Falling in love with a flower....

I think I am in love....with a flower. The Barambah Creek Hibiscus to be exact, which I had the pleasure of stumbling across at the Mt Coot-tha Botanical gardens here in Brisbane. I love the name, the crinkly leaves, the muted tones and the mysterious buds.

Hidden Gem in Brisbane

On the weekend we discovered the Australian Plants section of the Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens and found ourselves asking how it was that we had never ever been there before! It's so quiet, has a lovely big lake and of course lots of gorgeous native plants. I was in heaven photographing the native flowers.

Asparagus, Tarragon and Feta Quiche

I just can't help playing with pretty patterns of asparagus...

This is one of my old favourites, inspired by an old cookbook given to me by a friend about 18 years ago. The cookbook is The Enchanted Broccoli Forest by Mollie Katzen. It, along with the original Moosewood Cookbook, are treasured gems.

The pastry is a bit different and the ingredients modified somewhat.

Asparagus, Tarragon and Feta Quiche

Pastry

1 cup wholemeal plain flour

90g cold butter

1 egg yolk

1 tab cold water

Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the egg yolk and water until pastry is combined. Press into a flan dish. You can rest it in the fridge for 1/2 hour but I never bother as I am always running too late.

Bake blind ( I use dried beans on baking paper) in moderate oven for 12 minutes, then without beans for 6 minutes.

Filling

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 bunch steamed asparagus

chopped tarragon (about 1/2 cup)

chopped dill (about 2 tabs)

some blobs of nice feta eg Persian feta

5 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

salt and pepper

After pastry has been cooked, sprinkle cheese over base of pastry, layer asparagus and herbs over cheese. Mix together eggs, milk , salt and pepper and pour over. Place blobs of feta evenly over filling.

Bake in moderate oven for about 45 mins or until set and nicely browned on top.

Photo Shoot

There are not many nicer ways to spend an afternoon than taking photos of these two cuties...

Great Ocean Walk - Day Six

View from the loo at Devil's Kitchen

The old coach road

Wildflowers at Devil's Kitchen

First view of the Twelve Apostles

Wild and wet weather

Towards the Twelve Apostles

The beach below Gibson Steps

The Twelve Apostles

Day 6: Devils' Kitchen to Twelve Apostles

The biggest disappointment of this trip was not being able to walk along Wreck Beach due to a combination of high tides (low tide was 8.oopm!) and rough seas. Our shuttle driver dropped us off behind Devil's Kitchen and we started from there. Devils Kitchen was another lovely spot to camp (again campsite 8 was the best!) and had a loo with an unrivaled view.

A large part of the day was spent walking along the Old Coach Road, which was a little monotonous. The walk was much more dramatic after Princetown. The Princetown Tavern is not far off the track for those desparate for some real food for lunch.

Although the walk officially ends at near Glenample Homestead, we walked the extra kilometre or so along the road to the Twelve Apostles. On the way, we ventured down to the beach via Gibson's Steps - which ended up being one of the highlights of the walk. We were met by our shuttle driver and shuttled all the way back to Apollo Bay for some R&R.

All up this is a great walk. Initially I was a bit unsure how much I would enjoy the walk as it is not a true wilderness experience, with the walk intersecting and using roads for some sections. However, once I accepted that and used it to our advantage in the end, I settled in for a great experience.

Great Ocean Walk - Day Five

Looking back towards Johanna Beach

Behind Milanesia Beach

Milanesia Beach

Milanesia Beach

Campsite at Ryan's Den

Day 5: Johanna Beach to Moonlight Head

We headed off with just one light pack as we had organised to be shuttled back to our accommodation at Joanna Beach after our walk to Moonlight Head. The day started with quite a long section on country roads (walk is to be realigned in the future) before descending to picturesque Milanesia Beach. We attempted to walk around the rocks on the beach instead of traversing the inland route, but were outdone by the wild seas, despite the so called low tide.

The rest of the walk was undulating and muddy with lots of wonderful coastal views. The campsite at Ryan's Den was dramatically located on a headland and we were disappointed to have missed out on camping there (campsite 8 the best).

Great Ocean Walk - Day Four

Johanna Beach

Johanna Beach

Day 4: Johanna Beach to...Johanna Beach

We had some vague plans of doing a return walk from our cottage at Johanna Beach to Castle Cove, to see the section of the walk we missed the previous day. However when we ventured on to the beach, the wind was horizontal and the sand was stinging our faces badly. When faced with the choice of 6km of stinging sand or cups of tea, a pile of magazines and a warm fire...well we were easily seduced by the comforts of the cottage.

We did however check out the Johanna Beach campsite and spent some time stalking an echidna near the track.