I am back in Australia this week, and discovered that had forgotten the stars, and potato scallops and bush lemons.
Travelling is great. I get to experience new people and places and cultures. New sights and sounds and tastes. But there is something about the place where you grew up that never leaves you.
You don’t forget the big things. People and places that were important or spectacular. It’s the little things you lose. I don’t think you forget, I think they just fall through the cracks in our busy minds.
So here are a few of the little things I have rediscovered since hopping off the plane.
Scallops… now, let’s be clear here. In Australia, asking for scallops at a fish and chip shop will (mostly) get you potato scallops. The small round seafood version are called sea scallops.
I believe potato scallops originated in the English midlands – but honestly cannot remember eating them anywhere else but Australia. I am not talking about potatoes cakes – mashed potato occasionally flavoured with other things, formed into a nice thick cake and fried. Nor am I talking about the sort of hash brown potatoes made from grated potato and turned into a cake. The great Aussie potato scallop is just a thing slice of a very large potato, covered in batter and deep fried. It’s usually covered with salt and sometimes vinegar… but that’s all. For the purists, any other additions or seasoning is just wrong.
The wildlife. It seems to me we are closer to wildlife in Australia… even in the cities. The sound of possums running around a roof, particularly a tin roof, in the wee small hours of the morning is unmistakable. It used to happen to me in the heart of Sydney as easily as in a bush town. And birds too – there seem a lot of them and they are very noisy first thing in the morning – and not just in the bush. They are very much at home in the city and suburbs.
And let’s not forget the spiders. You can’t – they are all too pervasive. Everyone always comments that Australia is home to lots of poisonous wildlife – spiders, snakes, sharks, jellyfish and on. That’s true. But when it comes to spiders, the daddy long legs is the most common. It’s totally harmless and they get everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE. Outside and indoors. Maybe the climate is just so good they breed very well, but there is no escaping them. Trying to keep them out of the house is a never-ending battle in the bush – so sometimes it’s easier just to give up and call it organic insect control.
Aussie hardwood. I had forgotten how very hard Australia hardwood is when you are trying to chop it for a fire. I had also forgotten how very satisfying it is to chop firewood. It’s good exercise and a great way to work out any frustrations. And it’s made even more satisfying because of the lovely roaring fire at the end of all that effort.
I had forgotten how much space there is here. Especially once you get out of the city. There’s open space everywhere. Houses are bigger, rooms are bigger. Even the sky seems bigger. Gardens are bigger too, which brings me to another thing I had forgotten – how great it is to have bush lemons just growing in the back garden. Bush lemons are like no other lemon. They would never sell in a supermarket. They are funny shapes and the skin is rough. You could never place a thin slice of bush lemon elegantly on the side of a cocktail or a serving dish. But they do taste so very fine when plucked off the bush, cut in half and dropped into… well whatever you like to drink with lemons.
And finally – the stars. I wish I could take a picture that would show you the stars where I am. They are so close, I feel as if I could almost reach up and touch them. And they are so bright. That’s probably because the air is dry and out here there’s not so much pollution. The constellations are different here to the northern hemisphere where I now live… and at the heart of the all is the Southern Cross. The sight of the Southern Cross low on a brilliantly starry sky is one of the things I will never forget.
