Chicken Dijon with Roasted Vegetables

This may turn out to be a disaster, so I'd better be careful what I say before I taste. But tonight, it was cold outside and I'm leaving town tomorrow for a few days so I didn't want to go out and visit the supermarket. On these occasions it comes down to making the best of what you have available. I have potatoes, broccoli, carrots, onion and garlic in the fridge and a breast of chicken I defrosted yesterday but didn't eat last night, since the urge to cook left me after running around town in the traffic for a couple of hours.

As I'm trying to eat a little healthier, the vegetables have to be roasted. That preserves all the good stuff that boiling or steaming leaches out, yet cooks them so they are interesting to eat. I cut the potato into 3/4 inch cubes, cut the onion and carrot into pieces, toss them all together with salt and olive oil in a Ziploc bag then lay them in a 12 inch square pan. Turned the oven on 400 degrees then cooked them for 50 minutes turning every 15 minutes.

While the veggies are cooking I'll simmer the garlic head for 15 minutes or so to soften it and make it easy to separate and peel the garlic cloves.

Now to prepare the chicken. It's a skinless, boneless chicken breast so that makes life easy. First I'll sprinkle garlic salt, black pepper, and cumin over the chicken then coat the top surface with a layer of Dijon mustard and put the chicken breast in the oven alongside the vegetables. Then I'll pour a glass of wine and sit back and relax for a few minutes (or type in the blog!)

The vegetables should be turned every 15 minutes, so I've set the timer for 15 minutes and when it goes off I'll take the veggies out of the oven and turn them over with a spatula. At the second 15 minute interval I take the chicken out and turn it over and spread Dijon mustard over the exposed side and put it back in the oven.

The third time the time goes off, I turn the veggies, then take the chicken out of the oven, turn it over and add a dozen or so olive halves on top of the chicken breast. Put the chicken back in the oven for 3 or 4 minutes, then take it out and cut through the thickest part of the breast to make sure it is cooked all the way through.

Arrange the chicken on a plate, then when the timer goes off take out the vegetables and arrange them around the chicken. Refilled my glass of Chardonnay and sat down to eat. Fortunately it turned out OK, though the chicken might have been better with a sauce.

Tomorrow night will be a review of a restaurant in Venice, California providing Continental deliver us on time. TTFN.

Hidden Houston - Capitol at Bagby

Shuttle Memorial Park

There is a little park in the north west corner of downtown bounded by Capitol Street, Bagby Street, Rusk Street and Brazos Street and attached to Tranquility Park by a tunnel under Rusk. It is a quiet, secluded park, shielded from passers by on Capitol and Bagby by trees and a perfect place for two simple memorials to astronauts who died in the two shuttle accidents.



A stone plinth almost in the center of the park contains a plate dedicated to the astronauts on the last Challenger mission. The engraving on the plate is quite weathered. It reads:

Francis R Scobee.......Michael J. Smith
Judith A Resnik........Ronald E McNair
Elison S Onizuka.......Gregory B Jarvis
.......................Christa McAuliffe

To the seven men and women who made the supreme sacrifice to advance humankind to the heavens on January 28, 1986 The Space shuttle Challenger Mission 51-L exploded approximately ten miles above Cape Canaveral Florida at 10:38 AM CST. They wished to serve and they did. Therefore on behalf of the citizens of Houston, the engineers council of Houston honors these national heroes. January 28, 1987.



A second plinth on the west side of the park contains a plate that is much easier to read honoring the astronauts of the shuttle Columbia who were killed on February 1, 2003 on reentry to the Earth's atmosphere.



The Sweeney Clock

Across Bagby Strret from the park and bounded by Capitol, Rusk and Bagby is a small triangle of land containing the The Sweeney Clock. A plaque in front of the clock reads. "Once gracing the sidewalk at the northeast corner of Main Street and Prairie, the Sweeney clock was for decades the authoritative timekeeper for downtown Houstonians. Purchased from the Boston maker E. Howard & Co, the clock stood in front of the J.J. Sweeney & Co jewelry store from 1908-1928, where it was also used as a hitching post for horse drawn carriages.
Donated by the store to the City of Houston in 1929, the clock was moved to the downtown Farmer's Market and later to the courtyard of a municipal building near the Jefferson Davis Hospital.
By 1968 the clock had deteriorated badly. It was restored and moved to it's present location, the Sweeney triangle in 1971 with funds provided by the Colonial Dames of America. A base for the 15-foot timepiece was made using paving bricks from historic Navigation Street."



The Old Hanging Oak

Across Capitol from the Sweeney Clock abutting the Verizon Wireless Theater is The Old Hanging Oak. A plaque next to the tree reads:
"Many stories attach to the history of this 400-year old live oak. Some say that during the days of the Republic of Texas (1836-1845) at least 11 criminals were hanged from its graceful boughs. Although others dispute the tales, the legend survives.
In 1896 a courthouse with jail was built nearby. Inside criminals were hanged from scaffolds. Outside, beneath this tree, relatives, mourners and onlookers gathered and waited.
A second courthouse building later occupied the site. When it was demolished in the 1960's to make room for the Albert Thomas Convention Center, a basement wall was left intact to protect the trees root system.
The Old Hanging Oak is thought by some to be the oldest tree in Harris County."

The Journey Home

And so the journey home begins. It is 2:45 am in Brisbane and the alarm on my cell phone has just gone off. 0245 in Brisbane on Thursday, 1045 in Houston on Wednesday.

We leave the house at 0315 with Jacquelynn driving. The roads are eerily quiet, the only sign of life as we drive through Ashgrove is a lone street sweeper slowly brushing the curbs. As we top Ashgrove hill I get a view of the lights in the Central Business District for one last time. We skirt the city, cross the river and run down the M1 to reach the airport in record time, just less than 30 minutes from door to door.

It's time to say goodbye. A long hug. "Thanks for having me". "Safe journey. Let me know when you get home". "I will. Drive safely. Hug Chloe for me". I grab my bags and hat and walk quickly into the terminal, eyes misty with tears. It has been an incredible visit. Chloe is a joy to be around and Jacquelynn and Colin have gone out of their way to make me feel comfortable.

But now it is 0345 and I'm standing in the first of many lines that will be encountered in the next 30 or so hours. There are two flights leaving Brisbane around five am. The first is to Sydney and the second is my flight to Melbourne. All passengers making international connections in Sydney or Melbourne go through the same line to check passports and baggage. I have to check my baggage so the six bottles of Australian beer I carefully wrapped will make it through security. Unfortunately there are 30 or so people in front of me and only one clerk. For the first 15 minutes the line moves very slowly and more people join the line then leave it after checking baggage. But at 0405 six additional clerks appear - the shift obviously starts at 0400 - and by 0410 the line was moving rapidly and I was able to check in and obtain my boarding passes for the flights to Los Angeles.

Traversing security was only moderately time consuming. The lines weren't long but an elderly couple didn't understand the restrictions on the size of bottles for liquids and gels and their bags were returned to them and hand searched and a younger gentleman who seemed to speak little English didn't understand his computer had to go through the x-ray machine separately. There was no requirement to remove shoes, belt or watch and I passed through the personal scanner without incident.

Unfortunately by this time there was no opportunity to explore the Brisbane domestic terminal, it was time to board the Qantas flight to Melbourne. A nice touch was the free newspaper available at the gate for passengers to pick up as they board the plane and free headphones are available in bins at the entrance to the gangway leading to the plane.

The flight departed Brisbane on time at 5:05 am (1.05 pm Wednesday in Houston) and we were served breakfast of Special K, yogurt, fruit juice and a warm roll together with coffee or hot tea.

I ate, reclined the seat slightly, adjusted the flaps on the headrest and dozed for a while, waking up as we approached Melbourne, where we landed on time at 7:20 Brisbane time, 8:20 am Melbourne time.

Walked from the domestic terminal to the International terminal but had to go out of security and walk through the concourse to terminal 2 - the International terminal. At least it was inside, the concourse was light, airy and air conditioned with the occasional store or restaurant along the way. It took less than 10 minutes, then at the International terminal I filled out a departure card, went through passport control and back through security. Still didn't have to take off my shoes, belt or watch to pass through the personal scanner.

Immediately on exiting the security area all passengers are funnelled into the duty free shop. I picked up a bottle of Bundaberg and a bottle of Baileys. When I went to pay and presented my boarding card, the lady at the cash register asked me if Los Angeles was my final destination, then reminded me that I would have to put the bottles of booze in my checked luggage to get them from Los Angeles to Houston. There is absolutely no room in my checked luggage so I didn't buy the booze. Oh well.

After the duty free there are several other stores selling books, Australia wool garments, coffee (Starbucks), candy and an Australian outfitter selling clothes for outdoors on the way to the departure hall where there is another newsagent / bookstore and a snack bar as well as clean, well appointed toilets and places to take a private shower.

The Qantas 747 me and 300 plus other people were to fly on was parked at gate 9. The external paint work on the plane appeared to depict Aboriginal paintings, it was very colorful.



We started boarding at 11:50 am (6:50 pm Wednesday, Houston time) It looks like every seat is full. Fortunately I have an aisle seat. We left the gate at 12:30 pm. 8 3/4 hours gone on this long day.

The flight was long, but uneventful, except the video on demand was not working correctly and the light switch on the control box did not work. The food was OK for airline food, but at least the beer and the wine were free, though it was difficult to attract attention to get a second beer (which I didn't get) or a second glass of wine (which I eventually got by going to the galley). We arrived pretty much on time in Los Angeles at 7:30 am after 14 hours in the air. My body was sore even though I'd dozed two or three times and got up and walked around five or six times.

Passport control and customs were relatively painless. A short line for US passport holders, then a long wait to collect my bag, buy a short line to hand in my customs form and exit the International terminal. Once again I had to walk to the next terminal, but this time the walk was outside along a sidewalk where passengers were getting out of the cars and going into the terminal. Fortunately the Continental terminal, terminal 6, is only a ten minute walk from the International terminal and the weather was pleasant for walking. The lines were mercifully short to check in and then pass through security, though this time I did have to take off my shoes, and remove my belt and watch before getting into the Continental terminal for CO395 flight to Houston with scheduled departure of 11:35 am, 3 1/2 hours from now. But at least i got an upgrade to first class.

The flight to Houston was uneventful, the dinner was OK and the two glasses of wine enough to put me to sleep for an hour. We landed at 4:45 pm and I gathered my bags, found a taxi and headed home where I arrived at 6:30 pm on Thursday evening, 31 1/4 hours after leaving Jacquelynn's house on the other side of the world.

I was past tired, my internal clock said it was 10:30 in the morning, so I drove to the liquor store and bought a box of Black Box Cabernet, then stopped at Kroger and bought sausage and beans for dinner.

Australian Beer

There are two enormous breweries in or close to Brisbane. The XXXX brewery (pronounced four-X) is the Castlemaine Perkins Milton Brewery within walking distance of the center of Brisbane (it took me about 20 minutes from Roma park) XXXX is the most widely available beer in Queensland.

The Fosters Brewery is in Yatala, less than an hours drive south of Brisbane, close to the Gold Coast.

The XXXX brewery and the XXXX brand are owned by Lion Nathan a company that is responsible for many iconic Australian beers such as Fourex, Toohey’s New, Toohey’s Old, Emu Bitter and Southwark. Lion Nathan is an Australasian company quoted on both the Australian and New Zealand stock exchanges. Lion Nathan is 46% owned by the Japanese brewer Kirin. Lion Nathan say that one in every three beers drunk in Queensland is XXXX Gold and two out of every three beers drunk in Queensland is a Castlemain Perkins brand.

The XXXX brewery tour is excellent, cost is AUD20.00 for non-drinkers and AUD26.00 if you want to taste four different beers after the tour. It starts in the visitors center. Tourists are then ushered into a an exhibits area where they sit on a rotating center stage and are treated to the sights and sounds of the brewery history, the tour continues through the brewing process with a display that takes us through the mixing of barley mash and water, the addition of hops and yeast and the fermentation in the tanks, then through the keg filling line and the bottling line, a look at the packaged goods museum then finishing in the Ale House bar and restaurant (the multi media center is undergoing an over-haul)

There are four XXXX beers. XXXX Gold is mid strength lager (3.5% ABV); XXXX Bitter is a full strength lager (4.8% ABV) that doesn't taste anything like a an English bitter; XXXX draught is a lager (4.5% ABV) and XXXX Light (2.2% ABV), the tasting rooms also has other Lion Nathan beers available for tasting including Toohey's and Hahn's.

XXXX Gold is highly carbonated with moderate body and a subtle sweet flavour. Its mild aroma and robust texture are maintained through the drink. The mid-strength alcohol also allows for that extra one before you head back to work.

Hahn Premium is a crisp premium lager with a bitter hoppy taste and a clean bitter finish. This European style full strength lager has been compared to a northern German Pilsener by its brewers. The Premium Lager does not have the strong hoppy aroma of a full Pilsener but don’t let this stir you from enjoying this crisp premium beer. Best served fairly cold (but not freezing!), Hahn Premium soothes the palate with a smooth body and finishes in a clean bitter bite.

XXXX Bitter is a traditional Australian lager with a clean, crisp taste and a slight after-bitterness, but nothing like the taste of a real bitter. XXXX Bitter's delicate aroma comes from the blending of two hop varieties and a sweeter, fruity tang from the yeast. Easy to drink in the hot Brisbane summer, but likely to give you a hangover if you drink to many.

Toohey's Old (4.4% ABV) is probably the best beer I drank in Australia. It has a distinctive ale fruitiness, you can taste the hops and there is a hint of chocolate. Tooheys gives it this description " Tooheys Old is a robustly flavoured ale made with top fermentation ale yeast. The beer is lightly hopped and black malt gives it darker colour. The fruity ale-like esters blend well with the subtle hoppiness and hints of coffee/chocolate to deliver a unique beer." This is an accurate description of a great beer.

The Foster's brewery is more than twice as large as the Four-X brewery

St Helena Island

Today we drove across the city to the resort suburb of Manly to catch a ferry to St Helena Island. We headed across town to the coast, with me reading the map and trying to direct Colin to the boat docks in Manly. There was plenty of time to go when we arrived at the harbor, so we parked the car and ate breakfast at The Fish Cafe before walking to the pier and boarding the catamaran "Cat-O'Nine-Tails" for the 30 minute journey to St Helena Island. The boat and island tours are organized and managed by A B Sea Cruises, who also arrange trips down the Brisbane River and Ghost Tours of St Helena.

No sooner had we left the docks and exited the channel out of the harbor on the way to the island, than it started to rain on the mainland. A big black cloud hovered over the city and poured rain on the center of Brisbane and then moved north up the coast.



The island is now a national park, but from 1867 to 1933 was a prison island, the guide referred to it as Australia's Alcatraz, though the island, at 166 hectares (410 acres)is much larger than Alcatraz (and has much better weather). The tour was excellent, conducted by a person masquerading as a convict. (that's the guy dressed in white in this photo)



We walked for some way across the island and around the ruins of the prison listening to a commentary on the buildings, the people in the prison, the warders, the food and the prisoner activities and escape attempts. fascinating stuff. A picnic lunch was served during the tour.

Only about 7% of the building structures are left. When the island was closed as a prison, anything movable (tin roofs, wooden supports or beams etc) were moved to the mainland for use in constructing government buildings in and around Brisbane. This picture shows the remains of a cell block in which 56 prisoners were held in four tiny cells. The walls of the block are constructed entirely of stone so the block could be used to house any prisoner who might be able to start a fire in a cell with wood in it. The warders were particularly scared of Aborigine prisoners who were thought able to light a fire by rubbing two sticks together.



This picture shows a mural etched onto the wall by a prisoner who was required - as a punishment - to guard the bags of lime quarried and fired by the prisoners.



The prisoners grew all their own food and kept sheep and cows to provide meat and milk. This is what is left of the prison kitchen and bakery.



After the tour we again rested in Manly before driving home. Stopped for coffee and a scone at the Cafe da Vinci, walked around The Manly Gallery and looked at paintings of Queensland and Brisbane by local artists

The Brewhouse, Brisbane

The Brewhouse is home to the city's only microbrewery. They brew a range of beers on the premises that contain Australian malt (barley or wheat), Tasmanian hops, water and, when required, Bundaberg sugar or local honey. The Brewhouse suggest the freshness of it's beer and the the lack of preservatives means "no nasty hangovers in the morning."

This is a link to The Brewhouse Brisbane web site

The building itself is interesting. It was originally built in 1907 as a factory for the Queensland Machinery Company. The interior is large and open plan, with loosely defined areas for playing pool, watching one of the two big screen or seven wide screen TVs broadcasting sports, eating in the grill or standing at the bar. Strangely (for an American) there is no waitress service anywhere in the pub or restaurant. All meals and drinks are ordered at the bar, then the food is delivered to your table after it is prepared.



We ate a snack platter and loaded potatoes. The snack platter contained a large bowl of thick potato wedges seasoned and deep fried, four tiny vegetarian spring rolls, a slice of garlic bread, several prawn crackers and three crispy lemon pepper chicken strips. The potato wedges were very good, but the spring rolls and the chicken strips were cold. Chloe liked the prawn crackers. The loaded potatoes plate contained a pile of potatoes roasted in their skins then loosely cut into quarters and covered with melted cheese, sour cream and tiny pieces of ham. The potatoes were nicely cooked, quite delicious and very fattening.

We (I) had to check out the beers and the Brewhouse obliged by selling a sample platter containing six of the beers the brew.

Schwarzbier - The 4th Reich. 5% ABV A German black lager that had a slight taste of dark chocolate, but was not as crisp and clean as a lager should be. Poor.

Sunshine Honey Wheat. 4.5% ABV The honey (from local bee hives) added a slight sweet after taste to this delicate wheat beer. Reasonable.


Up Yer Kilt - Scottish Ale. 5.3% ABV A traditional Scottish ale with little hop flavor and a slightly bitter aftertaste. Very good.

The Dog's Bollocks - English Mid strength Bitter. 3% ABV A perfect example to show that beer does not necessarily have to be strong to be tasty, (but then I am biased towards good English bitter.) Excellent.

Taffy's Bock. 6.2% ABV A strong lager that originated in Einbeck in Germany. Compares well o Shiner Bock, but not to the original German Bocks. Reasonable.

Midnight Extra Stout, 6.3% ABV Rich, robust and bitter. Tastes good with a pleasant aftertaste, but not different enough to inspire a switch from Guinness draft. Reasonable.

The Brisbane River

The Brisbane River rises in the Brisbane and Cooyar ranges of the Great Divide and meanders 214 mi (344 km) through crop and dairy farms in the Brisbane valley, then through the center of Brisbane before draining into Moreton Bay. Its chief tributaries are the Stanley and Bremer rivers and Lockyer Creek. It is navigable for small craft for about 50 miles to the city of Ipswich.

The river is dammed by the Wivenhoe dam. This dam was completed in 1985 to regulate the flow of water down the river. Planning for the dam was initiated after the disastrous flood of 1974.

An article in Wikepedia on The Brisbane River wikipedia-The Brisbane River suggests there is much environmental concern over the river.

"Environmentally, the river is in a poor condition and has been so for many years. The major causes of pollution are excess nutrients, hydrocarbons, pesticides and bacteria which become concentrated in the river and its sediment after flowing off surrounding lands. This river is also considered too murky and it is not recommended to swim in its waters.

Historically, the river was actively dredged by Boral Sands Inc, ostensibly to make the river navigable. The constant extraction of river bed material by dredges has had considerable effect on the river. These impacts include increased turbidity, bed and bank erosion and changes in tidal hydraulics. The tidal nature of the river and the generally muddy nature of the sands removed by dredging created a woefully sludgy clayey sediment load in the river which did not clear. The efficacy of dredging the river upstream of the city reach to make it "navigable" was always in doubt, and the effect of the artificial sediment load in Moreton Bay grew to concern environmentalists worried that sediment was choking sea grass paddocks which were grazing territory for dugong. In a meeting concerning the matter in October 1996, including two State Government Ministers and three Mayors, an agreement to cease the dredging of sand and gravel from the river by September 30, 1997 was formed. Boral Resources Pty. Ltd. resisted the agreement, but ultimately all dredging was stopped by the agreed date.

The river has several important ecological areas where remnant populations of mangroves exist; these include areas around drainage culverts, in Breakfast Creek, New Farm, a small preserve at the city bend, near the Queensland University of Technology and around the shipping terminals at the river's terminus into Moreton Bay.

These mangroves have recently become classified as protected nature reserves."

Now that I've done my environmental bit, let's look at some pictures.

Nine major bridges span the river in Brisbane, and to relieve congestion on city roads, the Queensland government transport agency called Translink operates a Ferry Service with five crossings across the river or a catamaran shuttle service that runs from Bretts Wharf in the north east of the city to the University of Queensland in the south east of the city. (The river flows from south west to north east at this point in it's travels.



The CityCat is a catamaran that can take seventy or eighty people sitting in reasonable comfort inside the main cabin or sitting and standing at the front or rear of the boat with the wind blowing through your hair.



We rode for some of the time at the front of the boat and for most of the time at the rear. The views of the city and buildings and other boats on the river were stupendous.



This is the CityFerry that plies the river crossings in the city.



The river makes a U turn through downtown, this is the Central Business District on the west side of the U ...



... this is a paddle steamer that is used to take tourists on day trips up and down the river ...



... and this is the Central Business District on the east side of the U...



... and this is the Story Bridge - the largest steel cantilevered bridge in Australia. The bridge marks the northern and eastern limits of the Central Business District and connects the CBD to Kangaroo Point.

Swimming with the Dolphins

This was the most amazing experience. I am still trying to come up with words that adequately describe the sensations of touching and stroking a dolphins back and tummy, holding a dolphin's chin and watching their eyes as I talked to it and got the incredible sensation that it was actually listening.






The Sea World at Surfers Paradise, Australia is somewhat different than the US versions of Sea World. There are more interactive activities and less of the choreographed performances with dolphins and whales and seals that you see in the US. There are three shows, only one of which involves aquatic animals/mammals. The three are a show with sea lions who stay mostly on dry land, a water skiing stunt show and the Sesame Street show, where a life size Big Bird, Grover, Elmo, Cookie Monster and a couple of others put on a 15 minute show every hour with songs and dancing to entertain the children. After every second show children line up to have photographs taken with one or more of the characters.

After the show, there is a Sesame Street play area with a carousel, a helicopter roundabout and a wet play area with fountains squirting from the ground.






The interactive parts of the park include the Dolphins shown above and a similar experience with sea lions, a tidal pool where children (and adults) can touch starfish, sea cucumbers and shellfish, tanks where one can scuba with manta rays and small sharks, other tanks for snorkeling on a barrier reef. It is also possible to become a dolphin or sea lion trainer for a couple of hours.

Mooloolaba Beach and Ettamogah Pub

The Sunshine Coast is north of Brisbane. The beaches of the Sunshine Coast are some of the best in Australia for board riding and body surfing. The seaside town of Mooloolaba is 95 km north of Brisbane in the middle of the Sunshine Coast. Warm Pacific waves roll into shore. This is the view north from the Lifesaving Club.


This the Lifesaving Club - the blue flags mark the area patrolled for swimming. It is a relatively small swathe of beach, less than a hundred meters wide, but the life guards do an excellent job of keeping swimmers within the flags.



Grandad and Chloe played in the surf:



While mummy sculpted a turtle in the sand.



As we left the beach, we stopped for a moment to visit the Loo:



Before stopping, on the way home, for a beer at the Ettamogah Pub. The pub is inspired by the cartoons of Ken Maynard. Mr Maynard was a traffic policeman in Melbourne when he started drawing cartoons for police Life Magazine. Over time the Ettamogah Pub cartoon grew in popularity and the Aussie World theme park picked up this popularity to establish the Ettamogah pub as the anchor to the park.

Brisbane and me - a personal view, mostly pictures, a few words

The visit to Chloe, Jacquelynn and Colin has reached the halfway stage. These are a few of the images from the first half of the trip.


One (of the many) highlights was a visit to the Corrumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, not just because of the wildlife, but because Chloe sat on my shoulders. However, Jacquelynn snapped the shot before I had time to suck in.




Chloe is amazing. she is 18 months old, can dog paddle well enough to be safe in water and can now jump from the side of the pool towards her mother in the pool.



We spent a day at Sea World on the Gold Coast, most of the day was spent at the Sesame Street section of the park watching the show (twice) or riding the Elmo and Big Bird and Grover rides. Here I am with the two Chloes.



The Brisbane climate is subtropical and there are some beautiful parks in and around the city. These are flowers in the Roma park.



Some billboards around town defy explanation. I am still trying to get someone to explain to me what worked and dropped mean (fully loaded I understand)



Many restaurants in Queensland are not licensed, so many restaurants allow customers to bring their own beer, wine or even liquor. Some restaurants advertise this by placing banners (BYO - Bring Your Own)outside the restaurant.



One hypermarket we visited covered their parking lot with a canopy to shield customers and cars from the sun.



Junk mail is obviously as great a problem in Oz as it is in the US. However, in Brisbane, many residents have "no junk mail" signs on their mailbox and the Australian post appears to respect the wishes of these people.



To ease congestion the main arterial streets into and out of the Central Business District (known to all as the CBD) have one lane marked as an HOV lane, called T2. In the morning rush hour the T2 lane is the inside lane (the lane nearest the curb) going into town and in the evening it is the inside lane going out of town.




Brisbane has it's own Chinatown. A four block area on the edge of the CBD with Chinese restaurants and food stores.



Brisbane has made a wonderful effort to beautify the city. There are many small parks around town like Wilcannia Park. The city has also painted every traffic light control box with a different scene to match the locality.

Tamborine Mountain, Australia

Food and Wine on Tamborine Mountain

Today we spent the day on Tamborine Mountain, a plateau 580 meters (approximately 1,900 feet) above sea level and 25 km (approximately 16 miles) inland from Surfers Paradise south of Brisbane. The temperature on the plateau is 5-7 degrees Celsius (9-13 degrees Fahrenheit) lower than on the coast and the gentle winds made it an excellent day for walking. There are three villages on the plateau, Eagle Heights, North Tamborine and Mount Tamborine and the three have bandied together to provide the visitor with a eclectic mix of things to do, places to go and things to see.

There are three wineries on the plateau, and three more wineries in the valleys at the southern end of the range. Good restaurants, bed and breakfast accommodations, cottages for rent, gift and antique shops and artists shops and galleries line the road. Seven National Parks provide paths for walking and viewing the thick rainforest and tall eucalyptus trees and the rich variety of flora and fauna that grows on the mountain.

Jacquelynn reserved a table for us at D’Luscious, a small café adjoining the Heritage Winery tasting room. The table was outside under the canopy between the tasting room and the restaurant. The seats were exceptional, a love seat for two on one side of the table, padded wicker chairs on the other side, and to complete the ambiance a guitarist played and sang folk songs from his location on the other side of the tasting room entrance.

The Maitre D was enthusiastic about promoting his special so Colin chose one – pumpkin and basil ravioli with crisp panchetta and rocket in a white wine and cream sauce and I chose the other – seafood chowder with prawns, scallops and fresh snapper delivered that morning from the coast. Jacquelynn chose a potato, chive and cheese pancake served with crisp bacon and garden salad. We each chose a different flavor of milk shake and Colin added a glass of red wine from the Heritage winery tasting room next door. The restaurant discourages patrons from bringing their own wine and instead encourages them to buy a glass or a bottle of wine from the conveniently located tasting room.

The food was excellent, and the portions were large. The flavors melded well together in all three dishes and the food is highly recommended.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the milk shakes. At first proffering the shakes were merely flavored milk, Jacquelynn and I complained and more ice cream was added to thicken the shakes. Colin drank his wine and let Chloe drink the flavored milk. Very shortly after finishing the meal and paying, both Jacquelynn and I got stomach cramps that were most painful. We walked for a while to try and ease the cramps, and after 45 minutes or so and two trips to the bathroom mine went away. Jacquelynn’s persisted for the afternoon and evening.

Jacquelynn continued to walk with us as we visited art and antique and gift shops or sat outside with Chloe while Colin and I visited the Mount Tamborine winery tasting room and tasted cabernet-merlot, muscatel and chardonnay. All three of the wines left slightly unpleasant tastes in the mouth during the tasting.

We then drove down the mountain to the Mount Nathan winery where Jacquelynn stayed in the car with sleeping Chloe while Colin and I were ‘entertained’ by the third generation of the family Gibson who own the winery. Unfortunately the younger Gibson – studying history and English at college to become a schoolteacher – did not know much about the wine and though the port was very good, he could not tell us how the fortification took place. Instead he told us that the ‘brandied port’ got its flavor by having fortified wine poured into a barrels previously used to store brandy. The barrels were then spun around so the barrels gave up the flavor of the brandy but no alcohol to the fortified wine. An interesting concept, to say the least, and despite all this whirling around, the port tasted OK, so we bought a bottle.

Australia, Brisbane, Sirromet Winery

Queensland has a small but growing wine industry. Although the climate represents a challenge for viticulturists, the state appears to show promise, particularly for red wines. There are currently 170 wineries in ten wine producing regions growing grapes on 1,500 hectares (approximately 3,700 acres)

The state of Queensland itself is a designated wine zone. Within the state there are two official regions, the Granite Belt covering 790 hectares or approximately 2,000 acres and South Burnett with 420 hectares or approximately 1,000 acres under grape cultivation. The Granite Belt is approximately three hours south west of Brisbane in the mountains on the border between Queensland and New South Wales, South Burnett is two hours north west of Brisbane on the rolling hills of the Great Dividing Range. There are several other smaller growing areas that produce unique wines.

Sirromet Winery is on 560 acres on Mount Cotton just a short drive from Brisbane's Central Business District. The winery buildings, a restaurant and tasting room sit on top of Mount Cotton surrounded by grape vines. Moreton Bay and the sand ridges of North Stradbroke Island can be seen in the distance. The grapes grown on Mount Cotton are used exclusively for producing fortified wines, the climate is not suitable for grape varietals used to produce table wines. The grapes for their award winning red, white and sparkling wines are produced at the Sirromet owned Seven Seas and St Jude's vineyards in the Granite Belt.

This is a link to the winery web site. On the site there is more information on Club Sirromet. Membership in the club entitles the holder to 15% discount on wine purchases and at the restaurant, but requires one to purchase a case of wine per quarter. There is also more information on the restaurant, Luraleen's recently voted 'Australia's Best Restaurant in a Winery' The restaurant was fully booked on our visit to the winery so we were unable to sample the food.
http://www.sirromet.com/index.html

We tasted fifteen different wines and though the memory is a little bit fuzzy, the scribbled notes indicate that the 2005 Seven Seas Sparkling Chardonnay Pinot, produced from grapes grown in the Granite Belt, was enjoyable. It was light and fresh on the nose and fresh and clean on the palate with hints of strawberry and apple, retails for $25 at the winery. Jacquelynn liked the 2006 820 Above Rose, also produced from Granite Belt grapes, this was a little flowery on the nose for me, and the palate followed the nose with hints of strawberry and rose but little residual sweetness. $15 at the winery. My favorite was the 2005 Seven Seas Cabernet, which had a rich chocolate and cassis nose and lovely firm fruit flavors and soft tannins on the palate. An intense, rich red wine that will go perfectly with the steak on the barbie we will have tomorrow. $25 at the winery.

After the tour and the tasting we sat outside and enjoyed a shrimp sandwich and a very nice cheese plate for an early afternoon lunch. I enjoyed a glass of cabernet with the cheese, then Jacquelynn, Chloe and I napped in the car while Colin, our designated driver, piloted us home safely.