28 July – Armchairs and other household items

We awoke refreshed in our distressed apartment. There is an ecologically sensitive and organic (the two terms may be interchangeable) café next door. It is run by volunteers all of whom are females of a certain age and all of whom are friendly and cheery. On the other side of the apartment is an old school butcher. The G has determined that this butcher is a butcher of the type with whom she would be happy to treat. He has beef in the window that looks to be succulent in the extreme.

We are staying in what looks like the shop to the left of the butcher's

We went to the next-door café for breakfast where one of the aforementioned females of a certain age greeted me by name. I was flattered for a moment that the fame of a humble management consultant such as I am might have spread to Mildura ahead of my visit. But it seems that Terry and Enid, who had arrived there before us, had informed these women. The G had something that was toasted and looked like bread but probably wasn’t. I had the strangest looking muesli covered with bananas, pears and kiwi fruit. It tasted OK (but no better). The coffee, however, was of a satisfactory standard.

We thought that we would start the day with a search for the finest vanilla slice available. Indeed we were specifically looking for a slice made by the enterprise that won second prize in last year’s Merbein Great Australian Vanilla Slice incorporating The National Dried Vine Fruit Bake-Off. A bakery in Ballarat won first prize but the Continental Bakery, just up the road in Eighth Street, took second prize. We entered and demanded of the good woman behind the counter that she should point us at their prize-winning vanilla slices. She told us that they had none. I exclaimed that we had travelled hundreds of miles to sample their wares and what was I now supposed to do. She explained that “the boys” were either too busy or too lazy to make any vanilla slices. She was a charitable woman and was, in consequence, assuming that they were too busy. She pointed us to Banjo’s which we found just around the corner.

Prize-winning vanilla slices. Those of the winner from Ballarat (L) and those of our friends up the road (R)

On the way to Banjo’s we chanced upon a shop that The G had seen the previous evening when she had been wondering around. This was Ishka’s which turned out to be a chain that we had not heard of. There in the window was an armchair that we could pass by. We entered said emporium and emerged with an armchair, footstall, cushion (all matching) and a candelabra. Fortunately, these purchases have all gone into the Subaru and we are all set to go!

You could not resist this combination. At least we could not

We visited the Inland Botanical Gardens. There we saw Sturt’s Desert Pea. This is a handsome flower indeed. This bloom was adopted as the floral emblem of South Australia in 1961. We visited the shop and cruised around. There were lots of Australian plants, many of which looked the same, but most of which were familiar. Were I to venture a criticism it would be that there wasn’t enough conveniently available information about what was what.

Sturt’s Desert Pea

Our next stop was the Nursery Ridge Winery. We know this winery because we have been drinking its Petit Verdot for several years. We sampled their other grapes and departed with a catholic selection of wines. We drove back through Red Cliffs where there is a beast of a machine called Big Lizzie. This was simply huge weighing in at 45 tonnes. It is effectively a massive but oil-fired traction engine. It has a trailer which is the surviving one of a pair. It has a single cylinder 60hp engine with a bore of 228mm (9 inches) and a stroke of 450mm (18 inches). Not surprising it revs and 235rpm so it must have made a wonderful sound. At top speed, it reached 2 mph (3.2 kph).

Big Lizzie - all 45 tonnes of her

Big wheels with an interesting tracking system

Red Cliffs got its name from some nearby Red Cliffs at the side of the Murray River. We went to have a look which took us all of 5 minutes. 

Red cliffs by the Murray

A red gum by the red cliffs by the Murray

A red path near the red gum by the red cliffs by the Murray

Woods

On our return, I was amused by a sign at the side of the road in Red Cliffs that advertised, at $3 a bag, a product referred to as “mandies”. For my English readers, these are mandarins. I find I am still amused by Australian abbreviations. Later we talked to a man who recalled being “povo” which, as you would have worked out means poor or impoverished. At least he wasn’t wearing a “flanno” which is a shirt made out of flannelette. At Wentworth yesterday the woman in the bakery had referred to their Cornish Pasties as “fair dinkum”. The G satisfied her retail longings at the mandy stall and also at the nearby vintage wares shop.

Mandies - only in Australia

We had one winery to go and that was Cappa Stone Wines. Therein was a man who was very amiable but who could talk for Australia, and win gold medals, were they to introduce talking as a national sport. The wines were exceptional, both the whites and the reds. We are booked to go to Stefano’s tonight and we gleaned much information from our friend at Cappa Wines. The G knows of Stefano from her days in Sydney. He was hooked up with Jim McDougall of The Black Stump for a while. Stefano’s appears to be a bit of an empire; they also have a micro-brewery next door to the restaurant so we shall be sampling the amber nectar before dinner.

The amber nectar sampled before dinner was very good. There was a range of beers and the place was full with the great, the good, the aspiring and, no doubt, the wankers of Mildura. The experience at Stefano's was mixed. The food was good but the overall service was not. There were two problems. We had booked for 19:00; others had booked for 19:30. There was a set menu of five courses. The first three (a twice-cooked cheese soufflé, a pork sausage with puy lentils,  orecchiette with an oxtail sauce) came steadily and at a good pace. Then we waited 40 minutes for the quail with fennel. 

We waited because the kitchen had decided that it would manage matters for its own convenience and not for the comfort of the diners. Everyone, both 19:00 and 19:30 people, was served at the same time. We were the early booking so we had to wait.

The second problem was the deserts. There were two: a flourless orange cake and a brulée. Both were good but they were served alternatively. Now, I am aware that when you go to the Rugby Club dinner you might get chicken and beef served to alternate diners. But this is not what happened at a restaurant with pretensions such as Stefano's. Two deserts means two smaller deserts for each diner, not one each.

We returned to the apartment where I ate an Anzac biscuit and retired to bed.