutler & Co was
absolutely worth it, and made it clear the place deserves every accolade it receives. (Incidentally, it's owned by the same folks that run Cumulus.)

Sunday Lunch - The Hellenic Republic

Source.

By Sunday, my personal desire for another big meal was flagging considerably, but I braced myself - and didn't eat breakfast - in preparation for a classic Sunday lunch with the extended family, in final celebration of my father's birthday. And I was glad I did - the food here is fantastic. It's owned by the same folks who run the Press Club, but the Hellenic Republic is far less gastronomie, far more family-style shared food. It's down at the far end of Lygon Street, for starters, miles away from the Italian section near the city. The restaurant is in a white-painted low building with lots of windows, and overall the atmosphere is casual and relaxed. It also has an open kitchen like the Press Club does, so you can see the rotisseries of grilled meat, and occasionally get a waft of barbecue smoke.

Source.

We ordered one of the banquets - because too much is never enough, apparently - and were inundated with food. We had grilled meat, fish, prawns, pita, taramasalata, tyri saganaki, lahano salata, delicious Cypriot Grain Salad, and a lot more. It was all excellent, and was topped off with a dessert of Hellenic Mess - broken meringue, orange blossom jelly, vanilla crema and strawberry ouzo sauce - and watermelon, feta and mint salad. I had also decided, by that point in the weekend, that I was totally sick of white wine, so I drank a beer and had some Greek red. I didn't regret it!


So, our weekend of meals was finally over. And you know, while I really enjoy having the occasional gastronomically-fabulous meal, it's not something I prefer to do on the regular, and for me, this many huge eats in one weekend was a bit of a stretch. Which is not a complaint! More a lament that we can't all live in Melbourne, so as to go to these amazing restaurants with a bit more space between visits. I suppose some of us just have to eat too much, then spend the plane ride back to Brisvegas digesting. Which I did. I did not require dinner on the plane at all. Or breakfast on Monday, come to that...

Street Food Australia: a Pozible Campaign

Why do we have no street food culture in Australia? It is one of my gripes about this country (which I love, don’t get me wrong) that we have no street food when most other countries in the world have. Street food and the culture that surrounds it is democratising and enlivening. Anyone and everyone can stop to grab a quick, cheap bite of something simple and delicious at their local hole in the wall or street stand. It exposes you to different people and cultures you may not otherwise come in daily contact with. Carts, like cafes, enliven footpaths and public spaces. Which brings me to a Pozible Campaign I can really get behind. 

Street Food Australia is a start-up social enterprise dedicated to helping migrants start their own business in the food industry. This will not only bring some vitalising and enjoyable street food to citizens such as ourselves, it will give people in need of a fresh start a hand up and the possibility of an independent income.

There can be no arguing that Australian cuisine is truly international. Lacking our own solid national culinary identity, we love to indulge in the cuisine of other cultures. We have Indian takeaway on Tuesdays, tapas on Fridays and treat ourselves to the most deluxe of Japanese and French cuisine when we treat ourselves to a special meal out. If you go to ‘modern Australian’ restaurant, you are more than likely to see those French, Japanese and Spanish influences splashed across your main dish. I for one would be delighted to walk down a Brisbane street as spot a dumpling cart or one serving Afghan, Burmese or Sudanese cuisine.

I think this is a wonderful opportunity to provide meaningful assistance to people who deserve a chance to start a new life in Australia. As a side benefit, we get to further expand the culinary diversity of our tables and palates.  If you're interested to read more about or are already keen to support - check out the campaign on Pozible. Depending on how much you give, you get goodies to say thank you!

Designers for Target: Roberto Cavalli

Some people knew this back in August, but for the majority of us, it’s news: the latest designer for Target Australia has been announced and it’s a bit exciting.

Roberto Cavalli has designed a 42 piece capsule collection for us delighted Aussies. It is to be released online and in store on 31 October 2012. It has also just been announced that Cavalli will be making the trip out down here himself to unveil the collection at Target Bondi Junction on the 31^st.

The range will be even more affordable than Target’s previous design collaborations, with only one piece over $99. So the big decision: to shop or not to shop?