Brisbane Family Trip - Day 1 (Heading Off)

The Fezzant Creak Rambler was a blog I had set up many years ago to write about all sorts of stuff going on in my life - from funny YouTube clips and politics to rebuilding activities post Black Saturday and business related stuff. I also wrote about our family trip to South Australia back in 2011. People seemed to follow my ramblings about that trip, so why not do this again?

It is 10th April 2019. 2018 did not include any big trips so I was determined not to miss out two years in a row. The Australian National Band Championships are on in Brisbane this Easter, and my band (Box Hill City Band) is competing. We've never attempted to drive to Queensland before (the furthermost north we've driven has been Canberra). This sounds like the perfect excuse for the 2019 Family Trip.

Over the course of two and half weeks we will amble up to Brisbane, arriving just before Easter. After taking part in the Championships we will then head back home.

Sounds like a plan.

Sort of.

Leaving behind a tonne of work during what would normally be one of our busiest times of the year was part of the plan, but possibly not great thinking.

Convincing the family (one wife and two moody teenagers) that early(ish) morning starts and long stints on the road sounds like a great holiday was also part of the plan. We'll see whether this was a mistake.

Anyway, bugger it. The accommodation has been booked (mostly non-refundable), the car has been serviced and we do need a holiday - so off we head.

8:15am start time and first stop is our local bakery/cafe, as Lesley was going nowhere without a proper coffee. Note the fog in the picture above. It was a cold start to the trip.

Morning tea destination was Euroa, about an hour and a half away.  Decent food at the Mawsons Bakery (and service with a smile!). After I had driven this first shift, I handed the steering wheel (figuratively) to Nick.

Whilst Nick doesn't have a full driver's license yet he has had more experience on the road than I did at his age (18). This was his first time driving with all the family in the car.

He took his turn at the wheel without any issues.

The next stop was Beechworth. I like this town, full of old historical buildings, and the famous Beechworth Bakery. This wasn't the reason for the visit though.

The Brewery makes great pizzas. It also makes beer. Both Nick and I were going to try their taste paddle of ten (10) beers.

Here's Nick reading the tasting notes.

My verdict - The hoppier their beers got the more I enjoyed them. Their flagship Pale Ale was also pretty damn good. And a great malty, chocolaty Porter.

Nick's verdict - great lagers.

Random photo of old but shiny car parked in the centre of town at Beechworth.

 I could have spent all afternoon there, however we had more traveling to do.  Lesley drove after lunch (best for me not to drink and drive), and after a couple of hours and a driver changeover in Holbrook (home of the lost submarine), we arrived at our overnight stop in Gundagai.

No photos of the canine on the crate. Perhaps tomorrow.  Not a great deal to actually do here. 

Dinner was at The Family Hotel. Great pub food and reasonable service. Consider that a recommendation.

Tomorrow we drive to Katoomba.

Total Km 473

Total hours behind the wheel 5 1/2

Spotify Playlist of the Day: Lounge Covers by Jordi F. Prats

Adelaide Family Trip - Day 19 (There and Back Again - Part 2)

A slow start to the day after last night's merriment. Gees, hasn't it got cold!?

After saying goodbye to John and Helen we started way home along the Great Ocean Road.

Now I am not inclined to participate in road rage, but I was following a car for about 50 km along the Great Ocean Road that chose to drive at 20km below all sign posted speed limits. He continually failed to pull over at the "slow drivers turn offs" that they have on the Great Ocean Road and acted in the manner of someone in his own little dream world. I have your licence plate etched in my mind, Oh slow driver, and have this curse for you (read somewhere in the last couple of days online - Thanks Michael Cole)

May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your crotch and may your arms be too short to scratch

The Great Ocean Road is a brilliant road to drive on. The scenery on both sides can be absolutely spectacular. It wont be a quick drive (especially if you have some old codger doing 40kmph) but it will be an interesting one.

Once you turn off onto the freeway, outside Geelong, it's a pretty uninteresting trip all the way back to Pheasant Creek.

Highlights of these holidays? - In no particular order

• The brilliant efforts of the band to get second place overall in the National Band Champsionships
• The giant pandas at Adelaide Zoo
• The beaches at Moonta - and we were lucky enough to have warm weather whilst we were there
• Dinner at Hahndorf Inn
• Penola - Penolaraya and the Tapas Bar we had lunch at
• The Sound and Laser Show at Flagstaff Hill
• The hospitality shown by John and Helen
• Chris's Restaurant on the last night

The lowlights? Thankfully not many:

• Getting a cold in the first week
• Having to replace the Alternator for the Tribute
• Codrington Gardens
• Poor weather
• Coming home

Night all

Adelaide Family Trip Day 18 - (Otway Fly/Chris's Restaurant)

The Otway Fly is located about 45 mins - 1 hour from Apollo Bay (depending on which roads you take).

There are two main parts to the "Fly". You can walk through the forest and up onto the Treetop Walk, a 600 metre metal walkway up to 40 metres up in the air. The second part is the zip, where for "an additional fee" you can "fly" along a series of cable spans located throughout the forest. We didn't have $375 to spare, so just did the Treetop Walk.

The walk to the "Fly" takes you through forest settings in the Otway Ranges, and incuded a prehistoric walking path (cue happy snaps)

I took this photo midway through an argument between Nick and Ben about who was going to be in the photo. Neither boy is smiling here.

Photo taken just before the Dimetridon attempts to bite Nick's arm off.

Ben and Stegasaurus

Ben playing hide and seek with Velociraptor

One of the very few photos I have where Lesley has willingly posed for the camera.

Nick and Triceratops. Apologies for the fuzziness.

The Fly is one of those concepts that would work in a number of different environments. Anyone with a few million spare, the Kinglake Ranges is a perfect spot to set up another Fly.

The Fly itself was a bit of fun, and allowed me to tick the box "exercise" under my list of things to do whilst on holidays. I needed to burn up as much energy as possible to allow me to properly enjoy myself at Chris's.

Chris's Restaurant is located in Skene's Creek, a mere stone's throw from John and Helen's place (however about a 5 minute drive). The owner, Chris Talihmanidis, is a local identity in the region, having previously owned an eatery in Lorne. Chris also owns the Sea Grape in Apollo Bay (though I must admit I didn't see this when walking through the town earlier in the day). The menu reflects Chris's background in that it is mainly influenced by Southern European flavours and, given the location, seafood features heavily on the menu.

As part of my 40th birthday celebrations I wanted to have a special night out and Chris's seemed to be the perfect place for it. Now for those of you who know me well, I don't like seafood, but there was enough choice on the menu to ensure I wasn't going to have any problems.

The first surprise of the night came from both boys. Now normally at restaurants there are kids menus which will typically have dishes such as fish and chips for spagetti. This is was Chris's had. Both boys said no to the children's menu and instead opted for an entree as their main meal. Both of them went for whole baby squid, stuffed with spinach, feta, currants and pine nutes, very similar to this recipe on their website. The waitress was impressed and I think Chris was as well, as he came out to check that the boys were enjoying their meal (they were the only kids there). They did.

The entree choices included Mussels (chosen by John), octopus cakes (Lesley), quail (Helen) as well as couple of other seafood dishes and a duck confit. I chose a traditional Greek dish of Saganaki, made like this, but better.

For mains both Helen and Lesley chose Fish of the Day (Blue Eye? - not sure) and John went for another seafood dish (I forget now what it was).  I had rabbit, boned and stuffed with chicken and mixed herbs and other seasonings, wrapped in vine leaves. This was a very interesting dish, with many subtle flavours and nothing overpowering the overall taste.

I was keen for dessert and whislt John and Helen abstained, the boys went for a kids serving of icecream with chocolate topping (nothing special).  Lesey had a Jaffa Chocolate Mousse that I would have also gone for, had I not spied the icecream.  All of the icecreams served at Chris's are made in house. One of the menu items was a trio of icecreams with greek inspired flavourings. The first was mastikha (sic?) which I was told was a sweet gum, or resin from a tree, similar to maple syrup. The second was a pistachio praline icecream and the third was rosewater and turkish delight icecream. These icecreams were the highlight of an all round brilliant meal.

Chris's is quite pricey, but if you are looking for a special night out, and are in or around Apollo Bay, I would recommend this as a gastronomic night to remember.

After dinner we returned to John and Helen's and spent the next few hours listening to music and drinking red wine. German Brass DVD of Bach works, was the standout work.