Author: Linda Kadel

Leaving the Hervey Bay beaches, for the bush, our Travelling Sales Team, Simon and Dawn, were excited to hit the road in the Latitude Caravan to head to Roma’s annual Easter in the Country!

Their first day of the roadtrip saw them travel from Hervey Bay through Wondai, to a night’s stopover at the Chinchilla Showgrounds. If you are ever in the area, the showgrounds bathroom and dump-point facilities are great, making it a lovely spot to rest and revive with a bush sunset, from only $15 per night. Whilst you are in the area, the Chincilla Weir is also a great place to stop for a ‘cuppa’, to stretch the legs or enjoy the waterside free camp for up to two nights!

Day 2 saw Simon and Dawn hit the road again for the second leg of their trip to Roma, for the Easter in the Country event. On arrival they parked up at the “Roma Big Rig”, to get the low-down on the region’s history – a must see if it’s your first time in the area, before checking in to the Romavilla Caravan Park, with friendly staff and clean amenities.

Keeping some of the comforts from home, Simon and Dawn travel with their trusty Nespresso machine – and we don’t blame them! So, they celebrated Good Friday with a coffee in the van and a bike ride around the country side. It wouldn’t have been Easter without some delicious hot cross buns, that they found at Bakearoma. It was a very popular bakery and café over Easter, but the staff did a fantastic job serving the masses.
During the day, they got to experience the Easter Parade where the Show Society won the best float in the parade, which included live sheep shearing! The parade was then followed by live music and markets in the main street. To fill the bellies after an action-packed morning, lunch was at the Royal on Ninety-Nine, a fantastic pub that was renovated 2 years ago and is now the place to be, in Roma. It has plenty of good meal options and while the staff were run off their feet all day, they were still smiling!

On the second night, they moved the van to the showgrounds, for a change of scenery and to be amid all the action. On the Sunday, there was a Lions breakfast with bush poetry and live music on at the canteen as well as several different racing activities – horse races, billy cart races, goat racing and if all of these weren’t enough entertainment, wife carrying races too. However, the real experience was Dawn’s first rodeo and that is what the caravanning is all about, seeing and doing things you haven’t done before!

Overall, Simon and Dawn had an incredible weekend at Easter in the Country. It was a great event with plenty of fun and unique country activities happening, for all ages. See you next year, Roma!

No Fail Ginger Beer Scones

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups self-raising flour
• 1 cup ginger beer
• 2 tbsp cream
• 1 Beaten egg
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp raw sugar

Method

• Chuck S/R flour in a large mixing bowl, make a dam, Slop cream, beaten bum nut, salt, raw sugar and ginger beer on top. Fold mix in until all flour is bound together. Lay tin foil inside oven, on top of trivet, powder with flour, break off table spoon sized lumps of dough, roll into ball, roll it round in a bit of flour, and drop them into a pre-heated camp oven, brush a bit of milk over the top. Allow to bake for about 15 min.
• Just a little tip, handle the mix as minimal as possible.

Roast Lamb And Veggies

Ingredients

• 2kg Boned lamb roll
• 1 large carrot
• 2 Spuds
• Lump of sweet spud
• 1 / 4 Pumpkin (skin on)
• 1 Beetroot
• 1 Onion

Method

• Plonk the lamb on a trivet into a sizeable camp oven, hack up veggies, (not to small) excluding the garlic bulb (the garlic bulb goes in hole, as seen in complimentary picture) and place them all around the outside of the roast to be. Avoid veggies touching the sides of the camp oven as this may cause some burn to veggies. The garlic bulb, well, each clove can be broken off and squeezed to reveal a delicious sauce.
• Cook time 2-2 ½ hours.

Garlic, Chilli, Brandy Prawns

Ingredients

• 12 good size prawns
• ¼ cup brandy
• 100ml cream
• 1 ½ table spoons butter
• Garlic
• Chives/Spring Onion
• Chilli

Method

• Dress prawns, heat butter in a hot pan, add garlic, chives and chilli to taste. Toss in prawns, add ¼ cup of brandy and set alight (FOOFA) this will burn of alcohol and stop the bitter taste. Add a small tub of cream, bring to the boil, then set aside to thicken. Eat as finger food, serve with a bed of rice or pour over steak or fish.

Our Travelling Sales Centre (TSC) have had a wonderful month exploring Queensland. We had expo’s through May in Cairns & Mackay so Bob & Julie made a month of it! They started off enjoying what Central Queensland has to offer staying in free camps along the way.

They started off close to home, travelling through Ban Ban Springs to Eidsvold where they enjoyed the RM Williams Australian Bush Learning Centre with a free, nightly narrated story & light show. From here, they travelled through Cracow to Bedford Weir just outside of Blackwater. They enjoyed a free camp, where visitors can stay for up to 7 days, right beside the weir! Bob & Julie mentioned that the facilities were great, with hot showers available for a small donation.

Bob & Julie also recommend a trip to the Central Highlands to visit the Gemfields for a few days of fossicking for gems. They chose to park up in the Rubyvale Caravan Park, and they were glad they did! Julie said the staff were very welcoming and the grounds were very well-maintained with nice shady areas and a camp kitchen.

From Rubyvale, to Longreach they learnt all about living in the outback, at the Stockman’s Hall of Fame and enjoyed a free camp on the Thompson River, and they would highly recommend the spot to others.

Latitude25 received a great amount of interest from both the Cairns & Mackay Expo’s and our enquiries are coming in from all over the east through Victoria. New South Wales & Queensland!

Jane’s phone has been running hot, hot, hot the last month. Now that we are announcing our Display Home Opening event, it shows no signs of slowing down but you won’t hear any complaints from us!

As we enter the cooler months, we are noticing the enquiries flowing in from New South Wales & Victoria, as they head North for some winter sunshine. We are beginning to see these people register for our morning tea events during their travels, or take us up on our 2 Night Stay offer.

Another exciting development this month, is that we are now offering a free solar package, to anyone who purchases in to Stage 1 of Latitude25. Between now and September 30, 2018, if you sign a contract on your dream home at Latitude25, we will include a 3.5kW Solahart Solar System, at no extra cost. This means you start saving money straight away!

If you’d like to know more about the lifestyle on offer at Latitude25, why don’t you hear it from our future residents, Cheryl & Tony Ussia. The Latitude25 construction team is busy getting their home ready, while they are off exploring Western Australia!