Moo make me feel like dancing

On Anzac Day we went for a walk through the Murrumbidgee Corridor. It was peaceful and glorious.

The Murrumbidgee

These pickled onions made me laugh.

Here is the latest in the series of Nailed It (or not). See if you can tell the difference between my version of roast cauliflower, chickpea and paneer curry, and the official photographed recipe version.

I know; they're practically identical, right?

And speaking of curry, this is the Rogan Josh brewed by Him Outdoors and the Stutchbury Farmer for Wignall Brewery. It is going to GABS as a Festival Beer. We are very excited by this.

I was very lucky to be given a free ticket to Groovin the Moo, which is apparently a music festival for young people. It was dark by the time I got there after work, so I had no concern at all over being older than almost everyone else present. And I can dance and enjoy the music just the same. There was a pretty good vibe - I suspect all the drunken eejits had already passed out. I danced and sang along to my favourites and discovered an appreciation for some new stuff. 

Claptone had a great laser light display in the main 'Moolin Rogue' tent. He's a techno dj from Germany who wears a beaked mask and projects pictures of shamanic figures onto the large screens behind the decks. I don't care who he is; I just love the sound of house piano wafting out across a field.

Claptone

The 'slightly older' contingent

Royal Blood were excellent. I've been vaguely aware of them, but never really listened before - I will be from now on. They put out a whole lot of noise for just two people: Ben Thatcher on drums and Mike Kerr on guitar(s) - he played at least half a dozen different guitars during the 50-minute set. They were full of energy and attitude with the ability to have a bit of a laugh as well. 

Capital Brewing have put out a special Royal Brew Blood Orange IPA in their honour, which was on sale at the festival (although it had all sold out by the time I got there). Mike Kerr was encouraged to drink one by the crowd who yelled out for him to do a shoey - when he remarked that he hadn't got a shoe, he was helpfully supplied with one form the moshpit. So very rock and roll.

Royal Blood: a whole lot of music from two musicians

Ball Park Music are infectious. Their jolly jangly pop-tastic tunes belie a darker edge, but it's hard not to be happy when they open a set with It's Nice to be Alive and follow up with numbers such as Exactly How You Are. Everything is Shit Except My Friendship with You, She Only Loves Me when I'm There and The Perfect Life Does Not Exist were also very well received, while the confetti cannons and giant beach balls added to the party atmosphere and overall good mood. 

Everybody's happy with Ball Park Music

Cultural Outings with Cake

Having been to see a fascinating exhibition at the National Museum of Australia, The Luminosity and I needed sustenance. Fortunately there was sustenance in the form of cake; the problem now was making a decision.

 

Persian Love Cake

The Luminosity with cake

When I went home to relax in the garden and read my book (as if my mind wasn't already full), this fellow came to join me.

Praying Mantis

Praying Mantis with Prisma filter

I went for the first jog I have managed in ages. It was good to be out and about among the trees.

Another date with The Luminosity was to see Antony and Cleopatra at the Playhouse in the Canberra Theatre Centre.

From museum, to theatre to the pub; The Phoenix to be precise, where I spied this piece of graffito and wondered if that was a 'w' or an 'm' and whether it mattered.

Phoenix Graffito

I saw Shoeb Ahmad (seen here with Emma McManus) and Passive Smoke (who were part of the COUP: Canberra performance of Vinegar Tom, as was Emma).

Shoeb Ahmad with Emma McManus

Passive Smoke rocking The Phoenix

Him Outdoors made me his version of a gourmet breakfast burger with smoked bacon from Pialligo Estate and black pudding on the side (it didn't fit inside, apparently) from Market Meats at Belconnen. 

Breakfast Burger by Him Outdoors

And in the afternoon I went to Sue's Salon at the home of Mr & Mrs Lovely Bonkers, where there were friends and conversation and bubbles and laughter - this could well become a 'regular thing'.

At Sue's Salon

The gorgeous Gindelle with tiara

Botanic Beauty and Beer

After a wonderful weekend at the sea, I was spoiled for nature and simply needed more of it. So I went for an afternoon walk around the Botanic Gardens. I am not a gardener by any stretch of the imagination - I have managed to kill cacti. 

When people said they spent the weekend in the garden, I used to reply 'me too', until I realised they had not been sat with a book and a gin and tonic but actually doing physical tasks like weeding and digging and pruning and planting and such. Even the words flummox me - I prefer to let other people do and admire the fruits of their labours. I noted some of the names of the plants; others are simply trees and flowers, but I like them all and they make me happy (admittedly some may be weeds; I can't tell the difference). 

The rainforest gully is planted to represent the types of rainforest along the east coast of Australia with Tasmanian rainforest at the lower end of the gully and mountain rainforest of Northern Queensland at the upper end. The delightfully cool canopy is comprised of towering palms, ferns and trees. It is a popular spot on hot days (such as today's 30 degrees) as the temperature is usually a good 10 degrees cooler in the gully than out in the open at midday. 

Wollemi Pine

I have previously spent many happy hours sitting at the Rock Garden watching the Gippsland water dragons. They can grown up to a metre long and their tail, which forms two-thirds of their length, is laterally compressed to act like an oar when swimming.

Gippsland water dragon

Rock Garden Lawn

This is an Australian Native Bee Hotel, which provides nest sites for solitary native bees that usually nest in crevices and hollows in plant stems and wood. There are over 2,000 Australian native bee species; most are solitary and none are aggressive, which is welcome news. 

Timber hollows for native bees to make their nest

 

Sweet Hakea (Hakea drupacea)

  

I absolutely love the Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae). This fluffy-looking fellow was sitting on a branch observing me. It looks so soft and cuddly, apart from that beak.

Laughing Kookaburra

 

 

A Banksia, I presume

Mt Olga/ Kata Tjuta Wattle (Acia olgana)

Scribbly Gum

 

The Red Centre Garden pays tribute to the physical and symbolic heart of Australia. The Red Centre is a land of arid beauty, endless plains and stunning natural monuments, steeped in Aboriginal heritage with distinctive desert plants and animals. It is an area of Central Australia with no defined boundary. Instead it is characterised by a harsh landscape of desert sands, rocky escarpments and dry riverbeds, where its inhabitants must adapt or perish.

 

The entrance to the Red Centre Garden is guarded by a larger-than-life model of a Thorny Devil. Apparently this creature can consume water just by standing in the rain, or from dew that settles on its body overnight, which runs down grooves between its scales and is directed into its mouth.

Model of a Thorny Dragon (Moloch horridus)

The pavement design for the Red Centre Garden is the work of indigenous artist, Teresa Purla McKeeman, who describes her painted design thus:

"This painting is about the ceremonial dancing but only women can attend these ceremonies, performing sacred dance and song. The younger girls are taught the dance movements, song, dreaming designs, and stories. 

The women's dancing has been done for many years at the ceremonial site. This painting represents the dance tracks that are left by the women. I...have applied my own style to depict the site and stories that have been passed onto me."

 

Pavement design by Teresa Purla McKeeman

 

 
 

Sturt's Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa)

 

Some type of Correa I believe

 
 

Aboriginal people have many uses for melaleukas. The papery bark has been used as roofing material, blankets, canvas, baskets, food wrapping, clothing, and rolled tightly to make a torch that repels mosquitoes while it burns. The young leaves can be bruised and soaked in water to make a liquid to treat colds and headaches or placed on the skin under warm mud to treat bites, stings and wounds. 

I think that along with the bark of the Scribbly Gum, they would make a wonderful subject for artistic representation: painting; textiles; cross-stitch; etc. 

Paperbark (Melaleuka linariifolia)

 

 And here's all of that in a single collage:

The brewers at Bacchus Brewing are experimental genii. We do enjoy their beers, so when one of our favourite pubs was featuring a tap takeover of theirs, we went along to play. We had fun.

Bacchus Tap Takeover at The Durham

A starter for ten (well, nine actually, but we did have another one to finish off)

 

My favourites were the Passiofruit Gose (powerful fruit aroma from the passionfruit lures one into a tropical mindset, then kicks back with a salty punch), Double Dragon English Bitter (nutty, earthy and hoppy up front with a slightly astringent finish), Frack Jack Imperial Black IPA (chocolate and dark cherries - very smooth with a satisfyingly dry finish) and Timmy Ho's Double Double Sweet Milk Stout (smells of coffee; tastes of tiramisu - full-bodied, rich mouthfeel; sweet creamy taste and very fine). 

The perfect accompaniment to all this beautiful beer was a good honest dish of bangers and mash with brown onion gravy and even some healthy-looking greens on the side.