Down Under



Cateract Gorge, Tasmania


I had a wonderful time in Melbourne and Tasmania. There's nothing like fresh air and lots of nature walks to whet that appetite. And being in Australia, we were spoilt for choice in terms of food. Take, for example, our first day of the trip.

First stop, breakfast in Melbourne. Our friend, an almost Melbourne native now that he's been there for a few years, brought us to a few alleyways cramped full of cafes. They were all serving dishes piled high with eggs, bacon and sausages. Portions are big here, our friend warned us, and so we shared a super large breakfast plate with extra sausages.

Italian ladies serve up a mean plate of pasta

A walk around the city and we then piled into an Italian place for lunch. We sat at a large table in the kitchen, right in front of the buzzing stove as the Italian ladies went about their business of cooking, gesturing animatedly with their hands, talking a rapid-fire of English and Italian at the same time. The pasta I had was good but simply being able to sit there and watch the ladies in action, made the experience better than being in Italy!

Dinner was a pub affair where we all ordered huge succulent steaks that came along with fresh salads and chips. Needless to say, we tried all the beers they had on tap and then ordered some more.

Le Monsieur comtemplates the sea

A cheese plate came along at another watering hole later that night, Le Monsieur was very pleased to announce that the Aussies make their cheese as well as the French do.

And so it went, the rest of the trip Down Under, we ate and drank very well everywhere we went. The meat was good and the seafood, excellent. Of course, we were not there only for the food. We also did nature hikes and met with a lot of the local animals. Le Monsieur loves the wombats while I, I simply love the Tasmanian Devils...

Aren't they cute?

Eat, drink and be merry!
Love Suzy