Food

WA Road Trip: Part Three – Hyden to Albany

Both Albany and neighbouring Denmark (50-odd kilometres to the west) feature picturesque bay after halcyonic headland after idyllic, white-sand beach, with one magnificent vista after another. We’d hardly driven into town before I’d resolved to come back here one day for a longer stay.

How completely different this coast was from the countryside we’d travelled through for four hours to get here, following the route through country towns Kulin, Lake Grace, Dumbleyung (watch out for the Dumbleyung Dunny!) and Katanning to the Chester Pass Road.

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Christmas in Perth

Of  course, Christmas is all about celebrating family. (Unless you happen to be a Christian, in which case it might be about celebrating something else.)

So here I am with Roy, appropriately ensconced in the bosom of our family for the next month and more. We have our own self-contained guest suite – sounds a bit better than granny-flat, doesn’t it? – in the house of son Carl and his wife Carrie in Iluka, 30km north of central Perth, Western Australia.

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What’s On in Durban?

Plenty. Durban has quite enough to keep me busy, and that’s the truth.

By comparison to my home town, Singapore is a major world city that offers just about every entertainment you could possibly think of – everything from world-class concerts and exhibitions to international sports events and more. New restaurants of every level and description, from hawker stalls where a meal costs around US$3 to global celebrity chef restaurants where you’ll easily pay $200 or even $300 a head. So, after our nearly 16 years in this amazing metropolis, am I missing all that? No, not really.

The 5-star Oyster Box in Umhlanga Rockshas a selection of more-or-less fancy restaurants, including the Lighthouse Bar – and no, it’s not actually in the lighthouse itself

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KZN Midlands Meander – Road Trip for Three

Durban’s not just about sun and surf – it’s also less than a two-hour drive from an agricultural hinterland that bristles with dozens of more-or-less-chi-chi farm stalls, handicrafts and cottage industries, craft breweries, hostelries, spas, cafés and restaurants. This bucolic wonderland is called the Midlands Meander, and what better destination for a couple of nights’ R&R with my sister Dale from London and our mutual BFF Julie?

Craft ales at Rawdon's Hotel, Balgowan - home of Nottingham Road Brewery
At Rawdon’s Hotel, Balgowan – the home of Nottingham Road Brewery

Day One – of pork crackling, dental disasters and craft ales

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