Closing the desert

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A Drop Bear in its natural habitat One of the responsibilities of all Australians is to warn overseas tourists about the many dangers that await them in our fair country, the risks of drop bears, snakes. crocodiles, serial killers,  and last but not least the desert... So, this year the South Australians are closing their desert to protect tourists,
The Simpson Desert is one of the most fascinating, majestic places in Australia, but in the middle of summer it's also one of the harshest and the least hospitable areas, and potentially one of the most unforgiving, dangerous places.
Which is nice - means there will be more tourists in Adelaide, and we all know how safe that is...
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mmmm....tasty

One of things I really like to do is eat, particularly very, very good food. Fortunately Fuzzy shares this hobby, so we've eaten at some spectacular places: The main issue we have in our eating hobby is our complete inability to plan months in advance - which is generally what is needed to get a table at any of the really top flight restaurants. We got lucky with The Square - because they'd had a last minute cancellation; Est we did for our wedding anniversay - so we knew months in advance that we'd want to eat out on that night, and the Hind's Head we managed to book online (although we missed out on our first choice -the Fat Duck) So we had three restaurants that were on our list of places to try - the aforementioned Fat Duck; Cafe Sydney - as much for the views as the food - and top of the list Tetsuya's. Well - last night we managed to cross Tetsuya's off the list. One of the people I work with had a reservation for last night, which for a variety of reasons she was unable to make. Rather than cancel it, she asked around to see if anyone in the office would like it. So Fuzzy and I leaped at the opportunity. So - at 6:30pm - all dressed up we presented ourselves at the restaurant for the meal of our lives. It was a 12 course degustation mebu - with accompanying wines...
  1. Cold Corn Soup with Saffron & Vanilla Ice Cream
  2. Smoked Ocean Trout & Avruga Caviar
  3. Leek & Crab Custard
  4. Sashimi of Big Eye Tuna with Wasabi & Ginger Vinaigrette
  5. Confit of Petuna Tasmanian Ocean Trout with Konbu, Daikon & Fennel Seasonal Green Salad
  6. Ravioli of Queensland Spanner Crab with Tomato & Basil Vinaigrette
  7. Grilled Fillet of Barramundi with Braised Baby Fennel
  8. Twice-Cooked De-Boned Spatchcock with Caper & Olive Jus
  9. Grilled Wagyu Beef with Lime & Wasabi
  10. Comte with Lentils
  11. Apple Sorbet with Apple Jelly & Mont Blanc
  12. Chocolate Terrine with Mascarpone & Cognac Anglaise
It was all fantastic - and for my money a better meal than we had at The Square. The highlight for me was the smoked ocean trout with caviar - although the wagu beef was also pretty amazing. It did cost an arm and leg, so you wouldn't eat there if you're even slightly concerned about cost - but for a once in a lifetime experience it was worth every cent.
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I'm ba-ack

(photos to come!) So I'm back from my week in Niseko, which was probably one of the best holiday's I've ever had. The people we were with were great, the people there were lovely, the snow was fantastic, the food was terrific... You get the picture, or you will when I get round to uploading the shots :)
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Going Dark...

I won't be posting at all next week, because I'll be on top of a mountain in Japan skiing. In fact I fly out in around 33 hours. Where we're going there's no cell phone coverage and there are very few internet terminals. To all intents and purposes I will be totally uncontactable. I'm *really* looking forward to it.
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Four...

days to go until I fly out for a week ski-ing in Japan. We're going to Niseko and I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to it
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Guilty Pleasures part 2

The New Zealanders really make decent whisky. Many years ago on a trip to Queenstown we came across a NZ whisky that we really enjoyed. So we bought as many bottles as we could. I opened the second last bottle tonight for my nightcap.
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Can fountain pens be taken on International Flights?

Checking my page referrer logs I notice that a number of people have come to my blog looking for the answer to whether fountain pens can be taken on international flights. So, since I happen to know the answer - I thought I'd post it as a kind of community service. I've never had a security problem taking a fountain pen on an international flight - they've never tried to take the pen away from me. However, the lower cabin pressure in the plane will cause any ink you have in the pen to flood out into the cap and then onto whatever is nearest to the pen. Which is 1) very messy, and 2) really bad for the pen. So I wouldn't recommend taking a pen you're fond of on the flight - and you certainly want to remove the ink source from the pen before you board. Unless you're a big fan of ink-blot art.

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Toys, Gadgets and Skiing...

I'm going ski-ing in February. Technically I won't actually be ski-ing - I'll be ski-boarding - and my baby sister is going to try and teach me to snow-board (despite my protestations that there's no way on earth I'm cool enough). We're going to Niseko in Japan, which already has 2m of snow! But that's not the purpose of the post - the purpose is to talk about Video cameras. I want to be able to video us on the snow, so I want a video camera that is 1) sturdy 2) solid-state (I'm going to video on the move so I don't want to many moving parts 3) Not stupidly expensive. Based on that - I'm thinking I'll get the Sanyo Xacti VPC-CA65EXW which has the added advantage of being waterproof. But - does anyone know of other video cameras that would fit my requirements?

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We're back

We actually got back last Thursday - but I've been a bit busy for blogging. However I have loaded  some of the photos from the trip are here. Short summary of the trip. Christmas lights and markets in Edinburgh are beautiful A vast ugly soulless shopping mall can be an improvement to a place. Particularly if that place is Birmingham If you act like Monkey on Monkey Island people treat you very oddly

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You see the strangest things

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It turns out you can get anything in Hong Kong - even redemption.

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