A Flavour of the World

So entering the vast land of dingos, didgeridoos, crocodiles and kangaroos has been like stepping into an old friends house; homely, friendly, familiar, almost like home but not quite home. (probably the sunshine)

On entering Australian soil (or should I say say red sand) we quickly exchanged a common breakfast consisting of noodle soup swimming in a bowl of beautiful spices for a breakfast of Kellogg's Cornflakes, 2 slices of toast with actual butter and a nice cup of tea. Although the spice and flavours of the food in Asia we have indulged in have been divine, there was something quite nice about getting back to a plain breakfast. Like England, a whole array of worldwide cuisine are on offer to you in Australia but for us it was back to home cooking and the occasional indulgence of fish and chips (sadly with no vinegar). After 5 months I was actually desperate to start cooking up feasts, however due to the fact we were moving on a lot, my feasts had to be curbed a little as we only had a small cool bag to carry our ingredients around with us.

It is very true that the Australians love a BBQ and we wasted no time in getting involved with this. Nearly all the parks in Australia have public BBQ’s that anyone can cook on.

There is a wide variety of meat available in the supermarkets Down under. You have a choice of anything from Kangaroo to Crocodile to chuck on the BBQ.

Kangaroo Kababs

After already sampling crocodile when we were in Cambodia and deciding it was much like chicken but tougher, we decided to try some kangaroo. Kangaroo was very gamey, quite a tough meat but very tasty and for once didn't taste like chicken!

The tropical Northern Queensland has an abundance of fruit growing and we enjoyed cycling along by the white sand beaches to the nearest fruit farm to top up on our 5-a-day.

To cool off in the 30C heat, ice cream sampling was an essential exercise...

This ice cream parlour had some of the best and most unusual ice cream combinations that I have ever seen and they were all DELICIOUS!!!

Guinness Ice Cream

I finally settled on Guinness flavoured ice cream, it was a beautifully creamy, rich, smooth delight with a little back kick of alcohol.

Our East Coast experience continued with BBQ's and Kangaroo's. I must say this time we didn't eat the Kangaroo's! We helped bottle feed the Joeys and boy they were cute.

From the Outback to the White sand beaches we loved Australia.

next on the agenda was the home of Lord of the Rings- New Zealand.

Our trip couldn't have started better, a cool glass of sparking New Zealand wine whilst over looking the stunningly beautiful Bay of Islands. After 7 months of travelling we were celebrating the start of a lovely week travelling with my in-laws.

From then onwards New Zealand continued in much the same fashion touring some of the worlds best vineyards and sipping on their fine produce.

And indulging in the worlds finest lamb..

Following a week exploring the beauties of the North Island we took off in a campervan to see the South Island.

With a restaurant on wheels we dined in the heart of New Zealand's beautiful scenery. There was nothing better than pulling up to one of the many beautiful camping grounds in New Zealand, cracking out a cider or having a nice cool glass of wine and enjoying dinner whilst overlooking breathtaking scenery.

This has been the perfect way to end 8 months of travels. After seeing some of the most breathtaking scenery the world has to offer and gaining an array of life long memories, it is back to Australia to once again get back into the working world.

We are heading to Melbourne to experience working life in Australia.

Malaysia did not disappoint, it was simply a mecca for foodies. Every street was lined with world-class street food. The restaurants with their plastic chairs may not look too appealing but they were serving the finest, freshest food. The country has strong Chinese and Indian communities meaning their's a great variety of delicious food on offer to devour.

Our first stop was Penang; described as the Malaysian food capital. I was in my element! This town was all about indulging in the very best food Malaysia had to offer. This was the sort of place where you wished you had a second stomach, as one stomach just wasn’t enough to taste all the delightful, sumptuous and tasty dishes on offer.

Our day started with a Dim Sum brunch at Tho Yuen restaurant. The place is a true locals haunt. Packed all morning long with newspaper reading loners and chattering groups of locals, we arrived at 11am and the place was bustling with people sipping Chinese tea and having a late breakfast. We were lucky to find a seat, the restaurant is so renowned with the Penang locals that you usually have a queue for each table. We arrived at the restaurant just in time to sample the last Dim Sum of the day. The restaurant opens at 5am and the waiter told us we were very lucky that they still had a few remaining bits of Dim Sum for us to indulge in.

Tho Yuen Restaurant

The last remaining Dim Sum of the day

The Dim Sum burst with flavour as it melted in your mouth.. simply divine! And when washed down with a fresh Chinese tea full of antioxidants, you soon realise why this is a popular restaurant for locals and tourists alike. It was the perfect way to start the day!

Delicious Pork Dim Sum

Melt in the mouth fish Dim Sum

And to complement the Dim Sum we had a steamed pork roll each.The outer bread, perfectly soft and fluffy and the inner pork, beautifully caramelised and sweet... The perfect brunch!

Sweet, caramelised pork rolls

All washed down with Chinese tea to cleanse the pallet and wash out any impurities.

The next stop was dinner and we were lucky enough to find a delicious tandoori street restaurant that was releasing such a beautiful aroma of spice, it was an irresistible stop.

Our next day started with a tasty local delicacy...Roti canai. We purchased this from one of the stalls in the nearby market. It is basically a flat bread served with a thick curry sauce. This also came stuffed full of various fillings, including garlic chicken and chicken tikka making the perfect lunch. The Roti canai is a a delicious fusion of Indian-influenced Malaysian flatbread.

After a morning of exploring the Penang sights we stopped off in the afternoon to rest our well-walked feet at an incredible Chinese tea house. Here, we sipped a never-ending supply of tea that was said to be high in antioxidants and very good for cleansing our bodies.

The highlight of the day was our exceptional dinner, this again was from another street food restaurant gem. The restaurant owner recommended we order “Kam Heong” as it's a signature Malaysian dish that is renowned for the fragrance imparted during the cooking process. We were not disappointed that we went with his recommendation. This one-of-a-kind style of stir-frying incorporates ingredients from Malay, Chinese, and Indian cooking to produce one of the most mouth-watering palate I have ever exposed my taste buds to.

With our bellies well and truly filled to the brim we headed from Penang to the Perhentian islands where we stayed in the magical Mira bay. This was a true tropical hideaway, little beach huts, a white sand beach and a beautiful restaurant surrounded by rainforest. The restaurant had a small menu of delicious specials each night.

Mira Bays beautiful restaurant

I sampled some of the best fish of my life out of this little restaurant that was perched on the beach. Freshly caught fish steam cooked in spices wrapped in a banana leaf.

The fish was so soft it fell away from the bone and the spices gain the perfect kick of flavour without over-powering the delicate fish. This was my favourite special, my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Fully chilled out we headed for the hustle and bustle of KL where we stayed in the heart of Chinatown and yet again, night after night we had the pleasure of sampling some of Malaysia’s finest foods from the country's Chinese community.