A Light Saturday Lunch

 I obviously hadn't done enough travelling during the week. I had run out of time to get my hair cut before I went to Japan so when my hairdresser offered a late afternoon appointment on Thursday, I grabbed it.

I went to Ballarat on the train. Most fortunately, Lindsey had said that her car was parked at the Ballarat station, if I wanted to use it. We met in the morning for her to give me her spare key. I say it was fortunate because as I drove from the station to my hairdressing salon the heavens opened. You might say that it was a tropical downpour, except the rain was cold. I got rather wet just walking from the car to the door, which is no distance.

My hair is now much tidier. And yes, I did return the car to the station, more or less where I picked it up from.

The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival has been on in the last fortnight. Some time before I went to Japan I bought a ticket to a Long Lunch up near the University of Melbourne,  hosted by Mindy Woods, who was a contestant on Masterchef Australia. She runs a native food restaurant up near Byron Bay and had brought her food to Melbourne for the food festival.

It was absolutely delicious.

(Food photos, incoming!)

Seasonal spritzer to start.
I did have wine later

I had forgotten to mention my nut allergy, so I looked up bunya nuts and discovered they are a seed. I do have a reaction to pine and macadamia nuts, which are also seeds but other seeds are usually ok. So I had a cautious taste, all was well so I ate the bunya nut damper, which was delicious.

Moreton Bay bugs in a bisque mayo

These were much like prawn crackers.
I do not know what coloured them green

To my surprise this was, for me, the stand out dish of the lunch. A beef curry, made with native spices. There was no heat in it, just a really flavoursome curry taste. The meat was melting, and there were surprise small pieces of potato. The tamarind paste that was on top was delightful. I did not eat the  the lettuce, which was dressed with a macadamia and miso sauce.

I had expected this to be my stand out dish. Roasted beef is one of my favourite Sunday lunches. And it was very nice indeed. But it wasn't as flavourful as the curry. I didn't eat the macadamia cream. The finger lime chutney and saltbush cream were excellent condiments for the roast beef

The strawberry gum custard that 
accompanied the rhubarb 
was a real treat

I was on my own at this lunch and they put me at the bar, looking into the kitchen. I do enjoy being able to see the menu being cooked and served.

Mindy Woods

You might think, after such a large lunch, that I would not require anything further to eat. I did, however, have a bowl of mashed potatoes and vegetables in the evening. My lunch was interesting, tasty and lots of fun but it was very light on plant matter.

Home

Austin took me to the Gifu Hashima station on Monday morning. I had thought to catch the slow train to Shinagawa but that would have involved a change in Nagoya, so I caught the later express train instead.

The man in the ticket office suggested that I book on the train from Shinagawa to Narita airport which left 20 minutes after I was due to arrive. I thought that was pushing it a bit. The Narita Express is a reserved seat only train. If you miss the train you are booked on, you have to buy a new ticket. I didn't know where the platform for the Narita Express was, although I did know it wasn't in the same place as the Shinkansen platforms. I absolutely didn't want to be rushing around the Shinagawa Station, hunting for the next train. I also didn't want to have to buy a new ticket.

It was just as well I booked on a later train. I would have missed the earlier one. I wasted a lot of time and steps looking for a dedicated Narita Express platform. In vain, because there isn't one! The Narita Express is a JR train which leaves from a JR platform. Eventually I found a member of staff who pointed me in the right direction. The earlier train would have been easily doable - had I know where the platform was. Still, I was in no hurry and was happy to wait, stress-free, for the next train.

As it was, I got to the airport very much earlier than I needed to. I found myself a spot in the food court and indulged in a cheese burger with chips, and one of the best lemon and ginger drinks that I have ever had. Lots of lemon slices and a good hit of ginger. 

I checked in pretty much as soon as it opened and went through to a departure lounge which is even more bereft of things to do than Cairns is.

It does have some rather nice, if expensive, food though. My wagyu beef skewer was as juicy and tender as can be

Wagyu beef skewer and
a tiny glass of wine

An unremarkable flight home and I arrived in the Cairns airport at 04:30. My flight to Melbourne wasn't until 09:45. No hurry, no urgency.

I was, however, slightly surprised when, instead of being waved through customs, which is what usually happens, I was sent through to an initial screening. I was even more surprised when I was then sent through to a proper screening. I wondered what I could possibly have in my suitcase that would have attracted the attention of the customs officers. As far as I could remember I had nothing that I hadn't brought in, unchallenged, on many previous occasions.

The customs officer asked me all the questions that you see on the border control TV programs. Is this your signature? Did you fill in this declaration form? Did you understand the questions? Did you pack your bag yourself? Are the contents yours?  Then he asked me to open my suitcase.

More and more and more puzzling. I could not imagine what the problem was.

Turned out, it was these:

Tubs of chewing gum for Lindsey

Customs could see that they were in my case but didn't know what they were! 

He looked at the paper bag with tubes of peppermints, and cast an eye over my other snacks but I think that was for form's sake. He wasn't all that interested. He didn't ask if all those snacks were for me and  I didn't discuss it, although I assume he realised that some of them would be presents. Then he thanked me for my patience and understanding and I thanked him, just because. He told me how to get to my next check in point and I wandered off. 

There was ample time for a restorative cup of coffee before check in opened. And I had plenty of time to charge my devices airside before the flight was called.

This particular flight departs from the international terminal, even though it is a domestic flight. I think it's because passengers can check in through to the onward flight to Bali and their baggage goes straight through. They do have to change planes in Melbourne but they do not need to go landside.  I did need to go landside and I wasn't sure how this would all work.

So - if you are flying to Melbourne and not to Bali, you are issued with a boarding pass with a big red D printed on it. You need a form of government issued photo ID (passport, driver's licence, ID card). As you go through immigration you go to a staffed desk, not to the machines, and they stamp your boarding pass, not your passport. When you get to Melbourne, you show your stamped boarding pass  and ID at immigration and then after you collect your luggage you give your boarding pass to the customs officer and go on your merry way.

This was a considerable relief to me! I did not want to have to go through customs again with those pesky tubs of chewing gum in my suitcase 😂

My flight unexpectedly left 30 minutes earlier than its planned departure time. Everyone was checked in, they had a leaving spot and a landing spot, so they called us all to boarding 30 minutes earlier than we had expected. We had to wait for one passenger who missed the announcement, but he turned up shortly after and the plane left 25 minutes earlier than originally planned. I believe it was so that the onward passengers would have more time to make their next flight.

I didn't mind. It meant that I got to Melbourne earlier than planned, caught the SkyBus home and was back in my flat by 15:30.

Brandy and Whiskey were quite pleased to see me.

This morning I have been unpacking and getting organised and doing a few useful things. I am about to head to the supermarket before the forecast rain appears.

Tuesday evening, Docklands

Oasis Park

 Yesterday was Kaori's birthday - and she HAD TO WORK!!!!

So we postponed her birthday to the evening and Austin, Tatsuki and I went to Oasis Park for the morning.

At Oasis Park there is a ferris wheel, an aquarium and a park with water features and eating spaces and play spaces.

I do love a good ferris wheel:

I was a bit worried about going into the aquarium. The one in Ise was a sad, unhappy place with animals in spaces that were (to my mind) far too small. I remember it as dark and crowded. The one in Gifu is lovely. Its design appears to follow the local river from where it rises to its lower reaches, and then explores rivers in other parts of the world. You go to the top in an elevator and then meander your way down the river and it is open and light and airy and there are waterfalls and it feels happy and bright.

Then we had lunch in the park.

Hot corn soup in a can

I didn't realise redback spiders had migrated to Japan until I saw this warning poster. Apparently they arrived in Osaka in 1995 and have now spread over almost all the country. I did a google translate of the poster to make sure I was right about the type of spider and it definitely is a redback.

Then we made a quick visit to Donki. Still no bags of mixed KitKats, but plenty of bags of other mixed chocolates.

Then we went to a fancy bakery to get cakes for Kaori's birthday.

a quick trip to the supermarket and then home for a Birthday Feast. Austin made prawn pasta. We had pizza from the prize winning pizzeria next door. We had Kaori's favourite croquettes and mince katsu. And we had cake

It was a good day. And it was my last full day in Gifu. Today I am making my way back to Tokyo on two trains, two planes back to Melbourne and the SkyBus home. All being well, I should arrive home late in the afternoon tomorrow (Tuesday).

Breakfast yesterday:

Pastries from the bakery on Saturday:
Half a custard bear, a piece of apple pie
and part of a potato, sausage and cheese
tart

.

Nagahama

Yesterday we took a drive to Nagahama, a town on Lake Biwa, about an hour's drive from here. 

The point of the drive was, in fact, the drive. It's a lovely route, passing Sekigahara and Mount Ibuki, both of which we have been to.

We had lunch in a Coco Curry place.

We went to the shore of Biwako, so I could say I had seen the lake and the water.

We walked along an old style shopping street

Tatsuki had an ice cream

We came home via a country bakery

and went to Big Boys for dinner

Mixed grill with mashed potato for me

I think Austin did extra time on the treadmill at the gym this morning. I am just resigned to my clothes having shrunk a bit. I shall have to restrict myself to salads when I get home. Although, I have been eating salad quite a bit while I've been here

Big Boy salad plate,
corn soup on the side