Off to the Grampians Grape Escape in Ruby...

So, last Friday we headed off in Ruby to go into Victoria to the Grampians. We stayed in Hamilton the first night because we got away late. Stayed in a nice clean motel and had a very nice dinner at a nice restaurant - all names escape me!
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Next morning we were up early, bought provisions for the trip deep into Western Victoria...
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We arrived in Halls Gap at about 11am and set up camp at the caravan park. A bit more lawn would have been nice!
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Gus popped out Ruby's roof top tent...
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... then added the tent to the bottom...
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This is the Grampians Grape Escape - a festival that is in it's 20th year. Over 80 exhibitors and stalls and very well run.
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Lots of people, enjoying the mild weather (I thought it was going to be arctic and it wasn't at all), good food and wine and music.
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There were 3 or 4 soap stalls.... I bought an olive oil soap from this one and it is quite nice. No perfume but it lathers well and feels nice.

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This one was probably the pick of the bunch... and reminds me a bit of Granny's Soap Cottage soaps, only hers are much nicer! ;)
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This one was a bit bland...
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... but I guess they are meant to be natural soaps, they just look boring...
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Oops, now I have skipped to the kangaroos which I took pics of after we left the festival. These beautiful creatures came bounding over to greet me (and I was scared silly), until they realised that I didn't have anything to feed them. They are quite intimidating with their sharp front claws and strong back legs.
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But they are... just... so... cute !!
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I sat petting them for quite a while but they got tired of me because I wouldn't feed them. (I don't agree with feeding them bread because the yeast is not good for them).
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Nawww!
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Back to the festival..... Manu Feildel (from My Kitchen Rules) was doing cooking demonstrations so we sat in on that. He is so funny!
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A very talented chef and very good fun!
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Of course, we bought a copy of his book and he signed it for us.
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Now onto the food - this is a 'new to me' food item - a Twistto - a potato spiral, skewered then battered lightly, deep fried then sprinkled with your choice of flavoured salt (chicken, lemon pepper, satay, barbecue, maple syrup... okay, just kidding!). Maybe just the best thing I have eaten in a long time, but not good for me... I know! :(
~A cone of calamari from the Flying Calamari Brothers...
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Red for me, white for Gus...
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Organic is always better, right? It was a good drop.
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I bought a Plonk Holder so I could carry things and still enjoy a wine, on the go!
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OMG! Hot, toasty Belgian waffles, maple syrup and cream...
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Back at camp, we had to set up some beach umbrellas as it started to drizzle rain. That lasted until just after dark then it cleared up. Isn't Ruby cute?
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I made a salad...
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...we baked some potatoes in a tray in the barbie, heated some garlic & herb bread...
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... and Gus cooked a steak each for us. Yum!
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We had a little fire place at our site so we had a camp fire going and we toasted marshmallows for dessert. The people behind our site were having a good old sing-along to really good 80's songs so that kept us entertained. One girl, who we could hear getting drunker by the hour, sounded like someone we knew, so that was entertaining, listening to her sing... really badly!! They all got told to shut down the noise at 10pm. It had been a long day so we called it quits at about 10.30pm.
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Brekky on Sunday morning was...
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Eggs & bacon, grilled tomato and toast done on the camp cooker...
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Sitting in my jammies, having a second cuppa before packing up. I quickly learned that you can look pretty rough in a caravan park, and no-one takes any notice! Very relaxing!
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We headed home through Horsham then back through Coonawarra/Penola. The vines are all turning a lovely yellow for autumn.
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We always know we are home when we can see Mount Muirhead. It has turned green already so I think we are in for a good winter and lots of rain.
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Secondly - Our Easter Feaster - Part 2

Sunday night, we ventured out to GoodLife Organic Pizza on Hutt Street.
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Seriously some of the best tasting pizza ever!
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I had a good old Ham Cheese and Pineapple but the bacon was from the Barossa Valley and as so juicy and tender and the cheese was a beautiful mozarella. Wow!
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Monday we headed up into the Adelaide hills to Birdwood.
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Kirby & Brianna

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We passed through Gumeracha where the Big Rocking horse is.
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Angus went off to look through the Motor Museum at Birdwood while we girls hit the shops and had a look around. We had lunch in Birdwood at a little cafe. They were really busy and told us we would have a bit of a wait with our food orders (45 minutes as it turned out).
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Kirby and Bri entertained themselves...
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Oh, dear! Hurry up with the food! Things are getting out of hand...
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After lunch it was time to head back down through the hills. Just a perfect blue sky autumn afternoon...
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The vines are all turning gold...
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Doesn't this look like the French countryside??
We called in at Chain of Ponds winery...
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Vine art...
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This picture mural takes up an entire wall in the winery... We tasted some wines then it was time to head home, Brianna was our designated driver as we had a few wines!
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Angus and Brianna headed home on Tuesday, the Anzac day holiday. I stayed an extra night with Kirby - just because! We made our own pizzas that night - yum!

It was a lovely family weekend.
Cheers - Joolz

Firstly - our Easter Feaster...Part 1

Good Friday dinner saw have some Oysters Kilpatrick...
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Followed by some Zesty Garlic Prawn Skewers...
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King George Whiting, roast potatoes and green salad.
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I retired to bed before dessert got under way. Angus cooked strawberry pizzas on the barbecue. Prepared pizza bases topped with sliced strawberries, strawberry jam and Cointreau. Baked in covered bbq until bubbling, serve with whipped cream.
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I left instructions for them to take a picture for me. Next morning, I checked the camera and was surprised to see such a fantastic looking pizza - wow, they had made a ganache sauce too!
Then they started giggling - they forgot to take a picture so they googled one on the internet and took a photo of the laptop screen! Trickers!
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Saturday lunch was a really good find ~ Cilantro is a newly opened Indian restaurant. We are not big into Indian or curries but it looked nice and the staff were welcoming.
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Kirby had a Rogan Josh lamb pizza...
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Bri had a chicken & vegetable curry pizza on naan bread...
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... and I had the Cilantro Special Chicken - juicy chicken morsels slow cooked in a flavoursome gravy with specially ground spices. The menu said "not very spicy but does have what we call the 'Comet Effect'! - Absolutely delicious - I cleaned my plate! The flavour and heat of the curry made me go back again and again for another mouthful!
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Gus had a yellow fin tuna fillet in a curry sauce and he also declared it delicious!
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Bri and I shared a traditional Indian dessert - Gulub Jamun - milk dumplings soaked in saffron, cardamon & honey syrup, served with vanilla icecream. Again delicious!
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Are you feeling full yet??
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Saturday night I tried my hand at Hot Cross Buns - sorry Debbie but this was an epic fail on my part! Now, when I mixed the warm milk, sugar and yeast together then let it sit, something just didn't seem right. It is meant to froth and my mixture didn't. It was a new packet of yeast so I'm not sure what went wrong. Hence...
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... I had spicy, fruit grenades - easily capable of smashing a window at 10 paces! I hacked one open the next morning with a machete (kidding), microwaved it for 15 seconds and spread it with butter and marmalade. It tasted really good so the recipe is spot on, I just need to have another go.
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On Easter Sunday we moved camp to the Intercontinental Hotel. Kirby's flat is nice but very cramped for 4 people to co-habit. All getting ready with only one shower takes forever. So we had 2 nights there.
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Sunday lunch, we trained out of the city to Oaklands, transferred to a waiting bus which took us on to Hallett Cove station. We were invited by our friends Mike & Pauline for lunch with their girls. They had prepared a lovely roast lunch for us - we feasted on Roast pork and lamb and beautiful baked vegetables...
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I didn't get pictures of dessert but it was a baked vanilla cheesecake with hazelnut crumb crust and an Apple & Rhubarb crumble with almond crumble topping. Pauline is a coeliac and cannot have flour/wheat products. I could not tell that we were eating gluten free. Delicious!
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L-R - Chelsea, Ben, Lucy, Brianna & Kirby
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Pauline had this beautiful hibiscus bush in her garden, full of these pretty blooms.
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... and this one too! Makes me think of Queensland.
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Back soon for the second part...
Joolz