This delicious and super tasty Chunky Apple Crumble will warm your heart and your tummy! A great recipe to get the kids involved with making, and a quick and easy dessert for any night of the week!
Ingredients
5 apples, golden delicious or other medium to soft apples of choice
Ground cinnamon
1½ cup plain flour
3/4 cup coconut or brown sugar
200 grams chilled butter, chopped
¾ cup rolled oats
1 cup chopped walnuts
1-2 drops dōTERRA cinnamon bark essential oil *
Double cream or ice-cream, to serve
Instructions
Peel, core, and chop apples into chunky pieces, then place in a grill-proof pan. Sprinkle the apples with cinnamon.
In a bowl combine the flour, coconut sugar, butter, and oats. Using your fingers, rub the butter through the mixture until you have a very coarse texture. Stir in the walnuts then sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over the apples.
Set up your Baby Q for indirect cooking (with convection tray and trivet in place) and preheat on high for 10 minutes.
Place the pan on the trivet and turn the burner control knob to the roast/bake setting. Close the lid and cook until golden, 30-35 minutes.
Spoon the apple crumble into serving bowls. Serve with ice cream or cream and enjoy!
* When cooking with essential oils only use the highest quality purest oils available. We choose dōTERRA for this reason.
Fire up the Weber and whip up this quick and easy Thai fish curry recipe in under 30 minutes for a simple mid-week meal. Full of flavour, yet mild enough the entire family will love it, especially on those cooler autumn evenings!
Ingredients
Extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons curry paste of choice (we love a yellow curry paste for a mild and fragrant flavour)
1 onion, diced
400ml coconut milk
2 carrots, diced
3 potatoes, diced
2 handfuls of sliced mushrooms, zucchini and broccolini
1-2 pieces of firm white fish, cut into chunks
Fresh coriander to garnish
Serve with coconut rice
Instructions
Pre-heat Weber Baby Q on medium heat for 10 minutes.
Place casserole dish on BBQ plate and add a splash of olive oil, curry paste and diced onion. Stir and sauté for 2 minutes.
Add coconut milk and stir. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Add carrots and potatoes. Stir and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add remaining vegetables, stir and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add fish and gently stir. Simmer for 6-8 minutes.
Serve on a bed of coconut rice and garnish with fresh coriander.
* keep Weber lid closed between steps.
** choose a firm white fish that won’t flake during cooking
These delicious, ‘crunchy and soft all at the same time’ Anzac Biscuits are a great recipe to get the kids involved in making, whilst learning the important history of their origins.
Thank you to all the men and women working our front lines and serving the country to protect our freedom!
Ingredients
1 cup plain flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup shredded coconut
3/4 cup coconut or brown sugar (I’d suggest halving this amount or at least reducing it by 1/4)
125g butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon bi-carb soda
Instructions
Pre-heat Weber Baby Q on medium heat for 10 minutes with convection tray and trivet in place. Line a small baking tray.
Mix flour, oats, coconut and sugar in a medium bowl.
In a small saucepan, melt butter with golden syrup and water over low heat. Once butter has melted, bring to a simmer and add bi-carb soda.
Add butter mixture to dry ingredients and stir well.
Roll into 2cm balls and place on baking tray. Flatten with your hand or back of a spoon.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, checking half way through. Enjoy while warm with a good cuppa!
We are excited to GIVEAWAY some of the beautiful essential oils we’re using to stay HAPPY, HEALTHY & HOPEFUL! If like us, you have been feeling stressed or anxious, overwhelmed or emotional, or are looking for tools to boost your family’s health and happiness, and become a natural solution provider in your own home, these freebies are for you!
If you’re ready to make a natural lifestyle change and want to receive one of our gorgeous sample packs get in touch with us today! And don’t forget to share with a friend who needs these in their life too!
Learn how to use and incorporate them into your daily life with our FREE ONLINE WORKSHOPS:
We’ve just completed our first 6 months on the road and we are still pinching ourselves that this is our reality! Thinking back to when this crazy idea was born, it really was a simple question that set the wheels in motion to bring our dream to fruition – What would we do if we had no restrictions, if money wasn’t a deciding factor?
At its core, Jasper, then 16 months old, was the real reason behind our decision to travel full time. Our little miracle, as we refer to him, had been a long 4 year journey with 6 rounds of IVF, multiple doctors and a lot of emotional and financial strain on our relationship.
For the next few months the time that we spent together outside of our very full work and social lives (Paul held a state management role and I was juggling a toddler and my own wellness business) did a complete turn toward the attainment of our goal. Our conversations and focus shifted and we sought out other families, both in Australia and overseas, that had made this lifestyle their normal. We purchased a large whiteboard that we sat in front of our TV, and we formed a new habit of getting out of bed an hour earlier to workshop our goals, breakdown our individual actions and create a solid plan.
18 months of hard work, saving and selling up later, we hit the road with our Toyota 4×4 and newly purchased Coromal caravan in tow, and set off on our adventure of a lifetime to create lasting memories together as a family.
With literally hundreds of vans on the market we found the experience of choosing a van that would fit our family best both stressful and exciting. Paul and I only had a small list of ‘must haves’ that included a separate shower and toilet, and enough off-road capabilities for us to experience some more remote, yet family friendly adventures. After months of research and visits to dealers, and a few days visiting the Brisbane Super Show, we narrowed it down to our top 3.
In the end, we couldn’t go past the Coromal Element Evolution 696 RTV. We loved the layout and design, and the quality in the finish was a stand-out. Jasper loved the colour, affectionately naming the van “Orange”, and she (yes, the van is a she) is certainly a much loved member of the family!
~ Katie Guerin
New episodes of our Family Travel Australia series are released on YouTube every Sunday 6.30pm (AEST), with weekly Podcast episodes airing Friday’s at 8.30pm (AEST).
A super quick, super easy recipe for a traditional Aussie damper, historically prepared by swagmen, drovers, stockmen and other travellers, baked in the coals of a campfire or in a camp oven. We’re using our Weber Baby Q.
Enjoy with butter, jam and cream as you would scones, or as an accompaniment to soups and other main meals.
Ingredients
2 cups Self Raising Flour
Pinch Salt
60g melted butter (*melt butter over low heat)
1/2 can of your favourite Pale Ale
Instructions
Place a trivet into your Weber and heat on full heat for 10 minutes. Turn heat down to half way, to ensure a low/medium heat of around 190 degrees celsius.
Grease a baking tray or pan with a small amount of butter.
Combine flour, salt and melted butter in a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon/butter knife. Slowly add beer a small amount at a time, while stirring. Continue to add small amounts of beer until mixture forms a dough.
Knead dough for 1-2 minutes and flatten into an oval shape. Score the top of the dough, place on baking tray/pan, and dust with a little flour.
Bake in the Weber for 20-25 minutes, checking after15-20 minutes. When your knife comes out clean, your damper is ready!
Six months on the road and we are well and truly settled into the routines and lifestyle that comes with living in a 17m2 home on wheels, in a new location each week. It’s fair to say that coming from the southern end of the Gold Coast, where you are spoiled with a plethora of natural beauty and fantastic family experiences, the bar has been set high as a point of comparison when visiting new destinations and seeking out family friendly experiences.
To date we have travelled over 15,000km through Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, and have had the privilege of witnessing nature at its finest and participating in many incredible experiences. Needless to say, there was some very healthy discussion when agreeing on this list, as we’d already created a highlights reel from our first 3 months travelling Queensland that included over 30 experiences and destinations.
Nonetheless, we managed to narrow it down to our Top 5 that ticked off being both a destination and family friendly experience.
1. Carnarvon Gorge, Queensland
It has been said that Carnarvon Gorge is Queensland’s answer to the Kimberley with continuous breathtaking moments. From the beautiful landscape of towering sandstone cliffs of the Amphitheatre, to the unrivalled Indigenous Art Gallery showcasing rock wall art believed to be over 3500 years old, Carnarvon Gorge is nothing short of spectacular.
For those up for the challenge the full circuit walk at 87km in length has a range of options, from short strolls that are perfect for families to a truly challenging 7-8 day walk. We split our adventure over a few days, and gave ourselves a rest day in between 2 walking days of approximately 12km each. With Jasper happily strapped into the backpack carrier, it made many areas of the Gorge more accessible for us, and we passed many other families on the track with children of all ages. There is a short 1.5km return nature track at the start of the Carnarvon Gorge trail that is perfect for families, and sightings of platypus in the Carnarvon Creek can be experienced here if you are lucky.
There are a number of camping options located within a couple of kilometres of the National Park entrance, making it really easy to set up a base camp and day trip into the Gorge.
2. Capricorn Caves, Queensland
With over 400 million years of history, Capricorn Caves are an awe inspiring example of nature at its finest. Located an easy 30 minute drive north of Rockhampton, the caves boast the highest concentration of fossils found anywhere in the world, and offer a number of different tour experiences that cater for every member of the family.
Visitors can choose from a range of exciting and immersive experiences including daily wheelchair-accessible guided cave tours, wild caving adventures and even abseiling.
With onsite accommodation options including self-contained cabins, the Lodge, and a great bush camp with powered and unpowered sites for tents, caravans and motorhomes, it’s the perfect location to stay a few days and immerse yourself in the natural wonders of the Capricorn Caves.
We stayed 2 nights and experienced the fantastic Cathedral Cave Tour, and even got a little courageous donning our hard hats and head lamps for a taste of adventure caving.
3. Lady Musgrave Island, Queensland
Set on 3000 acres of living reef with a protected lagoon, stepping foot on to Lady Musgrave Island is like literally stepping into a David Attenborough documentary! Situated on the Southern Great Barrier Reef, just a stone’s throw from the Bundaberg coastline, Lady Musgrave Island is accessible by boat from Bundaberg or the Town of 1770.
The protected lagoon is truly unique on this coral cay island, and offers an experience that is like nothing on earth. Teeming with bird life above the water, and giant marine life below the water, it is a perfect spot for snorkelling with turtles, manta rays, dolphins and even whales.
We joined the crew of Lady Musgrave Experience (ex Bundaberg) for a day trip, and enjoyed an island walking tour, glass bottom boat tour, and incredible snorkelling during our full day eco-tour. If sleeping out under stars on your own island paradise is more your style, then definitely put Lady Musgrave on your bucket list. It is one of the few islands anywhere along the entire Great Barrier Reef where you can camp out by night, and with a maximum of 40 people at any one time it truly makes for an intimate and eco-friendly experience.
4. Blue Mountains, New South Wales
Just one of the many regions throughout Australia that has been affected by the recent bushfires, the Blue Mountains are #OpenForBusiness and ready for visitors to return and #HolidayHereThisYear.
With a blue horizon of eucalyptus trees that stretch further than the eye can see, the natural beauty and fresh mountain air of the Blue Mountains World Heritage area will captivate your senses and your heart.
The Blue Mountains is an easy 90 minute drive from Sydney, or two hours by train, and is home to some of Australia’s most magnificent natural attractions and quaint little villages. With one million hectares of tall forests, sandstone cliffs, canyons and waterfalls, and views spanning over the deep valleys that were formed millions of years ago, the view from pretty much anywhere on the mountain is incredible.
For nature lovers the lookouts at Wentworth Falls, Govetts Leap and Echo Point offer spectacular vistas, and a day spent exploring at Scenic World, riding their Scenic Skyway, Railway and Cableway will provide a vantage point and experience like no other.
The region has outstanding accommodation options, from cottages and cabins to luxury resorts, and a number of great caravan parks for those travelling on wheels. We enjoyed 5 nights at the Blackheath Glen Tourist Park in Blackheath, and were literally staying amongst the clouds!
5. Hunter Valley, New South Wales
Famously known as wine country, the Hunter Valley region offers plenty for the family to see and do from cellar door experiences in Australia’s oldest wine region, to bushwalking in World Heritage wilderness or exploring engaging art trails.
The Hunter boasts a range of accommodation options to suit just about every need, and for those travelling with their own home like us, we stayed at Wine Country Tourist Park just outside of Cessnock and found this a great base to explore the region.
We spent a fantastic morning going behind the scenes at Tamburlaine Organic Wines learning all about the process from vine to glass, followed by a family friendly cellar door experience with Jasper enjoying his own cheese and juice platter while we sampled a range of Tamburlaine’s award winning organic wines.
We also spent an entire morning exploring the town of Kurri Kurri on a self-guided mural trail that includes over 60 incredible artworks commissioned from professional artists, making it the largest collection of murals in Australia. This was not only a great way to learn the history of this quaint country town, but also an excellent way to walk off the calories consumed from our wine and cheese tasting at Tamburlaine the day before!
So there you have it, our Top 5 Destinations and Experiences so far. However, with 2 months touring around Tasmania during Season 2 of our Family Travel Australia series, we may just have to create its own Top 10! We are already buzzing at everything Tasmania offers its visitors, from built, cultural and environmental heritage, to food, wine, and family friendly experiences. Stay tuned for that in the next edition of Ocean Road Magazine!
~ Katie and Paul Guerin
New episodes of our Family Travel Australia series are released on YouTube every Sunday 6.30pm (AEST), with weekly Podcast episodes airing Friday’s at 8.30pm (AEST).
The consistency of terrifying bush fire updates across every news feed over the last few months has been hard to deal with as a viewer, let alone the devastating outcomes that it has had for many people’s lives and properties, and not to mention our native wildlife. Like millions of other Australians seeing these images on our screens evoked a sense of helplessness, and at times fear and uncertainty. However, Australia, through this ongoing crisis has once again proven that it is one of the most generous and giving countries, donating millions of dollars to bush fire relief appeals – a true endorsement of Australian folklore and mateship, to “stand up for your mates” in tough times.
Unfortunately, as the dust settles on what may be recognised as our most damaging bush fire season yet, there is confusion about the lack of clarity and uncertainty around how those much needed donations are going to be spent and distributed to bush fire victims. It is hard to decipher fact from fiction regarding charity and charitable organisations, and to really understand exactly where our donations end up.
Because of the location of the fires we were forced to change our travel plans and take a different route towards Melbourne as we approached our sail deadline on Spirit of Tasmania. However, in a fortunate turn of events this allowed us to navigate our way through very large scale landscapes and communities that had been affected by fires even prior to the official “fire season commencing” through New South Wales’ Central Coast and into the Blue Mountains.
Seeing the enormous expanse that these fire fronts had burnt out was confronting to say the least, and would be very overwhelming for many. The sheer size of the devastation was hard to fathom and although we had seen the online aerial images and fire zone maps detailing the areas that had been burnt, driving through these regions at ground level was certainly unsettling and made it all feel very real.
But something interesting happened on our drive up the Blue Mountains, and our feelings changed from helplessness to hopefulness as we started to see more and more pops of vibrant green in the undergrowth and on the burnt trees themselves. These vibrant bursts of regrowth and incredible new life were emerging everywhere, expressing their potential for a brighter future.
As we passed through many of the small towns we were greeted with a mix of handwritten signs displayed on fences and in front yards, from “God Bless the Firies” to “Thank you RFS”. And small businesses proclaiming they are “Open for Business” and “Ready for Visitors to Return”.
Just as nature has shown its incredible resilience in the aftermath, the people are showing their tenacity and determination to rebuild their lives and their livelihoods. Their community’s regrowth is where the real call to action is, and where the real opportunity for that Aussie mateship is to truly shine.
Katie and I were so impressed by the “Empty Esky” campaign that is gaining momentum in the metropolitan and larger city centres. Radio stations and media outlets have been putting the call out for us to ‘get behind our mates’, grab an empty esky, do a road trip, and spend some time and dollars in these fire effected areas. We feel this is the most genuine way to directly assist those most in need, and help create the regrowth these communities are relying on.
Our updated route travelled us away from the east coast, out through Western Sydney, and up Bells Line of Road into the spectacular Blue Mountains region. We based ourselves for 5 nights at Blackheath Glen Tourist Park, a wonderful caravan park that is perfect for families and those that have larger rigs like us. To see just how close the fires were to this little mountain village was frightening and again a true testament to the incredible work of the fire services and volunteers that risked their own lives to save the property and lives of others.
We had the opportunity to spend both our time and our money locally and the general feeling and energy from everyone we met was incredibly warm, welcoming and positive, and was a clear reminder of what matters most in life – connection and community.
The tourism mantra for this region is #HolidayHereThisYear and if you really want to be a part of the regrowth, plan a weekend away and visit your closest fire effected region this year. Meet the locals, share a yarn and enjoy the charm that comes from these communities because at its core, it is the people that really give a destination its heart and create the memories that bring you back for more.
We are proud Ambassadors for the National Trust of Australia (Queensland). The Trust is a global charity organisation that protects, conserves and celebrates environmental, built and cultural heritage. The National Trust of Australia (Queensland) owns and operates Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, within which the Currumbin Wildlife Hospital is located. The Hospital is one of the busiest wildlife hospitals in the world, treating over 11,000 native animals every year.
If you are moved to donate to help our Australian wildlife bush fire victims, we trust and recommend Currumbin Wildlife Hospital Foundation https://currumbinsanctuary.com.au/hospital
~ Paul Guerin
New episodes of our Family Travel Australia series are released on YouTube every Sunday 6.30pm (AEST), with weekly Podcast episodes airing Friday’s at 8.30pm (AEST).