At the time of writing I am lying awake on the 9th floor of an inner city Melbourne apartment block. It’s getting late. I’ve given up on trying to sleep after the last few hours of lying here biting my nails. I’m getting anxious, because tomorrow we set sail on the spirit of tasmania, a 9 hour sea voyage over the bass straight, and I’ve suddenly rediscovered one of my worst fears… deep water. So here I am, with Yilla asleep beside me, planning and anticipating the best survival tactic lest the ship go ‘titanic’, and chastising myself for not having thought to buy toddler sized emergency inflatable life jackets. The alarm is set for 5.30 am, but who am I kidding, there’s no chance of shut-eye at this rate, so I may aswell tell you all about the second half of our great ocean road adventure…
The second half of our great ocean road trip really began in Port Fairy, a sleepy little coastal town far enough west of the great ocean road to avoid the droves of tourists. There are so many great things about Port fairy, the historic architecture, the beaches and nature reserves, the easy bike-ability of the town, quaint little cafes, a tiny but bursting community garden and weekly farmers markets full of organic produce. It was the perfect place to retire the van for a few days and use the bike to explore, I absolutely love cycling, it’s something physical that I can do really easily with Yilla. Our favorite place to ride to everyday was the lighthouse on Griffith island, a wildlife reserve island connected to the mainland by a thin concrete footpath over the water. The island is full of black wallabies and is a breeding habitat for seabirds; the ground is like a minefield of nests! You can ride to the far side of the island on a decent dirt track which brings you to the lighthouse and our favorite little beach, no one ever seems to spend time here but it’s the perfect spot for crab hunting – Yilla’s favorite activity. When we arrived in Port Fairy we had literally no fresh food. This has often been the case during our trip as vegetables obviously can only last so long and sometimes we go long stretches between farmers markets or farm stalls. I’m never too worried about it as we can always find edible weeds wherever we go, but after a few days you kind of get sick of wild apples and steamed dandelions for every meal! Happily, in the case of port fairy, we discovered a community garden while we were cycling! Yay! We often search out community gardens when we arrive somewhere; (obviously never pick from somebody else’s plot) but in the pathways are usually plenty of “volunteers”, plants that have grown themselves from seeds dropped by the garden. They are sovereign beings so to speak, and readily harvested. (Whenever harvesting any wild foods always remember to take only what you need and leave plenty for other beings) the Port Fairy community garden had paths absolutely chock full of silver beet, mint and parsley. Yes please! Add soba noodles and some free-range chicken from the local butcher and you have yourself a corporation- free dinner! Asian chicken noodle stir fry with mint! It was so tasty that we had a neighbourhood cat come and join us for a feed, who knew a cat could eat so much chicken!
The community garden’s pathways kept us fed for a good few days until the Saturday farmers market, which was full of delicious plums, freshly picked peaches, biodynamic vegetables and handmade goats cheese. We filled a huge box absolutely to the brim with everything available because the next day there would be three mouths to feed. No, we hadn’t kidnapped the cat, we were going to meet my dad who I hadn’t seen since I was 13! To give you the brief family history, my parents have been rather messily divorced most of my life, and we (my sister and I) would only see my dad occasionally growing up. My mum decided to move to Australia when I was 13, taking us with her, Dad moved to Scotland, and that was the end of that story more or less… Until now, for after 10 years he had decided to fly into Australia to see us again. Driving to meet him for he first time I was so nervous, and so was he! But meeting us must have been far stranger for my Dad than for me, as the last time he saw me I was just a little girl and now I was a completely transformed and unfamiliar adult, moreover I was now a parent myself! For me, dad was still as I remembered him, just a little bit greyer and a little bit wiser. It was absolutely bizarre though to say the word “Dad” at first, as it just wasn’t a part of my adult vocabulary! It didn’t take us long to hit it off though and we were soon sitting in the bay window of the holiday house dad had rented nerding out about astronomy, history, paganism, indigenous Australian culture, and all the things that make me tick and I realised “wow I got so much of this from my dad!”
As I just mentioned, my dad rented this beautiful big holiday house on the hills above Apollo bay for the first 3 days of our time together. In terms of luxury, it was beyond anything I’ve known. To be fair, anything with a toilet and running water is 5 star in my books, but this was knockout with incredible views, massive bathtubs, clean clean clean luxurious bedrooms and most of all an actual kitchen with an OVEN. So naturally I introduced dad to foraging by collecting bags of roadside apples and baking delicious apple cakes and cookies! Yum. I also had a MASSIVE box of fruit and veggies from the Port Fairy farmers market that completely filled the fridge and I had a ball playing Masterchef for every meal. Not to mention that the kitchen was equipped with a dishwasher so I didn’t have to clean up afterwards! We had 4 massive wedge tail eagles that would constantly soar straight past the windows on their hunting circuit, so we also got the thrill of eating our meals while watching these giants hunt for theirs. Luckily koala didn’t seem to be on the menu because there was one very stoned koala hanging out in the garden too. No lack of wildlife in this place, including one massive brown snake that disappeared under the house once we arrived. Yikes.
After a few days living the bourgeoisie lifestyle I asked dad if he wanted to buy a swag and come camping with us, his reply? “Absolutely.” So we hit the road together and headed back to the bush, this time showing Dad all the incredible places we’d discovered and discovering more together. It was pretty nice to have someone adult to share the road with, and it was so much fun introducing dad to new foods like sauerkraut and kombucha, both of which he loved and swore he would track down back in the UK, but there was one thing I showed him that he was REALLY excited about. Beach strawberries. These delicious native fruits grow along the entire coastline of Australia. The pigface plant is succulent with a crawling habit and long square stems and leaves. You’ll find it tucked into the sand dunes and along beach paths. At certain times of he year (I can’t tell which one, it seems different everywhere) the plant flowers and produces bright pink swollen stems where the flower has dried up. Pick these and peel back the pink skin to reveal a tiny juicy salty ball of fruity ocean delight. It’s an acquired taste but it’s truly delicious, dad couldn’t get enough of it! To his credit, dad never complained about my “bizarre” supermarket free lifestyle or about my absolute refusal to drink town water. Infact he took everything in his stride and was super supportive of what I was doing which I’m very grateful for.
The highlight of our time together would have to be the week we spent in Lorne. The temperature hit high 30’s and it was just paradise. Every day was spent in the crystal blue water, lying in the hot sand and just soaking up the sun. Even more so because my impending departure to Tasmania was approaching and I knew this might be the last warmth I would get for a very long time. While we were in Lorne we stayed at a beautiful free camp 15 minutes out of town into the bush, there we met another family who had been travelling for almost a year with their 4 year old daughter, and we hit it off immediately. We ate dinner together every night and had tea together every morning. All around us, backpackers would park, unload, party, pack up and go, repeat. But we were just in a world of our own. Vera and Russ were immigrants from Bulgaria, and it didn’t take them long to become disenchanted with the rat race and renounce the Australia dream (a.k.a mortgage for the rest of your life) for the good life. Now they are culinary hero’s of the road, encompassing their passion for permaculture and healthy living by making their own sourdough, pickles, and kefir from their little caravan kitchen. Vera is an amazing cook and among other delicious creations she invited us over for a dinner one night of “mishmash” a Bulgarian dish which is essentially scrambled eggs but with roasted eggplant, capsicum, tomato, herbs and feta. Yum! It was hard to say goodbye to these guys, they felt like family, but I’m sure we’ll see them again.
Alas it was time for my dad and I to return to the big smoke – Melbourne – so that dad could meet with Eva, my sister, and Yilla and I could catch the passenger ferry over the Tasman Sea for our next leg of the journey. I must admit that while last time in Melbourne I was excited and enthralled by the city life, this time it felt draining and unhealthy. After the peace and stillness of camping in the forest for so long, it was starkly obvious how painfully removed the city lifestyle is. Dad felt exactly the same way and to make matters worse we found ourselves staying in a 9th floor inner city apartment right next door to a construction site, so for 4 days and nights we were serenaded by the lullaby of a high impact drill grinding deeper and deeper into the Earths flesh. We were going insane. So we made our escape back to the forest with a daytrip to the Dandenong ranges. More specifically, the William Ricketts sanctuary, a massive forest reserve where the late William Ricketts essentially created a temple in the forest to encapsulate the magic and wisdom of Australia’s indigenous peoples whom he spent so much of his life with. His clay sculptures are all of people that he knew in the Australian desert and he joins them seamlessly onto rocks and fossilised logs throughout the temperate rainforest. This place is absolutely harmonic, and it takes you directly back to the source of all being, unconditional love. What a perfect place to spend one of the last days with my Dad and one my last few days on the Australian Mainland, because before I knew it, it was time board the Spirit of Tasmania and head south into open waters!
Food Oasis 