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Life on two acres of arid dirt, on the edge of the Australian outback.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Around here, doing, going, cooking...

DOING:

A new roof rack and shade for the four wheel drive....


We are planning a trip across the Simpson Desert next year so are gathering together the things we will need...to see spectacular images of the desert go here, you will see why we want to go!


This is called a foxwing shade.
It goes out and around the vehicle...
There will be no comfort when we do this trip, just swags (bedroll) although I think we are going to get a tent that will adjoin the shade.
The will be 1133 big red sand hills to climb, I am a little nervous but excited too..


GOING: 

Some pics I took last weekend when we went for a drive through the hills to Quorn...


The wattles are looking beautiful this time of year...


A sea of yellow...


This is a lovely drive...


Devil's Peak in the distance...


Hills surround on both sides of the road...


Some happy campers...


Devil's peak getting closer...



Beautiful blue skies...


and bright sunshine...
This is Woolshed Flat, where the Pichi Richi runs (steam train mentioned in a previous post)


Devil's Peak... to climb this one day is on my to do list...
Due to fire hazard it is closed in Summer.


 Winding road most of the way.  This is the Pichi Richi bridge...


(accommodation)




Hard to capture photos with hubby driving...
He loves the windy road lol! I do my best to hang on and snap...

Old house...



Tourists




COOKING 

I am back to eating healthy and trying to lose the weight I put on over winter...

I have been experimenting with some new recipes... 
  
Chickpea and tuna salad...


Asparagus, silver-beet and Ricotta frittata...


A few days ago I cooked up one of our home grown chickens (we had four roosters).
In the crock for 8 hours, using this recipe...yum!  
They taste is so different to the bought ones.

I chopped the meat up and froze to make up other meals, then made 12 cups of stock from the juices...


 We are picking a bucket full of these a day.

Quandongs only fruit in abundance every two years...




 Enjoying a homemade sponge roll...


 Yum!


 And hubby spoiling me again with a nice cup of Chai tea to have with my cake...


The warm weather is slowly getting here.  Tomorrow will be 35C (95F). I am enjoying the mild days before our scorching heat arrives. The veggie garden is taking off, I will post some pics tomorrow...Today I am going to plant some tomato  and pumpkin seeds in punnets and hopefully they will grow.  I struggle to grow tomatoes here because of the dry and heat, so hubby is looking at building a little glass house.  We will use clear plastic instead of glass though...

What have you been doing, going and cooking at your house?

Have a great day!

xTania


11 comments:

  1. Wow...you have a lot going on! Your meals looked wonderful!! Love the landscape and descriptions of the surrounding area where you live. So strange to think that as we head into winter, you are going into summer!! Crazy!!
    I gasped when I read you ate your Roo!!
    XO Kris

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  2. Great photos of your drive. Tomatoes don't bear fruit..or they don't ripen..over 27 or 29 degrees celsius..I can't remember which. Some people around here make shade protection for them so they stay a bit cooler in the midday sun.

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  3. I would LOVE to visit your lil part of the world :-)

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  4. Wow a trip into the desert you are brave.

    The photos of your drive were lovely.

    The one thing I actually can grow is tomatoes and I've been making chutney.

    When all the bloggers in the southern hemisphere say spring is here I think my has our summer ended and I guess it has, coming into autumn now, although my favourite season in PA.

    Christy
    Lil Bit Brit

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  5. What wonderful pictures! Your part of the world is so different. It is interesting to see it. You call 95 degrees starting to warm up?!! LOL That is a heat wave here. The food looks delicious as always. Have a great week!

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  6. what a wonderful countryside! Very pretty scenery! Have fun on your upcoming trip

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  7. Always something interesting going on in your neck of the woods Tania.
    You are brave going on the big trip and the shade will be a necessity I guess. My hubby loves the windy roads too, I just get car sick! cheers Wendy

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  8. I love seeing photos of your landscape , it is so different to here. We have started thinking about travelling and doing some trips like this..though I don't think I am ready for 4 wheeling in the desert just yet.
    The quandong tree looks beautiful. Can you make jam with these? What do they taste like?

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  9. what are Quandongs and what do you with them?

    Gill

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  10. Kim and Gill,

    Quandongs are an indigenous fruit and only grows in arid areas of Australia. I stew them up with sugar and make pies, crumbles etc. Jam and chutney can also be made with them. When stewed up they taste similar to rhubarb only they have a tangy taste, a taste you need to get use to :)

    x

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  11. I used to camp a lot in my youth, but not for the last 30 years.

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