Moolooloo Shearer’s Quarters

Due to a cancellation, the Shearer’s Quarter’s are currently available during the second week of the July school holiday’s.  Check out our website or give us a call on 08 8648 4861 for more information.

Blinman Hut

We also have some availability at Blinman Hut, again, give us a call if you are interested or would like more information.

Nuccaleena Cottage, Orroroo

We currently have availability at Nuccaleena Cottage during the SA school holidays. Check out our website, or contact us on 08 8648 4861 for more information.

THAT BLOKE ‘MURPHY’!

In our December blog I mentioned we were heading to the Eyre Peninsula to plan a new trip. We were going well prepared as there was some quite remote travel and we were on our own. Well, I probably should not have mentioned that because our irregular traveling companion, one Mr Murphy, decided to pay us a visit around half way along Googs Track. For those who don’t know the area, picture yourself some 120 kilometres north of Ceduna on a remote and sandy track where only 4WDs go with a car that doesn’t go.

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Ingredients:

• 325gm Unsalted Butter, softened
• 120 gm Icing Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Honey
• 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
• 2 cups of S.R. Flour
• 1 cup of Custard Powder
• Extra 125gm Butter for Icing
• Extra 1 1/2 – 2 cups of Icing Sugar for Icing
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract for Icing
• 2 tsp Wattle Seed (Wild Harvested Roasted & Ground) for Icing

Method:

1. Cream butter and sugar for 5 mins. Add Honey and Cinnamon and beat for another minute.
2. Sift flour and custard powder, add to butter mixture.
3. Roll into small balls and place on lined trays. Press down with a fork.
4. Bake at 180°C for 15 to 20 mins, until just golden. Don’t over cook.
5. Transfer to wire cooling racks.
6. Beat extra butter, icing sugar, vanilla and wattle seed until creamy white.
7. When biscuits are cool, join with butter cream mix.

We sold these biscuits at our Tastes of the Outback stall, they were a huge hit. We have had many people since ask for the recipe. They really are delicious.  I made them for a Wedding recently too, so they are great for special occasions. If you don’t have ground wattle seed you can make up the butter mixture and fill the biscuits with jam and butter cream.

* We used Wild Harvested Roasted and Ground Wattle Seed by L. Dudley, Willmington, South Australia. Click here for more information. It is used as a coffee substitute and flavour for baking, ice cream.

If you didn’t get the chance to get down to our ‘Experience the Edge‘ stall, here is a picture!

We had a very successful day. We weren’t too sure what to expect as we hadn’t done anything like this before, so were very pleased with the results (as it also meant we didn’t have to negotiate fitting everything back into the car at the end of the day!).

Our most popular items of the day were our Pomegranate Cordial, Choc Coated Macadamia Quandongs, Sweet Mustard Pickles, Honey Biscuits with Wattle Seed Cream (stay tuned for Recipe), Mulberry Jam, Quince Paste and Old Fashioned Tomato Sauce.

• Nuccaleena Cottage brekkie provisions include a range of our Homemade Jams and Sauces.

There were 10 stalls scattered throughout the beautiful tree lined main street, a foodie’s delight!  From all accounts everyone had a great day.  A big well done to the organizers on a successful event !!!

Wishing you all a Safe and Happy Easter!

Towards the end of March we were lucky enough to be involved in a photo shoot for the Flinders Ranges.  This was just the incentive we needed to get down to Orroroo and catch up on all those little jobs that were beginning to mount up!

Along with general yard tidy up, some of the jobs included:

• building a retaining wall around the tank
• putting skirting boards and curtains up in the lounge room
• fixing the ceiling in the main bedroom
• replanting the poor standard roses that were only just alive into pots (relocated to the back courtyard) and planting native grass and iris’ in their place.

There were many other jobs in between, all in all a productive few days! We left feeling that we had accomplished a lot, which inspired us to make it a more regular occurrence. We already have a long list for our next maintenance visit. Stay tuned for more updates…

* Don’t forget our trading table at Tastes of the Outback *

18th April 2009, 11am – 3pm in the Main Street, Orroroo

We get many guests asking us if they can buy our homemade sauce and jams. Well this is your chance!

• Old fashioned Tomato Sauce
• Mulberry Jam
• Plum Jam
• Sweet Mustard Pickles
• Quince Paste
• Mushroom Paste
• Pomegranate & Lemon Cordial
• Chocolate Coated Macadamia Quandongs
• Marmalade
• Honey biscuits filled with wattle seed cream
• Dried Quandongs
• Pomegranates
• Pomegranate seedlings

If you can’t make it on the day and would like something in particular, please get in contact with us and we’ll see what we can do.

If you’ve stayed at Nuccaleena Cottage over the past few months you will have noticed that we are now supplying guests with a beautiful range of olive oil soaps made locally in the heart of the Clare Valley by R & J Soaps.

They smell divine and are great for your skin too! They even have an unscented soap that has been recommended by a dermatologist for dry skin and eczema.

Don’t just take our word for it, pop into The Soap Shed in Clare and see for yourself!

TASTES OF THE OUTBACK

Maggies Rendezvous

ORROROO

Friday Night Live

Friday 17^th April

7.30pm – Licensed & Supper

Limited Seats – Book Now

Tickets $20

Phone: 08 86581482 or 0427581351

Close and Intimate Night of Music and

Comedy with Golden Guitar Nominee

“John O’Dea”

Today was a busy day!  We excitedly set out this morning to set up camp along the Artimore Public Access Road to supply 80+ Variety 4WD Challenge members with lunch, tea and coffee.

Members of the Blinman Sports Club provided a tasty lunch (baguettes, roast meat & salad accompanied by homemade chutneys and sauces) followed by a bevvy of homemade cakes, scones and slices and a brew of billy tea.  Superb weather and an ideal setting topped off the day.

We hope you enjoy the snaps.

A friend sent me this earlier today and i thought it was so good that I just had to share it with you all.  Take the time to have a look…

The whisper has it that Blinman has been chosen as one of 6 Australian ‘Bush Slam’ locations for the new ABC TV/Freehand Productions series hosted by none other than HG!

“Bush Slam will feature Australia’s leading poets and lyricists.” (Media Release: Leena Thomas, 16-2-09 ABC TV Publicity).

• The series will be telecast on ABC 1 later on in the year.
• Stay tuned for more details about this very exciting event!
• For more information on Bush Slam please follow this link: Bush Slam
• This series is funded by Screen Australia and supported by the Australia Council

Sounds intriguing, right! ;P

It’s on again

8am Start

Categories Include:

• Half Marathon Run or Walk

• 10km Run and Walk

• 5km Run and Walk

Click here to view larger poster.

Download Registration Forms Here: Form (109 kb)

Download 1/2 Marathon Map Here: Map (411 kb)

• Driving defensively on dirt roads

We spent two weeks over Christmas on the Eyre Peninsula planning a new tour for 2009. We traveled over 4500 km, around 2500 off the bitumen. One thing that became increasingly worrying and frustrating was the lack of courtesy shown by other travelers. Slowing down and moving off the crown of a dirt road has always been a habit of ours, yet we regularly found that when we moved off the centre line the oncoming vehicle immediately took over the whole road, blasting past and showering us with dust and stones. Perhaps they wondered why we didn’t wave back at them? A good friend often reminds us that common sense is not that common any more and after our recent experiences I can only continue to agree with him and remain amazed by these acts of human stupidity and lack of consideration.

So for this month, here are some tips on safe dirt road driving

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Step back in time and help us celebrate 150 years!

• BACK TO BLINMAN SCHOOL

The weekend will begin at 10am on Saturday at the old Blinman School building. Register your attendance, have a cup of tea or coffee, renew old acquaintances and reminisce over the photo displays.

• ROLL CALL At 11am – Art Yandle, a former principal, will conduct a roll call of previous students. Old Scholars will be invited to share stories of their school days.

• LUNCH will be available immediately following the conclusion at the school.

• 150 YEARS OF MINING HISTORY

At 1.30pm a special presentation will be held at the Blinman mine site   incorporating the history, recent developments and the exciting plans for the future. Mine tours will be   conducted throughout the afternoon.

• DINNER will be available from the Wild Lime Café and the Blinman Hotel. Bookings essential

• DANCE IN THE HISTORIC BLINMAN HALL 8.00pm Music by Gary Mannion & his band ‘Sneakin Up‘. Supper provided.

• CHURCH SERVICE At 10am on Sunday morning the Rev. Arthur Tanner will conduct a service in the Blinman Church.

• A COMMUNITY PICNIC 12 Noon at the Blinman Sports Club will follow the church service. Lunch available. BYO drinks. Traditional games and races. Music again provided by Garry Mannion.

• ALL WELCOME - If you would like more information or have any old photos or memorabilia you would like to include in the historical displays please contact :

Lesley Slade: Ph. 86484669  Amanda Hilder : Ph. 86484230

Here is an excerpt from an email sent to me earlier today, please spread the word and of course if you can save up your shopping until Friday that would be fantastic, every little bit helps.

Monday 9 February

Coles to donate this Friday’s profits to Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund

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Phew, what a stinker it has been this week!  We have been very busy since the start of this year getting ready for shearing, amongst many things, explaining the minimal posts ;D

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