Paynesville – ALMOST ITALIAN

New Year’s Eve. Home and Away, 2014.

As I cast a lazy summer’s eye over the year that was 2014, one thing stands out clearly. We travelled a lot. Overseas trips were interspersed with hard work at home, followed by more travel to recover. Mr T and I made an early New Year’s Resolution to travel less in 2015, but I have noticed some overseas bookings creeping into the 2015 calendar: only because the fares are so ridiculously cheap and because we are irresponsible old gypsies at heart.

Our year away begun in January with two weeks spent in West Java and Sumatra. The highlights of this trip included time spent with my old friend Banardi and his partner, Adam in their house in the mountains near Puncak, West Java. Daily cooking lessons were the highlight of this trip as well as spending time with B’s family. Lake Toba, Sumatra was an exotic side trip and an intriguing foray into Batak culture.

B cooks up ma storm in his Indo kitchen — Banardi ,the barefoot chef ,cooks up a storm in his Indo kitchen

Chinese New Year in Jakarta with B's Family. — Chinese New Year in Jakarta with B’s Family.

Thanks Banardi and Adam, but also our big thanks goes to B’s family, especially Baria and family, Tony and Li Li and all B’s extended family, who made our stay so special.

Side trip to Lake Toba, Sumatra. Our xx by the shore, — Side trip to Lake Toba, Sumatra. Our losmen by the shore.

After returning to Melbourne, we soon set up camp in our family compound by the sea on the Mornington Peninsula. This annual camp is as old as Methuselah and involves four generations of family members. As we travel between homes, our regular home and our ‘canvas’ trailer by the sea, various family members and guardian angels take care of things left behind at either end. Thankyou for watering our garden and looking after our chooks, and thanks to the ‘guardians’ down by the sea.

Gloriuos sunsets of Port Phillip Bay — glorious sunsets of Port Phillip Bay

In May we set off for our annual trip to New Zealand. The North Island is still wonderfully clement in May, and as the prices for hiring a motor home plummet to $30 a day, it’s a mere hop, step and jump to fly to Auckland and then on to the glorious bays of the North. The natural scenery in New Zealand is breathtaking. And the local seafood is pretty tasty too. We have decided that NZ is not to be classed as an overseas trip since we share the same sea and a few relatives as well. Thanks Rachael, Andrew and Renato for monitoring things at home.

Thats — I’m always keen to hunt for shellfish!

On returning from New Zealand, things turned rather cold in Melbourne and it was just as well we had our holiday booked for Thailand, China and Indonesia. After a few days experiencing Bangkok and its Coup, we headed off to China for a few weeks in Yunnan province and then a further two weeks with our wonderful friends, Tia and Carol in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. The food, the glorious days in ancient walled cities: China stole my heart. Thanks Tia and 松树 for the wonderful long drive through the countryside of Sichuan, and Carol and husband for the great trips around Chengdu. Also thanks to Richard and Jo Jo for the great day out at the Panda zoo in Chengdu.

On the way back from China home, we called into Indonesia again for a month, this time in Pemuteran in the North coast of Bali, an ideal spot to snorkel, dive and relax. This area is not a major tourist destination- unlike some of the other hotspots in Bali. It is restful, shopping free and remote. We also flew over to the island of Flores, followed by a lazy week back in Sanur. Thanks Helen for being such a relaxing and easy-going travel companion and to Rosalie and Ian for your great company and friendship too.

Balinese culture endures, despite the tourist influx.

We did stay put for six weeks of Melbourne winter and then headed off to the outback, via South Australia, a rather slow meander through lovely countryside. It’s good to be a toursit in your own country.

A quick five day trip to the Murray River with family in November, saw the cousins get along in the great outdoors.

And in December, our annual trip to my favourite beach, Lake Tyers, in Gippsland provided a fitting finale to the year, along with a side trip to Paynesville and Raymond Island to visit the land of our great grandparents. Thanks Kerrie and Bruce for sharing this trip with us.

A Double rainbow. over the fifty mile beach at Lake Tyers, Gippsland, Australia. — A double rainbow arches over the fifty mile beach at Lake Tyers, Gippsland, Australia.

The iviting h=jetty at Fishermans Landing — The inviting jetty at Fishermans Landing. A good spot for a picnic.

And thank you my dear readers if you got through this rather long and indulgent New Year’s Eve Post. I hope you had a great year too. Best wishes for the next one. Capo d’anno. F xx

Travel Theme: Minimalist

The term black swan was a Latin expression, “a good person is as rare as a black swan” (“rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cygno”). It was a common expression in 16th century London as a statement that describes impossibility, deriving from the old world presumption that ‘all swans must be white’, because all historical records of swans reported that they had white feathers. Thus, the black swan is often cited in philosophical discussions of the improbable. Aristotle’s Prior Analytics most likely is the original reference that makes use of example syllogisms involving the predicates “white”, “black”, and “swan.” More specifically Aristotle uses the white swan as an example of necessary relations and the black swan as improbable. This example may be used to demonstrate either deductive or inductive reasoning; however, neither form of reasoning is infallible since in inductive reasoning premises of an argument may support a conclusion, but does not ensure it, and, similarly, in deductive reasoning an argument is dependent on the truth of its premises. That is, a false premise may lead to a false result and inconclusive premises also will yield an inconclusive conclusion. The limits of the argument behind “all swans are white” is exposed—it merely is based on the limits of experience (e.g., that every swan one has seen, heard, or read about is white). Hume’s attack against induction and causation is based primarily on the limits of everyday experience and so too, the limitations of scientific knowledge.*

Had these philosophers lived in Australia, this discussion may have been quite different, or at least, different examples may have been used to illustrate the point. Black swans are common place and can be found in briny shallow water and lakes around Australia

A good person is as common as a black swan!

Thanks Ailsa, I’m hoping to embrace a bit of minimalism now that the Festive Season is over.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Swan_(2007_book)

Travel Theme: Slow

In a season noted for frenetic activity, socialising and end of year parties, it’s nice to take a week out and slow right down. Koalas have the right idea. In order to conserve energy, they sleep for 20 hours a day. The rest of the time they eat.

Koalas can be seen in the wild on Raymond Island, near Paynesville, Victoria. This is an idyllic spot for humans to slow down too, especially in the early weeks of December before the busy holiday makers arrive.

Thanks Ailsa for another engaging travel theme, Slow

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