The Great Central Australian Midwives Gourmet Sausage Sizzle

Wow! That's a title and a half, but it says it all: Chris Henry organised a gourmet sausage sizzle on behalf of some of her midwife colleagues from the Alice Springs Hospital last night.

Held in our backyard, we had a variety of sausages including, kangaroo, boerewors (South African), duck and pork, lamb, turkey, chorizo, and tangy pork and leek cooked by son Dale, undoubtedly the best sausage cook in the Northern Territory (seen in action at left).

Dale carefully placed the sausages on the barbecue grouped by type so we could track which was what and label it for our guests.

Robin carried the cooked sausages into the kitchen where Christina cut them into thirds, with the exception of the boerewors which was one very long sausage packed in a circle and looked like a short, thick snake. We placed them into dishes and put them on the table with signs indicating the sausage contents.

With a collection of salads, salad dressings, dukkah, and some mushroom sauce with cream, everyone took at least one piece of each of the sausages, grabbed a bread roll and returned to the table to test the gourmet sausages.

To my surprise, everyone thought they were great and several discussions ensured about sausages, the pros and cons and how the kangaroo sausages are the least damaging to health because kangaroo meat is fat free with no cholestorol. While the midwives discussed cholestorol, and plant sterols (whatever the hell they are), the men discussed climate change, golf, politics, and women.

At left are four of the eight men who attended. The first left is my golf buddy Darrell with whom I get together with most Sundays to walk, hit golf balls, swear moderately and discuss how well our golf is progressing, despite our final scores and evidence that the truth is not always told among golfers.

After I'd taken the photos, I noticed that each of the four had a drink in their right hand and their left hands were either in, or near their pockets.

Hands in one's pocket! Is this a man thing that happens on cue when a photo is taken or is it just another coincidence? We'll never know, but there is a safe bet that each of our friends is right handed.

Before everyone departed around 11:30 pm, I managed to get the shot at left of the midwives, although two are hard to see. The tallest lady, whose face is partially obscured, Dianne, is the manager of the Midwifery Department and the remainder are various specialists representing perhaps 500 years of combined nursing/midwifery experience ... the cream of the crop.

Daily, numerous mothers and neonates benefit from their invaluable knowledge and experience which they are also passing to the new generation of midwives who in time will take their places in what is a very important profession.

By the end of the evening, everyone had consumed a nice meal, the sausages being followed by sweets including trifle and fruit, a few drinks either alcoholic or non-alcoholic and they agreed that each month they should get together in a similar fashion with a different theme.

With Christmas on the horizon, there will be ample opportunity for celebration between now and the beginning of 2014.

Robin

Now that we are Grey Nomads ...

After a half century of working for the man (or woman as the case may be) and having purchased our Blue Sky Caravan and a Toyota Landcruiser Prado with which to pull it, we can now officially call ourselves "Grey Nomads".

Neither of us is completely grey yet, but I can no longer get away with telling daughter Meredith that I have my hairdresser put a bit of grey around my temples to make me look distinguished ... she sees through that fib immediately.

Unlike many men much younger than me, I still have most of my hair, although thinning on the front. Christina still has a lovely crop of hair, as is the case with most aging women, but I no longer tell her that if she dies first, I want a hair transplant. After all, it's getting grey too.

So, as we are officially part of the  Baby Boomer, Grey Nomad clan of Australians, you can imagine how delighted I was when a friend who considers to me to be an ex-officio father, gave me a bottle of Grey Nomad shiraz for Fathers' Day last Sunday.

I've not yet opened the wine to test the delights and will do that during our next caravan escape in mid-October when we travel to the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. I already know the wine will be excellent. How? It's from one of Australia's premier wine growing regions, McLaren Vale in South Australia. With a heritage like that, it has to be a good quality wine.

The label on the obverse side of the bottle at left has a bit of a blurb about Grey Nomads (you may need to click to enlarge the photo). I don't know whether it is all true, but it sounds as though it could be ... spending our children's inheritance has been a priority for us for a while.

In October we head south to our neighbouring state and plan to spend some time at the beachside towns such as Coffin Bay. I'll take some photos with my beloved Canon EOS 450D and if you are really lucky will post some travel information covering the towns along the way.

Keep watching this space for more and in the mean time, stay well.

Robin

Tory Does Palm Valley

Recently we took a day trip to Palm Valley which is within the Finke Gorge National Park, an east-west running valley in the Krichauff Range 123 km southwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, Australia.

It's a pleasant drive during the cooler months and requires a four wheel drive vehicle after one reaches the Aboriginal town called Hermannsburg, which was once a Lutheran mission township.

The Palm Valley palms are red cabbage palms found nowhere else in the Northern Territory. Although the region is now arid, the presence of palms reflects the time when Central Australia was tropical.

We've been to Palm Valley on several previous occasions and although it hadn't changed any since our previous visit, it's still good for the inner being to get out and be surrounded by the beauty and ruggedness of nature.

Christina and I took grandson Tory along for the trip and were accompanied by friends Robyn and Darrell Wallace.

Tory had a great time exploring the landscape here and there and running about like a ferret. We did quite a bit of walking and climbing before having a picnic lunch.

Apart from the walking we do among the hills surrounding our house, Tory hasn't done much "exploring" in the outback, so it appeared to be a good change from tennis, bike riding and football, to get some exercise climbing rocks and running along the dry Finke River bed.

We didn't see any lizards during our trip ... it's probably too cold for them at this time of year, but there were some lovely honeyeater birds, a few hawks and a variety of ants, butterflies, dragonflies, and various bugs with which to entertain ourselves.

When we travelled home, the sun was setting over the beautiful MacDonnell Range reminding us that both had been here for many millions of years and would be still here millenia after we are all gone.

By the time we had arrived back home at The Alice it was late afternoon. Tory sat in my chair (yes, MY chair), and within seconds fell asleep as can be seen in the strip photo at left.

He's such a handsome fellow, I have no idea where he gets it from.

Everyone had a great time. Our next trip will probably be to the old gold mining region of Arltunga which is north-east of Alice Springs.

Robin