A Foodie’s Delight

We just might have saved the best for last in Melbourne....tennis aside.

Cam Smith...cool name for a cool guy....host of the longest running radio food show in Australia.  I’d say we were in expert hands for our private guided food tour this morning.

First stop...Queen Victoria Market where you would expect that Cam knows everyone and everyone knows Cam.  While enjoying an expertly made piccolo latte, Cam describes the market and gives us hints of what he has in store for us.  

This was one of those times when you could taste not only with your palate, but with your eyes as well and definitely with your nose.  The colors were so vibrant and the aromas tantalizing.  

The cheese man had stories behind every cheese.  His suppliers are people who are laborers of love.  One in particular has about 100 goats, knows their names and lovingly cares for them so they produce the milk that becomes the cheese.  He shaved tiny slices of several expensive cheeses so we were able to experience them.  

And butter specialists...who ever heard of a butter specialist?  These smart shoppers come prepared with cooler packs so they can transport their freshly cut wares home in 110 degrees. Reminder - it’s summer in Australia. 

We ate Borek, what I would describe as similar to a calzone with just spinach and cheese.  The bread was simple and delicious.  

Who knew there were so many native Australian fish; so many types of prawns alone?

Cam told us the aisles would be full of shoppers come the weekend.  The market was reminiscent of those we have seen in Italy.  It’s awesome to see that Aussies shop in the same ways of old, visiting the closest thing to the source of their food as they can get.

On to the produce side of the market.  It was so bloody hot that several of the produce people didn’t even come in to work, and those who were there were planning on leaving very soon.  You could tell the vegetables especially were not faring well. They looked limp.

Cam chose a mango for us to taste and the produce man offered to cut it open for him.  Now that was a mango!  So juicy and sweet.

Next on to a bookstore dedicated to food.  The books in one room are arranged by cuisine.  The second room by meal category, ie brunch, salads, entrees, sweets.  They deal in new and second hand books, so often they get calls for books that someone’s mom or aunt had and the caller wants their own copy.  The owner told me they are still doing well despite the influence of the internet.  Cooks and chefs still want the visuals of a cookbook and they aren’t yet sure how to save their recipes.  I tend to read cookbooks like novels so it’s tough to stop myself from buying them.

After the market, on to the tram to explore more shops.  Cam took us to a honey shop with more types of honey than I knew were possible.  We were offered tastes and educated on the pairings of the different with fruit or cheeses or salads...or in cooking....or medicinal remedies.  So yummy!

Passing a tea room and savoring the cakes in the window...again tasting with our eyes!

The beautiful hand etched mirror on the back wall made the journey from England by ship, naturally, wrapped in molasses of all things, installed here over a hundred years ago.  What an awesome feat for the time.

No food tour would be complete without a trip to the ‘heart of Italy’ as Cam referred to Brunetti’s, where we again had coffee, but this time, accompanied by cannoli, of course!

We loved this place so much that Dom & I returned in the afternoon for their pizza which rivaled some of the best we have had in Italy.

Thank you to all of you for coming on this journey with us.  We have had an awesome time, seeing a part of the world totally new to us.  

We wish nothing but the best for the people of Australia as they continue to battle the fires.  Thankfully, our trip was not impacted at all but we know they continue to struggle with this dilemma.  We in Southern California can identify and send our heartfelt wishes for their recovery.

More Melbourne

Since the women’s semi final matches did not begin until the afternoon, we had a good night’s sleep and lazily made our way to one of the shopping districts of Melbourne.  The truth be told, I have bought nothing on this trip.  Our previous stops offered nothing in the way of shopping so I thought we’d explore what Melbourne offered.  Result:  nothing I can’t get at home...or on Amazon.  No, really.
My trainor is from Melbourne and I asked if there was something she’d like me to bring her back from ‘home’.  She mentioned this salt she loves and even had at her wedding as favors.  I asked her to show it to me on her phone so I would know what to look for.  When she pulled it up, it went straight to Amazon!  Could you imagine if I brought that home to her and she said, “thank you but I get regular deliveries of this from Amazon”?  Not that she would say that, but there isn’t much that isn’t available online anymore.

It’s now time for tennis so we go to the tram stop and a city worker tells us they are on strike until 2:00pm!  Okay, so now what?  He tells us the walk along the river is only about 20 minutes and it’s so pretty.  Sounds good...except it’s 101 degrees.  Oh well, by the time we find a cab or Uber who are prohibited from bringing us up to the entrance of the arena, we might as well walk.  The city doesn’t allow any cars to come close to Rod Laver because they are encouraging the tram...yes, the one on strike!  

We arrive in time to grab waters from the ESPN tent and get to our seats.  As we sit, even in the shade, I could feel sweat pouring from every crevice in my body.  You could wring out my dress.  When the wind blew, it was as if a furnace door opened.  The woman next to us was so embarrassed because the entire back of her beige pants were soaked, making it look like she peed her pants.  As the locals say, “welcome to Melbourne”.

The ladies matches did not disappoint.  They battled to the finish line and in the end the American Sofia Kenin will meet the Spaniard Gabine Muguruza.  Muguruza has won Majors before but has floundered the last year or two.  It’s good to see such a talented player back on her game.  Kenin is a fighter and hopefully she will now begin to get the attention she deserves.  All eyes have been on 15 year old Coco Gauff but the 21 year old Kenin is the only American still standing in this Open and she deserves profs for that.

Tonight went pretty much as I expected it to.  My Roger was not at his best, especially since he had two 5 setters leading up to this semi final.  He was not feeling well and just couldn’t beat Novak Djokovic so it was over in 3 sets.  I fear one day soon we may hear that Roger is on a farewell tour.  He did make it to the semifinals though and that’s something to definitely be proud of at almost 39 years of age.

Tomorrow is our last day in Melbourne. We’ll begin the day with a food tour, something we’ve done in Paris and Rome so we will see how Melbourne measures up.
Then an evening flight back to Sydney.   We decided it was less stressful to fly up the night before our flight home.

I'll wrap up this blog tomorrow and give my impressions of our trip as well.

Down to the Semi’s

Thanks to the 4 set- 4 hour battle between Dominic Thiem and Rafa Nadal, my beauty sleep suffered last night.  Dominic truly is the next gen, answering almost all of Rafa’s powerful spins.  Rafa made a lot of mistakes but kept coming back to tie it up only to lose the 3 tie breakers, winning only 1 set.  The crowd was truly kept on the edge of their seats.  

Dominic was so gracious and his respect for Rafa was evident in his body language as he held up his hand, almost apologetically, when he hit a winner.  Love this kid!

We discovered the free tram yesterday, so post midnight, we just went with the flow and in 20 minutes we were back at the hotel.  No fear of walking the 2 blocks from our stop.  There is relatively no crime here in Australia.  One of our drivers told us that’s because here, only the bad guys have guys and they keep the crime to themselves.  Hmmm.  That’s a novel idea, isn’t it?

Simona Halep handily beat Anett Kontavet in the morning session at 6-1, 6-1 to advance to the Semifinals.  Simona is a warrior who, with coach Darren Cahill, has finally matched her brawn to her brain and believes she can win it all.  
Of course, we will see if that’s true today when she takes on the Spaniard Muguruza who beat 30th ranked Pavlyuchenko in straight sets.

BTW, while sitting in my seat I studied Simona’s serve and feel I can now try it out myself on the court next week.  What do you think my chances are, throwing out those 96mph winners?  Try slim to none. 😳

The Aussies will be out in full force today as their Ash Barty takes on the USA’s Sofia Kenin.  This will be a tough one for me.  The hype in America has been centered on the 15 year old Coco Gauff who lost to Kenin in the 4th round.  Perhaps this 21 year old will finally get her due when she competes on the Semifinal stage with Barty.  I might just have to cheer politely for both young ladies and let the scoreboard do the talking.

Before the Nadal-Thiem match we watched the other next gen Sasha Zverev take Stan the Man Wawrinka to 4 sets.  We thought Stan, with his Federer-like backhand, was going to teach Sasha how it’s done, but the young German showed that, although as lanky as they come (6’6”, 198 lbs), his serve packs a wallop.  His perfect English post interview was equally impressive.  It always embarrasses me that we Americans can barely speak English properly and these Europeans not only speak better than us, they add 4 or 5 languages to their repertoire.

The jewel in the crown of today’s schedule will be tonight’s match between my beloved Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.  Now, admittedly, Djokovic loves this Open the best and basically owns it, based on Roger’s resurrection the other day against Sandgren, please don’t count him out.  These are 2 veterans who know each other’s game like no one else...Joker the best returner in the game but Roger will always be the GOAT.  
I can’t wait!

Melbourne at last

We are back where we belong...in the city.  The Outback and the Bush were great to see, but between the desert of 115 degrees and the rainforest where the humidity was about 100%, we are thrilled to be in Melbourne where we could experience 4 seasons in one day.  At least we’ll have variety.

The Intercontinental Hotel is in a historic building over 100 years old.  The facade is architecturally lovely and it’s actually 2 buildings joined together by a glass roof with restaurants in the ‘lane’ on the ground level.

Off we went early this morning for a private city tour.  The driver shared as much as he could with us because we had places to be and people to see...the Australian Open awaited.

Melbourne is a city built on a grid, similar to Manhattan.  There are several districts...financial, fashion and judicial to name a few.  Ethnic areas are clearly defined, a representation of the 60 something nationalities who live here.  We will be going on a walking food tour on Friday so we will be sampling some of their wares.  

We had the privilege to be present at the war memorial for a remembrance that takes place every hour.  

There are many parks throughout the city and the streets are lined with beautiful huge green trees.

We arrived at the tennis arena in time to see the American Sofia Kenin win and advance to the Semi finals where she will play Ash Barty.  We saw Barty’s Quarterfinal match against Petra Kvitova who has always been a tough competitor but was no match for Barty.

I know I should be cheering the American on but I am a big Barty fan and if she wins the tournament, she will be the first Aussie woman to win since 1978.
It was fun to sit close to Barty’s fan club as they shouted their cheers.

Another nail biter from Roger Federer.  He had me on the edge of my seat the other night when he won in 5 sets against Millman.  But to sit so close to him and hope he hears as you cheer him on and gasp when he hits the ball out of the court, is absolute nerve wracking.  And who is this guy Tennys Sandgren anyway to think he could take Roger down?  Well, he serves as fast and hard as the best of them and has biceps the size of my thighs.  Roger took a medical time out and looked almost angry at times; so unlike himself.  But just when I thought he was a goner, he came to life and showed why he is the GOAT.  He won the 4th set tie breaker 10-8 and beat Sandgren 6-3 in the 5th.  Way to sit on the edge of your seat!

We visited the ESPN production offices and met Chrissy Evert & Pam Shriver.  We have been invited to the talent meeting tomorrow morning so that should be cool.

Back to our seats for the Djokovic-Raonic match.  Oh did I mention our seats are under cover and in the cool shade of the sun?  We have not experienced any smoke anywhere on our trip and for that we are extremely grateful.  There are still fires burning in mostly remote areas but the cities are clear.

Sadly for Raonic, he was no match for Djokovic.  He lost to him in 3 sets.

John MacEnroe did the post interview with Djokovic.  He asked him about Kobe.  Novak had a KB embroidered on his jacket along with a red heart.  He teared up when he talked about his friend of 10 years; who meant so much to him, who was always there for him, sharing his advice and experience whenever he needed him.  Yet another whose life Kobe enriched....from all corners of the world.

The two women’s quarterfinal matches should be good but they will be no match for the excitement of seeing Stan the Man Wawrinka play the young Zverev only to cap the day off seeing Rafa and Dominic Thiem go head to head.  

Stay tuned....

Port Douglas Rainforest

Little did I know that this is the rainy season for Port Douglas.  We have lucked out though, probably because we have trotted out with umbrellas when we thought we might get caught in the rain.  But we have experienced thunder like never before.  One night the noise was deafening and lasted so long, scared the begeebers out of me.  And the humidity!  I thought I was living in a swamp.  We have gone from the city to the semi-arid desert to the rainforest.

After a day of R & R in Port Douglas, we were picked up this morning by Clayton for a full day of new and different adventures.  The day began auspiciously though when we stopped at the zoo only to be told that the koalas were not available for a cuddle.  What, are they in a union?  Is it because they don’t work on Australia Day (today)?  Turns out that they do get a day off after so many days of ‘work’ but because one of them is pregnant and unavailable for work, there were no koalas.  
Clayton leapt into action and rearranged the day.  Off we went to another park with available koalas, huge cassowarys which are the third tallest and second heaviest bird, smaller only than the ostrich and emu, and a crocodile river cruise..all very cool.

Off to the rainforest via a ferry to cross the Daintree River.  Clayton was an awesome guide, all the while identifying every plant, tree, insect and wildlife creature as we walked through the rainforest which makes up .25% of Australia.  Who knew there were so many types of ferns?  Oh, and we spotted a wild cassowary.  There are so many nooks and crannies and lookout areas throughout to just stop and admire the density and greenness surrounding you.  Good thing we sprayed Off all over us this morning.

A delicious lunch was at a rustic but lovely restaurant where Clayton gave the chef our order and we went off to feed sweet potatoes to some kangaroos.

I was afraid this guy was going to join us for lunch...yikes!

Next stop was a real treat...a beach walk with beautiful scenery and, of course, a lesson on beach crabs which created these beautiful designs.

Before leaving the rainforest we had to stop at the Daintree Ice Cream Company and Tropical Fruit Farm where the ice cream is made from, you guessed it, the fruit grown from trees on the premises.  For convenience and depending on what fruits are ripe, 4 flavors are chosen and served daily.  The flavors of today were passion fruit, black sapote, coconut palm and wattleseed... delicious.  The sizes and shapes of the fruits from their trees were all new to me.

On to the ferry and back to the ‘mainland’ we went.

Just when I thought Clayton showed us all there was to see for today, he pulls the car over so we could get an education on the bats flying in droves to the top of the fruit trees at dusk.  

We love days like this when we are able to have one on one time with a person who knows their country intimately.  We not only learn about the environment, but we can learn more about their culture and mindset, family and lifestyle.  Clayton was born in Tasmania.  His wife is from Germany; a teacher who teaches in the school their 13 & 10 year old daughters attend.  He’s been a tour guide for 13 years, usually taking out only small groups and absolutely loves his job.

The Great Barrier Reef....full disclosure

Today was to be one of those memorable days...snorkeling The Great Barrier Reef.  Well, it certainly was memorable.

Admittedly, I am in the infancy of my swimming lessons...in 4ft of water in the Westlake Village Equinox pool with my Australian trainer extraordinaire.

Being such a city kid, I never learned to swim ‘properly’, so in my ‘old age’, I’ve taken on this challenge.

I will blog about these lessons soon for your amusement pleasure.

But today was all about The Reef.

Soooo. I get outfitted with the wet suit we are made to wear to avoid jellyfish stings, fins & snorkel mask.  Oh, did I mentioned my lifejacket?

I slide into the water and am feeling pretty good about myself so I venture out to see the reef on the first of 3 snorkel and diving stops.

I suddenly realize the current has taken me farther out than I would have gone in a sane moment.  I begin to work my way back to the boat but I’m not getting any closer.  I have never had a Panic Attack...until today.

I raise my arms and do the universal wave for HELP.    The crew member immediately spots me, grabs his fins and dives into the water to ‘save’ me.  He was extremely gracious and said if there weren’t people like me, he might lose his job.  I’m glad someone found humor in my predicament.

Once I am back onboard my heart continues to pound in my chest.  I’ve since researched that a panic attack cannot cause a heart attack but you could have fooled me.  I was nauseous and Dom said I was white as a sheet.  I consciously tried to slow my breathing as I practically ripped off my wet suit.  I even felt like my bathing suit was strangling me.  

It took a good hour for me to start to feel normal again.  

The boat stops for the 2nd excursion but there was no way I was getting back into that water.  Dom stayed with me as we relaxed and enjoyed the scenery.

Onto stop #3.  The reef is visible from above the water and this time, 2 crewman are personally taking out 2 groups so they can point out the plentiful marine life as the snorkelers get up close and personal.  I really want to go back in the water and conquer my fear.  I told the crewman that I had a panic attack but that I really wanted to try to snorkel again.  He told me to stick close by him and he would be there for me if I felt a panic coming on.

With him by my side I felt very calm.  Only one time I looked back at the boat and saw how far out we were.  I gave myself a stern talking to and stuck my face back into the water.  The Reef did not disappoint.  Hundreds of fish, large striped and small black and whites, yellow lipped fish and even a few sharks.  Roger pointed out everything and dove down to a giant clam to wave his hand over it.  The clam reacted by closing up more tightly.  It was an awesome experience!

Needless to say, I’m very proud of myself.  I so did not want to give into my fears and will be forever grateful to the crew who was so kind to me.