Scrolling through social media one day, I saw adverts for the Billyboil. I’d heard of similar products and with the head chef on the team missing his electric slow cooker, I wondered if this could be a viable alternative.

“Yes, please!” came the response when asked.

When it arrived by post, we were pleased it looked as chic and smart as it does.

However, our first meal was served up rather cool. Was the vacuum seal and insulation not as effective as claimed? Or, as we learned, there was not enough volume filled in the pot and probably not enough initial heat.

Taking on this feedback, our meals since have been brilliant!

It works on the premise that you prep your ingredients, cover them in liquid, heat over the stove for 10-20 minutes (depending on how large and dense some of your solids are) until it’s boiling and then slip the inner pot inside the outer pot and leave to cook slowly in the residual heat for three to six hours.

Meat comes out tender, the vegetables soft and the gravy smooth and all of it warm and tasty. A one pot dish! Or add rice, noodles or potatoes to your plate of Billyboil cooking.

The great advantage for the traveller is to prep the ingredients the night before, or early in the morning, heat and put aside to cook thermally whilst out of the day or moving campsites and then to have a hot meal ready waiting for you at the end of the day.

We’ve discovered it’s off grid friendly too. Just use up some of your left-over power from the day/night before to heat food in the morning. For the remainder of the day, your solar system replaces the power for other purposes later in the afternoon/evening whilst the food continues to cook in the Billyboil.

Someone asked me recently – “What do you eat in a caravan?” well, here’s my Billyboil favourite-so-far recipe to show you can eat whatever you want to when travelling with a caravan:

Ingredients

4 small lamb shanks, French trimmed

Sweet potato peeled and cut into medium-sized chunks

1 onion, chopped

1 can of coconut milk

Stock cube

A good handful of green beans, topped and tailed and chopped

A carrot cut into fairly slim slices

Red curry paste (Mae Ploy is the best!)

Method

1. Brown the lamb shanks in the pot one at a time and set aside

2. Fry the curry past as per instructions in a little oil

3. Add the shanks, vegetables and coconut to the pot

4. Top up with hot water and the stock cube to cover the solids

5. Heat til boiling and simmer for 10-15 minutes

6. Put inner pot into outer pot and leave for 4 hours

7. Near eating time, cook up your rice (see below for our rice cooker blog entry)

8. Serve rice and curry into bowls

This would serve 4. We set aside half, in the pot, to cool down and kept it in the fridge for a couple of days for a meal later in the week.

Sunday lunch? Friday night dinner? We love a roast chicken dinner any time of the week!

Most supermarkets these days offer hot, roasted chicken in a bag, ready to take home and serve up. We often buy a cooked chook for sandwiches, salads, stir fries and of course, a roast chicken dinner.

Peel your chicken, put aside the stuffing, prep your vegies and make your gravy.

We enjoy Brussel Sprouts and potatoes heated in our K Mart mini air fryer.

We adore a thick, rich gravy like Bisto which is an instant powder you add to boiling water.

For a treat, we sometimes add pre-cooked bacon pieces which makes this almost like a Christmas dinner!

On the southern side of Innisfail is the suburb of Goondi Hill and the Goondi Hill Hotel. It’s walking distance into town and has a large car park, where we were able to camp for the night so long as we became patrons.

Our luck was in as we had unwittingly chosen a Tuesday to have a pub meal with free caravan site. Tuesdays were, at the time of publishing, a ‘buy one, get one free’ special offer.

The front bar is a standard Australian country town bar. The seating in the rear bistro is basic but comfortable and more seating outside looks inviting though simply looks onto the car parking area.

There is quite a lot of choice on the menu. We selected the calamari and a steak.

The steak arrived cooked to our liking with fresh vegetables and chips. It was a healthy serve without being a daunting platter.

The calamari came with a simple salad and chips. The calamari was dusted and fried to perfection. It melted in the mouth and was seasoned carefully.

The chef did well to have both dishes prepared to arrive at our table together as well as keep pace with the steady flow of customers.

We washed the food down with a good bottle of red wine.

If we lived locally, we would surely be back to support this establishment which had just newly transferred to new management.

Good luck, Goondi Hill Hotel!

Another celebration and another treated meal out, this time at Undara’s Discovery Resort Restaurant, The Saloon Car Bar. And it was excellent!

We checked the menu and decided to ‘share’ our dishes, so we could both taste the flavours described.

Char-grilled chicken breast: Leek and local gruyere fondue sauce, served with a mixed herb salad and a sweet potato gaufrette.

Confit Star Anise Duck Leg: wilted green, rice crisps, turmeric coconut coriander rice, crispy shallots and chef’s favourite red curry sauce.

Presentation was beautiful. The warning was not – “Watch out for the Kookaburras, eat quick!”

As we tucked in both exclaimed, “Wow!” Did those flavours burst, or what?

We would have preferred the curry sauce a bit spicier but we are big curry lovers so this milder version is probably more suited to general restaurant goers.

The serving sizes were generous but not enormous so with comfortably satiated stomachs we moved to perch closer to the veranda edge, overlooking the bushland, to sip on our wine.

Our dining neighbour recognised us from our morning tour of the lava tubes and started chatting. This was his demise as one of the several Kookaburras patiently awaiting opportunity, dived down from the rafters and stole his chicken breast directly off his plate!

He’d been distracted and forgot the waiter’s warning! And the Kookaburras devoured his tasty meal.

If it’s a steak you like then look no further than The Buffs Club at Mt Isa.

We were celebrating a birthday and wanted a slap up meal. The Buffs Club came highly recommended by locals.

Having booked a table, we wandered down the road from the caravan park, a twenty-minute stroll to build an appetite and partook of pre-dinner drinks in the large, comfortable sports bar at the back of the club.

Then, returning to the front, past the bottle shop door and the attractive café area, we waited to be seated in the restaurant.

After perusing the menu, we decide to splash out with an entrée of Oysters Kilpatrick. Yummo! We hadn’t had this delicacy in years!

One of us choose the Wagyu Beef Steak which arrived looking sumptuous with chips and fresh vegetables. The other chose the parmesan and basil encrusted beef steak with salad and chips.

Both steaks were amazing! And large!

The Wagyu was everything you would expect, richly marbled, soft, tender and melt in the mouth. The crusted steak had a lovely tang to contrast with the mellow beefiness.

The vegetables were simple but prepared nicely and gave us a chance to have a piece of corn on the cob and other good tastes that one often forgoes when camping outback for long periods.

A bottle of fine, Coonawarra wine to wash it all down finished off a truly celebratory meal.

Delicious as the well-cooked meat was, juicy and flavoursome, the quantity beat us.

Luckily, a doggy bag was prepared and we left with enough meat for a second dinner the following night.

An added bonus was the courtesy mini bus to take patrons home safely after a night of indulgence.

A highly recommended experience for fellow travellers!

With the success of the K Mart mini air fryer , we were excited to try out K Mart’s $15 Mini Rice Cooker.

It’s so small you think it’s toy size but it cooks the perfect amount, 1.5 cups, of steamed rice for two people and is rated at only 200W!

We have found it to be quick to cook, easy to clean and light to transport.

We love curries and so this has been an excellent addition to the caravan kitchen. It saves us money buying pre-cooked packet rice.  Once the cooker clicks to keep warm, we can switch it off and heat a precooked curry to warm while the rice finishes steaming. and it makes perfect rice every time!

But it can do more than just steamed white rice; our first meal was a light stir fried rice lunch for two people:

1. Wash a cup rice and just cover with water in the cooking pot.

2. Add some pre-cooked chicken roughly shredded.

3. Add some chopped spring onion, a few frozen peas and sweetcorn, a couple of chopped mushrooms and a half tablespoon of soy sauce.

4. Sprinkle in some black pepper or chilli powder if you like some spice.

5. Crack and egg on top.

6. Set to cook and allow to stay warm til egg looks set to your liking.

7. Gently stir the ingredients together and adjust spices or soya sauce to your desire.

8. Enjoy!!

Trends come and go but the air fryer seems to be here to stay. We had tried out a full size one at a friend’s house ages ago and had enjoyed the easy cooking.

Back in the caravan coming across the Nullarbor and down the Eyre, the weather in the early evenings often drove us inside to cook. But then there was the splatter issue when using the fry pan on the stove top.

In Port Pirie we spotted the K Mart mini air fryer on the shelf. Would it be a useful too? Youtube time! Watching reviews we decided for the $39 cost we’d give it a try and we’re really glad we did.

The fryer has a 1.2 litre capacity, has simple controls for temperature and time and is rated at 900W. Add in its small dimensions and it’s a winner for the caravan with off grid solar battery systems.

Obvious foods are chips, sausages, warming small pies and frozen fish. Two of Aldi’s chicken kiev fit perfectly and served with a salad make a great meal.

Less obvious are boiled eggs:

Preheat the fryer to 120°C, place 4 eggs carefully into the basket.

Cook for 15 minutes for hard boiled or reduce time for a softer yolk.

Remove from heat, place in cold water to stop cooking process.

Reuse water for washing up after your meal.

A tasty treat we enjoy is marinated lamb forequarter chops:

Place 2 lamb chops in a zip lock bag (or a lidded bowl) with a teaspoon of olive oil.

Add a squirt of lemon juice, a dash of soy sauce a teaspoon of garlic paste and another of crushed ginger.

Add a sprinkling of dried herb of your choice eg rosemary or thyme.

Leave to marinade for the afternoon.

Preheat air fryer to 200°C.

Place chops in a single layer on the internal rack and cook for about 4 minutes each side for medium to well done.

Serve with salad or set aside to rest while you cook up some chips.

Our chips:

Frozen chips work well but we have a small freezer compartment so prefer ‘fresh’ chips.

Small potatoes sliced into quarters or smaller chucnks.

Toss with a little oil and season with smoked paprika.

Preheat fryer to 200°C

Place in basket, cook for 20-25 minutes, tossing at the half way point.

If you like Indian food, you’ll love Indian Flavours!

Claiming to be the best in Byford, we think it must be the best for miles around.

Before heading up the hill to our camp at Jarrahdale one afternoon, we stopped for a grocery shop at Byford. We spotted the small Indian restaurant and, on a whim, decided to have an early dinner as a treat.

It turned out to be an excellent choice. We were given a warm welcome, a comfortable corner table, time to peruse the extensive menu, glasses for our BYO wine and a bottle of cold water to quench our thirst.

We ordered some of our ‘staples’ which we use to compare Indian restaurants: garlic naan, chicken saag and lamb biryani.

They arrived promptly, together, hot and aromatic. The naan was bold with garlic and just enough buttery flavouring to compliment the well-baked break. The chicken saag was creamy with lots of spinach and a good medium heat. The biryani was so tasty with a great kick – just as requested. The lamb was tender and melted in the mouth.Try

Try as we might, we couldn’t finish it all but were provided with containers to take away leftovers.

On our last night staying in Jarrahdale, weeks later and near the end of my teaching contract, we couldn’t resist a return visit.

Same welcome, same table, same good food. Only this time we opted for a jeera rice and a lamb karahi instead of the biryani. The jeera rice was light, fluffy and had that distinct toasted cumin seed flavour. The karahi’s lentils were tender but still with shape and body whilst the lamb was once again melt-in-the-mouth deliciousness.

On both evenings, we were early diners and the restaurant started to gain more guests as we left. However, the takeaway and delivery trade was high and constant. So, this is obviously a winning restaurant with the Byford locals.

You can see some restaurant photos of our visit on my Instagram account. To read about Jarrahdale look under the Peel Region here.   Or find out about my teaching contract on the Working on The Road page.

This quaint, oldy-worldy hotel is probably the mainstay of the local community. It, the church and a couple of houses dominate Quindanning hamlet that is surrounded by rich farming land.

The current manager of the ‘Ye Olde English Inne’ claims a Welshman owned the hotel and built the existing structure which dates to the early 1920’s. However, he also claims there has been an inn or alehouse here for much longer than that, but, with no recorded licences for when that was the original set-up, when is now lost to history.

There is a rich jarrah panelled dining room with wood fires to keep you cosy in cooler months but we opted to sit in the delightful gardens as the weather was warm and balmy in the early evening. We found a shady table surrounded by flowering bushes and when the gentle breeze swept through the jasmine blossom we enjoyed the wonderful scent.

We perused the menu over a tasty glass of local beer and took our time to decide on a light meal for such a warm evening. A share of a Southern Fried Chicken Burger and a plate of Calamari was ordered at the bar to be washed down with a chilled bottle of Yallingup Semillon Sauvignon Blanc.

In a reasonable timeframe our smiling waitress brought out our food. It looked wonderful and smelled delicious. We noted the burger arrived in a panini bread rather than your typical round bun as we sliced it in half and shared out the plentiful calamari rings.

My first nibble of one of those rings pleased me immensely. Often, pubs serve overcooked calamari, not so here. The Quindanning chef had timed this sumptuous, seafood delicacy to perfection. Soft, tender, moist and covered in a light batter that held very little oil to it. The calamari was allowed to sing in its simplicity.

Next, a hearty bite into the Southern Fried Chicken Burger was also a pleasure. The chicken was cooked through yet retained enough moisture to compliment a quite fiery, crispy and golden batter. It was topped with a few slices of lettuce, tomato and being an Australian burger also some fresh beetroot. All this inside a warm, fresh panini. A few fried chips on the side were hot and, as asked, came without salt. Our waitress kindly brought us a small dish of brown vinegar to sprinkle to our own taste.

We poured a glass each from the Semillon Sauvignon Blanc bottle which, kept chilled in an ice-bucket, was very reasonably priced. This light, slightly creamy white wine complimented our dishes well. And our second glass was just as delightful at the end of the meal.

I’m sure by now, you will recognise this was a highly successful meal out in a lovely location. As we paid the bill, we asked the barmaid to pass on our praises to the chef and kitchen staff.

Some may consider Quindanning a little out of the way, but it’s truly worth the journey – an added bonus is you can park your caravan in the car park overnight too!

Vietnamese food is delightfully light, flavoursome and delicious. We’ve been in love with Vietnamese dishes since our first trip to the now long-closed Nha Trang Restaurant in Fremantle when we first migrated to Australia. Even more so since our touring holiday from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City and the cookery classes we took in the World Heritage City of Hoi An.

The cuisine has been influenced by the political and military powers that dominated in the region, as well as the geography and climate of this long, coastal and mountainous country. Read more here.

The French introduced pastries and custards and one of my all-time favourite desserts – the Crème Caramel. This is my simple Asian-influenced caramel pudding to use up some of the eggs we collected during our Cardup housesit.

Ingredients:

Caramel

150g white sugar

I follow Baker Bettie’s dry caramel instruction you can find here and look for a medium to dark caramel colour. This is poured into small ramekins or an ovenproof dish, just to line the base. Set aside to cool in a larger baking tray/dish.

Custard

4 eggs and 2 egg yolks

120g white sugar

Tin of 400ml coconut cream

250ml milk, full fat or semi-skimmed

A few drops of vanilla essence

Preheat oven to 180°C. 

Whisk the eggs, yolks and sugar til smooth and light yellow in colour in a large bowl.

Heat the coconut cream and milk in a milk pan until just about the boil. Add the vanilla essence to the hot liquid.

Slowly add the hot mixture to the sugary eggs, whisking as you go. Pour this custard over the caramel you made earlier.

Pour warm water into the larger baking tray to about half way up the side of the custard level. Bake for about 30 minutes or until it gently wobbles in the centre.

Cool in the water tray and then transfer to the fridge to chill fully.

Alternatives: add ground cinnamon or cardamom instead of vanilla.

What recipes do you have for using up excess eggs? Send me an email or post a message to Instagram.

It was a spur of the moment, late-lunch treat that found us sitting at the corner, window seat of Skeeta’s, overlooking the Geraldton’s Batavia Coast Marina and hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of pleasure boats.

I had heard from a local that selecting a wished-for vessel was a common day-dream for many folks who come here to lunch, dine or sip a cool drink as they look out to sea.

We had spotted the venue on our stroll towards the Museum of Geraldton, a worthy, educational site in itself.

Anyway, the service we received was very high, with a ready smile we were sat at our chosen table and presented the menus. There are quite a few options for two people for either a feast or a light bite and all reasonably priced, except perhaps the oysters which at $5 a piece we felt a bit costly.

We selected the nasi goreng deep fried spring roll entree and a side serve of potato fries. I had a glass of Dunes and Green bubbles whilst my lunch partner chose a pint of Asahi, Japanese lager. The drinks arrived promptly, cold and in clean crisp glasses, followed a few minutes later by the two dishes.

The spring rolls were hot, but not too hot to burn your mouth as we’ve often encountered elsewhere. The filling was fresh and flavoursome with fresh vegetables and pastry crisp and not at all oily. They came with a tiny salad as plate dressing, some deep-fried saffron strands and a very tasty Asian style chilli dipping sauce.

As fries go, these fries were well cooked, sprinkled minimally with salt and served with a light, garlic aioli which was delightful.

Together with our drinks, the light meal filled us up beautifully and we would be more than happy to try more dishes at this restaurant on Geraldton’s seafront.

Well done, Skeeta’s!

I was in the caravan, one late afternoon, prepping the ingredients for a simple sausage one-pan dish and unbeknownst to me, my sous-chef was setting up the outdoor kitchen. And not just anywhere but in the shade, on the shore of Nallan Lake!

Cooking outdoors is always better than indoors when caravanning – unless the weather is cold, wet and windy. So, this delightful scene pleased me immensely.

Folding camp table placed level on the sandy shore, with the sun slipping behind the bushes and trees providing shade. Birds tweeting and chirping in said bushes, tiptoeing along the water’s edge nearby and soaring in the sky or bobbing their tails up into the air to duck and catch weed.

Gas stove ready to go with lighter beside it and wok sitting atop it.

The tray with all the necessary ingredients (see below) and the required tools.

To this, I brought my computer with recipe saved and open. A recipe is to be followed - loosely. Adapt to what you have in the cupboard and fridge.

And attach yourself to a can of cold beer!

A voice behind me teased – “What you cooking this trip, Rick!” with reference to Rick Stein’s Long Weekends TV series that we enjoyed.

Gazing across the lake, I started on the cook and afterwards, we sat and enjoyed a spicy, hot, tasty one-pan sausage dish in a bowl with a spoon as we continued to enjoy vista and the cool breeze coming across the water.

Recipe with adaptations

In a pan, add oil, chopped onion and garlic (garlic and ginger jar).

Add chopped leaves of fresh rosemary (mixed dried herbs).

Add a few chilli flakes (powder) and make sure the onion is caramelised.

Add some sausage chunks (and some chorizo) with a little water.

Simmer until the sausage is cooked through.

Add a can of 4 bean mix (and capsicum and mushroom), 2 dollops of tomato puree and a big glug of water.

Cook for a further 10 minutes.

Serve with chunky bread (alone or with Deb mash potato, a great caravan cupboard staple).

What view would you like to have when you make this dish?

We’ve always enjoyed a sandwich. Usually, sandwiches are two slices of bread with a filling in between. But we have learned the magic of the wrap.

Wraps are great for caravanning and camping as they are stored flat, can be frozen and stay fresh for quite some time and, like any sandwich, fillings are up to personal choice. There are lots of varieties available from the supermarket. We like the Coles Soft Wholemeal and Grain version to add that extra fibre and goodness.

A cooked chicken from the supermarket is a favourite of ours. Once cooled and peeled, it goes into wraps, a roast dinner, stir-fries and curry sauces. Ham and tuna are other go-to’s for us as well.

Trying to eat healthy, we always look out for fresh salad to add to our wraps and really enjoy Farmland Greens Country Combo sprouting seeds which we also use as an evening nibble instead of crisps (chips).

A dribble of Heinz Salad Cream gives a bit of moisture to the wrap and helps it seal closed. Others may prefer mayonnaise or sour cream.

A friend suggested a tasty blend called Tinderbox Herbal Sprinkle to add some pizazz, and it certainly does! We had to reduce how much we use after some generous sprinkles. A little goes a long way!

The only downside to wraps is the clingfilm we use to keep them fresh while we are on the move. We need to investigate a more environmentally friendly way to wrap our wraps to keep them fresh while on the road. Suggestions by email would be appreciated: honeybeartouring@gmail.com

We headed down to Fremantle on Perth’s efficient Metro system, by train. The line passes along the Ocean Front from Mosman Park and across the Swan River to reach end of the line in historic Fremantle.

We strolled to the harbour area for a pre-dinner drink at Little Creatures Brewery, a cavernous warehouse decked out with bars, seating and kitchens. On a quiet Tuesday evening after Mother’s Day weekend, we were lucky to get a table right by the water to watch the private boats and fishing vessels return after a day at sea.

The beer of course was tasty with lots of options on offer.

Then we crossed town past the new developments and appreciating the older architecture to Clancy’s Fish Pub. Clancy’s is a small chain of characterful pubs with our favourite being in Fremantle.

There’s plenty seating outdoors but on this cooler evening we opted for indoors. The menu had just been updated as the season was changing. There were a couple of specials. Friends ordered the snapper and chips and we selected the shared seafood platter for two.

We started on the mussels in a light, Far Eastern Asian, curried sauce. The mussels were cooked to perfection, being plump and tasting of the sea. The sauce was absolutely delicious and when we expressed our appreciation to the server she informed us the Monday night special was ‘buy a full portion of mussels and get another free.’ We immediately agreed to try a return visit soon!

The snapper was succulent, soft and flaking beautifully in a very light batter. The plentiful calamari was in an even lighter batter and tender. A pair of skewers donned three pink, garlicky prawns grilled to perfection. At the side was a slice of toasted sourdough topped with micro greens and a couple of pickled anchovies to freshen the pallet.

All-in-all, the chosen dishes were both wonderful. I would highly recommend a fishy meal out Fremantle Clancy’s Fish Pub!

The Albion Hotel in Cottesloe was one of our old haunting grounds, many moons ago. We recall visiting family sitting in the tram carriages for drinks and laughs as well as meals. Why not enjoy a revisit with friends to kick start our return to Australia!

Taking advantage of the current Wednesday Special steak and chips, we splurged on a bottle of Pepperjack Barossa Shiraz Cabernet. Yes, you could buy a supermarket or butcher steak to cook yourself on the BBQ and crack open a wine from the bottle shop, but for a treat, having these prepared and poured to your liking with a tasty sauce of choice truly is an easy pleasure.

Our steaks were cooked as requested and served by staff in a timely manner with a smile. The steaks were succulent and full of flavour though some of the grizzle could have been removed before being plated. The chips had that fresh bite with a warm crunch but still able to soak up the sauce. The wine was, of course, sumptuous.

Steak and chips were advertised and that is exactly what you got, without vegetables or salad which, however, could be ordered on the side if desired. So contented were the stomachs that no desserts were required. We can still recommend the Albion Hotel for a pleasant meal out in a warm environment.