Easter at Hardwicke Bay

Jackie and her family have a beach shack at Hardwicke Bay which is located on South Australia's York Peninsula and I was lucky enough to be invited to tag along and spend Easter with them.

Explorer Mathew Flinders named the region in the early 19th century, and it remains as much of a discovery as it was 200 years ago with pristine white sand beaches and crystal clear ocean. York Peninsula is bordered by ocean on three sides, and is about a two and a half hour drive from top to bottom, travelling through waving fields of barley one moment, the next flicking squid into a turquoise sea. Isabella, Jackie's daughter told me that they have seen bottle nose dolphins from their deck believe it or not. Living in Australia is truly luxurious when you have the world at your doorstep waiting to be discovered! We stopped off for lunch on the drive down to Harwicke Bay at Jackie sister's Linda brand new beach shack, located close to Ardrossan, and feasted on a gorgeous lunch of pasta with duck ragu and sage - simply fantastic! Before we left her partner Chris racked up some blue swimmer crabs from the beach and it was cooked up in no time into a gorgeous crab curry that we feasted on that very night! The drive to Hardwick Bay from Ardrossan was a careful one, watching out for red-tailed Kangaroo's that are known to jump out of the middle of no-where and onto the road to cause fatal accidents - luckily we didn't encounter any on of the local wildlife on our way.

Easter morning I awoke to a glorious day, sun up, clear blue skies reflecting onto the water, glistening under the rays of the sun - it looked so inviting. Unfortunately, in Australia you really do need for the heat to get blisteringly hot before you want to get in and splash about since the waters that lap the shore are brought in from the currents at the poles, which makes it always a good 10 - 15 degrees C difference between the temperature in the air and the water!




I was however more than happy to stare in the blue of the ocean and feel the warmth of the sun on my back as I enjoyed Jackie's husbands barbecued eggs, bacon and toast - the perfect kick start to Easter Sunday.

For lunch Jackie's best friend Kate Honner invited us over to her paddock that stretches for miles and miles. This gorgeous setup of hay bales lined up made a rustic looking long table and set the scene for a ruggedly, Aussie barbecue that was absolutely splendid - except for the flies that attacked us non-stop trying to enter every possible orifice!

Rustic barbecuing - the charcoal smoke billowing out added a unique robust flavour to the meat and I was just glad to add yet another Aussie experience to the collection!

Sausages, skewers, lamb cutlets and T-bone steaks



T-bone steak and rissoni tossed with feta cheese and mint

Lamb cutlets marinated with plum, sweet chili and mint served with garden green salad, beef skewers and more of that delicious feta and mint rissoni



The star of the show - Jackie's sister Linda's Easter Lemon Cake

Chocolate squares with chocolate frosting and sprinkles


More chocolate cake with cadburry chocolate Easter eggs to decorate for the kids



Kransakager - A traditional Norwegian celebration 'cake' featuring at weddings and sometimes birthdays.

A dough made of flour, milk, eggs, sugar and almonds meal is mixed and rolled out several times and then rolled into thin coils and baked in concentric circular pans specially designed for this purpose. After baking each ring is then assembled one atop the other. The texture is brittle and reminiscent of biscotti both in texture and flavour. Great with coffee and simply such a novel idea!

The perfect way to end Easter Sunday, a glass of Semillion-Savingnon Blanc and a stunning sunset to savour it with...