OzKiwiJJ

It is in the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary though: "A case or bag for carrying clothes when travelling".

There isn't enough land behind East Circular Quay to do what they did at Portside. Yes, apartment owners might be happy to put up with a cruise ship parked off their balconies but they couldn't have restaurants like they are now as the area next to the wharf would need to be blocked off for security reasons. Restaurants would have had to have faced Macquarie St which is rather boring. Portside worked because all the restaurants and shops are set in a big area back from the wharf.

We were on Ruby in early December 2019. The day we embarked we could not see the harbour bridge from Skywalkers, that's how thick the smoke was. Our cruise only went to Noumea, Mystery Island and the Isle of Pines but the smoke wasn't too bad going up the coast and once away from Australia it was clear. It was such a relief to have a few days smoke-free however once we returned I developed a nasty respiratory inflammation from the smoke and ended up on medication for a couple of months. I avoided going out as much as possible and wore a mask when outside but even so it still affected me badly. I read something the other day about extended hazard reduction burning being planned for NSW so am not looking forward to that. @BRANDEE I hope the smoke haze clears quickly from where you are. It really is awful.

That one is useful at times. It certainly helps me remember how to spell riesling. 😊

But that is the "correct" usage - i before e except after c.

Yes, they sell the day pass and have a concession rate for seniors. They are very efficient and used to dealing with cruise ship passengers.

I spotted this on FB. The foibles of the English Language where some rules have too many exceptions! 🤣

Of course! They made it look a lot easier to assemble than Nagi's recipe although on MasterChef they had to make the rough puff pastry from scratch. But it's always hard to tell with dishes on MasterChef as the cameras / editors bounce around from one cook to another so you only see snippets of the various stages in making a dish. Nagi provides a full video of the process.

One of the dishes in tonight's MasterChef challenge is a a Wagyu Pie - Pithivier style. Coincidence?

I use a lot of her recipes too. Mostly really good although sometimes I have to dial some ingredients back a bit: sugar, garlic, bay leaves etc as I find her quantities to much for my palate. I'm having a discussion with a friend over Nagi's Madeleine recipe. She's only used Nagi's so I've sent her mine which is from Larousse Gastronomique. It will be interesting to see which recipe she prefers.

Actually the point most of us have been making is that it's unlikely someone will come into contact with many more spiders here than they would in NZ in ordinary day-to-day living as a tourist.

That recipe isn't in her cookbook but if you want it you can probably find it online or I could scan it and send it to you. I'm going to keep the recipe but don't know whether I'll ever get around to making it. Me and pastry haven't been getting along too well lately - the disadvantage of having an open plan living / kitchen area. It's either too warm for pastry or too cold for Rolf.

When I was a kid a weta took up residence in my bedlamp. I guess it wanted the warmth. I kept hearing these odd scratching sounds in the lamp fixture so got my dad to pull it apart. Ugh!

Rolf still likes to get the paper every day even though he now does the cryptic crossword online. The pie is a Pithivier - an upside pie that has a hole on top where you pour gravy into it. The recipe comes from Nagi (RecipeTin Eats) and looks very complicated.

The front page of today's SMH / Age Good Food liftout:

We're probably going to have to cruise out of Brisbane in the future. We do not like the bigger Princess Royal class ships especially Majestic.

The Avondale spiders were originally discovered in Auckland, which is where their name came from, but I believe they have spread throughout NZ now. They were certainly in Wellington in the 1970s as one ran over my foot one night. At first I thought it was a mouse but then I realised it had too many legs for a mouse. Talk about scary! I'd never heard of spiders that big in NZ, it was years later that I learnt about the Avondale spider. However that was the only time I encountered one in 43 years living in NZ, and I've only seen about 3 or 4 in the 27 years I've been living in Australia.

And US headline pricing usually doesn't include port fees and taxes either, they are added on at the end of the booking.

Actually New Zealand does have at least one massive spider - the Avondale spider, which is related to the Australian Huntsman spider.

Always thinking of you, Les, and it's great to see you posting regularly.

My favourite "little thrill" during our Panama Canal cruise was when the commentator told us we had just crossed from one side to the other of the Continental Divide. That was one thing I would never have though of - crossing the Continental Divide on a ship. I think this is the spot:

Google says there still are overnight cruises in the Bay of Islands. Also in the Hauraki Gulf out of Auckland.

There are some overnight cruises operating in Fiordland. Milford Sound used to have one as we went on it years ago. I thing there are others that operate in Doubtful Sound. Anywhere else would probably just be day trips.

The good cabins on cruises during school holidays and Christmas/New Year can book out quite early so if you really want to cruise then book it now.

You would probably need a car to go to the Mornington Peninsula. St Kilda would be good. There are a few apartment hotels in the area but the only one I've stayed at is at the top of a hill. Plenty of good restaurants and cafes including one right on the beach that, although busy, is lovely for lunch or dinner. It's easy to get into the city or to other parts of Melbourne on the trams.