Holidays

I am currently enjoying the last day of a very nice trip up to the far north coast of NSW. We have spent the last week holidaying (about and hour and half south of Byron Bay) in the sleepy village of Iluka on the mouth of the mighty Clarence River. It's a southerners vision of the ideal holiday - days on the beach spent in  (almost) tropical climes - so its kind of ironic that yesterday while poor Melbourne and the rest of the country sweltered we were practically the coolest place in the country!

I do feel extremely blessed! Free access to holiday home (once a home for a time for my late Grandmother) and hoping that the poor garden and the pets are being nursed through the heatwave by poor Naoko (a Japanese student who's kindly house sitting and has probably done more plant watering in two days than she ever thought possible).

Whenever I travel to regional Australia or even to my parents home in Canberra (where everything endures the trip down from Sydney and suffers for it!) I am always reminded how lucky I am to live in a capital city and have access to cheap and fresh vegetables and produce. Thanks to the domination of the big two supermarket giants and their insistence on centralised purchasing through the capital centres, travel outside Sydney and Melbourne away from the wholesale markets and suddenly the price of supermarket  fresh food goes up and the freshness goes down. On the way up here I was greatly excited to stumble upon a farmers market when we made a quick pit stop in the town of Glen Innes. Talk about amazing fresh bargains! $3  for a dozen free range eggs, $1 for a bag of the tastiest kipfler potatoes, $2 for a bag of fresh beans and $1.50 for fresh zucchini! Almost as good as home grown!

My partner 'G' (bless him) has been busy getting in touch with his inner hunter, wading out in the shallows  of the river each night armed with nothing but a torch and a hand spear.... when the wind has been behaving he's been bring home fresh flatheads to add with my vegies.  I am approving of this more 'sustainable' approach to fishing as it not only is it putting food on the table but its also putting a end to my usual concerns about his amateur fishing... spend $10 on bait... (that had to be fished from somewhere not necessarily sustainable).... and come home with nothing.

I wanted to upload a picture representing the simplicity of holiday life....... freshly caught flathead fillets with steamed vegies (complete with daggy melamine crockery that finds its way into every holiday home). Unfortunately the telstra 4G thingo is not cooperating with blogger so for now you will need to imagine!