Melbourne - Part 3

My adventures in Melbourne continued after Christmas.  Thanks to Sandy’s family I was able to see and do many different things.  

Before I get into that I have received several inquiries as to what's in Christmas Pudding so I’m posting a recipe.

Ingredients:

            Melted butter, to grease

            
100g sultanas

            
100g raisins

            
100g dried pitted dates, chopped

            
100g dried whole dessert figs, chopped

            
50g dried apricots, chopped

            
50g glace cherries, chopped

            
50g mixed glace fruits (such as pineapple), chopped

            
125ml (1/2 cup) brandy

            
125g butter, softened

            
155g (3/4 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar

            
60ml (1/4 cup) golden syrup

            
2 eggs

            
125g good quality dark cooking chocolate, melted

            
160g (1/2 cup) canned pie apple

            
75g (1/2 cup) plain flour, sifted

            
55g (3/4 cup) fresh breadcrumbs (made from day-old bread)

            
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

            
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

            
1/2 teaspoon allspice

            
2 tablespoons brandy, extra, to serve

Step 1: Brush a 1L (4-cup) capacity heatproof, microwave-safe pudding basin with melted butter to lightly grease.

Step 2: Combine the sultanas, raisins, dates, figs, apricots, cherries and glace fruit in a glass or ceramic bowl. Place brandy in a heatproof, microwave-safe jug. Cover with plastic wrap and heat on High/800watts/100% for 1-2 minutes or until hot. Pour brandy over fruit mixture and stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes to macerate.

Step 3: Use an electric beater to beat the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a large bowl until thick and pale. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the melted chocolate and fruit mixture, and stir until well combined. Add the apple, flour, breadcrumbs, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice, and stir until well combined.

Step 4: Spoon the mixture into the prepared basin. Cover with 2 layers of baking paper. Tie unwaxed white kitchen string under the rim of the basin to secure. Cook on Defrost/350watts/30% for 20-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the pudding comes out clean. Drizzle with extra brandy and set aside for 15 minutes. Turn pudding onto a plate and cut into slices to serve.

Step 5: Eat, but don’t enjoy.

Do not let the picture fool you… though it
looks delicious, it is, in fact, not.

Now onto the adventuring.

In my previous blog I mentioned spending a solid day walking around the city by myself looking at street art.  On this day I also wandered through the botanical gardens and went to the Shrine of Remembrance.  On the way home I stopped off at the beach but didn’t stay too long because it was windy and cold.  Of course there were still ridiculous amounts of people swimming, but I’m not a fan of being cold so no beach frolicking for me.

Heading into Melbourne on the train.  I love trains and train rides.

Federation Square - How cool are these buildings?!

Rent a bike or take the trolley. 

The first of many Botanical Gardens flower photos.

These flowers are the size
of my pinky finger nail… so tiny. 

I enjoyed a lovely sit and think and then a nap here.

I was attempting to take pictures during a serious game of
Hide and Seek.  The girl running through this picture was polite
enough to whisper, "Excuse me!" as she passed through, but
there was no way she was giving up an extra second or two to
go around me or wait until I was done and I certainly don't blame
her.  Hide and Seek is serious business and I felt her
"excuse me" was sufficient.

The Shrine of Remembrance

Inside The Shrine of Remembrance.

Imagine a rhino on a skateboard trying to stop for
you as you cross the road.  Now trade the rhino for a
trolley… i.e. don't cross the road in front of a
trolley because it will run you over.

It was very windy at the beach.

Sandy and I also went for a wander through the city one afternoon.  We checked out more street art and went to an art museum.

My favorite piece in the gallery
"The Station Yard" by Russell Drysdale.

Selfie

I couldn't resist taking a photo of this! Ha!  More funny Australians.

One evening was spent watching “A Midsummer Night's Dream” in the botanical gardens.  I’ve always wanted to see this play but have never had the chance.  I tried reading it once, but I don’t understand Shakespeare unless it’s performed so that lasted about a page before I gave up and closed the book.  We brought a picnic and arrived early to snack on our dinner and relax a bit before the show started.  I thought it was a great show and I really enjoyed the evening. 

Sandy and her dad, Rick at "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

Our picnic dinner.

For Will’s birthday Sandy’s parents gave him a wine tour.  Lucky me, I got to tag along.  The only time I’ve been to a winery was in LA with my sister a few days before I left the States.  Unfortunately, I thought I’d start my wine tasting about 12 hours too soon and didn’t enjoy the tour/tasting at the actual vineyard nearly as much as I should have.  Lesson learned. This time I did no pre-tour tastings and was able to fully appreciate vineyard hopping with Will, Sandy, and Audrey (Sandy’s mom) for the afternoon.

Will and Sandy waiting for their cider tastings.
Look at those grins. :D

Bongo posing for a photo shoot.

Will decided to ruin things… as he often does.
Audrey stepped in to catch Bongo.  Whew!

Then Will went "Hulk" on Bongo for no reason.

Beer tasting… Mmmm.  The far left and
 the far right were my favorite.

Bongo's a bit of a lightweight.  

My cousin/brother/friend, Willie.

A major highlight of this trip was a Christmas gift from Rick and Audrey.  I was given a gift card for USA Foods.  The magnitude of this gift did not hit me until we arrived at USA Foods and I was surrounded by familiar items.  Slightly overwhelmed, I made my way around the shop carefully selecting items to purchase with my gift card.  You don’t realize how much you miss certain things like root beer and Cheez-Its and candy corn.  I’ve only missed one Halloween but candy corn is a must have during Halloween for me.  I got my candy corn fix and my root beer fix.  It was amazing!

USA FOODS!!!!!!!

One afternoon Sandy, Rick, Audrey, and I went to a place called (insert name of place that I can’t remember here) to go hiking.  We weren’t able to do many trails because the weather turned and it started raining.  Instead of continuing to hike we went and had Devonshire Tea.  It was here I had scones for the first time… delish!  They’re not like scones in the States.  They taste more like a mixture of cake and bread and you put cream and jam on them.  Mmmmmm.

Click it or ticket.  Buckled in and planning
out where to spend the day hiking.

Cockatoos!

Sandy becoming one with nature.  This is the "tree" pose.
She was imitating the tree in the picture below.

Not a bad job, right? Her pose
looks like the tree.

I haven't quite perfected my tree pose yet.

Life on the wild side.

A few days before New Year’s Eve Will had to return to Canberra which left Sandy and I on our own to celebrate.  We packed a picnic dinner and hit the pubs.  And by hit the pubs I mean we picked a low key pub on the water to sip on a beer, watch the sun go down and have a lovely conversation.  We made our way to the perfect fireworks watching spot to ring in the New Year.  It was a rather enjoyable evening.

A bridge… Melbourne's architecture fascinates me. 

My New Years Eve date.

Our picnic dinner.

Sunset at the pub.

Fireworks reflecting in the building.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sandy and I originally planned to camp our way back to Canberra for a couple days.  Unfortunately, the morning we were supposed to go I woke up feeling sick.  We changed our plans and decided to head back to Canberra to pick up Will then camp somewhere between Canberra and Sydney.  I’ve never camped on the beach before so this was a first and it was beautiful!  We were up on a bluff of sorts above the beach.  It was about a 5 minute walk to get there.  Amazing!  Sandy and Will only had a 2-man tent.  It’s advertised as “2-man plus baggage” so I was able to squeeze in in place of the baggage.  The following morning Will and Sandy dropped me off in Sydney so I could catch a plane to New Zealand. 

Sandy setting up the tent and Will being Will.

I took this photo in PNG in June.  It's safe to say he's
mastered the art of photo bombing.

The 2-man tent which was just big enough for 3 people.

The stairway leading to the beach.

The beach.

Will, Sandy, and me relaxing on our last evening together.

The Sydney Bridge

Big HUGE massive THANK YOU to Will and Sandy for allowing me to spend about 6 weeks with them.  It was absolutely wonderful and I am counting down the days to my next visit.

Two of my most favorite people in the world.