Grog Blog! Texan Style!

As stated in a previous blog; Texan beer is lower in alcohol content than Aussie beer is a myth!

LONE STAR

Brewed from the finest hops in the Pacific Northwest and hearty grains from Central and Northern Plains, this drop boasted a light, natural flavour. Interesting to note that Brad quite enjoyed his slab of Lone star until we reached LX ranch. Cowboy Greg immediately put Brad straight " Do you drink fosters?"

COORS

The secret to a good beer is all in the water. Coors uses only the best; fresh from high in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. This simple ingredient ensures a refreshing, easy to the palate brew.

Coors seemed to be a better choice. Whilst in Texas, follow the lead of the nearest Cowboy.

ZIEGENBOCK AMBER

Only available in Texas; this lager is a firm favourite. A sweet, smooth taste with notes of roasted grains and a hops finish.

Boutique beer at its finest!

Our Backyard! Chillagoe!

Chillagoe, a sleepy, outback town about 200 kms west of Cairns is a great place to get away from the hustle of city life. After the gold rush era, the population grew to thousands with the mining of copper, zinc and marble being the main industries. Today, however this quaint village is a shadow of its former self with a population of a mere 227 people at last count.

 Chillagoe is known for its magnificent, lime stone caves and as well as the annual wheelburrow race; which sees teams pushing burrows from Mareeba along the historic wheelburrow way to Chillagoe.. There are several hikes you can tramp around the area and you can swim or fish in the Walsh River (if it is not dry). Camping seems the natural accommodation in this setting although there is a motel, guest house and camping huts if you prefer. Like any good outback town, you can choose from the Post Office Hotel or the Chillagoe Hotel/Motel for a counter meal or a drink and a yarn with the locals.

The landmark chimney from the historical smelter site can be seen towering above the sky line. Brilliant blues, reds and greens of nature are in great contrast in this vast country side. The surrounding silence is deafening and the stars scintillate the sky as day turns to night.

A unique experience!

In the world kitchen! Banana bread.

Well, our banana trees have produced again! So we thought we would share an ever faithful banana bread recipe.

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1 tab butter

1 egg

1 cup sugar

3 mashed bananas

1 1/2 cups SR flour

1 tab milk

1 tab cinnamon

Method:

Mix ingredients together and bake for 35 minutes 200 degrees c.

Easy peasy!

Mooloolabar!

Mooloolabar on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland is a picturesque, seaside "Sloanville".  Along the shoreline the gentle waves dallies with the clean, off white sand.  One end of the beach boasts interesting rock pools to fossick.  An area on the cliff above is delegated to the grey nomads who have their campers and RVs set up on the prime real estate. These little gems of land for the common folk are few and far between. Great to see as most of these water front dinosaurs known as a "caravan Park" have been bought up and made into 5 star resorts.

 The pandanas lined Boulevard is alive with trendy restaurants, cafes and designer label boutiques. Lazy brunches are devoured whilst soaking in the marvelous view. Long leisurely beach walks are compulsory here.

Great place for a few days of R & R.

Death in Dallas

Two painted crosses lie etched on the black asphalt as symbolic representation of the day America lost its innocence.  It is here in Dallas, where three shots reverberated across the world.  As we sit on the Grassy Knoll, and conspiratorial theorists whisper in our ear, we reflect on the images that we saw on 'The Sixth Floor Museum' at Dealey Plaza.  This museum chronicles the assassination and legacy of President John F. Kennedy.  

The museum transports you back to a time where America was embroiled in the McCarthy witch hunts, the 'Bay of Pigs' shambles and an escalation of the Cold War.  An atmosphere builds of impending doom as you walk the same steps that Lee Harvey Oswald, and as you pass exhibit after exhibit a great sadness descends.  You watch, frame by frame the events of that day unravel and you witness a man's life taken from him and a wife trying to hold her beloved's head together.  In the far corner is the assassins advantage point hidden behind boxes piled so high that the afternoon sun casts an eerie silhouette across the room.  As you stare out the window down on to the street below, you see a throng of tourists playing chicken with the on-coming traffic to stand on a cross where the great man was gunned down; they steal the moment, selfie sticks raised sending their images across cyberspace to generate a morbid status updates.

Of all the many Museums that we have explored on our travels, the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza has been one of the most moving and unique experience we have undertaken, if ever in Dallas it is a must!

LX Ranch!

One of the main reasons for our visit to the Lone Star State was to have an authentic ranch experience. As we have mentioned before, we first met cowboy Greg and his wife Rhonda on our 2013 adventure around the world. Whilst hiking in the Grand Canyon's Havasu Falls, we were entertained with great stories about ranch life. "Travel is like knowledge, the more you see, the more you know you haven't seen"! So like Jed, the millionaire without the millions, we packed our bags and headed to Amarillo! Greg and Rhonda manage LX Ranch and that is where we enjoyed our unique cowboy experience!



LX RANCH HISTORY!


Family patriarch Lee Bivins acquired the LX Ranch in a legendary coin toss with R.B. Masterson in October 1910. Masterson won the toss and chose land North of the Canadian River leaving the South side with over 30,000 acres to Bivins. LX has been handed down through the generations to its present owner Miles Childers, who started working the ranch in 1965. Over the years, the ranch has increased in size to an impressive 64,000 acres (more than double original size) with over 1600 head of cattle. We had the pleasure of meeting Miles and found him to be an interesting, well traveled and generous man. It was an honour to meet you, Miles.


The history and the buildings on the ranch have been lovingly maintained. The beautiful old, white ranch house with its wrap round verandas is in immaculate condition and full of old time treasures. (Including resident ghost ). One of the store rooms on the property was even once the hide out for Billy the kid!

The ranch is surrounded by a picturesque canyon and land as far as the eye can see. The wild flowers line the dirt roads that lead to the head quarters, two Lakes and surrounding property. Wild plums and berries grow and are harvested to make wine and jam. At dusk the deer frolic a short distance for the homestead veranda and as night falls the fireflies perform a gala dance....... Ahh, a country life!

Bang! Bang! Cool hand Greenies!

A finger trembles, heartbeats crash like massive surf breaks making landfall, a sheen glistens across skin and Serotonin seeps into the blood stream causing breathing to become rapid and muscles to dance involuntarily. Pupils expand as they focus and the metal of  the scope cools overheating skin. Suddenly, a clarity of vision occurs as the target erupts from the darkness. The surrounds seem to dissolve as all attention is directed towards the target; the finger caresses the trigger and as it eases back a concussion of sound swarms and a thump rotates the shoulder, whilst spent shells somersault and fall among the prickly pear. 

Firing a gun, even holding a gun is so foreign to us that it causes a flight or fight reaction to occur. Our body tells us that this is not right, whilst the mind tells us that we can handle this and in fact once that gun gets into your hands fully loaded it becomes intoxicating. The sexiness of the 14 gauge 410 rifle with its carved stock makes it look like a piece of art rather than a potential killing machine, the muscle punching 22 250 rifle that screams when fired and sucks the air from the lungs is a brute of a gun, the 30:30 slams into your shoulder like one of Mick Fanning's Great White Pointer punches, the 12 gauge shotgun spews forth pellets of pain and the baby glock pistol slips nicely into a two handed grip, all provide us with an unique experience that is so alien to us in Australia, but the norm in Texas. Would we do it again? Brad certainly would, Lea on the other hand, probably not!