Maybe in Oz

When the Victorian government declared a public holiday for the Footy Grand Final Parade last month, we very quickly booked tickets back to Tasmania for the long weekend.  We had been wanting to explore the North East region of the state and figured that was the perfect opportunity to do so. We flew in to Launceston on Friday morning and headed straight to some wineries along the Tamar Valley Wine Route.  Some were new to us, some we had been to before, and we excitedly stocked up to ship some back home.  It was a rare warm(ish) October day - two of our previous trips to Tassie had also been during the month of October and we were snowed on during both of those adventures. Josef Cromy Winery The adorable dog at Moors Hill Wines The resident pot belly pig at Holm Oak Winery After lunch we started the drive over to the East Coast, taking crazy country dirt roads along the way. It wasn't exactly intentional, but we seem to always end up on dirt roads someh...

September 12 2015 Bali was fun in its own peculiar way.  Thanks for inviting me to go with you.  Now we have to get busy and sew all of those fabrics!  The Lion King was fabulous today.  What a lot of work that was to produce.  Now I'll have to watch the cartoon version!  See you next time -  Mom I had a lovely restful week after George and I had a difference of opinion and he tried to remove my left thumb.  Hopefully I'm not bringing some sort of contagion back to the US which will land me in quarantine for 90 days.  The trip to Marysville was great! Dad Going for a walk Reading the Wombat Goes to School Snow at Mt Donnabuang Redwood forrest near Warburton My dad hiking with Glenda and John My dad and Glenda at Stephensons Falls Hiking with Glenda - after a week being sick from my stupid cat's bite, this was the only day of fun he got to have while we were in Bali My mom at our hotel in Bali In fro...

The last day of our Bali tour was a free day, and also happened to be my birthday.  A few of us decided to go see some more sights with the guide who took my mom and I around on our first day in Bali.  What a perfect way to spend a birthday - exploring a new country with my mother and a great group of new friends.  We started the day off at Elephant Cave Temple, where we walked around and explored the grounds. Elephant at the entrance to Elephant Cave Temple Entrance to the cave Such beautiful painting This used to be a giant Buddha statue Our guide Nata Fun group of crazies!   Next we stopped at a coffee plantation where the famous Luwak coffee is made.  A guide showed us the many plants they grow there and then walked us through the Luwak coffee-making process.  The animals eat the coffee beans, then once they poop them out they are washed, roasted, and made into coffee.  It was a bit strange to think that pe...

We had a choice between a Balinese Spa Day or a Balinese Cooking Class so my mom and I chose the cooking class.  We started off at a traditional market and walked around where the locals shopped. It was interesting to experience the sights and smells of the traditional market compared to the ones in more touristy areas. Balinese fruit stand  Offerings for sale beautiful colours of flowers for the offerings Then the teacher took us to her family's compound where she handed out recipes and walked us through a feast of delicious food.  We first made a a base curry sauce that we ended up using in most dishes.  It had so many different flavours, some familiar to us and some new.  We chopped, ground, sautéed, and soon we were enjoying a delicious feast for lunch.  The cooking class was a great way to try some local dishes that we wouldn't have necessarily tried in a restaurant. how to ground chicken Bali style Hard at work chopping The ...