Some friends gave me a hot air balloon trip for my birthday… what a great morning!

When the Geelong Cats won the 2011 AFL Grand Final, there was a lot of luv goin’ around!

Click on thumbnails to see a larger version.

I had a sleep-in this morning, and then a walk around the bushland that surrounds the lodge, and spotted a heath goanna, before a great BBQ lunch while watching “Shep” paint some fabulous artwork and sampling local wines from Bay of Shoals.

We then did a 6km walk along the coastline to “Grassdale” for a memorable Kangaroos and Canapes before returning to the lodge with Simon’s hosted dinner with Charles Melton – winemaker from the Barossa.

The best sunrise yet followed by a busy day. We visited the Island Bee Hive, KI Pure Grain’s canola fields (with scones in the field for morning tea), followed by a tour of the KI Abalone farm.

Lunch was a relaxing meal hosted by Lifetime Private Retreats. Snelling beach was the perfect setting for this leisurely lunch that included perrywinkles, marron, cocktail sized abalone, lamb kibbeh balls, local calamari, fabulous local whiting and a decandent brownie. We headed home via KI Olive Oil where an echnida entertained us.

Dinner was a cooperative effort between Tim and Simon. Whiting and pot sticker dumplings were following by Simon’s pork belly and Tim’s juniper crusted loin of venison. Each chef also served up a stunning desert, with Tim doing amazing things with the local sheeps milk kefalotiri. This was our last dinner before heading home the next morning.

Another spectacular sunrise, and a relaxing morning around the lodge, was followed by Tim’s Sour Dough and Marron master classes. The sour dough class ran over three days and was a huge hit, with many of us now making our own sour dough at home.

We then had a very special treat. With piled into the SOL kitchen to watch Maggie and Simon Bryant and their “Cook and the Chef” Challenge. Their wit and enthusiam shone through as they put together a fabulous set of canapes followed by a wonderful meal. We enjoyed much of the produce that we had seen being produced over the last few days including oysters (oyster shooters in a verjuice jelly), hauloumi (haloumi, pea and leek fritters) and marron (island marron bisque with creme fraiche and tempura claw).

After catching the sunrise and a great breakfast at the lodge, we headed out to Island Pure Sheep Dairy to watch ricotta being made and sample their range of cheeses. The semi-hard style manchego is fabulous.

It was then off to South Rock Lamb for a lovely lamb lunch. Our backdrop was cute puppies, yellow-tail black cockatoos and a spectacular view.

Our last stop for the day was an oyster farm before heading back to the lodge for Maggie’s cooking demonstration and dinner… including Maggie’s famous Masterchef Terrine as prepared (successfully) by Tim, which he claimed took him an hour – LOL.

After arriving at Kingscote Airport on Kangaroo Island, we were whisked away to The Islander Estate Vineyard for a fabulous stand-up lunch prepared by Southern Ocean Lodge Executive Chef Tim Bourke, and Maggie Beer. The lamb capaccio mini-burgers and jerusalem artichokes were the stand-outs.

We had a tour of the winery and a beautiful walk, we visited the Andermel Marron Farm to get an up-close look at the farming process… and dinner!

It was then back to the lodge for a degustation dinner prepared by Tim… the anticipated marron dish stole the show.

We enjoyed a long weekend in the Wellington region including a great nature tour along the coast and a couple of nights at magnificent Wharekaukau.

Click on thumbnails to see a larger version.

We had a relaxing stay at ‘The Scarlet’ in Mawgan Porth including visits to Padstow and Port Isaac.

Click on thumbnails to see a larger version.

Paris in springtime.

Click on thumbnails to see a larger version.