A Little Long in the Tooth...

I know this took a while coming through, but here is Australia post mark 2:

Absolutely NO apologies for the gratuitous number of food pics in this post.  Fresh, gorgeous vegetables, fruit and other delectables I had sorely missed (ok, so I'm not completely without, but there's just something to be said for fresh Aussie produce - especially when it doesn't have to be shipped halfway around the world prior to consumption).

There's also a fair few number of drinky drinky shots.  Cause that's what we did.  A. Lot.

Cue Jules and Stu + bevvies:

What did I tell thee?  Roasted vegetable goodness straight from the Adelaide Central Markets, which, P.S, are WAAAAAY more expensive than I remembered.

Awww.  Stu and the Rock.

Salmon on the BBQ - yumoo!

Crushed new potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, feta and herb salad.

Salsa and Tzatsiki, all of these foods made by moi, bien sur!  The salsa has the usual suspects, plus chilli, mango and coriander.  It's a knock out, if I do say so myself.

Stu waiting at the gates of China town.  Me want dumplings, he says.

Another Mez salad, this time featuring that little-revered hero of crunchy delight, the radish.  So good.  Fresh from the farmers markets in Canberra.  Edinburgh, pay attention Canberra has a decent farmers market. 

The gates of Melbourne's Chinatown.  Home away from home.

Rooftop Bar in Melbourne town, on a warm but blustery day which brought with it my lest favourite Aussie Springtime product: Pollen.  Gawd it was a bad day of noses everywhere.  I am quite clearly stifling my gazillionth sneeze here.  Note the strain in my collarbone.

Lord, more roasted veggies.  Might I be a tad obssessed?  I blame Eburger - the only way to deal with cold weather like this is to eat your body weight in roasted goodness, everyday. 

The weirdness.  Both of these expressions are so silly, I just had to include this one.

The delightful Laura in all her Laura-iness.  Miss you!  Also, great little wine bar offering much-needed respite from the pollen attack.

Ahhh, Shanghai Dumpling Village.  Delightful house of delectable dumplings and other delicious delicacies.

My cousin Adrian and his wee boy Alex - at mum and dad's place for brunch in Canberra on a beautiful sunny day.

Adrian's wife Clare, and their little girl Izzy.  I can't quite believe this is the first time I've met Izzy - and what a cute kid!

Blood organes - taking me back to my youf.

Possibly the cutest thing ever - wee man Alex in dad's old school hat.  Looks like dad after a particularly bad Head of the River, no?

Mmmmmmm, the most obscenely good lemon tart I've ever had - made by a french pastry chef who happens to think Canberra's the place to be and has set up shop in town.  We commend his pioneering spirit.

Can I get an 'awwwwwwwwwwww'?  Meanwhile, check out those shades - Stu, you're a dreamboat.

Mum's bloody brilliant (fledgling) herb garden.  I'm seething with jealousy.  Have. To. Have. It.

The infamous chimenea all four girls went in for one Christmas for ma and pa, that only ever got used by us girls at parties now has pride of place in the Canberra yard.  When asked, mum explained that it was mostly being used now to burn off the weeds she's been pulling from the garden.  Ok, well at least it's being used.

Pimms anyone?  Drank a lot of Pimms on this trip.  Thanks Duty Free Sydney.  You have significantly increased my overall rotundness.


Cheers.  My kajillionth Pimms cocktail.

Stu gets arty.  I think he was actually doing this to mock me and my incessant food/drink photography.  Whatever Stu, you've actually managed to create something quite cool by accident.  What. Ever.

Out nation's capital in all it's symmetrical glory.  Seriously though, if you don't really go in for glamour, nightlife, parties and cultural pursuits beyond a bit of ANU Am-Dram, then Canberra does have things to offer - beautiful parks for example.  We went for a lovely walk on our last morning there on the penninsula, and you know, just walking right by the odd kangaroo mob, right in the heart of the city.  Pretty cool.  It's all about the outdoors in the ACT - they got it in spades, and it's quite special.  Also, only 2 hours drive from the Snowy Mountains.  Great for bushwalking in the summertime (love), and skiing, etc in winter (I have issues with winter sports).   ACT should totally hire me to write some tourism promotional crap.  I could edit out the bit about cultural wasteland if you like.

The War Memorial - ie - placating Stu.  He could've spent the entire weekend here.  Fortunately we only had an hour to spare.

Then we flew home.  Same movies on the flight back as they had been on the way over - and they were shit.  Curse you China Airlines, curse you and your stupidly cheap but treacherously unentertaining flights.

The End.