Hotham's Aussie Snow Job

Skiing on a picture perfect fresh powder day at MT Hotham winter 2010.
Photo by Steve Cuff / Mt Hotham

Why drive to the snow each day when you can wake up in the thick of it?

If, like me, you get car-sick along mountain roads, then Victoria’s Mount Hotham is the ideal Aussie ski destination.

NAPOLEON’S GRAND MAURITIUS VICTORY SHORT-LIVED

david ellis

OF all the battles he fought, Napoleon Bonaparte won only one at sea – and remarkably that was not in his own backyard in Europe, but on the other side of the world in the Indian Ocean.

And while he was not personally involved in this historic skirmish in which a small part of his navy resoundingly defeated the British, Napoleon would not have even been around at all had it not been for an ironic twist of fate: when he was a 16-year old French Artillery Officer he applied to join an expedition to the Southern Ocean led by the explorer La Perouse, but was rejected.

As history tells us, La Perouse and his entire crew perished when his ship foundered off what is now Vanuatu, while the adventurous Napoleon whom La Perouse considered unfit for his South Seas foray, went on to become one of France's greatest sons.

In the early 1800s the trade routes from the lucrative Far East to Europe were highly prized, and after grabbing what is now Mauritius from the Dutch and renaming it Ile de France, the French established a naval base at Grand Port.

In August of 1810, four British ships made a surprise raid on Grand Port, and in the absence of the local French naval squadron that was away on patrol, the British continued to fly the French flag from the local fort so as not to give away their presence to the French squadron when it returned.

When that occurred on August 20 1810 the French with their three frigates and two captured East Indiamen (trading ships,) were immediately set upon by the British.    

A bloody battle raged for two days, and while the British squadron of four ships out-gunned the French with 175 cannon to 144, the French fought a masterful fight: due to the shallow waters of the Bay neither side was able to set sail to gain a manoeuvering advantage and had to fight from their ships that rode constrained on their anchors.

The French at one stage shot away the mooring chains of two of the four British ships, setting them free to drift ashore where they were blown apart as they floundered helplessly on the sands; the remaining two were then quickly captured.

And ironically when the French commander and a British captain were injured in this historic encounter, they were taken ashore by their crews for treatment at a local clinic – and found themselves in beds side-by-side and being treated by the same doctor. That clinic is now the National History Museum in the village of Mahebourg and well worth a visit to re-trace the exact details of the Battle of Grand Port.

Napoleon's only-ever naval victory over a British fleet was received with much jubilation in Paris, and was inscribed amongst his other victories on the Arc de Triomphe.

But jubilation was short-lived: just three months later the British, still coveting Ile de France because of its strategic location in the Indian Ocean, launched another attack on the island, this time landing on its northern shores and marching overland to attack the fort at Grand Port.

Not wanting another battle, the French immediately gave up the island and Britain renamed it Mauritius; twenty-five years later they abolished slavery there, giving sugar cane planters the-then very princely sum of two-million pounds as compensation for the loss of the slaves they'd brought from Africa and Madagascar, and to enable them to employ thousands of immigrants from India to work their plantations.

Mauritius gained independence from Britain in 1968 and is now a much sought-after holiday destination for Australians and Europeans, with excellent and well-priced beach resorts, exceptional dining with French and Creole influences, wonderful shopping and colourful markets, and plenty of local cultural and historic attractions.

In May 2010 the Mauritian and French governments are planning a 200th anniversary re-enactment of the Battle of Grand Port and a Tall Ships Regatta, promising what will be "a very colourful event in a very colourful country."

Keenly-priced holiday opportunities to Mauritius now and for the 2010 celebrations are available through travel agents.

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PHOTO CAPTIONS:

MORE peaceful fleets than in Napoleon's day ply the waters of Mauritius today.

COLOURFUL markets are a highlight of holiday shopping in Mauritius that's a popular getaway for Australians.

Photos: Mauritius Media Centre

GOING TROPPO: IT’S ALL BUBBLES, BUSH AND BILLY TEA

 

 

david ellis

 

"LOOK for the bubbles," says Col Adamson as our party of hopefuls, victims of an itinerant tropical downpour, flounders along a muddy trail beside the Broken River in Queensland's Eungella National Park.

 

We're high in the rainforest hinterland behind Mackay, most of us more interested in the umbrellas we were told to bring, but didn't because only sissies carry umbrellas. Or billy tea and damper we're promised at a dry bush camp in the Bali Hai-cloudy mountains; anything in fact to compensate for the dinner we drank the night before.

 

"There they are," says Col. "Just off that sunken tree."  We see nothing but giant raindrops pock-marking the muddied river.

 

"Now, there," says Col, enthusiastic as a child. "Closer to the shore… there, there, here he comes… come on, mate, come on!"

 

Then we see it. Our first platypus in the wild. A tiny fellow swimming straight towards us, duck-bill up curiously sensing the presence of we intruders. Aggrieved, he slips beneath the surface without a ripple. "A young one, so there's a family around," says Col, the park's Number One platypus-spotter with a 100% record on-tour.

 

The rain stops, the sun comes out, and an adult of the family surfaces, but obviously equally disgusted at our presence, she too disappears.

 

 "They'll travel quite a way underwater looking for clearer water conditions," says Col. "Always look for the bubbles they breathe out while feeding before they come to the surface."

 

We note his advice and head for the mini-coach, still ruminating on the bubbles in last night's dinner.

 

Col Adamson and wife Jenny set up Natural North Discovery Tours in Mackay in 1995, did so well they were made an offer they couldn't refuse, and stayed on with the new owners who run a broader range of tours and excursions as Reeforest Tours.

 

In his years here, Col – who chucked-in running his own transport company in NSW to escape the rat-race – has taught himself enough about the area to fill a myriad reference books.

 

Want to know Mackay's history? Col will take you back to the 1860s when, in search of new pastures, a one-time seaman named Captain John Mackay, six stockmen and two Aboriginal trackers drove two bullock teams and 1200 head of cattle hundreds of kilometres north from Armidale. They named a river that ran through the fertile valley they discovered, the Mackay.

 

And why all the sugar cane? "The cattle got water-logged in the first wet season, so the settlers tried growing maze and sugar and even coffee and tea –  only the sugar survived the wet."

 

Col turns to the subject of Eungella. "It has the most rainforest of any National

Park in Queensland," he says. "It used to get over 2.5 metres of rain a year, but that's been leaner in recent years... the bird and animal life absolutely thrives here: kingfishers, cockatoos, honeyeaters, bowerbirds, golden crowned snakes, tusked frogs, platypus, geckos."

 

And 830m up in the clouds there's the Eungella Chalet, a circa-1930 guest house that at one time did just as well as a sly-grog joint because police found it impossible to raid with only one road through the dense rainforest.

 

"And in the 1940s," Col says, "the Americans used it for R&R for officers and put in a fire escape – not in case of fire, but so the girls they brought with them could get away if they saw the Military Police coming."

 

We stop now at one of the jewels on Col's tour: a serene bush camp dubbed The Finch Hatton Hilton in the spectacularly rugged Finch Hatton Gorge. Here the ever-affable Col prepares an impossibly grand bush barbie including billy tea and damper, all the time spinning tales both tall and true.

 

Then, well sated and last night's dinner forgotten, it's time to head for the airport. As we pass a small sugar town's tiny community hall, Col says a local lady used to sing there to entertain the mill families.

 

"But to try to further her career she and her hubby had to move away.

"Her name was Nellie Melba."

 

To join Reeforest Tours' Platypus & Rainforest ECO Safari, outback tours and excursions around the Mackay area and Whitsundays, phone (07) 4959 8360 or visit www.reeforest.com

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HIGHLAND FLING OF GARDENS, GALLERIES AND GOURMET DINING

john rozentals and david ellis

photos: sandra burn white



NEW SOUTH WALES’ Southern Highlands – just ninety minutes from Sydney have come a long way since their initial fame in the mid- to late-19th century centred on their coal mines, iron foundries, brick kilns and dairies that supplied “the big smoke.”

And in later-times, the author of Mary Poppins who created one of Hollywood’s most-magical characters from her home here in Bowral… and Australia’s first history-making ensuited motel.

Today the mines, the kilns, the dairies are something of history, Mary Poppins has become a household name, every motel has an ensuite, and the Highlands are now a year-round playground for Sydney-siders, Canberrans, South Coasters and overseas visitors drawn by their lush very-English gardens, flower festivals, quaint tearooms and cafés, fine restaurants and bounteous antique shops.

And for outdoors types, the spectacular Fitzroy Falls and Morton National Park; and whether you’re a sports fan or not there’s the region’s most famous citadel all, Bowral’s (Sir Donald) Bradman Museum and Oval.

Garden buffs home-in on Milton Park that was owned from 1910 to 1960 by the Anthony Hordern family of Sydney retailing fame.

Originally established along Edwardian formal and geometric lines, the magnificent gardens at the front of the mansion were gradually expanded to include a series of terraces, pools and spectacular garden beds amid the property’s many fine old trees.

After buying the property in 1910, Anthony Hordern renamed it after the South Coast town of Milton, which had been established by his grandfather John Booth.

It’s easy to spend an hour or two wandering these gardens, taking photos and discovering delights such as the three oldest weeping beeches in Australia and the oldest variegated tulip tree in the southern hemisphere.

These days, Milton Park is run as a guesthouse and spa resort and offers fine dining in Horderns Restaurant, where new executive chef Joel Bickford is doing wonders with local produce, including Li-Sun mushrooms from a disused railway tunnel now used by microbiologist Noel Arrold to produce a range of these exotic delights.

Accompanying perfectly seared aged, grain-fed beef at Horderns Restaurant, “tunnel mushrooms” provide a veritable explosion of earthy flavours.

A drive to Horderns for lunch, a stroll around Milton Park, and a diversion to Fitzroy Falls, comes highly recommended as a daytrip for those living in or visiting Sydney, Wollongong or Canberra.

And if you’re staying, many of Milton Park’s large, well equipped rooms open out on to the gardens, and there’s a heated pool, complimentary use of the spa pavilion (treatments are extra), tennis, and the opportunity for pre-dinner drinks and a game of snooker on the full-size table in the magnificently decorated bar.

Li-Sun mushrooms also feature on the menus here, and are part of an expanding list of Southern Highlands produce gaining international renown — including farmed barramundi, raspberries, pork, beef, honey, cheese and wine.

The wine industry is growing particularly quickly, with a bevy of small wineries being led by a couple of larger producers such as Centennial Vineyards and Southern Highlands Wines, who revel in their cool climate that’s ideal for fine wines; their proximity to Sydney, the South Coast and Canberra draws many visitors from these places to their cellar-doors and restaurants.

We enjoyed an excellent lunch at Centennial, beside an open fire and with sweeping views of the vineyards and countryside.

And if you’re interested in a round or two of golf, consider a couple of nights at Links House, just across the road from the Bowral Golf Club: purpose-built in 1928 for golfing enthusiasts, it offers very comfortable motel-style accommodation... and made history as the first motel in Australia to offer ensuite facilities.

Its present owner-managers take great pride in the lush gardens, sheltered courtyards and the cosy lounge and library areas.

The motel’s Vida Restaurant again features Noel Arrold’s mushrooms, with chef Phillip Whitton using them in his signature dish — Duck Confit with Tunnel-Mushroom Terrine, with Pomegranate and Pinot Noir Glaze.

If you’re interested in enjoying these indulgences and the many delightful indoor/outdoor cafés, antique shops and galleries throughout this popular Southern Highlands region, contact:

• Milton Park: 02 4861 1522; www.milton-park.com.au
• Links House: 02 4861 1977; www.linkshouse.com.au
• Centennial Vineyards: 02 4861 8700; www.centennial.net.au
• Tourism Southern Highlands: 1300 657 559; www.southern-highlands.com.au

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PHOTO CAPTIONS:

MILTON Park Gardens – a spectacular horticultural explosion of old and new for garden buffs

DELIGHTFUL outlook over the vineyards from the all-weather verandah of multi-award winning Centennial Vineyards

BREKKIE with a view: Links House dates back to the 1920s.

(Photos: Sandra Burn White)

Story Bridge Climb: A 10th birthday to remember

Storey Bridge Climbers 

“Those people down there look like munchkins!” exclaimed my excited daughter as she looked down on couple walking through the park below while she climbed up the stairs in the first span of Brisbane’s Story Bridge.

I knew then that my 140cm “Wizard of Oz” fan was now quite comfortable with the thought that she was climbing to the top of the bridge she had only previously driven over or played under. A few minutes earlier, she, and her friend Emma who is a similar height, had been unusually quiet as they concentrated on guiding their harness ropes up the safety wire on the side of the steps leading to the 80m summit of the bridge.

Timboon: Ocean Road spirit

A new whisky distillery on the inland route to the iconic Twelve Apostles is transforming Victoria’s Great Ocean Road hinterland into a cosy winter escape.

By Melissa McConachy

Producing a wee dram for the wee hours was not foremost in Tim Marwood’s mind when he and wife Caroline Simmons settled in Timboon, at the centre of Australia’s prime milk producing region, 14 years ago.

After shelving professional careers in Melbourne to relieve Tim’s father on the family dairy, ideological differences sent them down the ‘value added’ path, and with financial backing from their parents they launched Timboon Fine Ice Cream in 1999.

Synonymous with natural ingredients and country hospitality, the award-winning ice-cream quickly became a crowd pleaser on the Victorian events calendar and at farmers markets.

A retail hub was inevitable, but conscious of the seasonal stigma attached to ice-cream, Tim and Caroline suspected the venture would not be sustainable during colder months and mounted a search for a “winter tide-over”.

They did not anticipate finding the solution in the Great South West’s murky past.

“I was in discussion with the locals when I happened on the history of illicit whisky distilling in Timboon,” Tim says. “A rummage through historical records took us back to the late 1890s, when Irishman Tom Delaney established an illegal whisky trade because he was “agin” oppressive government”.

According to fable, Delaney’s partner in crime, James Love, struggled to provide for his wife and five children and participated in the profitable pastime to ease his financial burdens.

When production peaked, the pair was reportedly producing 100 gallons of “Mountain Dew” a week. Cheekily badged with the Government stamp, it was a common tipple at local weddings and country race meets.

The gentlemen maintained an affable relationship with the local constabulary, whose ration was put through the still twice. But when the Government stamped out the practice, law and order fell
into the hands of former boxer Detective Inspector John Christie, who raided the lamp-lit shanty where Delaney and Love were at work. Christie seized the still, but the men escaped and were outlawed before turning themselves in.

The illicit occupation was brought to a standstill, but demijohns of Delaney’s whisky were uncovered in nooks for many years. Tales surrounding his infamous drop are legendary, largely promulgated by local descendants who have continued their forbears’ farming tradition, leaving the ‘trade’ in the capable hands of Tim and Caroline.

On a fact-finding tour of Scotland, Tim talked to the whisky greats before mastering his craft under Australia’s micro-distilling expert Bill Lark, who revived the practice in Tasmania after a 150-year hiatus.

Like Bill, Tim and Caroline recognised that the essential components of world-class whisky were at their doorstep: a reliable barley supply, access to soft water and the ideal climate.

They commissioned Knapplewer Engineering in Hobart to manufacture a 600-litre copper pot still based on the Scottish McClellan model, and use traditional production methods to create a spirit that will rival any ‘uisghe beatha’ (water of life) from the Scottish heartland.

Timboon whisky is distilled from single malted barley using a customised wash produced by the Red Duck microbrewery at Camperdown in the Western District. It is aged in oak resized ex-port barrels – anywhere from two to 25 years – and diluted with ancient limestone filtered sub artesian water, then bottled at 40 per cent alcohol/volume.

“Each single malt whisky has its own nuances and distinct character which is part of its allure,” Tim says. “While it might be acceptable to use mixers with blended whiskies, there is only one way to drink single malts – neat.”

Like the ancient Celts, who proclaimed that whisky held medicinal powers, as a former nurse Caroline is happy to wax lyrical about the spirit’s mystical properties. “Whisky is a panacea for anything,” she says.

The couple has forsaken the clandestine practice of distilling by kerosene lamp, instead recently converting the disused railway shed at the centre of Timboon into an upmarket boutique distillery, café and outlet for regional produce. Undertaken with assistance from Regional Development Victoria, the renovation has retained the building’s rustic charm, creating a relaxed modern interior within the original structure.

Located 15 minutes from Port Campbell and the Twelve Apostles on the main connector path from the Great Ocean Road to the Princes Highway (the alternate route to Melbourne), the Timboon Railway Shed Distillery is Victoria’s only operational boutique facility.

Visitors can see the distillation process underway while sampling the product range, which includes the flagship Christie’s Single Malt Whisky, named in honour of the detective credited with Delaney’s surrender.

Consistent with their philosophy, Tim and Caroline also use local ingredients for other popular spirits. Love’s Strawberry Schnapps, a tribute to Delaney’s industrious business associate, is produced using strawberries from Timboon-based Berry World, while Baxter’s Coffee Cream, named after Timboon’s tenacious turn-of-the-century blacksmith, is a smooth blend of spirit and cream sourced from local dairies.

The Schnapps embodies a unique Australian style with an upfront, fruity palette and contains only half the alcohol content of European varieties. The Coffee Cream, with a hint of hazelnut, is described by locals as “dangerously drinkable” and is the distillery’s most popular drop.

All spirits are finished and bottled on the premises, where a pictorial display brings the characters inspiring the region’s distilling trade, their guises and anecdotes, to life.

Drawing on regional produce, the café/restaurant puts a strong emphasis on freshness and quality, serving light lunches in front of the open fire and a la carte one evening each month. Visitors can also enjoy tasting plates, coffee, Timboon Fine Ice Cream and boutique beverages, or stock up on local wine, handmade Belgian-style chocolates, sourdough bread, cheese, strawberries, smoked trout, eel paté and honey.

It’s a best-kept secret that the rugged beauty of the shipwreck coast is at its most romantic in winter, when the hordes vanish and chimney smoke radiates from hillside cottages.

“The Great Ocean Road hinterland is so dramatic; every season is different and spectacular in its own way,” Caroline says. “The area should be appreciated year-round.”

The Timboon Railway Shed Distillery provides another reason to take the ‘long and winding road’ south in winter. And don’t be surprised if you stumble across Delaney’s kith and kin sitting by the fire near the still, sipping amber nectar and big-noting the legendary outlaw who started it all.

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The Timboon Railway Shed Distillery is in Bailey Street, Timboon, and is open 10am to 5pm daily and for seasonal dinners. For more information visit: www.timboondistillery.com

Timboon Distillery spirits are available directly from the cellar door or through email order: info@timboondistillery.com

Duke Kahanamoku – Hawaii’s Boy's Own Annual Hero

FORTY years after his death, Duke Kahanamoku
still stands tall on Waikiki beach today.

david ellis

THERE are three types go to Duke's Restaurant and Barefoot Bar at Hawaii's Outrigger Waikiki hotel.

Those seeking a drink with one of the best views of the world's most famous sands, those looking for a good feed with the same views, and those who pay homage to a bloke whose life story reads like Boy's Own Annual.

DUKE's original solid redwood surfboard on the wall of
Duke's Restaurant and Barefoot Bar at the Outrigger Waikiki. 

Duke's is named after Duke Paoa Kahanamoku, Hawaii's most-loved sporting son, hero and legend who thrilled his own people with his prowess on a surfboard, stunned Olympic officials with his times in the pool, figured in an amazing surf rescue off California, played in 28 Hollywood movies, and taught some of Australia's earliest board riders.

In-between he made headlines when he wrestled to death in the surf an 3.5m eel, served as a Sheriff, and ran a gas station.

Duke Kahanamoku's name had nothing to do with Hawaii's one-time royalty (Honolulu still has the only royal palace in America,) but after England's Duke of Edinburgh who'd visited Hawaii in 1869.

Born in 1890, the young Duke was besotted with swimming, surfing and canoeing, but when colleagues tried to have his amazing times and feats recognised, they were told this was not possible as he was not a member of a registered club.

So they set up their own, calling it "Hui Nalu" (Club of the Waves.)

Finally recognizing his achievements, American Olympics officials invited Duke to vie for a spot in their swimming team at the 1912 Amsterdam Games. He qualified with an extraordinary 100-metres dash at trials in Chicago… but when he went to Amsterdam he slept in, and it was only after he begged organisers to delay his event while he put on his costume, that he went on to break the world record.

He beat this again at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, but at 34-years of age lost his 100m crown to 20-year old Johnny "Tarzan" Weismuller at the 1924 Paris Games.

In-between, his prowess at surfboard riding saw him invited to give demonstrations in California and Australia – and while it was long claimed he "brought stand-up surfboard riding to Australia" when he gave demonstrations and lessons at Freshwater Beach in Sydney in 1914, historians say that locals had already been surfboarding at next-door Manly and other beaches for several years on boards imported from Hawaii.

They point to photographs at the Yamba Historical Museum on the NSW North Coast of a Tommy Walker riding a surfboard off the local beach in 1910 (including while standing on his head,) while the Australian Surf Museum in Manly rescued a board that Charles Paterson rode at North Steyne two years before Duke's visit, after finding it being used as a family ironing board.

Duke Kahanamoku's life was always associated with the water and the unusual: in 1917 he rode an 11-metre wave for 2.8km off Waikiki, and in 1925 while living in America as an actor used his board to single-handedly save eight people whose launch capsized off California's Corona del Mar beach.

And when a 3.5m eel the thickness of his leg bit off his right index finger off California's Long Beach in 1913, he strangled it to death in a 10-minute struggle in the surf.

After retiring from Olympic swimming in 1932 (he won three Olympic Golds, two Silvers and a Bronze and was inducted into the Swimming, Surfing and US Olympic Halls of Fame,) Duke also retired from Hollywood and returned to Hawaii where he served a record 26-years as Sheriff of Honolulu.

He also launched his own line of surf clothing, ran a gas station and at fifty years of age finally married his long-time love, Nadine. When he died in 1968, thousands led by a 30-officer police escort followed the 78-year old's ashes to where they were scattered off his beloved Waikiki Beach.

Duke's original 4m-plus solid redwood surfboard is on display in Duke's Restaurant and Barefoot Bar at the Outrigger Waikiki hotel with other memorabilia; the Bar is open from 11am to midnight and the restaurant for breakfast, lunch and dinner with typically American-hefty servings of salads,  sandwiches, pizzas, burgers, seafoods, steaks and prime rib  – and a million-dollar view.

Creative Cruising features Outrigger and OHANA Hotels in Waikiki in its Hawaii cruise holiday packages; phone 1300 362 599 or check www.creativecruising.com.au   
                                            

Long Live the English Legacy

Somewhere in the highlands of Peninsula Malaysia sits a remarkable colonial building that, in the last few years, went through a facelift to become the most talked about resort in the area.
With a rich history behind it, the Tudor influenced Cameron Highlands Resort (CHR) stands proud in welcoming guests with a warm open fireplace - and service that is second to none.
The CHR is now a well-renowned resort that has won many awards since its opening.
Lavishly furnished with beautiful and ornate Victorian finishes, leather couches and a drawing room, the setting does not get any more ‘English’ than this…or so one would think….until some “tea and scones” are offered.
In the very first instance and without prior knowledge of the country’s history, it can be difficult to digest that half way around the world from England, the tradition of tea and scones would be served in a hotel – by an open fireplace – in the lush and tropical Malaysia.
Seems odd - extraordinary even - but this is one English tradition that is still widely practiced in Cameron Highlands and the CHR prides itself of this custom. And depending on the chef’s mood, cucumber sandwiches might even be served on the side!
Named after William Cameron, a British Surveyor who first discovered the place in 1885, Cameron Highlands was to be transformed into a famous retreat for British government officials and wealthy residents. 45 years later, another Brit, John Archibald Russell would introduce tea to the highlands, which was to become today’s famous BOH Tea Plantation.
Right up until WWII, the British would escape the often intolerable tropical and balmy climate to Cameron Highlands, where the weather remains below a cool 23 degrees Celsius. It is here that many decided to set up their second homes and businesses.
As one quickly discovers on a trip to the Highlands, the British heritage doesn’t end with the architecture and afternoon tea. The very well-known – and well preserved – Smokehouse serves up the perfect ‘Fish and Chips’. Once called Ye Olde Smokehouse Inn, this stunning Tudor Mansion opened in 1937 and served as a sanctuary for homesick British expatriates.
Today, surrounded by a lush and quintessentially English garden, the rooms are being rented out to travellers and honeymooners, while the restaurant is opened to all visitors. Food served at the Smokehouse is not only world-class and in generous proportions, it really sets the standard for true English cuisine.
While on the short escape to the cooler climate of the highlands, visitors should not miss out on the following activities:
Must see:
BOH Tea plantations
Strawberry farms
Butterfly farm
Cameron Highlands is about 300 kilometres from Kuala Lumpur and is an easy drive from the city.