Kangaroos are friends... AND food!

Let me start off here by reiterating how kind and generous most Australians are. One of my mom's students, Jodie, and her husband Drew, showed us great generosity and hospitality, even though they only knew us for a couple of weeks. Drew offered to take Patrick and I kangaroo hunting one weekend with him and his son. Of course, we accepted.

He picked us up at about 3 pm on a Saturday, a few days after my birthday, and we drove about an hour out of town to a pine tree farm called Alaska. Drew knows the owner and has permission to go hunting there. We parked in a clearing, slung a couple rifles over our shoulders and started walking. You walk to hunt kangaroo, not sit and wait like hunting deer. We walked around 5 kilometers and spotted about a dozen kangaroo, but they were all hopping away through the trees, making it too difficult to get a shot at. Here's the ironic part - just as we were coming back to the car to take a break and get a drink, we spotted a mob of them right in the clearing where we parked. Patrick, Jacob and I hung back a bit while Drew crept close enough to get three shots off, two of which hit their mark. There was one more still hanging around as we all walked closer, and Patrick got to take a shot at it, but missed. We cut their necks to let them bleed out and had a cup of tea while we waited, then butchered them and packed the meat in a cooler. By that time we still had a good hour and a half before the sun went down, so Drew let us have some target practice at some pine cones and a cow skull. We got plenty of meat from the two, so we got to keep some, which I cooked later at the alpaca farm.

The best part of all that, I think, was getting to add another animal to my list of "have-seen's". While walking through the trees, trying to be quiet and keeping both eyes up and open looking for a good shot, Drew suddenly shouted 'Tiger snake!'. I was walking just ahead of the rest of them, so I first looked back to them, then to where they were pointing, at the ground only three or four feet to my right. The snake was maybe a little over a meter long, with black scales and a bright, vivid orange belly. A beautiful creature, really. It's too bad that one bite can inject enough venom to kill ten grown men.

Did I mention the generosity of Australians? Drew and Jodie invited the three of us to come to lunch and snorkeling with them the next day at a little-known spot right on the ocean. Drew, a professional chef, cooked an excellent kangaroo curry for lunch, and Jodie baked an apple pie for dessert.

There was no sandy beach at North point, the snorkeling spot, only boulders and masses of rock that gently sloped into the ocean. We donned out masks and snorkels and slid into the crystal clear water. There were plenty of fish of all different size, shape, and color, though I was only able to name the zebra fish and the grouper. Forests of sea weed covered the large boulders and coral, with swaths of white sand between them. After swimming for a while, I spent some time climbing around the boulders and exploring the coastline, and a cave carved out by the waves that went into the cliff a good 20 meters in different directions. 

My step dad John arrived late at night the next Friday. We all spent the next day swimming at the beach, and packing and preparing for the next big move. All four of us would be heading to Pentland Animal farm, just outside the town of Denmark, about an hour's drive from Albany, to WWOOF for the next five weeks. I, having moved to a new 'home' a dozen or more times in the past six months, was packed up and ready in ten or fifteen minutes. The rest of the group, however, was a little behind; understandably so, with a mixture of jet lag, stress, and nerves hindering the process. It was quite a task to fit all our gear into the car. Two bags or suitcases each, plus a big handbag for mom, plus several boxes of food and provisions for the stay at Pentland, plus a couple boxes of art Mom's art supplies, plus four bodies, all crammed into a four door sedan. The sight was quite comical once we fit it all in.

... Did I mention the generosity of Australians? A friend and student of Mom's very generously offered us the use of her car while we were away at Pentland, which has made things much, much easier for us. 

We're at Pentland Alpaca Stud now, taking care of all the critters large and small. We've got horses, donkeys, cows that moo; foxes, dogs, llamas and emu. Galahs, weiros, and aviary birds, with all these animals, comes plenty of turds. Ferrets and parrots, goats and sheep, lots of alpacas, and pigeons that peep. A pig and a camel, the humpbacked mammal. Guinea pigs, rabbits, and kangaroo, lots of chickens and plenty of poo!

Along with feeding all the animals twice a day and cleaning pens and cages, we have also been putting up a lot of new fence. Previously, the goat pen's fence had become rather beaten and worn over the years, and goats were squeezing through and under the fence. We were catching goats a good dozen times a day to put them back inside the pen. Now we've torn all that out and sunk big new timber poles in the ground and put up new wire fencing. Only Fudge, the most notorious escape artist, can still find a way out.

I have been keeping in touch with one of my WWOOF'er friends, Marcel from Germany, that I met on the first farm in Merriwa. He and a couple other travelers have bought a car and are driving across the country, and they just happened to be passing through Denmark while we're here. He and his mates stopped in for a while and we caught up while I showed them around the farm. They've found paying work now on a winery somewhere in the area.

I cooked with kangaroo for the first time while staying here at Pentland. I used the leg meat and back strap that Drew gave us from the hunt, and cooked it with a peanut satay sauce. It. Was. Delicious. My improvised version of the recipe is at the bottom of this post.
We have fairly limited internet here, and it costs a pretty penny if you go over the data limit, so I'm not able to upload all my pictures this time around. But don't worry, there will be a flood of pictures once I can access a better internet connection. 

Satay Beef (kangaroo) Wraps
600 grams is about one and a third pound

600g beef, cut stir-fry style

2 tbs kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)

2 cloves garlic, fine chop

1 red onion, fine chop

1 long red chili, seeds removed, fine chop (we could only find short red chili which were a bit hotter, and I left the seeds in, but I think the spicy-ness was just perfect)

1 lemongrass stalk, finely grated

2/3 cup roasted salted peanuts

2 tbs brown sugar

juice of 1 lime

1/2 cup coconut milk (we used regular milk, worked fine)

2 cucumbers, finely shredded

1 cup coriander sprigs, chopped

1/4 shredded coconut (we skipped that)

8 mountain bread 'tortillas' (we used Lavash bread which was great, I think Naan would be just as good)

Olive/sunflower/whatever oil

The recipe says to marinate beef in 1 tbs kecap manis and half the garlic overnight. I made a marinade with kecap manis, worcestershire sauce, and garlic, then oven roasted the kangaroo for ~3 hours

Satay sauce:

Cook onion 4-5 in frypan over medium heat

Add chili, lemongrass, garlic, cook 2-3 minutes

Crush peanuts in food processor (we just chopped them by hand), then add to pan with brown sugar, lime juice, coconut milk, and 1/2 cup water. Simmer 8-10 minutes until thickened and reduced.

Stir in 1 tbs kecap manis

Beef:

Heat oil in separate fry pan over medium-high heat. Cook half the beef, turning, for 5 minutes. Add 1 tbs satay sauce from above, cook another 2 minutes. Repeat with rest of beef and another tbs satay sauce.

^seems a bit pointless to me. If the pan is big enough, I would just do it all at once. Since we cooked the roo beforehand, I just threw it all in the satay sauce pan to get it back up to temperature.

This is meant to be served as a wrap in Mountain bread, with the cucumber, coriander, onion, shredded coconut, remaining satay sauce, etc. We piled it on lavash and got messy instead.

Never in a million years

In the not so distant past, I never in a million years would have thought that I'd be spending my 21st birthday in Australia, let alone with my mom and youngest brother. It's pretty crazy the way things work sometimes.

I've been staying in Albany, Western Australia, which is right on the Princess Royal Harbor; beautiful old town, beautiful landscapes, beautiful ocean and beaches, and a very, very pleasant relief to the extreme heat and flies. I have yet to see 100 degrees or a single marsh fly while here. Correction from my last post: Albany is the first settlement in Western Australia, not all of Australia.

Mom and Patrick met me at the bus station

This creature is the thing I have to -err, I mean get to spend the next six weeks with.

My mom, the artist, is teaching classes and workshops and things at the Vancouver Art's Center here in Albany. She and two other artists have accommodation in a house next to the center, which are built on the side of one of two hills that Albany is built between; from which, we get a great view of the bay and the wind farm built on the hills on the opposite side of the bay. It was here on the veranda, one day, that I was sitting watching the sunset when a flock of Pelicans (yes, a flock of Pelicans. No, I didn't know they flew in flocks either) appeared all at once from behind a line of trees and flew directly over the house, a few of which circled back for a second and third pass. A flying Pelican looks just as strange and awkward as a flying Peacock.

The next morning, my first full day in Albany, Patrick and I hiked up Mount Melville, the hill the Albany is built onto. The hike itself was fairly easy, and only a couple kilometers long, but we spent an extra hour or so climbing the boulders at the top of the hill. There are plenty of small lizards and skinks around here, and I even caught a quick glimpse of a snake before it slithered off a rock and into the grass.

You could see the house and Art Center from the top

There were some tight squeezes and precarious angles through the boulders

For my first few nights in Albany, Patrick and I stayed at the house at the art center as well, however we don't get free residency and it costs for us to stay overnight. To avoid this cost, we accepted the gracious offer of one of my mom's students to stay under her roof for a while. In exchange we have been helping her with various work around her place and as well as with her job (professional gardener/landscaper). She, Liza, and her husband Alan used to run a B&B from their home and cottage on their property just outside of town. They no longer run it, but the cottage is fully furnished, with its own kitchen, bathroom, and two beds, which is where me and Patrick stay for most of the week, returning to the VAC for a few nights to stay with madre.

So on Saturday the 26th it was back to the VAC (Vancouver Art's Center) for the extended weekend and to help set up an art exhibition for the three artists. The 26th also happens to be Australia day, and I was showing my patriotic spirit by sporting an Australia flag patch on my jeans, conveniently covering a hole I had worn through. In the morning I walked down the street to browse the weekly farmer's market, and got myself some fresh local honeycomb... yummmmm

Mom's display at the show

Other days have been spent exploring the streets of Albany, browsing op shops (thrift stores), strolling through parks, gardens, and memorials, and swimming at the various beaches in the area.

My birthday was just about as perfect as I think it ever could have been. I woke up before six, as I have been nearly ever day now, to a beautiful sunrise that turned into a picture perfect sunny day. Mom made an amazing breakfast, then me and Patrick walked into town to the get next book in the series I'm reading. After lunch, the three of us walked back into town to a really neat organic store that my mom wanted to show me, where I bought the last ingredient (walnuts) for the bread pudding I was making for dessert. Mom and I spent the afternoon preparing meals and setting up for the party. I meant to take a picture of the finished dinner and desert I made, but I was four beers deep at that point and kinda forgot. I made a chicken cheese and rice casserole, and for dessert bread pudding with raisins, dried cherries and currants, and walnuts. I also made a topping for the pudding from a recipe that I found in one of my hosts' cook books. I know it sounds interesting, but it was absolutely delicious. Mashed avocado and bananas (recipe called for blended, but we didn't have a blender), with whipped cream and honey.

Birthday breakfast, french toast with home baked bread and apricot chutney, eggs, tea and OJ

I realized something kind of neat while typing this. I have always wanted to have a summer birthday just once, so I could go outside and enjoy the day rather than freeze half to death. Well I finally got my wish this year :)

It's all been easy going here in Albany. Trim a few hedges, pull a few weeds, learn about plants, that's pretty much the worst of it. Reading, bush walking, playing in the waves, napping, cooking, eating, and writing makes up the rest. It'll be sad to leave on February 9th when we head to our Denmark helpx farm, but I'm also excited to go. They run a petting zoo of sorts; alpacas, kangaroos and wallabies, and - what I'm really excited for, as I haven't seen one yet - koalas.

Oh, and we're going kangaroo hunting tonight :)