Queensland holiday - part 2

In Part 1 we had made it to Lake Coolmunda, Queensland. Our next destination was Lake Broadwater. To get there we traveled west to Goondiwindi, north to Moonie and then took the road north-east towards Dalby. We did a little shopping in Goondiwindi to stock up our food supplies before hitting the road again. The town of Moonie was the only place on the map between Goondiwindi and Dalby so we figured we would stop there for lunch. Of course, when we got there we realised town was a bit of an exaggeration. Moonie had one place to eat - the roadhouse. Not exactly a salubrious establishment but we were hungry so it had to do. After lunch we were back on the road to Lake Broadwater where we would spend the next two nights. The campground is right on the shore of the lake and there was tons of room so we sorted out our campsite before having a look around. Camping here cost us just over $20 / night (and there were hot showers!).

Here's our campsite and our kitchen / dining room

We got to see loads of kangaroos close to the lake. The first photo shows a mum with a joey's legs and tail hanging out of her pouch. Looks pretty uncomfortable for both of them.

On the second day at the lake we thought we'd go for a walk. There was a walk described in the brochure that sounded interesting and it mentioned a 1.5 km distance. Not too challenging. Sadly the instructions weren't quite right so we walked a distance of around 8 kms. We were all rather hot and tired when we got back to the campsite. On the walk we spotted one snake - we didn't get a good picture of it but it was fat and black from what we could see. Interestingly the track we were on was sandy and was crisscrossed with many snake trails - skinny ones and thicker ones. So I think the area was pretty much teeming with snakes.

We got chatting to a bloke who told us that the lake had been dry for 12 years up until the previous year when they had massive floods. It's funny. In New Zealand if we decided to go camping at a lake we would expect there to be water in it. I guess it's not a given in Australia.

The following photo is of my lovely cousin Leonore and myself by the lake. Leonore drove several hours from the town of Surat to come spend the afternoon with us. It was great to catch up with her as we hadn't seen each other since we were kids (which is a few years ago now).

The next day it was time to pack up and start heading north-east with the intention of being able to easily get back to the coast the following day. This day took us through Dalby then Kingaroy. We stopped at a pub for lunch in Kingaroy - and to pick up more supplies (the all important cider was on the list of things to get). After lunch we headed to Lake Barambah for a bit of a swim before driving through to Glastonbury State Forest. Leonore had mentioned that we would be able to camp in the forest so we took a road into the forest, then another side road and set up camp.

Campsite for the night

Me in the kitchen (cider in hand)

We didn't bother using the fly over the tent so it was glorious night with a clear sky and lots of stars. The next morning we headed into Gympie to a park to have breakfast.

View from our breakfast spot in Gympie

And then it was on to the coast. We had picked the Inskip Peninsula as the spot where we would spend a week. I'll create another post for that one!

Queensland holiday - part 1

The recent October school holidays provided us with the opportunity to escape Wellington's miserable spring (hah!) weather and head for warmer climes. This was to be a relaxing holiday in the sun on a shoestring budget. We sorted out flights and a cheapo rental car and that was the organising finished. NZ school holidays had a week overlap with Queensland and New South Wales holidays so we were expecting that camp grounds, etc could be pretty busy.

We flew into Brisbane on the morning flight, picked up the rental car then headed to the second hand shops to get some supplies. After visiting three shops we had what we needed - a fry pan, a pot, cutlery, crockery and a bowl. We'd brought our tents and a little gas cooker so we were all set. We spent our first night at a holiday park in Kingscliff. This was our most expensive camping night at $55 (ouch!). The place was pretty chocka but there was a little corner for our tents so we set ourselves up for the night and used the gas bbq to cook our dinner.

The holiday park was right on the beach so a dip in the sea before breakfast was a great way to start the first full day of our holiday. With the weather forecast for the coast looking less than ideal and all the warnings about the busyness expected due to school holidays we made the call to head inland. So, after breakfast we packed up and headed to our next destination - Border Ranges National Park. While our holiday was primarily in Queensland, this park is over the border in New South Wales.

We stopped and had lunch at the Murwillumbah Services club. I'd been there before a couple of times with my parents so I was on familiar ground. After lunch we carried on and into the Border Ranges National Park. Here's the view of one of the worlds largest calderas.

The lump in the middle is Mt Warning and that's about the centre of the caldera. It's the biggest erosion caldera in the southern hemisphere.

We camped for two nights in the Sheepstation Creek campground within the National Park. Fees to camp here were $16 / night - a nice price after paying through the nose at Kingscliff. After numerous warnings about how busy all the campgrounds would be we were pleasantly surprised to find that there was plenty of room. Here's our site.

On our second day there we headed off for a walk around the Rosewood Loop track. The following are a few nature shots we took while on the walk.

Sheepstation Creek

Rather large, interesting tree

Waterfall (obviously)

Two freaking snakes - mating or fighting?

Another freaking snake

Seriously?!? We weren't expecting to see any snakes on our trip so to see three in one day was a little daunting.  All three were within a metre or so of the track we were walking on.

Reptile with legs for a change

Here's a short video of those snakes.

The next day we packed up and headed further west. On checking our comprehensive resources (a freebie tourist map of South East Queensland) we decided to head for the Coolmunda Conservation Park thinking we might find a spot in the park to camp. Sadly when we got there it was all fenced off and didn't look particularly attractive so we headed back towards the main road and booked in for the night at the Lake Coolmunda Caravan Park. This was about as attractive as the conservation park was but did have the advantage of having hot showers. It cost us $30 for the night. The park itself is sandwiched between the railway line and the Cunningham Highway. Nice! Only one train went through in the middle of the night. Anyway, here's a couple of photos.

Campsite at Lake Coolmunda

View of Lake Coolmunda from the campground

I think that's enough for the first episode. I'll get to work on the next one and post that in the next day or so.

Gluten free baking

I've been experimenting recently with some new recipes with pretty good results. I've been looking for some recipes that are vegan - more as a matter of interest to see what the results would be like compared to a "normal" recipe.

The first one I tried is from www.healthfulpursuit.com - here's the link Chocolate Banana Cake Bars. This produced a very moist cake - very brownie like - and was pronounced delicious.

The second one is also gluten free and vegan (and has no added sugar either). This recipe only makes a small amount so don't try use a standard size slice tin - more a tin that is about the half the size. It's from a site called femfusionfitness.com - here's the link Chocolate Fudge Brownies. Note also that, even after refrigerating, it's super moist so quite difficult to cut. This one was pronounced very rich and yum!

Both the recipes are pretty easy to make and great for when you're living a vegan gluten free diet and also good to take along when you know people have some dietary restrictions. Chances are that the brownies will be ok for the majority of people to eat.

The other baking I do on a regular basis (generally once a week) is a gluten free banana loaf. Tonight I altered the recipe to make it vegan (replaced the eggs with flax seed - to replace one egg, mix 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed with 3 tablespoons of cold water, let it stand for 5 minutes) and it's turned out just fine. The original recipe was from the NZ Healthy Food Guide site. I just checked their site now and the recipe they have is completely different to the one I make. I had modified their recipe anyway so here it is.

2 eggs (or replace it with flax seed as described above for a vegan loaf)
1 cup sugar (I'll be messing with this the next time I make it to reduce the sugar)
1/2 cup oil
1 tspn vanilla
2 soft bananas
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup potato flour
1 tspn baking soda
1 tblspn gum (guar or xanthan)

Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees celsius.

Beat eggs, sugar and oil. Add vanilla and bananas and beat till well mixed.
Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Pour mixture into a greased loaf tin and bake until a skewer comes out clean (around 40-45 minutes - my oven is a little dodgy so just check the loaf with a skewer).

That's it. That recipe is super simple to make so easy to whip up and bake after dinner. Enjoy!

Fine dining at its best / Tararua tramping

As you know I love cooking and trying out new recipes. From time to time I come across something that I like to share with others. I'd like to share this particular recipe as it's the meal I've most enjoyed in recent times.

Now, to enjoy this recipe to it's fullest, you need to tramp for 9 hours ensuring that you ascend at least 1200 metres and then descend back down 1200 metres. Make sure the last few hours are in the dark and that there is no clear track to travel on. And, just to ensure you've worked up an appetite, the last 200 metres should be through impenetrable bush with loads of supplejack.

Once you've got to the hut you can then prepare the following meal :

Cook up some onion, garlic and chilli in a little oil. Put aside.

Lightly boil some broccoli, cauliflower and carrot.

Add dried mashed potato to the vegetables. Stir well. Add onion, garlic and chilli and stir. Add a tin of tuna. Serve and eat immediately.

I forgot to mention, try turn up to the hut late in the evening when all other trampers are tucked up in bed sleeping. I'm sure they didn't mind us arriving then cooking our dinner.

This trip was an overnight into the Tararua Range. We parked at Holdsworth road end and then headed up the Gentle Annie track. We stopped for a lunch snack at Mountain House Shelter then carried on up to Powell Hut for another quick break. From there we climbed another 100 metres or so (a total climb for the day of 1200 metres) until we reached the turnoff for High Ridge. That's the signpost in the photo below.

This photo is the start of High Ridge. You basically walk along the top of the ridge. At first it's open tussock and then further along the ridge you get into bush. It's a little rough in places getting into and out of the bush but not bad once you're in it. We walked along to Flaxy Knob which is the bush covered rounded bit in the distance on the right of the photo. From there it's a descent back down to 200 metres to Totara Flats Hut.

 

The following photo is looking back up the ridge to the start point.

 

From Flaxy Knob the route is less easy. There was a lot of windfall and, of course, it got dark soon after we started descending. We lost the route a few times but managed to get back onto it with a bit of scouting around. Finally we were about 200 metres from joining up to the main Totara Creek track when we lost the route again. At this stage some bright spark put forward the idea that it would be quicker to make our way through the bush than it would be to spend time finding the route again. That was one of those statements that I wish I'd never made!!!! It took us an hour to travel the 200 metres. The bush was pretty thick, the ground was quite rugged in places and the supplejack was rife. For those that haven't experienced walking through supplejack it's like some awful nightmare where you are constantly trying to climb over vines, duck under other vines, getting vines stuck on the top of your pack etc. Not a lot of fun and certainly slows down forward progress.

Once we joined onto the main track it was a matter of minutes to get to the hut over the swingbridge. By now it was after 9pm. It had been a long day. But, that meal was divine! And the whiskey in front of the fire went down pretty well too.

The following morning we woke to a little bit of mist but the weather remained calm and dry - both important when out tramping in the Tararuas. Makes for a much more enjoyable day. 

 

Soon after leaving the hut there's an impressive swing bridge across the Waiohine River. The walk out to the carpark was a lot shorter and more straight forward than the previous day. Basically a walk up the Totara Creek track which joins back onto the Gentle Annie track. The walk out took us three and a half hours all up. The climb was only about 500 metres or so. A lot easier than the day before.

 

 

That's another corner of the Tararua's that we can tick off. If you're thinking of doing this walk it would be prudent to get down off High Ridge in daylight hours. Oh, and if you lose the route, find it again!

At last - a great gluten free bread recipe

After many attempts at baking gluten free bread and producing bricks that could be used to build a fortress, I've found a recipe that makes a really nice loaf. The recipe has quite a list of ingredients but the method is pretty simple so don't be put off. I found the recipe on the sheletthemeatcake.com blog in an entry that was published in April 2010.

Anyway, I make this bread several times a week. It's great toasted but also really nice as fresh bread for sandwiches. While I am sure the original recipe works absolutely fine I did make some minor modifications (some deliberately and some by accident). I use organic molasses instead of the honey / syrup, simply because I had some on hand. I also make a single loaf rather than two (because I only have one loaf tin) and I don't let the loaf rest before I bake it (because I didn't read that bit in the original instructions. I also managed to omit the almond meal the other night by mistake but the resultant loaf was fine. That was useful to find out for those times when I've run out of almond meal.

Here's the recipe with my modifications :

1 1/4 cups warm water
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
5 tbsp ground flaxseed mixed with cold water to equal 3/4 cup
3 tbsp oil
3 tbsp organic molasses
1 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
2/3 cup potato flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup almond meal
1 tbsp xanthan gum (or guar gum)
1 tsp baking soda

Add warm water and yeast in a mixing bowl and leave for 5 minutes.

Grind the flaxseeds and add cold water to equal 3/4 cup of a flaxseed-water mixture.  Stir and let sit while the yeast is proofing.

When the yeast and water mixture has proofed, add the oil, molasses and the flaxseed / water mixture. Whisk lightly to combine.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine the dry ingredients and whisk lightly.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine.  Stir for a couple of minutes until well mixed. Place the batter into a loaf tin - wet your hands to smooth the loaf.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Bake 60 - 70 minutes. Use a skewer to check the loaf for doneness.