Newsletter Changes

The last newsletter we sent was over 12 months ago, and since then, the web site which processed our newsletter memberships has folded and we have had to find a new home. Cape Trib is now a `group' at Yahoo, and your membership of our newsletter has been transferred across to this group. There are more than 100 people signed up to receive our news.

World Travellers Return Home

2000 saw us crossing the Pacific again for Digby to complete his last 3 months of the Samoan contract with the UN. Alison left Samoa in March and went to northern Spain and walked the Camino de Santiago – 800 kms in 27 days. It was a wonderful experience interacting with Spanish people in remote villages all the way across the country
speaking survival Spanish.

We joined up in France at the end of April and hired bicycles and cycled from Blois to the Atlantic coast, taking 3 weeks and staying in chamber d'hotes, the French version of
the bed and breakfast. Our plans to spend a month walking in Scotland were cancelled due to the foot and mouth outbreak – we went to Corsica instead and walked for 2 weeks in the mountains – we were surprised how rugged they were. By the end of May we were home, and glad to be here, vowing we would never leave again (until another
contract!)

We had evicted the caretakers from hell the previous Christmas and left the farm in the hands of a property manager who rented the house out to people and then used the funds to pay for farm work to be completed. It worked well. Jessie, our older Rottweiler had died during our absence in June 2000 aged 11, and the guard dog in training Mia had spent the last 3 months of our absence up on a farm on the Atherton Tablelands, and was pleased to see us. A month at home and we had 20 new day old chickens to restock the chicken house and a new Rottweiler puppy which we named Kim Beasley (after the
leader of the opposition in the Australian Parliament) Both of them had very fat jowls though Kimmy seems to have lost hers now, at 6 months old.

Re-establishing the Fruit Tasting

There had been no fruit tasting at Cape Trib for more than 18 months, and within 2 weeks of being home Digby was back into it, and its popularity grew rapidly. Within a few weeks it was as if we had never been away – but now we had much more fruit available as new trees started producing for the first time.

Starting up the Bed and Breakfast

When we left for Samoa 18 months earlier we had left behind a half completed B&B cottage – it had the roof, the outside walls and a floor, but no windows, no bathroom, no plumbing, no interior walls. We worked flat out to complete it, and finally at the beginning of October we had a big celebration to open it, invited all the locals, and put the sign out at the front gate. We have now been open 3 and ½ months, and been very busy looking after our guests and thoroughly enjoying the interactions. Most of our bookings come through our web site at www.capetrib.com.au and there is now a detailed section about the Bed and Breakfast on the web site, so go and have a look at the photos of the cottage if you are interested.

Media Star

It appears that we have been discovered. A Sydney documentary company filmed Digby doing a fruit tasting for a TV series called `Secrets of Australia' which will be shown on the Discovery channel. They tell is it will be seen in North America, South America and Europe with an audience of billions. We are part of the episode in Tropical North Queensland. It was great fun watching the filming – we have yet to see the finished product.

Digby was interviewed by a journalist for the Weekend Australian Magazine, and this article will be published the first week of February, in the Food and Lifestyle column, with a photo. So who knows what this exposure will bring.

We also had an independent video documentary producer making a program about different lifestyles around Australia spend a day on the farm with us and recorded an interview and video footage. If you visit our website you can play the 2 minute sequence and hear us talk about our lifestyle. Isn't technology amazing these days.

Fruit and the Orchard

Six months at home has now got the orchard back under control. The first few months we had WWOOFAs (Willing Workers on Organic Farms)to help us and the pruning of the Salaks did not seem to be such a daunting task when two young adults worked alongside you. The Salak crop is quite large – we estimate about 25% of the trees are fruiting and that we should pick approximately 300 to 500 kg. So the time has finally come when we have to think about sending our fruit to Brisbane and use the wholesale market. This is a completely new thing for us and a steep learning curve. We have had to purchase
special fruit trays and they will need plastic inserts (about Apricot size) which have to be sent up from Stanthorpe more than 2000 km away where the main Apricots region is located. Inside the trays we are planning to use `cerise' coloured tissue paper as a contrast to the brown skin of the Salaks.

A Recipe for You

Now that we are running the Bed and Breakfast Digby is becoming a very good Breakfast chef, whipping up omelettes and pancakes on demand. One of our menu items is Banana Pancake with Mango and Ginger Sauce, served with yoghurt. Here is the recipe we use for the sauce – created by Mogens Bay Esbensen in his `A Taste of the Tropics' cook
book which is no longer available. Apparently he returned to Denmark to retire and is living as a recluse on a little island. His sauce is really special.

Mango and ginger sauce

2-3 ripe mangoes
½ cup of caster sugar
juice of 2 limes
2cm of young soft ginger root peeled and grated

Slice the flesh of the stone and spoon the meat from the skins into a blender with sugar, lime juice and fresh grated ginger. Blend until smooth and sugar has dissolved. Strain through a fine sieve into a bowl and store in a cold place.

This is delicious served with icecream, pancakes, fresh fruit and puddings. Will keep refrigerated for one week.