Camp Hosts Extraordinaire...

When you visit the beautiful Port Jackson campsite on the Coromandel Peninsula between October and May you'll be greeted by Ann and Bill who've been hosting here for many years and hopefully many more to come.
If the fishing's been good and it usually is, you're most likely to be presented with a couple of wonderful fillets of Snapper, one of New Zealand's most popular fish varieties.
It's the quiet before the Christmas rush right now and Bill had time to make his own special version of raw fish, sometimes known as Proisson Cru or Carache.
Take some cubed fish, marinate it refrigerated in lemon juice for 24 hours. Strain off the juice, add some orange juice, a teaspoon of red wine vinegar, a spoonfull of mint sauce, some finely chopped red onion and some cubes of cucumber and tomato. You might like to add some fresh coriander, parsley or mint.
It's best served slightly chilled and a couple of happy campers here gave it top marks...

Quiet Contemplation...

Laying in the hammock yesterday under the shade of this beautiful flowering Pohutakawa tree, which is to many, New Zealand's Christmas tree, I was contemplating on these words from Henry David Thoreau.
"I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. To front only the essentials of life and see if I could learn what it had to teach me. And not, when it came time to die, discover that I had not lived".
And I was happy...

Another Foodie Delight...

Now, back to the delights of Slow Food.
There's a Celebrity Chef here and yesterday it was out with the cast iron Camp Oven and on with this marvellous monster muffin.
'TFT's Olive, Onion, Oregano Savoury Muffin with Parmesan'.
Just mix up a few olives, half a cup of olive oil, some chopped red onion, a cup and a half of self raising flour, a cup of milk, and an egg. Put the mix in a 200mm diameter (8 inch) cake tin and cook it in the camp oven for about half an hour.
As you can see, it's gorgeous, and the taste is yummy.
Slow food. And the living is easy...

Cape Colville Cutie...

Little Lilianna Rosa, at 14 months this little cutie is a leading contender for the title of Miss Port Jackson 2010. She was enjoying the glorious weather with her mum and brother here yesterday.
If God had wanted us to go around naked, we would have been born that way...

Cutting Cartage Costs...

French photographer Alain Delorme has just published an amazing series of images showing how the Chinese transport freight from place to place at very low cost. It might pay you to have a look at http://wwwalaindelorme.com
It's more than a balancing act...

Don't Fence Me In...

The bureaucrats that are The Department of Conservation continue to not take any notice of what the end user, the camper wants at Port Jackson and carry on carrying on with their arrogance and stupidity, fixing something else that isn't broken. Here the contractors go about their task of placing bollards along the edge of this beautiful campsite.
But nothing's set in concrete...

That's Life...

One of life's little ironies. Oh, and never ask a tyre salesman if you need new tyres...