Sunday 2 June 2013

Camp kitchen jottings

Day 1, afternoon, drove the van about 500 metres from the pick-up place and parked up in a very quiet area of the Coles car park. So much we had to say and not say, lots to plan and decisions to be made about what food to buy. I think we ate out that evening, expecting more than it turned out to be in a local “bistro” in Inverloch. But in Coles we had at least bought sufficient for lunch the next day – our first proper day on the road.

Kangaroo hot dogs
These were good enough thanks to the tasty lean meat and notwithstanding the awful bread.

Also in Coles we had found some good looking steak – perfect for the barbecue and we soon discovered that all the campsites had barbies in the camp kitchens.

Steak onions mushrooms with sweet potato mash.

Very acceptable, although I was initially surprised that you didn’t feel the need to peel (or wash?) the sweet potato. It mashed up fine though and we called it rustic.

Somewhere between Lakes Entrance and Eden we stopped in a small town with a few stalls selling local produce, crafts and bric-a-brac. Here we sat outside a bakery-cum cafe in the afternoon sun and had a great Aussie snack of Mrs Mac meat pie and Bunderby’s ginger beer. The bread looked half decent so we picked up a couple of loaves.

Kanga burgers.

Very good with our newly purchased bread and the hot chilli chutney that was neither hot nor chutney but tasty all the same.

In Berry we stopped for lunch and had enormous portions of that extraordinary concoction called Greek Lamb Pie. Somewhere around there we stopped for some local produce, picking up fruit and free range eggs.

Onion and tomato Omelette

Using the fresh eggs and accompanied by sauteed sweet potato and salad, this worked well.

On Good Friday there was not a single shop open on the peninsula. We had a choice at the service station complex between McDonalds, Subway or KFC. Hmmmm. I had a fond memory of returning from a camping trip back home and stopping with you boys for KFC so the difficult choice was made.

KFC takeaway "family meal"

An experience I won’t be repeating. In order the fries were acceptable, chicken abundantly plentiful and extremely greasy, coleslaw had enough sugar to count as a dessert. Then we tasted the free carton of mash and gravy which defies description. People actually like this stuff. We filled the gap, then disposed swiftly of the leftovers.

Best camp supper after a hot day

We had bought local fruits and vegetables at the market then stopped on the road for fresh fish and seafood straight from the Pacific Ocean that morning. We pinched the end off freshly picked green beans and steamed them on the campervan stove. Roughly chopped large cloves of garlic and mixed with butter. Carried the lot down to the camp kitchen barbie and cooked up garlic prawns with shells on. Two flat breads bought near Melbourne had travelled hundreds of kilometres with us and were a bit tired. We toasted them last on the barbie, soaking up the remaining juices which revived them perfectly We ate everything with our fingers, sharing the prawn heads with the resident kookaburra. All was washed down with a crisp Sauvignon Blanc from the nearby winery. Wonderful.

Best camp supper on a rainy day 

This meal was cooked entirely inside the van. We couldn’t even open a window as the rain was so hard. Pan fried Atlantic Salmon fillets, deep red and glossy. Sliced and par boiled a chokoe, then gently sweated it in butter and garlic. Made a salad from local lettuce (Webbs Wonderful, which I hadn’t seen for years back home) proper ridge cucumber and avacado. Finished off the wine, made our last assault on the Laphroaig and fell asleep earlier than ever with full bellies and happy souls.

It was our last night on the road.

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