When food shopping is an adventure…

So on Saturday night, when options were open, we opted to buy groceries and cook our own dinner. This resulted in Asam Fish (pre-purchased from the Cruelty Free Shop for this trip) with a side of mashed potatoes and asparagus. Oreos were dessert.

We also bought some fancy supermarket bread and vegemite to do us for breakfast the next day, and of course FRUIT! Despite my cravings for pizza for lunch (pizza shops were the main option in Merimbula, and again here!), Rob was busy talking to other pilots over on the airstrip (an activity he tells me he doesn’t like to do, but here he voluntarily sought it out – was he bored, or does he secretly like it?). So vegemite on toast doubled as lunch too. His craving emerged as pizza for dinner, and he was certain he’d get it.

We wondered down to the shops, and all that was open was the Take Away and a Gelato Bar. The few ‘gourmet’ shops were closed, especially the one where we thought we’d get a nice, customised pizza. We back tracked to the Take Away, Rob having seen some mention of pizza on a sign there. We dubiously looked through the window to the menu. Yes, Pizza was available Thursday to Saturday. There was the menu on the main board with all the other burgers and fried goods. But it was a Take Away! Rob suggested they must be pre-packaged pizzas which would rule this little vegan out on the cheese front. Then the quality would be questionable for him.

So we opted for Bi-Lo again – straight to the freezer section. I knew I was defeated on the pizza front, so Rob studied the packets before him while I hunted around for any surprising new foods. Nope, Herbert Adams pasties have milk solids in them. Hmmm… spring rolls… but with what? And $5 for six? And then I remembered the main ingredient on pre-prepared pizzas is mushrooms (Rob hates mushrooms!), so I told him the bad news. “You can make your own though – buy a base…”. The costing was looking like coming closer to the $15 from the Take Away shop.

Yup, a pre-prepared, generic brand base with cheese was $8 for one (or $10 for three). It looked like Rob was trying out the Take Away, so I hunted for something for myself. Armed with a ‘boil in pouch’ Indian lentil dish, and a few green beans, Rob approached me with a package of herb breads “these don’t have butter!”. I verified this claim by reading the ingredient list (whoohooo – they used olive oil!). We made a selection of marinated antipasto goodies from the deli, Rob added a few other embellishments, and finally, we were done.

So an hour after we had set off, we had what we needed to cook dinner. The bill? $20 a head (this did include fortune cookies for dessert and another loaf of bread).

I pan fried the potatoes left over from the previous night, with a bit of chilli powder. We couldn’t get the grill working, so cooked our pizzettes in the oven. And they were yum!

We leave Old Bar tomorrow, so I’ll show you a little bit of it:

I guess there’s a festival here at some point in the year. Summer perhaps?

The beach has been subject to some serious erosion, and trees are falling from previously safe higher ground, down onto the beach:

Of course a group of locals is concerned about this, and there are signs in town calling for Council action to build a breakwall or something, along with the tally of donations to the cause so far.

The surf is good though, even on not so good days:

And at the Bar end of the beach, the erosion is less, but perfectly formed into beautiful miniature cliffs:

They also have a fenced off an area to be a sanctuary for nesting Turns too.

Yes, I’m ‘different’…

…and at no time is this more obvious than at breakfast time. It is rare that I find anything satisfactory. I’m learning to adjust and give up, finally! When we were in Thailand, all I wanted for breakfast was a banana. Well the bananas over there are actually plantains, a starchy banana that gets the barbeque treatment. But they don’t bring their barbeques out until the afternoon, because the Thais consider plantains to be an afternoon snack. So at first I took the man on wild banana chases…until it was finally afternoon and I could have my banana for breakfast! Poor man…

Today in Merimbula, I knew my choices were limited. I’ve already decided not to do a hotel breakfast again unless I’m desperate, or in a very high class establishment. Today I wasn’t and we weren’t. But there was a servo next door, so I held my breath that there might be a piece of fruit there for me. We went in…and walked back out pretty quickly. We decided not to bother walking into town, and therefore the man took to the hotel breakfast. I gave him the message to bring back a piece of fruit with him if there was any. When he came back, he carried nothing. By this time I was getting hungry, which also means I was at risk of getting grumpy too, so I purposely tempered my mood. It did take effort. The plane would have something for me… I just had to hold out until we got there.

“There was fruit…”

My brow furrowed.

“…but it was plastic.”

Life in rural Australia hey? Food must be animal, packaged, or plastic.

So we packed up, walked back to the plane (close to two kilometres), and FINALLY I could ease my growing hunger!

I had some of the awesome, home-made ‘tear and share’ basil and olive bread left over from yesterday’s lunch too:

All this while the man used the airport internet facilities:

Small airports seem to attract a lot of birds, which is quite enjoyable to hang out in:

We traveled up the coast. Wollongong was the first bit of major population on our trip, complete with heavy industry:

And the obligatory freight ships on the horizon:

On my to do list is to travel along the coastal road between Wollongong and Sydney, because this has to be so cool to travel over:

Flying along the cliffs, over the ocean is really cool though. It is actually the law that you have to fly over water, and reasonably low (depending on the restrictions on the day and at the time) along this section of coast! Closer inland is a restricted military zone. Not all pilots are happy to travel low, yet alone over water for any period of time. I guess they have to pass over on the other side of the military zone. But that would mean missing out on the most spectacular of scenery!

The pollution of Sydney makes it rather unappealing to visit though:

One sight that is pretty amazing from the plane is the ship wreck just north of Newcastle:

This beach is super long, and super wide. And there’s people living there! A bit like a mini Sahara desert!

Mid-afternoon we arrived at our destination: Old Bar. The man picked it for a few reasons: it is a very old airstrip, heritage listed even, because the local council wanted to close it, and the locals did the work to ensure it was kept. It’s also right by a surfing beach, and within very close reach of town (most airports in Australia require a taxi ride). So we’re staying at Lani’s on the Beach, which has the best location of accommodation in town – they’re right on the beach; no one else is! And if you really wanted, you can arrange to have the two gates opened between park and ’port, and park your plane next to your rented cabin! But we didn’t bother. Scout is over there waiting for another avian friend to join him.

We walked down the beach, which turns out to be quite pebbled:

Then we went into town, which didn’t have much. We contemplated eating out, but it looked pretty dismal, unless we wanted pizza, and so we opted for some groceries from Bi-Lo. I’m off to cook now.

Did I mention that I LOVE rocks?

~Katara Jade

Old Bar, 21/05/2011